trinityb2021's reviews
242 reviews

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

2.0

2 ⭐️

I may or may not have cranked the speed up to 2.6x to finish this book faster 👀

I don’t think this book was THAT bad. I liked the message and on paper the concept is super interesting. There were a lot of moments that in a vacuum worked well but all together it felt too long. I was bored a majority of the time. Destiny and Jude’s stories really stood out and were incredibly unique. My favorite parts always involved their interactions. It's always nice to see trans representation.

This book just drags on and takes way too long to find the point. The pacing was way off the mark imo.

It’s too bad I didn’t enjoy this more because the concept seems like something I would love.

Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood

fast-paced

3.5

3.5 ⭐️ 

I love Ali Hazelwood to death. I have now officially read everything she’s ever published (besides a few bonus chapters for various books). These three novellas are just like her earlier works (The Love Hypothesis, Love on The Brain, etc.) but condensed into 100ish page versions. They have the larger than life MMC and the tiny STEM major FMC. They have rivals to lovers where he falls first and harder. All the things I love about the Ali Hazelwood novels. 

I think the first novella was excellent. It had a good amount of build up such a short story. I liked the dynamic and banter between the love interests and it had a satisfying end. However, for some reason the other two books lacked some of the same magic. I think I liked the second one more than the third? But they were both noticeably worse than the first one. Not near as much tension. 

I liked all the MMCs but Erik (2nd) felt the most boring. All of Hazelwood’s MMCs are brooding and lack loud character traits but Erik felt like his only character trait was being Danish. 

Hazelwood says in her Acknowledgements section that these were orignally all written as fanfic. . . girl I gotta know what celebrities were in mind because they couldn’t all be Adam Driver. This also seemed to be an experiment with non-linear story telling for her. Every novella featured a different way of using time-skips and flashbacks to tell the story instead of keeping it linear. I actually liked this a lot. I kind of hope she uses this writing style in one of her full novels at some point. 

1st Novella: 4 ⭐️ Great tension, interesting MMC, weird but interesting premise 

2nd Novella: 3.5 ⭐️ Boring MMC, well executed plot, fun set up 

3rd Novella: 3 ⭐️ Sex forward FMC (I love this), longterm pining, weird life or death situation 

Roll For Romance by Lenora Woods

3.0

3 ⭐️ 

Three stars may be a bit generous but I loved the ambition this book had! The idea of mixing what is essentially a romantasy with a contemporary romance is super unique and I’ve never read anything like it. 

I actually liked both the fantasy story and the contemporary romance separately but because our time was split between both stories, I don’t feel like we got enough time with either. Realistically, the fantasy story should’ve been shortened and condensed to give the real life Noah and Sadie enough time to connect. The book told me that there was chemistry and tension but I can’t say I ever really felt it. 

This book absolutely, 100%, reads like fanfiction. There are some paragraphs that feel like they were ripped right out of a wattpad fic and put into this novel. Sometimes it was charming and sometimes it was felt juvenile and annoying. I love fanfic, I love Ali Hazelwood and other fanfic turned romance authors, but this didn’t hit the right balance for me. 

I also think the D&D stuff didn’t feel right. Sometimes Sadie seemed like she was a pro. She claims she has been drawing fantasy characters, RPing, and making OCs since she was in Elementary school but then doesn’t know what a D20 is? Even if she never played or didn’t understand the rules, you’ll telling me someone who watches anime and is THAT much of a nerd doesn’t recognize polyhedral dice? That felt weird. Like she was stupid just for the reader to go “aw how cute?!” I’m sorry but anyone reading this book, is already familiar with the concepts of D&D and dwarves and tieflings, you don’t need to hold their hand. 

On a similar note, this was a little TOO cringey nerdy for me (and that’s saying something). I’m so glad that we didn’t get an RPing sex scene (or play by post sex scene). I was mentally preparing myself for that. I’m happy for Sadie and Noah, I really am. But I kind of didn’t want to hear about their favorite animes and Noah’s old OCs. I found it cringey and I honestly skipped ahead so I didn’t get the ick. 

As a fan of larger than life lumberjack men, I felt seen by the love interest in this, even if I never really bought the relationship between him and Sadie. In a few years they will 100% be broken up and he’ll be working a new job in Kentucky or some shit. Does someone want to give me his number once Sadie leaves the picture? 

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

4.0

4 ⭐️

I was somewhere between a 4 and 4.5 for this book but because 1. i don’t think it’ll stick with me and 2. it wasn’t as good of a ROMANCE book as just a contemporary book, i decided to round down to 4.

