monicalaurette's reviews
281 reviews

Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.

So I had heard so many good things about this book and the show, and when I found a copy in a little free library I brought it home. I gave the book 100ish pages to pull me in and I just didn’t care about any of the characters or the story while reading.

Perhaps I’ll watch the show, because maybe it will be more enjoyable to me then. But I’ll put this book back into a little free library for someone else to read and possibly be their new favorite book.

Content Warnings

The Martian by Andy Weir

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was a RIDE. I liked that it was sort of mixed media by having the Sol Logs & different messages between NASA & Watney so that helped it get a little easier to get through while reading. I had watched the movie around the time it came out, but I literally only remembered one scene - and it’s a scene that happens relatively early on in the book

of where he blows himself up in the HAB while making water

. So I was glad that I was essentially going into this book blind on what would happen.

Andy’s comedic writing I thought was fun and was also exactly how I would be acting if I had to spend over a year alone on Mars. I found myself laughing at many moments in this book and it helped me to enjoy it even more. I don’t know if I would have liked it as much without the comedic moments.

”Life is amazingly tenacious.”

Watney literally going ‘hey NASA look titties!’ and ‘your mom’s a hoe’ in public forums was UNHINGED and I love it for him

the way Beck & Johanssen thought they were slick and secretive but they all just KNEW was so funny that’s one of my favorite tropes

Content Warnings

On a Raven's Wing: New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe by Mary Higgins Clark, Thomas H. Cook, James W. Hall, Rupert Holmes, S. J. Rozan by Stuart M. Kaminsky

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dark mysterious sad tense

3.0

So this is a collection of works all centered around Poe. I loved the stories more that just used him as inspiration and not the ones that used him as a character. I just felt like they were all just using the name and wasn’t actually him because each ‘Edgar’ had different personalities.

Also I didn’t love enough of the stories to keep the book on my shelves, but I have my reading notes if I ever want to try and find one of the ones I did like.

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

So this book to me had a lot of potential because I like hidden passages and riddles like they were advertised - and luckily I got that and had at least a good time trying to also figure out what those were.

The main thing I didn’t like about this book were the characters and their interactions with each other. All of the romance that was there just seemed weird to me.

Grayson being over 18 and Avery being under 18 just gave me weird vibes when they were having ~moments~ together.

Because I really didn’t care for many of the characters or their storylines as it pertained to the story, I didn’t have as much fun as I could have. The twist at the end was odd and something that I wasn’t expecting - but the additional twists with the Hawthorne family wasn’t enough to make me want to read the next book.

Content Warnings

Babel by R.F. Kuang

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I knew from the beginning that I was going to like this book, I just didn’t know how much - and isn’t that a lovely feeling?

Part of me wanted to make this review short and almost like a joke by saying “5 stars, made me feel bad for being white” but truly I never felt bad for being white while reading the book so I also didn’t want to be false in my review. I took more time to look at my privileges as a white woman in the USA and what that meant for me and all those around me.

So many people say that books should not be political or talk about controversial topics, but I think having books like that only enhance a person, even if the book is escapism. If a book helps you to understand your place in the real world, but still offers you a haven from it - I think that makes it an absolutely wonderful book and I don’t know why others don’t see it or refuse to allow themselves that sentiment.

But now back to the book because I’ve gone a slight tangent - sorry!

I loved following Robin and seeing things through his eyes and also the fact that he would acknowledge the challenges of all his cohort as the years went on. I also enjoyed the way that Kuang wrote the divide in Robin’s mind about his feelings for Hermes vs Babel. The struggle he went through was so vivid that at times I was feeling conflicted while reading. I was also feeling stressed out while the cohort was preparing for their exams, so much so that I had to not read those parts at work so I could focus better!

"Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes."

Certain parts of this book happened and I said to myself - this is not a middle of the book event, what else is going to happen now that this has come to pass? - and was just taken on a wild ride for the last like 40% of this book. And that 40% had so much emotions swirling in my head that I rarely took breaks unless necessary.

Very happy that this was my first book by R.F. Kuang and looking forward to my other book of hers on my shelf. And I know that the message and characters of this book will stay with me longer than normal while I move on to other books. The way this book ended I feel was such a testament to the characters and what they all stood for in their hearts and how they knew they could change the world both as a group and individually.

"A mind was not meant to feel this much. Only death would silence the chorus."

I liked Miss Piper and hated Lovell from the start - I’m glad those feelings never changed as the book moved forward.

Honestly thought Evie was also a part of Hermes somehow and not really dead - and I know that I trust Griffin’s version of the story more than Lovell’s on what happened to her with the bar.

Had I not been at work when I read it I would have cheered a little when Robin killed Lovell. He would’ve done something to him either while on the boat or when they returned from Canton so to me it was both self-defense AND revenge for his mother.

Removing .25 stars because of Ramy, and listen: I GET why he had to die, but it just made me so incredibly sad when it happened because I never handle character deaths well.

When Robin & Victoire were talking about the tower burning all I could picture in my head was the burning Elmo meme and I’m so sad I wasn’t able to paste it into my reading journal.

Content Warnings

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I was very close to going right back to the beginning of this book and reading it again. I was confused and intrigued and sad through reading it all. I was wondering who everyone was, the motives behind their work, and what was going to happen at the end.

"All good stories travel from the outside in."

I loved that the letters were also at the end of a chapter so you knew when you’d get them and be able to learn more about both Blue and Red.

