Tag: Three Stars

Funny Story – Reviewed

On By KaylieIn Three StarsLeave a comment

I gave Funny Story by Emily Henry three out of five stars.

This “Funny Story” follows Daphne after her fiance, Peter, leaves her immediately after his bachelor party for his female bestie from childhood, Petra (who also attended Peter’s bachelor party, by the way). Peter gives Daphne a week to move out of their home, and she ends up moving in with Miles, Petra’s now ex-boyfriend. Living in Miles’ spare bedroom, Daphne and Miles form a special connection, which is inspired in part by a lie Daphne tells Peter — that Miles is her new boyfriend. Miles is totally cool with this, and sees a great opportunity to make Petra jealous. With that, the fake relationship between Miles and Daphne blossoms.

Overall, I enjoyed the story this book told.

What I liked: It was entertaining, oddly relatable at times, and I actually laughed out loud more than once. I felt like Daphne’s character developed well throughout the story, and I LOVED Miles. I thought Emily Henry did a great job slowly revealing facts about each character that let us get to know them better, in a very authentic, realistic way. Throughout the book, Daphne makes a new friend, Ashleigh, forms a relationship with Miles, and befriends Miles’ sister, Julia, and through the writing I felt like I was getting to know and understand each character just as Daphne was.

I also loved the characters themselves. Daphne had so much growing to do, and she did it. Miles was the PERFECT boyfriend. Julia was such a typical little sister, but the little sister you want to have around. The friendship between Daphne and Ashleigh formed and progressed in a way that was relatable and satisfying to read about, including the conflicts between them. Peter sucked. Petra also sucked. If nothing else, Emily Henry was successful in making me feel genuine feelings for each of the characters.

What I didn’t like: The overall vibe of this book was that someone had a writing assignment and wasn’t even close to the required word count by the time they finished, so they had to go back and add pointless filler details and sub-storylines. There were a LOT of unnecessary parts to this book that I don’t feel contributed to the story in any way at all. One example: any mention of Daphne’s ex-friend, Sadie? Filler. Just extra words. Every time I put this book down, I was shocked by how many pages I still had to read. If all of the filler in this book was dissolved, and it was 100 pages shorter, I am confident it would have been a five star read for me. There was also a spelling error on the second to last page.

As for the ending – at no point during this book did I have any inclination the ending would be any different than it turned out to be. I suppose this is the case with most romance novels, but just once, I want to be shocked!!

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a lighter, not very serious, read.

Annie Bot – Reviewed

On By KaylieIn Four Stars, Three StarsLeave a comment

I gave this book three and a half out of five stars…though I did battle with giving it a four star review. I’ve categorized this in both three and four star reviews, because after writing this review, I still am torn.

This book was unlike anything I’ve ever read. Throughout this novel, we follow Annie, who is essentially a sex bot who is trying her best to be as human as she can possibly be. Annie analyzes everything, from what the humans around her are doing to how they are feeling to help her figure out how to act just like them. Even though Annie is literally a robot and I am pretty sure I’m not, I felt like this was so relatable.

Annie belongs to Doug, who created her to satisfy his needs, and to not create any more issues. As time goes on, however, Annie learns more about what it means to be human, and about self worth, and she starts wanting to feel loved and valued. Which are human emotions, not emotions robots should have. She also learns about lies, cheating and deceit, all in an effort to ultimately please Doug…

I don’t feel like I can write a great review of this book without giving too much away, but we follow as Annie is faced with challenged she feels like taking on will make her more human, and the consequences that comes with each of these challenges. The book took turns I didn’t expect it to take, but that I also can’t share in the interest of not giving key information away. Over time, Annie starts to learn about her own self worth, and essentially what she wants from a partner. More importantly, what she DOESN’T want in a partner.

This book was a journey of self-love for Annie, which was found through many mistakes, and there’s nothing more human than that.

This book was entirely different than I expected it to be. At times it was steamy, but mostly it was raw, emotional, and honest. Maybe it was personal, but this book had be bordering on emotional a couple of times. When you pick up a book about a robot to read, I feel like naturally the character you think you’ll be drawn to is the human, but I felt most connected to Annie and her struggles. Throughout the book, I found that Sierra Greer’s writing made me feel tuned into Annie’s feelings, and I really cared about what happened to her in the end. Overall, even though I really wasn’t sure it would be, this book was so empowering.

