calebaltair's Reviews (336)


3.5 i didn’t like the pacing but i liked the characters! kit my best girl <3

i feel like the best way I’m going to be describing this book to my friends is “west side story meets supernatural”

this book. man . when i say it was keeping me up last time, I mean it. we follow the two main characters juliette cai and roma montagov, who are both hiers to their rival gangs.

She hated him so much... She hated this. “You don’t get to do that.” Roma blinked. He eased up on his temper too, his whispering turning into a soft one. “Do what?”

“See me.”

romajuliette literally SERVED the lovers to enemies to lovers trope. i always enjoy enemies to lovers, but adding either ex-lovers or childhood best friends to it.. THE TEA THAT ENSUES. following their story was so interesting because that was that big wanting but hating it dynamic. i had to literally put the book down when they kissed just because of the excitement i felt.

“And you love him enough to make him hate you.”

the context that led up to that quote.. TYLER CAI WHEN I CATCH YOU

two characters I became extremely invested and interested in were marshall seo (roma’s best friend) and benedikt montagov (roma’s cousin). I relate to benedikt so much, but marshall has that charm that I always like in characters. also.. There’s a potential romance between them ?? chloe please serve it I am begging. just look at this quote—

“Benedikt Montagov, Roma’s cousin. His blond head could usually be found bent toward Marshall’s dark one, A matching pair.”

literally implied soulmatism??? they have the best friends to lovers trope with bickering and I love it. their ending was the reason I was laying awake last night. marshall just wants benedikt to know he’s alive :(

don’t even get me started on ms. kathleen lang! she’s juliette’s cousin and is also the trans rep, but she’s such a baddie! all the characters have different voices in this book, and I loved it! also the rep was immaculate.

5/5 for me

this book served all the best tropes

yeah that ending basically raised it to four stars because the rest of this book was a solid 3.5

these books had to be laced with something because once i started reading them i couldn’t stop

3.5! (i wish it had been a little longer before they got together) this was just the book i needed to get out of my reading slump. rivals to lovers is the best trope for a REASON !! i would die for alden