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meganyntan's reviews
323 reviews
New People by Danzy Senna
1.0
what could have been an interesting and meaningful exploration of race/interracial relationships just became a disjointed story about a vapid (and dare i say unstable?) woman
And I Love You the Most by Willow Winters, W. Winters
this new serial killer kink is going to get me or my man killed/jailed one day
Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas
i rly do not get the appeal of bully romances bc for why would you want to be w/ someone who treats you like shit
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman
3.0
when i first started reading this book i fell in love w/ the prose and concept - the MC was extremely entertaining and the book made me laugh out loud a few times. i think there's a fine line between protagonists who try to be funny vs. protagonists who are actually funny. the MC's dialogue was absurd and clever and it definitely didn't feel like the author was trying too hard to make him "funny".
i liked how the magic system/how the world operates was introduced/explained, it didn't feel very handholdy or pretentious which i appreciated. characterization felt very well done throughout the book for the recurring characters. a gripe i had was the introduction of so many characters who just disappeared and were just used as very obvious plot devices.
this book started off so strong, however, i feel like the pacing of the book towards the halfway mark just threw me off? i lost interest in the book for such a long period of time and it felt like a slog. i'm fine with books that have slower places in plots if they use the downtime to further develop characters, however i feel like that downtime was not utilized well.
this book did end with a sense of closure but also definitely has the potential for strong sequels. i'll likely pick up the sequel but i'm not in any rush to, nor would i reread this book.
also for why would they call the book the blacktongue thief if there was barely any thievery going on pls
i liked how the magic system/how the world operates was introduced/explained, it didn't feel very handholdy or pretentious which i appreciated. characterization felt very well done throughout the book for the recurring characters. a gripe i had was the introduction of so many characters who just disappeared and were just used as very obvious plot devices.
this book started off so strong, however, i feel like the pacing of the book towards the halfway mark just threw me off? i lost interest in the book for such a long period of time and it felt like a slog. i'm fine with books that have slower places in plots if they use the downtime to further develop characters, however i feel like that downtime was not utilized well.
this book did end with a sense of closure but also definitely has the potential for strong sequels. i'll likely pick up the sequel but i'm not in any rush to, nor would i reread this book.
also for why would they call the book the blacktongue thief if there was barely any thievery going on pls
The Real by Kate Stewart
If you're writing a fucking romance novel don't add a mother dying of cancer bc that's just fucking cruel
Not me ugly crying at 5:30am
Not me ugly crying at 5:30am
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
5.0
if someone had told me i'd be reading a book with a heavy smattering of shakespeare throughout, i'd have told them that it was pretentious and that i wouldn't be caught dead reading it. thank fuck i went into this blind because i absolutely loved this book.
my first foray into dark academia began with [b:A Deadly Education|50548197|A Deadly Education (The Scholomance, #1)|Naomi Novik|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1596909044l/50548197._SY75_.jpg|75543174] which i promptly dnf'd. it honestly soured the genre for me even though theoretically it should be 100% my aesthetic. if we were villains gave me hope for the genre again. not to mention that it was a mystery/crime book that may have had a slightly (not 100% bc pls that ending) predictable plot but still delivered on other fronts that made the plot not a fatal flaw (which it often is for me in the thriller/mystery/suspense genre)
the characters all felt so real, flawed, and human. the characters, the overall group dynamic, and their relationships with each other were well fleshed out and multi-faceted. i usually have hella complaints about characterization but i feel like it was really well done here.
the shakespeare should've been a big point of contention for me but it was honestly unobtrusive/unpretentious and did not affect my immersion in the story at all (v surprisingly!). despite barely having paid attention to shakespeare in high school all those years ago, i still found this easy to follow based on whatever (lack of) knowledge remained in my brain. obviously for plays i haven't read this wasn't so much the case, however based on context the author provided, i didn't feel completely lost.
i think my favorite part of this book was how it was able to touch on so many important themes such as abuse, loss, obsession, addiction, death, sexuality (in multiple ways!), hatred, and so many different types of love (passionate, platonic, obsessive, infatuation) in a way that was meaningful and not pretentious.
the exploration of what is reality vs. not reality and acting vs. not acting made me really had me thinking. when you immerse yourself in something so deeply, when do the lines start to blur? what's actually real vs. what you want to be real? the idea that sometimes it really is easier to just not be yourself really hits home.
this book was so beautifully and well written. i haven't connected with a book this much in a long time nor have i recently read a book that really made me sit down and think the way this one has.
