sarah gailey – Sarah Ames-Foley

Just Like Home [review]

September 14, 2022 Sarah

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
Published by Tor Books on July 19, 2022
my rating: 4.5 stars
Goodreads avg: 3.53 (as of 2022-09-14)
Spoiler-free review
Goodreads

This book is dedicated to anyone who has ever loved a monster.

I can’t seem to stop reading divisive books! This was my fourth Gailey read and I have to say that I am so impressed by their range. From historical fiction to thriller to horror, it seems like they can do it all. Just Like Home is about a woman named Vera who returns to her childhood home at the behest of her estranged dying mother. Vera’s father was a serial killer and her memories in this house are slowly revealed to us over the course of the book. There is also a horror element that readers seem to either love or hate — I loved it. There were just a handful of things I wish Gailey had done differently, but I found this so atmospheric. I had to tear myself away from the book at night because even though I was getting so spooked, I didn’t want to put it down. I found both the characters and the story itself incredibly compelling and really can’t wait to see what Gailey comes out with next.

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Upright Women Wanted [review]

August 9, 2020August 6, 2020 Sarah

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
Published by Tor.com on February 4, 2020
my rating: ★★★★ (4 stars)
Goodreads avg: 3.71 (as of 2020-08-06)
Spoiler-free review

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What kind of good man becomes a sheriff these days? What kind of good man joins his posse?

Queer librarians on horseback! Is there anything else for me to say? The cast in this is excellent, with many wlw characters as well as a non-binary love interest. There are also hints of polyamory, which I’m always a fan of. This is a Western that felt historic at first, but revealed itself to be a futuristic dystopia in which the US has reverted to the old days of horses and wagons. I would love more books set within this world to flesh out the setting, particularly a sequel to see what Esther gets up to next. The only thing I really struggled with a bit was the characterization of Esther, who I initially thought was much younger than she actually was. Even now, I’m not quite sure how old her character is meant to be. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to picking up more from Gailey!

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Mini-Review Compilation #10

October 18, 2018October 18, 2018 Sarah

The Woman in Black
cw: child death

At that moment I began to doubt my own reality.

This was my first Susan Hill read and I can say that I’m now very excited to explore some of her other works. I don’t read a lot of gothic horror, but this definitely worked for me and I’d like to wade a little further into the genre. The writing conveyed such a strong atmosphere and I found myself really swept up in everything. It was definitely spooky, but didn’t outright scare me, which is a nice happy medium. I thought the characters were well-done, although we only spend time with a few of them. My only complaint was that the ending felt rushed and a little abrupt.

Buddy read with Sarah!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

River of Teeth (River of Teeth #1)

I had high hopes for this one, but it just didn’t really do anything for me. The characters were good, but the story felt rushed and I didn’t get very invested in it.

Rating:⭐⭐.5

Sadie
cw: pedophilia, CSA, abuse, drug addiction
disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for review consideration. All of the opinions presented below are my own.

Every little thing about you can be a weapon, if you’re clever enough.

It seems like nearly everyone has been talking about Sadie lately. Intriguingly, pieces of it felt like they tied pretty closely to The Female of the Species, which I read directly beforehand. The formatting is what was most interesting about it. Half of the book is a podcast — where I’d imagine the audiobook version would have come in very handy — and the other half is from Sadie’s perspective directly. In this way, things that we could never necessarily know from one perspective are revealed to us through the other. While this method could be flawed in the wrong hands, Courtney Summers is able to carefully craft a chilling masterpiece, slowly (but not too slowly) revealing the full story to her readers.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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(All covers courtesy of Goodreads.)