Books and Sensibility

We're an Open Book

Genres

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

     2 Comments

304 Pages | Thomas Dunne Books (Republished by Tor) | 10/24/2017

I’ve been wanting to read Silvia Moreno-Garcia since Mexican Gothic made a splash on the book internet last year. I jumped at the chance to review The Beautiful Ones–not realizing this is one of her backlist titles that has been republished.

Let me tell you

This book was so…odd. It takes the plot of a romantic historical drama and infuses it with magic and fantasy in an extremely subtle way that (while it didn’t make the book less enjoyable) left me wondering why it was there at all?

…

Read this Post

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

     Leave a Comment

Rating: 4 out of 5.

10 hours 15 minutes | Listening Library | 08/31/2021

The first half of this book felt like it was all aesthetic and no bite but wow did the last half of this book flip the script! This twisted story of two schoolgirls and a centuries-old murder becomes an absolute page-turner as the pair dive into a centuries-old tragedy.

…

Read this Post

The Dry by Jane Harper and One Little Mistake by Lucinda Berry

     Leave a Comment

I read more thrillers!

The Dry by Jane Harper

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Finance investigator Aaron Falk hasn’t visited the struggling farming community of Kiewarra in over 20 years—not since he was run out of town for his association with a dead girl. But when his childhood best friend commits a grisly murder-suicide Aaron is called to attend the funeral and gets roped into the investigation.

This was a solid crime novel, to quote one of the blurbs on the back; it has twists on every page. My favorite thing about Jane Haper’s books are her endings–she writes revelations right up to the last word on the last page.

I’ve been experimenting with crime thrillers this year and this is one of my favorites. I liked that it had a character-driven angle with Falk’s past.

…

Read this Post

The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He

     2 Comments

Rating: 4 out of 5.

384 Pages | Roaring Brook Press | Science Fiction YA | 5/4/2021

This book was very much Black Mirror but make it Cli-Fi.

…

Read this Post

High On The Hog by Jessica B. Harris

     Leave a Comment

  7 Hours 3 Mins | Harper Audio | Non-Fiction | 1/11/2011

I was excited to read this book because I wanted to compare it to the documentary but, after I finished the book I didn’t feel the need to watch the documentary. I got everything I need from this small but mighty book as it details the history of African-Americans and how that history impacts the foods we eat.

…

Read this Post

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

     Leave a Comment

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

11 hours 5 minutes | RandomHouse Audio | Historical | 6/1/2021

I guess this is my first ‘TikTok made me read it’ book.

I recently learned that is book is connected to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo so I’m not sure this was the best place to start with Reid but it came in first on my library holds. My experience with this book was like when you watch an amazing TV show you can’t stop talking about and then by the end you just get annoyed but still have to see how it ends.

…

Read this Post