Michele Jacques > Recent Status Updates

DNF

DNF

4.5

I absolutely love this series. These well-constructed mysteries are always complex, but Galbraith weaves all the many strands and red herrings together brilliantly. I didn’t find this to be transphobic at all. I did find it to include an in-depth exploration of all the forms and expectations of femininity. Most of all, I love the characters, especially Strike and Robin. Chapter 58: Swoon.

3.5

Great twist of an ending

In the vein of “The Virgin Suicides.” Two sisters are haunted by the disappearance of their neighborhood friends, 3 sisters stuck in a creepily religious family. There’s a teacher, who is either lecherous or harmless, a noisy neighbor, and a cast of characters who know more than they’ve told police.
“For so long we'd been haunted by those girls. ... We were the ones left behind. Defined by what was long gone.”

I loved this book far more than I expected to. It’s about faith, family, acceptance. Why do we love who we love? What is faith? Almost every page has phrases, sentences, paragraphs underlined for their poetry, their beauty, their power.

4 stars. Mixed feelings about the ending. The Marsh Hirl is a hard-to-forget character.

Really liked this book, which is surprising since chick lit is not my genre at all. I was rooting for these relatable, multidimensional characters all the way through.

Loved this. This family saga begins as a little Be story in a Korean village and moved through the 30th century with tragedies born of ethnicity and class, and simple joys found in hard work and family. In so much sadness, the pull of family and heritage remains strong. “The penalties incurred for the mistakes you made had to be paid out in full to the members of your family.”

Fans of the Outlander and "Discovery of Witches" series would like this book.

Loved! Beautiful writing. The author captures the vulnerability of teen girls and their need to fit in. The themes of home -- as living things, as security, as stability -- and the yearning for mothers are solid. Marlena's pin, in which she stores drugs (one of the very few things in her life that is constant and reliable), is memorably shaped like a house. The book is a study in grief, in the impact of teenage years