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shaylee_reads's reviews
207 reviews
The Gift by Freida McFadden
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐⭐.75/5
Tropes: Psychological Thriller
Content Warnings: Murder, Domestic Abuse, and Torture.
The Housemaid is a standalone physiological thriller by Frida McFadden. It follows Millie, who is in desperate need of a job and when she is offered a job as a live-in maid at the lavish Winchester house she quickly takes the job. Millie soon finds out that not everything is as it seems and she might actually be in danger but having nowhere to go, Millie has no choice but to stay.
The Housemaid was a gripping thriller that I could not put down. It kept me guessing the entire time and I had no idea how it was going to end. The writing was very addicting and surprisingly light for a thriller novel, I think this book is perfect for people like me who are just starting to get into thrillers.
Overall, I absolutely devoured this book and it was just the thing I needed after reading The Perfect Marriage. I’m definitely picking up more of Frida McFadden's books.
The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Ratings:
Plot:⭐/5
Writing:⭐/5
Characters:⭐/5
Overall:⭐/5
Romance:❤️/5
Spice: 🌶️/5
Tropes: Phycological Thriller
Content Warnings: Murder, Cheating, Past Childhood Trauma, Drug Abuse (Past), Death of a Parent (Past), and Suicide.
The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose is a psychological thriller that follows Sarah Morgan, a successful and powerful defense attorney who discovers that the body of her husband's mistress- Kelly Summers- has been found murdered in their bed and that her husband, Adam Morgan has been arrested for her murder. Sarah is heartbroken and angry but she is also aware that she is the only person who stands a chance of getting her husband out of the sticky mess he has found himself.
Everyone kept saying to read this book if you liked the book, Verity by Colleen Hoover, and due to the fact that I’m currently in a reading slump because of Verity and was mildly interested in the premise of this book I decided to give it a chance despite all of the one-star reviews.
Boy was that a mistake. saying that if you enjoyed Verity then you will enjoy this book is an insult to the masterpiece that is Verity. This book was… terrible (I hate to use that word to describe anyone's work but it truly fits).
This book is a perfect example of telling not showing, the writing is so bad. It felt as if I was reading a zero draft that has never seen an editor. There was zero description of anything that was happening and ultimately nothing made sense. The plot was all over the place and I felt like I was missing crucial chunks of the story, it also was just plain boring, and being completely honest I skimmed a lot of this book and just read the dialogue because that was the only thing that was getting information across. It became repetitive, I felt as though I reading the same thing over and over again.
There were so many plot lines that were not followed through with and completely forgotten about and some of them were just plain pointless. The whole plot line was just a complete mess.
Altogether this book was just predictable, I was told there were so many plot twists in this book but I was not shocked by anything that happened in this book whatsoever, not even the big reveal at the end shocked me because deep down inside I knew who did it. The “plot twists” that were in this book were just not well planned and didn’t have good follow-through.
The characters are also the bane of my existence, I wanted to strangle Adam the majority of the time and at a few points, I wanted him to die even if he wasn’t the killer because he was just so damn annoying. There is zero character development and I honestly knew nothing about the character nor did I really care.
The author needs to do way more research into Law enforcement and lawyers before she ever tries to attempt to do something like this again because there were just so many things wrong with that aspect of this book that I really don’t have the time and desire to get into right now.
Overall, I do not recommend this book, the only reason I finished this book was because I wanted to see if Sarah left her b*tch of a husband. Now I need to go read another book immediately so I can completely forget about this one.
Plot:⭐/5
Writing:⭐/5
Characters:⭐/5
Overall:⭐/5
Romance:❤️/5
Spice: 🌶️/5
Tropes: Phycological Thriller
Content Warnings: Murder, Cheating, Past Childhood Trauma, Drug Abuse (Past), Death of a Parent (Past), and Suicide.
