justjaqueline's reviews
617 reviews

The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

An Excess Male by Maggie Shen King
Did not finish book. Stopped at 40%.

I cannot understand the characters motivations and thoughts for the life of me

The Solution by K.A. Applegate

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

The true unhinged Animorphs experience. Thank you Rachel.

Icebreaker by A.L. Graziadei

hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-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

3.0

I should stop taking recommendations that starts with "if you liked [blank], you'll love this!", but someone said it reminded them of All for the game and I could not stop myself.

I will say I really liked the focus the book put on Mickey and his mental health; I was expecting a more romance-heavy story, but I was pleasantly surprised. It still felt really instalove-y (insta-lusty?) to me, and I'm simply not a fan of the "i hate you but you're so hot" trope, even if Mickey and Jaysen chemistry was off the charts. If it sounds like your jam, however, the book does execute it very well.

Also, while I understand why the ending is the way it is, I just can't. I wanted... something. Please give me something.

The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan, Mark Oshiro

adventurous reflective medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I'm not going to rate this because I'm not the target for this book, like, at all, but I still want to jot my thoughts down because I'm sad I did not enjoy this.

I was so glad we finally had the chance to get into Nico's head (who is called Niccolò!! I don't know why this detail makes me feel all fuzzy and warm inside, but it does) but I feel what we got was a lot of tell and very little show. I'm a sucker for a dream sequence or a flashback, but not when it's used to fly through relationship development. I wanted to watch Nico go through these experiences with Will, not get thrown into a random moment in the future and get them retold to me (also, I feel the structure of the novel itself suffered from the abrupt stop of the flashbacks, but maybe that's just me).

The themes also felt veeeeery heavy-handed. I usually find Riordan more subtle in how he deals with them. I kept imagining someone holding my hand while reading, saying "this is what we're talking about! don't get confused!!" AND I KNOW WHY YOU WROTE THIS BOOK, I SWEAR (kids also have basic reading comprehension and analysis skills, I thought Riordan knew that).

I'm not even going to talk about the way some plot points got resolved because... they didn't. They literally said "close your eyes" and we did and poof, all was well within the world.

I don't know, I guess they could have made this much more interesting, but I'm glad anyway that kids and teenagers get to have this story.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

emotional informative inspiring

4.0

Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? N/A

5.0

This story just rearrenged me on a molecular level. Also cemented my decision to study translation. What the hell.

As Yet Unsent by Tamsyn Muir

5.0

The Threat by K.A. Applegate

adventurous sad tense

Anna dai capelli rossi by L.M. Montgomery

hopeful lighthearted relaxing

4.0

Mi sento stupida ad aver giudicato male tutti questi libri per ragazzi quando sono adorabili.