Scan barcode
oomilyreads's reviews
163 reviews
Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Homicide and Halo-Halo (Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery #2) written by Mia P. Manansala
PUB DATE: Feb 8, 2022
Last year I really enjoyed Mia Manansala’s debut cozy mystery, Arsenic and Adobo. So I was pretty excited to be offered to read the 2nd book in her series.
In Arsenic and Adobo,amateur sleuths in a small town solving murder mysteries and usually getting into trouble by bending the rules. That book was a bit more light-hearted than this one.
This sequel is still very much cozy although deals with tougher topics while MC 25-yo Filipina Lila Macapagal is still mentally recovering from the last book’s event that happened a few months ago in the best way she knows how…avoidance. The events in this book revolves around the small town’s teen beauty pageant, which she won many years ago, an event that was one of many wedges between her and her cousin, Bernadette. But now these two must patch up their rivalry when Bernadette becomes the main suspect when the head judge is suddenly murdered.
This story was really fun & well-paced, and I really appreciated the author pointing out the trigger warnings in the author’s note in the beginning. Mental health, PTSD, familiar expectations, importance of therapy. I really liked the diversity in characters and women empowerment in this story.
Thank you @netgalley @berkleypub for this ARC! I plan to make a recipe from the back of the book!
PUB DATE: Feb 8, 2022
Last year I really enjoyed Mia Manansala’s debut cozy mystery, Arsenic and Adobo. So I was pretty excited to be offered to read the 2nd book in her series.
In Arsenic and Adobo,amateur sleuths in a small town solving murder mysteries and usually getting into trouble by bending the rules. That book was a bit more light-hearted than this one.
This sequel is still very much cozy although deals with tougher topics while MC 25-yo Filipina Lila Macapagal is still mentally recovering from the last book’s event that happened a few months ago in the best way she knows how…avoidance. The events in this book revolves around the small town’s teen beauty pageant, which she won many years ago, an event that was one of many wedges between her and her cousin, Bernadette. But now these two must patch up their rivalry when Bernadette becomes the main suspect when the head judge is suddenly murdered.
This story was really fun & well-paced, and I really appreciated the author pointing out the trigger warnings in the author’s note in the beginning. Mental health, PTSD, familiar expectations, importance of therapy. I really liked the diversity in characters and women empowerment in this story.
Thank you @netgalley @berkleypub for this ARC! I plan to make a recipe from the back of the book!
Burden Falls by Kat Ellis
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Burden Falls written by Kat Ellis
In this YA Horror Thriller, 17-yo Ava Thorn lives in a superstitious small town called Burden Falls. The Thorn Manor overseas an apple orchard and sits next to a cursed waterfall where “Dead-Eyed Sadie”, a disturbing ghost with no eyes haunts. The Thorns are well-known in the town & has lived in that manor for centuries until it fell into financial ruin and since her parents died in a tragic car accident a year ago.
Her nightmares & mental health starts to deteriorate when her rival is brutally murdered, she becomes the main suspect. She starts to wonder if Dead-Eyed Sadie is real & has finally come to collect.
This is the best YA Horror Thriller I’ve ever read! Ava Thorn had such great character development & I really enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes. She has a ton of grit and a tough exterior but she’s also quite vulnerable & experiencing PTSD from her parent’s death.
Ellis wrote a spectacular atmospheric spooky thriller about a small superstitious town, dark family secrets, rivalries & paranormal events. I am looking forward to reading her other books. This book is dark, bone-chilling & disturbing & I’m here for it! Also I didn’t sleep for 2 nights.
In this YA Horror Thriller, 17-yo Ava Thorn lives in a superstitious small town called Burden Falls. The Thorn Manor overseas an apple orchard and sits next to a cursed waterfall where “Dead-Eyed Sadie”, a disturbing ghost with no eyes haunts. The Thorns are well-known in the town & has lived in that manor for centuries until it fell into financial ruin and since her parents died in a tragic car accident a year ago.
Her nightmares & mental health starts to deteriorate when her rival is brutally murdered, she becomes the main suspect. She starts to wonder if Dead-Eyed Sadie is real & has finally come to collect.
This is the best YA Horror Thriller I’ve ever read! Ava Thorn had such great character development & I really enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes. She has a ton of grit and a tough exterior but she’s also quite vulnerable & experiencing PTSD from her parent’s death.
Ellis wrote a spectacular atmospheric spooky thriller about a small superstitious town, dark family secrets, rivalries & paranormal events. I am looking forward to reading her other books. This book is dark, bone-chilling & disturbing & I’m here for it! Also I didn’t sleep for 2 nights.
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
PUB DATE: Feb 1, 2022
In 1989, Romania is under the oppressive tyranny of Nicolae Ceaușescu. 17-yo Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a philosopher and writer like his beloved Bunu (grandpa) but Romanians aren’t allowed to think or dream. In this YA Historical Thriller, the story follows Cristian who is blackmailed into becoming an informer.
I was immensely invested in Cristian’s life and the suffering and torture that he and those around him had to endure under Ceaușescu. As tensions built towards the end of Dec 1989, Cristian becomes desperate to undermine the dictatorship that has consumed his country, his people and his family. There is a young romance, sweet & touching, best-friends & loyalty, and family relationships that is broken by a dictator that purposely creates misunderstanding, mistrust & fear to demoralize its people.
