colo's reviews
40 reviews

Of Cages and Crowns by Brianna Joy Crump

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I think the book started out really strong and somewhere in the middle, the author lost herself. Like, I genuinely believe she didn’t know how to further along the story so she just came up with the whole traitor bit and ran with it. Personally, I think the whole traitor bit made the book worse because it literally steered the entire book in a bad direction. Also, the whole Larkin bit was so… why? It’s a good plot twist but it also kind of undermines the whole powerful and extremely evil queen thing they had going on with Viera. Like you spent the whole book convincing us that she was the mastermind behind everything only to… strip it away from her..? The way she was killed off was so unserious to me 😭😭

Also not explaining Larkin’s abilities was a big disservice as well. Idk. The book felt lost from the middle point to the end.

The insta love was also not that great. I understand the circumstances though. A young girl who’s never had any type of romance in her life meets a handsome guy who seems totally smitten with her? It’s easy to fall in love in a situation like that. It’s really easy to fall in love with somehow who only has eyes for you and seems to think you’re the best thing since sliced bread. For Cohen, he was smitten with a beautiful girl who saved him years ago. The insta love made sense in their case but I don’t think it helped the plot in any way. 

I also think that the characters were flat. This book is so character driven but we don’t get to know the other characters outside the main 6-8 characters. I would’ve LOVED to see more of the other goddess touched girls. I would’ve LOVED IT! This entire plot (the Culling) only exists because of them so I was really disappointed when we didn’t get to see them more often. 

It was hard to choose a side though. I can see and understand everyone’s point of view.

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective 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? No

4.0

I think Josh was the saving grace of this entire book tbh. He was a loser but like in the best way possible. He’s like the loser you date and will be obsessed with you (in a good way) and be all about you. Like we need more guys like him. Anyways. Hudson was annoying but also so relatable in the sense of knowing but not really knowing what she wants or where she belongs. I think this book is good for teenagers who are in high school and kind of need reassurance on that high school isn’t everything. It will end and I promise that you’ll have a great time after

Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf

dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I love historical fiction because they always give me an insight into the real events that happened. This book was honestly so so heartbreaking and it honestly felt like I was going through this experience with Milada. To have so much hope in the beginning only to have lose it all by the end only to regain some of it back. To read the truly history of Lidice, this very small and real “city” in Czechia is so sad. 

By a Thread by Lucy Score

tense medium-paced

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

1.0

This was my introduction to Lucy Score and this will be my last time reading her books. The only reason this book wasn’t 0 stars is because she gave us 3 epilogues. The character development wasn’t quite there. The plot wasn’t quite there either. This book was just events happening without any real reason why those events were happening. Those events didn’t move or affect the plot (what even was the plot? grumpy boss is a trope. not a plot) in any way whatsoever. Ugh

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

adventurous funny informative mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

This was a really weak introduction to the series which I found odd since The Lightning Thief was so so good. I genuinely feel like I had no idea what was going on. I forgot the quest halfway through the book which I guess is understandable since this is a character driven book. The last ten chapters were chefs kiss though. That and Leo were the only reason why this book got a 3.

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? No

5.0

My only qualm with this book is that it was a bit too fast paced. It almost seemed like Rick didn’t want this to be a 6 book series and had to fit everything in this book. It’s still a 5/5, but I wish some things were more fleshed out 

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I have nothing but good things to say about this book. It’s so good and I loved every second of it

The Titans Curse by Rick Riordan

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

Easily the best book of the series even though Battle of the Labriynth has a fighting chance for that title 

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

adventurous funny sad fast-paced

4.5

More of a filler book. Not really much going on and I feel like Rick was using this as buffer for the better books to come

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

adventurous dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

This was a re-read as I like to start the year with a good and familiar book to get me into the mood of my upcoming readings. I absolutely still love it.