And then the line about Red loving Blue and wanting to know what that means - I knew it was foreshadowing and I was crying

. But getting to watch the character development of each agent through the letters and story was so beautiful to read.

"Hope may be a dream. But she will fight to make it real."

At the time of writing this I didn’t know what rating I would give to it, but now as I finish it, I’m going to give this 5 stars because it would feel wrong to my heart to give it less. I know this is the end of Blue & Red’s story, but I would so love to read more of their journey hiding from Garden & The Agency forever.

RED BEING THE SEEKER WAS SO SHOCKING (yet not at the same time) TO ME!

Content Warnings

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I thought this book was so fun and cute and I really wish now that I had read all of these books in the publication order. I devoured this book so quickly and there were so many cute moments between the two.

The declaration of love at the end of the book during the Con of the Gates was also really sweet and I really liked how that was the way Dade chose to bring them back together because it was, at least to me, a unique way to do that. Even though Marcus fell for April a lot faster than she did for him, I loved how head over heels he was for her and allowed his walls to crumble. Now we just need to work on men in romance books to use COMMUNICATION AND ALL OF THEIR WORDS BEFORE IT’S THE BAD TIME.

Should Dade write more in this interconnected world I’ll be one of the first to grab it because I loved all of these characters so much and I want to know more about what they are all doing. Mainly the biography MacKenzie is writing for Whiskers - I STILL WANT THAT!

I think it’s so funny that when we meet both Marcus and April they are covered in mud and dirt of some sort that is very specific to their careers. I think that it helps to tie them together even more.

THE LEAKED SCRIPTS WERE BECAUSE IAN STOPPED PAYING THE TUNA MAN!?

Content Warnings

In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

3.0

Ever wanted a Hallmark/sappy Christmas romance movie but in book format that was also queer? May I introduce you to this book. It was such a simple read that I was able to get it done in two days (really like half a day if you don’t count when I had to break for work & sleep). A lot of the book was predictable due to the premise but I loved the different twists that made it original. This is not the best book that I’ve read, but it’s one that I’m glad that I at least took a chance with.

Things did happen very fast in this book timeline wise and there was a promise of a slow-burn that was instead almost a quick burn so that was upsetting but the second-chance romance and friends-to-lovers aspects were right on the money.

Wished there was more of a climactic or satisfying ending with Christy & Vaughn Enterprises but I guess her realizing she wasn’t being true to herself was fine and fit in more with the Hallmark-esque vibe going on. Lots of stuff happened and got fixed what seemed like really quickly afterwards but this quote I think summed that up and made me rethink things and mistakes I’ve made in the past.

“Sometimes, mistakes are the beginning of something wonderful.”

Do I think I’ll read the next Fern Falls book about Adam & Ben? Probably not, but that one is archillian in romance so if that’s more your style I’m sure you could just read that one and not have to read this one.

Content Warnings

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Sierra Simone, Julie Murphy

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emotional funny lighthearted sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

Cries because this book was so cute and so much fun to read around the holiday season. I even found myself loving the fluff moments more than the smut ones because it was just so heartwarming to see those two in love and sneaking around in this small, Christmas-loving town.

I think it was also fun to see a character like Bee/Bianca that was so confident in her body and into an industry like that because it’s not as common. And that Nolan was just so into her before they even met. I think both of them having an obsession with the other before they met helped it be like…not as creepy when you think about it. Like it cancels each other out.

One thing that got me in this book to not give it a full 5 stars would be how some of the characters behaved because it just seemed too much and too over the top at times. But maybe that was also just me because I wanted more scenes of Bee and Nolan cuddling together.

Also, it was nice that we got to see the truth of the events in Duluth too because it showed that Nolan was always just a caring person and not just with his family or bandmates. And is it wrong for me to compare Dominic Diamond to another certain tabloid-esque person that is just a terrible person? I don’t want to name names but they popped right in my head and I think a lot of people would agree with me.

For the ending the coming back down from the climax (pun sort of intended) I really liked how it was a biggish moment and then it was more personal with the cross-country driving. Having the book also start and end with Teddy’s POV I thought was a fun way to begin the tale and then bring it to a close while opening us up to the next book with Kallum (who might be my favorite?).

Content Warnings

All the Feels by Olivia Dade

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emotional funny lighthearted sad fast-paced

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

5.0

In my journey to read the Spoiler Alert series backwards I have finally finished All The Feels and I indeed have many feelings myself - possibly all of them at once. I think this might be my favorite of the stories within this little Hollywood circle of actors and actresses. First off, the cover is so cute and warm and was my favorite of the three books too. And the way that Lauren reminded me of myself a little bit and that I’ve always wanted someone like Alex to love me so fiercely like he did her. From the start he was smitten with her - and of course he didn’t know it until much later but I KNEW IT JUST FROM THIS QUOTE:

“Her eyes were brighter now than the stars about could explain.”

Like EXCUSE ME YOU’RE IN LOVE GOOD SIR!

Of course I got my dreaded third-act breakup, but this one for some reason didn’t bother me as much as Peter & Maria’s so maybe that’s why I liked the book just a little more. I know I liked the book more because of the way I held onto it so tight and caused damage to the spine 😂

And of course we had our text chats and fanfictions which I loved and seeing more into Alex’s life and how he thinks. Because I’m reading backwards on this sort of interconnected trilogy I know part of Marcus & April’s story but I’m not upset about it because I just want to see how cute they are compared to the couples I have now come to love from Dade.

Content Warnings

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monicalaurette's reviews 281 reviews

monicalaurette's reviews
281 reviews