marsdabla's reviews
27 reviews

Did not finish book. Stopped at 28%.

dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was much darker than the other two books, but it makes sense to me. You wouldn’t go through what she’s gone through completely morally unscathed (and I’m a sucker for negative character arcs).

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

Go to review page

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? It's complicated

3.0

Galatea by Madeline Miller

Go to review page

dark emotional inspiring sad 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? No

4.75

How the Mistakes Were Made by Tyler McMahon

Go to review page

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was supposed to be Laura’s (unsaid) redemption arc to her former fans, and provide a just lens to the story of how The Mistakes ended but all it did for me was side with her haters? Don’t get me wrong, they hated her for the wrong reasons but she was insufferable in the end.

Okay, spoilers.

So, she’s dating Sean, right? And he and Nathan are besties. And Nathan is a hoe and a cheater, but most of all loves Sean. And SHE’S dating Sean. And for a whole half of the book she is so desperate for Nathan to be with her, it made me want to pull my hair out. The way she’s trying to convince me and herself (and Nathan) that Nathan loves her? How many times does this boy have to tell her “Laura, I don’t love you. I don’t like you. I don’t want to be your boyfriend. Get away.” And she’s like, “I’d forgotten how good of a liar he was” ??? Bitch? Restraining order.

And Trigger Warning: Sean, on the other hand, was an idiot, and an inconsiderate idiot at that. And I get alcohol causing a lot of that—his self-harm—but then towards the end he literally SA’s Laura? And this is where it might be the differing povs from women (as this book was written by a man), but this would be traumatizing, no? I understand how a man would view it as an “almost assault” since in the end he didn’t commit rape. But what he did was very much assault, and it was just brushed under the rug as him being a drunk asshole. Nope nope. Criminal.

Sean’s death was not her fault at all. Like, it was Nathan that bought his best friend, a recovering alcoholic, a bottle of Whiskey for the sake of his band, right? And just as Sean is about to drink it, he’s like, “yk, Sean, you don’t have to drink. Fuck it. We can just quit music so you can be sober :)” Like, what a fucking manipulative asshole? Oh my God? And Laura being like, “aww you’re so nice for giving him the choice” - what do you mean?

Laura has to live a lot of her life surrounded by lowkey and high key abusive men, and I do feel for her on that. The part where she’s crying about that to Nathan was pretty heartbreaking and I wish her a lot of healing.

+Props to the author for making a character so insanely scary to me (Laura describes him as how people usually see the devil, and I agree so much). My heart was stampeding whenever he showed up.

+This book did have one of the worst smut (?) sentences I’ve read and I want to forget all about it.

Best part of this was Anthony, 100%, and it was such a bummer that you get such a small glimpse into his life. I would’ve loved him to be a participant character (Maybe in another book? Hopefully?)

Content Warnings