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sinamile's reviews
473 reviews
The Hate U Give six-chapter sample by Angie Thomas
5.0
I cannot wait to read the rest of this book!!
Angelfall by Susan Ee
4.0
Content warning: ablelist language used A LOT
I read Angelfall years ago and I remember how much I lived it. I still love Angelfall, which I'm super glad for!
It's a good story, I love Penryn's loyalty and drive and how she continuously fights to get her sister back even when it seems like it might not happen. She's young, in a world come to an end, and she steps up even though she doesn't have to.
She's only sixteen and the most she should be worried about is a cute dress and trying to get a summer job to afford said cute dress. Instead she's trying to survive the end of the world while looking after her disabled sister and her mentally ill mother.
She's tough, she embodies the words “she's strong but she's exhausted” because she is such a strong person, having to be strong for her sister, for her mother, and then for the wounded angel she saves. Despite her hatred of the world enders, Penryn still risks her own skin, her own life, for the wounded Raffe, and it costs her her sister.
Penryn is a fighter and her story draws you in and makes you route for her, makes you route for her mother, her sister, for the angel Raffe. Susan Ee writes I'm a way that makes you want to throw the book and take a breather before returning right to it and screeching.
The main bands are so interesting because they're not supposed to be bad. When you think Angel you think God's warrior, you think protector of mankind, nor ender of worlds or killer of humans. It's interesting to see how that image is shattered.
This a a good book, and the characters are all so interesting, even side characters who only show up for a moment. The way Susan Ee has written them though, they build the story, move it forward, the side characters don't feel like they've been added for word count, they all have their roles, all move the story forward. It's beautiful.
A good book. A great book. A must read. But please be mindful of the ablelist slurs because they are used A LOT.
I read Angelfall years ago and I remember how much I lived it. I still love Angelfall, which I'm super glad for!
It's a good story, I love Penryn's loyalty and drive and how she continuously fights to get her sister back even when it seems like it might not happen. She's young, in a world come to an end, and she steps up even though she doesn't have to.
She's only sixteen and the most she should be worried about is a cute dress and trying to get a summer job to afford said cute dress. Instead she's trying to survive the end of the world while looking after her disabled sister and her mentally ill mother.
She's tough, she embodies the words “she's strong but she's exhausted” because she is such a strong person, having to be strong for her sister, for her mother, and then for the wounded angel she saves. Despite her hatred of the world enders, Penryn still risks her own skin, her own life, for the wounded Raffe, and it costs her her sister.
Penryn is a fighter and her story draws you in and makes you route for her, makes you route for her mother, her sister, for the angel Raffe. Susan Ee writes I'm a way that makes you want to throw the book and take a breather before returning right to it and screeching.
The main bands are so interesting because they're not supposed to be bad. When you think Angel you think God's warrior, you think protector of mankind, nor ender of worlds or killer of humans. It's interesting to see how that image is shattered.
Spoiler
But the best thing, I think, is that the big bad doesn't show up until later in the book, doesn't even get mentioned till way into the book. This guy is sly and conniving, a politician through and through and I'm so ready to learn more about him, to see what he's got planned because he is so slimy!This a a good book, and the characters are all so interesting, even side characters who only show up for a moment. The way Susan Ee has written them though, they build the story, move it forward, the side characters don't feel like they've been added for word count, they all have their roles, all move the story forward. It's beautiful.
A good book. A great book. A must read. But please be mindful of the ablelist slurs because they are used A LOT.
Falling into Place by Amy Zhang
5.0
TW: suicide ideation, suicide attempt, eating disorder: bulimia, ableist slurs, bullying: verbal, mention of job rejection due to fatmisia, sexual harassment, queermisia: boys harassing a girl for being lesbian, mentions of sexual assault commited by a character
A NOTE: This book is amazing, but it is also so very triggering. Liz has A LOT of suicide ideation and that can be so triggering for someone's who's at the same space. Please take care of yourself if you want to read this book, please have someone you can talk to, even me if you're okay with that. Enjoy the book, but also please be careful while reading it. We aren't all built the same, so it might not affect one person but might be the trigger for another. So please, PLEASE, be careful!
