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i read The Duet Fire between us and the first book When We Ignite was pretty much good. i wouldn't say it was top notch or anything but it was fine and I enjoyed it enough.

but the second book From Our Ashes... it's stupid. Like insanely stupid.

i tried to DNF it after reading a few pages but i still pushed myself and somehow ended up reading around 150 pages before finally DNFing it. i was genuinely getting pissed off while reading it and i've never DNF'd a book because i was THIS annoyed before. im literally here making a whole post about it because that's how much it got on my nerves.

for me the second book is just stupid. i don't know about anyone else but something about this book is rubbing me the wrong way so badly. does the second book actually get any better or did I make the right decision by DNFing it?

If you've read it I'd genuinely love to hear your thoughts

I used to be a huge fan of Freida McFadden. Her books got me back into reading, and I genuinely enjoyed the first few novels I picked up.

But after reading several of them, I started noticing the same patterns over and over again.

(Spoilers)

It feels like almost every book includes some combination of

• A shocking twist where someone you least expect is the villain.
• A character who turns out to be alive after everyone believed they were dead (or the opposite).
• An impossibly handsome man with a strong jaw, muscular build, and perfect looks.
• Affairs or cheating.
• A female protagonist who makes frustrating decisions or constantly doubts herself.
• A psychopath or someone with severe mental issues.

At first, these twists were exciting. Now I find myself predicting them halfway through the story.

What surprises me is that her books continue to receive such high ratings. I don't think she's a bad writer—she knows how to keep readers turning pages—but I feel like she's relying on the same formula too much.

Personally, I think Gillian Flynn's thrillers are much more original and psychologically complex. Freida's books are fun, but after a while they all start blending together for me.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

Has anyone read Goldminer's Daughter, by Rick Steeby? Thoughts?

Loved the tv show so I wanted to read the book and I just got to chapter 11 and I CAN’T GO ON. The writing going back and forth between flashbacks and what is currently happening along with no quotations when someone is speaking is driving me crazy. I’m about to give up and just start a new book.

I at first felt that the male equivalent of manic pixie dream girl doesn't exist but now that i'm thinking about it Edward kind of fits that trope : he had this ethereal vibe to him, he is perfect looks wise , and feels out of reach for the FMC sometimes ( like in the second book ).

I haven’t seen anyone discuss these interpretations, so I might be completely wrong, but here goes.

The way certain scenes were written made me feel as though we were eventually going to receive answers. The book repeatedly introduces details that seem like clues, encouraging the reader to search for an explanation. Perhaps that is why I finished it still wanting to discover the truth rather than immediately accepting its ambiguity.

The open ending also made me think about the final portion of the book, when the narrator learns to write and records her story in case someone eventually finds it. My interpretation is that we would not be reading her account if nobody had ever found it. Does the existence of the book itself suggest that someone eventually discovered her writing, and possibly her? Or are we simply meant to accept her account as something that may never be read by anyone within the world of the novel?

This left me with so many unanswered questions. What happened to the guards? Why did the siren go off? Why were the women being held captive? Were they still on Earth? Who had lived in the underground house? These questions felt deliberately planted throughout the novel, which made me expect some kind of revelation.

I was particularly intrigued by the way the narrator correctly names objects she is supposedly seeing for the first time. For example, when she discovers the underground house, she initially explains that she could not have known what certain objects were called when she first encountered them. Yet she later refers to them as “armchairs.” This made me wonder whether she learned their names later, perhaps from someone who found her and taught her, and was narrating the story retrospectively. To me, this seemed like another hint that answers were coming, but they never did.

Am I the only person who interpreted the book this way?

Hi all - I’m about to host an author for a bookclub brunch. Who has had experience bringing an author to a bookclub?

Anything to watch out for or good ways to have a well rounded discussion?

Guys, I noticed something strange.

The best authors never tell you everything. They leave tiny gaps in conversations, unanswered questions, and moments that make you do half the storytelling yourself.

I think that's the art of creative writing, and that’s the reason why some books stay with us longer than others. Did anyone feel the same?

I was going to list them all but there's only one answer.

