taylasversion's reviews
103 reviews

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Hard book to rate. I didn’t particularly enjoy it all that much, it was written really well and I liked a lot of the themes. 

With this book I strongly relate vegetarianism/veganism with how men treat women. The complete disregard for their thoughts, feelings, and bodies. The constant take, take, take. The need for control. The way the wives are there purely for the enjoyment of men, as if they aren’t their own being.

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

As a vegan I had to (try, at least) to put aside a lot of my own personal thoughts and feelings to enjoy this, but I 100% did. 

This is such a brilliant book. It reads horrendously pretentious, and I think that’s entirely the point. I’ll honestly say I learnt a lot of new words reading this. It’s so incredibly well written.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It’s not that this is a badly written book, it isn’t. But the concept has been done time and time again and this book doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It got repetitive REALLY quick, and was painfully predictable. I enjoyed it just fine but I was just so underwhelmed considering the hype around this book. 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I had such a great time reading this, really enjoyed this book. It’s witty and heartfelt. 

The ONLY thing is I wish it had been described better in the synopsis. It tells us the book is about the cooking show, which doesn’t even start until half way through, and about how it revolutionizes the women who watch it, which is technically true but we’re only shown a part of it and only about 3/4 of the way in. 

It’s a story of love and heartbreak and womanhood and mothers and strength and doing what’s right, the television show isn’t even the main part of it, it’s just something that happens along Elizabeth’s story. 

Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

 Holy hell, this book is so underrated. I thought I knew what I was getting into when I started, but it continued to surprise me. I love any type of female heavy type of book so this really scratched that itch. Great thriller novel with scifi elements. Learnt a lot in this as well, I love when I read something in a book and search it up and it’s actually true! Shows the research and also makes me dive into a rabbit hole about topics. 

Really enjoyed reading this, would love to see a screen adaptation of it, I think that would be fantastic. 

Argylle by Elly Conway

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I didn’t want to get sucked into the craziness surrounding this movie and book but alas here I am. I wanted to read this before seeing the movie, but it turned out this is the book that’s WITHIN the movie and not the actually story itself, which is still kind of cool to release the tie in to the movie. Whenever I watch a movie or read a book that’s about another book I always want to read it and now we’ve got that! 

This is my first spy novel I’ve read, and while I had a fine time reading it, this probably wasn’t the best introduction to the genre. While I liked it, it felt very cliche and gimmicky, which from the trailers, the movie will be too. I also feel like watching spy movies it’s a bit more believable because you’re seeing it happen and you can suspend disbelief, but when reading this there were several times I was just like ‘well that’s not even possible.’ Other times I just couldn’t even conceptualize what was even happening. 

I also guessed who the snitch was about halfway through so the ending was very lackluster for me.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The way I searched for the Temple and Webster Amina mirror and it’s currently on sale for $299 seems like a sign… 

At first I was really loving all the Australian references, because most media is set in America so it’s refreshing to see your home portrayed in a book. But then it kept coming and wouldn’t stop, and got old QUICK. We get it, it’s set in Brisbane! Not only was there a lot of Australian references but pop culture too. I should’ve kept a Taylor Swift mention tally. I may be a Swiftie but I know when I’m being pandered to. 

When the book really gets going it’s when it forgets to add all the unnatural name, place, brand dropping, and just focuses on the story at hand. The last quarter of the book is so intriguing and kept me turning the page. It really is an interesting story. Dalton is a fantastic writer and knows how to write a great story, so I don’t understand why he thinks he has to rely on blatant sentimentality points that adds nothing to the story in order to connect to the audience. 

I think I would like to read some of Dalton’s other books still, particularly Boy Swallows Universe. 

3.5 ⭐️