Falling Into Place is so good, so frickning good, like OMG I am not over how good this book is! I love the way its written, love the voice of the narrator. It's confusing as heck at first, because it goes from past o present tense, because it goes from third person to first person. So much happens and I was confused. But it wasn't a bad confusion, it was a good one, like what is happening, but a what is happening that makes me want to keep reading.
Liz Emerson is a popular girl, one who's done awful things in the name of being cool and getting attention and be the it girl. She hates it, hates what she's become. There's a void in her heart because of everything that's happened in her life. She thinks the only way to stop the hurt, the disappointment, is to kill herself. So Liz devices a plan on how to do it, she makes three rules on how it's going to happen and one of the rules is that it has to look like an accident.
So on a snowy afternoon Liz drives her car over the edge of a hill and that's where the story begins.
This book doesn't fill a set time line, it just from one week ago to one hour ago to one day later to three weeks ago and it's done in such a way that makes it so interesting. I love it so much!
If I keep writing this review all I'm going to say is how good this book is because it is so damn good. But it can also get triggering and it does a lot of the cliche high school mean girls thing but I don't mind that bit at all.. But wow, this book is amazing, I'm still her feeling gutted because WOW.
P. S.
A NOTE: This book is amazing, but it is also so very triggering. Liz has A LOT of suicide ideation and that can be so triggering for someone's who's at the same space. Please take care of yourself if you want to read this book, please have someone you can talk to, even me if you're okay with that. Enjoy the book, but also please be careful while reading it. We aren't all built the same, so it might not affect one person but might be the trigger for another. So please, PLEASE, be careful!
Falling Into Place is so good, so frickning good, like OMG I am not over how good this book is! I love the way its written, love the voice of the narrator. It's confusing as heck at first, because it goes from past o present tense, because it goes from third person to first person. So much happens and I was confused. But it wasn't a bad confusion, it was a good one, like what is happening, but a what is happening that makes me want to keep reading.
Liz Emerson is a popular girl, one who's done awful things in the name of being cool and getting attention and be the it girl. She hates it, hates what she's become. There's a void in her heart because of everything that's happened in her life. She thinks the only way to stop the hurt, the disappointment, is to kill herself. So Liz devices a plan on how to do it, she makes three rules on how it's going to happen and one of the rules is that it has to look like an accident.
So on a snowy afternoon Liz drives her car over the edge of a hill and that's where the story begins.
This book doesn't fill a set time line, it just from one week ago to one hour ago to one day later to three weeks ago and it's done in such a way that makes it so interesting. I love it so much!
If I keep writing this review all I'm going to say is how good this book is because it is so damn good. But it can also get triggering and it does a lot of the cliche high school mean girls thing but I don't mind that bit at all.. But wow, this book is amazing, I'm still her feeling gutted because WOW.
P. S.
Spoiler
I strongly believe that Liz, Julia and Kennie become better people, I believe that Julia gets the help she needs and gets better, I believe that Kennie drops the act and become more like herself and Lz and her mom finally learn to communicate with each other and work through thing and more than anything I believe that Liz and Liam end up together and they're vote cutest couple and are crowned king and queen at senior prom and Liz wears the crown Liam got her for junior homecoming and they live HAPPILY EVER AFTER!
Princesses Don't Get Fat by Aya Ling
3.0
Rating: 2 1/2 ⭐
TW: fatmisia, fat-shaming
Let's start with what I like about this book. I like Valeria, I like Ralph, I like Ralph's parents and his little sister. I like that Valeria doesn't care about her weight, that she loves food without shame. I like that she's fat and that she's not ashamed of it. I like that even though people keep trying to shame her into losing weight, Valeria doesn't care, she loves her food and she doesn't mind her fuller figure. She's Valeria, take her as she is or leave her be!
