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Nothing Can Hurt You Now by Simone Campos
A banger of a premise is let-down by sensationalistic storytelling, a banal plot, and a writing style that for all its attempts to be gritty & edgy comes across as laughable. Worst still, the narrative seems under the impression that it is doing a lot, in terms of unconventional female characters and challenging simplistic representations…
2 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, amateur detective, brazil, brazilian author, Contemporary, f/f, female authors, graphic content, kidnapping, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, men who are sleazy, missing girls, missing persons, models, MYSTERY, Neurodiversity, Not Like Other Girls, Nothing Can Hurt You Now, prostitution, published in 2019, queer, read in 2022, sapphic, sex, sex scenes that are yikes, Simone Campos, SISTERS, smut, style over character, survival, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION, trying and failing @ feminism, wannabe gone girl -
Sarahland by Sam Cohen
Kinky, offbeat, and playful, Sarahland is a madcap story collection. Most of the stories focus on queer Jewish young women who are named or rename themselves Sarah. Their quest for identity and love leads them astray from traditional notions of femininity and adulthood. They become entangled in parasitic relationships, lose and regain their sense of…
Adult, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cliques, collection of short stories, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), ennui, existentialism, f/f, female authors, feverish, HUMOR, identity, Jewish, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, millennial, My reviews, prostitution, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, Religion, RETELLINGS, Sam Cohen, sapphic, Sarahland, sex, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, short stories, surreal, trans side characters, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unrequited love, weird -
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
For a work that was first published in 1998 Daughter of Fortune strikes me as something more suited to the 1970s. Don’t get me wrong, I love Isabel Allende’s work and she is one of my favourite authors, however, at the risk of coming across as an oversensitive zillennial, her mystification of China struck me…
1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, ADOPTION, Adult, adventure, America, California, chile, Chilean American author, China, class, daughter of fortune, doctors, drama, FAMILY SAGA, favourite authors, female authors, GRIEF, heavy on telling, HISTORICAL FICTION, ISABEL ALLENDE, latin america, latin american, latinx author, MAGICAL REALISM, MARRIAGE, MELODRAMA, miscarriage, orphans, pregnancy, problematic, prostitution, published in 1998, road trip, ship, slow pacing, survival, TRANSLATED FICTION, travel, unrequited love, voyage -
After Dark by Haruki Murakami
Having heard a lot about the genius of Murakami over the years I was excepting something a bit more out of After Dark, a novel which, at the risk of incurring the wrath of Murakami aficionados, failed to captivate me. Credit where credit’s due, Murakami certainly knows how to create and maintain a certain…
2000s, 3 STARS, Adult, After Dark, books that take place in one day, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), Dreams, feverish, Haruki Murakami, incest-y, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, male authors, men who do not seem to know how to write women, musicians, navel gazing, prostitution, published in 2004, read in 2021, SISTERS, style over character, stylised prose, surreal, TRANSLATED FICTION -
Blood Grove by Walter Mosley
“Life is one long side street with about a million crossroads, Sorry used to tell me when I was a boy. Every hour, sometimes every minute, you got to make the choice which way to go. Some of them turns don’t matter but don’t let that fool ya. The minute you start to think that…
1960s, 1st pov, 20th century, 4 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, California, CRIME, DETECTIVE, HARD-BOILED, HISTORICAL FICTION, los angeles, male authors, MYSTERY, Noir, place as character, private investigator, prostitution, published in 2021, read in 2021, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, terrific prose, THRILLER, war related ptsd -
Crime And Punishment: A Novel in Six Parts with Epilogue by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot is a favourite of mine so I was expecting Crime And Punishment be right up my street…aaaaand I hated it. Many consider Crime And Punishment to be one of the most influential books of all time…and I have to wonder…how? The Idiot, although certainly flawed, tells a far more cohesive and compelling…
