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165 reviews
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I want to start off by saying that I did read the diversity controversy regarding this book and I don’t think it was intentionally malicious. That being said, I’m not a part of either culture that was being affected.
There was criticism from some about having a Welsh/Desi character who didn’t shower often and how that may have played into negative stereotypes for that culture. There was also a section of world-building that included bug monsters that would love in dreadlocks, feeding into a negative stereotype about locs being unclean that was harmful.
The edition of the book that I read had the entire section of dreadlocks removed.
I think it’s important to note that the entire school had monsters filled in every nook and cranny, and that this section was talking about the lack of cleanliness for ALL students, because of the monsters that lived in shower-heads, shower drains, everywhere. Not to mention that El lived in a hippie commune with her Welsh mother before moving to the school. I’m not making excuses, but think the context is important for her lack of cleanliness. I don’t think it’s fair to say that this was a negative statement against Desi people when none of the students could shower for fear of their lives.
OKAY, now to the rest of the book: I think the slow pacing for this made me feel like I keep waiting for the book to start and it never did.
It was very different from her fairy-tale stories that I really liked. The action scenes seemed to be over too quickly, contrary to the rest of the book and there was a mix of monologuing and info dumping and getting side tracked before getting back to the point or plot. There was a lot of information that I had a hard time keeping straight especially with names of monsters.
I did like the premise, and did find it interesting. However, Orion was a bit bland and boring and even though we’re introduced to him from the first page of the book, I feel like we didn’t really get to see much of him. He was loyal and dumb to our heroine's smart and cunning which was fun. El’s personality was great, I loved seeing a heroine who was mean and bitter and just cunning.
The climax and end of the book was a bit boring and despite the slow pacing for the whole book, the ending felt rushed. Felt like an interesting start to a whole series.
There was criticism from some about having a Welsh/Desi character who didn’t shower often and how that may have played into negative stereotypes for that culture. There was also a section of world-building that included bug monsters that would love in dreadlocks, feeding into a negative stereotype about locs being unclean that was harmful.
The edition of the book that I read had the entire section of dreadlocks removed.
I think it’s important to note that the entire school had monsters filled in every nook and cranny, and that this section was talking about the lack of cleanliness for ALL students, because of the monsters that lived in shower-heads, shower drains, everywhere. Not to mention that El lived in a hippie commune with her Welsh mother before moving to the school. I’m not making excuses, but think the context is important for her lack of cleanliness. I don’t think it’s fair to say that this was a negative statement against Desi people when none of the students could shower for fear of their lives.
OKAY, now to the rest of the book: I think the slow pacing for this made me feel like I keep waiting for the book to start and it never did.
It was very different from her fairy-tale stories that I really liked. The action scenes seemed to be over too quickly, contrary to the rest of the book and there was a mix of monologuing and info dumping and getting side tracked before getting back to the point or plot. There was a lot of information that I had a hard time keeping straight especially with names of monsters.
I did like the premise, and did find it interesting. However, Orion was a bit bland and boring and even though we’re introduced to him from the first page of the book, I feel like we didn’t really get to see much of him. He was loyal and dumb to our heroine's smart and cunning which was fun. El’s personality was great, I loved seeing a heroine who was mean and bitter and just cunning.
The climax and end of the book was a bit boring and despite the slow pacing for the whole book, the ending felt rushed. Felt like an interesting start to a whole series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death of parent
She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen
funny
lighthearted
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
4.0
Fun, fast read!
Scottie is still trying to get over her ex who, coincidentally, plays on the rival basketball team. To make for a worse day, Scottie ends up in a fender-bender with her “nemesis” Irene, a beautiful cheerleader from her school.
They’re forced together by their moms and Scottie cooks up a plan to get back at her toxic ex.
Typical rom-com. Some miscommunications between our leads causes trouble, but overall cute.
High-school, sapphic, romance, “nemesis to fake dating to lovers.”
