Gerbera Daisy Diaries

Friday, April 12, 2024

Review: Lone Women

Lone Women by Victor LaValle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 ⭐️
After her parents are murdered, Adelaide Henry abandons her family home with few possessions except for a mysterious trunk, and embarks on a journey to the Montana plains, where she hopes to start anew. But life becomes more complicated as secrets are discovered and a town and Adelaide reckons with the consequences.

A totally unique reading experience for me, as “horror” really isn’t my genre, but this was more of a genre-bending of historical fiction, western, fantasy, and ghost story - with some brutal slasher elements.

The tribe of women that support Adelaide was fierce - we should all be so lucky. And ultimately this is a novel of the power of love, acceptance, and families (or the lack thereof).

But the ending didn’t land where I thought it would, and there were some elements and characters that I didn’t quite understand.

I’m glad I pushed myself with this novel.

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Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Review: Bride

Bride by Ali Hazelwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Review: Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Classic Agatha Christie. She was a master at characters. I had no idea how it was going to end - and was completely surprised. It did drag in the middle as Poirot interrogated each passenger. Yawn.

But the gem of this work was actor Dan Stevens’ narration - likely one of the best performances I’ve ever heard. Simply perfection.

Format:

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Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Review: A Distant Shore

A Distant Shore by Karen Kingsbury
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I will never have those 9 hours back.
•bad, repetitive dialogue
•weird narrative arc
•characters that were not believable
The narrators were excellent. The only reason I finished. That and it was a library book club discussion.

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