Book Reviews

Strangers is memoir as spectacle: extreme wealth, staggering naïveté, and a marriage to a true sociopath. It’s compulsively readable largely because of the rarified air it’s set in. Strip away the privilege and it’s a cautionary tale we wouldn’t call “literary.”

Where it works is in the granular detail of a luxury implosion and flashes of genuine self-interrogation. If you loved The End of Normal, this will be catnip. And if you start here and haven’t read Madoff’s memoir yet, add it to the TBR immediately.

Culpability held my attention and starts with an intriguing premise, but the execution falters. The pacing feels uneven, building toward high stakes that ultimately resolve with surprisingly diminished consequences. It also commits one of my personal pet peeves: labeling every algorithm as “AI.” While not technically incorrect, it’s about as meaningful as when the internet was rebranded as “the cloud” for no clear reason. Overall, it’s an interesting story, but I wouldn’t call it thought provoking, especially for anyone who has ever given more than passing consideration to ethics.

This however I really liked. A @hannahchody rec and it was the closest thing to that ACOTAR/Fourth Wing high as I’ve gotten.

This book claims to interrogate the ethics of true crime, but that framing feels like a smokescreen. The book reads as exploring the ethics of true crime as a cover for its own exploitation.

Worse, the novel isn’t merely inspired by the Moscow, Idaho murders, it mirrors them almost exactly.

Ultimately, the book wants credit for moral seriousness while capitalizing on the very tragedy it claims to question.

This was an @lemondrops.and.lollipops rec and I really enjoyed it. I usually have a hard time getting into audiobooks but this one sucked me right in.

I LOVED this book. Dystopian romance. Think spicy Hunger Games. But I just saw @my.sister.made.me.buy.it say she thought it was super dark to her so there may be something wrong with me? It doesn’t do too much world building for me and jumps right in with the characters. Wish it was longer!

The first 25% of this was really sad/emotional and I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep going. But it got less depressing. I finished it in a weekend because I needed there to be resolution. This one feels like it was written for Apple or HBO to make a series out of. The story goes off the rails a bit at the end but it was completely engrossing.

This was insane. I was down for a little Agatha Christie style story, but this was weirdly hard to follow and seemingly written by someone with no working knowledge of the internet. It’s a Lifetime movie as a book.

Recommended by @my.sister.made.me.buy.it and I absolutely loved this. It’s very quick. I was having a rough week the week I read it and it was the perfect amount of introspective and escapism. About a sentient sex robot. Top 5 of the year so far.

I think I’m the only person who has not loved this book that much. I think it’s a good book to get you out of a reading slump, but it’s just so absurd. It also includes technical references by an author who does not seem to be especially savvy or bother researching (think referencing hacking by constantly referring to firewalls) which irked me more than it should have. It’s all plot and no character development which means it moves quickly and stays engaging, but the plot is pretty clumsy at times.

At first this was annoying because it was one of those situations where the whole thing could be sorted out with a conversation. Then it took a turn I didn’t expect and I got hopeful. And then it was just weird with 5 story lines being tied up in the epilogue.

I really enjoyed this. Had a male and female narrator which I appreciated. It’s the true crime podcast trope, but it was fast moving and stayed interesting.

Boy I was sick of this book by the time it was over. It’s like a choose your own adventure book except you have to have them all. I find the BUT ACTUALLY plot twist style to be pretty lazy. I did find the first half charming so I won’t dock as many points and I really enjoyed this narrator. I don’t know if I would have finished it on Kindle.

This felt like it should have been a Vanity Fair article. The author wants to come off as likable and doesn’t let herself go full Tina Brown, but still wants it to be a salacious story even when it’s maybe not. Also if you look into how this book came about – I don’t love that. Ultimately it’s a book about Emily, and not Glossier. It’s very well written and was good on audiobook.

Came highly recommended by both @sarahflippingpages and @beachreadsandbubby and has been my favorite thriller in a long time. Not super dark, but super gripping. Original concept.

Enjoyed this. Suspect not thriller. Helped me get back on the reading bandwagon. No wait at my library. @beachreadsandbubbly rec.

Needed a book to break a reading slump after Iron Flame (review coming) and I needed a book that would grab me fast. The plane is crashing on page one, so safe to say this did it. Finished in two days. It’s nothing groundbreaking but PERFECT if you’re trying to get back into reading. Reading really helps my anxiety because it’s the only thing I do in my downtime that requires my entire focus. Quiets that intangible dread feeling. Read on Kindle via Libby.

Really liked this. For most of the book there weren’t “twists” as much as it was a story that moved through plot and introduced new characters/places at a good pace which was something I don’t see a lot in thrillers. It’s more of a legal thriller, but if you’re an attorney you’ll probably find a lot of the parts frustrating. Not scary. The end started to have more aspects of a psychological thriller and twists, but they weren’t TOO ridiculous relative to the rest of the story.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s super quick but incredibly poignant. I don’t know why I love reading about rich people’s addictions so much, but I do. And this one delivered. Had incredible depth and I thought was funny and emotionally honest. On Kindle from Libby.

I saw this (specifically the Audible version) recommended by @thebuyguide and I loved it. I haven’t enjoyed a fiction audio book this much in a long time. It has a full cast and sound design. The story was interesting and engaging. I think the only bad thing I could say is it felt like it had four natural conclusions at the end but then kept going. Not for a long time. I just kept thinking “this is it” and then another chapter came. Definitely recommend though. Would be a great book club book because there’s a lot to discuss at the end.

This read like a Lifetime movie script that got passed on. Absurd and not in a fun way. ChatGBT would have written a more cogent story.