304 pages.
(⚠️Content Warnings;
Graphic: Toxic Relationship, Bullying,
Moderate:
Minor: Homophobia, Alcohol,)
Scottie is still trying to get over her ex who, coincidentally, plays on the rival basketball team. To make for a worse day, Scottie ends up in a fender-bender with her “nemesis” Irene, a beautiful cheerleader from her school.
They’re forced together by their moms and Scottie cooks up a plan to get back at her toxic ex.
Typical rom-com. Some miscommunications between our leads causes trouble, but overall cute.
High-school, sapphic, romance, “nemesis to fake dating to lovers.”
304 pages.
(⚠️Content Warnings;
Graphic: Toxic Relationship, Bullying,
Moderate:
Minor: Homophobia, Alcohol,)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Toxic relationship
Minor: Homophobia
Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong
The monsters are still here - this time with a new master who can control them at will. The threat of the Communists, the Revolutionaries and both gangs are still around our main characters and they have to deal with the plot-twist of the last book.
Juliette and Romeo's relationship in this book was amazing. I loved their development from enemies-to-lovers and their love-hate relationship. Forced together (again) to work on solving the mystery of the monsters was great and I ate it up.
Beyond our two star-crossed lovers, I fell in love with Alisa, Rosalind, Celia, Marshall and Benedict. Their stories were intertwined well with our main characters, and I loved all of them...Though one a lot less than the others. Thank you to Gong for giving Marshall and Benedict a happy ending.
The relationships/romance weren't the main points of the story either. (Reminder that the original Romeo+Juliet wasn’t a romance but a TRAGEDY.) Gong does a great job of making this a historical fantasy book by tying in real events that happened in Shanghai. The politics were interesting and making no one faction the good guy/bad guy made for a great story. Her writing was descriptive and poetic, and she even quoted some of the plays dialogue in a way that fit the setting.
And even though this is a retelling, the story was full of surprises and I audible gasped at a few scenes. The ending should've been expected but still hurt.
Loved it.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
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? Yes
5.0
✅ Finished Jan 17, ‘23
“Tiān nǎ” (I hope I'm using that phrase right!)
A beautiful continuation of the first story, picking up right where we left off. There's really no time for much recap so if it's been a while since you read the first one, maybe brush up on some names. This book is fast-paced, full of betrayal, violence, and yearning.
“Tiān nǎ” (I hope I'm using that phrase right!)
A beautiful continuation of the first story, picking up right where we left off. There's really no time for much recap so if it's been a while since you read the first one, maybe brush up on some names. This book is fast-paced, full of betrayal, violence, and yearning.
"Lovers turned to strangers, and it cut deep enough to bleed."
The monsters are still here - this time with a new master who can control them at will. The threat of the Communists, the Revolutionaries and both gangs are still around our main characters and they have to deal with the plot-twist of the last book.
Juliette and Romeo's relationship in this book was amazing. I loved their development from enemies-to-lovers and their love-hate relationship. Forced together (again) to work on solving the mystery of the monsters was great and I ate it up.
Only he knew that if he screamed I hate you, what he really meant was I love you. I still love you so much that I hate you for it.
Beyond our two star-crossed lovers, I fell in love with Alisa, Rosalind, Celia, Marshall and Benedict. Their stories were intertwined well with our main characters, and I loved all of them...Though one a lot less than the others.
The relationships/romance weren't the main points of the story either. (Reminder that the original Romeo+Juliet wasn’t a romance but a TRAGEDY.) Gong does a great job of making this a historical fantasy book by tying in real events that happened in Shanghai. The politics were interesting and making no one faction the good guy/bad guy made for a great story. Her writing was descriptive and poetic, and she even quoted some of the plays dialogue in a way that fit the setting.
And even though this is a retelling, the story was full of surprises and I audible gasped at a few scenes. The ending should've been expected but still hurt.
Loved it.
