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feuillycakes's reviews
154 reviews
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined by Stephenie Meyer
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I want to start off on a good note, so I'll say this: I enjoyed this book. It was interesting to read and see all the changes, and there are some parts I actually love that are unique to this book. It's written differently than Twilight, with clunkier storytelling due to the POV and a few instances of Stephenie Meyer stating the obvious by showing and then immediately telling us what we've just seen like we collectively share one braincell between us all, but overall it was a fun read. Beau is his own character separate from the original character of Bella, Edythe is her own character separate from Edward, and from this point on I'll be referring to things in canon Twilight as 'Bella's twilight'. This all being said, there were some issues I found with this book too, and I'll discuss them at the end.
Spoilers beyond this point
Let's get into it!
Beau Swan is bitter and sarcastic, has blue eyes, and self esteem so low it's digging holes. He chose to move to Forks but is also not happy about it. He's uncomfortable and confused that Charlie takes care of him by putting snow tires on his jeep, to the point he is still baffled by it when he nearly gets hit by a van. He's also observant, noticing pretty much everything about Edythe saving him, from her stopping the van with her bare hands to him being dragged out of the way, and the way she lifted the van didn't escape him either. After everything goes down as it did in Bella's twilight, Beau is convinced Edythe is playing a huge joke on him by talking to him at all. This is his character.
Edythe is softer than her counterpart. She smiles more, is more relaxed, and swears apparently. We see her through Beau's eyes so we get to see her smaller than him and cuddling into his chest while at the same time having the strength to kill him with one slap. He thinks of her as Royal's little sister at one point. It's both adorable and amusing, and I genuinely want to read more stories where the mysterious vampire is a girl because of this. I'm all for genderswaps being pretty much exactly the same person no matter the gender, but this was such an interesting dynamic. To see how each character is different because they were socialised differently and have slightly altered life experiences was fascinating.
There were a few things that changed that I have big opinions on:
- Lady wolves. My opinion is Yes and also Wow.
- The Port Angeles scene has Beau almost getting shot by people who thinks he's a police officer. In my opinion this scene didn't need to change like that, as we know being followed by creepy men is less common an experience for men but it still happens. Edythe rescues him and is fully intending on going after them until Beau convinces her not to. It's a huge difference; where Bella was seen as incapable of looking after herself for even a short time by Edward, Edythe intends on leaving Beau to his own devices while she goes on a rampage.
- The whole plot with Taylor is different and hilarious. Instead of allowing her to continue to spread rumours about him taking her to prom, Beau publically and loudly 'breaks up' with her and tells her to stop using him to make Logan jealous. It's a wicked thing to do and I just about peed myself laughing. I do annotate my books and that page has QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT all down the margins.
- The Queens executing Aro and Caius and becoming better rulers than them made my day. More things I didn't know I needed.
- Beau's reasoning for leaving Charlie and fleeing to Arizona was honestly so much better than in Bella's twilight. He actually gives a reason for his leaving and isn't needlessly cruel. The reasoning itself is heartbreaking. The thought of these characters actually having the conversation he said they had made my heart hurt because it could never have happened, Edythe can't have plans to settle down and get married and have kids for obvious reasons, and that is when I realised I shipped it more than I shipped Bella and Edward. In this, Edythe takes over Rosalie's story to an extent, but without the bitterness.
- On a happier note, Archie explains to Beau in the Phoenix hotel room that he's already seen them as best friends and some of the things they will do together, and then there's this interaction:
'"We're friends?" I asked, my voice full of wonder.
"Best friends," he told me. "Someday. It was nice of my favorite sister, don't you think, to fall in love with my best friend? I guess I owe her one."'
If heart eyes emoji was an emotion, I am that emotion when reading this back. This didn't happen in Bella's twilight, at least, not at this point. I love a genuine friendship.
- I posted this review without even giving an opinion on the changed ending. I liked it is the opinion. It was a bit infodumpy but I didn't mind it, and the sadness Beau felt at leaving his family was not nice but nice to read. It felt more real and the stakes were higher than Bella's twilight.
