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tabea_a's reviews
68 reviews
Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
4.25
Wow, this was...something! Here's what I loved about Binding 13:
・❥・ This was so intense and triggering right from the start. I'd heard from a lot of people that this "isn't easy" to read about but I kinda didn't expect this! I love when books make me feel intense feelings and make me think about serious topics, so that was good.
・❥・ Every time I picked this book up I somehow couldn't put it down. I had put this off for a long time since I was scared because this is essentially a "romance" with 800 pages, but it didn't feel like that long for a second!
・❥・ The "Touch her and you'll die"-vibes were immaculate, ugh, loved it.
・❥・ I was able to empathize with Shannon a lot, I have (thankfully) never experienced domestic violence, but I have infact gotten bullied for 8 years so that made me pretty emotional and I felt for her a lot.
・❥・ Can we just talk about Gibsie for a second? Oh my god, I love that man. I wasn't able to get enough from him and every time he came onto the page I lost it. I'm can't wait to read Taming 7!! 😫
・❥・ Every time Shannon and Johnny had a minor interaction it got me giggling and kicking my feet! Sadly that stopped after like 400 pages, but it was great at first.
・❥・ Reading about the domestic violence was so hard at times. Just the fact that she has to lock her door in her own home because she doesn't feel safe is insane.
・❥・ I loved how supportive Gibsie was of Johnny's feelings towards Shannon omg.
・❥・ Claire's and Shannon's friendship was everything, I loved every second of it.
Now let's get to the things I didn't particularly love:
𖤓 I HATE the "she's so tiny and fragile" talk and it just KEPT GOING!! That's something that can really destroy a book for me and the stuff that Johnny said sometimes really made me like him less.
𖤓 I just have to bring this up: There were sooo many grammatical mistakes! In the first 100 pages there were already about 4 or 5 and that sucked.
𖤓 I get it, Johnny's kinda grumpy and everything and swearing doesn't annoy me normally, but here it was just waaay too much. He swore so much in every single sentence, I couldn't stand it.
𖤓 From like half way through Johnny and Shannon began to feel distant to me, I felt like I couldn't get as close as I was to the main characters which really sucked. I truly don't know why I felt that way but I just kept wishing for it to change, but it didn't.
I really had the 5-star feelings up until like page 350 but then they vanished because of the reasons I just stated.
𖤓 I get it, Shannon is broken, really sad and traumatized but her just saying "yes" and "okay" to everything Johnny said didn't make me feel closer to her at all. It made reading painful at times and sometimes it was hard to get through their dialogue.
𖤓 Can we just talk about that "hospital talk" at the end of the book? At first I was laughing and found it kinda cute, but when it just kept going and going I was cringing so hard lmao!
Here are some 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, since the topics of this book can be very disturbing:
Drug abuse, bullying, toxic parents, alcoholism, sexual assault, domestic violence, violence, violent language, miscarriage and vomiting.
And last but not least, some amazing and heartwrenching 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬! :
༊*·˚ "I liked safe. In my world, invisibility equaled safety. I was happy to be wallpaper and blend in". - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "I started lying to my mother and telling her that I felt better. I didn't feel better. I never felt better. I just couldn't bear to watch my mother struggle. I despised being a financial burden on her, so I sucked it up, slapped on a smile, and continued to walk into hell every day. But the bullying never stopped. Nothing stopped." - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "I had one earplug in when the screaming started. Seconds later, the sound of furniture crashing filled my ears. My stomach churned and I quickly rammed the other earplud in before firing up the old, discolored discman. Fumbling with the buttons, I pressed play and turned the colume up to maximum level, praying the batteries had enough juice left in them to block out the hell that was my home." - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "You are so concerned with fighting the bullies at school, Mam. When the biggest bully of them all lives under this roof." - Shannon Lynch
Even though this was no near perfect, I'm really looking forward to Keeping 13. I already miss the characters and their world and even though it's terrible at times, it still gave me comfort!
I think Chloe Walsh did something amazing when creating this series and I'm excited to see where it's going to go.
・❥・ This was so intense and triggering right from the start. I'd heard from a lot of people that this "isn't easy" to read about but I kinda didn't expect this! I love when books make me feel intense feelings and make me think about serious topics, so that was good.
