allygator's reviews
318 reviews

The King's Men by Nora Sakavic

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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

boy howdy was this a book. tumblr darling all for the game continues to get more bonkers with every installment and this finale (kind of! now there's the sunshine court!) is no exception. if i had a nickel for every time i opened a conversation with one of my roommates with "you'll never guess what happened in the book today" i would have so many nickels. i would be wealthy. every time i thought that we had reached peak bonkers it showed itself up. and it kept showing itself up until 3 PAGES until the end. wild shit, truly.
but seriously i am shocked by how much i loved this series, and this book in particular. the king's men finally allows us to see into andrew's mind a little bit and it just cemented him as my favorite character. he's so complicated and secretly caring and violent that i ate up every scene he was in as if it was my last meal. he's starting to break down his walls just a little bit to let people in and i hope with everything in me that he heals the way he deserves. and neil! sweet sweet neil. terror of the press neil. he's precious to me because he gets put through the ringer in this book but he still is so in love with his friends. the only times he lets himself be selfish is when he allows himself to bond with the foxes and if that isn't found family at its peak i don't know what is.
the foxes really truly become a family in this and it's exactly what i needed. like give me 500 more pages of nicky dragging an oblivious kevin out of their dorm so that neil and andrew can hook up. give me allison calling up the travel agent she isn't supposed to be in contact with so that the foxes can have a nice vacation. give me the team going to late night practices together for the first time. give me matt caring so deeply for neil because they've become brothers. give me aaron and katelyn finally getting to be together in front of all their friends. give me everything and then some because you know i'll read every bit of it. the joy i felt when

the foxes won the championship

was so all-consuming that i was giggling and kicking my feet in my place of work and i wasn't even embarrassed by it. this terrible new adult sports drama somehow is my new favorite thing.
the only thing that keeps this from perfection is the pacing. it's a little off compared to the other two books, probably because it's longer but it still made it drag in some places and run at full speed in others. not the biggest problem, but still.
tldr: the foxes are everything to me no pacing issues can keep me from eating this book up

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

emotional funny lighthearted fast-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

4.5

boy howdy do i love a romance novel that isn't just about cookie cutter white people. i'm trying to diversify the romance that i read (even though i still love emily henry and christina lauren, their characters all look the same lol) and this is such a great rom com to get started on that journey. i adored the representation in this book -- it felt so genuine and authentic and not forced at all. in particular, the chronic illness rep here was miles beyond what i've read recently. it didn't shy away from the hard parts of living with chronic pain, but it also showed the joy that can be found on good days. chloe was relatable because she felt everything that real people feel, the good and the bad. red is a perfect partner for her because he doesn't expect her to push away her pain for him, he just meets her where she's at. he's so sympathetic and soft and i hate him for making dating artists seem like a great idea (lol). 
the only thing that holds this back from a perfect 5 stars for me is the conflict that leads to the inevitable third act breakup. my biggest pet peeve in romance novels is when the central conflict is something that could have been solved with literally one minute of communication, and this one was the epitome of that. i was so frustrated with the way that chloe refused to explain herself and how quick red jumped to conclusions. i forgive them, because their responses are based in their past relationship traumas, but it was an upsettingly simple issue that was drawn out to have chapters of breakup-related drama.
that aside, though, i adored this book and i cannot wait to pick up the rest of the brown sisters trilogy

The Raven King by Nora Sakavic

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

what can i say, it's a tumblr darling for a reason. that being said, the trigger warnings in this are batshit crazy please please please do not read this series (but like this book even more than the last one) without knowing what they are. 
zoo wee mama this was a sequel. unlike most 2nd books in trilogies, this somehow managed to be more insane than the last one? which i guess shouldn't have surprised me given the reputation these books have but still. zoo wee mama. the plot is bonkers but somehow makes sense? like of course neil does what he does because he's a nineteen-year-old fight-loving flight risk who has very quickly formed extremely codependent relationships with his teammates.
i continue to be the biggest andrew apologist of all time, but if i'm being honest all the foxes are so special to me like they're giving found family they're giving trauma bonding they're giving everything. yes they've all done objectively terrible things but do i care? not usually. i love that both sides of the team are finally getting to be friends with each other, and i can't wait to see how they react to

neil coming home from evermore manor beat to shit with all of his disguises removed.

bring on the third book, i can't wait for it to be even crazier than this one was.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

anthony doerr has been that bitch when it comes to stories that span generations and types of people, but this is a new scale even for him. where all the light we cannot see looked at largely two characters as they grew up, cloud cuckoo land follows five people in three vastly different time periods: ancient constantinople, modern day (1950s-2020s), and the future. and yet, despite the huge time jumps between chapters, all the characters feel very authentic and human. the choice to use the consumption and preservation of one story as the connection between all the different time lines was a smart one, especially in a book as literary as this one. and the end of the day, this is a book about the love of literature, the importance of story-telling, and the impact and importance of libraries. the mystery that unfolds in regards to those three things, especially in the future sections, is enthralling.
the only downside to this is that with so many different perspectives, a few were bound to be a little less interesting to me. i loved konstance and zeno, seymour intrigued me, but anna and omeir didn't quite draw my attention (until the end -- their ending devastated me). if you can get over the hefty page count and are willing to sit through some chapters that are more entertaining than others, this is 100% worth a read, if only for the humanity embedded in each and every word.

The Way of Natural History by

informative slow-paced

4.25

while i don't agree with every essay in this collection, it is generally a really insightful look into how we view the natural world and what we can do to learn and grow in our awareness of our environment. i'm always a fan of critiquing academia, and this does it in a way that understands the point of formal education while also pointing out that what it focuses on is not always what's actually important. unlike most environmental science-based essay collections, this one makes a point to include artists, poets, musicians, and other creatives, which allows for a more well-rounded view of how various forms of environmental awareness fit into one larger education.
my fav essay: Robin Wall Kimmerer's, but that shouldn't surprise anyone, i adore her writing 

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

30 Things I Love About Myself by Radhika Sanghani

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

emotional funny lighthearted fast-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

5.0

alice oseman the writer you are
i didn't think it was possible for me to love one of their books as much as i loved radio silence, but apparently it is. the characters in this kept me in their clutches and did not let me go and god, did i love it. jimmy is one of the best protagonists alice has ever written -- he's compelling and complicated and oh-so-real and i couldn't help but fall head over heels for him. lister is such a mystery and i desperately want there to be a sequel so i can learn more about him and see him become a little less lonely. rowan is so flawed and human and he has the best intentions and he doesn't always do nice things but he is doing what he can. angel is goofy and well-meaning and encapsulates everything that is good and bad about fans so so well.
this is a book that, at its core, is about fandom. it is about how fame affects teenage stars, which only feels more relevant in an age where people make countdowns to when young actors turn 18 and therefore can be sexualized without predatory connotations. it is about parasocial relationships and meeting your idols and realizing they're human too. it's such an interesting look at fandom, and is shockingly introspective for what is generally a silly little ya novel. as always with osemanverse books, the representation is spot-on and incredibly diverse. jimmy in particular is so perfectly crafted to be shown in a way that doesn't shy away from the gritty details of his mental illness but also the joy that he gets from his gender identity and the community he has helped to build.
anyway i miss these characters already they are so precious to me and i hope they get another book so i can get my found family and vaguely will they-won't they romance to develop more

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

emotional hopeful 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

4.5