Additionally, if there is one thing I look for in a book, it is often the ease of the read. I have enough going on in my real life, I don’t want the book I’m reading to be work. Greer’s style of writing was so easy to read, and was intriguing. Sometimes, even with books I am enjoying, I am dreaded picking them up because the writing is just too much, and this wasn’t the case. Every time I picked this up it was EASY to get back into. This book was so different than anything I’d ever read, to the point that one or two times I wondered why I was reading it, but I never considered not finishing it. Greer had me invested in the ending from the first page.

There is a big part of me that wants Sierra Greer to make this a series and write about the lives of some of the other characters in this book…. I’d read them in a heartbeat.

The Inmate – Reviewed

On By KaylieIn Three StarsLeave a comment

I gave this three out of five stars.

Freida McFadden brings us along as Brooke, a nurse practitioner, begins a new job at a maximum security men’s prison. Early on, we learn one of the inmates (serving a life sentence) is a man she helped put in prison when she was a teenager. He was also her first love… and the father of her child. As one of two nurse practitioners at this prison, Brooke must treat each and every patient, including Shane. Of course, Shane has no idea he has a biological son, and as soon as he sees Brooke, he begins trying to claim his innocence. As you would expect, Shane’s sad prison life, and claims he has been wrongfully imprisoned tug at Brooke’s heartstrings, and ultimately she ends up second guessing her judgement from a decade prior. Did Shane really murder her friends? Or was it the other survivor from that night..?

This book remains in Brooke’s perspective for the entirety, but alternates between present and past-tense. We read about Brooke’s life, both in and out of the prison, and we also read about the events that led to Shane’s incarceration. A little bit of Brooke’s love life is thrown into the mix too, and it gets just as messy as you’d expect.

As of late, I have become a Freida McFadden FAN, and I found this book just as easy to read as the first two Housemaid books (the third is TBD, but I can’t wait to let you know!!). It was suspenseful, and the short chapters and changing perspectives kept me engaged.

There was a time, though, for a good bit of the book (probably about 25 percent) just over halfway through, I was wondering why I was still reading. I really thought it was very obvious how this book was going to end. This feeling, ultimately, is what led to me giving this book three stars instead of four. But, I trust Freida, so I kept reading.

And man, am I glad I did! As with the other Freida books I’ve read, everything was a bit outrageous, and events, as they occurred in the book, were not what I would call realistic, but I did not see the ending coming! There were little details thrown in, and she tied them straight back to the rest of the book, as it seems she always does so well.

One thing I look for in a thriller/suspense novel, is the feeling of watching a movie in my mind. Even though I was feeling a bit drab through the middle, this was always something Freida’s writing achieved in this book.

I was kind of hoping for a different ending to this one, but I still enjoyed it. This was another one, where once I was almost finished, I couldn’t put it down.

Then She Was Gone – Reviewed

On By KaylieIn Three StarsLeave a comment

I gave this book three out of five stars.

Lisa Jewell takes us through the journey of a mother whose daughter was kidnapped ten years ago, and never found. After ten years of putting her life on pause, believing she would find Ellie, Laurel’s marriage suffered and ended, and the rest of her family had taken the back burner. In a journey to find herself and her happiness again, she meets a new love interest, Floyd. As their relationship progresses, she meets Floyd’s daughter, Poppy, who bears a striking resemblance to Ellie in all the ways a girl, who is not the same girl, possibly could. As we follow the development of the relationships between Laurel and Poppy, and Laurel and Floyd, we are led to the discovery of the devastating truth about what has happened over the last ten years.

Doesn’t that sound like a book that would have you at the edge of your seat, turning pages violently, and wishing you could just read faster to find out WHAT ON EARTH is going on here? I thought so too.

I DID enjoy this book, but after finishing it, I have mixed feelings. Part of me wanted to give this book five stars, because of how effectively Lisa Jewell really made me FEEL for the characters throughout this book, but the book was just much different than what the presentation of it advertised to me, and maybe that’s just my own fault.

It just wasn’t fast-paced, thrilling, page-turner as I had expected. It was more of a slow burn, with a few parts that had me at the edge of my seat. I did read this book in a little bit over one day, but it was not difficult for me to put it down when I needed to — disappointing.

I thought the storyline was interesting, and for the most part I had no idea what was coming next. I think maybe the slow burn type of deal presented here was necessary to set the stage and provide the reader with all of the context needed for the last 15 percent of the book. The ending left me feeling a lot sadder than I had expected.

Lisa Jewell is an incredible writer and remains one of my favorite authors, and I would still recommend this book, as long as your expectations are in check.