readingmaria's reviews
539 reviews

Not the best writing, but I really liked most of the poems. Not exactly sure how these qualify as dark humour, when I didn’t find anything funny about these. It’s definitely dark though, very Rupi Kaur-esque, minus the lyrical writing.

I really liked the writing, and a lot of the stories. Some were fabulous, others were just ok, which is what you get when you read short story collections sometimes. This is the kind of collection where you read one story, and then put it down for a bit before you pick up the next one.

What a star of a book. I didn’t even know that this topic (single women able to own land without a man) was a thing! Let alone Black women, as the author points out in his authors note.

What a ride of a book, and honestly the end was just perfect. This was a really great and memorable horror/historical/action-adventure book that leaves me wanting to read everything from him.

This is definitely Chantel’s best book yet. The plot was so cute, and quite the adventure, more than what I was expecting for a romcom holiday book, BUT IT WORKS! I just loved the setting and the characters. I can’t wait for more books, I need more holiday romances from Chantel asap!

Was this book as good as The Holiday Swap? I don’t think so. I really enjoyed the Nashville charm of the novel, and the whole romantic feel of the book. But for some reason this just didn’t connect, maybe because of the miscommunication trope? This had the makings of a great romance, but just missed the mark for me.

This debut thriller was so entertaining and such a quick read! Was it the perfect writing? Not really, but the story was a vibe. It felt a little choppy though during the second half, like too much was being crammed in to setup an eventful ending. But other than that, I just enjoyed the ride on this one.

A really touching book that would make for a wonderful resource for teens, and for librarians/teachers. Definitely a powerful story

Wow, this writing is unlike nothing I’ve read before. Lyrical, beautiful, poetic, and so smart. What lost me throughout was, weirdly enough, the writing- it was a little repetitive throughout, and it felt disjointed at time. Yes it was beautiful, but i think it was just right book wrong time for me. I think this would work better on audio, to be honest. There’s a lot going for this book though, so I know other opinions are probably better off listening to than mine! I really hope you enjoy this book when you pick it up!

A good debut, but I think the writing style just wasn’t for me. It seemed a bit choppy with sudden jumps in time, and I feel like the things that happened from Michael and that one dinner, the outcome just wasn’t explained or connected well in my view (this, and a few other things). Regardless, I really did like this as a debut, and I’m holding out on Erika coming up with a fabulous second novel. The story was really cool, just the execution wasn’t my favourite. 

Ok let me start off by saying - wow, was this terrifying for most of the book! If you’re looking for spooky season horror ghost vibes, this is for you!

With that being said - yes, I think this book delivers on the creep factor. But the characters, the dialogue….blah. I was bored for those parts. I also felt really dumb at times, because they kept referring to things that others said, but like I never actually remember reading what was said (when in fact, it wasn’t revealed until later). I just don’t think that was really necessary, the whole intrigue of why the three women weren’t exactly friends anymore. It just felt really forced and useless to the book.

Oh, and diverse characters being thrown in just to have diverse characters? Not that cool. And was it just me, or was the one whole land conversation with Laney giving stealing-our-Indigenous-land vibes? Idk, with the BIPOC/LGBTQ+ characters seemingly forced, i just find myself questioning everything.