alreadsbooks's reviews
264 reviews

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner

5.0

absolutely adored this graphic novel - the characters were so interesting to get to know, their flaws were all so realistic and i really enjoyed watching them grow as people and as a group, the romances were adorable, the art was so cute, highly recommend! 

bonus the historical section in the back discussing the historical accuracies of queerness and Blackness in those times, but drawn in the same style as the book to make it feel even easier to read and comprehend!

Ash's Cabin by Jen Wang

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective

3.75

i'm left feeling a little unsure how to feel about this book. i loved the story and the premise of it all, and i enjoyed Ash's journey of self discovery and what not (the teen angst felt over the top at times for me but i'm also almost 30 and didnt have that angsty phase as a teen so maybe i'm just not the right person to be judging that LOL). 

my problem more so fell on the resolution of the book.

i felt like the entirety of them being found to the end of the book was SO rushed, and i got no context for most of it? like i would have loved to see some family reunion and how they responded when Ash was found, how Ash responded to rejoining their family, and also just like a little more about their reintroduction to society in general? like we got that brief talk with their cousin at thanksgiving and the highlights that were included in the letter to Susanne, but otherwise it was just like oh yeah the last 48 days of our missing child happened and now they're back in school ? idk, i just think an extra scene or two reintroducing Ash into the real world again would have changed the rating of this one drastically for me.

overall i did enjoy this graphic novel, and think that i'd like to read more by this author for sure -  this one just fell a little bit flat. but i would still recommend as a coming of age, self discovery graphic novel with trans/non-binary rep, wonderful art style and the goodest boy Chase! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Pregnancy

The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields

5.0

oh how i loved this book with my entire being. a cast of characters that dug so deeply into my soul that i felt genuine heartbreak and happiness throughout the book. i absolutely LOVED the concept of bees and their different honey as a part of the magic system - such an interesting take on witches and magic and i really enjoyed it! highly recommend this one

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

5.0

a reread to prepare myself for Celestial Monsters and it was just as wonderful as it was the first time. i love the magic system in this book and the gods being classified how they are. the main characters we follow closely are all so enjoyable, and the twist i was NOT expecting at all the first time i read this. 

i’m so excited to see where celestial monsters takes us!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

5.0

a reread of my favorite series in high school to prep for the new book, it’s incredible and unfortunately even more relevant these days and that sucks but this series is so important 

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

5.0

i - 😳

good god this book was phenomenal. it constantly kept me on my toes and i don’t think i stopped getting whiplash for the entire last 15% of the book. highly recommend and i WILL be reading more by this author. 

oh. and eat the f***ing rich. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler

4.5

oh i had a blast listening to this one. i love a queer awakening story and this one was so enjoyable! i loved all the main characters and honestly couldn’t decide who i wanted her to end up with

but i’m really glad she chose the sapphic route because duh, sapphic

not to mention natalie naudus narrates, and that’s an automatic win. loved the audio!

OH and a demi lovato song title? sign me UP

She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen

3.5

this one was just … okay. it had aspects i found really cute, but also a lot i didn’t love. i had a hard time going back and forth between feeling like this was so clearly YA in a juvenile sense and feeling like these were unrealistic for high school aged people to be experiencing (especially the parties but maybe i just am delusional and lived too sheltered of a teenage life LOL).  

i also found scottie kind of unbearable at times - i enjoyed irene a lot though and so maybe i just felt over it that scottie spent so much time pining over her shitty ex rather than focusing on what was in front of her LOL

the ending was cute though and overall i’d say it’s a cute read but not one i would RAVE over 

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

5.0

just as incredible the second time around, and the narrator is amazing which just made it that much better!

Better Left Buried by Mary E. Roach

3.0

this is one of those YA mystery thriller books that are fine while you’re reading it but i will almost certainly forget everything fairly quickly LOL

the book wasn’t bad, just kind of predictable and a bit repetitive at times. i did enjoy our two main characters and i’ll always root for a sapphic moment so that was nice! 

overall, a quick and relatively enjoyable read but don’t expect something life changing