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feralnebulous's reviews
108 reviews
The Wicked King by Holly Black
3.0
I thought this book was pretty good, don't get me wrong, I loved all the fantasy aspects of the story. However, the plot felt like a bunch of other books I had already read. I still thought this was a good read, though. Just not my favorite.
The Authentics by Abdi Nazemian
3.0
Honestly, I found this to be a pretty enjoyable book. I read it all in a day, it's well paced and engaging. There's just something...off-putting about some of the plot elements. The fact that it's a fairly short book leaves a lot of character elements lacking in some ways. I just felt like a lot of them weren't fully fleshed out. Yes, it's a story about Daria finding herself and that's why it focuses on her but there was potential for more to be done with it in my opinion. Also, there are a lot of things about Daria that I disliked in the end. She finds out her mom had a ton of miscarriages and a still-born before her (which she understands is extremely tragic) but Daria still gets caught up on the fact that she wasn't told that she was adopted. The fact that she wasn't told about her adoption kinda keeps her occupied for almost the entire book which is understandable, but did I like it? No. Another problem I had was with Enrique and how he suddenly falls in love with Daria the second he sees her. We don't get to see much of him before that, and while we do find out more about his backstory later, he gets lost as the forbidden love interest of the protagonist. Also, I just don't like him very much (sorry). The romance he has with Daria honestly makes me dislike him more (he's 18, she's 15. I have many problems with that). I'm very glad they don't end up together because that relationship was going nowhere fast. Other than the character flaws, I found this to be an enjoyable book about finding yourself and being truly authentic with the people around you.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before: Special Keepsake Edition by Jenny Han
2.0
I read this book after watching the movie a while ago and I was pleased with how much the movie remained true to the book, however, there were a few things in the book that were pretty important plot points that got left out of the movie (for obvious reasons-it would have made the movie way longer than it needed to be). Honestly, I liked the movie more than the book, even though the book managed to be more of an emotional rollercoaster. Here are a few things that I didn't like as much about the book:
1. I didn't like Peter. He had approximately 2 1/2 redeeming moments (in my opinion), other than that he was a pretty big jerk. Kinda makes it hard for you to root for him when he's the complete package in the movie.
2. Kitty was extremely aggressive (well, more than I thought she would be, but I'm not an expert on the psyche of the nine-year-old girl). This did give her action of mailing Lara Jean's letters more believability instead of it seeming like the whim of a bored little sister. While I like the variety with her spitfire personality, I got bored of it pretty quickly.
3. All the dramatic tension. Yeah, it makes the story a bit more exciting, but it made the situation way less believable. I'm not saying it was meant to be realistic, but it made it so I couldn't really get into the story more. Also, I don't know where all the tension I'm referring to came from, but this story was just too dramatic for me.
4. Lara Jean never really had any character development. She started as a privileged, sheltered, upper class girl and ended as one too. Also, there really wasn't ever any romance between her and Peter or her and Josh. I was hoping for more of a sweet love story (because honestly, that's what this story was meant to be from the beginning, but it failed pretty badly) but I never really got one. That was pretty disappointing.
Disregarding these issues and a few other problems with this book, I still found it to be an enjoyable read.
1. I didn't like Peter. He had approximately 2 1/2 redeeming moments (in my opinion), other than that he was a pretty big jerk. Kinda makes it hard for you to root for him when he's the complete package in the movie.
2. Kitty was extremely aggressive (well, more than I thought she would be, but I'm not an expert on the psyche of the nine-year-old girl). This did give her action of mailing Lara Jean's letters more believability instead of it seeming like the whim of a bored little sister. While I like the variety with her spitfire personality, I got bored of it pretty quickly.
3. All the dramatic tension. Yeah, it makes the story a bit more exciting, but it made the situation way less believable. I'm not saying it was meant to be realistic, but it made it so I couldn't really get into the story more. Also, I don't know where all the tension I'm referring to came from, but this story was just too dramatic for me.
4. Lara Jean never really had any character development. She started as a privileged, sheltered, upper class girl and ended as one too. Also, there really wasn't ever any romance between her and Peter or her and Josh. I was hoping for more of a sweet love story (because honestly, that's what this story was meant to be from the beginning, but it failed pretty badly) but I never really got one. That was pretty disappointing.
Disregarding these issues and a few other problems with this book, I still found it to be an enjoyable read.