The Earbud Bookworm

30/03/2024

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
After looking at some of the low star reviews (on Goodreads), I do understand why they have rated it as such. The title is misleading. However, having been familiar with Dr. Burke Harris I had a pretty good idea what the book would be. It was exactly what I expected. It wasn't an easy read, and I did cry several times. One thing I will disagree with in the low-star reviews is the idea that there is a lack of actionable solutions in here. There absolutely are. However, many of them are things that we can't do as individuals. They are things that we need to do on a societal level, and that can feel scary and unrealistic. I think that's why it's important that she included so much history of things like germ theory and the research into childhood leukemia. Things can change. And I have hope that they will.

A note about the audiobook: this one is read by the author, and I am so glad of it. Especially at points where her Patwah/Patois comes out. I can't imagine someone else reading her words so well. The pain when she talked about Ziggy was absolutely palpable. Truly no one else could do her words justice.

04/03/2024

⭐⭐⭐
I received an Advance Reader Copy of the audiobook The Secrets Next Door by Sally Royer-Derr and read by Patricia Rodriguez. One of my favorite genres is suburban thriller, so I was excited by the premise.

This book mainly follows two POVs: twin sisters who live next door to each other. The story follows each of them as they try to unravel the mystery of the new author who moved in next door. Why is she there and does she have ulterior motives?

I’m going to be honest, I actually listened to this one twice because I had some very specific complaints and I wanted to make sure I hadn’t missed something that would have invalidated my problems. Alas, that was not the case. The bones of the story are great. I would love to read more from this author to see if her voice is different in other works and may be more in line with what I like.

As it is, I felt the writing was more “tell” and less “show.” And within that, there was more than one element hidden until the last 15% of the book that felt disingenuous to leave out. It would have been easy to leave some breadcrumbs earlier in the book so the reveal at the end wouldn’t feel quite so much like a cheat.

I did appreciate that the sisters had very different personalities. Between the way they were written and the way they were acted, it was always easy to remember which POV was in the chapter I was listening to.

Speaking of the narrator, I found Patricia Rodriguez pleasant to listen to. Her inflections were well thought-out and she had just enough of a change to her voice for each unique speaker without having fully different voices which can sometimes be distracting.

Ultimately, this wasn’t a bad experience, but I can’t in good conscience give this read any higher than 3 stars. The main storyline and idea was worth the time to read it for sure.

02/03/2024

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wow. What can I say about this book? It was truly one of my favorite books I've ever read. I'm sad for it to be over.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt follows the characters of Marcellus, a rescued giant Pacific octopus nearing the end of his life; Tova, the widowed elderly cleaning lady at the aquarium where Marcellus lives who is dealing with grief and loss, both new and old; and Cameron, a 30-year-old man who is struggling to grow up, and searching for the father he never knew, while his childhood friends settle into adulthood.

I have quite a soft spot for animal POV in books. And, while I do love books in the vein of Redwall, I'm not talking about humanized animals. What I'm talking about about is when we take a peek inside the daily lives of wild, domesticated, or captive animals. This book gets that angle right in ways I didn't even realize a book could.

One thing that sometimes falters in books with animal POV is that the human elements feel like an after-thought. That's not the case here. Van Pelt captures the raw emotions of more than one stage of life and definitely follows the rule of showing details rather than telling them.

I would recommend this book to most readers, but especially if you enjoy books about animals, relationships, found family, and mysteries/puzzles.

17/02/2024

I received an ARC of the audiobook for The Wife's Mistake by Lorna Dounaeva. I found it to be exciting, mysterious, and a fun ride. As I was listening I would periodically text my husband to say "THIS BOOK!" which I don't find myself doing very often. I have not read any of this author's books before, but I will definitely be checking out more.
The Wife's Mistake follows a married couple who have won the lottery. They quickly find out that being rich may not be all it's cracked up to be. But, how far do things go? This book is full of twists and turns that may surprise even the most seasoned reader.
Having listened to the audiobook I will also point out that Imogen Church was an excellent choice for the narration of this book. I did question one of the choices for a voice as one of the female characters kept sounding like the voice she put on for male characters. Other than that, I thought her inflections and vocal choices were very well played.
All in all, I feel like this was a great experience for my first ARC. I'm excited to request more.

I will be mentioning this book in my February Reading Roundup on YouTube in March.

01/11/2023

Welcome to my new page. I just posted a video on YouTube to introduce myself. If you like to read, I'd love to have you subscribe!

Hey y'all! I'm new to and hoping to make myself nice and cozy in this community. I do most of my reading through that I check out with ...