I like that the cover has a fat girl, that they didn't try to hide it by having some other thing on the cover. Valeria is fat and that is okay. I like that a lot.
Now what I dont like.
For a long while I felt iffy while reading this book. I couldn't figure out why I was so iffy because fat rep and all that. Like mentioned before, Valeria is fat and she's okay with that. So what was bothering me?
It's the way things were described, the way Valeria was described. Idk. It's like, okay, Valeria is fat and she loves eating and she hates working out and she doesn't care that she's fat and it's all cool and great and I'm glad that that's shown. However I felt like there was like a fetish-y feel to it, like how some dudes like to feed their ladies and watch them gaining weight. It felt like that, like I was watching a fat girl stuff her face, but like in a fetish-y way.
I'm fat. It's taken me years to get over the fact that I'm fat. With so many people around me shaming me about my weight, I wanted to be skinny for a long time, I still sometimes want to be skinny, but with so many fat people showing me that being fat is okay, that I'm beautiful just the way I am is helping.
Valeria also has a lot of people who are mean to her about her weight, people who think they're well meaning, who think they're just looking out for her. Her mother hounds her about losing weight, about how she has to be thin so she can find a husband. That isn't what Valeria wants, but her mother, being well-meaning, keeps shoving it at her.
Her nanny and handmaid are much the same. They keep telljng her how she must lose weight, how she would be so much better if she lost a bit of weight and so on. It's exhausting.
Valeria's been hearing it for so long that she doesn't even care anymore, she just let's it slide. She doesn't mind her weight, doesn't care about it. That's cool, I'm glad she doesn't care anymore, glad she doesn't mind her weight. But ugh, that fetishising thing I mentioned, it just feel so prominent, especially when Valeria ditches her training (her mother's attempt to try and get her daughter to lose weight) and becomes a food-taster. It's like every time she was mentioned eating there was some level of fetishness to it and it was uncomfortable to read.
Like I want a girl to enjoy her food, of course, but there was something kind of ughy about the way Valeria was written when eating, (I've read a book with a fat girl who enjoys her food and it didn't feel fetish-y, so yeah). And to top it off, Valeria's whole character revolved around her eating, like they mention her awful training (even I hate running, lmao) but then most of the book is just about her eating, nothing else. And she can never just walk, it has to be corrected to waddling. Like why? There's also: “The skirt was so huge that it could probably cover an entire round table.” Like why?
I mean, she gets the guy in the guy in the end and I was kinda routing for them coz he was nice and he liked her for her. But then there's a part where he's described watching her eat that made him come off as fetishy. Like a guy can enjoy his girl having a healthy appetite, don't get me wrong, but with everything else that was going on, it felt fetishised.
I wish more had been mentioned about Nadine. She seemed like such a nice character, like her introduction was good, but she's was only mentioned a few times and that felt like wasted potential on a good character.
TW: fatmisia, fat-shaming
Let's start with what I like about this book. I like Valeria, I like Ralph, I like Ralph's parents and his little sister. I like that Valeria doesn't care about her weight, that she loves food without shame. I like that she's fat and that she's not ashamed of it. I like that even though people keep trying to shame her into losing weight, Valeria doesn't care, she loves her food and she doesn't mind her fuller figure. She's Valeria, take her as she is or leave her be!
I like that the cover has a fat girl, that they didn't try to hide it by having some other thing on the cover. Valeria is fat and that is okay. I like that a lot.
Now what I dont like.
For a long while I felt iffy while reading this book. I couldn't figure out why I was so iffy because fat rep and all that. Like mentioned before, Valeria is fat and she's okay with that. So what was bothering me?
It's the way things were described, the way Valeria was described. Idk. It's like, okay, Valeria is fat and she loves eating and she hates working out and she doesn't care that she's fat and it's all cool and great and I'm glad that that's shown. However I felt like there was like a fetish-y feel to it, like how some dudes like to feed their ladies and watch them gaining weight. It felt like that, like I was watching a fat girl stuff her face, but like in a fetish-y way.
