very okay. i just didn't find myself intrigued by anyone, which is a bit of a problem for a character-driven book. writing was nice, on a whole, but some of the short paragraphs of the end kinda made me cringe. might be a me problem though.

listened to nude by radiohead, henry by soccer mommy, and adrift by austin wintory while reading.

Choosing a class became choosing a discipline, and choosing a discipline became choosing a career, and choosing a career became choosing a life, and how was anyone supposed to do that, when you only had one?

Don't Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.0

kinda mixed, mostly positive, thoughts? i liked the characters quite a bit and will probably attempt #2 in the duology, and it has a good resolution.

sort of know it's gonna be a hea but it's believably not and had me really anxious at points. i suppose that means it's good? there are a few phrases i felt were repeated a noticeable amount of times but maybe that's just nitpicking. romance is good but i'm a bit wondering how they got so proficient, or are the dress hoops in my mind overly clunky. i cannot imagine being proficient in intimacy in those and anyway isn't it their first time thereabouts? maybe i'm a prude??? but overall it's an easy read that does what it sets out to do and is sometimes funny.

i am slightly wondering if it'd be better in first person pov though?

edit: i'm a criminal. hadn't listened to dress by taylor swift before and now that i'm listening to it i'm quite sure this would've been bumped up a star if i was listening to this vibey tune while reading it. christ i'm a sinner. never too late for a reread i guess. scrolling through my highlighted parts and it's just incoherent screaming at the angsty parts, too. what's wrong with me

note for later: kobo says i took 4.3 hours to finish this.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

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

5.0

it's terribly relatable. the descriptions of the fig tree and racehorses. wagh. the sudden knowing that you will cry. babies.

How could I write about life when I'd never had a love affair or a baby or seen anybody die? A girl I knew had just won a prize for a short story about her adventures among the pygmies in Africa. How could I compete with that sort of thing?

gosh. when she writes about it being silly to change and bathe and wash. gosh. the suicide attempts when she talked about the defencelessness of her wrists. the asking about how to become a nun.

I wanted to tell her that if only something were wrong with my body it would be fine, I would rather have anything wrong with my body than something wrong with my head, but the idea seemed so involved and wearisome that I didn't say anything.

for some reason, i really liked this line: