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hearth_hobbit's reviews
514 reviews
Stiletto Sisterhood by Fallon DeMornay
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
I received a free copy of this audiobook from @netgalley and @dreamscape_media in exchange for an honest review.
Stiletto Sisterhood by Fallon DeMornay
5 Stars: I loved it
Summary: “Chase dreams, not drama.” The Stiletto Sisterhood is a group formed by 5 childhood best friends who have sustained their close friendship through to their adulthood. This book follows two of the five: Priya and Isobel. Priya is competing for a 1-year dream mentorship at one of New York’s most prestigious law firms. On her first day she runs into one of her rivals, the man whose bed she woke up in that same morning. Isobel is caring for her disabled father and planning for her dream wedding when a video of her fiancé cheating on her goes viral. While she’s picking up the pieces of her broken relationship, Isobel receives an offer of a lifetime.
Thoughts: I loved this book! It was so much fun to read. I’m really looking forward to reading the sequel! (Idk if there’s a sequel but I’ll be very sad if there isn’t one.) If you liked The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or Princess Diaries when you were younger or the show Drop Dead Diva you might like this book.
I received the audiobook version of this book and the narration was well done but a bit slow. If you speed it up to 1.5, it sounds normal.
What I Liked: There’s five women in the Stiletto Sisterhood but this book only focused on 2 of the 5. I’m really glad of that because if the book had tried to have five different storylines going at once, it would’ve felt like too much. It’s also exciting waiting for the next book, because then we’ll get to know the other sisters.
I haven’t read a lot of adult books that revolve around friendship, especially when it comes to stories that have main characters that are women. The plot focuses mainly on Priya, Isobel, and the sisterhood. There are romantic subplots but they are not the focus of the book.
What I Didn’t Like: It’s a little cheesy but not unbearably so.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Sexual content
Moderate: Sexism and Grief
Minor: Racism
The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.
The Witch and The Vampire by Francesca Flores
The Witch and The Vampire by Francesca Flores
2 stars: I didn’t like it but I didn’t hate it
Summary: This book is a Sapphic, enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers retelling of Rapunzel about Ava and Kaye, a vampire and a witch, who have to rely on each other to travel through a creepy, dangerous, and enchanted forest.
Thoughts: This was a very ambitious project. I felt like there is definitely a lot to work with here but it could use a little more time to develop.
What I Liked: The author is great at painting a picture of what everything looks like. I could clearly see the forest and characters. Imagery is this author’s strong suit.
The ending of the story ends in a very satisfactory way. I thought it was very fitting for the story.
What I Didn’t Like: The title really bothers me because both Ava and Kaye are witches. This might be just a me thing, but I wish the title was different.
There could have been more attention to world-building. I felt like I could have used more information about Arborren, the vampires, and the witches. The author relies heavily on the reader’s existing knowledge of vampires and witches, which on one hand is nice because then I don’t need to have information I already know given to me. But on the other hand, I’m not entirely sure on what makes the witches witches or vampires vampires. When it came to the world, I felt I had more questions than answers by the time I finished the book.
The characters needed more depth. There were many situations where I did not understand most of the character’s motivations or where they were coming from at all. The side characters were very one note. The villains were mustache-twirling-ly evil, some characters existed to further the story and then were quickly killed off, and some characters didn’t even have a name or were named way later than they should have been. The story is also told from the perspective of Ava and Kaye. From chapter to chapter I could never remember whose chapter I was reading because there wasn’t much of a distinction between Kaye’s voice and Ava’s voice.
While I did like the ending for this story, I felt like the solution to everything was too easy.
There is a random ghost. They pop up, are never seen again, and it is never explained why they popped up.
When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
4.0
When No One is Watching is a romance/thriller about a woman named Sydney Green who starts to notice that her neighbors are disappearing and being replaced. This book explores themes of racism, gentrification, and corruption.
I like the premise and overall I liked the book. A lot of the situations in this book are pretty exaggerated but not necessarily unrealistic. In fact, a lot of situations are foreshadowed with an example where something that happened in the book has happened in history. It wasn’t billed as one but I could see this book fitting in satire. I could see this paired with Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. I’d like to read the author’s romance novels in the future.
I like the premise and overall I liked the book. A lot of the situations in this book are pretty exaggerated but not necessarily unrealistic. In fact, a lot of situations are foreshadowed with an example where something that happened in the book has happened in history. It wasn’t billed as one but I could see this book fitting in satire. I could see this paired with Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. I’d like to read the author’s romance novels in the future.
Ever After by Olivia Vieweg
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I received a free copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
2.5 Stars: I didn’t hate it but I wouldn’t say I liked it
Summary: This graphic novel is about a young girl named Vivi who is living during a zombie apocalypse. Grieving those she has lost, she floats through life until she’s forced to take control.
Thoughts: There’s something about this graphic novel that sets it apart but it just doesn’t break through the norm.
What I Liked: The artwork was really interesting. There was something eerie about it.
The story was compelling at times. I was interested in learning more about Vivi’s past.
What I Didn’t Like: This is a standard zombie apocalypse story but it still was lacking in world-building.
2.5 Stars: I didn’t hate it but I wouldn’t say I liked it
Summary: This graphic novel is about a young girl named Vivi who is living during a zombie apocalypse. Grieving those she has lost, she floats through life until she’s forced to take control.
Thoughts: There’s something about this graphic novel that sets it apart but it just doesn’t break through the norm.
What I Liked: The artwork was really interesting. There was something eerie about it.
The story was compelling at times. I was interested in learning more about Vivi’s past.
What I Didn’t Like: This is a standard zombie apocalypse story but it still was lacking in world-building.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Drug use
There Are Things I Can't Tell You by Edako Mofumofu
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I received a free copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 Stars: I liked it
Summary: This manga is a second chance romance between two men who have been friends since childhood. Kasumi is a nerdy, introverted, and bookish man looking for his happily ever after in all the wrong places. Kyousuke is an extroverted graphic designer who puts his all into every project he takes on. Kyousuke is always looking out for Kasumi and trying to help him be the best version of himself. While Kyousuke is gregarious by nature, he is invested in Kasumi because he has something he feels that he can’t tell him.
Thoughts:Overall, I did enjoy this manga. It was a light read that became a lot more spicy than I thought it was going to be. Even so, it was a sweet story.
What I Liked: I loved both Kasumi and Kyousuke. I felt like I got a good sense of who they both were. They were likable but not perfect, flawed but also relatable. I really liked that we got to see both Kasumi and Kyousuke’s upbringing and childhood to get a better sense of who they are as adults.
I liked that we saw Kyousuke at work and how he interacted with other characters. Kyousuke has a coworker named Yamada whom he often has a funny banter with.
What I Didn’t Like:I wish I had seen more of Kyousuke and Kasumi as a couple. For a romance manga, there was more time spent on Kyousuke’s work environment than the romance between the two.
3.5 Stars: I liked it
Summary: This manga is a second chance romance between two men who have been friends since childhood. Kasumi is a nerdy, introverted, and bookish man looking for his happily ever after in all the wrong places. Kyousuke is an extroverted graphic designer who puts his all into every project he takes on. Kyousuke is always looking out for Kasumi and trying to help him be the best version of himself. While Kyousuke is gregarious by nature, he is invested in Kasumi because he has something he feels that he can’t tell him.
Thoughts:Overall, I did enjoy this manga. It was a light read that became a lot more spicy than I thought it was going to be. Even so, it was a sweet story.
What I Liked: I loved both Kasumi and Kyousuke. I felt like I got a good sense of who they both were. They were likable but not perfect, flawed but also relatable. I really liked that we got to see both Kasumi and Kyousuke’s upbringing and childhood to get a better sense of who they are as adults.
I liked that we saw Kyousuke at work and how he interacted with other characters. Kyousuke has a coworker named Yamada whom he often has a funny banter with.
What I Didn’t Like:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Odessa by Jonathan Hill
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Summary: This graphic novel is about what would happen if The Big One, the magnitude 7 or higher earthquake that will inevitably happen along the Cascadia Fault and devastate the Pacific Northwest, hits and how that would affect people living in those areas. This story focuses on Virginia (Ginny) Crane, a Vietnamese-American teen, eight years after The Big One Hits. Within those eight years, Ginny’s mother has left Ginny’s father, herself, and Ginny’s two younger brothers and has moved away to an undisclosed location. Since Ginny’s mother has left, Ginny has taken on much of her mother’s responsibilities; cooking, cleaning, child-rearing, etc. When Ginny gets a package for her upcoming 18th birthday from her mother, she sets out to find her estranged mother.
Thoughts: As someone who lives in San Francisco and thinks about The Big One on a semi-regular basis, I was interested in what this story had in store. I was curious about how the author thought things might go when (not if) The Big One hits. I wish this story had stayed closer to fiction than science fiction because this is something that will happen, and without the science fiction elements, it will be devastating and terrifying to live through.
Overall, I found this story to be compelling enough to finish but not so much that I think I would want to pick up the next book.
What I liked: The entire comic is done in black, white, and pink. I’ve heard before that pink is supposed to be a calming, non-threatening color. So to use that color in a graphic novel about a dystopian setting where, more often than not, the characters are in some kind of danger gives the story an eerie, unsettling feeling. It really worked in the story’s favor.
I also liked Ginny as a main character. When her mother left her family, Ginny became a mother somewhat to her siblings and a partner to her father. I think it made a lot of sense that as Ginny is reaching maturity and she’s been put in an adult’s role for so long that when she gets to this point in her life, she desperately just wants her mom.
The family dynamic with Ginny’s family also felt very real and relatable. Ginny’s father, who is doing his best as a single parent, feels frustrated about his kids longing for their mom. As someone who had divorced parents growing up I really felt for Ginny’s Dad when he says, “I know you all miss her and you want her to come back, but I’m still here!” because it felt like something I’ve heard my own parents say.
I wanted to put that I found the younger siblings to be annoying in the “What I Didn’t Like” section, but I’m putting it in this section because that’s how I think the author intended the reader to feel. As an adult with adult siblings, I forget how annoyed I was with my own siblings when I was growing up. Those feelings went away for the most part around the time that I was Ginny’s age. So Ginny feeling the way she does at this point makes a lot of sense to me.
What I didn’t like: I felt like the pacing was off. It felt like the story took a while to start and when it finally did it felt like things were moving really quickly.
The world building also felt a little random at times. About 50% of the way through, aside from jinx root, there doesn’t seem to be any otherworldly changes to the world as we know it. In the later half of the book, there were a lot of science fiction elements introduced that felt a bit forced.
Summary: This graphic novel is about what would happen if The Big One, the magnitude 7 or higher earthquake that will inevitably happen along the Cascadia Fault and devastate the Pacific Northwest, hits and how that would affect people living in those areas. This story focuses on Virginia (Ginny) Crane, a Vietnamese-American teen, eight years after The Big One Hits. Within those eight years, Ginny’s mother has left Ginny’s father, herself, and Ginny’s two younger brothers and has moved away to an undisclosed location. Since Ginny’s mother has left, Ginny has taken on much of her mother’s responsibilities; cooking, cleaning, child-rearing, etc. When Ginny gets a package for her upcoming 18th birthday from her mother, she sets out to find her estranged mother.
Thoughts: As someone who lives in San Francisco and thinks about The Big One on a semi-regular basis, I was interested in what this story had in store. I was curious about how the author thought things might go when (not if) The Big One hits. I wish this story had stayed closer to fiction than science fiction because this is something that will happen, and without the science fiction elements, it will be devastating and terrifying to live through.
Overall, I found this story to be compelling enough to finish but not so much that I think I would want to pick up the next book.
What I liked: The entire comic is done in black, white, and pink. I’ve heard before that pink is supposed to be a calming, non-threatening color. So to use that color in a graphic novel about a dystopian setting where, more often than not, the characters are in some kind of danger gives the story an eerie, unsettling feeling. It really worked in the story’s favor.
I also liked Ginny as a main character. When her mother left her family, Ginny became a mother somewhat to her siblings and a partner to her father. I think it made a lot of sense that as Ginny is reaching maturity and she’s been put in an adult’s role for so long that when she gets to this point in her life, she desperately just wants her mom.
The family dynamic with Ginny’s family also felt very real and relatable. Ginny’s father, who is doing his best as a single parent, feels frustrated about his kids longing for their mom. As someone who had divorced parents growing up I really felt for Ginny’s Dad when he says, “I know you all miss her and you want her to come back, but I’m still here!” because it felt like something I’ve heard my own parents say.
I wanted to put that I found the younger siblings to be annoying in the “What I Didn’t Like” section, but I’m putting it in this section because that’s how I think the author intended the reader to feel. As an adult with adult siblings, I forget how annoyed I was with my own siblings when I was growing up. Those feelings went away for the most part around the time that I was Ginny’s age. So Ginny feeling the way she does at this point makes a lot of sense to me.
What I didn’t like: I felt like the pacing was off. It felt like the story took a while to start and when it finally did it felt like things were moving really quickly.
The world building also felt a little random at times. About 50% of the way through, aside from jinx root, there doesn’t seem to be any otherworldly changes to the world as we know it. In the later half of the book, there were a lot of science fiction elements introduced that felt a bit forced.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Inheritance by Elizabeth Acevedo
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
This is a visual poem and I listened to the audiobook which is kind of cheating. I’d love to get my hands on a physical copy.
A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
While I enjoyed reading this book i had a hard time getting immersed in the story. The audiobook was done well but I think I would have preferred reading this book physically. I’ll need to revisit this book before reading the sequel.
The Leavers by Lisa Ko
This book is about a mother and son who are separated by deportation eventually are reunited again . This book focuses on subjects such as transracial adoption, poverty, addiction, the inhumane treatment of people during deportation in the U.S., and family (found or otherwise). The story is beautifully crafted but extremely heavy emotionally.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Police brutality
Minor: Misogyny and Kidnapping
All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
This book is about the author’s experience as a transracial adoptee and finding their birth family as they are forming a family of their own. Transracial adoption is a topic I don’t think is talked about enough. I appreciated Chung’s heartfelt reflection on her experiences as a transracial adoptee, reconnecting with her biological family and heritage, while still cherishing the relationship with her adopted parents.