"They steal our power by making us believe we don't have any, but words and creative phrases they have power".
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its short chapters, & well-paced story line. I felt sorrow at the end of the story, the unfairness of it but ultimately understand that is what happens when a dictator commands isolation & fear into it’s people.
Ruta Sepetys is renowned for her stories of lesser-known history and giving voice to those who have experienced it. Her research is well done, her writing incredible & have led me to look up these events myself.
Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Z for Zachariah written by Robert O’Brien
A post-apocalyptic YA sci-fi novel published in 1974. The story unfolds through journal entries from the perspective of 15yo Ann Burden. Since the holocaustic nuclear war ended, she has been living alone thinking she may be the last person on earth as the valley she lives in thrives on its own ecosystem & she's been able to survive with a few animals.
One day a man shows up in her little green valley & that’s when things get super weird. Her diary entries did not feel like any young person's thoughts and feelings. It was just a log of events. I felt disconnected with the MC after horrific events happened in the story & actually felt enraged with her decisions. This was clearly written by an older man who thinks this is how a young girl thinks. Being dumb and wanting to marry the first guy she meets.
The title is weird and the ending was unsatisfactory. While Ann was a sweet enough character, she could have been written as a real bad-ass female protagonist. The author could have gone into the inner workings of the human psyche and why things turned out the way it did. Book had little action and was kind of boring & dumb.
My husband has fond "memories" of this book in high school but after asking me to read it with him, he realized he never finished the book in school and thought it was pretty annoying too. 😒
!!!!! Spoiler:
There’s a part where he randomly tries to rape her for no reason. There was no build up. She said “oh well I guess I’ll give him my house and live in the caves” and still bring him food and things. Like WTF is happening here. He ends up locking her out of the store and later shoots her in the foot and her entry goes like this “he shot me today.” NO. I’d be like “that MF” In the end she moves out of HER valley after thinking
she’ll just shoot her dog cause he’s using her dog to track her. She could at least say her crazy religion was the reason why she’s acting like that but no, it doesn’t delve into that either!!
A post-apocalyptic YA sci-fi novel published in 1974. The story unfolds through journal entries from the perspective of 15yo Ann Burden. Since the holocaustic nuclear war ended, she has been living alone thinking she may be the last person on earth as the valley she lives in thrives on its own ecosystem & she's been able to survive with a few animals.
One day a man shows up in her little green valley & that’s when things get super weird. Her diary entries did not feel like any young person's thoughts and feelings. It was just a log of events. I felt disconnected with the MC after horrific events happened in the story & actually felt enraged with her decisions. This was clearly written by an older man who thinks this is how a young girl thinks. Being dumb and wanting to marry the first guy she meets.
The title is weird and the ending was unsatisfactory. While Ann was a sweet enough character, she could have been written as a real bad-ass female protagonist. The author could have gone into the inner workings of the human psyche and why things turned out the way it did. Book had little action and was kind of boring & dumb.
My husband has fond "memories" of this book in high school but after asking me to read it with him, he realized he never finished the book in school and thought it was pretty annoying too. 😒
!!!!! Spoiler:
There’s a part where he randomly tries to rape her for no reason. There was no build up. She said “oh well I guess I’ll give him my house and live in the caves” and still bring him food and things. Like WTF is happening here. He ends up locking her out of the store and later shoots her in the foot and her entry goes like this “he shot me today.” NO. I’d be like “that MF” In the end she moves out of HER valley after thinking
she’ll just shoot her dog cause he’s using her dog to track her. She could at least say her crazy religion was the reason why she’s acting like that but no, it doesn’t delve into that either!!
Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
reflective
sad
slow-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
2.0
Diana O’Toole, 29 yo is about to fly to the Galapagos with her boyfriend, Finn. But it’s March 2020 & Finn needs to help in the COVID unit and the city starts to shut down. She goes without him to the Galapagos and immediately the island is placed under quarantine. She connects with a local family and she finds herself yearning to live in this paradise rather than go home.
This book was so frustrating. It felt like a “Frankenstein” book where different parts of the COVID pandemic were mashed together in a strange and bizarre way. As a healthcare provider who had dying COVID patients, I felt that it didn’t actually honor us. If anything, the one character who was representing us, was treated horribly and used by the MC. Shouldn’t we be highlighting how much love they should be getting?
But let’s get straight to the MC, shall we? Diana is a real TOOL. Throughout the entire book, not once did I feel any sympathy or connection to her. She is obnoxious, narcissistic, whiny, ungrateful, and loathsome. She has NO self-awareness and blames everything on everyone else. Not to mention, she almost never wears a mask and just breaks all kinds of rules with no regard for others.
There is one part where someone says to her “You are just salty that you are caught between two lives”. I can’t believe there were so many parts that I wanted to reach through the novel and slap her! I am so unhappy with how Picoult handled the pandemic, how she treated healthcare workers – they deserved so much more love than this. I will give it to her that she did some research on what was going on in the hospital which pushed this to 2 stars but I just cannot with the MC, I was angry the entire book! She never once consoled her heroic BF who was clearly having PTSD and depression from what he faced on the wards.
The only saving grace was one of my favorite narrators, Marin Ireland! Thank you Libro FM for gifting me the audiobook!