sallysimply's reviews
1366 reviews

This book is not for everyone, I'll start there. I'm not sure how to recommend it and who to recommend it to. But it most certainly is for me! This is one of those experiences where I finished and thought, "wtf did I just read?" but not in the way I tend to do, because the book is weird or gross. Instead, it's more because it's aimless and unexpected.

The Coin is a jarring, unsettling novel with a protagonist who doesn't even try to be likable and is not the most reliable. Her opinions often seem provocative for the sake of being provocative, and I imagine a lot of people won't like that. She's messy, the other characters are messy, there is no one to root for really but there is also no plot to be found.

All of this sounds like I did not enjoy the book; trust me, I did! Give me an aimless, quirky book with messy characters all day every day, please and thank you.

This book will find its audience, I'm pretty sure of it. And it will probably stumble along the way.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this latest installment in the Dark Olympus series. In terms of characters and central love story, I can say confidently that it wasn't my favorite (it might even be my least favorite), but I really liked the development of the larger storyline, so I'm torn.

I have really enjoyed the snippets we've gotten of Ariadne up to this point. The Minotaur? Meh. Before this book, I didn't think much of him, but boy did I dislike being in his POV. Fans of the more possessive, "touch her and I'll kill you" vibe will likely enjoy this way more than I did. Sadly, I am not a fan.

The sex scenes were solid and there were some nice moments here and there, but I found myself largely tuning out their interactions unless it involved the political plot. My favorite scenes in this were ones that had nothing to do with Ariadne and the Minotaur's relationship. And that's an odd experience to have when reading a romance novel.

I will say, this got me pumped for the Icarus and Poseidon book. I found Icarus a little annoying throughout most of Dark Restraint but then that snippet at the end got me! I'm raring and ready to go.

I may come back to this at some point but I’m just not having a good time with it and being only halfway through feels a bit daunting as a result.

What a ride!

Beautiful story and a great narrator.

Faves were: 
Being Portal
Calling My Grandmothers, Calling the Frontier
The Quantified Baby

What a deeply unsettling novella! About a week after finishing it, I keep randomly thinking about it.

For starters, massive trigger warning for animal cruelty/death. I was not expecting it and the content was graphic.

This starts off a bit slow, and if you don't read the synopsis ahead of time (I hadn't), you're not quite sure what's happening. The narrator drops a couple of hints that things are not okay, that there are recent events that might come into play in the story, which is enough to start building up tension.

If you like going into things not knowing much, then all you really need to know is that the main character seems to be having sleep issues and keeps waking up exhausted, sometimes with unexplained bruises and injuries. She's on a quest to figure out what's going on, and what she discovers leaves her with more questions than answers.

By the end of the book, you're also left with questions, so if you need a clean, clear ending, this might not be for you. This type of ending works perfectly well for me, as does the general structure of this story. I love trying to piece things together with the character. I love the feeling that things aren't quite right and can't possibly end well. This is creepy as hell, and the audiobook is great.

I did keep wanting just a bit more. A bit more of the main character, a bit more insight into her past, a bit more at the end (not necessarily more answers, just... more). This is what keeps it from 5 stars, but if it lingers with me much longer, that might get bumped up.

What a fun time!

Fantastic!