And now onto the negative stuff
Most of the offensiveness was not fixed from Twilight, so we get creepy insinuations about children and that joke about suicide, plus the comment about "superstitious natives". Also, if anyone was wondering, the 'watching your love interest sleep' thing is not less creepy when it's a girl doing it. You're welcome for this knowledge. Unfortunately, Stephenie Meyer took all her offensive remarks from Twilight and added to them.
Using OCD to mean perfectionism is not appropriate. Cleaning the house isn't OCD. Tidying the cupboards when they're messy isn't OCD. This is a personal rage of mine that I carry with me, but for anyone who doesn't know this: being neat and tidy is not in fact a serious mental disorder that causes intrusive thoughts, panic attacks and often unintentional self harm. Do not conflate the two.
Also in the same vein, it is not an OK thing for your character who is psychic and explaining how that works to say "It's hard to explain without sounding slightly schizophrenic..." This book came out in 2015 so there is no excuse for this.
All this is to say that Stephenie Meyer has not changed one bit, you can enjoy problematic things as long as you acknowledge the problematic elements, and stop using mental disorders flippantly and as the butt of jokes. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.
Spoilers beyond this point
Let's get into it!
Beau Swan is bitter and sarcastic, has blue eyes, and self esteem so low it's digging holes. He chose to move to Forks but is also not happy about it. He's uncomfortable and confused that Charlie takes care of him by putting snow tires on his jeep, to the point he is still baffled by it when he nearly gets hit by a van. He's also observant, noticing pretty much everything about Edythe saving him, from her stopping the van with her bare hands to him being dragged out of the way, and the way she lifted the van didn't escape him either. After everything goes down as it did in Bella's twilight, Beau is convinced Edythe is playing a huge joke on him by talking to him at all. This is his character.
Edythe is softer than her counterpart. She smiles more, is more relaxed, and swears apparently. We see her through Beau's eyes so we get to see her smaller than him and cuddling into his chest while at the same time having the strength to kill him with one slap. He thinks of her as Royal's little sister at one point. It's both adorable and amusing, and I genuinely want to read more stories where the mysterious vampire is a girl because of this. I'm all for genderswaps being pretty much exactly the same person no matter the gender, but this was such an interesting dynamic. To see how each character is different because they were socialised differently and have slightly altered life experiences was fascinating.
There were a few things that changed that I have big opinions on:
- Lady wolves. My opinion is Yes and also Wow.
- The Port Angeles scene has Beau almost getting shot by people who thinks he's a police officer. In my opinion this scene didn't need to change like that, as we know being followed by creepy men is less common an experience for men but it still happens. Edythe rescues him and is fully intending on going after them until Beau convinces her not to. It's a huge difference; where Bella was seen as incapable of looking after herself for even a short time by Edward, Edythe intends on leaving Beau to his own devices while she goes on a rampage.
- The whole plot with Taylor is different and hilarious. Instead of allowing her to continue to spread rumours about him taking her to prom, Beau publically and loudly 'breaks up' with her and tells her to stop using him to make Logan jealous. It's a wicked thing to do and I just about peed myself laughing. I do annotate my books and that page has QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT all down the margins.
- The Queens executing Aro and Caius and becoming better rulers than them made my day. More things I didn't know I needed.
- Beau's reasoning for leaving Charlie and fleeing to Arizona was honestly so much better than in Bella's twilight. He actually gives a reason for his leaving and isn't needlessly cruel. The reasoning itself is heartbreaking. The thought of these characters actually having the conversation he said they had made my heart hurt because it could never have happened, Edythe can't have plans to settle down and get married and have kids for obvious reasons, and that is when I realised I shipped it more than I shipped Bella and Edward. In this, Edythe takes over Rosalie's story to an extent, but without the bitterness.
- On a happier note, Archie explains to Beau in the Phoenix hotel room that he's already seen them as best friends and some of the things they will do together, and then there's this interaction:
'"We're friends?" I asked, my voice full of wonder.
"Best friends," he told me. "Someday. It was nice of my favorite sister, don't you think, to fall in love with my best friend? I guess I owe her one."'