・❥・ Every time I picked this book up I somehow couldn't put it down. I had put this off for a long time since I was scared because this is essentially a "romance" with 800 pages, but it didn't feel like that long for a second!
・❥・ The "Touch her and you'll die"-vibes were immaculate, ugh, loved it.
・❥・ I was able to empathize with Shannon a lot, I have (thankfully) never experienced domestic violence, but I have infact gotten bullied for 8 years so that made me pretty emotional and I felt for her a lot.
・❥・ Can we just talk about Gibsie for a second? Oh my god, I love that man. I wasn't able to get enough from him and every time he came onto the page I lost it. I'm can't wait to read Taming 7!! 😫
・❥・ Every time Shannon and Johnny had a minor interaction it got me giggling and kicking my feet! Sadly that stopped after like 400 pages, but it was great at first.
・❥・ Reading about the domestic violence was so hard at times. Just the fact that she has to lock her door in her own home because she doesn't feel safe is insane.
・❥・ I loved how supportive Gibsie was of Johnny's feelings towards Shannon omg.
・❥・ Claire's and Shannon's friendship was everything, I loved every second of it.
Now let's get to the things I didn't particularly love:
𖤓 I HATE the "she's so tiny and fragile" talk and it just KEPT GOING!! That's something that can really destroy a book for me and the stuff that Johnny said sometimes really made me like him less.
𖤓 I just have to bring this up: There were sooo many grammatical mistakes! In the first 100 pages there were already about 4 or 5 and that sucked.
𖤓 I get it, Johnny's kinda grumpy and everything and swearing doesn't annoy me normally, but here it was just waaay too much. He swore so much in every single sentence, I couldn't stand it.
𖤓 From like half way through Johnny and Shannon began to feel distant to me, I felt like I couldn't get as close as I was to the main characters which really sucked. I truly don't know why I felt that way but I just kept wishing for it to change, but it didn't.
I really had the 5-star feelings up until like page 350 but then they vanished because of the reasons I just stated.
𖤓 I get it, Shannon is broken, really sad and traumatized but her just saying "yes" and "okay" to everything Johnny said didn't make me feel closer to her at all. It made reading painful at times and sometimes it was hard to get through their dialogue.
𖤓 Can we just talk about that "hospital talk" at the end of the book? At first I was laughing and found it kinda cute, but when it just kept going and going I was cringing so hard lmao!
Here are some 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, since the topics of this book can be very disturbing:
Drug abuse, bullying, toxic parents, alcoholism, sexual assault, domestic violence, violence, violent language, miscarriage and vomiting.
And last but not least, some amazing and heartwrenching 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬! :
༊*·˚ "I liked safe. In my world, invisibility equaled safety. I was happy to be wallpaper and blend in". - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "I started lying to my mother and telling her that I felt better. I didn't feel better. I never felt better. I just couldn't bear to watch my mother struggle. I despised being a financial burden on her, so I sucked it up, slapped on a smile, and continued to walk into hell every day. But the bullying never stopped. Nothing stopped." - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "I had one earplug in when the screaming started. Seconds later, the sound of furniture crashing filled my ears. My stomach churned and I quickly rammed the other earplud in before firing up the old, discolored discman. Fumbling with the buttons, I pressed play and turned the colume up to maximum level, praying the batteries had enough juice left in them to block out the hell that was my home." - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "You are so concerned with fighting the bullies at school, Mam. When the biggest bully of them all lives under this roof." - Shannon Lynch
Even though this was no near perfect, I'm really looking forward to Keeping 13. I already miss the characters and their world and even though it's terrible at times, it still gave me comfort!
I think Chloe Walsh did something amazing when creating this series and I'm excited to see where it's going to go.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts
Does It Hurt? by H.D. Carlton
Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.
First of all, the german narrator is so bad I can‘t do this anymore 😭
It‘s just cringing me and the story over all isn‘t speaking to me.
(Loved the smut tho)
It‘s just cringing me and the story over all isn‘t speaking to me.
(Loved the smut tho)
Ihr wollt es dunkler by Stephen King
Did not finish book. Stopped at 47%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 47%.
