heathero621's reviews
684 reviews

The Last Love Note by Emma Grey

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book is about Kate, a middle-aged woman, whose husband has died and she is navigating life without him.  The book skips back and forth in time from when he was first diagnosed until many years after his death.  I picked up this book on the premise that it was really sad and would make a person cry.  I didn't cry.  I didn't get teary-eyed.  Yes, it was sad and deals with spousal death and miscarriage.  There is a lot of happiness in the book.  All of the characters are good and I could see how the story was going.  I think that I would have liked the book more if it was just the story of Kate and Cam going through his diagnosis.  A very quick read and a romance novel with a bit more heart in it.
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective tense medium-paced

3.75

This book is about the author's experience hiking the Grand Canyon.  He also talks about the history of the Grand Canyon.  I listened to the audiobook, which I thought was good.  Some parts of the book were really interesting and kept my attention (I'm pretty sure it was all of the trouble they got into).  I found many parts of the book to be boring and a slog to get through.  I think that if you are a hiker and if you are a fan of the Grand Canyon, then you will really enjoy this book.  I think it could've been edited down.  I've never been to the Grand Canyon, but after this book I would love to go see it, but definitely not experience it like he did!
A Risk Worth Taking by Jessica Joyce

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This is a novella about two people that hook up one night after being at a bar and then they end up spending a couple of days together and sort of fall in love.  I had heard about this book from two different people and decided to pick it up.  It also takes place in Portland, OR (where I live), but the city hardly played a part in the book at all.  It was alright.  There were a few steamy parts and the language that described them wasn't annoying to me.  I felt like the book was too short and would've loved to learn more about the characters.
Playground by Richard Powers

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is a story about a bunch of different people that are all connected to one another that have the ocean and AI as two big parts of the stories of each of them.  I enjoyed this novel (more than Bewilderment) and thought that I was doing fine with understanding it until the ending.  I was so confused as to what was going on and it wasn't making sense to me.  I had to look-up spoilers to see what other people were saying about this book and one of them (maybe spoiler ahead?) said that the novel that is in regular font is the AI telling Todd these stories and then the parts that are in Italics are actually Todd telling his side of the story.  If this is the case, then it makes a lot more sense.  I kind of wish that I would have known that going into the book because I think it would have made things clearer.  I don't know if Powers has confirmed this or not (I didn't search further).
Wear It Well by Allison Bornstein

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informative fast-paced

3.5

This book gives fashion advice mostly to women.  The author gained popularity from TikTok and I saw people repost her stuff on IG.  I think that what she has to say is good and she has some great advice.  Where I think she falls short is that there are no pictures to show what she is talking about.  There are pictures in the book, but they are mostly just pictures of models.  I would have loved to see examples of what she was talking about.  I especially would have loved to see examples from her clients' closets that she talked about.  I think she probably does go over this more in her videos online, but it was a big miss to not include that in this book.  The book is a quick read.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten

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funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

This is Ina's memoir about her life.  I've heard of Ina, but I've never watched her shows and I think that I got one of her cook books from the library, but really didn't cook from it.  I wasn't particularly interested in picking up this book, but one of my book clubs picked it and I'm actually glad that I read it.  I learned so much about her that I didn't know before.  I loved hearing about her story.  I listened to the audiobook, which I think would be the best way to consume this book.  I guess what I didn't particularly care for is how she didn't acknowledge her privilege very much.  She always talked about how they didn't have much money, but she came from a wealthy family, her husband had a good job, and they were always buying places.  Sure, they might not have been rich, but they definitely had a lot more than most people.  I think if you are an Ina fan, you will love this book.
Framed by Jim McCloskey, John Grisham

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

This book tells 10 stories of men and women that were wrongfully accused of killing someone and were in jail (many on death row) for these killings.  This book is infuriating!  It made me angry and have less faith in the justice system.  It is just incredible the lengths that some prosecutors and police departments will go through to make sure that they have someone pinned for the murder, even though they didn't commit it.  This book will hopefully make you into a believer of abolishing the death penalty.  One good piece of news since this book came out is that Kerry Cox has been completely cleared and has been found innocent.  I do wish that each story had more time devoted to it, so maybe if they had done 4-6 stories and gone more in depth that would have been better for the book.  This would make a good TV series (some stories have been told as articles, books, tv shows, or movies already).
Blue Light Hours by Bruna Dantas Lobato

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emotional hopeful informative lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

This book is about a young woman who is from Brazil who is going to college in Vermont.  Her and her mother talk to each other via Skype (and the blue light from the computers) about what is going on in their lives.  I really loved this book.  It had a slow reflective quality to it, but yet it went by really fast.  I loved the relationship between the two women.  It gave a very good glimpse at how life is when living in a foreign country and away from your mother and home.  It is a great mother/daughter book to read.
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

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emotional lighthearted sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book is about Gabriel Oak a shepherd who wants too marry this younger woman Bathsheba, but she turns him down.  She ends up getting involved in the lives of a couple of other men meanwhile Gabriel ends up working for her and still pining for her.  This is one of those classical books and they are just boring to me.  I was only reading a certain amount of pages per day of this book and I found that I was falling asleep every single time I would read.  It just wasn't holding my attention.  About halfway through I decided to read a synopsis of this book and once I did that I found that it was keeping my attention more.  Also, the ending gets a bit more exciting.  
How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

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emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book follows three characters: Violet, Frank, and Harriet.  Violet is a young woman that is just coming out of prison for killing Frank's wife while she was drunk driving.  Harriet is a woman that started a book club at the prison that Violet was at.  All three of these characters form a friendship and the book follows them in their lives.  This book was a very sweet book, even with heavy themes.  It was enjoyable and all about forgiveness. The characters are nice and ones that you root for.  There were some choices that the author made in this book that I didn't particularly care for (Frank's story with his wife and Violet's story with her boss).  I had also wished that there was more written about the book club or bookstore because from the cover that is the impression that I got from the book.