aliciaclarereads's reviews
1213 reviews

In Limbo by Deb JJ Lee

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

•wow this hit me HARD. Themes of struggling with loneliness & depression & having a deeply complicated with your mother just hit the center target mark for me 

•I really loved Lee’s art style, particularly the lingering focus on eyes, just absolutely gorgeous and stuck with the themes so well 

•Lee manages to paint her mother in both harsh and forgiving lights in an incredibly delicate balance. There’s a particular understanding of intergenerational trauma and the ways culture and language barriers further divide a family that was just beautifully explored 

•I think this would be an incredible pairing with Delicates by Brenna Thummler 

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

•okay!! I get why everyone is obsessed! This was excellent!! 

•what an incredible tribute to Zauner’s mother 😭 

•my mom and I had a really rough relationship when I was a teen and became closer as I became an adult, so I’m always going to be a sucker for stories centered on the difficulties between mothers and children 

•this is NOT the book to listen to when you’re hungry oh my god. Zauner writes about food so vividly, I was salivating and googling Korean restaurants near me 

•picture me in the gym listening to the last hour of this, doing my weight training, and looking like I’m about to burst into sobs 

The Adventure Zone: The Eleventh Hour by Griffin McElroy, Clint McElroy, Carey Pietsch

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

•My love of this story and these characters will never waver, I love these good, good boys so much. Also Eleventh Hour is STILL my favorite arc 

•I think this was the most altered story arc, in so far that a couple characters were cut and plot lines tightened, but I think they made the correct choices and adapted it into the new form REALLY well 

•”You’re going to be amazing” 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 

•the final couple volumes are going to kill me, I can’t wait!! 

Exes and O's by Amy Lea

funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

•a friends to lovers story where I genuinely believe in the friendship before feelings develop? be still my heart!! what a find!! 

•influencers as main characters is so intriguing to me especially with how one’s audience factors into your life/how you view it/what you decide to share. It makes me excited for Mel’s book since she’s the most “famous” of the trio I believe 

•I think I wanted a little bit of a deeper meta analysis about romance novels vs. the real world? The strongest emotional development occurred when people called Tara out for whittling everything down to a trope and I just would have loved even more of that (like discussing miscommunication & how that resolves… catnip for me!!) 

•this does lean a little into cringey millennial writing, but in a way I found charming because I really liked the characters (and I am also a cringey millennial I suppose) 

•thank you Berkley Romance and NetGalley for the eARC 

Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

•incredibly sweet & charming, had me grinning ear to ear, what a delight!! 

•LaDelle struck a really great balance of having really emotionally intelligent characters who still had a lot of room to grow, a really impressive skill when writing seventeen year old characters & it makes me excited for real teens to read this 

•I personally believe that I would make an amazing advice columnist, so I loved the advice segments from Prince 

•this really reminded me of Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (one of my favorite Dessen novels) 

Open Book by Jessica Simpson

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

•Overall, I really enjoyed this memoir, but while Simpson shares so much of her life, there was a certain depth she never quite reached, I think, perhaps, because she is still unpacking a lot of the trauma she’s dealt with 

•Simpson writes A LOT about her faith and God in every aspect of her life, which is fine, but it did feel like I was listening to the Evangelical kids I grew up with (and I became in an alternate universe) 

•She is REALLY gracious towards Nick Lachey and their relationship, much more than I think he deserves (also I didn’t realize she was 18 & he was 25 when they met, and I am 🥴 at that age gap & how much of a baby she was) 

•I only weigh ~10 pounds more than Simpson did in that infamous photo that started a deluge of body shaming, and I just– I’m going to go throw up 

•JOHN MAYER YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY!!!!!!! (Dear John (Taylor’s Version) feat. Jessica Simpson WHEN) 

Spare by Prince Harry

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

 •Harry is just so fucking in love with Meghan, I’m disgusted, I want to throw up, I want someone to stan me the way Harry stans Meg (regardless of your personal feelings about them, I find it hard that anyone can deny they’re in love) 

•Harry is really defensive about his family and the crown. While he’s clearly pissed at his father and brother, he  still shows them a lot of love and emphasizes that the press the ultimate villain of his life 

•Fuck Charles and Camilla for real, the way their staff consistently sell out Will and Harry is beyond gross 

•The military bits… Harry acts as though he’s just another soldier but he’s not. His disinterest and disregard in the geopolitical forces at play in Afghanistan when he is from THE colonizing family… it’s gonna be a yikes from me dog 

•I would actually love to never hear Harry say the word Africa ever again 🥴 

•literally no comment on the todger chapters, sometimes shutting up is good actually 

•please, I’m begging: Will or Kate release a counter memoir!!!! 

Two Wrongs Make a Right by Chloe Liese

emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 •Chloe Liese really writes the most emotionally intelligent conversations in romance. Toxicity who? Where? Not here!!!! 

•Also Liese is such a reliable writer for steamy sex scenes. Every single time, I am 🥵 

•fake dating REMAINS a superior trope. Absolutely unfeasible in real life but in fiction just hits every! single! time!! 

•BUT let’s be completely for real… this is not a Much Ado About Nothing retelling. Like I get the characters are named Beatrice and Benedick (well sort of) but that’s about it 🌝 I feel a little bamboozled by this marketing and really wish the book could’ve just stood on it’s own two feet because I would’ve liked it a lot more without the comparison to my favorite Shakespeare play (Beatrice and Benedick cannot meet for the first time in a Much Ado retelling, it literally defeats the purpose of WHY they are set up, I will die on this hill!!!!!!!!) 

•thank you Berkley Pub and NetGalley for the eARC!! 

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott, Alyson Derrick

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0