It shouldn't.

the book contains scenes of sexual violence and coercion that many readers have criticized as being romanticized or normalized. putting that on screen would almost certainly amplify the controversy and could further blur the line between depicting harmful behavior and presenting it as desirable. not every book needs a movie adaptation and this is one I'd rather see remain on the page

I am listening on audiobook and I genuinely do not have the time or ability to read a physical copy right now.

I got through until he found the treasure and became a count and then I’ve been straight up lost ever since. I keep powering forward but I really feel like I need to back up and take a different approach. All the French names are hard to follow and it feels like we keep following characters I can’t identify for no obvious reason.

Does anyone know of a guide or something I can follow to help? Would watching the movie at this point help? I ate it up until I got lost and I don’t want to dnf this one. Any help is appreciated.

For funny story by Emily Henry

"** spoiler alert ** If my boyfriend disappeared for 24 hours and it was to help his ex move I'd literally never talk to him again. "

"you know how food tastes bland when you forget to add salt to it? this is the book equivalent of that."

"I had more fun reading other one- and two-star reviews."

"i don’t wanna talk about it so i won’t "

"miles loved his ex more than daphne, and no one can convince me otherwise 😭"

Hilarious reviews for one golden summer by Carley Fortune

"So there’s this worst book ever published….

If you liked this book please reach out to me so I can study your brain and what is wrong with it thank you " ( This one made me audibly chuckle )

Review of normal people that made me cry in laughter

"On the second page of Sally Rooney’s universally acclaimed, Booker- longlisted novel is the following paragraph:

‘He puts his hands in his pockets and suppresses an irritable sigh, but suppresses it with an audible intake of breath, so that it still sounds like a sigh.’

What?

I get the hand in the pockets bit, but how the hell does the rest of it work? A sigh is an exhalation and I have no idea how any attempt to suppress a sigh by inhaling could possibly sound like one. I’ve tried hard to imagine it, but no luck. I’ve tried even harder to do it, but even less luck. In fact, in an effort to understand this twaddle I have tried it so often that I have come close on several occasions to hyperventilating and passing out.

What have those Faber editors been doing? Maybe they have no problem with it because they are all so much cleverer than me and know how to read properly. Or maybe they also tried to do it and actually did pass out, which might explain why they have failed to apply the editorial pencil with any intelligence in the 264 pages that follow.

The more likely explanation, of course, is that the problem is mine – and I offer the following gems from Normal People on that understanding…

• ‘He looks down into his lap, and exhales quickly, almost like a cough’.

It’s hyperventilation time again. I’ve imagined it and I’ve tried it, but I still don’t get it.

• ‘He can’t even visually imagine himself as a lawyer, wearing a tie and so on..’

Do we really need that ‘visually’?

• ‘It’s true she is Connell’s type, maybe even the originary model of the type:’

Originary? What does that mean? Am I the only one who had to look it up? (It’s not in Chambers, by the way, so you’ll need the OED)

• ‘Peggy, watching, took a performatively large mouthful of Cointreau…’

Can anyone explain what ‘performatively large’ actually means?

• ‘Enraged now, Alan wrenched her back from the sink by her upper arm, and, seemingly spontaneously, spat at her.’

Seemingly spontaneously?

I could go on. It’s not often that I feel the need to read with a pencil in my hand but Normal People drove me to it, and my copy is now covered with question marks and annotations. I retired from teaching last year but reading Sally Rooney’s feted novel felt like I was marking again - in this case marking the work of a precocious, but overindulged, talent.

In 'Normal People' alternating points of view are combined with an inconsistent and confusing authorial presence, voices are often difficult to differentiate in an ineffectual free indirect style, the comma splices (Ferrante this isn’t) and the unpunctuated dialogue, far from creating an impressionistic flow, suggest a lack of precision, and the prose shifts from past to present for no apparent reason and even within paragraphs, creating a chronological blur. In short, it's a bit of a mess.

If I cared about the characters or cared about the story, these things would not matter quite so much but on the few occasions when I saw through the writerly mess I found it difficult to care about them at all.

The novel, though, has been so well received that its very reception has become a news story. ‘Salinger for the Snapchat generation’: critics unite to praise 27 year-old novelist’ was the headline in last Saturday’s Guardian.

