nocturnalbookworm's reviews
76 reviews

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

Captive in the Dark by CJ Roberts

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dark emotional

4.25


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The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

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

4.5

 Holy Sh*t At first that's all I can say. I intended to just start this before bed last night and I literally could not put it down. The storytelling style was so smooth and the pacing of everything being revealed just sucked me in where I couldn't help but keep turning the pages. A chilling and dark story if you are easily disturbed or triggered this is not the book for you but if you can handle it it is a haunting and engaging story.

I read a lot of reviews where people said things like they couldn't imagine certain victims in the story reacting to things the way they do or taking the actions they do and I have to say, as someone who has been though psychologically and sexually abusive relationships and situation, I found the depictions of the victims disturbingly and heartbreaking realistic. What I went through is nowhere near what happens in this book, but I did find the coping mechanisms and the rational of some of the victims in the book all too familiar at times. We all like to imagine we may be a certain way or do certain things in bad situations, but things like this can really fuck someone up psychologically and you just don't know until you are in that place. 

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Bones by Yolanda Olson

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challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A twisted tale

I've read a lot of fucked up things but this definitely wins the "Most Fucked Up Thing I've Ever Read" award. Guy takes you along on a journey of madness, his madness though remember he's not crazy (or so he says) the descriptions of his delusions and his justification for everything is masterfully done. 

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The Beauty, Volume 2 by Jeremy Haun, Jason A. Hurley

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dark tense
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

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adventurous funny medium-paced

4.5

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

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emotional mysterious
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 Tense, engaging, and oddly charming. I was kept guessing until the very end! 

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The Bees by Laline Paull

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5.0

An Interesting tale

I rather enjoyed this one. I found the balance of anthropomorphic and natural bee descriptions was done quite well. I read this all in one day and just couldn't put it down. I had to know what was happening in the hive and what would become of Flora. The prologue and epilogue were nice feels-y touches as well.