aria_'s reviews
397 reviews

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I have never so deeply related to a novel in my life. The Bell Jar is blunt and raw and painful and powerful. 

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

fast-paced

4.25

I love reading books in one day. Also, what an unexpected ending!!

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

emotional funny 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

THIS IS SUCH AN AMAZING BOOK!!!!! I read it in one amazing Sunday, and am absolutely in love with the characters, the world, and the writing. PLEASE read this if you love queer YA rom-coms! It is perfection.

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

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

Brilliant, magical, shocking, glamourous. 

I understand why everyone loves the fairy books. This was literally such a magical read.

King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard

4.5

i cannot remember what happened but i remember loving it

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

5.0

amazing

Gleanings by Neal Shusterman

5.0

i LOVE the depth that this added to the whole scythe universe – totally recommend to anyone who liked the Arc of Scythe trilogy

Amulet of Wishes by Rita A. Rubin

3.0

Amulet of Wishes, by Rita A. Rubin follows Derek Draco, an ambitious young Guardian. The book follows him as he goes on a perilous journey in search of the pieces of an amulet that would allow him to grant wishes.

Overall, the characters were vibrant and creative, and had such unique personalities! Amulet of Wishes is the sort of book you can emerge from feeling like you really know the characters, and I loved that.

Characters –

Derek was an interesting protagonist. He wasn’t always the most likable, and many of his actions were frustrating. This meant that reading a whole novel centered around him was challenging, but in a good way. He is complex, and has a lot of internal struggles that are shown through his actions, and the ways he interacts with other characters.

Reading a book with a frustrating main character can feel frustrating to the reader, but it also leaves so much room for improvement, and so much space for more powerful character arcs.

I also liked the range of relationships that were shown and written about in the book.

Jared and Arabelle, royal cousins and two of Derek’s best friends, are very different people, but also balance each other out very well. The two are family, and that shows.

Derek’s relationship with Darus, his adoptive father, was also written well. Derek had a challenging and traumatic past, but Darus has given him a center to his life. Their relationship isn’t perfect, but through the book we see both characters grow as people.

Someone I would have liked to see even more of was Aurelia. I found her to be a really interesting character, and I loved the parts that included her, and details of her past. I know that Amulet of Wishes is the first in a series, so I do hope that her character is explored more in future books.

I also felt that some of the characters were a bit limited at times – romantic interest in Derek was often used as a plot device, meant to be used as a lead in to other scenes, and I wish that those sections could have been more fully fleshed out.

In general, while Darek had many layers and good depth, it would have been nice to see more complexity in some of the side characters as well. There are a lot of really interesting side characters, but some of them do feel a bit one dimensional.

This doesn’t take away from the plot, however – like I said before, the relationships between the characters was one my highlights of the book.

Writing & Worldbuilding –

The writing in Amulet of Wishes is very good. The imagery is amazing, and I felt like I could really visualize all the different places the characters went. Forests, villages, caves… Rubin builds such an amazing world in Amulet of Wishes, one that you don’t want to leave.

I also liked learning about the different countries and groups in the world, cultural tensions and political conflict.

I also love reading high fantasy set in a queer-normative society. Fantasy worlds often have many problems, but there’s no need for homophobia. Casual representation is so important, and is so refreshing to read about.

In Amulet of Wishes, there are plenty of queer characters, and that’s just seen as normal and is fully accepted.

Plot –

I really liked the plot of Amulet of Wishes. There are definitely some cliches, but I wasn’t bothered by that. There were still many things that made the world and the story unique, and those aspects of the book mixed nicely with the cliches.

In general the pacing was alright, but in individual scenes the action seemed to happen so fast! There wasn’t a huge amount of follow through with some of the scenes, though the action sections were fantastic!!

I have become very thoroughly intrigued in the world of the Guardians – Rubin left me curious to find out more of what happens next, in the sequel. I’m especially desperate to know about the secrets of the Guardians!!

Amulet of Wishes is a magical book, and I found the world and the characters very compelling. While there were some places where I would have liked to see some more depth, that came from a genuine curiosity towards wanting to know more about the characters and the story. Overall, I give it a solid 3 stars, and I recommend it to fans of YA fantasy looking for a fun, fast paced read!

A Million to One by Adiba Jaigirdar

3.75

Piece of advice: Don't have insanely high expectations for a book because it can really drag down the experience.

Not that this wasn't great – just I think I was so excited that it made me enjoy the real thing quite a bit less

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

5.0

can't believe i dnf'd this one before. i read it in like a day, and for being in the middle of the school year, that's pretty impressive for me.

spoilers:

actually wtf i was literally in love with maven (Not romantically but like, i was emotionally attached to his character and thought he was really great)