sam ☆
✰ "Do I have to smash a glass over the head of every single man I come into contact with, just so I leave a fucking mark?"
unhinged girl stream-of-consciousness masterpiece like american psycho if it was about hot girls with art degrees and revenge fantasies. very no plot just vibes (j'adore). i need to reread this at some point.
✰ "I've seen endless things throughout my life, and I can tell you right now that this world is about to change. The days to come will only grow darker. And when you find something good? You hold on to it. You don't waste time worrying about things that won't matter in the end. Rather, you take a risk for that light."
devoured this. felt like a love letter to my soul. dreamy, aching, beautiful. thank you, rebecca ross, for this delicious meal (and by meal i mean the first 95% of this book & also we pretend book 2 does not exist).
more knives out than get out. strong first half, then completely collapsed under bad logic and frustrating character choices. such wasted potential on a cool concept. i just can't stand “too dumb to live” characters but especially when they're girls/women. i didn't find this funny, satirical, interesting or witty in any way. i feel like i didn't even read the same book as everyone else. saint was the only one worth rooting for. i've heard rumors about this book being picked up by a movie studio. get jennie on set right the fuck now to play saint ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა
✰ “You must not allow yourself to be consumed so throughly by death. It's not selfish to live.”
this book was such a gift ♡!! the storytelling worked all five of my senses. i could see the lush, gothic estate. i could hear the environment we were in. i could taste all the delicious foods. i could feel the expensive dresses, the dewy morning grass. the heroine was so easy to love, strong and soft in equal measure, and the grief and death themes felt gentle/healing, not grim. i couldn't put this book down. i couldn't stop thinking about it. i truly hope i never will. there were so many parts of this book that felt so relatable to me or were just words i needed to hear so desperately. this will probably be a comfort read for me.
the mystery twist was fine, not brilliant, and contrived if we're being honest. the romance had a strange undercurrent that still makes me a bit uncomfortable.
however, i thank this author for being my introduction into atmospheric and immersive reads. you have changed my standards for prose forever.
this book was almost everything.
almost atmospheric.
almost a swoony love story.
almost a compelling mystery thriller.
i adore the idea of this story, but it just didn't land for me. the setting wants to be lush and eerie, but it stays surface level. the romance wants to be passionate, but it's mediocre at best. the plot wants to twist, but it spirals ... i'm proud of that one (ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)
💖 mini rant 💖
the overuse of “drawled,” “sauntered,” and “purred” drove me INSANE. i can't stress this enough: someone (not me) please gift this author a thesaurus. also, “she yearned for the wash”???
✰ “sometimes, the monsters we fear the most are the ones lurking within ourselves.”
this was dark, dreamy, atmospheric and deliciously balanced. the fantasy to romance ratio was completely my taste. i love when a fantasy romance has a genuine romance subplot that doesn't swallow the plot whole. this one lets the story breathe while still giving you all the yearning you could want.
✰ “weak people find even weaker people to be their victims.”
bleak, unrelenting, dark, uncomfortable, depraved, sick. anyone with a thirst for stories integrating generational trauma, academic pressure, revenge, and the occasional existential spiral will adore this. also, if you want a raw glimpse into social issues in japan (bullying, parental neglect, obsession with success, agoraphobia), it's all here with absolutely nothing sugarcoated.
this is a book for girls, written by a girl, meant only for girls to understand. the kind of book you read for a girl empowerment weekend followed immediately by watching kill bill. i didn't expect to like this. maeve starts off like every other pretentious, unreliable narrator. but the more unhinged she became the more I loved her.
she's patrick bateman (narcissist) meets norman bates (interpersonal relationships) meets dexter (skewed morality).
there's plenty of shock value horror, but it doesn't feel empty. it borders on camp, almost absurd in its grotesqueness (looking at you 🫵 🥹, curling iron fantasy and also the pipe scene). the romance subplot was equal parts disturbing and beautiful, and the ending genuinely hurt my heart.
also, how many disney princesses are secretly high on coke? it's something to think about.
a bored suburban housewife falls into a friendship with glamorous mean moms that quickly spirals into chaos and murder. a poorly written homage to internalized biphobia, unresolved trauma, and bad decisions disguised as plot. i wanted something campy and fun (desperate housewives meets pretty little liars) but what i got was hollow, predictable, and painfully overwritten.
💖 domestic suspense lessons learned 💖
verity by colleen hoover: abortion = bad 😡
the hunting wives by may cobb: crush on woman = your entire life implodes 😔
weak plot, flat tension, and zero chemistry. the world building was basically nonexistent, and the heroine's identity felt erased on page (would we know she's black if we didn't have the cover). “enemies” to lovers (barely). the author spoon fed information and yet somehow still left me with a thousand questions. the stars are for my baby my angel pip the cat.
