miss_fantasy's reviews
52 reviews

This Place Is Still Beautiful by XiXi Tian

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

I enjoyed reading this book a ton. It was an easy read, but also helped me understand hie microaggressions and racism hurt and affect people’s lives. 

The only problems I had with this book was that I feel like the writing did more “telling” than “showing” at times, but it’s understandable as it’s a debut novel. I also think some of the characters made decisions that didn’t make sense at the time which cause some whiplash in mood shifts. 

Other than that, I thought the characters were charming and the plot was intriguing. Hope to read more of Tian’s books :)

If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I found it very difficult to rate this book. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This entire book is just a fun little silly time, but it has flaws.
 I feel like Alice’s invisibility powers were wildly inconsistent. It felt sometimes her invisibility window lasted 2 minutes and other times upwards to 20 minutes, depending on what was most convenient for the plot. Even when her power runs out at an “inconvenient time” it still felt like it was convenient for the plot. 
Another thing that annoyed me is that the two main characters, for being the smartest people in the school, are so stupid at points. I’m not the brightest person in the world, but even I know that they are just so dumb sometimes. It just pulled me out of the story at times and annoyed me. 
There are some smaller things that annoyed me, such as pacing and some plot points, but as I say all of these criticisms, I had an embarrassingly fun time with this book. It’s fast paced and was glued to my hands the entire day. The banter between Alice and Henry was cute and funny, and the end message was good, even if it was a bit on the nose. 
The main thing I enjoyed about the book was how much I related to Alice. The academic expectations and not knowing who you are without that part of you. The need to keep that “smart” reputation up because no one will see you as anything without it. The way you constantly feel like you’re just a background character, seeking validation, but when validation comes, you don’t want to be the center of attention anymore. But yet you want more. 
I’m not going to spoil anything, but at the end when Alice was getting scolded for doing something pretty bad, her thought process was the exact same as mine would have been. My heart dropped and I genuinely felt like I was the one getting scolded. 
Anyway, the end was cute, and I plan on reading more from this author. Recommend 👍

Jade City by Fonda Lee

dark emotional tense 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

4.5

I loved this book so much. The only reason I am rating it 4.5 is because I heard Jade War was (somehow) even better. The characters are flawed, but lovable. The story is gripping and had me punching the air at times. The switching POVs was done well, and I rarely felt confused. I think the first half of the book was slightly better, as the second half was a bit slower and more focused on politics, but somehow made politics of all things compelling. This book is also packed with more emotion than I thought it would be. I genuinely felt for these characters and (to my embarrassment) cried a total of five times reading this. Granted, I am an emotional person, but that may be a new record. Anyway, I would definitely recommend this book. 

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Did not finish book. Stopped at 88%.

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing 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

5.0

This is perhaps the easiest 5 star read I have ever done. I absolutely adored this book. I love all of the children equally and don’t feel inclined to pick a favorite (like I normally am). If you asked me to pick a favorite character in the book in general I would probably back hand you for speaking such a preposterous thing. I adored Linus as a protagonist, though he was a bit frustrating at times (which is forgivable, since he has had those ideas planted in his brain for decades). I loved Arthur and his colorful socks. Each of the children had their own distinctive personalities (some more destructive than others), making it impossible to confuse one with another. I can’t remember a book that made me laugh and cry (sad and happy tears) more than this one did. If you have been putting off this book, just stop and read it. I am literally on my hands and knees begging. Just read it. 

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book is very YA. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it just feels like I’ve read this before. That didn’t stop me from enjoying it, however. I loved seeing Cinder and Thorne’s (platonic, thank gods) relationship grow and see them slowly trust each other more. Scarlet’s storyline was a bit tropey and predictable, but I still enjoyed it. I just hated (⚠️spoilers⚠️for the love interest’s real name?) Kesley being called Wolf the entire time. I don’t know, it just felt weird to me. One of my favorite POVs was Kai’s. I loved seeing what was happening from his political standpoint and seeing him battle with his feelings(?) for Cinder. I liked the first book tiny bit better, but I’m still excited for Cress :)

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Very good last(?) book for the grishaverse. One of my only complaints is how long is it. I don’t mind long books but I just feel like this one was stretched out a bit too much. It could have done without “The Monk” chapters and would have shaved it down a bit. Regardless, it was full of twists and turns and I cried a total of five times. I loved seeing Hanne and Nina’s relationship grow and flourish and I’m glad Nina finally got her prince. My favorite chapters have to be the Nikolai chapters, though. Him wrestling with the demon throughout the story and eventually come to accept it wad one of my favorite parts for some reason. I don’t know how I felt about the end, but I understand why Leigh Bardugo did it snd I’m excited to see how it plays out in (hopefully) future books. 

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous challenging emotional funny tense 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

4.0

The beginning was mainly Leigh Bardugo easing the readers way back into the Grishaverse, but I just came from reading Six of Crows so it felt painfully slow. Whenever it picked up I started enjoying it a lot more. It felt weird at first introducing Isaak's character and POV half way though the book but I ended up really liking him and his POV. Nina's chapters felt really repetitive at first but got progressively more interesting as her and Hanne's relationship grew. Solid book, but I am really excited for Rule of Wolves. 

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Good last book. I didn't really like the plot twist at the end but I didn't mind it. What really saved the end for me was the "After" chapter. Other than the end, the book was really good. Nikolai is now one of my favorite characters in the Grishaverse (Wylan will always be on top) and I'm excited to see more of him in the King of Scars duology. Six of Crows is infinitely better but I'm glad I read this because now I know everything. It was kind of boring and repetitive at parts however and found it hard to be invested sometimes, but other than that, it was fine. Probably won't reread but I'm glad I read it.  

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense

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

4.0

I liked this book a bit better than the first. The politics were a bit repetitive but I was still invested in them. I was really mad at the end until it was actually revealed what was happening. The book would have been a solid three if the ending went where I thought it was going. One thing I didn't like was the the love triangle with Mal and Nikolai with the Darkling thrown in there somewhere. This may be a hot take but I'm low-key rooting for Alina and Nikolai now. Just because by the end of the book I found Mal insufferable. I get that he didn't like the palace, but come on now. The parts of Alina being hungry for power and her being all sweet with Mal and Nikolai were very inconsistent but I didn't really mind. Overall, the book was indeed fine again but just a tad bit more finer than the first one. Excited to read the last one.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-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

3.75

I watched the show before the I read the book so I already knew what happened but I still enjoyed this book. I obviously liked the book better than the show since the bar was already kind of low. The thing that saved the show for me was the Crows 100%. The twist (is it even a twist?) for the villain is pretty obvious and his motives are kind of bland. I mean, come on. Give me something other then, "I wanna rule the world." Alina was annoying at points but it get better when her and Mal reunited. Speaking of Mal, I like him a LOT better as a love interest than the Darkling and I felt that the love triangle was unnecessary (as it usually is in books). Mal as a character was fine and I ended up liking him and rooting for his and Alinas relationship by the end of the book. I heard the second book is better so I guess we'll see. The first book was fine overall.