tea_on_books's reviews
113 reviews

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

challenging funny inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? No

5.0

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

Breathless by Jennifer Niven

medium-paced

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

2.75

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.5

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

Troy by Stephen Fry

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.0

The first 50 pages of the book could be a bit slow as it goes into the whole genealogy of the main characters. This is important to get an in-depth understanding of the characters such as Helen, Achilles, Hector and the motives that drove them to the great war. It surely gets better if you stick around. The author adds a bit of wry humour to the narration without taking any sides or having any bias towards any characters. 

I wish we had this book recommended as a read in college to study. Even thousands of years later, the story of Troy resonates even today. For a book that falls into non-fiction historical category, this turned out to be quite a page turner. But then one can’t expect anything less from a story such as Troy. 

I was also watching the BBC- Netflix series Troy- the fall of a city while reading this. It just added to the whole experience. 

The Push by Ashley Audrain

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Lovely War by Julie Berry

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

 Two love stories setup during the World War I, narrated 30 years later by Aphrodite to her husband Hephaestus and Lover Ares, can it get better than this?

I haven’t read enough of books set up in the First World War compared to World War II. And after this one, I wanna change that. This was a really well paced historical fiction with the right amount of details on war and romance. I absolutely loved the narration by the Goddess of Love. Even though without the mythology characters, it would still hold up to being just as good with the four characters at the centre of it. There are quite a few musical references along with some intro to Jazz. If you chose to read it, probably you could play the songs at the time when they are mentioned in the book, for an immersive read. (You will find the music info in the index) . It just added so much more to my experience of reading.

The most common location the stories are based in is London and France.

This would have been a perfect read on Valentine’s Day. Could be a great gift to your lover! 

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

 A good original story setup. Pretty Fast paced that I devoured this in a day. Delivers on the unexpected/you won’t see it coming expectation. Worth a read if you are looking for some good thriller.

The only complaint I have from it is that the psychological aspects of the story weren’t explained in depth. It just felt like it touched the surface and that was a disappointment.