The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose is a psychological thriller that follows Sarah Morgan, a successful and powerful defense attorney who discovers that the body of her husband's mistress- Kelly Summers- has been found murdered in their bed and that her husband, Adam Morgan has been arrested for her murder. Sarah is heartbroken and angry but she is also aware that she is the only person who stands a chance of getting her husband out of the sticky mess he has found himself.
Everyone kept saying to read this book if you liked the book, Verity by Colleen Hoover, and due to the fact that I’m currently in a reading slump because of Verity and was mildly interested in the premise of this book I decided to give it a chance despite all of the one-star reviews.
Boy was that a mistake. saying that if you enjoyed Verity then you will enjoy this book is an insult to the masterpiece that is Verity. This book was… terrible (I hate to use that word to describe anyone's work but it truly fits).
This book is a perfect example of telling not showing, the writing is so bad. It felt as if I was reading a zero draft that has never seen an editor. There was zero description of anything that was happening and ultimately nothing made sense. The plot was all over the place and I felt like I was missing crucial chunks of the story, it also was just plain boring, and being completely honest I skimmed a lot of this book and just read the dialogue because that was the only thing that was getting information across. It became repetitive, I felt as though I reading the same thing over and over again.
There were so many plot lines that were not followed through with and completely forgotten about and some of them were just plain pointless. The whole plot line was just a complete mess.
Altogether this book was just predictable, I was told there were so many plot twists in this book but I was not shocked by anything that happened in this book whatsoever, not even the big reveal at the end shocked me because deep down inside I knew who did it. The “plot twists” that were in this book were just not well planned and didn’t have good follow-through.
The characters are also the bane of my existence, I wanted to strangle Adam the majority of the time and at a few points, I wanted him to die even if he wasn’t the killer because he was just so damn annoying. There is zero character development and I honestly knew nothing about the character nor did I really care.
The author needs to do way more research into Law enforcement and lawyers before she ever tries to attempt to do something like this again because there were just so many things wrong with that aspect of this book that I really don’t have the time and desire to get into right now.
Overall, I do not recommend this book, the only reason I finished this book was because I wanted to see if Sarah left her b*tch of a husband. Now I need to go read another book immediately so I can completely forget about this one.
Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas
dark
emotional
medium-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
4.0
Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Sadness:💧💧/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Diversity: Lesbain FMC
Tropes: Bullying Romance, WLW Romance,
Content Warnings: Bullying, Suicide, Loss of Parent, and Death of a Sibling (Cancer).
Tryst Six Venom is Penelope Douglas first every WLW standalone and it follows Clay and Olivia who has disliked each other for years or at least that's what they tried to convince themselves and everyone else.
I know this book has some mixed reviews and I was hesitant to start it because of that but personally I really enjoyed it.
I understand that bully romances are not for everybody and I'll be honest I had a hard time getting behind Clay because of the things she did in the beginning of the book, there where moments when I disliked her very much but I also understood her on some level.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and I know this is a short review but I read this book while ago and I'm just now getting around to writing this review.
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Sadness:💧💧/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Diversity: Lesbain FMC
Tropes: Bullying Romance, WLW Romance,
Content Warnings: Bullying, Suicide, Loss of Parent, and Death of a Sibling (Cancer).
Tryst Six Venom is Penelope Douglas first every WLW standalone and it follows Clay and Olivia who has disliked each other for years or at least that's what they tried to convince themselves and everyone else.
I know this book has some mixed reviews and I was hesitant to start it because of that but personally I really enjoyed it.
I understand that bully romances are not for everybody and I'll be honest I had a hard time getting behind Clay because of the things she did in the beginning of the book, there where moments when I disliked her very much but I also understood her on some level.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and I know this is a short review but I read this book while ago and I'm just now getting around to writing this review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Suicide, Death of parent
Verity by Colleen Hoover
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Sadness:💧💧💧/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Spice: 🌶️/5
Tropes: Thriller and Romance
Content Warnings: Child Abuse, Murder, Attempted Abortion, Attempted Murder of a Newborn, Gore, Death of a Child, Death of a Parent, and Car Accident.