I'm fat. It's taken me years to get over the fact that I'm fat. With so many people around me shaming me about my weight, I wanted to be skinny for a long time, I still sometimes want to be skinny, but with so many fat people showing me that being fat is okay, that I'm beautiful just the way I am is helping.
Valeria also has a lot of people who are mean to her about her weight, people who think they're well meaning, who think they're just looking out for her. Her mother hounds her about losing weight, about how she has to be thin so she can find a husband. That isn't what Valeria wants, but her mother, being well-meaning, keeps shoving it at her.
Her nanny and handmaid are much the same. They keep telljng her how she must lose weight, how she would be so much better if she lost a bit of weight and so on. It's exhausting.
Valeria's been hearing it for so long that she doesn't even care anymore, she just let's it slide. She doesn't mind her weight, doesn't care about it. That's cool, I'm glad she doesn't care anymore, glad she doesn't mind her weight. But ugh, that fetishising thing I mentioned, it just feel so prominent, especially when Valeria ditches her training (her mother's attempt to try and get her daughter to lose weight) and becomes a food-taster. It's like every time she was mentioned eating there was some level of fetishness to it and it was uncomfortable to read.
Like I want a girl to enjoy her food, of course, but there was something kind of ughy about the way Valeria was written when eating, (I've read a book with a fat girl who enjoys her food and it didn't feel fetish-y, so yeah). And to top it off, Valeria's whole character revolved around her eating, like they mention her awful training (even I hate running, lmao) but then most of the book is just about her eating, nothing else. And she can never just walk, it has to be corrected to waddling. Like why? There's also: “The skirt was so huge that it could probably cover an entire round table.” Like why?
I mean, she gets the guy in the guy in the end and I was kinda routing for them coz he was nice and he liked her for her. But then there's a part where he's described watching her eat that made him come off as fetishy. Like a guy can enjoy his girl having a healthy appetite, don't get me wrong, but with everything else that was going on, it felt fetishised.
I wish more had been mentioned about Nadine. She seemed like such a nice character, like her introduction was good, but she's was only mentioned a few times and that felt like wasted potential on a good character.
This Is Where the World Ends by Amy Zhang
4.0
I bopped down the rating because there was no trigger warning for the rape scene. Please note that there is a rape scene in this book!!!
TW: ableist slurs, fire, underage drinking, sexual assault, suicide ideation, suicide
Fricking heck! I love the way Amy Zhang writes, I love the way the books get set out, the disjointed way they move. There's something about the way they're set that grabs my heart and doesn't let go.
“This Is How The World Ends” is in the same level as “Falling Into Place”, they both break you in the best way. They drag you in with their characters who are imperfect, who are broken in ways that are almost hard to describe. They drag you in with the broken story line, the way its shattered ad pulled together. I LOVE THEM!
This book focuses on friendship. It's toxic and ugly but there's this thing about it. I can't put it into words. I know how awful the friendships are, how everyone seems mostly to be friends because they don't know anything else, they're not familiar with any thing else. This is what they know, Janie and Micah clinging to each other because theyre in love with the idea of their friendship, Micah and Dewey who seem to only be friends because they're not friendswit anyone else, Janie and Piper who are, as Janie describes it, “no-commitment, zero-accountability, convenient-as-hell” friendship.
At first its kind of hard to tell where this is going, you're not really sure what the story is. But then you get it, you see it. Rape culture. The person who gets away with it, the other who has to live with it, the reactions of people around, them excusing what happened because “she was asking for it”, because “they're dating though”, because “she's wanted him for years”. is failed by people around her because of this ugly mentality. It's heartbreaking and angers, because this shit happens in real, people have to live through this. Time and again we see it, see the same people who say #MeToo defending their friends because “I've know him for years and he would never”.
This book, much like “This Book Betrays My Brother”, hits hard and fast. Again, much like TBBMB, I wish there'd been a trigger warning for the sexual assault. But overall, this is a good book!
