horror retelling of beauty and the beast focusing on the impossible beauty standards of today as unwillingly passed down from the women that came befohorror retelling of beauty and the beast focusing on the impossible beauty standards of today as unwillingly passed down from the women that came before us...
this was brilliant before i even started reading it.
i wish i hadn't read all's well before this, because the two are sadly very similar (with nearly identical protagonists, writing styles, and meltdown arcs) and this one is much more interesting to me.
instead, i felt pretty irritated by the middle of this book, which was not only a bit repetitive in and of itself but far too reminiscent of that one.
do i feel like it was necessary to make tom cruise and a surfer bro window-washer and a cop character with a romance hero's name major characters? no. but who am i to question whatever was going on here?
mona awad's writing is so, so weird. and if the beauty industry was any less freakish, it wouldn't work. but thankfully we don't have that problem, and the two fit well!
bottom line: in a weird-off, mona wins every time.
this was VERY DIFFERENT from a good girl's guide to murder.
alternate title proposal: a mean girl's guide to family drama and bullying the people arouthis was VERY DIFFERENT from a good girl's guide to murder.
alternate title proposal: a mean girl's guide to family drama and bullying the people around her.
it was a lot more dramatic, a lot less realistic, and a lot more filled with secrets and cringy moments of the meanest teenage girl you've ever encountered in your fiction-reading life making adults cry. which is...not my usual demographic.
the last third or so was a lot more enjoyable of a reading experience, but it wasn't a satisfying conclusion. instead it was really info dumpy, very unrealistic feeling.
if a good girl's guide to murder is like the first few seasons of pretty little liars, this is like the last few. unrealistic, confusing, and vaguely alarming.
but still surprising and weirdly fun.
bottom line: the real plot twist is how much i didn't expect about this book.
2.5
------------------ tbr review
a good reader's guide to adding too many books to her tbr
i don't think i've ever read a novella addition to a series and been like "yeah, that was necessary." but that doesn't stop me from trying.
this was noi don't think i've ever read a novella addition to a series and been like "yeah, that was necessary." but that doesn't stop me from trying.
this was no exception though.
it only provided insight into how pip decided to do her senior capstone project in the first book, which is possibly the least interesting thing it could possibly be about while still technically being in any way related to the actual mystery.
it also exclusively follows the plotline of a murder mystery dinner type board game, which are not famous for being interesting and filled with shock value.
it was a quick read and not terrible but that's the nicest i can be.
bottom line: if you're like, "i'd read holly jackson writing about literally anything," this is the novella for you....more
i enjoyed — although maybe enjoyed is the wrong word — this author's fii was actually scared to read this.
and i should've been. but for other reasons.
i enjoyed — although maybe enjoyed is the wrong word — this author's first book, because while it didn't have much going on besides shock value and gore it at least did those two things in kind of an interesting way.
reading this was completely unpleasant from start to finish, and not because of the gross-out content. the writing is actively bad, full of clichés and adjectives, and somehow even though all of these stories (?) are very short, they drag on, not ending at the moment they'd be effective or shocking. characterizations are inconsistent, and in fact characters seem almost beside the point — none of these figures feel comprehensible, let alone human or real.
there's repetition here of whole details or lines of dialogue. favorite words are used to the in point of incomprehension — play a drinking game with covet, sense, decidedly, merely, perhaps with 911 on speed dial. this is teeming with repeated images (we get it, wounds have lips), adverbs, em dash breaks for more synonyms and more adverbs.
it's overwritten to the point that words have no meaning, which makes for a wildly frustrating read.
terrifying.
bottom line: i was anticipating this as a book that would make me truly scared, and i am: for the future of publishing.
uh, guys...i'm definitely with you and everything...absolutely one of the cool kids, having the popular opinion, agreeing with the mainstream, etc...buh, guys...i'm definitely with you and everything...absolutely one of the cool kids, having the popular opinion, agreeing with the mainstream, etc...but um. just remind me.
why do we not like this book?
(review to come / potentially 5 stars just let me think)
------------------------- tbr review
me at a horror movie: :) me at a haunted house: :) me at a long book: AHHHHHHHHHH
my only criterium for horror is that it scare me so terrifically i'm unable to sleep. is that so much to askmy only criterium for horror is that it scare me so terrifically i'm unable to sleep. is that so much to ask...more
i'm going to be honest. i spent an embarrassing amount of time thinking this was a nonfiction account of an unbelievable true story.i'm going to be honest. i spent an embarrassing amount of time thinking this was a nonfiction account of an unbelievable true story....more
this book is the most surreal and the most gory, and at the same time its dystopian world is so lifelike, so painful to read because it so coh my god.
this book is the most surreal and the most gory, and at the same time its dystopian world is so lifelike, so painful to read because it so closely mirrors the one we live in. one of injustice, one of violence. one of innocent people locked up and one of people who do bad and change. a world where punishments are not intended to reform, but to ignore.
reading about the criminal justice system in america is opening yourself to an injustice you will ever un-know.
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