Before I start this review I just want to say PLEASE look up triggers before reading this book especially if you are a mother. This book deals with extremely dark content that can be triggering especially towards mother's. I have tried to list as many of the trigger warning that I can above but I'm not the greatest at triggering warnings and may have missed some.
Verity is Colleen Hoover first ever romance thriller that follows Lowen who has been hired Jeremy Crawford, the husband of the famous author Verity Crawford to finish her very popular series after Verity got into an accident and no longer could. While Lowen is work on the series she figures out that Jeremy wife might not be who she pretends to be.
Colleen Hoover, I expect a written apology for the way you ended this book, also if you could include a check to pay for all my therapy that would be great.
This book is phenomenal, I was addicted from the first page and I could not put it down. It only took me about a day to read this book, I swear it was like I blinked and I was halfway through this book.
If you ask me on my death bed what book I still think about my answer is going to be this book. I finished this book two days ago and I still can not stop thinking about it, it is constantly on my mind.
Being honest I was sceptical of Colleen Hoover writing a thriller but she did amazing! I honestly did not know what to think well reading this book, I had so many emotions running through my body. One minute I was completely disgusted and the next I was on the edge of my seat. I wouldn't ever say I was scared well reading this book but I definitely was a little creeped out at moments.
I was also scared about the whole romance part of this book but Colleen did a great job of balancing the romance and the suspense. I never felt like the romance took away from the thriller aspect of this book.
Speaking of the romance, this book was way spicer then I thought it would be. I have only read one other book by her and yes it had some spicy scenes but not a lot of them so I was surprised when this book started talking about sex left and right.
When I was getting to the end of this book I was kinda disappointed because I was expecting this big show down between Lowen and Verity but then I got to the last chapter in this book and I WAS FLABBERGASTED!!
The whole book I was convinced that Verity was insane but than Ms Colleen Hoover had to throw in a curve ball at the last minute and now I'm unsure who's the villain and who's the victim.
I also think that Hoover did a great job setting up for the ending. Throughout the book you never really doubt who the heros are but then when you get to the ending and look back, you can see the little seeds of doubt that she planted and it makes you wonder if you really know who the heros really are.
Overall, this book completely shocked me with how good it was and I’m excited to read any more thriller that Colleen releases. I will end this review by saying Team Manuscript!
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Sadness:💧💧💧/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Spice: 🌶️/5
Tropes: Thriller and Romance
Content Warnings: Child Abuse, Murder, Attempted Abortion, Attempted Murder of a Newborn, Gore, Death of a Child, Death of a Parent, and Car Accident.
Before I start this review I just want to say PLEASE look up triggers before reading this book especially if you are a mother. This book deals with extremely dark content that can be triggering especially towards mother's. I have tried to list as many of the trigger warning that I can above but I'm not the greatest at triggering warnings and may have missed some.
Verity is Colleen Hoover first ever romance thriller that follows Lowen who has been hired Jeremy Crawford, the husband of the famous author Verity Crawford to finish her very popular series after Verity got into an accident and no longer could. While Lowen is work on the series she figures out that Jeremy wife might not be who she pretends to be.
Colleen Hoover, I expect a written apology for the way you ended this book, also if you could include a check to pay for all my therapy that would be great.
This book is phenomenal, I was addicted from the first page and I could not put it down. It only took me about a day to read this book, I swear it was like I blinked and I was halfway through this book.
If you ask me on my death bed what book I still think about my answer is going to be this book. I finished this book two days ago and I still can not stop thinking about it, it is constantly on my mind.
Being honest I was sceptical of Colleen Hoover writing a thriller but she did amazing! I honestly did not know what to think well reading this book, I had so many emotions running through my body. One minute I was completely disgusted and the next I was on the edge of my seat. I wouldn't ever say I was scared well reading this book but I definitely was a little creeped out at moments.