I just couldn‘t get myself to care about these stories at all. They weren‘t „dark“ for me and I hsd to force myself to even get through half of it. :( Was so excited for this!
Naruto Massiv 1 by Masashi Kishimoto
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
What can I say?
This was pure nostalgia but also so incredible. I loved the additions of Masashi Kishimoto that were put in between the chapters from time to time, it felt like I got to know him as a person!
The illustrations are great and the characters have my heart. I‘m really looking forward to the next volume! 😫
This was pure nostalgia but also so incredible. I loved the additions of Masashi Kishimoto that were put in between the chapters from time to time, it felt like I got to know him as a person!
The illustrations are great and the characters have my heart. I‘m really looking forward to the next volume! 😫
Die Tribute von Panem - Gefährliche Liebe by Suzanne Collins
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5.0
This was so good 😫
Of course this was pure nostalgia since the movies are some of my favorite ever but this book just hit all the right spots!
The story is so terrible but also realistic. Even though I knew everything that was gonna happen next, I was still on the edge of my seat and was surprised when the stuff actually happened.
I loved Gale and Peeta so much and their world in general, even though their world is horrible it still makes me feel so cozy.
The only thing that confused me was that Suzanne Collins announced Sunrise on the reaping, which is going to be Haymitch‘s games, if I understood that correctly, but in this book we got to know a lot about his games already.
Anyway, I enjoyed this a lot even though it was heartbreaking!
Of course this was pure nostalgia since the movies are some of my favorite ever but this book just hit all the right spots!
The story is so terrible but also realistic. Even though I knew everything that was gonna happen next, I was still on the edge of my seat and was surprised when the stuff actually happened.
I loved Gale and Peeta so much and their world in general, even though their world is horrible it still makes me feel so cozy.
The only thing that confused me was that Suzanne Collins announced Sunrise on the reaping, which is going to be Haymitch‘s games, if I understood that correctly, but in this book we got to know a lot about his games already.
Anyway, I enjoyed this a lot even though it was heartbreaking!
The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.
DNF at 25% 🙃
I‘m so boredddd, I don‘t care about the characters or the plot at all and everything is so bland 😭
So sad about this since I enjoyed the first one but I truly can‘t and don‘t want to force myself through this any longer!
I‘m so boredddd, I don‘t care about the characters or the plot at all and everything is so bland 😭
So sad about this since I enjoyed the first one but I truly can‘t and don‘t want to force myself through this any longer!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Herrscherin über Asche und Zorn by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
4.25
4.25 🌟
Why does it feel so surreal to finish this series and with it leave this world and the characters behind, whom you've accompanied on such a long journey? Damn, I'm sad.
First of all: This book diasppointed me :( I was 100% sure that this was going to be a 5 star read and that Sarah was going to give me everything I wished for, since the german translation contained 1'100 pages!! Sadly tho that wasn't the case:
✧ Starting the book off and reading about the torture that Aelin had to go through was really hard for me. I knew that there were going to be rough topics but holy!
✧ I loved the many POVs at first, since it always kept me going and I loved to see what all the characters were up to. Though at one point I started to dislike that the group wasn't together for most of the book, since I wanted to see them all together.
Also I have never really enjoyed Chaol's or Yrene's POV but in this book it kept annoying me more and more. Not to be hateful or anything but to me, Chaol is such a boring character and their story just felt unnecessary.
✧ I love how much detail Sarah always puts in her books. I'd rather read a book that's 100 pages longer but therefore you get all the feelings and details that you longed for, so I think she did amazing with describing how the characters were feeling and how their world was evolving.
✧ Can we just talk about chapters 26 & 27? I bawled my eyes out, Fenry's truly deserves the world. His and Aelin's bonding from the beginning of the book was so beautiful and heartwarming to see!
✧ Just that little detail that the constatnt healing made Aelin's scars go away and that meaning that not only her freedom and happiness got taken away but also the worst things, like her past and her trauma? That was excellent but also heartbreaking.
