The Bright Side Sanctuary For Animals - Becky Mandelbaum

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

I want to start off by saying thank you to NetGalley for this Advanced Copy that I should have read ages and ages and ages ago...

Now, I guess I have to talk about my dislike of this book. This book did not have any point. No plot. The reason I liked the first 30% of this book is because I felt some sort of direction of where the plot was going to go... no. Everything I thought could've happened, came no where close to happening. The only plot points, if I can even call them that, are when Ariel comes back to the sanctuary, when the dogs get out, the end. For all the loose ends of this barely salvageable plot, I am disappointed. This could've been so much more than it was. But in reality we were left with nothing. The characters weren't enjoyable. The only reason I kept reading is because I wanted to see if there was actually going to be some sort of resolve. By 95%, I knew that it was a lost cause but there is no way I can justify myself DNFing an Arc at 95%... so I kept going until the story just ended.

This book was not satisfying. It could've been so much better than it was and for that, I am thoroughly disappointed.

This Coven Won't Break - Isabel Sterling

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

It is hard for me to wrap my head around why I didn't fully enjoy this book. I think it is a mix of things.

First, when comparing this book to the first, it just lacks in all categories. The first book had better character development/introduction. It had a better plot and better plot development. The writing seemed better in the first book to me, however the writing in the second book felt more mature; less of a young adult book and more on the edge of new adult. It makes me feel like the author purposely wrote a cliff hanger in the first book, so another book could be made, not because she had specific ideas in mind. Again, this is all my personal opinion.

There was more intrigue in the first book as well. The things that helped drive the plot, had a purpose. Where in this book, I felt like the things that were supposed to help drive the plot, in actuality, steered me further from it down a path that didn't relate to the plot much, if at all.

The ending also felt rushed and without closed ends. I don't know if this was on purpose and was a decision made by the author, or if they thought they tied it up nicely (no cliff hanger I guess), but there are so many more things I want tied up. It also would've been nice to trim down much of the "production" that took up half this book and give the climax and ending more thought and time.

It was nice being with these characters again, I'm just sad I didn't enjoy them as much the second time around.

(Counted as Chalice: A Book with something Elemental for the Clear Your Shit Readathon)

The End of Men - Christina Sweeney-Baird

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

This truly was an incredible book. And to find out it was debut? Even more incredible.

The premise of this book had me intrigued before I even fully knew what it was about. A virus that kills only men? Dang that is so insane! Tell me more!

Things I really enjoyed about this book starting with the suspense. The suspense that started with men suddenly dying and nothing that the doctors did could save them from whatever was killing their bodies, so good. The inner suspense as a reader, knowing that shit was going to hit the fan when the health advisors or whatever didn't listen to the doctor telling them about a new virus, but instead calling her crazy. How the world really did crash and burn and how people had to change their entire lives while not getting consumed by their own panic. Incredible.

I also enjoyed the multiple point of views. I like how we got to see so many different takes of how people experienced the virus. Doctors, mothers, hostile owners, police officers, etc. It captivated my attention and kept me turning page after page. However, I do think that the short chapters and the amount of point of views made this confusing and hard to switch from character to character to character. I did a pretty decent job remembering the characters, but even then I had to take myself out of the intrigue for a second to remind myself of those characters whose experiences we didn't get as often. I think this would have been better had there been less point of views and more time focused on each character that was crucial in development of the story.

I enjoyed that this was somewhat relatable as well. It's about a pandemic. Which, even though people seem to have forgotten, we are still experiencing. I've seen some readers saying that the author got unlucky with the timing of the publication for this novel but I disagree, I think our pandemic helped bring interest to this book. I liked that it wasn't similar to our situation in some aspects but yet similar to it at the same time in other aspects. Without the author even knowing there was a pandemic right around the corner.

This book was also heart wrenching. Seeing so many people lose the ones they love? It reminded me that death lurks and can take people away in a second. The author wrote these characters well enough for me to care when someones loved one passed away. Even though there were too many point of views in my opinion, I still cared about them.

The main thing that really bothered me about this book was the parts after the vaccine was discovered. I just thought there could've been more development there and more intrigue involved. I don't really have specifics, as I haven't given it too much thought, but I would've liked more from that. And I would've been more interested in the book after that point, instead I felt my interest being dragged to other things because the book lost it's fire.

(Counted as Athame: A Book in a Genre You Don't Normally Read for the Clear Your Shit Readathon)