I was also scared about the whole romance part of this book but Colleen did a great job of balancing the romance and the suspense. I never felt like the romance took away from the thriller aspect of this book.
Speaking of the romance, this book was way spicer then I thought it would be. I have only read one other book by her and yes it had some spicy scenes but not a lot of them so I was surprised when this book started talking about sex left and right.
When I was getting to the end of this book I was kinda disappointed because I was expecting this big show down between Lowen and Verity but then I got to the last chapter in this book and I WAS FLABBERGASTED!!
The whole book I was convinced that Verity was insane but than Ms Colleen Hoover had to throw in a curve ball at the last minute and now I'm unsure who's the villain and who's the victim.
I also think that Hoover did a great job setting up for the ending. Throughout the book you never really doubt who the heros are but then when you get to the ending and look back, you can see the little seeds of doubt that she planted and it makes you wonder if you really know who the heros really are.
Overall, this book completely shocked me with how good it was and I’m excited to read any more thriller that Colleen releases. I will end this review by saying Team Manuscript!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting
This book can be extremely hard to read for mother's so please look at the trigger warnings.
Here's to Us by Adam Silvera, Becky Albertalli
funny
hopeful
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
3.0
Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
I was very hesitant to pick up this book because I had seen that the majority of people said this one wasn't as good as the first one which I didn't really like so I didn't have high hopes that I would like this book. Surprisingly I actually did enjoy this book and was quite happy that I had decided to pick it up.
One of the main things that I disliked in the first book was the fact that the age of the characters didn’t seem to match up with the ages of the characters but the time jump between the two books and fix that. The characters felt way more mature than they did in What If It’s Us.
I was invested throughout the story and didn’t get as bored at points as I did in the first one. I also really enjoyed seeing how the relationship between the two main characters came to an end.
Overall, I am extremely glad I decided to pick this book up and I found that this book give me a great amount of closure with this world and the characters.
Crier's War by Nina Varela
adventurous
mysterious
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
3.0
Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️/5
Diversity: Sapphic Romance
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers and Forbidden Love
Crier’s War by Nina Varela is the first book in a Sapphic Sci-fi fantasy duology about Ayla, a human servant who for the majority of her life has fantasied about seeking revenge on the Automae who had killed her family and she knows exactly how to do it, by killing his daughter, Lady Crier. Lady Crier was made for one thing and that is to take over her father's work one day, which she has been preparing to do her entire life even when that means marrying Scyre Kinok, who seems to have a million secrets. As her engagement with Kinok goes on, Crier starts to realize that her father isn’t exactly who she thought he was.
Crier War has been on my TBR since it had first come out in 2019 and I have wanted to read it since I received it in a book owl box but I hadn’t gotten around to reading it until this year when I was dead set on reading it for pride month.
Ultimately this book was a slight disappointment, It wasn’t because it was bad. I actually really like the writing and I think it had a good plot and good characters, It was just underwhelming.
One of the reasons I was so excited to read this book was for the sapphic relationship between the two main characters but ultimately I felt like there wasn’t enough development between Ayla and Crier. Their romance seemed to move a little too fast and felt forced, at least when it comes to Crier, it seemed that she had come to the decision that she was in love with Ayla quite quickly and without really spending a lot of time with her outside of when she is doing her daily task, which we didn’t see very often.
I also felt as though all of the plot twists or the things that were supposed to shock you just didn’t do that. It was predictable for me and was just overall underwhelming.
Overall, I did enjoy reading this book and I’m glad that I finally got around to reading it. I think it’s a great YA fantasy and I’m glad to see a Sapphic relationship in fantasy because we don’t see that very often. I have already picked up the second book and I hope to have it finished soon.