(it just sucks that i'll be chasing the high of how this book made me feel and i'll hate reading for at least the next 5 books unless something surprises me)
(pls send dark academia recs)
my first foray into dark academia began with [b:A Deadly Education|50548197|A Deadly Education (The Scholomance, #1)|Naomi Novik|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1596909044l/50548197._SY75_.jpg|75543174] which i promptly dnf'd. it honestly soured the genre for me even though theoretically it should be 100% my aesthetic. if we were villains gave me hope for the genre again. not to mention that it was a mystery/crime book that may have had a slightly (not 100% bc pls that ending) predictable plot but still delivered on other fronts that made the plot not a fatal flaw (which it often is for me in the thriller/mystery/suspense genre)
the characters all felt so real, flawed, and human. the characters, the overall group dynamic, and their relationships with each other were well fleshed out and multi-faceted. i usually have hella complaints about characterization but i feel like it was really well done here.
the shakespeare should've been a big point of contention for me but it was honestly unobtrusive/unpretentious and did not affect my immersion in the story at all (v surprisingly!). despite barely having paid attention to shakespeare in high school all those years ago, i still found this easy to follow based on whatever (lack of) knowledge remained in my brain. obviously for plays i haven't read this wasn't so much the case, however based on context the author provided, i didn't feel completely lost.
i think my favorite part of this book was how it was able to touch on so many important themes such as abuse, loss, obsession, addiction, death, sexuality (in multiple ways!), hatred, and so many different types of love (passionate, platonic, obsessive, infatuation) in a way that was meaningful and not pretentious.
the exploration of what is reality vs. not reality and acting vs. not acting made me really had me thinking. when you immerse yourself in something so deeply, when do the lines start to blur? what's actually real vs. what you want to be real? the idea that sometimes it really is easier to just not be yourself really hits home.
this book was so beautifully and well written. i haven't connected with a book this much in a long time nor have i recently read a book that really made me sit down and think the way this one has.
(it just sucks that i'll be chasing the high of how this book made me feel and i'll hate reading for at least the next 5 books unless something surprises me)
(pls send dark academia recs)
Sex Object: A Memoir by Jessica Valenti
2.0
i find it so hard to rate/review memoirs as a concept, especially when it deals with sensitive topics such as sexual assault, rape, body dysmorphia, etc. in no way do i ever want to diminish someone's trauma/experiences
it's so disappointing that women can't feel safe by themselves in public or meeting new people. the fact that shit happens so often, that terrible experiences become almost universally relatable for so many women makes me really fucking hate society. based on the synopsis/introduction, i expected this book to be about the author's experience with sexual abuse and trauma so i completely lost interest when she talked about giving birth lol
the way it began with the author's childhood experiences definitely gave me the impression that it was going to be written chronologically. however this memoir felt disjointed/choppy probably because it absolutely did not go in chronological order lol. each chapter felt very repetitive because the author literally just copy/pasted parts of her intro of each chapter at the end? i feel like repetition could be a great literary device if used properly but this was just a fucking shit show. the writing was just so fucking trash
it's so disappointing that women can't feel safe by themselves in public or meeting new people. the fact that shit happens so often, that terrible experiences become almost universally relatable for so many women makes me really fucking hate society. based on the synopsis/introduction, i expected this book to be about the author's experience with sexual abuse and trauma so i completely lost interest when she talked about giving birth lol
the way it began with the author's childhood experiences definitely gave me the impression that it was going to be written chronologically. however this memoir felt disjointed/choppy probably because it absolutely did not go in chronological order lol. each chapter felt very repetitive because the author literally just copy/pasted parts of her intro of each chapter at the end? i feel like repetition could be a great literary device if used properly but this was just a fucking shit show. the writing was just so fucking trash
I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
1.0
i thought this book had potential especially with it being a netflix adaptation but the author should've done us all a favor and ended this book before it even began
the fact this book even brought up the idea that dating someone somewhat smarter than you would make for a potentially terrible relationship was just downright fucking stupid lol why would anyone wanna date a dumbass
this book was so convoluted yet predictable and the "twists" were fucking trash
the fact this book even brought up the idea that dating someone somewhat smarter than you would make for a potentially terrible relationship was just downright fucking stupid lol why would anyone wanna date a dumbass
this book was so convoluted yet predictable and the "twists" were fucking trash