theabigaillo's reviews
382 reviews

Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon

hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.75

objectively, this book should be a 3.25 — it’s very feminism / antisemitism 101, and rowan feels too much like a self-insert from someone who had a wildly different childhood than i did. like i just genuinely can’t imagine a world where people are that explicitly discriminatory against jewish people? i feel like most discrimination in today’s day and age is more implicit than anything. but also consider that neil is kind of my dream boy and i’ve also dealt with a lot of nostalgia about the high school and college experiences that will never be — so yeah i cried (several times) and it gets a bump up for that. one of those books where i completely understand why someone would say the technical elements aren’t perfect, and they’d be right! but solomon does capture that feeling of nostalgia so well, and that’s really what ya books are all about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

Flower and Thorn by Rati Mehrotra

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

3.0

thanks to the publisher & netgalley for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

so, me and irinya (the main character) got off to a rough start. i thought she made some ... questionable decisions that play right into the "girl who's never seen a man in her life" trope -- very miranda and ferdinand of her, for any other fans of the tempest out there. i literally have so many notes just talking about every infuriating thing she does in the first 25% of the book. but from there, it turns into a pretty decent fantasy book! i was truly on the verge of rating it 3.5 stars (or potentially 4 stars for the wazir -- but with deep shame in my heart). sure, she didn't pick up on some of the reveals that she should have, and i was a bit frustrated with the pacing. but it is a ya fantasy book, and i'm willing to forgive a lot of technical errors if i still get swept away in the magic of young love, and it was truly happening. and then: the ending happened. mild spoilers ahead:

i just don't think it was set up well? it feels like we spent the whole book concentrating on the wrong characters, and then we're supposed to care about these people i know nothing about. like, why should i care? there wasn't enough development of the relationship between those characters, and it was bothering me.

all things considered, it's still a fun book, and i love the desi representation! but i think i'll be sticking to re-reading laini taylor before another ya fantasy can disappoint me.

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

disclosure: this will be a very personal review, since my own dad was physically and emotionally abusive.

it's fascinating to me that abuse can result in so many different types of trauma. mccurdy romanticizes her mom in a way that i've never felt about my dad -- i think my struggle has always been that i've never felt loved by the person who's supposed to love me. it's almost like (as terrible as it is to say) mccurdy has the relationship with her mom that i wished i had with my dad. and although she didn't have a childhood due to icarly, she still has memories of those times, which is more than i can say. there's something so disorienting about knowing next to nothing about your own childhood.

long story short: i felt way more emotionally distant from this book than i thought i would, mostly because her experiences with eating disorders and her mom are so different from my own experience with abuse. but i deeply admire the courage it took for her to share her story, and i hope the act of writing this helped in her journey towards healing.

also -- she read this audiobook?? i'd rather skydive from the highest plane than read a 6.5 hour audiobook about my life. that is literally a feat i cannot even conceive of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual assault

A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare

3.0

Simple and cliché, but still sweet.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

4.0

Fairy Tail, Vol. 01 by Hiro Mashima

3.0

So sexualized, but still good plot!

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

4.0

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

3.0

It really alternated between a 2-star and a 4-star. the parts about water, numbers, the economy? if I wanted to read about those, I'd read an AP Environmental Science book. yes, I knew there would be some parts about that, but did it all have to be so dry? the action scenes, shootouts, torture descriptions: what can I say? they were really good, and I do love some blood and guts.

Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins by Susan Casey

4.0

A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin

3.0

I really liked the premise & plot of the book, and the surprise twist at the end was unexpected, but the overall execution of this book was a bit too childish for my tastes. If only Ms. Martin wrote for older teens!