Plot:⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️/5
Diversity: Sapphic Romance
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers and Forbidden Love
Crier’s War by Nina Varela is the first book in a Sapphic Sci-fi fantasy duology about Ayla, a human servant who for the majority of her life has fantasied about seeking revenge on the Automae who had killed her family and she knows exactly how to do it, by killing his daughter, Lady Crier. Lady Crier was made for one thing and that is to take over her father's work one day, which she has been preparing to do her entire life even when that means marrying Scyre Kinok, who seems to have a million secrets. As her engagement with Kinok goes on, Crier starts to realize that her father isn’t exactly who she thought he was.
Crier War has been on my TBR since it had first come out in 2019 and I have wanted to read it since I received it in a book owl box but I hadn’t gotten around to reading it until this year when I was dead set on reading it for pride month.
Ultimately this book was a slight disappointment, It wasn’t because it was bad. I actually really like the writing and I think it had a good plot and good characters, It was just underwhelming.
One of the reasons I was so excited to read this book was for the sapphic relationship between the two main characters but ultimately I felt like there wasn’t enough development between Ayla and Crier. Their romance seemed to move a little too fast and felt forced, at least when it comes to Crier, it seemed that she had come to the decision that she was in love with Ayla quite quickly and without really spending a lot of time with her outside of when she is doing her daily task, which we didn’t see very often.
I also felt as though all of the plot twists or the things that were supposed to shock you just didn’t do that. It was predictable for me and was just overall underwhelming.
Overall, I did enjoy reading this book and I’m glad that I finally got around to reading it. I think it’s a great YA fantasy and I’m glad to see a Sapphic relationship in fantasy because we don’t see that very often. I have already picked up the second book and I hope to have it finished soon.
Act Your Age by Eve Dangerfield
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Sadness:💧/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Diversity: FMC With ADHD
Tropes: Age Gap (20 Years), Boss-Employee Romance, Forbidden/Taboo Romance, Secret Romance, & Slight Angst.
Kinks: Daddy/Little, BDSM, CNC, Daddy-Daughter RP, Spanking, & Rough Sex.
Content Warnings: Bullying, Child Neglect, Past Injury’s From A Fire, & Cheating In Past Relationship.
Act Your Age by Eve Dangerfield is a smutty, kinky, contemporary romance book that follows Kate, who ends up hooking up with someone who she believes to be a complete stranger that she meet at the bar the night before but it ends up actually being her boss… who she has had a crush on since the moment she saw him.
I really need a fast, steamy, kinky read and this book hit the spot perfectly! I was addicted in the first few pages and I can really appreciate how this book took no time to get into the steamy goodness.
I really related to this book and the main characters Kate's struggle with ADHD. This book really showed that ADHD can really effect some life a lot more than most people realize and a lot of times we get treated like we aren't actually people and/or we are a child and not able to make are own choices.
Overall, I devoured this book and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good age gap with some BDSM elements (that the author has actually put some research into). I will most definitely be picking up more books by Eve Dangerfield.
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying
What If It's Us by Adam Silvera, Becky Albertalli
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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
2.75
Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐.75/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Diversity: Gay MMC and LGBTQ+ SC
Tropes: MLM Relationship
Content Warnings: Light Swearing, Light Sexual Content (Not Graphic and FTB), Minor Homophobia.
What If It’s Us co-written by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera is the first book in the contemporary YA duet What If It's Us and follows Arthur and Ben. One day when Ben is trying to ship a box to his ex-boyfriend, he runs into Arthur who is only in New York for the summer. They instantly click and Arthur is convinced that it's the work of universe and that they where ment to meet that despite the fact that get separated before Arthur can get his number or even his name. Despite the fact that he has no idea where to even start to find the mystery box boy, Arthur is determined to find him.
This was my sixth read in my pride month read-a-thon and just like almost all the other books I read last month it had been sitting on my shelf for a while but unlike all the others I'm not all that upset that it took me so long to start this book.
When I had bought it, it just had come out (which was in 2018) I had literally no drive to read it and I had only really bought it because it was co-written by Becky Albertalli and I have enjoyed all the other books I have read by her.
Sadly my love for Becky Albertalli wasn't enough and I ended up being disappointed in this book. It's not that this book was bad persay, I actually enjoyed the romance enough to buy the next book not even ten minutes after finishing it but that was actually kind of the only reason I picked up the second book.
The saving grace of this book was the romance, if it wasn’t for the relationship between the main characters I would have quickly DNF’ed this book but I had enough interest in the romance to not only finish the first book but to read the next book in the duology. I had really liked Ben and Arthur together and the authors did a really good job of showing young love and how precious it can be.
An unpopular opinion of mine when it comes to this book is that I really liked the ending. It showed that just because something is going to come to an end that doesn't mean you shouldn't experience it well you can. I feel that we stop ourselves from doing something that we really want to do for fear of being hurt which causes as to miss out on some really great experiences in our life, and I loved how this book showed a good example of what could happen if we just listened to our heart despite the fact that we might get hurt.
I loved how the ending showed that sometimes relationships come to an end and that's okay. Just because the relationship has to end one day doesn't mean that, that relationship was pointless or something that you shouldn't do. Not ever relationship has to or is going to last forever but that doesn’t mean you shouldn't enjoy that relationship or get to know that person while you can because you never know what kind of experiences you are going to get from it or how the future will change.
The main reason I'm giving this book such a low rating was because I felt like the ages of the characters didn't match with the story they where trying to tell. It felt as though the author's where trying to tell a mature story but because of the age of the characters, it just came of cringey and out of place. Throughout the entire book I kept thinking that they where around the age of 18 but then they would mention that they are 16 or that they are in highschool and it would just take me out of the story.
It also felt like the characters were trying to act a lot older than they where and it came off in same way a 12 year old tried to act older than they are which just gave me a lot of second hand embarrassment.
That whole thing was just to say I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if the characters where in college instead of high school.
Another reason I didn't love this book was because I didn't really gel with the writing. All of the other books I have read by Becky Albertalli I have enjoyed but I've only read one other book by Adam Silvera and I didn't really enjoy it… like at all but I had hoped that I would like this book even though Adam Silvera is one of the authors.
Honestly, this book just felt like it was trying way to hard. Again it just felt like the authors where trying to make it more mature and funny but it just came off very… for lack of a better word… young.
Overall, I enjoyed this book enough to pick up the next because I'm invested in their relationship and I want to see how their story ends but ultimately I wouldn't have been that upset if I had never picked up this book.
Plot:⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐.75/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Diversity: Gay MMC and LGBTQ+ SC
Tropes: MLM Relationship
Content Warnings: Light Swearing, Light Sexual Content (Not Graphic and FTB), Minor Homophobia.
What If It’s Us co-written by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera is the first book in the contemporary YA duet What If It's Us and follows Arthur and Ben. One day when Ben is trying to ship a box to his ex-boyfriend, he runs into Arthur who is only in New York for the summer. They instantly click and Arthur is convinced that it's the work of universe and that they where ment to meet that despite the fact that get separated before Arthur can get his number or even his name. Despite the fact that he has no idea where to even start to find the mystery box boy, Arthur is determined to find him.
This was my sixth read in my pride month read-a-thon and just like almost all the other books I read last month it had been sitting on my shelf for a while but unlike all the others I'm not all that upset that it took me so long to start this book.
When I had bought it, it just had come out (which was in 2018) I had literally no drive to read it and I had only really bought it because it was co-written by Becky Albertalli and I have enjoyed all the other books I have read by her.
Sadly my love for Becky Albertalli wasn't enough and I ended up being disappointed in this book. It's not that this book was bad persay, I actually enjoyed the romance enough to buy the next book not even ten minutes after finishing it but that was actually kind of the only reason I picked up the second book.
The saving grace of this book was the romance, if it wasn’t for the relationship between the main characters I would have quickly DNF’ed this book but I had enough interest in the romance to not only finish the first book but to read the next book in the duology. I had really liked Ben and Arthur together and the authors did a really good job of showing young love and how precious it can be.
