sarahkorn's reviews
192 reviews

Really amazing premise that I couldn't wait to read, but the execution was a bit of a drag.

From what I gathered, the main themes were sovereignty, freedom, and pride, but there were too many subplots to fully flesh that out in the way that I wanted. There were a few somewhat tender moments, like the last scene with Omar and Ada on the train platform, but it was still a bit unsatisfying. I was hoping for an emotional, heart wrenching ending but like the characters, I feel a bit conflicted. Even if things weren't going to be tied up in a neat little bow, I wanted to feel something more than I did.

I was a big OTH fan while it was running, but knew very little about Bethany Joy Lenz's personal life, much less that she was in a cult the whole time! What a story!

Beautiful and sad. I was personally not bothered by the lack of a twist/ah hah moment, that is not a prerequisite for good fiction in my opinion (maybe if the writing is bad, but Amanda Peters' is not). It perfectly embodied this passage:

“The dash saddens me…It doesn’t allow for all the downs that bring a person low or the joys that lift them up. All the bends and turns that make up a lifetime are flattened and erased. The dash on a tombstone is wholly inadequate. Everything around it is more remarkable. The name…sometimes a photo…giving life to the dead. Yet the dash, that line that carries the entire sum of a life within it, is unremarkable.”

Even though the ending was clear from the start, reading Joe and Norma's dashes felt so meaningful and special.

Five stars for being one of the more memorable books I've read in a while, and probably for a while more. So creative and sexy and exciting, romantasy at its finest. It was a bit of a slow burn (the lore is deep) but so worth it

Nobody else is out there writing stories like Sylvia Moreno-Garcia.

I did struggle with the pacing and number of POVs, especially as Salome's scenes seemed to eclipse Vera's. Partially I think this book is just more heady than it appears on the surface. It does not have the action of Mexican Gothic, but is good if you want to dig deep into some character studies. I just don't think I was in that headspace, but the pure fact that that SMG's books are so unlike anything else right now gives them a lot of edge.

Excellent on audio. I especially loved the earlier chapters about traveling around Europe with Jeffrey, and how Barefoot Contessa the store came to be. 

The last half or so was slower and more focused on all of her little business ventures, suing a frozen foods company for intellectual property violations, etc etc. Often this read like a business advice book, which I suppose she certainly has the experience and expertise to speak on. I didn't mind it entirely, but it did drag the pacing down somewhat, and wasn't quite as cozy.

Ina is definitely a person with a wild amount of financial privilege, which she briefly touches on in the epilogue. However, she still appears kind and insightful. I enjoyed hearing her story!

This one was just okay for me. With the amount of research done into the witch trials in Orkney I would have hoped that storyline would have been more compelling -- the mix of historical fiction and modern thriller had a lot of potential but ultimately wasn't quite successful for me.

The characters weren't as dynamic as I would have wanted, and the connection between the storylines were ocassionally confusing. Erin also seemed entirely unconcerned about her baby for the entire book which didn't feel realistic, oh and by the way, Clem has heart problems, which is supposed to vaguely mirror Alison's story and made for a pretty unsatisfying ending. It was interesting enough to finish but not a favorite.

I like Lucy Foley a lot but must not have been in the right headspace for this one. Lots of characters and changing timelines and POVs made it hard to put down and put back up easily. This would have been better binged on an airplane or vacation probably. I liked the ultimate reveal of the Birds but felt like it was kind of random. I wanted to be more invested than I was. Writing and setting and overall twisty-ness was good though, so maybe I'll give it a reread down the line and see if it grows on me.