Justine

The first time I had to dnf cause I had no idea what was going on, but always knew I'd have to go back to it and I'm so glad I did. While I enjoyed this story once I understood the style, I was left very confused by the actual end and what was going on there and it seems at least I'm not alone there. Looking forward to part two. 

Really enjoyable. Would recommend. Some little twists and reveals were really predictable but the big one got me. I enjoyed the gritty mc in the small shitty town with too many secrets.

 I'm pretty sad about liv though. Just all around her character was heartbreaking and it was a real shame she died. Cass was something else, honestly was so surprised by that because I was convinced that she was so prickly because she was secretly in love with Naomi lol. So that was super wrong. But I like that there were smaller monsters, that there were some good people who were just fucked up and flawed and some bad people who were trying their best to navigate everything, be it right or wrong. The characterization felt real, of the small town and those in it.

I thought this was a fun lil story. I wanted it to go a lil further than it did or even different places but that's just my own projections onto an interesting world.

For such a deep subject and the amount of awful things that happen it's odd that I would leave this feeling that it was a light story. It was well paced and definitely kept me interested the whole way through. I've never read this author before but will definitely be looking at his other works. I think he did a great job at making the science easily digestible.

I really liked Kara right off the bat and was sad we didn't  get much time with her and the way things go. It was jarring to see that there was no room for even a little discussion and just automatically went to trying to kill each other. Which I see is part of the point to begin with. I liked the story we got I just also want a different one. And perhaps it's because I rarely read a male pov, but I really gravitated towards her and wanted more.  Even though I thought she was being way too quick to pull the trigger on releasing this thing and nothing was going to get in her way and there was no room for even a brief discussion about anything. And perhaps that's my issue here, I wanted her to be different, to make better choices or at least just be reasonable about it.

I like the idea of this book. The pitch was great, the way people talked about it so much more intriguing than what it actually was. I only finished it cause it was so short. But a disappointment feels like an understatement. There were several things inserted that felt just placed there for the sake of being disgusting or disturbing  or whatever, but  it didn't work for me. Honestly the way Angnes talked about wanting a baby to begin with was probably on par with the grossness of everything else for me. 

Absolute delight.
the happy ending made me cry. Wow did I not expect the wrestling thing to happen but I loved it. I loved all the unlikely and improbable things from the vaccine van to the wrestling crew. Cared about everyone except maybe Patricia but they even make you care about her rotten ass by the end. A rare unexpected joy. Everything was over punched and I just adored that.

Conflicted. I really liked the writing of this book, the way the story was told and unfolded. I liked that there were interesting and kind of dreamlike sequences, but I also struggled with the trauma, the brutality of that flashback with her sister was too much, I really had to steady myself, disconnect my emotions best I could. I really enjoyed the twins' father and mother, just thought they were unique characters. It was a little messy all around but I enjoyed that part too. I found everything with the wolves interesting and as controversial as it may be I did like the conclusion to the murder mystery. I didn't much care for the romantic relationship in the book at all, thought that dude kinda sucked tbh. But I can also appreciate that he was a flawed person, not all bad definitely not all good. I appreciated the bond of sisters but upon reflection I don't really like the way Aggie was handled, even if I did enjoy the intrigue of wondering what was going on with her throughout the book. Like I said, conflicted. I liked it and didn't and would be careful of who I recommend this to. 

So for the majority of this book all I was really thinking was how the hell are they letting this go on? There's clearly a major problem here. Why are they all being so foolish? But then towards the end it really clicked in that it was like Jennifer's Body and that suddenly made more sense. Though even looking at it like that it still could have been done better, maybe leaned into more of a dark over the top comedic tone. 

Additionally, it could have been much shorter. There's a lot of the same back and forth, and a weird amount of time describing different themed rooms. 

Either there's a lot of wasted time in this book or something really went over my head here that perhaps I would have read differently if I'd not been listening to the audiobook. Idk. It was fine. I'm not gonna run out and tell everyone to go read it, but it was fine. 

Sexual assault and abuse of a child is a major thing in this book btw. Which I'm mentioning because not a single person who I've seen recommend this has said anything about it and it's kind of important to know. 

I really enjoy this author and narrator but I wasn't prepared for what was in this book. Had to take a cry break and was able to come back, but wasn't sure. I did and didn't enjoy this. Idk how to rate it tbh. Also I don't think this counts as magical realism?

This is one of those where the people really frustrate me throughout. Much more interested in the sister and Fi than the mc. Though the ending definitely saved it for me. I also appreciated the light use of Scots.

Okay but it was so irritatingly obvious that the sister was with Fi. What was even the point of stringing along with that. Was that honestly meant to be a surprise in any way. Annoying and dumb.

On a personal note, the half sibling distinction is a huge pet peeve. 

I enjoyed this story for the most part even though I liked A Slow Fire Burning better I think. I always have a hard time when women are so obsessed with motherhood though. I think anything is going to be spoiled by that for me. I listen to a lot of crime novels, but I still don't consider myself much of a crime or mystery reader, except that apparently I am to an extent. I don't tend to ever rate them higher than a 3. Anyway, pretty much everyone is this book is awful. Which is fine, it's realistic if not a little relentless. Thought it ended well, but sad what happened to Megan