TW: ableist slurs, fire, underage drinking, sexual assault, suicide ideation, suicide
Fricking heck! I love the way Amy Zhang writes, I love the way the books get set out, the disjointed way they move. There's something about the way they're set that grabs my heart and doesn't let go.
“This Is How The World Ends” is in the same level as “Falling Into Place”, they both break you in the best way. They drag you in with their characters who are imperfect, who are broken in ways that are almost hard to describe. They drag you in with the broken story line, the way its shattered ad pulled together. I LOVE THEM!
This book focuses on friendship. It's toxic and ugly but there's this thing about it. I can't put it into words. I know how awful the friendships are, how everyone seems mostly to be friends because they don't know anything else, they're not familiar with any thing else. This is what they know, Janie and Micah clinging to each other because theyre in love with the idea of their friendship, Micah and Dewey who seem to only be friends because they're not friendswit anyone else, Janie and Piper who are, as Janie describes it, “no-commitment, zero-accountability, convenient-as-hell” friendship.
At first its kind of hard to tell where this is going, you're not really sure what the story is. But then you get it, you see it. Rape culture. The person who gets away with it, the other who has to live with it, the reactions of people around, them excusing what happened because “she was asking for it”, because “they're dating though”, because “she's wanted him for years”.
Spoiler
JanieThis book, much like “This Book Betrays My Brother”, hits hard and fast. Again, much like TBBMB, I wish there'd been a trigger warning for the sexual assault. But overall, this is a good book!
Want by Cindy Pon
5.0
TW: violence (nothing too bad though)
So good, so damn good! With complex and amazing characters. This book has you by the throat the whole time you read it.
I'm going to scream forever now..
P. S. I need the next book!!!!!
So good, so damn good! With complex and amazing characters. This book has you by the throat the whole time you read it.
I'm going to scream forever now..
P. S. I need the next book!!!!!
Warcross by Marie Lu
5.0
TW: ableist slurs
WHAT THE BALLS! WHAT THE FRICKING BALLS!! How can it just end like that!??
NEXT. BOOK. PLEASE!
WHAT THE BALLS! WHAT THE FRICKING BALLS!! How can it just end like that!??
NEXT. BOOK. PLEASE!
American Street by Ibi Zoboi
5.0
TW: ableist slurs, physical abuse, mentions of drug use, mentions of police brutality, murder, guns
I rated this one fives stars from the moment I started reading it and I don't even know why. Something in the first chapter drew me in and made me want to read more.
I love the way this story is paced, the voice, the characters. There's something so beautifully authentic about the characters, something tugging at my heart.
I love Fabiola so much. There's just something about the way her character is that makes me love her so much, want to wrap her in my arms and protect. But then I learn more about her cousins, see them from her point of view and in their stories and it makes me want to protect them too, and not in cinnamon roll kind of way, but a real and authentic kind of way, like they're real life people that I want to protect any way I can.
The magical element of this book is so amazing too, learning about the Iwas like Papa Legba and his songs and others, seeing the voodoo elements of Fabiola's life. It's refreshing, seeing vodou this way, without the dramatization where it's all evil blood sacrifices and such. It shows a truer side of vodou, that it's not just cutting heads off chickens and lighting for dramatic effects, there's a softer side, a truer side. There deeper roots.
There is an amazing authenticity to this book and I love it so much and I will definitely be reading it again just to experience it again. I only wish it would be like the first time, where the story unfolds and I don't know whatll happen next. Either way, I'm already excited about a reread and definitely Rec it for others to read too.
I rated this one fives stars from the moment I started reading it and I don't even know why. Something in the first chapter drew me in and made me want to read more.
I love the way this story is paced, the voice, the characters. There's something so beautifully authentic about the characters, something tugging at my heart.
I love Fabiola so much. There's just something about the way her character is that makes me love her so much, want to wrap her in my arms and protect. But then I learn more about her cousins, see them from her point of view and in their stories and it makes me want to protect them too, and not in cinnamon roll kind of way, but a real and authentic kind of way, like they're real life people that I want to protect any way I can.
