superfangirl818's reviews
123 reviews

The Prince of Terrana by Hayley Turner

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I was very excited for this book. I attend Jenna Moreci's writing sprint livestreams where I kept hearing about this book, so I had to buy it. I had pretty high expectations and they were met.

I have to start off by talking about the writing. It was absolutely gorgeous. Hayley Turner's imagery was stunning. The writing was very well done and perfect for a fantasy book with a lot of worldbuilding.

The characters were all great and lovable (I want to hug all of them). There were also so many plot twists and surprises that I did not see coming at all, so those were very well done. 

This next thing is a compliment, but it kinda goes into a critique. The romance between Darren and Relaina was beautiful and well-written, but it was a little insta-lovey. I feel like it happened a little too fast. Obviously, I'm fine with them having immediate attraction to each other, but the whole falling in love part felt a little too quick. 

 But, yeah, this book was great! I would highly recommend this for fans of dark new adult fantasy.

You, Again by Kate Goldbeck

emotional funny hopeful sad tense 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

4.5

I went into this book pretty much only knowing that it was a Reylo fanfiction were the two main characters find out they're sleeping with the same woman, but, hey! I enjoyed this book. It was adorable, well-written and OMG THE ANGST WAS DONE BEAUTIFULLY. I genuinely was not sure if the relationship was going to happen. 

I also think the characters were very well done and lovable. I love how near the end, both Ari and Josh were able to realize and acknowledge the mistakes they made in their relationship. 

Is this a trashy read? Yes. But, it's an excellent trashy read and you know, sometimes you just need a trashy book.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I believe this is the third book I've rated 3.75 stars this year and my definition for that rating has become "the better end of mid; has potential to be better." This book had a very solid start and I really liked how the author was able to explain Briseis's abilities without info-dumping.

But, I started losing interest as the book went on. I had issues connecting with the characters. I ended up not really caring about any of them. I also noticed that there's pretty much no distinction between character voices and in my head, all of the character's voices seemed to meld into one. I'm also not a fan of the ending. I'm not fully sure why, but it felt abrupt and unsatisfying, even for the first book of a series.

I also want to talk about Marie's immortality. I understand that romances where one character is immortal and the other isn't has a lot of nuance, but in this case, Marie fully lived and experienced all 376 years... while she's trying to get with a 16 or 17-year-old Briseis... feels kind of off to me.

But, yeah. I'm not fully sure about this book. It's not bad -- it's actually pretty decent, but it's nothing new and I just didn't end up loving it.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.0

Who knew an author could make me feel so much about a robot within 150 pages? I also wasn't expecting to RELATE to a robot so much! Seriously, Murderbot is a very interesting character, and though I wasn't sure if I was going to continue the series, I may have to to see how Murderbot grows as a character.

I loved how slowly throughout the book, you can see how the humans develop affection toward Murderbot and how Murderbot develops affection toward the humans. It's really adorable, I have to say.

The only issues I had with All Systems Red was that at quite a few points, it was difficult to understand what was happening. Either my eyes fully skipped over important information or important information wasn't presented well enough. I also found the characters (especially the humans) hard to differentiate from each other since there are so many. 

I'm not 100% sure how I feel about the ending, but I think I'm leaning towards liking it. I'll have to keep reading the series.

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

adventurous emotional 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

To be honest, I was really nervous to read this since The Son of Neptune fell flat for me, but Rick Riordan bounced back! I liked this book so much more than SON and there was so much going on, that it was impossible to be bored, but there wasn't so much going on that it was difficult to figure out what was happening.

Yes, the plot was great and the book was exciting, but what I want to talk about is the characters, especially the romances. I loved the sheer amount of PINING in this book. It shows that even though these kids have the weight of the world on their shoulders, they're still just KIDS. They're still trying to navigate life, friendships, and romance. With books like this, it can be hard sometimes to remember that the protagonists are children, Rick Riordan does a great job of reminding us. 

That's pretty much all I have to say. 5 stars!

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

challenging emotional hopeful sad tense 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

5.0

All My Rage has me at a loss for words. This is a story of grief, anger, betrayal, love, heartbreak, and desperation. 

I was nervous to pick up this book since it isn't something I'd typically read (and it's always the books with a million awards that are just AWFUL), but it was for my school's book club, so I had to read it at some point soon. And I'm happy I did. 

The moment I started reading, I knew it was going to make me cry, especially with what the characters were going through. 

This book was beautiful. It tells a great story from perspectives that aren't normally shown in media. I think everyone who is able to read this book should. 

All I have to say is that this book was amazing and I'm so happy my book club chose this book to read this month.

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

adventurous sad 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

4.5

I was immediately obsessed with the world of Reino del Sol. I loved that it was a fantasy world with modern touches, such as modern technology. 

I loved all of the characters, and all of the characters were written very well. Although an adult man wrote the book, the teenage characters were believable.

I do have a complaint (well, two sort of) that knocked the rating down to just a 4.5. LONG. CHAPTERS. I despise long chapters and the book was a tad difficult to get through because of how ridiculously long the chapters are. There's seriously no reason a 401-page book should have only 26 chapters. I also noticed some weird separations in the middle of chapters that are typically found when a scene changes, but the separation would be there and it would be the same scene. If that makes any sense.

But, those are my only complaints. I ADORED this book and I would highly recommend it to fans of Percy Jackson. 

Reverie by Ryan La Sala

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I'm going to start this off by saying that the concept was really cool and interesting and it's an awesome idea to explore. 

But, I'm not the biggest fan of the execution.

I found the writing hard to follow, especially at the end of the book, and I was lost a few times. I had trouble understanding what was happening multiple times throughout this book. I get that a lot was happening, but it almost felt like too much was happening. I think that Reverie could have possibly been split into a duology.

I also just generally wasn't a fan of the writing style. I felt like there were too few commas which made some sentences really confusing to me. 

Finally, I didn't love the characters that much. They were all sort of boring to me and I found I didn't care that much about them. Except Dean. I thought Dean was a really interesting character. He's probably the only character I really liked.

Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings

emotional funny hopeful sad 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

4.75

I would like to thank Mazey Eddings for pulling me out of my awful reading slump. Considering I DNFed two books before reading this one during my slump, that's quite an impressive feat. 

Okay, so I love this book and I am obsessed. As a teenager with ADHD, Tilly made me feel so incredibly seen and it was written so well. The executive dysfunction, the overstimulation, the chaos. I don't think I've ever read a book where the character's brain was so similar to mine. It was refreshing and I've never felt so seen. 

The romance between Tilly and Ollie was just so adorable. I'M OBSESSED WITH THEM AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I do have a slight complaint with their romance where it is a little insta-lovey, and I'm not just talking about Tilly's immediate attraction to Oliver, I'm talking about how they just fall in love with each other very, very quickly.

As for the writing, I loved it so much, except there was a touch too much telling and not enough showing, especially with their ADHD/autistic traits. 

But, I loved this book so much. Immediately recommending it to everyone I know.

No Accident by Laura Bates
Did not finish book. Stopped at 52%.

I'M SORRY I'M IN SUCH A BAD READING SLUMP RIGHT NOW