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Let’s Talk Bookish – What is a “Good” Ending?

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where they discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and spread the love by visiting each others’ posts.

What is a “Good” ending? (Suggested by Rian @ Dogs and Books)

Hello everyone and welcome to another LTB! This week is a free week for whatever topic we might want to revisit. I looked through this list and felt that this short and sweet topic would be appropriate for this last LTB in September (already?!).

For me, a good ending is definitely hard to describe. It definitely is a combination of how much it makes sense, whether it was anticipatable, and honestly just overall how it makes me feel. In mysteries and thrillers I’m usually looking for that “satisfying” feeling of justice being served. I think chilling/suspenseful endings can also work well for these genres. Not a fan of something too random or out of the blue, but of course an unexpected twist for the ending is always much appreciated.

For other books, logical flow and a nicely tied up (or a tactfully loose) ending both work for me. I don’t need every last thing to be explained, but preferably things that were put forward to be important. I also really enjoy when there’s a good moral to the ending of the story, or if there are bigger themes that are addressed subtly (or even not subtly, sometimes). Even a really good journey can sometimes be good enough, and the ending can simply be of less importance at the very end.

Probably the worst endings for me are the ones that don’t make sense. Or extreme cases of deus ex machina (or most cases, really). When the ending couldn’t have been reasonably expected (e.g. random unknown character ends up being the killer), it really dampens the whole suspense that the book was building. That all being said though, the ending isn’t everything for me. If everything but the final final ending was good, I would say overall it’s still a good book. Yes I would maybe dock half a point at the end for the ending, but I would never throw away all the merits of the book just because of the ending.

And that’s all for today! What do you all think of book endings? Is it (literally) the be all end all of the value of a book? Or just a small part? Let me know in the comments below!

4.5 star, YA

Review: Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

In Perfect on Paper: a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex back.

Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off.

Darcy Phillips:
• Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes―for a fee.
• Uses her power for good. Most of the time.
• Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham.
• Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else.
• Does not appreciate being blackmailed.

However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89―out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service―that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach―at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back.

Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she’s not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again.

Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?

Can I first say that I feel this book is such a breath of fresh air to read? While I have read a number of LGTBQ+ books with protagonists in the community over the last few years, I don’t see bisexual protagonists as much, let alone those who may be attracted to the opposite sex. Perfect on Paper is a wonderful love letter to those who are a part of the community but still struggle with truly belonging.

Continue reading “Review: Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales” →
4.5 star, YA

Review: The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Series: The Gilded Wolves #2

They are each other’s fiercest love, greatest danger, and only hope.

Séverin and his team members might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but victory came at a terrible cost — one that still haunts all of them. Desperate to make amends, Séverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long lost artifact rumoured to grant its possessor the power of God.

Their hunt lures them far from Paris, and into the icy heart of Russia where crystalline ice animals stalk forgotten mansions, broken goddesses carry deadly secrets, and a string of unsolved murders makes the crew question whether an ancient myth is a myth after all.

As hidden secrets come to the light and the ghosts of the past catch up to them, the crew will discover new dimensions of themselves. But what they find out may lead them down paths they never imagined.

A tale of love and betrayal as the crew risks their lives for one last job.

Book two of The Gilded Wolves was quite an adventure, much like the first. Another exciting adventure and more or less a heist once again, we follow our team of protagonists as they journey into seemingly nowhere to uncover lost treasure.

The Silvered Serpents takes places after they successfully thwart the Fallen House’s plan from book one (albeit at cost). Desperate to recover losses, the main character, Séverin, pursues what he feels is the only way to change everything: the power of God. Together he leads his team on a search for a long lost treasure, right out of the hands of the Fallen House no less. Will his team manage to find something that has been lost for so long? As things progress, more secrets emerge and the ancient past resurfaces – how will the whole team be affected?

I really have to first of all honestly say that it wasn’t looking too good for this book at first. Séverin’s new obsession with divine power really didn’t sit right with me – although logically I guess I could reason out why he might have felt that way. Although it was a legitimate cause for searching for the lost treasure, the balance between his being stuck in the past and undervaluing the present almost felt a bit forced. But something about the ending really made up for it for me.

Continue reading “Review: The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi” →