Month: January 2023

Wrap Ups

January Wrap Up

by amyleighreads2 Comments on January Wrap Up

I had a fantastic reading month! The inclusion of more audio books has really changed the game for me and I have been able to squeeze so many more reads in that I otherwise wouldn’t of been able to. I can’t wait to continue on with this momentum for the rest of 2023!

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole – ⭐️4/5 stars

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun – ⭐️4/5 stars

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson – ⭐️4/5 stars

Galatea by Madeline Miller – ⭐️3/5 stars

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas – ⭐️5/5 stars

Near the Bone by Christina Henry – ⭐️4/5 stars

Magic, Lies and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp – ⭐️4/5 stars

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala – ⭐️3/5 stars

Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan – ⭐️3/5 stars

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien – 3/5 stars

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto – ⭐️4/5 stars

You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria – ⭐️4/5 stars

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin – ⭐️4/5 stars

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman – ⭐️2/5 stars

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire – ⭐️4/5 stars

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett – ⭐️4/5 stars

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney – ⭐️4/5 stars

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Reviews

The Night Swim Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on The Night Swim Review

*SOME SPOILERY BITS*

After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help. The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places.

I liked Rachel as our main character. The whole premise of the podcast and coming from being an investigative journalist was compelling and intriguing. I loved following on as she uncovers what happens during this highly publicized and talked about rape trial as well as figuring out what really happened to Jenny.

Hannah I was sort of questioning her intentions throughout the course of the plot. I just didn’t understand why she didn’t just meet up with Rachel and explain everything to her face. Leaving the letters though did add a layer of mystery to the plot but they felt a little bit sinister to me. It just always felt like she was being too secretive and wasn’t telling the whole story so it made me doubt her as a character.

As far as the trial aspect of the book goes I was a bit ambivalent towards it, it’s just never a good feeling to see how rape victims are treating throughout. Of course you always want justice to prevail but it doesn’t always end up happening that way and it very nearly happens in this book. Knowing that no one really won at the end of the day doesn’t give me any satisfaction as a reader but it is very realistic.

There was a lot of quite graphic scenes and heavy topics that are included in this book though the format with the shorter chapters and the inclusion of the podcast elements did make it quite a fast read. I can’t say that I enjoyed what I was reading but the way the two plotlines converged and how the reveals are exposed did make keep me engaged and eager to see how the ending will play out.

⭐️4/5 stars this was brutal, violent and just sad

Reviews

The Honeys Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on The Honeys Review

*SOME SPOILERS*

Mars has always been the lesser twin, the shadow to his sister Caroline’s radiance. But when Caroline dies under horrific circumstances, Mars is propelled to learn all he can about his once-inseparable sister who’d grown tragically distant. Mars’s genderfluidity means he’s often excluded from the traditions — and expectations — of his politically-connected family. This includes attendance at the prestigious Aspen Conservancy Summer Academy where his sister poured so much of her time. But with his grief still fresh, he insists on attending in her place.

Mars as a character I enjoyed but didn’t connect with as much as I would of liked to. I think because the start of the book is so jarring and intense it took me a little longer to get situated in the plot and understand what was happening. I thought Mars’ reasonings for wanting to go back to Aspen Academy was fair and if was in his place I would of wanted to go back too. I just thought it took him too long to really make a move and start to fully investigate the honeys and Aspen as a whole.

All the other characters aside from Mars were kind of hard to distinguish between. None of them really felt fleshed out to me and were kind of blurred together (I’m even having a hard time remembering any of their names). I just felt like because this was titled as the honeys and they were the ones who were closest to Caroline before she died we would of got to know them a lot more than what we did.

I could in no way predict how this book was going to end. It took a turn for the weird and strange and I wasn’t prepared for it so it definitely took me by surprise! I liked how broad the scope of the book got and it wasn’t just isolated to Aspen and the fact that Mars wasn’t able to escape from the inevitability of this organisation.

The prose was very lyrical and beautiful but almost a little too flowery for me. I think the overly descriptive language and the perceptive shifts that occur throughout the course of the plot kept confusing me which may have been intentional by the author. I don’t really enjoy for the most part not fulling knowing and understanding what was going on so that kind of pulled me out of the story a bit.

⭐️3/5 stars Loved the premise, the pacing was just a bit off