She would rather hold this hope so close to her chest that it feels like a fire on its own, flickering against the darkness, flickering even where other embers burn out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, War
Moderate: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
I don’t know if I liked this book as much as Ninth House. The reason being that this book felt sooo similar to NH. We don’t resolve the cliffhanger of the last book until more than halfway of this book. We still don’t have Darlington, there’s still murders on campus, Alex is still on the verge of losing everything and paying for the crimes of her past.
I love the characters but the plot/story and pacing were a bit slow. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Bardugo has a great writing style - very descriptive and poetic almost.
I loved the literary quotes sprinkled about, the history of Yale, the academic privilege that’s talked about. The imagery of the rabbits and it being a sort of guilt that Alex carried about. It’s an interesting book with very real meaning about who gets power, who’s really in charge.
The “twist” was a bit predictable and I’m a bit confused why Alex hadn’t seen it sooner. Darlington was MIA for the majority of the book (again) and we see more about him from Alex’s memories. Their reunion was a bit underwhelming but I think Bardugo does a good job of explaining why Alex wouldn’t be so much more receptive to him. I wish they would’ve had more than one conversation in this book too.
The plot wraps up pretty nicely while still leaving enough for a third book. I love all the characters in this - Turner, Tripp, Dawes and even Mercy. They were all great and I’m glad we got more backstory to them.
Overall a solid second book, looking forward to the third!
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
✅ Finished Jan 16, ‘22
"We do what we have to," Alex said. "That's the only job of a survivor."
I don’t know if I liked this book as much as Ninth House. The reason being that this book felt sooo similar to NH. We don’t resolve the cliffhanger of the last book until more than halfway of this book. We still don’t have Darlington, there’s still murders on campus, Alex is still on the verge of losing everything and paying for the crimes of her past.
I love the characters but the plot/story and pacing were a bit slow. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Bardugo has a great writing style - very descriptive and poetic almost.
I loved the literary quotes sprinkled about, the history of Yale, the academic privilege that’s talked about. The imagery of the rabbits and it being a sort of guilt that Alex carried about. It’s an interesting book with very real meaning about who gets power, who’s really in charge.
The “twist” was a bit predictable and I’m a bit confused why Alex hadn’t seen it sooner. Darlington was MIA for the majority of the book (again) and we see more about him from Alex’s memories. Their reunion was a bit underwhelming but I think Bardugo does a good job of explaining why Alex wouldn’t be so much more receptive to him. I wish they would’ve had more than one conversation in this book too.
The plot wraps up pretty nicely while still leaving enough for a third book. I love all the characters in this - Turner, Tripp, Dawes and even Mercy. They were all great and I’m glad we got more backstory to them.
Overall a solid second book, looking forward to the third!
"You're the ones who fought for me. You're the ones I want to fight for."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence
Minor: Slavery, Suicide attempt
White Horse by Erika T. Wurth
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Kari holds a lot of resentment towards her mother who left her when she was only days old. In his grief after she left, her father turned to alcohol and ends up with brain damage from an accident.
Kari’s cousin gives her a bracelet that belonged to her mother and sets off a chain of events towards discovering the truth behind her disappearance.
At first Kari thinks she’s going crazy when she starts to have visions, but discovers her mother is leading her to the truth of what happened all those years ago.
The story was very slow to start; it seemed like it was setting up different directions but none of them really panned out and all were forgotten. All the evidence or hints that Kari got were practically handed to her and it took other characters to push her towards her mother.
Also, I’ve seen this advertised as a horror but after reading it, I don’t agree at all. Unless that by mentioning Stephen King so many times it’s horror by proxy?
There was also a section near the end where she visits the famous Overlook Hotel that Stephen King’s The Shinning takes place. This whole visit felt completely out of place but we didn’t stop hearing how much of a fan Kari is so I guess it was kind of interesting?
The scenes were repetitive and the writing was a bit too boring. It felt very monotonous and monologuing at times. I got lost during the climax when we’re toldsomeone is wounded, apparently they got shot, but that wasn’t clear at all from the text before hand?
The story doesn’t really get interesting until the few chapters and even then it wasn’t great.
In the end I couldn’t find myself caring about what happened to any of the characters.
Kari’s cousin gives her a bracelet that belonged to her mother and sets off a chain of events towards discovering the truth behind her disappearance.
At first Kari thinks she’s going crazy when she starts to have visions, but discovers her mother is leading her to the truth of what happened all those years ago.
The story was very slow to start; it seemed like it was setting up different directions but none of them really panned out and all were forgotten. All the evidence or hints that Kari got were practically handed to her and it took other characters to push her towards her mother.
Also, I’ve seen this advertised as a horror but after reading it, I don’t agree at all. Unless that by mentioning Stephen King so many times it’s horror by proxy?
There was also a section near the end where she visits the famous Overlook Hotel that Stephen King’s The Shinning takes place. This whole visit felt completely out of place but we didn’t stop hearing how much of a fan Kari is so I guess it was kind of interesting?
The scenes were repetitive and the writing was a bit too boring. It felt very monotonous and monologuing at times. I got lost during the climax when we’re told
The story doesn’t really get interesting until the few chapters and even then it wasn’t great.
In the end I couldn’t find myself caring about what happened to any of the characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent
Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Pedophilia
Minor: Racism
Hooked by Emily McIntire
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault
Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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
A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
✅ Finished Dec 20, ‘22
Not sure how a book about gods ended up boring, but it was. The first half was slow and uneventful. I managed to finish it so I had to rate it 2 stars nonetheless.
This had so many awful stereotypes about Persephone that reminded me of Lore Olympus.
1. Persephone is a young, sheltered, naive, maiden with no powers. Oh, and a virgin (to the delight of Hades).
2. Demeter is the over-bearing, abusive, controlling mother who stalks her daughter.
3. Hades is the rich and elusive club owner who is misunderstood. He can do no wrong and is actually a nice guy and tries to help mortals. He also doesn’t want anyone to know.
The story is told in a modern way, Persephone gets an internship at a newspaper office and decides to write about Hades, despite his wishes to the contrary and everyone’s warnings against it. She ends up losing a bet with him and ends up contracted with him for six months and must “make life” in the Underworld or else be stuck down there forever.
She basically does whatever she wants this entire book and suffers no consequences whatsoever.
At the end she finally stands up to her mother and finds her power, thanks to Hades, and decides to live with him anyways.
No real substance to the characters and the story was flimsy at best.
Wouldn’t recommend as a retelling to the Hades+Persephone.
Not sure how a book about gods ended up boring, but it was. The first half was slow and uneventful. I managed to finish it so I had to rate it 2 stars nonetheless.
This had so many awful stereotypes about Persephone that reminded me of Lore Olympus.
1. Persephone is a young, sheltered, naive, maiden with no powers. Oh, and a virgin (to the delight of Hades).
2. Demeter is the over-bearing, abusive, controlling mother who stalks her daughter.
3. Hades is the rich and elusive club owner who is misunderstood. He can do no wrong and is actually a nice guy and tries to help mortals. He also doesn’t want anyone to know.
The story is told in a modern way, Persephone gets an internship at a newspaper office and decides to write about Hades, despite his wishes to the contrary and everyone’s warnings against it. She ends up losing a bet with him and ends up contracted with him for six months and must “make life” in the Underworld or else be stuck down there forever.
She basically does whatever she wants this entire book and suffers no consequences whatsoever.
At the end she finally stands up to her mother and finds her power, thanks to Hades, and decides to live with him anyways.
No real substance to the characters and the story was flimsy at best.
Wouldn’t recommend as a retelling to the Hades+Persephone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Stalking, Sexual harassment
Minor: Addiction, Sexual assault
Resting Scrooge Face by Meghan Quinn
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0