Reviews

All Her Little Secrets Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on All Her Little Secrets Review

*BEWARE OF SPOILERS BELOW*

Ellice Littlejohn seemingly has it all: an Ivy League law degree, a well-paying job as a corporate attorney in midtown Atlanta, great friends, and a “for fun” relationship with a rich, charming executive—her white boss, Michael. But everything changes one cold January morning when Ellice goes to meet Michael… and finds him dead with a gunshot to his head.

Ellice was definitely an interesting character. I honestly didn’t think she had much to hide per se but as the story progresses and we find out more of her secrets I felt sad for her. She had a traumatic upbringing and even though she managed to escape her circumstances she was left feeling immense guilt for leaving her little brother there. Which is obviously why she kept bailing him out and loaning him money. I liked to see her kind of devolve as she delves further into the mystery behind Michael’s death and who she thought was behind it.

I think it would of been more interesting if this was a dual perspective from Sam’s point of view as well. He is so wrapped up in this whole conspiracy and he eventually pays for it with his life. I still feel like he could of gave us more insight into what they had to deal with in childhood and it could of been a fascinating to see how contrasting their lives are now.

I did however really enjoyed the flashbacks to Ellice’s past. I like that there was more to her than what we originally perceived. Vera I adore and I liked the fact that she is still a major factor in both Ellice and Sam’s life and they continue to visit and show their love for her. It added a lot of depth to the storyline and showed us why Ellice acts the way she does and her reasonings behind her decisions she’s made in her life, like keeping her little secrets.

In terms of the actual mystery surrounding Michael’s death and who was behind it, I was underwhelmed. I just feel like there wasn’t enough high stakes moments that could of upped my entertainment factor. I want to be shocked and even though there were some twists throughout the plot I didn’t foresee it was all that interesting to find out. Talks about shipments and deliveries and gun orders to find out about a secret deal that leads to a conspiracy was boring.

⭐️2/5 stars I was just a little bored at times..

Updates

✨Grishaverse Reread✨

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on ✨Grishaverse Reread✨

I found myself getting annoyed throughout this reread of Siege and Storm. I think I remember this middle book being my least favourite out of the three but I had to kind of like pull my teeth to finish. Even though this was a relatively quick read it felt like the middle section where it was just a lot of the preparing for the inevitable war with the Darkling felt like it was going on forever. Nothing was really happening other than the ongoing miscommunication between Mal and Alina. If there’s one thing I hate the most when conflict comes up between love interests its miscommunication because its honestly the easiest to fix. I was very much on Mal’s side for the majority of the read and his justifications for why he was pushing Alina away made sense (though the drinking and hooking up with the girl Alina can’t stand wasn’t great). I am not that big a fan of Nikolai though, he felt pretentious to me. He used Alina for his own narrative in claiming the throne, even though he may be the right person for it. I don’t understand why he couldn’t just be friends with Alina, why did he have to take it to that level when he knew she was struggling with her feelings for Mal. Overall wasn’t my favourite, still felt nostalgic to me though and I appreciated my reread for sure!

Book Lists

5 Books I Want to Read in 2022 Update

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on 5 Books I Want to Read in 2022 Update

Back in January I picked 5 books that are high on my TBR that I try to prioritise and actually read! I’ve actually already read three of the five so I figured this was a good chance to do a little recap of the five and my thoughts on the ones I’ve completed so far.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

I enjoyed the fact that there is the overarching mystery surrounding the girls murdered and I found the way Camille uncovered it to be entertaining for sure. The way the plot unravels and we start to have more a clear picture as to who the murderer was very intriguing. I had my suspicions from the start and the misdirect was a great touch but I was eventually correct.

My Rating:  ⭐️3/5 stars

All’s Well by Mona Awad

I think what I didn’t really enjoy about the book was that there was no explanation. How the three men gave her the powers and healed her of her pain and how she was able to transfer it to the others. Did she suck out their energy and vitality and used that to heal herself or did she just give them her pain. At the end of my read I’m still left with questions and I’m just not feeling satisfied.

My Rating:  ⭐️2/5 stars

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

I was expecting it to be more sinister in tone but I liked the fact that Sophia was so naïve and unassuming for a good majority of the book despite some horrific things happening around her. The slow build up of anticipation and the clarity that Sophia gains was entertaining but overall I was a little underwhelmed by this book.

My Rating:  ⭐️3/5 stars

The two books I still need to read are:

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Reviews

The Atlas Six Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on The Atlas Six Review

The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation. When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society’s archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. 

I can’t say I overly enjoyed any of our main characters but I appreciated that we got to read from each of their perspectives and get a gauge on what kind of person each of them are. Libby was probably my favourite of the bunch because she adds so much to the story. Her and Nico are actually actively using the library and exploring how far they can go with their abilities. They are coming up with theories using their research and garnering results.

Callum and Parisa I didn’t really like at all. I can appreciate how integral both of them are to the storyline and they both seem to have ulterior motives they are also working towards. However, they are both too overt and discreet with their powers. They are both unlikeable and even though we learn quite a bit about them through their perspectives I feel like I didn’t connect enough with them to care at all about their plans.

Tristan was an interesting character for sure. Not having a full grasp on what he is able to do was compelling and seeing how he learns more about the scope of his powers was entertaining. But he is always so unsure of himself and questioning everyone’s motives all the time it was a little exhausting. Atlas was an enigma that I wanted to learn more about and eventually we do but I would of liked to see in real time as opposed to memories.

Not enough was explained about the actual society and the library. I understand that this is going to be a series and we are only in the initiation stage but we are kind of just thrown in and each character begins their studies and things get kind of repetitive and boring. How do they get the books? The library is described as being sentient but how is everything stored and how do they request things? I thought this was going to be a lot more fantastical as opposed to academic and I think it the fact that we are mostly in the same setting the whole time that made this a bit tedious to read.

⭐️3/5 stars Didn’t quite live up to the hype for me…