An unpopular opinion of mine when it comes to this book is that I really liked the ending. It showed that just because something is going to come to an end that doesn't mean you shouldn't experience it well you can. I feel that we stop ourselves from doing something that we really want to do for fear of being hurt which causes as to miss out on some really great experiences in our life, and I loved how this book showed a good example of what could happen if we just listened to our heart despite the fact that we might get hurt.
I loved how the ending showed that sometimes relationships come to an end and that's okay. Just because the relationship has to end one day doesn't mean that, that relationship was pointless or something that you shouldn't do. Not ever relationship has to or is going to last forever but that doesn’t mean you shouldn't enjoy that relationship or get to know that person while you can because you never know what kind of experiences you are going to get from it or how the future will change.
The main reason I'm giving this book such a low rating was because I felt like the ages of the characters didn't match with the story they where trying to tell. It felt as though the author's where trying to tell a mature story but because of the age of the characters, it just came of cringey and out of place. Throughout the entire book I kept thinking that they where around the age of 18 but then they would mention that they are 16 or that they are in highschool and it would just take me out of the story.
It also felt like the characters were trying to act a lot older than they where and it came off in same way a 12 year old tried to act older than they are which just gave me a lot of second hand embarrassment.
That whole thing was just to say I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if the characters where in college instead of high school.
Another reason I didn't love this book was because I didn't really gel with the writing. All of the other books I have read by Becky Albertalli I have enjoyed but I've only read one other book by Adam Silvera and I didn't really enjoy it… like at all but I had hoped that I would like this book even though Adam Silvera is one of the authors.
Honestly, this book just felt like it was trying way to hard. Again it just felt like the authors where trying to make it more mature and funny but it just came off very… for lack of a better word… young.
Overall, I enjoyed this book enough to pick up the next because I'm invested in their relationship and I want to see how their story ends but ultimately I wouldn't have been that upset if I had never picked up this book.
Content Warnings
Minor: Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
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
4.0
Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Sadness:💧💧/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Spice: 🌶️/5
Diversity: Bisexual FMC, Plus sized FMC, Lesbian FMC, Transgender FTM MSC, and Queer Side Characters.
Tropes: Sapphic Romance and Sci-fi Elements.
Content Warnings: Homophobia and Racism.
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston is her second standalone NA Romance with Sci-fi elements. One day while on the New York Subway, August runs into a very attractive girl named Jane. August and Jane quickly hit it off and start to form a relationship. One day August discovers that Jane may not be where she is supposed to be.
Just like with Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston I have had this book for while and I am so upset with how long it took me to read it.
This story was nothing like I expected it to be, though going into it I didn't know a whole lot about it outside of it being Sapphic and having Sci-fi elements and being honest I was mostly reading it for the sapphic relationship and not the sci-fi.
I was actually kinda scared about the sci-fi element because I'm not the biggest fan of sci-fi novels even though I haven't read a whole because I kinda find them hard to understand and stay along with but that was not the case with this book. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the sci-fi element of this book, it made this book unlike any other romance I have read and was so incredibly interesting.
I found that I had no trouble following along and understanding what they where talking about when it came to the science stuff. McQuiston did a great job of combining a great romance, wonderful and diverse characters, and sci-fi.
Speaking of wonderful characters, I absolutely ADORED the characters in this book. I loved how almost all of them where diverse not only in sexuality and gender but in color and religion. I would honestly read a book about any of the side characters (like seriously I really need a book about either Niko and Myla or Wes and Isaiah or better yet… both). I found that I related to every character in the book and grown to love all of them and the relationship that they built with each other.
My favorite character had to be Jane. I loved her so much! Jane proved that butch lesbians run the world's. She was strong on the outside but soft on the inside and I loved how much she cared about other people and didn't stand by and let people treat other human beings like trash just because they love the same sex and/or had a darker skin color. I'm now gonna spend every day striving to not only be like Jane but to find some like her as well.