✧ Ugh...where should I start with Elide and Lorcan? They've been my #1 couple since they came on to the page but I got sooo annoyed with Elide! I get it, Lorcan betrayed them and put Aelin through that whole torture, but when you love someone, even if you're mad at them, you don't tell them such things as "I don't care if you survive this war" etc.
He tried so hard, he apologized, showed that he changed and also explained the reason why he did it was to save Elide because he LOVED her, and she just went on bashing on him, ignoring him and hurting him. Lorcan has a special place in my heart and I just wanted the best for him, no matter what he had done.
✧ In conclusion it made me so mad and hurt when at first literally no one noticed that Lorcan was literally dying on the battlefield. The more I loved how Elide risked her own life to save him and would've rather died with him than lived without him, because THAT was the real love that I wanted to see.
✧ Are you kidding me? The WHOLE THIRTEEN DIE in front of Manon's eyes?! I actually predicted Asterin dying one day because she was such a beloved character that everyone felt sorry for. But that scene made me cry so hard and then seeing Manon being so sad and broken...ugh I can't.
✧ Gavriel's death felt so rushed to me? Him and Aedion didn't even really get to talking and then he suddenly died? Weird
In conclusion:
↬ I felt like the middle part of the book was pretty slow. We were basically just accompanying the different POVs while they were traveling somewhere. I didn't feel like there was a lot of plot happening and that bored me sometimes.
↬ I didn't feel the connection to the characters as much as in the other books. They felt distant.
↬ The ending disappointed me a lot actually. I imagined that there was going to be an epic battle, Aelin was going to use a lot of her power etc. but it felt drawn out and I hated when Aelin lost almost all of her power.
I am really happy though that I pushed through the whole series, it was truly a joy and I already look forward to doing a reread next year, since I already miss the characters and the world so much!
All of it truly changed my life and me as a person and I will never forget and never stop to appreciate all the emotions that Sarah made me feel. 💘
Why does it feel so surreal to finish this series and with it leave this world and the characters behind, whom you've accompanied on such a long journey? Damn, I'm sad.
First of all: This book diasppointed me :( I was 100% sure that this was going to be a 5 star read and that Sarah was going to give me everything I wished for, since the german translation contained 1'100 pages!! Sadly tho that wasn't the case:
✧ Starting the book off and reading about the torture that Aelin had to go through was really hard for me. I knew that there were going to be rough topics but holy!
✧ I loved the many POVs at first, since it always kept me going and I loved to see what all the characters were up to. Though at one point I started to dislike that the group wasn't together for most of the book, since I wanted to see them all together.
Also I have never really enjoyed Chaol's or Yrene's POV but in this book it kept annoying me more and more. Not to be hateful or anything but to me, Chaol is such a boring character and their story just felt unnecessary.
✧ I love how much detail Sarah always puts in her books. I'd rather read a book that's 100 pages longer but therefore you get all the feelings and details that you longed for, so I think she did amazing with describing how the characters were feeling and how their world was evolving.
✧ Can we just talk about chapters 26 & 27? I bawled my eyes out, Fenry's truly deserves the world. His and Aelin's bonding from the beginning of the book was so beautiful and heartwarming to see!
✧ Just that little detail that the constatnt healing made Aelin's scars go away and that meaning that not only her freedom and happiness got taken away but also the worst things, like her past and her trauma? That was excellent but also heartbreaking.
✧ Ugh...where should I start with Elide and Lorcan? They've been my #1 couple since they came on to the page but I got sooo annoyed with Elide! I get it, Lorcan betrayed them and put Aelin through that whole torture, but when you love someone, even if you're mad at them, you don't tell them such things as "I don't care if you survive this war" etc.
He tried so hard, he apologized, showed that he changed and also explained the reason why he did it was to save Elide because he LOVED her, and she just went on bashing on him, ignoring him and hurting him. Lorcan has a special place in my heart and I just wanted the best for him, no matter what he had done.
✧ In conclusion it made me so mad and hurt when at first literally no one noticed that Lorcan was literally dying on the battlefield. The more I loved how Elide risked her own life to save him and would've rather died with him than lived without him, because THAT was the real love that I wanted to see.
✧ Are you kidding me? The WHOLE THIRTEEN DIE in front of Manon's eyes?! I actually predicted Asterin dying one day because she was such a beloved character that everyone felt sorry for. But that scene made me cry so hard and then seeing Manon being so sad and broken...ugh I can't.
