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A Serious Proposal to the Ladies
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was a very interesting read. It is a compilation of, primarily, two essays directed at the women of the Restoration and Revolution period in London, England. While it mainly speaks to women to be more free in their religions, it also talks about women's political freedoms. This seems to be an early feminist essay which calls to give women more power over their lives.

I did enjoy the first essay more than I did the second because the second got a lot more religious and quite repetitive. But it was still interesting.

If you are interested in early feminist lit or in religious literature, check this book out. I think you would thoroughly enjoy it.
  
Been There, Married That
Been There, Married That
Gigi Levangie Grazer | 2020 | Contemporary
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
‏I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

Agnes Murphy Nash has the perfect Hollywood life...or so she thought until arriving home to find the gates and doors locked and is prevented from entering her own house. What ensues is a humorous look at divorce, the stupid things people do while divorcing, and how badly we can act.

Gigi Levangie Grazer could have written Been There, Married That as a Debbie Downer book especially when discussing Agnes having to still cohabitate with her husband during the divorce. Anyone who had to endure cohabitating knows there is not much to laugh about. Grazier focuses on the negative but writes it with such style you are guaranteed to laugh.

I do not usually read "women's fiction" or "chick lit" but, after reading its description, I figured I would give it a try. I am so glad I chose this novel. I will continue with my norms (mystery, YA, SciFi) but will not shun women's fiction immediately from now on. I will probably still avoid romances but Been There, Married That is not a romance novel.

I also heard part of the audiobook. The narrator, Amy McFadden, did a fabulous job and really brought this novel and its humor to life.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 5/23/20.
  
Baby Doll
Baby Doll
Hollie Overton | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
4
7.2 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Firstly I’d like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for the opportunity to read this book.

<b><i>”BABY DOLL is the most tense thriller you will read this year.”</b></i> … no it isn’t.

<b>1.5 stars</b>

I was looking forward to giving this a read, it sounded like an exciting thriller; woman escapes from her captor and now she’s trying to rebuild her life and future. But it doesn’t really start out that way… everything kind of falls into place for Lily in the first few pages and so you think, is this going to be as exciting as I first hoped? Well the answer to that is no, it’s not.

It’s all very over the top. <i>Every single thing</i> Abby & Lily do is grossly OTT. I mean I don’t personally know how I, or my family would react if something like this happened but it all seems very overplayed, cliche and cheesy.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/MGmnFOZRFRo4w/giphy.gif"; width="370" height="220" alt="yaaaawn"/>

It’s also a bit ridiculous, not the kidnapping and abuse, of course <b>that’s</b> not, but everything else is. The town seems raving mad, no wonder no one noticed a psychopath in their midst! I mean for one, this town needs to sort out it’s police force, they’re <b>so</b> unprofessional! <spoiler>Sleeping around and beating people to a pulp. Stupid. <b>PLUS</b> Why were they unable to get Abby off of Rick when she was stabbing him? It felt like they were all just standing around and watching her until they thought, OK that’ll do now.</spoiler>

I don’t think Overton did a particularly good job at portraying the characters. They all seemed very wooden and lifeless. I found them all to be extremely childish, shallow and very selfish and so couldn’t connect with any of them. They also felt completely fake, like the things they did and said were not something you could imagine a real person doing or saying. We were supposed to empathise with Lily but it just wasn’t possible for me, she was cold and boring and I think the multiple POV’s was a bad call on Overton’s part because it means we can’t spend that time getting to know the character and instead have to put up with everyone else's junk <i>(cough cough the mother's affair cough cough)</i> that we don’t care about, which disconnects us entirely from the story. I would go so far as to say I felt this story was more about idiotic Abby than it was about boring ol’ Lily. We also couldn’t attach to Lily because this book moved so ridiculously fast! I couldn’t keep up, what’s the rush?

I don’t think this was very well written either, it all seemed very rushed. Also, why was Eve called “Eve” one minute and “Mom” the next? And why couldn’t Abby call “Mr Hanson” by his actual name? We get it, he was your teacher, but you’re an adult now, with a kid and this man ruined your sister's life, would you really be calling him “Mr Hanson” all the time. It was like I was reading the POV of a 6 year old.

I admit the twist was quite a shock and I hadn’t seen <i>that</i> particular ending coming about, but I still thought it was a bit silly, hence the extra half a star I gave the book. <spoiler>Can we please note that this (the murder) is like the 5th time in the book when Abby does something “for Lily” but really she’s just being selfish and doing it for herself because she can’t get a fucking grip.</spoiler>

Too "family drama" for me. I wanted a fast paced thriller not some sappy, emotional love story. This book was supposed to focus on the broken Lily rebuilding her life with her loving family surrounding her, but instead turned into a ridiculous love triangle story that I couldn’t care less about. Give me more of Rick’s POV if you must, <b>anything to get me away from twin sisters fighting over one stupid man.</b> Abby was so fucking annoying when it came to Wes, she was so desperately needy for him all the while putting on a stupid I-don’t-need-you front. Deal with it Abby, you love him and he loves you, <b>just fucking deal with it.</b>

In the end I skipped the last 10 pages or so, I was done with this book when I was 20% the way through… Maybe this would be a good book for people who are into “chick-lit/women's fiction” - whatever that means, but it’s not my cup of tea.