Unapologetic Reviews

I listened to Shari Franke's The House of My Mother as an audiobook, narrated by the author herself. It was a mixed experience. In the early chapters—where she describes her mother, Ruby’s childhood and their family’s early years—her reading felt distant, almost detached. Since Shari wasn’t part of that story, it came across as a recitation rather than storytelling. However, once the focus shifted to her own experiences, her narration became more engaging. Shari is careful not to tell her siblings' stories beyond what directly overlaps with her own, which is intentional and respectful. The only sibling she delves into is her brother Chad, and honestly, I felt bad for him at times. She recounts life before the cameras, the YouTube years, and what happened after their family’s channel declined—suddenly and dramatically, about halfway through the book. At that point, I thought, OK, so what’s the rest of the book going to be about? I couldn’t help but compare it to two other memoir...

I listened to Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao as an audiobook. The narrator was excellent, though Hana’s voice was sometimes a bit too breathy. That aside, her performance was enjoyable—especially the way she voiced the male characters. Let me warn you: the book’s blurb is misleading. It describes a whimsical, magical journey through a mystical world, making it sound light, cosy, and happy. It’s not. This book is emotional, raw, and deeply unsettling. It forces you to think, reflect, and question everything. It’s best experienced as an audiobook because, while you’re listening to the story, you can’t help but reflect on your own life. It’s like having two narrations running at once: the story’s journey of self-discovery and your own. You find yourself wondering about all the choices you’ve made—whether they were right, wrong, or simply inevitable. I finished the book just moments ago, and I haven’t stopped crying. Half of me doesn’t even know why. Japanese fiction always does this ...

Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs was written in the 1940s, so it's a rather old book—but that's true of pretty much all of Agatha Christie's books. I actually tried to read this book once before. Funny thing: when I was in high school, I had a summer of reading Agatha Christie. I didn't just read Poirot and Miss Marple, but I also read Tommy and Tuppence’s stories. I highly recommend them; I really love that duo. The best one was N or M?, which is actually more of a spy novel than anything else. That summer, I got most of my books from an antique store because they were very cheap there. The library didn’t really have Agatha Christie because it was considered lowbrow reading—not classic literature. The books I bought were old. My copy of Five Little Pigs was a misprint, missing parts of the story, so I never finished it. Plus, by the end of the summer, I had to switch back to reading the required school books, which were long and numerous. I got behind because of ...

I listened to Ally Carter's The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year as an audiobook. It is a blend of romance and mystery. I'm a huge fan of mysteries, especially the classic amateur detective story, but I'm not really a fan of romance. Still, I gave this a chance, as it was Christmas, and I wanted to read a book set during Christmas. Usually, I’m looking for a crime story that takes place during the holidays. I gave this book three stars because it was okay. It didn't blow me away; it wasn't terrible—it was just okay. The mystery has a couple of layers. The initial mystery in the story—well, the thing is, no one really cares about that part. The main characters do, but no one else seems to. Then there’s a secondary mystery, which was hard to figure out. The solution for that was... well, without spoiling it, let’s just say it really wasn’t what I thought it would be—in a bad way. Sometimes, a twist can work well if you don’t see it coming, but this felt like it was al...

The Answer is No is a short story by Fredrik Backman. It was translated by Elizabeth DeNoma from Swedish. So, this guy is a famous author, and I've never read any of his books because I normally don't read contemporary novels. But this just came out in December, and I saw it as a recommendation. I needed one last book to make my book count, which is only 20, mind you. It's 68 pages, and it was the end of December, so I was like, "Okay, let's give this a shot." The description said it's funny. I was actually pleasantly surprised by this short story. It talked about the absurdities of modern life in a very intelligent —and also funny way. I chuckled out loud several times while reading this. I also loved how it just started from one little event, and that led into this whole chain of events that culminated in the main character being in a different, but also very similar, space in the end. That was very interesting. The main character is called Lucas, and he...

I gave this book four stars. Although I’ve never read anything by Veronica Roth, I’ve always known her as the author of the Divergent series—which, frankly, isn’t my thing. I saw the movies and didn’t enjoy them much. But this novella? It’s a different story. One of its biggest strengths is the use of Eastern European mythology, especially Polish folklore. I loved how the mythical creatures seamlessly blended into the modern world. The fast-paced narrative also worked well for a novella, keeping it engaging and compact. That said, there were a few drawbacks. The present-tense narration felt jarring and unnatural, which made it hard to settle into the story. I kept hoping it would switch to past tense, and it sometimes did, but that didn't last. Another issue was the excessive descriptions. For a novella, there were just too many details—room layouts, herb lists, even comb counts. These slowed down the plot and felt like filler rather than substance. Despite these gripes, the core s...