Unapologetic Reviews

I read The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt #8, "A book about a sexless marriage." There is certainly no sex here, so the prompt fit perfectly. Set in Amsterdam in 1686, the novel follows eighteen-year-old Petronella "Nella" Oortman. After the death of her father left the family nearly penniless, her mother arranged a marriage with Johannes Brandt, a wealthy merchant over twice her age. Nella arrives at his grand house expecting the ordinary life of a wife. Instead, she finds herself in a household full of secrets and silences. As a wedding gift, Johannes gives her an elaborate cabinet house, a miniature version of their own home. Wanting to furnish it, Nella contacts a mysterious miniaturist. What she receives is unsettling. Not only do the requested pieces arrive, but so do strange additional objects, tiny creations that seem to reveal secrets before they happen. As the mysterious miniatures keep appearing, Nella gr...

I received an ARC copy of Ivan and the Firebird by Alexandra Pugachevsky in exchange for an honest review. I always find reviews like this a little difficult to write because I genuinely like the author as a person and appreciate the opportunity to read the book. Unfortunately, this one simply wasn't for me. The story follows Ivan, a young man from the fairytale land of Zorya. After finding a feather from the legendary Firebird, he falls into the clutches of Baba Yaga, who offers him an impossible bargain. To gain his freedom, he must find the Firebird itself. His journey eventually takes him into our modern world, where he encounters magical creatures inspired by Slavic folklore and meets Lisa, a young woman with whom he falls in love. I love fairytale retellings and stories inspired by folklore, so this sounded like something I should have enjoyed. Sadly, I struggled almost from the beginning. My biggest issue was Ivan himself. For a significant part of the book, I assumed he wa...

I read Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer as my Pick of the Month for June 2026. What drew me to it was the premise. It was advertised as a story involving a cult and as part of the wider conversation around abortion rights and how legislation affects healthcare. Since I have read several memoirs by former cult members and watched many documentaries on the subject, that immediately caught my attention. In the end, I give this book three stars. It wasn't bad. It was competently written, easy to read, and fairly quick. The story moved along well enough and kept me turning the pages. But for me, it never became particularly interesting. The story follows a doctor who becomes trapped inside a religious community. The cult itself, however, felt very much like a cult by numbers. If you've watched a few documentaries or read books about groups like Scientology, FLDS, or other high-control communities, you can almost tick boxes as you go along. Isolation, manipulation, control, unquestioned a...

I read The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt number 16, "A book less than 260 pages.” The story follows Chih, a cleric whose duty is to collect stories and preserve history. In a lonely palace beside a lake, they meet Rabbit, an elderly servant, and through seemingly ordinary objects scattered around the abandoned rooms, Rabbit slowly reveals the life of Empress In-yo and the events that changed an empire. Rather than telling the story in a straight line, the book unfolds piece by piece, with memories attached to embroidery, clothing, gifts, and other possessions. And that was both the book's greatest strength and my biggest problem with it. I appreciate what the book was trying to do. The structure is clever, and I can see why many readers love it. But my brain struggled with this style of storytelling. I am terrible with names, and because the story is revealed through fragments and memories rather than in a straightfo...

I read Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, for prompt number 42, "A book inspired by a real song, album, band, artist, or musical." Going into it, I expected it to be fine at best. Contemporary fiction is not usually my thing. I tend to gravitate towards fantasy, science fiction, and stories with larger than life stakes. Here, there are no quests, no alien worlds, no one trying to save humanity. There are only people. Messy, talented, selfish, loving, complicated people. And somehow, this became one of the biggest surprises of my reading year. I ended up giving it five stars. The story follows Daisy Jones and the members of The Six, a hugely successful rock band in the 1970s. But what makes the book stand out is its format. Rather than a traditional novel, it is presented as an oral history. The entire story unfolds through interviews, with each character recounting events years later. Because I listened to the audiobook,...

I watched the adaptation of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd , based on the novel by Agatha Christie, shortly after finishing the book. One thing became clear very quickly: this adaptation is far more dramatic than the source material. The novel is almost a cosy mystery. Despite the murder, much of the story revolves around village life, conversations, and the relationship between Poirot and Dr Sheppard. The adaptation shifts the focus firmly onto Poirot, which is actually something many Poirot adaptations do. Interestingly, a surprising number of the original novels are not really about Poirot at all. He often enters the story as an outsider and solves the mystery, while the narrative follows other characters. In the novel, Dr Sheppard narrates the story. Through his eyes, we meet Poirot, who is supposedly retired and spending his time growing vegetable marrows. One of my favourite moments in the book is when Dr Sheppard initially assumes that Poirot is a hairdresser because of his immacul...