I loved the little found family that was created in this book and watching them grow together and make a bound that will last a life time really warmed my heart. I can only hope that I create a close group of friends like this as I grow older.
Now let's talk about the romance in this book, I loved August and Jane together! They where so incredibly cute and watching them both help each other grow and falling in love with each other was one of the best parts of this book.
During the last 100 pages of this book I thought I was going to have to send Casey McQuiston a strongly worded email about the ending but by the last 20 pages she had fixed the problem and I loved how she ending this book. It was wrapped up perfectly and I felt a felt at peace with how it ended.
At first I was sobbing of sadness at the end of this book but by the end I was sobbing with happiness.
The only reason this is four stars is because it could be slow at times. There wasn't really a point where I felt addicted to this book and that I just had to continue reading. I just didn't feel as connected to the book as I did to Red, White, and Royal Blue.
Overall, even though this book could be slow at moment I very much did enjoy it. I am most definitely going to be picking up another book by Casey McQuiston.
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Sadness:💧💧/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Spice: 🌶️/5
Diversity: Bisexual FMC, Plus sized FMC, Lesbian FMC, Transgender FTM MSC, and Queer Side Characters.
Tropes: Sapphic Romance and Sci-fi Elements.
Content Warnings: Homophobia and Racism.
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston is her second standalone NA Romance with Sci-fi elements. One day while on the New York Subway, August runs into a very attractive girl named Jane. August and Jane quickly hit it off and start to form a relationship. One day August discovers that Jane may not be where she is supposed to be.
Just like with Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston I have had this book for while and I am so upset with how long it took me to read it.
This story was nothing like I expected it to be, though going into it I didn't know a whole lot about it outside of it being Sapphic and having Sci-fi elements and being honest I was mostly reading it for the sapphic relationship and not the sci-fi.
I was actually kinda scared about the sci-fi element because I'm not the biggest fan of sci-fi novels even though I haven't read a whole because I kinda find them hard to understand and stay along with but that was not the case with this book. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the sci-fi element of this book, it made this book unlike any other romance I have read and was so incredibly interesting.
I found that I had no trouble following along and understanding what they where talking about when it came to the science stuff. McQuiston did a great job of combining a great romance, wonderful and diverse characters, and sci-fi.
Speaking of wonderful characters, I absolutely ADORED the characters in this book. I loved how almost all of them where diverse not only in sexuality and gender but in color and religion. I would honestly read a book about any of the side characters (like seriously I really need a book about either Niko and Myla or Wes and Isaiah or better yet… both). I found that I related to every character in the book and grown to love all of them and the relationship that they built with each other.
My favorite character had to be Jane. I loved her so much! Jane proved that butch lesbians run the world's. She was strong on the outside but soft on the inside and I loved how much she cared about other people and didn't stand by and let people treat other human beings like trash just because they love the same sex and/or had a darker skin color. I'm now gonna spend every day striving to not only be like Jane but to find some like her as well.
I loved the little found family that was created in this book and watching them grow together and make a bound that will last a life time really warmed my heart. I can only hope that I create a close group of friends like this as I grow older.
Now let's talk about the romance in this book, I loved August and Jane together! They where so incredibly cute and watching them both help each other grow and falling in love with each other was one of the best parts of this book.
During the last 100 pages of this book I thought I was going to have to send Casey McQuiston a strongly worded email about the ending but by the last 20 pages she had fixed the problem and I loved how she ending this book. It was wrapped up perfectly and I felt a felt at peace with how it ended.
At first I was sobbing of sadness at the end of this book but by the end I was sobbing with happiness.
The only reason this is four stars is because it could be slow at times. There wasn't really a point where I felt addicted to this book and that I just had to continue reading. I just didn't feel as connected to the book as I did to Red, White, and Royal Blue.
Overall, even though this book could be slow at moment I very much did enjoy it. I am most definitely going to be picking up another book by Casey McQuiston.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism