DNF - I tried, I really did. I've been slogging through this book for weeks. It dragged me into a slump the first time, so I took a break and came back hoping to feel refreshed. But no. I'm calling it quits before it drags me back again.

When did feminist literature become a cliché of men-hating tropes? Each male character in here is portrayed as either dumb or cheating or a rapist/killer. And every woman is frothing with rage to get even with the men who have hurt them, all the while menstruating torrents of blood (I kid you not) and taking care of their babies. There is a bitterness and hatred coming off the pages that makes the whole thing hard to stomach.

I always want nuanced portrayal in the books I read. Every person should be judged by who they are instead of the color of their skin or their gender. So it makes me really uncomfortable to see groups of people lumped together like this, as if the sin of one is a reflection of all.

My other problem with this book is that it's really long and slow. It seems more interested in thoroughly exploring the backstories of every character rather than forwarding the main narrative. So even though I'm 150 pages in (of an almost 500-page book), it feels like the story has just begun.

The blurb promises this to be "gloriously sharp and funny," but obviously it missed the mark for me. I haven't cracked a smile since picking this up, and there's nothing sharp about the writing or the characters. Every time I set the book down, I have no desire to pick it back up, which is a sure sign that I need to move on.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars (DNF)

This was a pick for my Book of the Month box. Get your first book for $5 here.

Ah, is there a more satisfying feeling than finding the perfect beach read during the waning days of summer?

I can't believe this is Elin Hilderbrand's 28th novel (of which I've only read a paltry few)! I'm always a little hesitant when an author has been around for so long. What if they've lost their verve and zest for writing and are now just doing it to put out one more book? But gosh, I didn't need to worry at all.

The Hotel Nantucket was the consummate summer reading experience. It transported me to Nantucket, and I fell in love with the island, the atmosphere, and all the wonderful characters.

Instead of focusing solely on one or two individuals, this story is more of an ensemble cast, with many characters taking up the pages. And while that took me a few chapters to get into, once I did, I was all in. I can honestly say there wasn't a single character I wasn't fond of, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know everyone and seeing them grow through the pages.

If I had to nitpick something, it would be that there were two characters with almost the same name. There's Sweet Edie (a main character) and Fast Eddie (only a side one). Thankfully, Fast Eddie only appears a few times, though it did confuse me every time he did. But I really had to reach hard to come up with this minor quibble.

No doubt about it, I just about savored every moment of this book. I read it almost entirely outside, soaking up the sunshine and with various fruit-flavored bubble teas in hand. Summers are so special and inevitably too short. Especially this year, having lost half of my summer due to moving and feeling unwell, I'm doubly thankful to have found this gem of a story. It totally buoyed my spirits and added that extra spark to my otherwise abbreviated summer.

Now my only remaining question is: could the ending have been a teensy-weensy wink towards a sequel? I sure hope so!

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

This was a pick for my Book of the Month box. Get your first book for $5 here.

I cannot hope for the future, for I know what it is to become.

Whenever I'm in a reading slump and I need something to shake me out of my funk, Greek mythology is what I reach for. The tales of passion and tragedy, war and loss, glory and triumph always hit the right spot for me. So I'm a bit flummoxed that Elektra didn't turn out to be the reading experience I was hoping for.

Though the title would have you thinking this story is centered on one woman, it actually follows three separate women during the time of the Trojan War. Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon and mother of Elektra, was by far my favorite of the storylines. I was instantly swept up in her narrative and felt sympathy and heartbreak for her plight. We also follow Cassandra, a princess of Troy with the gift of foresight but the curse that none would believe her. While she isn't a big character in mythology, her story is definitely interesting.

Where this fell short for me is with Elektra. Her storyline feels one-dimensional, with her only trait being her obsession with her father and how great he is. Her perspective quickly becomes whiny and repetitive, and I could feel my eyes rolling around in my head whenever it's her turn. It's ironic that the character whose name is the title of this book is also the one I enjoyed the least and dreaded reading.

Another issue is the uneven pacing. Once you get past the exciting initial setup, it feels like things start to slow down. And since the Trojan War is well known in Greek mythology, a lot of what's in here isn't new. So when you put the two things together, a good chunk of the latter part of this book felt like a trudge, without the spark of something new and exciting to engage the reader.

A Greek mythology retelling, when done right, takes us into the hearts and minds of seemingly remote characters and makes them come alive. And so this story does too, though with mixed results. Clytemnestra and Cassandra's narratives were undeniably fascinating, and for that, this was a worthwhile read for me.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Was this a murder mystery? A character study? A meta exploration on being a writer? Honestly, I'm not sure. All I know is, I couldn't get into it no matter how hard I tried.

On the surface, this appears to be everything I'd enjoy. Four strangers are sharing the same table at the library when a scream rends the air. A woman has been murdered. The scream bonds the four strangers and they become fast friends. But as sinister events continue to dog them and they're unable to shake the shadow of the murder, it's clear one of them is hiding secrets. But which one is it?

Ah, a murder mystery with only a limited number of suspects. I can totally get on board with that. But it quickly becomes obvious that four people, one of whom is the first-person narrator, is too few suspects to sustain a full-length novel. There are only so many possibilities and—unless it was an alien or supernatural interloper who did it, but alas, no— it's hard to feel even a blip of surprise when it's all revealed in the end.

Because the mystery itself moves along quite slowly, we spend a lot of time and focus on the characters. But they're bland at best and unlikable at worst, lacking that all-important appeal that makes character studies come alive. And their actions don't really make sense, often bordering on inappropriate and mostly annoying the heck out of me.

This has the format of a story within a story, which I usually love. But it didn't work here. The outer story, with Hannah authoring the murder mystery, doesn't mesh with the actual inner story itself, and her correspondences with Leo are by far the weakest parts of the whole thing. Every time we get to Leo's letters, which is at the end of every single chapter, I dreaded reading it. Not only was it obnoxious and irrelevant, but it took away from the little forward momentum of an already slow story.

And on top of all that, I didn't really understand the very end. I thought everything had wrapped up, but the last page made it seem like there should've been more. Except I'd definitely reached the end, and what an unsatisfying one it was.

I'm just so confused by my reading experience. So many other readers loved this and found it thrilling and twisty. But I thought it was as dull as a murder mystery can be, with hardly any surprises or twists or even clues. Though it was only 250 pages, I crawled through it for weeks and ended up in the dreaded slump.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

My heartfelt thanks for the copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review.

I acted like a totally irrational, absurd, deranged person.

Yes, Sadie, you really did.

Miscommunication (a.k.a. no communication) isn't my favorite trope in any genre, but it particularly grates on my nerves in romances. Pretty much nothing irritates me more than reading about conflict that comes entirely from things unsaid. So it's no surprise that I didn't love this story nearly as much as Ali Hazelwood's other ones.

Add to that my inability to see myself in Sadie, who blabs work confidential information, jumps to conclusions, and thinks the worst in others, and this was a rather eye-rolling experience. The entire time, I felt so bad for Erik, who deserves so much better.

I do realize without all the miscommunication and misunderstanding, there wouldn't be a story at all. But what can I say—a girl wants what a girl wants. And this just wasn't the story for me.

Still, Ali Hazelwood always delivers a fun read, and the fact that this was a short novella made it a tolerable if not entirely enjoyable read for me.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

I can always count on Liu Cixin to write a story full of elements I've never seen before and to put it together in an interesting and thought-provoking way.

In The Cretaceous Past, intelligence has been bestowed upon the dinosaurs and the ants. These two species start off on disparate paths, but when a chance encounter shows them the benefit of mutual cooperation, their paths slowly converge. This symbiotic relationship is fruitful and leads to advancements and improvements for them both. But how long can their cooperation last and what happens when it comes to an end?

This is an allegory, so don't let the fact that it's about animals throw you off. Liu is using this story to explore and comment on the social, political, religious, and environmental issues of our time. Though his original writing is in Chinese and this is a translation, the topics in here feel relevant and timely, even if we're from different cultures.

His writing always reads like a feast for the mind. They make me think of a giant thought exercise, where he takes his reader along on a journey of what-ifs. Who is to say that humans are the only intelligent beings to ever grace the earth? What if dinosaurs and ants not only roamed here, but also possessed intelligence and ingenuity? How might our history have shaken out then?

It follows that Liu's writing style very much matches his narrative content. His writing at times feels more like nonfiction than fiction. He is essentially presenting an alternative history, and that's how readers should approach it. This isn't character-driven at all. Rather, it's a historical text, just of a history that may not have come to pass.

I first came across Liu with his magnum opus, The Three-Body Problem trilogy, which is among the best science fiction I have ever read. And while this novella doesn't reach that level of brilliance, it's still a riveting read from beginning to end.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

Equal parts disturbing and riveting, My Dark Vanessa demanded my whole attention from the very first page. It's an undeniably important story that deserves to be told. But I come out of it reeling because it wasn't quite the story I thought I would be reading.

A troubled and lonely fifteen-year-old girl is singled out by her forty-two-year-old English teacher for special attention. He grooms her and manipulates her into being emotionally entangled with him. After a while, their relationship turns physical and sexual and clearly abusive.

Obviously, this is a graphic story and comes with all the trigger warnings you'd expect from something like this. Reading it was hard, and it was even more so to see firsthand how all the adults in Vanessa's life failed her, not just her abuser. There were so many signs that things were going wrong, yet her parents, her school, her other teachers, they all turned a blind eye so as not to cause trouble. As a result, they enabled and normalized the abuse and made Vanessa feel like she had no one to turn to.

But for me, it was her later life that was even harder to read. The author did not shy away from exploring the long-term affects of abuse. Vanessa reaches adulthood, and yet, she couldn't get away. She keeps going back for more, even though her abuser tries to cut off ties with her. He starts off as the aggressor, but their roles slowly become muddled. She obsesses over him, stalks him, reels him back in to their unhealthy relationship even though he tries to get out. When he doesn't give her the attention she craves, she tries to recreate their relationship with someone else.

To say Vanessa is the unwitting recipient through it all is to take the easy way out. And the author doesn't do that. Instead, she paints a complex, morally fraught, thought-provoking picture of abuse in all of its forms and consequences. Of course Vanessa starts out as a child and is initially the victim of her circumstances. But what about when she's in her twenties, or thirties? Can she ever truly move on, or has the abuse she endured robbed her of her agency and her ability to accept help and heal? There are no easy answers here, only uncomfortable questions.

This was such a distressing and unsettling read, and it left me torn up inside. It starts from a place that I was expecting and veers into a direction that was even darker and more complex than at first glance. Yet, through it all, I couldn't look away. It's definitely one of those memorable reads that will stay with me for a long time.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars