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hennesieinthepages's reviews
39 reviews
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Dominicana by Angie Cruz
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Child abuse
Moderate: Racism and Gun violence
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
I'm prefacing this review with the fact that I am incredibly biased to this series and will probably always rate these books 5 stars. With that said, I loved this book. No spoilers!
This book is a love letter to the OG fans of Percy Jackson while simultaneously lending itself wonderfully to its intended middle grade/younger audiences who may be experiencing this universe for the first time in recent years.
Percy is back in school for his senior year, and his plans for New Rome University with Annabeth seems pretty straightforward, until he realizes that it might not be as simple as filling out an application. It turns out, he needs three godly recommendation letters, and they can only be obtained through quests for a god. He's in luck, because Ganymede needs Percy's help: his chalice has been stolen, and he has some leads as to who took it.
I had so much fun reading this book. It is jam packed with references both to the original Percy Jackson series, but also the events and characters of the Heroes of Olympus series. I felt 9 years old again, reading The Lightning Thief for the first time. It's witty, nostalgic, fun, fast-paced, and a perfect comeback for Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. It was almost refreshing and squeezed my heart to see these three characters that I felt I had grown up with on, yes, a dangerous quest, but an adventure that seemed the closest to normal as demigods could get: trying to apply for college and surviving the end of high school. They are all older now, and for longtime fans, they are still just as relatable as the 12 year old in the first book when we were all young.
Rick has not lost his touch on this iconic writing style, and I missed his hilarious chapter titles and being inside Percy's brain. It did not feel like a book so far removed from the original release from this series, despite The Last Olympian being published in 2009 (15 years ago!).
With this book being the appetizer of sorts for the Disney Plus TV show, it was perfect. I haven't had this much fun with a book in a long time, and I'm very excited for the next two installments.
This book is a love letter to the OG fans of Percy Jackson while simultaneously lending itself wonderfully to its intended middle grade/younger audiences who may be experiencing this universe for the first time in recent years.
Percy is back in school for his senior year, and his plans for New Rome University with Annabeth seems pretty straightforward, until he realizes that it might not be as simple as filling out an application. It turns out, he needs three godly recommendation letters, and they can only be obtained through quests for a god. He's in luck, because Ganymede needs Percy's help: his chalice has been stolen, and he has some leads as to who took it.
I had so much fun reading this book. It is jam packed with references both to the original Percy Jackson series, but also the events and characters of the Heroes of Olympus series. I felt 9 years old again, reading The Lightning Thief for the first time. It's witty, nostalgic, fun, fast-paced, and a perfect comeback for Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. It was almost refreshing and squeezed my heart to see these three characters that I felt I had grown up with on, yes, a dangerous quest, but an adventure that seemed the closest to normal as demigods could get: trying to apply for college and surviving the end of high school. They are all older now, and for longtime fans, they are still just as relatable as the 12 year old in the first book when we were all young.
Rick has not lost his touch on this iconic writing style, and I missed his hilarious chapter titles and being inside Percy's brain. It did not feel like a book so far removed from the original release from this series, despite The Last Olympian being published in 2009 (15 years ago!).
With this book being the appetizer of sorts for the Disney Plus TV show, it was perfect. I haven't had this much fun with a book in a long time, and I'm very excited for the next two installments.
Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake
Delilah Green Doesn't Care is a fun, well-paced queer romance novel that I had a great time reading. With all the fan favorite tropes: enemies (?) to lovers, one bed, secret romance, etc; this was a fun read for anyone looking for a good sapphic romance book.
Delilah Green is an independent artist that left her small town of Bright Falls to New York City to pursue her love for photography. She is jaded and uncaring, where relationships are certainly not her forte, and hookups are her bread and butter in the romance department. Who has time for feelings or relationships? Certainly not Delilah.
Claire Sutherland is the complete opposite. She is a single mother with a rocky co-parenting situation with her ex, Josh, and her daughter Ruby is on the cusp of her teenage years, which brings its own set of challenges. She is soft-hearted, and doesn't know how to separate her heart from attraction. Even though one of her best friends, Iris, encourages her to find a hook up just to satiate her, Claire isn't a one night stand kind of girl.
I very much enjoyed the relationship between Claire and Delilah,and how Claire softens Delilah's heart and breaks down the walls that Delilah (justifiably, in my opinion) has built up around her. I personally wasn't the biggest fans of Iris and Astrid, but their "redemption arcs" of how their behavior changes through the book was nice to read as well. This book has loveable characters, even when you don't think you'd really care for them, and it's easy to fall in love with the connection Delilah and Claire have.
Ashley Herring Blake is a phenomenal writer, and how she describes Delilah's blooming feelings for Claire, and Claire's inner turmoil as she handles a secret entanglement and single motherhood made our protagonists feel so real and three-dimensional. I really enjoyed her choice to make this a dual POV novel, and her beautiful writing really lent itself to this.
My only critique is it took me a long time to get on board with the behavioral decisions of Iris, Astrid, and Delilah in the first quarter of the book, particularly Iris and Astrid. While I completely understand the purpose of these decisions, I personally felt some of them were a little unreasonable and a little too far that I felt that Iris and Astrid felt a little irredeemable for a time, and it took me a while to really get to the point where I'd truly care for their stories beyond their relationships to Delilah and Claire. Especially since the next books in this series frame these two as the protagonists of their own stories, I was a little hesitant to want to know more until the end of this book.
I highly recommend this book if you want a sapphic adult romance novel to enjoy, you will not want to put this book down.
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Delilah Green Doesn't Care is a fun, well-paced queer romance novel that I had a great time reading. With all the fan favorite tropes: enemies (?) to lovers, one bed, secret romance, etc; this was a fun read for anyone looking for a good sapphic romance book.
Delilah Green is an independent artist that left her small town of Bright Falls to New York City to pursue her love for photography. She is jaded and uncaring, where relationships are certainly not her forte, and hookups are her bread and butter in the romance department. Who has time for feelings or relationships? Certainly not Delilah.
Claire Sutherland is the complete opposite. She is a single mother with a rocky co-parenting situation with her ex, Josh, and her daughter Ruby is on the cusp of her teenage years, which brings its own set of challenges. She is soft-hearted, and doesn't know how to separate her heart from attraction. Even though one of her best friends, Iris, encourages her to find a hook up just to satiate her, Claire isn't a one night stand kind of girl.
I very much enjoyed the relationship between Claire and Delilah,
Ashley Herring Blake is a phenomenal writer, and how she describes Delilah's blooming feelings for Claire, and Claire's inner turmoil as she handles a secret entanglement and single motherhood made our protagonists feel so real and three-dimensional. I really enjoyed her choice to make this a dual POV novel, and her beautiful writing really lent itself to this.
My only critique is it took me a long time to get on board with the behavioral decisions of Iris, Astrid, and Delilah in the first quarter of the book, particularly Iris and Astrid. While I completely understand the purpose of these decisions, I personally felt some of them were a little unreasonable and a little too far that I felt that Iris and Astrid felt a little irredeemable for a time, and it took me a while to really get to the point where I'd truly care for their stories beyond their relationships to Delilah and Claire. Especially since the next books in this series frame these two as the protagonists of their own stories, I was a little hesitant to want to know more until the end of this book.
I highly recommend this book if you want a sapphic adult romance novel to enjoy, you will not want to put this book down.
The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I adored this novel. I didn't realize this was a series, as I got this book through Book of the Month on a whim, but I now want to go back and read the last two installments.
Anna was a very interesting protagonist, and it felt like a rollercoaster in the best way to follow her story, through her creative burnout, her *very* rocky relationship with her longtime boyfriend, her diagnosis with ASD, and discovering herself through every challenge she faced in this book. I resonated with her emotionally, and it was really easy to lose myself in empathy for her. It really felt like I was in her shoes, and Helen Hoang's incredible writing is the sole reason for that.
I fell in love with Quan from the start. What a wonderful love interest and secondary protagonist to include, and I think his characterization was really great (again, thanks to Hoang). I loved reading from his perspective, and to show that he wasn't this perfect savior who shows up to save Anna from her "mess", but that he has mess of his own. I do wish we got to see a bit more of his development through his own issues and plot points shown in the book, but it's such a tiny criticism that it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of how I feel about this book.
A huge reason on why I love this book is Helen Hoang shows protagonists with mental illnesses in a way that proves people like them can still be the main characters of their stories, and that their neurodivergency isn't a handicap, or something to be ashamed of, but to be accepted as simply what makes them unique and special and all the more lovable. I really enjoyed reading the author's note and truly feeling the personal touch that Helen Hoang weaves into this book, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone
I fell in love with Quan from the start. What a wonderful love interest and secondary protagonist to include, and I think his characterization was really great (again, thanks to Hoang). I loved reading from his perspective, and to show that he wasn't this perfect savior who shows up to save Anna from her "mess", but that he has mess of his own. I do wish we got to see a bit more of his development through his own issues and plot points shown in the book, but it's such a tiny criticism that it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of how I feel about this book.
A huge reason on why I love this book is Helen Hoang shows protagonists with mental illnesses in a way that proves people like them can still be the main characters of their stories, and that their neurodivergency isn't a handicap, or something to be ashamed of, but to be accepted as simply what makes them unique and special and all the more lovable. I really enjoyed reading the author's note and truly feeling the personal touch that Helen Hoang weaves into this book, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
I'm not a super angsty person, and conflict can sometimes make me unnecessarily anxious (personal preference), so I really enjoyed that the tension/angst between Adam and Olive did not last long. The resolution was well paced but also not rushed, which I enjoyed.
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
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
5.0
What a romance book this was.
I had some very high expectations of this book after seeing review after review raving on and on about this book. Once I received it, I knew I was going to have to set aside time to really take in this story, and boy was it worth it.
Olive is smart, and doesn't have it all together in a way that is super relatable to me. As a university student, I really empathized with how she felt about graduate school, and academia, and sometimes wondering if her passion for something was enough. I will admit, in the beginning, I was a little skeptical about whether or not I was going to really grow to like Olive, as she seemed kind of "cookie cutter main protagonist" to me, but I'm really glad to be proven wrong.
Adam is my perfect man. He's intelligent, soft hearted with a protective and intentional demeanor, and the way he cares for Olive had me swooning with every page. His sarcasm and dry humor was so endearing, and I could tell from the start that he was going to be someone I was going to fall for immediately.
Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes, and Ali Hazelwood does it so well here. I was gasping and holding my breath with every interaction, and I really enjoyed following Olive's story both in her progress in her personal life as well as her budding relationship with Adam. Hazelwood's writing style was really enjoyable, and I was able to finish this book in one sitting in just a few hours with how much this was a page turner.
So I will be here, asking the universe when it's my turn to find my Adam, and definitely planning to read this novel again soon.