bookishpatricia's reviews
54 reviews

DNF'ed but rating for the review. 1 star: (I would rather babysit than keep reading this (and I dislike children)

Partial review of “Sign Here” grabbed from my Bookstagram (@bookishpatricia)
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Well first off, its concept of hell is fresh AF.

Second, I myself am not a stranger to bargaining during bad moments of my life. That in times of desperation, you *swear* you’ll do better once you overcome that hurdle. We’ve all been there, we’ve all done that. This book is making me think that while I assume that I’m bargaining with a Higher Being, could that really be the case.. or was I actually bargaining with the devil?

Uncomfortable but true — when you ask for something, you’re given the opposite. You ask for patience, you’re given difficult people to deal with. You want to win at something, you get back to back setbacks. And so on. So, to wit, when you ask for a result, you’re given the lesson instead. That’s the long, exhausting yet rewarding road.

The devil doesn’t do that. The devil is sneaky and it’s very sexy. It seduces and tempts you until you rationalize the red flags yourself. It gives you short-term pleasure aka what you want now, in exchange for long-term suffering. Unless of course, you clean up your act. But the devil is like your narcissistic ex who’ll tell you everything you want to hear at the most perfect moments, so you better put those concrete walls up.

What I’m saying is, there’s something to be had in suffering and pain. If it’s all too good to be true, it’s probably too good to be true. When something looks too easy, think twice.

As Pey said, “The truth is I didn’t do anything to the mailbox. I didn’t touch the envelope. People should really open their mail before they call on us.”

Things might be more than what you bargained for. Trust yourself first.

My review is pithy and straight to the point. It's brilliantly written, more so, excellently narrated by the author - Caitlin (@thegooddeath) herself.

A few years ago, I was dead set (no pun intended) on making the most of my life. I went batshit crazy on my indulgences and ticked off my pseudo bucket list, one trivial goal at a time (try this cheesecake, buy that dress, date myself next weekend, etc.)

One day while looking up Latin phrases, I chanced upon the phrase Memento Mori - "Remember you must die." It embodied the exact sentiment I had but nobody else shared. To live life fully, you must embrace that death, one day will come knocking on your door. I felt massive relief learning that phase.

To immortalize that belief, I got a skull tattoo. A lot of work went into it. I decided to sketch it one pandemic morning, added florals for a feminine touch, booked an appointment with my tattooist friend, and in December 2020, I "earned" it.

I'm fortunate enough to have a mother who doesn't fear talking about mortality. It's important. Acknowledging death gives you more freedom. Denying it locks you up further and makes you more self-conscious and a magnet of your own fears.

Sure, death scares me in some way. But it's not really about death. It's more about the potential pain I'd fear. If it's my time, I'd rather have it done quickly. There's more death in living paralyzed or purposeless than being lifeless and breathless.

"He was supposed to be a myth."

The first few chapters were really captivating. Being new to the Greek Myth genre, I would say that this is a pretty good book to start with. The limited number of characters made it more digestible for me. I enjoyed Hades's thought process. He may have a bad reputation, but he has integrity. I appreciated the little details that made them sound more modern and "human". World building part was okay, and if that's all there is in their cities, then... it's so bland? Lol.

It felt too fast after the few good first chapters. I'm not sure if this is YA but it reads like it. That said, it felt underdeveloped. I'm not well-versed in GM, but I wanted more.