Take a photo of a barcode or cover
oraclereadings's Reviews (107)
“Thinking about history makes me wonder how I’ll fit into it one day, I guess. And you too. I kinda wish people still wrote like that. History, huh? Bet we could make some.”
<b>What I Loved:</b>
✨Enemies to Friends to Lovers
✨M/M romance between FSOTUS (First Son of the United States) and the prince of England
✨Comical Banter
✨Actually Good Bi Representation
✨The emails lmao
✨Henry means everything to me and I will go to the ends of the Earth for him
✨The terms of endearment - <i>Sweetheart, Baby</i> . . . <b>I am fucking dead</b>
✨Literal queen Zahra
After a scandalous encounter at the royal wedding leaks into the tabloids, First Son Alex and Prince Henry must put aside their differences and are put together to stage a friendship as a way to save face. With his mother’s re-election on the line, Alex has to decide what is the best way for him to make history.
“You are", he says, “the absolute worst idea I’ve ever had.”
<b>What I Disliked:</b>
This didn’t have quite the slow burn that I had anticipated. Alex and Henry hit it off rather quickly and it’s not long before their relationship begins. Not gonna lie, I was hoping that they would spend more time “hating” each other. This went from enemies to fake friends, to real friends, to lovers really fast. If it were a shorter book, it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal.
I should have expected politics in a book that centers around the literal son of the president and royal family. I don’t know what I expected. I should have known. I was thinking it would be strictly romance and banter and gay. That’s my fault. I’m not gonna give the book any less stars for my stupidity.
The audiobook was just <i><b>ughh</b></i> on this, another thing I’m not gonna knock the actual book for. It just felt like sometimes I was listening to a podcast and I was so bored trying to listen and read at the same time. The perfect analogy would be to compare it to one of those reddit posts you see on TikTok that have an automated, monotone voice reading aloud while you watch someone jump through a Minecraft maze. Or the narrator for a documentary. Which would have been fine if this were anything but a gay, contemporary romance.
<b>Representation:</b> Alex and his sister June are biracial (White/Latinx). Alex is also bisexual. Henry is gay. Many side characters are also either poc, queer, or both.
<b>See also</b>: My review on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4476093354"><i>I Kissed Shara Wheeler</i></a>
dnf @ 46%
Luna is one of the first young adult novels to include a trans character. This book came out in the early 2000s, so it is no way up to today’s standards on LGBTQIA issues.
There is constant transphobia and homophobia, as well as the use of the trans characters’ deadname and misuse of pronouns.
Luna is told from the perspective of Regan, Luna’s younger sister. Throughout the book, Regan switches back and forth between calling her sister Luna and referring to her as a boy and using her deadname. Granted that the story jumps back and forth between present times and Regan’s memories, Regan still uses the wrong name and pronouns for her sister.
Since it is told through Regan’s point of view, Luna is often deemed as being selfish and needy, asking Regan for advice. Regan often blames Luna for being the reason why her life sucks and isn’t normal. Luna struggles with coming out, posing as a boy during school and at home with her parents.
If this were told from Luna’s point of view, I would have enjoyed this better. Actually, even if Regan had a more positive role in Luna’s coming out, I would have enjoyed this better.
Luna is one of the first young adult novels to include a trans character. This book came out in the early 2000s, so it is no way up to today’s standards on LGBTQIA issues.
There is constant transphobia and homophobia, as well as the use of the trans characters’ deadname and misuse of pronouns.
Luna is told from the perspective of Regan, Luna’s younger sister. Throughout the book, Regan switches back and forth between calling her sister Luna and referring to her as a boy and using her deadname. Granted that the story jumps back and forth between present times and Regan’s memories, Regan still uses the wrong name and pronouns for her sister.
Since it is told through Regan’s point of view, Luna is often deemed as being selfish and needy, asking Regan for advice. Regan often blames Luna for being the reason why her life sucks and isn’t normal. Luna struggles with coming out, posing as a boy during school and at home with her parents.
If this were told from Luna’s point of view, I would have enjoyed this better. Actually, even if Regan had a more positive role in Luna’s coming out, I would have enjoyed this better.
“Why is straight the default? Everyone should have to declare one way or another, and it shouldn’t be this big awkward thing whether you’re straight, gay, bi, or whatever. I’m just saying.”
2.5 ⭐️
I put this book off for a while because there was so much hype surrounding it. I’m always hesitant reading books that with so much hype because they never live up to my expectations. And it is possible that I waited too long to read this because it just wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. This book isn’t a big book or long, but it still felt like it took me forever to get through it. It just honestly was not that great.
Simon is gay, closeted, and in high school. We all remember the troubles we struggled through as teenagers, or perhaps you can relate because you are a struggling teenager right now. Life can be hard when you don’t know anyone that you can identify with. For Simon, Blue is that person he can identify and get along with. They’ve been sending each other email’s back and forth to each other for a while now. They even go to the same high school! Unfortunately, he has no idea who Blue is. As they both use aliases while sending emails to each other.
It’s fine, though. They’re both planning on coming out to their parents this year anyway, so they’ll soon reveal their real identities to each other. Right?
But then a student by the name of Martin finds Simon’s secret emails on the school’s computer. Martin holds it against Simon, blackmailing him into putting in a good word for a girl that Simon’s friends with.
Martin isn’t only threatening Simon, he’s threatening Blue.
And this is where I started having problems with the book. I started hating Martin the very second that he walked up to Simon and was like, "Hey I read your emails and I have them printed off. I’m not gonna do anything with them, as long as you put in a good word for me for some girl that is in your friend group". Obviously those aren’t the exact words, but that is the gist of what happened.
Now, I probably would have done the same as Simon back in my teen years and tried to hype Martin up to my friend and completely rolled over. That is not where I have problems with this. Because Simon is young and he is literally being blackmailed. No one else knows that he’s gay and he’s not ready to out himself. So he can’t exactly go to his other friends and be like, "Hey, Martin’s being a dick and blah blah blah" or even tell a teacher or adult the problem without coming out. So, no, I do not fault Simon for that.
However, I do have problems with the way Martin is portrayed, often from Simon’s point of view. There are a lot of moments where Martin is seen as being either another member in their friend group or just an average student that everyone adores, instead of his actual role of being the antagonist. Martin is literally holding Simon’s emails over his head, threatening to out his sexuality, and Simon sees the positive side in Martin. Even if he was a very friendly guy, I would not feel any genuine feelings for someone that was blackmailing me. In one line, Simon even says something along the lines of "I think he’s starting to grow on me".
It’s just very confusing because Simon jumps back and forth a lot between "Oh, he’s awful, I hate him. He’s threatening to out me" and "What can I say? This guy is funny and we could be probably be friends".
Representation: Jewish characters, gay characters, bisexual character
There was just a lot that didn’t sit right with me as I was reading this. I’ll list some of them below. Beware of SPOILERS.
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
Martin did not deserve any sort of redemption or even for Simon to be nice to him, even before he outed Simon. While Simon is struggling with being out, his friends are just— Not There. He was literally getting bullied half of the time and his friends just— Did. Not. Care. They just weren't there for him when he really needed them to be. Even Blue wasn’t there for Simon when he was getting bullied.
Leah was mad over nothing like 80% of the time. There was so many times I was like, "Giirrlll, just chill". How you gonna be mad at Simon when he's going through hell? And then get mad because he didn't come out to you first? Just shut up.
“I guess there are a few lesbian and bisexual girls, but I think it’s different for girls. Maybe it’s easier.”
It is definitely not easier. As a bi girl, I have gotten so much shit from both the straight and lgbt communities. Being a wlw is not easier than being a mlm. Identifying as a lesbian doesn’t make it easier than identifying as gay. Everyone struggles with coming out or figuring out their identity. WLW struggle the same with coming out and homophobia and slurs being thrown around just as much as a MLM might experience. Not to mention that bisexuals in general often get their sexuality dismissed just because they are in a relationship with someone of the opposite gender.
“White shouldn’t be the default any more than straight should be the default. There shouldn’t even be a default.”
Is there a term or word for pick me boys? Is it just pick me boys? Cause I strongly feel like Simon would be classified as one. He is just so self-centered. While I was mad at his friends for not giving enough of a shit about him while he was struggling with getting bullied and his forced coming out, he just also wasn’t there for his friends. It was stated in the book that these are his friends, he’s honestly just so distanced from them that it’s so unbelievable. He’s so entranced in his online relationship with Blue that he doesn’t have time for his friends in real life.
The fact that he didn’t think about the possibility of Blue being a different race other than white was just so off-putting. Blue gave him so many clues and hints but Simon is just so full of himself that he didn’t even realize.
tw; underage sex, pedophilia, grooming
(probably others but I didn't finish the book 🤮)
(probably others but I didn't finish the book 🤮)
I had heard some awful things about this and I wanted to hate read it. (If you don't support hate reading, get out.) I didn't even make it past part one. It's so bad.
I was fairly aware of the age gap, but I didn't know the full extent. This includes a 24-year-old man being involved with a 17-year-old. That's pedophilia. I don't care about your "well the age of consent is..." arguments. No. No one in their mid twenties should be attracted to anyone that still has their age ending in teen.
And it's not even that this book is about or focuses on pedophilia. It's that it's romanticized. Incredibly! If it were focused in a problematic view, it could be better. But still not good.
Not to mention that the writing is just horrible. Like, it's just awful. Even if the events above didn't take place, I would still hate this book.
After reading a few reviews for this, I've also learned that the author is confirmed to be a pedophile and finding attraction to underage girls. Gross! 🤮
Do not support this book/author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual content
“I believe in love at first sight. Fate, the universe, all of it. But not how you’re thinking. I don’t mean it in the our souls were split and you’re my other half forever and ever sort of way. I just think you’re meant to meet some people. I think the universe nudges them into your path.”
Arthur believes that things happen for a reason, that the universe gives signs and things are meant to be. He’s only in New York for the summer for his mom’s job.
Ben thinks that the universe is out to get him, that it’s a cruel world.
The two meet each other on the way to the post office, but they never get each other’s phone number, let alone their names. Luckily for Arthur, he has half of the shipping label of the box Ben was going to ship to his ex-boyfriend. With what little information he has, Arthur searches for Ben, convinced that he’s the one.
“Infinite do-overs.”
“I like that. [...] It sounds like us.”
They keep re-doing their first date together because something doesn’t go the way they wanted or planned. Maybe that’s the universe telling you that you’re actually not meant for each other. 🙄
Representation: Both Arthur and Ben are gay. Arthur also frequently brings up being Jewish and having ADHD. Ben is Puerto Rican and he struggles with his culture because he’s white-passing and doesn’t speak the language. Author Becky Albertalli was raised in a Jewish home and is confirmed bisexual. Author Adam Silvera is Puerto Rican and gay.
This was cute and I did enjoy reading it, but it’s such a lengthy book for a contemporary. Especially since over half of the plot is just jumping back and forth between Arthur pining over Ben while being insecure over Ben’s ex-relationship, and Ben sulking about his breakup and wondering if he’s good enough for Arthur.
Honestly Arthur overreacted a lot. Like, the situation where he finds out that Ben’s ex-boyfriend is in summer school with him. And it even ends up being the reason they break up. Or when he’s confronting his friends about the breakup and they reveal that they’ve been in a relationship for longer than Arthur came out. Give me a break.
Also, I’ve never taken the time to get into Hamilton, but I do believe there are spoilers for the musical. In case you were planning on reading this book but also interested in Hamilton.
“To this day, cranes carry the strands of our fate. They say that each time two people’s paths cross, so do their strands. When they become important to one another or make a promise to one another, a knot is tied, connecting them.”
Six Crimson Cranes is a retelling of The Wild Swans. I wasn’t familiar with the original story so I went into this blind.
The story follows Shiori, a young princess with the ability to perform magic in a world where magic is forbidden. Stuck in an unwanted betrothal, Shiori accidentally reveals a piece of her magic, postponing her own wedding in the process. Her father is clueless to her abilities, but her stepmother, Raikama, notices.
Shiori’s father punishes her for skipping out on the wedding, leaving her under the supervision of her stepmother.
One day, Shiori decides to follow Raikama into the woods and learns of her stepmother’s own magic abilities. She runs home to inform her brothers, but Raikama puts a curse on Shiori and her brothers. Shiori’s six brothers are turned into cranes and Shiori is sent away from the kingdom, cursed to never speak or make a sound. For every word or sound that Shiori were to make, one of her brothers would die.
I couldn’t help but keep thinking, “What if she has to sneeze?”.
Forced to wear a magical wooden bowl on her head, Shiori must set out on a quest to save her brothers. With no identity and no way to communicate, Shiori sets on her journey.
This was so good! I didn't want to put it down!
I found Shiori to be a bit arrogant at the beginning, but it was so nice to see her character grow and she changed so much throughout the book.
I found Shiori to be a bit arrogant at the beginning, but it was so nice to see her character grow and she changed so much throughout the book.
The romance was clearly there but not in a "in your face" sort of way and I really appreciated that. I thought that there might have been a love triangle, but it wasn’t obvious.
There were a few plot holes that I’m sure will get covered in the next book, so I’m not too fussed about them.
♥︎♥︎♥︎♡︎♡︎
“Lara Jean and Peter will not break each other’s hearts.”
NOTE: I'm going to be writing this review with the first book in mind, so I'll be referring to things that happened in "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" so there will be some SPOILERS for the first book.
Lara Jean and Peter decide that they want to date for real this time. As Lara Jean revels at the thought of being Peter’s girlfriend, a scandalous video of them in the hot tub at the ski trip gets uploaded on an anonymous Instagram account and goes viral throughout school.
During the backlash of the video, Lara Jean struggles with the past relationship of Peter and Genevieve. The fact that Peter is so insistent on defending Genevieve and staying in her life is such a red flag.
Which is why I was so excited when we got to meet the last boy that received a letter. John Ambrose McClaren responds to Lara Jean’s letter while she struggles with Peter’s relationship with Genevieve. Lara Jean wants to make Peter jealous so she pursues a friendship with John. And, surprise, Peter makes a big deal about it (but it’s okay that him and Gen are still friends).
There’s a little bit of a love triangle between John and Peter with Lara Jean, but it’s honestly not noticeable enough to be a big deal.
I just really don’t like Peter. I wasn’t exactly rooting for John to sweep in and rescue Lara Jean, but I still wish that it could have happened. I just want the best for Lara Jean.
<“It’s not winning the race that’s important. It’s this moment right here, when I’m lying in the mud staring up at the dark sky with rain falling in my eyes. It’s facing the pain, facing failure, facing myself, and finding a way to make it to the end.”
✧*:･ﾟ✧
Disclaimer: I didn’t know that this was “technically” part of a series. That being said, I don’t feel like I missed anything important and didn’t feel confused. I will check out the other two books as soon as I can just to make sure.
There was a lot more sex in this book than I anticipated. This is usually why I tend to read more young-adult books rather than adult or even new-adult. The sex scenes weren’t awfully written, I'm just not a big smut reader.
Anna has been masking her entire life without even realizing it. When her boyfriend says that he wants to see other people before settling down, Anna decides that she wants to venture out as well. She meets Quan through a dating app and they set up to hook up. Their hookups keep failing and they keep trying, but they start to grow feelings for each other. Anna struggles with the idea of getting back with her ex, the identity of her diagnosis, and her family falling apart.
I related so much to Anna that, at times, it felt like this book was personally attacking me. Struggling with saying no, learning about her diagnosis, her family constantly putting her down and pressuring her into things that she doesn’t want to do? Same.
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
“If the ending is this painful, I don’t know if it was worth it all.”
Julie’s boyfriend Sam died in an accident. She tries to move on by getting rid of his things, but a message written in her yearbook has her calling his cell phone number. Sam answers.
This wasn’t quite as emotionally damaging as I thought. I rarely cry while reading books, though. There’s just so little amount of time for me to get invested. It also felt like nothing happened.
Julie was kind of a plain character. I understood that she was going through her own way of grieving, but I just didn’t care for her at times.
I felt bad for Sam’s family, especially Mika. I think I was more attached to her story than anyone else and I wish we would’ve gotten more of her. And Sam’s little brother almost had me to the point of crying. Almost.
I’m not a fan of books that time jump. Even though there was little confusion of when the events were taking place, every now and then Julie would go off in a fantasy world, but it wasn’t hard to indicate whether they were real or not.
I loved the concept of this book, though. There’s been so many times when I’ve wished I could just call someone that’s passed and talk to them one last time.
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
<blockquote><i><b>“When I write, I hold nothing back. I write like he’ll never read it. Because he never will.”</b></i></blockquote>
Lara Jean writes love letters to the boys that she no longer wants to be in love with. The letters aren’t strictly “love letters”, they’re more like saying goodbye. Lara Jean writes the letters with no intention of anyone ever reading them, tucking them away safely in her room. One day, her letters mysteriously get mailed out and Lara Jean must deal with the confrontation.
Lara Jean’s older sister Margot has just broken up with her boyfriend Josh before going off to college in Scotland. Josh just so happens to be one of the boys that Lara Jean writes a letter to. When Josh tries to confront Lara Jean about the letter, she claims that she already has a boyfriend and wrote the letter a long time ago. As a way to prove this and avoid more humiliation with Josh, Lara Jean kisses the first boy she comes across in the hallway, Peter Kavinsky.
<b>Faking Dating:</b> Peter is also on the boys that Lara Jean wrote a letter to. They used to be in a friend group when they were kids, but that’s no longer a thing. He and his longtime girlfriend have just broken up (for a second time) and Peter is still chasing after her. To make his ex-girlfriend jealous, Peter suggests that he and Lara Jean start fake dating. Lara Jean agrees in hopes to further avoid Josh.
<b>Love Triangle:</b> A small love triangle sparks between Lara Jean with Peter and Josh. I found it a little odd that Josh had just gone through a break-up with Lara Jean’s older sister and then he was immediately all over Lara Jean. Josh is constantly jealous over Lara Jean’s relationship with Peter.
I do not like Peter. At all. I think he’s a horrible love interest for Lara Jean. There’s times where I felt like he was trying to control Lara Jean. He’s constantly accusing her of hanging out with Josh behind his back while he goes off and is with Genevieve without notifying Lara Jean. Like, yeah the whole point of their fake relationship is to make his ex-girlfriend jealous so they can get back together, but he has no right telling Lara Jean how to live her life because he "doesn't want to look bad".
<b>Lara Jean is honestly so immature.</b> I had forgotten that the girls refer to their parents as “Mommy” and “Daddy” and it was just so off putting. Her voice sounds so much younger than she actually is. She’s so innocent and naive that everyone around her walks all over her. Lara Jean’s character is so disappointing by the end because she doesn't grow or learn from her mistakes.
Lara Jean writes love letters to the boys that she no longer wants to be in love with. The letters aren’t strictly “love letters”, they’re more like saying goodbye. Lara Jean writes the letters with no intention of anyone ever reading them, tucking them away safely in her room. One day, her letters mysteriously get mailed out and Lara Jean must deal with the confrontation.
Lara Jean’s older sister Margot has just broken up with her boyfriend Josh before going off to college in Scotland. Josh just so happens to be one of the boys that Lara Jean writes a letter to. When Josh tries to confront Lara Jean about the letter, she claims that she already has a boyfriend and wrote the letter a long time ago. As a way to prove this and avoid more humiliation with Josh, Lara Jean kisses the first boy she comes across in the hallway, Peter Kavinsky.
<b>Faking Dating:</b> Peter is also on the boys that Lara Jean wrote a letter to. They used to be in a friend group when they were kids, but that’s no longer a thing. He and his longtime girlfriend have just broken up (for a second time) and Peter is still chasing after her. To make his ex-girlfriend jealous, Peter suggests that he and Lara Jean start fake dating. Lara Jean agrees in hopes to further avoid Josh.
<b>Love Triangle:</b> A small love triangle sparks between Lara Jean with Peter and Josh. I found it a little odd that Josh had just gone through a break-up with Lara Jean’s older sister and then he was immediately all over Lara Jean. Josh is constantly jealous over Lara Jean’s relationship with Peter.
I do not like Peter. At all. I think he’s a horrible love interest for Lara Jean. There’s times where I felt like he was trying to control Lara Jean. He’s constantly accusing her of hanging out with Josh behind his back while he goes off and is with Genevieve without notifying Lara Jean. Like, yeah the whole point of their fake relationship is to make his ex-girlfriend jealous so they can get back together, but he has no right telling Lara Jean how to live her life because he "doesn't want to look bad".
<b>Lara Jean is honestly so immature.</b> I had forgotten that the girls refer to their parents as “Mommy” and “Daddy” and it was just so off putting. Her voice sounds so much younger than she actually is. She’s so innocent and naive that everyone around her walks all over her. Lara Jean’s character is so disappointing by the end because she doesn't grow or learn from her mistakes.