I’ve read a book by Mindy McGinnis in the past and I was a big fan so I was super excited to get an advanced audiobook from Netgalley for her newest nI’ve read a book by Mindy McGinnis in the past and I was a big fan so I was super excited to get an advanced audiobook from Netgalley for her newest novel!
So the audiobook is told by a synthetic voice narrator until the actual audiobook is published…. I don’t know why they just didn’t wait till they started real production. The voice drove me insane, I felt like Siri was reading to me and it’s not the most enjoyable experience. Hopefully when the final copy is out it will add to the experience because for me, it personally ruined it. I had to start it over three times because I had a hard time paying attention.
Okay now that I got that out of the way, let’s move on to the actual book itself. This reminded me of Tiger King (even though I never watched it) mixed with Edgar Allan Poe. Our main characters Tress and Felicity are ex-best friends. Tress’s parents disappear when they give Felicity a ride home and she has no recollection of what happened to them. Tress lives with her alcoholic grandpa who has a zoo (Tiger King) while Felicity is off living her best life. Tress takes matters into her own hands to try to scare Felicity into telling her what really happened that night by sealing her shut in a basement brick by brick (my worst nightmare).
We get to hear from both girls and while you feel bad for them both, Tress was not that likable. It jumps around from when the girls were friends and what happened for their inevitable break up. Tress is too petty and immature, I know it’s the point to not like her but damn, she’s crazy. They both are messy and complicated so the relationship surrounding them was pretty intriguing. I will definitely continue with the series HOWEVER I will not ever be reviewing a synthetic voice ever again, I have to make sure I look out for that because I think this made it a lot less enjoyable. I tried to not like it affect my review too much but it does, sorry.
The Initial Insult will be published February 23rd, 2021. Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Children’s, and Katherine Tegen books for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
I stayed up on a Sunday night reading this till 2 am one; because I couldn't sleep but two; because I was heavily invested. Lina and Ren were adorableI stayed up on a Sunday night reading this till 2 am one; because I couldn't sleep but two; because I was heavily invested. Lina and Ren were adorable and the whole time I wanted to scream at them to just kiss already. I want my own Lorenzo, I didn't find one when I went to Italy so I feel cheated out of my Italian love affair experience. Just kidding. Maybe.. I was just as invested in Lina's mothers journal as she was. It kind of frustrated me she wouldn't just read it all at once already because I wanted to know EVERYTHING NOW. But then again, I guess there would be no book if that happened. Plus, I can understand why it was so hard because I can't imagine losing your mother and reading her journal to try to figure out why she sent her to Italy. I really loved the descriptions of Florence, Rome, and Venice. It transported me back to my trip last year in Italy and I felt like I was there walking the roads with Lina. It makes me want to get up and go back there right now but ya know, COVID is still a thing so obviously I can't but I can pretend through books. Also, I miss gelato. I forgot how beautiful gelato was and Love & Gelato reminded me of all its glory..
I would give this a 4.5 rating and definitely going to get my hands on the next one!...more
I read this when I was in third grade or something and it scared the complete shit out of me. I decided to finally read it again years later with all I read this when I was in third grade or something and it scared the complete shit out of me. I decided to finally read it again years later with all the Netflix hype going on right now. I actually really liked it, except for when there's a definition for every single word. It seems like the author is looking down on their readers, even though I get that the targeted audience is for children. I feel so bad for the siblings, it breaks my heart. I don't know why I was afraid of it when I was younger though lmao...more
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