mcclintock1808's reviews
45 reviews

dark 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

3.75

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano was a very complicated book for me. Starting with the positives. Ann Napolitano is an absolutely amazing author. I've seen other reviews saying that the book is long, boring, and slow-paced, but I actually think that the writing was beautiful, and maybe a bit slow at times, especially in the middle. I think the characterization is fantastic, and the relations between the four sisters, with the dad, with the mom, and with William himself. I think the problems FOR ME, start with the events halfway through the book. I personally believe the book would not have been the same or as effective without these choices, but I personally feel very morally off about them. I think they lead to get discussions about love, choices and family, I just disagree with the characters choices. Overall, I think this is a good book for those looking for family dynamics, love, being your own person (even while still being in a relationship).

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The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

This is extremely complicated for me. Starting off, Kuang’s prose is beautiful and a pleasure to read. As someone who started with Babel and hopped to this, it was quite a surprise seeing the incredibly gory areas. Those segments are horrifying and would not recommend if you don’t enjoy extreme imagery of death. The story itself was extremely thought provoking and discusses important segments of history and themes.

Here’s where my struggles start. Rin, our main character. Throughout the first part of the book with her at Sinegaurd, I thought it was great and showed her desires finally coming true. When the war started I think things very much went south, and frankly I think it’s the point of the book? I don’t think the book is portraying her as a hero, and I think that’s fine. I just don’t think I want to continue watching her go down that path. I have read other books where the main characters go down the evil path, so not sure what has changed with this book. There were also a few parts I thought were glossed over too little.

A lot of the whole Speerly thing felt weird, especially is Rin being one. Like how? How did she manage to get off Speer? Maybe it comes in a later book, but just odd. Jiang being the Gatekeeper was also just thrown at us. Also did Jun know? Because if Jim knew he was the Gatekeeper, why is he mad? He’s incredibly powerful don’t you want him on your side? I also think some things are just too easy, all Kitay, Nezka, and Venka survived?Also to me it just seems like Nezka was just left in a way, where it’s obvious Kuang is going to bring him back.

Overall, I think it’s a fascinating book, but I don’t think I will be continuing the series at this moment.

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Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

Follows the fascinating struggle of Adeline's life. Showcases her interesting life through the ups and downs, and

I'm glad she eventually found Bob.

The main thing was the writing was very stiff to me.

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A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.5

Overall, it was an enjoyable book. It followed a nice story, the characters were lovely, and the writing was great. A few problems were the overload of characters and the sometimes confusing plot.

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Reclaim the Stars: 17 Tales Across Realms & Space by Zoraida Córdova

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.25

Reign of Diamonds ~ 3.5/5 Felt Lacking, couldn't see the connection between the girls.

Flecha ~ 2/5 Too much world-building for such a short story

The First Day of Us ~ 3/5 Writing was very confusing at times, but the story was sweet.

The Tin Man ~ 2/5 Story feels unfinished, and everything takes place on earth.

This Is Our Manifesto ~2.75/5 Good story, but felt confusing due to short length.

Creatures of Kings ~ 3/5 Interesting premise, but too deep for the short amount of time and felt unfinished.

***Eterno ~ 4.25/5 Most definitely the best one yet. Not perfect and could’ve used more time, but definitely pulls of a wonderful story the best.

***White Water, Blue Ocean ~ 4.5/5 This one was very nice! Perfect length, and great fantasy elements.

Leyenda ~ 4.5/5 Very good! Writing was nice, themes were excellent, and was very nicely wrapped up.

Color-Coded ~ 3/5 Story was nice and sweet, but I wish the ending didn’t end that way.

Magical Offerings ~ 3.25/5 It was a good story, wasn’t spectacular but nothing to complain about.

Rogue Enchantments ~ 4.5/5 Very nice story, that was creative and fun!

Sumaiko y La Sirena ~ 3.75/5 Good, sweet story. Nothing to complain about.

River People ~ 3.25/5 Good story, nothing to complain about.

Moonglow ~ 2/5 I am so confused by this story. It also wasn't very magical in my opinion, or maybe that's the part I don't understand.

Killing El Chivo ~ 3.25/5 It was fine, but feel like it would be better emphasized as a larger book.

***Tame the Wicked Night ~ 4.25/5 A wonderful final story. Perfect magic tie-ins and the story was very sweet and romantic.

***My favorites looking back as of now.

Overall, what you would expect from a collection of short stories, some good, some bad, and one or two stand-outs. The main problem with this collection was I felt a lot of these stories were in over their heads and made either the world-building or lore too deep to be a short story.

Serendipity: Ten Romantic Tropes, Transformed by Marissa Meyer

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

Bye Bye, Piper Berry/Fake Relationship ~ 3.5
Anyone Else But You/Stranded Together ~ 2.5
The Idiom Algorithm/Class Warfare ~ 1
Auld Acquaintance/Best Friend Love ~ 3
Shooting Stars/One Bed ~ 5
Keagan's Heaven on Earth ~ 2.5
Zora in the Spotlight/Grand Gesture ~ 3.5
In a Blink of the Eye/Confined Space ~ 4.5
Liberty/Makeover ~ 3
Surprise Match/Matchmaker ~ 2

Overall, cute collection of stories that was a nice break from the other books I've been reading. I thought the book was going to be subverting tropes, so the main thing is that the title is misleading.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

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challenging dark mysterious 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

3.5

The Manningtree Witches by A.K. Blakemore

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.

I could not get over the writing of this book. I felt like it was trying to hard to sound old-timely.

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

The concept of The Immortalists initially drew me to the book in the first place, and while I still enjoy the concept of it, I don't think it was executed the best. The story is in four sections following four siblings, and some fell flat. Simon's was a good story; it follows and deals with both inner and outer problems. It did get a bit too descriptive with his love life for my taste, but nothing against the book. Klara's perspective was the best in my opinion. Her struggles, dreams, hopes, and desires all meshed into one was perfectly told. Daniel's was the worst. He was stoic, and I didn't understand his character arc at all, it seemed so random and just used as a plot device. Although Varya's was better, it wasn't great. It did incorporate important themes, but it did so randomly and more things just seemed thrown in as plot devices. The only other thing that struck me as odd, was how every child came to either resent, disagree or look badly upon their religion. I understand a change in beliefs, but it just seemed odd that religion was displayed so negatively in the entire book. Overall, the book covers important themes and is very interesting to reflect back upon life and death, and how people should be living.

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mcclintock1808's reviews 45 reviews

mcclintock1808's reviews
45 reviews