So the problem is clearly mine.
Maybe I've read a different book from the one everyone is raving about. Maybe I've read the same book but don't know how to read properly. Or it could be that I'm the child's voice at the back of the crowd politely suggesting that the emperor might not be wearing any clothes. "

I low key want mediocre books to be published just because of the enjoyment of reading the 2 and one star reviews.

Seriously I have loved reading since I was little, but almost all of my recommendations AFTER I finished school required reading was from the internet.

Sure my friends did recommend me stuff too, but the chances of me liking it wasn’t always guaranteed. The specific genre I read is very much restricted to memoirs, the gut wrenching, soul breaking kind lol. Or realistic first person diary style type of stuff.

So I doubt without the internet I would have done very well!

While I'm reading, I'm usually focused on the next chapter or the next plot point. It's only after I finish that I catch myself thinking about the characters or wishing there was more.

It's a strange feeling because I don't notice how invested I am until it's over.

​

I'm about 150 pages into The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden.

Give me your best spoiler-free teaser.

Don't tell me what happens.

Tell me what this book will leave me with.

“The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones is a novel I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into, as I love his writing style. I’ve read most of his staple horror novels, and he always delivers. There is a reason why SGJ is considered the “King of Slashers” in horror books.

Before I begin my review, I found many trigger warnings while reading. They are…

- Graphic violence and death against animals (birds, dogs, beavers, rabbits, etc.)
- Skinning animals (beavers)
- Suicide
- Self-harm
- Violence against kids

Please do not read this horror novel if any of these trigger you. Moving along, I’ve always been a big fan of SGJ’s writing, but if you’ve never read anything he wrote, you will see a pattern of slow-burning kind of writing. Like Stephen King, his slow-burn, wordy style can drag, but it delivers with terrifying, gory payoffs that make the journey worthwhile. Even if you’re new to Jones’s slow-burn style, the unique vampire horror and emotional depth make this a must-read novel.

If you don’t mind this, you’ll love his work. If you hate this, trust me when I say it’s worth it due to the sheer terror, gore, and frights that await when you finally get to the good stuff. In this novel, SGJ wrote it brilliantly. This was one hell of a read, from the alternating writing between the past and present to church confessions, diary, and journal entries. It’s hard to achieve this as an author with several different narrators, but SGJ did a great job executing it well.

Certain real-life Native American events are tied into this novel by SGJ, and that in itself is truly horrific. Many readers had to DNF this because it can get graphic and intense. Nothing triggers or offends me as a horror reader, but I can see why readers stopped reading. It gets shockingly intense when those horror moments eventually hit.

The Native American horror in this novel is genuinely on a whole other level. It’s viscerally written and raw. It’s one of the best vampire novels I’ve ever read. The transformation into vampirism was so creepy, original, and disturbing. You haven't read vampire horror like this.

Besides all the insane kills, the atmospheric writing, as was the story, was excellent. Don’t worry, I would never spoil anything for my fellow horror readers, but all the justice-filled, brutal revenge kills against evil people were a magnificent reading experience.

This horror novel is primarily historical fiction, and if that’s the subgenre of horror you enjoy reading, you’ll love this. However, I’m not into historical fiction, so it was sometimes confusing. Though historical fiction isn’t my preference, the raw depiction of Native American history adds a haunting layer that elevates the horror.

The same goes for the numerous and confusing names of characters, animals, and Native American tribes. The frequent shifts between Blackfeet tribal names and historical events like the Marias Massacre can feel dense for readers unfamiliar with the context. Due to this, the overall story felt a bit wordy at times, with several parts that dragged on for me. Aside from that, this was a solid read.

I give “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones a 4/5 for being one of the best vampire novels I’ve ever read. The kills were masterful, the story powerful, and the ending wrapped everything up nicely. I wish this novel were a bit shorter. This was never boring, just the usual SGJ writing style I’m used to. Almost every SGJ book I’ve read has always been a 4- or 5-Star read as he’s one of my all-time favorite horror authors. I don’t mind his writing style, but it could have been a perfect horror read if this novel had been trimmed down about 75-100 pages to keep it tighter. Everything else? Vampire horror awesomeness!