1860s, 19TH CENTURY, 2 STARS, 3rd pov, big books, cat and mouse, class, CLASSICS, CRIME, Crime and Punishment, drama, endless monologues, existentialism, feverish, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, HISTORICAL FICTION, illness, madness, male authors, MELODRAMA, men who do not seem to know how to write women, morality, MURDER, murder investigation, murderers, philosophical, Poverty, prostitution, psychological, published in 1866, ramblings, read in 2020, RUSSIA, russian author, russian classics, Saint Petersburg, Siberia, TRANSLATED FICTION -
The Less Dead by Denise Mina — book review
The Less Dead is a gripping, if bleak, piece of tartan noir. When sex workers, drug addicts, migrant workers, and otherwise marginalised groups are victims of murder, they are called the ‘less dead’. Their deaths are less important, not as ‘impactful’. Denise Mina’s novel, in a similar vein to recent releases such as Long Bright…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, addiction, ADOPTION, BOOK REVIEW, cheating, class, Contemporary, CRIME, dark, dead girls, Denise Mina, female authors, lgbtq+ side, mothers & daughters, netgalley, Noir, obsession, Poverty, prostitution, published in 2020, rape, read in 2020, REVIEW, scotland, scottish author, serial killers, sexual assault/abuse/rape, social issues, SUSPENSE, Tartan Noir, The Less Dead, THRILLER, violence against women -
Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz — book review
“Can you tell me what happened on the night of the murder? I asked and even as I uttered the words I felt slightly ridiculous. They sounded so old-fashioned, so clichéd. If I’d seen them in a novel, I’d have edited them out.” Anthony Horowitz has written yet another labyrinthine whodunnit that pays homage to…
2.5 STARS, Adult, Anthony Horowitz, books about books, books about writers, British author, Contemporary, CRIME, DETECTIVE, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), england, golden age detective fiction, Greece, hotel, lgbtq+ side, male authors, Moonflower Murders, murder mystery, MYSTERY, netgalley, problematic, prostitution, read in 2020, story within a story, Susan Ryeland #2, whodunnit -
The Adventures of Isabel: An Epitome Apartments Mystery by Candas Jane Dorsey — book review
“I spend my days staring at the wall and fantasising about disembowelling my cat as an offering to whatever bitch goddess has been organising my life lately. I am so depressed that if I could motivate myself to it I’d commit suicide, but it’s too proactive for me.” The subtitle of this novel is quite…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, Adult, An Epitome Apartments Mystery, arc, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, canada, canadian author, Candas Jane Dorsey, CRIME, DETECTIVE, f/f, female authors, HUMOR, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, light reads, metafiction, murder investigation, murder mystery, MYSTERY, netgalley, playful style, prostitution, queer, read in 2020, sapphic, stylised prose, The Adventures of Isabel, unnamed narrator, weird -
Long Bright River by Liz Moore — book review
Set against the opioid crisis in Philadelphia Liz Moore’s thought-provoking novel portrays the long-lasting and devastating effects that addiction have on an individual, on a family, and on an entire neighbourhood. “These girls, he says. He looks at me and puts one finger to his right temple, taps it twice. Stupid, is what he means.…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, addiction, America, American, cold tone, CRIME, family, Liz Moore, Long Bright River, mothers & daughters, netgalley, opioid crisis, Philadelphia, prostitution, published in 2020, read in 2020, serial killers, SISTERS, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, unreliable narrators, violence against women
Tag: prostitution
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Long Bright River by Liz Moore — book review
Set against the opioid crisis in Philadelphia Liz Moore’s thought-provoking novel portrays the long-lasting and devastating effects that addiction have on an individual, on a family, and on an entire neighbourhood. “These girls, he says. He looks at me and puts one finger to his right temple, taps it twice. Stupid, is what he means.…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, addiction, America, American, cold tone, CRIME, family, Liz Moore, Long Bright River, mothers & daughters, netgalley, opioid crisis, Philadelphia, prostitution, published in 2020, read in 2020, serial killers, SISTERS, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, unreliable narrators, violence against women
luce [is reading] 