thattheatrekid's reviews
96 reviews

When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

4.5

My little musical theatre heart needed this! I loved the theatre references. I also like how this wasn’t just a romance, and I loved the plot outside of it too. The characters were sweet and lovable. The book dragged in places and was a little too convenient in others, but still a really fun story that was right up my alley.

I Hope This Doesn't Find You by Ann Liang

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted 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

4.25

Wow wow wow. I read this in 2 hours and fittingly, am in Canada where the book is set. 
In a silly, lighthearted way, I loved this. This was the first book I’ve read in a looooooong time that made me feel genuine butterflies and giggle like an idiot. Was it completely realistic or practical (such as the single mom affording private school for her kids while just owning a bakery, or 2 kids being forced to stay at school for hours after class to do manual labor)? No, of course not. But was it an adorable slow burn that made me feel things and didn’t have idiotic MCs? YES. I wish Julius was more developed with his background, and we got more scenes after they were together, but overall loved this book. 

A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Didn’t love this one. Rushed ending and annoying characters. Jacks didn’t have a personality outside of “love interest.” There are several plot holes (such as the last scar, which I’ve been curious about since book 1). Just not engaging and the pacing was weird again 

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Ugh I don’t know whether to rate this 3.75 or 4. I didn’t like it enough to be 4. It was better than the last book but the romance is weird to me and the main characters are annoying and irrational. For example there’s the “curse” on saying what’s in the arch…just at least ask for hints? Good or bad? lol just generally dumb and indecisive MCs.

But the plot was decent and the pacing was improved, will finish the series for the heck of it

The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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

4.75

UGH. this book series has captured my heart and was a childhood favorite. I decided to pick it up again and I don’t regret it; Colfer’s creativity surpasses almost every author I’ve read and these books are part of the reason part of me still believes in magic and happy endings. ❤️ So imaginative. Of course the writing is simplistic at times, but it makes sense because it’s for middle grades 

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

Didn’t love this book, didn’t dislike it. The concept was interesting.
Things I didn’t like:
- world building - things were taken for granted that made me go “huh??” such as the North just making people forget random stuff
- pacing - very very weird. Would have dragging scenes (like the crypt scene), then a day-by- day pace, then randomly skip months or weeks. 
- attempted romance- obviously there’s an enemies to lovers plot going on, and usually I’m a sucker for that, but I didn’t like the love interest. He was selfish and anytime he and Eva had a “moment” it was him being manipulative
- Eva is naive and dense. Like yeah she’s a teenage girl but some of her decisions were extremely naive
- the ambassador thing didn’t make a lot of sense since we never hear from the people she’s representing again. Politically what does this mean for her hometown if she’s marrying the king???
The good:
- interesting mystery storyline
- elements of intrigue and fantasy 
- the Fates thing 
- the stepsister side plot 

Overall decent read and I’ll read the next one, but it could be better

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park, Maryanne Vollers

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Beautiful memoir. The trafficking situation in China is absolutely heart shattering and I can’t imagine the amount of people in despair as I write this. NK has always been on my heart since I was at least 12 and the stories of defectors will always inspire me. I thought it was so cool how Yeonmi did a DTS! I hope a door opens in the future for me to help advocate for North Koreans.

Do Not Be True to Yourself: Countercultural Advice for the Rest of Your Life by Kevin DeYoung

informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.0

Eh. Nothing remarkable. Read like a lecture from a well-meaning pastor. When you go to college, go to church and read your Bible or you’ll lose your faith. It wasn’t necessarily wrong but it also was nothing new; I’ve had dozens of these lectures already. In any case I read it in like 20 minutes and it was fine

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

adventurous challenging inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed this book! Similar to Rumpelstiltskin and Persephone. The world building was phenomenal.
I liked the POVs but the end wasn’t satisfying. I wanted to see the rest of Irina’s story!! And the tsar’s character arc.  I was most invested in their story and then the end was unclear. I didn’t like how Wanda was never really fleshed out. She seemed naive and childish even though her childhood forced her to grow up fast. Sergey could have used development too. This book wasn’t what I was expecting but it was a good read. Just could have had less going on because it seemed too complex for the amount of pages it got.

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

The first part of the book was quite promising. It was adventurous, the characters were likable, and there were some great motives. I LOVED part 2 where it expanded more on the magic system. It gave me Starless Sea vibes, which is another of my favorite books. But then the plot got jumbled to me in part 3 (it felt like a too-long movie action scene), the magic was almost never used even though one of the characters had access to it, and some characters were introduced that ended up not being in the story again (like the prince Evelyn was supposed to marry, or Xenobia). I also think the ending was ambiguous…what happens to Rake and Alfie? 

Also, I think Flora and Evelyn fell in love way too fast but more time passed than were shown so it’s possible.

I liked this book and it had the perfect air of adventure I was in the mood for, but it also lacked something big and I can’t pinpoint what.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death