ncssundormas's reviews
134 reviews

Fracture Me by Tahereh Mafi

this was so much shorter than the other novella goddamn. I mean I’m not complaining, Adam is kind of a jerk and I’m not a fan of him. still excited for Ignite Me!

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

3.5

I liked this one!! Adam and Juliette’s drama was admittedly very annoying, and the ending was abrupt, and the beginning was slow, but I liked it!! I think it’s going to take a turn from here on out too and we’ll have some true character development for Juliette, which I’m excited for. can’t wait to read the next one!

Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi

honestly this left me more engaged than Shatter Me. do I love Warner like bookstagram loves him yet? no. am I on my way there after finding him a walking red flag before? yes.

overall I want to get to Unravel Me quicker now. I may be finding a new book obsession!! I’m so excited 

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

3.0

a good start to a series that sets up the villain, the good guys, the plot and some likeable characters to follow. did I love it? no, but it wasn’t bad, and I have hope for the rest of the series. Kenji was my favourite, despite the little page time that he got 😌

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

this was on my tbr for months and I was super excited to read it, but now having done so in 2 days, I was let down.

this book was falsely marketed as enemies to lovers, just as an fyi to anyone looking to pick it up. they kiss about 130 pages in!! the font isn’t big, ok, the story hasn’t progressed much by the time that happens. they’re not enemies either; they bicker like little kids in arguments that are very pointless to the plot and felt almost forced together. I won’t say anything about the lovers part since that’d be spoilers but don’t expect much

also, to anyone who said this book has a cliffhanger: where? can someone point me in the right direction? I didn’t see it, I feel like I missed something.

the ending, while on the subject, felt like it was supposed to be a big wow factor to lead into the next book, but for me I just sat there with a straight face ngl.

while I’m curious about where the story might progress from here, I doubt I’ll read the sequel. the characters were fun though, although Cyrus almost read out of character at times, which felt really weird. I thought he was an impostor at one point 😭 very weird. but yeah. Dante was probably my fav? Violet would have been, but

her hesitation at rising for power with the Witch of Nightmares when that could've been such a cool  villain arc 😭 not forgiving Cyrus for that one

the writing style was simple to follow too. but I did find 4 typos, which had me boggled. how do you miss that many?

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.

besties, this was bad. like, VERY bad. I was told this was an amazing book, so I bought it signed from an indie bookstore that charged more than Amazon and I honestly shouldn’t have!! the characters are (almost) all SO obnoxious and holier-than-thou and I hate that very much. the writing was also trying to be smart using big words and more than were really necessary and it didn’t work!! it didn’t work. it was bad, okay? save yourselves. the only people I liked were Nico and Gideon, and Gideon is a side character who hardly shows up and is mostly only talked about. I wanted to manage to get to the end in order to see that plot-twist that everyone was talking about, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I’m just glad I’m not the only one who hated it at this point.

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

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? Yes

5.0

this book was honestly the best I’ve read all year so far. I devoured it. the first-person witty tone made me so interested. the characters were all complex and fleshed out and they all had moments to shine. the slow burn 😭😭 I love them. I have no idea what the sequel could possibly be, but I’m interested in finding out for sure.

the only thing I might say is about the ending, how it all got wrapped up into a little bow. not sure how convinced I am that it was that easy, but it’s not enough to take away from how much I enjoyed it.

REREAD UPDATE: you know what? this book was somehow better the second time. ignore that little bit at the end of the first read review, i don’t agree with that anymore, the ending was perfect as it was. now i’m finally moving on to painted devils!!

Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard

slow-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

2.0

it was like watching Dune (2021) again. a seemingly good story, but with such a slow build-up of events and only a couple of adrenaline-worthy moments that by the end you feel underwhelmed. I enjoyed it and will be reading the sequel, but nothing stood out. nothing made me laugh out loud or gasp or anything.

also, this book needed a map urgently. who decided it’d be a brilliant idea to leave one out? there are so many nations in this book and yet there’s no map.

We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal

adventurous emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

3.0

honestly, I didn’t like the direction that the book took for the first third or so. then it righted itself, and then it slowed down SO MUCH and then sped up again far too much so the ending get underwhelming, anticlimactic and overall disappointing. it may have been due to my reading slump that made me take 2 months to read this book,  but this book did end up disappointing me. I lost motivation for it many times, and the end literally made me sigh because of how stupid the characters were being with their slow-burn romance. okay, I get it’s a slow-burn, but there are less than 10 pages left, maybe let them make intelligent decisions and stop dragging it out with nonsense?

anyway, loved We Hunt the Flame, but We Free the Stars was not the conclusion my heart wanted

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

*inconsolable sobbing* I wish I hadn’t been so busy in the days between starting this book and reading the remaining two thirds I had left in as many days. I feel like I would have enjoyed it more, and would have felt a little less confused at times. but I still adored this, and thank GOD that I did not read this at a time when We Free the Stars was not published. I will be starting it almost immediately. but now it is almost midnight, so I’ll have to wait a few hours 👀