hali's reviews
349 reviews

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

the good:
🔸both POVs were interesting
🔸great lesbian, trans, and neurodivergent rep
🔸friends-to-lovers/opposites attract
🔸the romance was well done, not annoying, and didn’t suffer much from the miscommunication trope

not so good:
▪️not rivals-to-lovers like, AT ALL
▪️not enough soccer for a “sports romance”
▪️way too much telling and not showing
▪️audiobook narration was odd

overall, this was fine. i can’t see myself recommending it to anyone bc i’ve read romance books that literally had me squealing and kicking my feet and this wasn’t one of them.

The Last One by Will Dean

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

this was a trip. extremely boring until around 40% and then i couldn’t put it down. this book has the same essence as the Escape Room movies, which may be why i enjoyed it so much. a little too long and i didn’t enjoy the audiobook narrator, but it was a wild time indeed.

i saw the ending coming - bc capitalism is evil and caz was their money maker.

Tales of the Celestial Kingdom by Sue Lynn Tan

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.0

“That aura, golden bright and summer warm, was one I knew all too well. Liwei.”

tldr; the majority of stories felt unneeded. i still love this world and our main characters, so i can’t say i hated reading this. i just wanted something different.

Dusk:
- kinda boring. read these three stories then put the book down for a week, if that tells you anything.
- like, im sorry, we already knew all this. i didn’t need to see their perspectives.

Twilight:
- i really am not into how she writes from Liwei’s and Wenzhi’s perspectives.
- Shuxaio’s story was the best from this section (i also liked Liwei’s second, A Rival’s Spirit). Let me get an enemies-to-lovers novella with her.

Dawn:
- Home, the true epilogue to the series, was a great read. made me really miss Xingyin’s perspective.
- i still don’t like this relationship. just because you say they love each other doesn’t mean i feel that passion myself. am i still a teeny, tiny bit bitter? well, yes!

"Your parents' union need not be yours. Any immortal would leap at the chance to wed you." The old hurt throbbed still, like the shadow of a wound that had not quite healed. Liwei was a part of me, he always would be—and I was grateful for it, for him... for us.

"Any immortal, except for one.”

FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

4.5

This was really fun! I liked the way it was told, through interviews, and listening to the audiobook really enhanced that. Some parts were very creepy (the hotel, brock), but it was mostly interesting from a “true crime” perspective. Like you can’t look away even though it’s horrible because you just need to know the who, what, when, where, why, and HOW.

not a full 5 because I wanted a little more of the bigger picture. this story involved HUNDREDS of people and we really only heard about 15.

The Watchers by A.M. Shine

medium-paced

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

3.0

this was perfectly fine. not super scary or creepy. the ending hinted at what i wished the entire book focused on. with these specific monsters, i should’ve been more paranoid and disturbed. still, i didn’t have a bad time reading this. the writing was serviceable and the characters were interesting enough. 

Love is not Nothing by Lee Winter

2.5

this was fine. not really needed as it didn’t add anything to the overall narrative or their love story.

Requiem for Immortals by Lee Winter

dark emotional tense 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? Yes

4.0

this is a cat-and-mouse thriller where two people who shouldn’t have fallen in love DID. this was awesome. so fun and nicely written. if the “forbidden romance” element was played up more this would’ve been a full five. 

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

“The old woman was a mistake perhaps, but she’s not the point! The old woman was merely a sickness... I was in a hurry to step over... it wasn’t a human being I killed, it was a principle! So I killed the principle, but I didn’t step over, I stayed on this side... All I managed to do was kill. And I didn’t even manage that, as it turns out...” 

I appreciate the central ideas of the novel and what Dostoevsky set out to accomplish. But it was too long and lost me at several points. If I didn't have the audio and book club obligations I would've DNFd.

Crush by Richard Siken

3.75

I enjoyed this more than War of the Foxes for reasons I can’t explain. Well, maybe it’s the high levels of yearning that is all throughout Crush. We’ll go with that.

Super long poems begin to lose me about halfway through. This is a me problem. Still, some of these works were very compelling.

Some quotes:

“Sorry about the blood in your mouth. I wish it was mine.”
- Little Beasts

“I want to tell you this story without having to be in it.”
- The Torn up Road (5⭐️)

“You see, I take the parts that I remember and stitch them back together to make a creature that will do what I say or love me back.”
- Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out (5⭐️) [reminds me of Frankenstein and the Creature]

“I will come back from the dead for you… Keep talking. I'll keep walking toward the sound of your voice.”
- You Are Jeff [reminds me of Eurydice] 

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

seems holly jackson’s books always hover around a 3 for me. 

this was fun to read and it kept me engaged. bel was a bit grating at times but i liked that she was firm in her beliefs. the twists weren’t mind blowing (except for 1…) but i thought they were executed well. i missed the mixed media element that gggtm had. i thought we’d get script pages or descriptions of scenes from the documentary or something.

overall, not a bad read. i don’t usually gravitate towards YA thrillers but i’ll probably continue to pick up jackson because i like her writing style and how easily she hooks the reader.

[also, can i just say all of her book covers are gorgeous. i love that they’re real photos and not drawings. it makes them super unique imo.]