✧ Gavriel's death felt so rushed to me? Him and Aedion didn't even really get to talking and then he suddenly died? Weird
In conclusion:
↬ I felt like the middle part of the book was pretty slow. We were basically just accompanying the different POVs while they were traveling somewhere. I didn't feel like there was a lot of plot happening and that bored me sometimes.
↬ I didn't feel the connection to the characters as much as in the other books. They felt distant.
↬ The ending disappointed me a lot actually. I imagined that there was going to be an epic battle, Aelin was going to use a lot of her power etc. but it felt drawn out and I hated when Aelin lost almost all of her power.
I am really happy though that I pushed through the whole series, it was truly a joy and I already look forward to doing a reread next year, since I already miss the characters and the world so much!
All of it truly changed my life and me as a person and I will never forget and never stop to appreciate all the emotions that Sarah made me feel. 💘
Hope's End – Du kannst niemandem trauen by Riley Sager
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
This book just felt like a lot of nonsense
Tödliche Spiele by Suzanne Collins
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
4.5 🌟
❤︎₊ ⊹ This was pure nostalgia for me, omg.
I got to know so much more of the background info that hadn‘t been shown in the movies!
This book was so thrilling yet sad at the same time, I can‘t put my feelings in words.
❤︎₊ ⊹ This was pure nostalgia for me, omg.
I got to know so much more of the background info that hadn‘t been shown in the movies!
This book was so thrilling yet sad at the same time, I can‘t put my feelings in words.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury
Wild Love by Elsie Silver
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-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
4.0
-`♡´- Ford was a great MMC, he talked about and showed his feelings and even though he was "muscular, strong, tall, etc." he wasn't the typical MMC
-`♡´- The small town, lakeside and forest setting was amazing, felt so cozy!
-`♡´- The best thing about this book? 100% the banter and the teasing. Elsie Silver's writing is so funny, the amount of times I audibly laughed out loud bc of the e-mails?? omg
-`♡´- Cora just gave it so much more, I know a lot of people dislike having children in books, but sometimes I love it and this was done really well! Cora won over my heart right away
-`♡´- The tension between Rosie and Ford was kept really high
There have been some things I would have definitely changed about this book though:
- I got so annoyed with Ford because he said Rosie's name in every friggin sentence, like damn
- The smut was amazing BUT towards the end there was sooo much smut and their connection stepped in the background, which was sadly turning me off
- This whole book would've been much better if it was 100 pages shorter. It could've ended right there and then but somehow Elsie Silver just kept going and I was like why?
- The third act breakup was horrendous, it was so unnecessary and it totally ruined the ending for me, I pretty much skimmed that whole part since it annoyed me so much.
Nonetheless I immediately went ahead and pre-ordered Wild Eyes and I'm excited to see where it's going to go, since this was my first Elsie Silver book and I'm pretty impressed!
-`♡´- The small town, lakeside and forest setting was amazing, felt so cozy!
-`♡´- The best thing about this book? 100% the banter and the teasing. Elsie Silver's writing is so funny, the amount of times I audibly laughed out loud bc of the e-mails?? omg
-`♡´- Cora just gave it so much more, I know a lot of people dislike having children in books, but sometimes I love it and this was done really well! Cora won over my heart right away
-`♡´- The tension between Rosie and Ford was kept really high
There have been some things I would have definitely changed about this book though:
- I got so annoyed with Ford because he said Rosie's name in every friggin sentence, like damn
- The smut was amazing BUT towards the end there was sooo much smut and their connection stepped in the background, which was sadly turning me off
- This whole book would've been much better if it was 100 pages shorter. It could've ended right there and then but somehow Elsie Silver just kept going and I was like why?
- The third act breakup was horrendous, it was so unnecessary and it totally ruined the ending for me, I pretty much skimmed that whole part since it annoyed me so much.
Nonetheless I immediately went ahead and pre-ordered Wild Eyes and I'm excited to see where it's going to go, since this was my first Elsie Silver book and I'm pretty impressed!
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault and Death of parent