hannuuh's reviews
334 reviews

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

why do male authors have to ruin their books by having such blatant and abrasive misogyny ???

aside from the apparent and, quite frankly tiring, sexism, this was an adventurous little urban fantasy that was easy to consume. i like the grim, dark themes of murder and it made the story entertaining. also a p cool magic system that's so simply integrated into society that it's almost natural??

shame the main characters a twat. but sure, i'll continue to see if he gets any better. i don't have very high hopes.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

harrow never misses w her gothic vibes & immersive imagery >>>>

The No-Show by Beth O'Leary

dark emotional funny slow-paced

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

2.5

2.5?? 3??? whoooo knows

i enjoy o'leary's humour and loved the flatshare but for a good 80% of the no-show i couldn't connect to any of the characters and was actually a bit bored. i didn't see the twist coming though and it was good, bittersweet even, but not enough to make up for the rest.

Playing with Matches by Georgia Beers

emotional funny 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

full review when it isn't 1am but this waaaas... okay....

it all felt clunky and shallow 🫠🫠

soooo. this started really strong for me & then about 35% of the way in, it lost all its mojo and i had to push myself to finish it. a romance should not take me nearly a month to finish.
i'm aware it's gotten 3 whole stars from me, atm i'm feeling generous and it was kinda cute? but it could change :|

the setup and the setting were adorableeee. the wintery vibes were great and it felt super cosy, i almost wish i'd read it over the chirstmas period

my biggest issue though was how clunky it felt. the pacing of the story wasn't necessarily too fast or too slow, but i didn't really have any emotional sway towards either cori or liz and while they didn't feel like carbon copies of each other, i just couldn't get myself to care all that much about either of them. and i'm a character person, u could have no plot just vibes and so long as i'm caring about the character, i'll eat it up. couldn't tell u anything about liz or cori except one was pretty in highschool and the other makes candles. descriptions of the surroundings and the other characters were also clunky and shallow. show me the attraction, show me the obsession with creativity, don't tell me !!

it wasn't badly written by any means, and for most people i think this would be a cute, cosy romance with fairly low stakes (except they're probs only low bc i had no pull in the situation at all and so simply didn't really care what happened) and solid communication and honesty, it just didn't do much for me. 

thanks to netgalley + publishers for the arc, all opinions are my own

Rebel by Marie Lu

adventurous emotional tense 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? Yes

3.0

i was content w the ending of champion tbh but nice to see a glimpse of the what ifs. 

still, the tension & action scenes were well executed and eren’s pov was interesting

The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker

dark emotional

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

2.0

The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary

adventurous emotional funny medium-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

i think i quite enjoy o'leary's writing style as i really enjoyed flatshare and this was another fun + easy read complete with fully fleshed out characters, moments where i actually giggled, and a hilarious little twist at the end.

marcus is a giant man-baby and the sole reason why i hate men

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci

funny hopeful informative fast-paced

The List by Yomi Adegoke

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

i think this could have been really good IF it hadn’t gone round and round so much that it got boring and lost all its tension. 

ehhhh the ‘twist’ at the end was so thin because (AND THIS IS POSS SPOILERS) the character doesn’t fucking exist until the last chapter so it’s just like, oh? oh.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

okay, don't get me wrong, i can absolutely get behind a book if the characters are shitty people if there's something else that's keeping me engaged. there was very little in this that made me want to keep with it.

essentially the best way to sum up cleopatra and frankenstein; wildly pretentious with moments of incredible insight on messy human connection. i'm a slight sadistic and enjoy reading about broken people, but with so many pov's and all the copy & pasta personalities, i was getting borrreeeed. 

the cover tho?? goes offff.