The magical element of this book is so amazing too, learning about the Iwas like Papa Legba and his songs and others, seeing the voodoo elements of Fabiola's life. It's refreshing, seeing vodou this way, without the dramatization where it's all evil blood sacrifices and such. It shows a truer side of vodou, that it's not just cutting heads off chickens and lighting for dramatic effects, there's a softer side, a truer side. There deeper roots.
There is an amazing authenticity to this book and I love it so much and I will definitely be reading it again just to experience it again. I only wish it would be like the first time, where the story unfolds and I don't know whatll happen next. Either way, I'm already excited about a reread and definitely Rec it for others to read too.
The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich
3.0
This was nice, I liked it. I did feel like there was something missing though, like the writing could've been refined just a little more to make it read better. I don't know.
Like the characters are okayish—the only character I liked more than the others was Juliet—but they didnt really make me want to go in hard for them, they were just there. Like I kinda get the set up of the story and it's a really cool idea, but it just didn't hit the mark for me, it didn't take me to that higher place.
It kinda reads like Ready Player One in that's there's a lot of pop culture refrencing (like I'm actually surprised Game of Thrones wasn't mentioned). Ten, maybe twenty years from now, if any kid reads this they might feel out of touch because most of this refrencing is for teens of these past years, so in ten years kids may not get the refrencing from the book and not be able to connect well enough.
And then the whole explaining everyone's outfits thing. Like explaining outfits works for certain situations, but is kinda of overkill when a character has to describe every outfit they wear, like every time they change they have to tell us what colour the button down shirt with short sleeves they're wearing is and what outfit all their friends are wearing or what everyone's hair is doing. It's a bit much. And I saw the and/and/and thing a little too much too.
I'm not disappointed by this book or anything, but I feel kind of meh about it. Even the ending was kind of meh, like it didn't leave me going holy shit or even going aww, it just was like “Oh, that's the end? Cool.” It didn't leave me with a feeling of wanting more, like a being excited for the next book kind of thing (I'm pretty sure this is stand-alone, but the point I'm making is that it didn't end in a way that, if there were another book, I'd be excited for it).
So yeah, it's a cool idea, it's a nice read, but it's kinda bland overall.
Like the characters are okayish—the only character I liked more than the others was Juliet—but they didnt really make me want to go in hard for them, they were just there. Like I kinda get the set up of the story and it's a really cool idea, but it just didn't hit the mark for me, it didn't take me to that higher place.
It kinda reads like Ready Player One in that's there's a lot of pop culture refrencing (like I'm actually surprised Game of Thrones wasn't mentioned). Ten, maybe twenty years from now, if any kid reads this they might feel out of touch because most of this refrencing is for teens of these past years, so in ten years kids may not get the refrencing from the book and not be able to connect well enough.
And then the whole explaining everyone's outfits thing. Like explaining outfits works for certain situations, but is kinda of overkill when a character has to describe every outfit they wear, like every time they change they have to tell us what colour the button down shirt with short sleeves they're wearing is and what outfit all their friends are wearing or what everyone's hair is doing. It's a bit much. And I saw the and/and/and thing a little too much too.
I'm not disappointed by this book or anything, but I feel kind of meh about it. Even the ending was kind of meh, like it didn't leave me going holy shit or even going aww, it just was like “Oh, that's the end? Cool.” It didn't leave me with a feeling of wanting more, like a being excited for the next book kind of thing (I'm pretty sure this is stand-alone, but the point I'm making is that it didn't end in a way that, if there were another book, I'd be excited for it).
So yeah, it's a cool idea, it's a nice read, but it's kinda bland overall.
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
4.0
TW: ableist slurs
It's like the YA RomCom I never asked for because I didn't know I needed it and now that I have it I am so pleased and so grateful!
And that ending made me soft!
It's like the YA RomCom I never asked for because I didn't know I needed it and now that I have it I am so pleased and so grateful!
And that ending made me soft!