mmccombs's reviews
597 reviews

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

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emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

The writing was very well done and I really enjoyed learning more about Rastafari and the ways in which Sinclair navigated her family life. Making connections between the colonial past and present of Jamaica, the abusive control exacted by her father, and the long line of women who persevered and carried her was very well done. I did think it was fairly repetitive and slow, I most enjoyed the first few chapters and the last because that’s where she was able to round up and bring together her ideas. 
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A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

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emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

4.0

One of the swooniest, most magical romances I’ve ever read! Simply fantastical and outlandish, it is warm and sweet and funny because it never compromises on the magical part to its realism. I love the way Williams writes, there is something so breezy and effortless to her prose. While sometimes I was like “ugh cheesy!” it all worked to create a compelling, fun romance that also dipped into more serious themes. I loved these characters and their chemistry, the puns and pop-culture references were on the whole well executed, and the sense of place in Harlem (both historical and present) was so vivid. I loved Seven Days in June and loved this one too, I can’t wait for more romances (and hopefully some great movie adaptations, too!)
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The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

Deliciously dark and queer and monstrous, I really enjoyed the historical fiction + creature revenge plot mix. Short and sweet, I thought the writing was engaging, the characters well-written, and the time period compelling. Exploring queer and trans identities in Appalachia post WWI, where religious bigotry, eugenics, and modernization clash was something I’ve not explored before. I enjoyed Mandelo’s other novella and was pleased to enjoy this one just as much, great stories with even better senses of place and atmosphere. 
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Diavola by Jennifer Thorne

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dark funny tense fast-paced

5.0

When I picked up this book, I (for some reason) anticipated more of a gothic horror vibe, but this was truly straight HORROR at its best. Lots of bits that made me go “agh no!” out loud, a very atmospheric (and wonderfully Italian) setting, and a really interesting family dynamic all worked together to create a rich, creepy tapestry. I loved that Anna and her black sheep relationship to her family directly impacted and influenced the ghost story.
I loved that she got a bit snarky with the ghost, it became a relationship in its own right and made for some funny moments (which were definitely welcome when I was freaking out thinking about a ghost licking her foot). I also appreciated that she never reconciles with her terrible family and let the “rot” do its thing, truly awful people lol
All in all, I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this read, would definitely recommend for a scary summer read (maybe even on a family vacation just to keep it interesting!)
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The Winners by Fredrik Backman

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

So this book was basically exactly the same as the other two, so I should have loved it, but mostly I felt over it by the time I was only halfway through. It had the usual good writing, good characters, and bonkers domino effect of a plot, but this one felt especially over-the-top, repetitive, and long. Every bad thing that hadn’t already happened in the first two books happened in this one, and it wasn’t exactly compelling. When I finished Us Against You, I was like “ah ha! These towns have finally remembered the power of hockey and friendship!” And then this book was like, “hm, no, let’s make it much worse but in a way that doesn’t feel as natural as it did before!” There were quite a few bits where I was hit with a feeling of Deja-vu, where it seemed I was reading the same exact scene/inner character thought I had earlier in the book. I just couldn’t stay as interested and the drama was just too much, so for that reason the simpler, more down-to-earth (if still cheesy) character work I loved so much in the first two books felt a bit lost.
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Sula by Toni Morrison

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

While this isn’t my favorite Morrison that I’ve read, it still has everything that I’ve come to love and expect from her work. Layered, complicated characters with layered, complicated relationships with each other, and absolutely beautiful prose. I loved this exploration of girlhood, friendship, sex and sexuality, and the social pressures that bring us together or pull us apart. 
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The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

Really interesting ideas and I mostly had a good time, but I found myself losing interest and then getting confused about what was happening, then having to rewind the audio, and mostly being like huh okay I guess. The vibes were great, the fantasy was really imaginative, the main characters were really fun. However, there were maybe too many characters, too many twists, and too much fantastical elements going on. Tbh, I thought this was just a straight Sherlock Holmes retelling (very much misinformed lol), so I was kind of shocked by how fantastical it was! Which was a treat, I just wasn’t mentally ready for all of the new words and concepts and world-building. It was good but not great for me!
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The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

Honestly, the only reason I got through this was because I felt I owed it to Jade to finish the trilogy. The first book was an absolute sucker punch wow of a story, the second book was a bit confusing but engaging, and this last book was basically impenetrable. 

Last year I went to a book event for Reaper, and SGJ described his writing process of just letting the story unfold from his brain without any kind of plan (even in determining who the slasher is) going into it. I’d say for the first book (and his Only Good Indians) this is a process that works and makes for very compelling horror, but in this book it felt noticeable in a bad way. Meandering, convoluted, unfocused, there were too many characters, too many “big bads,” too many things happening, and not enough clarity to make sense of any of it. 

While SGJ can create vivid (and I mean VIVID) descriptions of gore and bodies and actions, his work tends to struggle with establishing a firm sense of place or time. Throughout this entire series but especially this installment, I was never quite clear about where these things were happening, if it was night or day, or what Proofrock even really looks like (where is the lake? Where is the dam? Where is the town? Where are the characters in relation to these places?). Without this kind of grounding, I never quite felt stable enough to understand who was in a given scene or what was happening.

The “Baker Investigations” parts only added more confusion to a story that was already confusing. I did like that this was from Jade’s POV, but her inner ramblings often got too long and lost the plot’s momentum. I think this could have been a 250 page book and still retained Jade’s singular voice while staying a bit clearer on the action. There are some really fun and moving portions of this book, but I felt like they got lost in the sheer volume of Jade’s thoughts (which was the point, I guess, but it didn’t make it any more enjoyable).

Ultimately, I’m glad I finished out Jade’s story, and she will remain one of the most impactful characters I’ve ever read. While I wish I resonated with this final installment a bit more, she will forever remain my final girl.
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Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.0

This is my first non-Beartown Backman and now I know to always expect sweet, often corny, detailed, and moving accounts of how we belong to and owe each other, even if we are complete strangers. Though I feel like the title of this book makes no sense given the content so I didn’t anticipate what this would be about, I found this to be equally propulsive (ooh a mystery!) and cozy (ooh people hanging out and talking about their stories!). I love Backman’s style of talking about “us” while also talking specifically about a character, stretching the POV into the past, present, and future all at once, I think he is an expert at making a unique experience (and a very strange one at that in this case!) into something that captures universal truths. Everyone we meet has a life full of problems and joys and history, and when we brush up against each other we may be lucky enough to find the little connections that make our lives just a bit fuller, too. Just a pleasure to read!
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Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

Simple prose that breathed with life and rendered the impacts of colonization in the present tangible. While I did struggle a bit with the pace and organization of it (I kind of wish it was just told chronologically, but it wasn’t bad, either). I loved the characters and the strong sense of place, and it was also a book where you could tell immense care was taken in the translation of it. So glad this book came on my radar, it covered a time and place I’m not familiar with and did so very compellingly!
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