If heart eyes emoji was an emotion, I am that emotion when reading this back. This didn't happen in Bella's twilight, at least, not at this point. I love a genuine friendship.
- I posted this review without even giving an opinion on the changed ending. I liked it is the opinion. It was a bit infodumpy but I didn't mind it, and the sadness Beau felt at leaving his family was not nice but nice to read. It felt more real and the stakes were higher than Bella's twilight.
And now onto the negative stuff
Most of the offensiveness was not fixed from Twilight, so we get creepy insinuations about children and that joke about suicide, plus the comment about "superstitious natives". Also, if anyone was wondering, the 'watching your love interest sleep' thing is not less creepy when it's a girl doing it. You're welcome for this knowledge. Unfortunately, Stephenie Meyer took all her offensive remarks from Twilight and added to them.
Using OCD to mean perfectionism is not appropriate. Cleaning the house isn't OCD. Tidying the cupboards when they're messy isn't OCD. This is a personal rage of mine that I carry with me, but for anyone who doesn't know this: being neat and tidy is not in fact a serious mental disorder that causes intrusive thoughts, panic attacks and often unintentional self harm. Do not conflate the two.
Also in the same vein, it is not an OK thing for your character who is psychic and explaining how that works to say "It's hard to explain without sounding slightly schizophrenic..." This book came out in 2015 so there is no excuse for this.
All this is to say that Stephenie Meyer has not changed one bit, you can enjoy problematic things as long as you acknowledge the problematic elements, and stop using mental disorders flippantly and as the butt of jokes. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.
Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I’m in a rage and it’s all to do with the ending of this book and the fact I now have to wait to see if what I want to happen will actually happen. The entire way through this book I had to continuously put it down and do some breathing exercises.
Never have I ever read a book so emotionally intense without a payoff at the end, and I’m both cursing Maniscalco for these feelings and praising her for her ability to write a book that never lets up on the tension until the end where more tension is added. My wait for the sequel will be a frustrating one but I know the moment I see it up for preorder I’ll be screeching about it all over again. Did anybody else spend whole hours of their life desperately waiting for them to kiss? I swear half my stress this last week has been waiting for something to happen between these two characters because of how hard I ship it and how exactly this book hit all the tropes I usually only find in fan fiction.
As I’m writing this review my palpitations at the ending have yet to cease, so I’ll be brief. The world building in this book was fascinating. We only get to see tidbits of information at a time, so we are as in the dark as the main character. It was an excellent choice. The lack of trust in any of the characters was also an excellent choice. I spent the whole book second guessing my feelings and honestly I am still doing that now. The enemies-to-sort-of-friends-to-lovers-to-maybe-enemies-and-so-on types romance was super intense and I loved it so much. It had to perfect amount of hostility and will they won’t they going on. I’m personally praying for a will they in the next book or I may explode. Also the book itself, with its cover and it’s map and all the fun stuff is stunning.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
dark
mysterious
tense
3.0
Give us trash but make it entertaining. If not for the questionable language, the subtle homophobia, and the glaring racism, this would be a solid read. Now, it’s not exactly in your face, but I think referring black people ‘blacks’ or ‘a black’ and being scandalised by the thought of them dating a white girl, and having the love interest be a confederate soldier who is admired and praised for that, along with the excitement of learning an ancestor enslaved people, is subtext enough. Luckily I went into this knowing it’s trash and that it was written nearly 20 years ago, so I was able to anticipate this and enjoy it for what it was.
Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This was far less enjoyable and far more irritating than Serpent & Dove. It went in a direction I wasn’t a fan of, and I was also under the impression that certain plots would have some closure, but I was very wrong. There’s no satisfaction from reading this book, and the set up for the next is not enough to interest me. I found the main characters whiny and irritating and my favourite characters got near no development or were killed off. It felt like some plot lines were made just for the drama and to meet a page count, when they would have been so much more interesting from a different perspective or with a different outcome. If you wanted to read about Reid exploring his magic with Lou and their fight against Morgane, you will be sorely disappointed. There’s mostly whining, Lou going crazy, and pointless wandering in the woods. Save your time and energy with this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I wasn’t expecting to review this because I went in thinking it would be a children’s book, but here I am, pleasantly surprised and cursing the rating system. I’d give this a solid 3.5 stars. It started out good, got pretty slow in the middle, then ending in an excellent place.
The possibilities of this world that’s been built are endless and exciting, with time travel being a feasible thing but with a dangerous side to it. I kept thinking about how to story would have gone if any one of the peculiars had left the loop after staying there for so long and lived out their lives without being eaten, and then joined back again when they were older. Would there be 2 of them? If you left through the loop and not the entrance after living in it for 40 years and then joined it again after another 40 years, would you be back to the time you left just 40 years older, find yourself having missed those 40 years you were gone, or would you have never really been there? I have so many questions and I just really love time travel. Now I’ll have to read the next book just to satisfy my curiosity, and I’m not at all broken up about that.
It’s really the time travel that does it for me, but obviously there’s the adventure and mystery and the characters too that make the story, and I’ll be honest they were pretty good except for one part that as a Welsh person I found extremely offensive and horrendously accurate to certain teenage boys. Oh there’s swearing too. Wasn’t expecting that.
Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite by Natalie C. Parker, Zoraida Córdova
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
This is this first anthology I’ve read since I was a child, and it didn’t disappoint. Each story brought something new and unexpected to the table, and I found myself liking each one in its own way. I’ve loved vampire stories since I was a child, and this new take on them was refreshing and exciting. The one thing I could wish for from this book is that some of the stories were longer. They set my imagination running wild and I found myself wanting more. My favourites were SEVEN NIGHTS FOR DYING , THE BOYS FROM BLOOD RIVER , and IN KIND, but they all brought something to the table that I can’t quite explain, except to say that they got me in my emotions and they did it quick. The latter two were also super dramatic and I’m in to that in a vampire story. A close contender for a favourite is BESTIARY , because the world building that occurs in this story is fantastic, what with a seemingly dystopian setting that is somehow also set in the near future but the very very near future.
Anyway this book is the diverse rep we always needed from teen vampire books so kudos to all the authors for being awesome!
(That being said there are brief descriptions of the negative stuff that comes along with being any variation of non cis/white/straight/able bodied in the world, so take care, but it’s not extreme and is shown to be a negative thing in the writing.)
Anyway this book is the diverse rep we always needed from teen vampire books so kudos to all the authors for being awesome!
(That being said there are brief descriptions of the negative stuff that comes along with being any variation of non cis/white/straight/able bodied in the world, so take care, but it’s not extreme and is shown to be a negative thing in the writing.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence
Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Blood
Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Transphobia
All the content warnings except for the blood is shown as negative, and is mostly looked down on or addressed in story. There is a scene of a gay man being beaten for being gay and the perpetrators are punished, and another of a trans man being misgendered where once again the perpetrator is punished. Both are dealt with violently. The adult/minor relationships are implied, what with the vampires being very much above the age of consent in years if not in appearances and the other party being 17. This is not illegal or even frowned upon in most countries but it’s important to note for the places that have the age of consent higher than 16.
Krsna: The Supreme Personality of Godhead: v. 1 (Volume One) by George Harrison, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Did not finish book.
Did not finish book.
I got 13 pages in and it was a headache to get that far. It just talks around in circles and I can’t get my head around it. If it were simplified or even rewritten by someone not trying to explain each little bit of meaning within bigger sentences then maybe it would’ve been understandable, but while I’m sure if someone has an extensive background knowledge of this they could read it easily, my brain hurts and nothing makes sense.
Dark Heart Forever by Lee Monroe
Did not finish book.
Did not finish book.
I got nearly 150 pages in and the only real things I learnt about the main character was that she had curly hair, dressed in baggy clothes, and was bullied in school. Nothing else. No hobbies, no interests, no goals in life. It was all focussed on the boys and I felt no connection or interest in the main character. I even kept forgetting her name! A chapter or two at the beginning of her just being herself would have been the perfect thing for this character who wasn’t a character.