noellerose's reviews
424 reviews

Ain't Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

Jason Reynold's poems and other works are always a great pleasure to read. Jason Griffith's artwork really supported this piece and made it all the more amazing. 

Don't Cry for Me by Daniel Black

emotional reflective 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? Yes

I flew through this book. The format in which it's written - short letters from a father to a son detailing the father's life - paired with fantastic writing and real and raw characters made this a real page-turner. I liked how honest Jacob was to his son, how he acknowledged he wasn't perfect but that he'd tried. How he still struggled with Isaac's sexuality but had come to accept it over time. It wasn't a happy ending story.

I'm definitely going to check out Daniel Black's other works!

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc

informative fast-paced

This was really informative and offered a great insight into the way ableism and anti-disability is so heavily ingrained in fairy tales and other forms of fictional media. It's just something you never think about because 'able bodies' are so normalised in society. From now on I will definitely think more critically about the pieces of fiction I read and how disability is treated in it. 

Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

inspiring lighthearted 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

Loved it loved it loved it.

Ya contemporary is not my thing but I pick books up every time in the hope I'll like it. And I really did love this book. There were some elements in here that I usually don't like, like lying or prolonged tension that can be solved by just talking to each other, but I think it worked well here. The story did not go in the direction I thought it would go, and I was pleasantly surprised.

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

adventurous medium-paced

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

I once again don't really know what to think about this book. It's the last of SMG's books I had to read before I was caught up with all of her novels, but I'm really not sure whether it's worth it to continue reading her books of the quality will stay mediocre like this. I'm now convinced TBO was the exception to a rule because I haven't truly liked another book by her, other than MG perhaps.

I'll be honest, vampires aren't really my thing, so I already went in expecting not to like it. While I didn't dislike it as much as I thought I would've had, I truly have no feelings. The writing was okay but not great, the characters were flat but not annoying, and the storyline was somehow both fast and slow-paced.

Another book I feel very average about. I hope her next release will be a bigger success. 

The Truth Project by Dante Medema

emotional fast-paced

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

I flew through this book and read it in maybe two hours. It was gripping, a real pageturner. There was quite a bit of self-pity in here which I'm never a great fan of but other than that it was a really great read!

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

emotional sad slow-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

Pachinko has been on my TBR for a few years now. I was always too scared to pick it up because it's historical fiction, a genre I often find boring, and because it was quite lengthy. The upcoming tv series prompted me to finally pick it up, and I certainly don't regret it!

There's something so great about reading a family's transition from being poor and humble Korean boardinghouse owners to rich businesspeople in Japan. I wouldn't want to live in their shoes, though. The family has to suffer a lot of terrible things, from sickness and death, to discrimination, poverty, and injustice. I just felt bad for them for the entire book.

I felt like the timing and pacing of the book was a bit off sometimes, though only at the ending. I have no idea when Yoseb died, for example. He said to Kim Changho that the man should wait until he died, and that it would be soon, but apparently, it took at least a decade before Yoseb died. I also thought the story started dragging at the ending. I just couldn't really care about Solomon's work and business anymore, and I wished that part had been cut shorter.

Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

mysterious medium-paced

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

This is my sixth SMG book and I still haven't formed a general opinion on her works. It probably doesn't help that she writes books in so many different genres. Like most of her books, the pace was slow, and unfortunately, the blurb alone already tells you what to expect, so it wasn't very thrilling or surprising.

There are two things I love about SMG's books, and luckily those two things were in here. I love her writing, especially in terms of the atmosphere, and her main characters, whether I like or dislike them, are always so well-developed. I especially like the interaction between characters - I truly believe this is SGM's strong point. While reading, it just felt like I was living in that tiny coastal town, locked up and unable to escape.

The ending didn't make the most sense to me. I suppose it was Gregory's betrayal that did it, but before that, everything she'd done, the lying and deceiving, had been for Gregory. Even then, she was always doubting her decision. It doesn't make complete sense to me that she would do something that has such violent consequences, and in turn, keep deceiving Lawrence.

There were minor spelling/editing mistakes, which didn't really bother me, unless words had accidentally been left out, which happened once or twice.

I would definitely rank this in the 'I liked this' category rather than the 'neutral' one, and it hasn't deterred me from picking up SMG's last book before I'm all caught up and ready for the newest release! 

The Red Palace by June Hur 허주은

mysterious fast-paced

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

June Hur strikes again! I've read every book JH has published so far, and this one is *probably* my favourite of the three (I would have to reread all of them to establish my ranking). The best thing about JH's books is that I know exactly what I'm going to read: a historical murder mystery, and nothing more complicated than that. And really, what more could I want? 

JH's main characters are kind of hard copies of each other: the unlikely heroine, often from a lower status, who's smart and sort of rebellious and always knows how to solve the murder. And honestly, I don't give a shit. Give me plot over characters any day, baby. Honestly, JH's books are comforting to me because of that familiarity. 

The thing that's different in this book is that there's a romance, and it was done really quite perfect. I like books where the romance is a subplot, where there's only a hint of pining and feelings. I eat that shit up. So yeah, more of that, please. 

I don't really have a lot to say about the murder mystery aspect of it? It was solid, I guess? I don't always understand murder mysteries because there are a lot of suspects and people involved, and I can't keep track of the clues. Sometimes I just really don't understand what's going on, but that's okay. Vibes only.

Greek Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook: From Aphrodite to Zeus, a Profile of Who's Who in Greek Mythology by Liv Albert

adventurous informative

For someone who only has a surface-level understanding of Greek mythology, this handbook was fantastic! Most important characters in Greek mythology were in here, their stories told in 3 pages or less. I appreciate the choice of adding more characters instead of giving a more detailed description of every one. I admit, it was sometimes a bit confusing with all those names and everyone had like fifty children so I had no idea who was related to who (though I'm pretty sure nearly everyone was related to each other). The illustrations were absolutely beautiful and really added to the story.