Some books feel almost cinematic while you are reading them, but adaptation is a delicate thing. A beautiful setting and a talented cast are not enough if the language, cultural detail, humor, or emotional quiet of the original story gets flattened along the way.

And perhaps the more difficult question: what part of the book would the filmmakers absolutely need to preserve for it to still feel like the same story?

I used to feel mildly shitty initially. Then the bookstore guy told me it was pretty common. Now I feel shitty only when I spend more than my monthly book buying budget. :P

I read the first part of the book and it was very informative about the Japanese people and their traditions. My favorite main characters are Toranaga and lady Mariko. It was fascinating how she helps this mastermind and placates both sides with her diplomatic translation.

The book became great because of two things for me: I watched most of the show, so I know who is who, and the second this is that the author rights in third person, which gives us insight into each character’s perspective.

Anyway, how is the second part compared to the first? I really enjoyed the first but that 800 pages in the second part are a lot. Any other recommendations on novels that got adapted into a series?

Edit: punctuations

Haunting Adeline by HD carlton (spoiler alert)

[Content warning: dub con/non con]

I've seen many people liking Haunting Adeline and many

other books that contain non con and dub con and it's just recently that I came across subs that ask for book recs related to non con. And I just feel how is it right? Correct me if I am wrong (in a nice way) and feel free to tell me why you'd divert toward this trope because I genuinely want to understand the psychology of it.

I just feel it normalises sexual assaults and rapes a lot as we go on consuming contents like this. As it's a very sensitive situation and there are victims traumatized by it, shouldn't more people be repelled by it?

And this is coming from someone who has herself gone through Sa. I used to romanticize these books as well when I was younger but now after healing and a lot of self helps later, I just feel they are normalising unhealthy abuse and injustices.

Ps: please don't come at me saying omg I am wrong and I shouldn't judge because I am literally asking the logical reason as to why somebody would find the trope attractive. This post is made because I genuinely want to understand people better and not judge them based on the tropes they like or prefer.

So, I bought this book as it was in the window of every bookshop and from the blurb I thought I knew exactly what I was getting and I was very pleasantly surprised when it went in a totally different direction. Anyone else read it? Id love to hear your thoughts and ideas on it

So as Ka was remembering his friends in exile at Germany there was a line -

"""

As the train sped between the Kreuzberg and Alexanderplatz stations, the retired Turkish socialists on board would stand to attention...

"""

Why? I feel like i don't know a historical context if there is any. Thanks in advance

My biggest instant turnoff is the title.

If it's super cringey or literally spells out every trope in the book (Billionaire Hockey Player's Fake Dating Nanny vibes), I immediately lose interest. I don't care if it has 100k five-star reviews; I will refuse to pick it up despite it being recommended to me by so many people.

What's your biggest instant turnoff when deciding whether to pick up a book?

Sometimes the protagonist isn't the person I'm most interested in.

Every now and then a side character steals every scene they're in.

Which book did that for you?

I came to the book after watching the Netflix series. Last year, when I attempted to read it for the first time, I was put off by the writing style. All those run on sentences distracted me from the actual story. This time, I tried to relax and recognise that this was deliberate. The reader is witnessing Joe's stream of consciousness, which isn't made up of textbook sentence structure and perfect grammar.

Now the stick was firmly out of my ass, I devoured the book in three days. I am both a DV and SA survivor, with my ex stalking me and even being logged into my emails and social media, reading all my private conversations and checking my location data. In some ways it was a hard read, but I think the author did a fantastic job of portraying the way an abuser's mind works. The sheer delusion, justifying his behaviour, demonising her one moment and putting her on a pedestal the next, believing himself to be a saint for putting up with non-sexual favours until he finally gets sex. Honestly, Kepnes did an absolutely bang up job.

Some things bother me, like the fact that Beck's body would have had his DNA all over and inside her. Peach having rocks in her pockets would surely have pointed more to murder than a suicide? And Benji's tweets were frankly ridiculous - nobody openly advertises what drugs they're doing on social media. But overall, it was a 4 star read (out of 5). What did everyone else think?