amandasbooks1's reviews
32 reviews

Normal People by Sally Rooney

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.0

Didn't hate it but didn't love it. If "meh" was a fantasy book, it would be this one!! 
Quick opinions: 
- Em dashes fucking everywhere! There were up to 6 em dashes on a single page, usually in places were they had no business being. Like the sentences were strukturer so terribly due to S.J Mass' love for em dashes. 
- Slow moving pace, only for it to happen 100 things in the last 20 pages, things that were poorly explained or magically solved due to stuff we hadnt even learnt was a thing 
- the enemies to lovers thing went from 0-100 real quick, in less than two chapters it went from "I guess he is okay?" To "I love him and would die for him" but hey, you do you Feyre. We love a delusional illiterate Queen. 

Overall, dont get the hype fully but I will continue reading bc of Rhys. 

We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han

lighthearted fast-paced

3.0

It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

emotional lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

3.0

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

3.0

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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? No

5.0

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I did enjoy this book! It was nice to get a change of scenery from the Academy and I really liked the new characters like Sydney and meeting Dimitris family. Rose needed this journey not only for the purpose of the story but to grow as a character. 

The writing however - still not great or any improvement from the other books. Sentences are formed terribly and this is coming from a non native english speaker. But still a decent read so I wont give it too much hate since there is far more things to hate about. 

The internalised misogny, though it has been blatant all the books, were off the charts in this one!! Like wow!! Damn!

The whole blood wh*re situation is f*cking disgusting, and that Rose looks down on and is disgusted by women who live like this feels so outdated and it would not have be published today. Because there is hundreds of words saying how disgusting the women are for doing this, there is only one or two saying that the men who are the actual assholes in this are bad also. If a writer wants to skim the topic of prostitution maybe do a bit of sensitivity checks and research before implementing it into a YA novel written for teens :))))

 

The flashbacks with Dimitri were really cringy and so forced and just put there to force a sad narrative onto to the reader. The situation was sad of course, finding the love of your life to kill him, but the flashbacks did the opposite for me lmao. 

Tw: abuse, SA

When Rose does find Dimitri and he bites her against her will its literally abuse. And since she only wants to be sexual with him after the first time he bit her and she got high from it, Dimitri literally SA'd her the whole time they were together :)) it doesnt matter that she loved him, she didnt want that. Again this is a very harsh topic that teens from 13-17 read??? Like I read this at a young age when I didnt understand it and couldnt grasp that it was wrong. I know that its not the real Dimitri but its gonna be really f*cking hard rooting for them in the next books??

 

In conclusion, not a bad read, massively proplmatic though and it would not have been published the same in todays climate. 

I have consequently switched teams. Go be with Adrian, Rose and forget about Dimitri. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Drug use

Frostbite by Richelle Mead

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed it and felt like Rose is starting to grow a lot! Loooove Adrian Ivashkov, like he is the male version of Rose if she was a little more unhinged. 
After he comes in the picture the shipping for Dimitri slipped just the tiniest bit bc of the chemistry between Adrian and Rose. 

Fun read packed with teenage drama but with a darker mode than the first book due to the worlds events.