I think the explorations of grief, goodbyes, coping with loss were excellent. maybe a bit cliche but I still think they were executed well.

I know i said it wasn’t a good romance book but that’s not because it wasn’t romantic. It was really heartwarming and cute. I just didn’t think the romance was that well executed. Honestly i think it’s because of the weird magic realism element. It made for a great vessel to communicate coping with grief but it hindered the feasible connection the two characters could have in a reasonably lengthed romance novel.

The whole arc for James is very basic, BUT I still really liked it. The slipping through time, falling in love with different versions of each other, was super unique and I loved that. It leads to some really weird and funny moments in the past and present that I loved. I almost wish that at one point we had slipped 7 years into the future and gotten more character growth that way. Alas, it’s romance so it was doomed to be short. I gladly would’ve spent another 100 or so pages exploring this world/apartment. The characters were compelling and the story was well written.

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

slow-paced

3.5

3.5 ⭐️

This is still such a hard series to rate. The first half of this book nothing happened and it was all very boring set up. But the last half was quite good! I loved everything with the Aes Sedai and Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, and Min. I also really like Lan and Moraine which made some of the earlier book tolerable but then they seemed to vanish off the face of the earth.

I think the characters are all pretty poorly developed so far. Their growth is pretty limited and slow so I feel like I’m running in circles sometimes. How many times in this book did I have to hear Rand refuse to believe he was the Dragon Reborn. I think hearing it 3-4 times would’ve been enough to get the point across. How many times do I need to hear Nynaeve complain about how much she hates Moraine and the Aes Sedai. Again, 3-4 times would’ve been enough. Jordan is just very repetitive and it doesn’t do his characters any justice.

All of their traits are basic. All of the main characters want and try to do the right thing all the time. Maybe it makes sense but it is boring to read about. I LOVED when we got Padan Fain chapters. Let me in his greasy little head. I want to know what he’s thinking. Mat and Perrin feel like characters that exist only so that Rand isn’t alone. They pmo so often. Rand does too but at least I have to like him because he’s the chosen one. I have no obligation to try and like Mat and Perrin. I like Perrin’s powers; I love a good wolf boy. Mat? Go die or something. “ooh I need this dagger to live” BOOOOO. Anyways, morale of the story: the characters have no interesting motivations and I still don’t understand anything about their personalities. Rand, Mat, and Perrin are all the same and if you switched their names, I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart by the way they talk, think, or act. They are the same character copy pasted three times with slightly different super powers.

I am a character reader. So even tho the plot is quite interesting and I want to see how stuff gets resolved (it seems I have 12 books left to see that), I just am not attached to anyone.

ALSO, I need to mention how every single female except some of the Aes Sedai want to fuck Rand. Girl he’s 19, grew up in a small isolated village, and has never even been with a girl. I’m sorry but he’d be an awful partner (I hear there are threesomes in his future so I guess good for him). Why are all these people fawning over this man. I refuse to believe he’s that attractive. Also, love triangle? In my adult fantasy novel? Actually kill me now. Bury me 6 feet under before that happens. What do you mean a 40 year old man wrote a love triangle into his award winning fantasy series? Love triangles don’t even work in YA when the audience is horny 13 year old girls. Why would this work here? What was Robert Jordan thinking?

Give me a novel only about the girls (or only their POV) and I think it would make it into my hall of fame. The world and magic system is cool. I love a good reincarnation moment. With more development for the female characters, they could be S tier. Maybe I’ll care about them by like book 8 but I fear that is too late.

First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison

5.0

5 ⭐️

I loved this book. I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. It has all my favorite things and none of my least favorite things all tied up in a cute and unique package!

single parent ✅

forced proximity ✅

sloooooooow burn ✅ (like actually)

characters improving themself before they enter a relationship ✅

entertaining and fleshed out side characters ✅

no miscommunication trope ✅ (in fact there’s a scene that kind of makes fun of this)

what’s not to love?!

I loved the presentation. The radio show idea is sooo unique! I loved it. It was creative and led to some ideas i’ve never seen in a romance before. This book will live rent free in my head forever. 

Every man that isn’t Aiden. 🚮

Borison is majorly underrated and I need to read more of her stuff.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

5 ⭐️

This is an extremely well written memoir. I have always had an interest in the criminal justice system and this is an exceptional study of the cruel sides of it. Hearing how fucked up the system is from a  defense attorney somehow makes it even sadder. 

 Obviously I was anti-death penalty before I read this book but I’m not sure how anyone can argue for capital punishment after reading this. Even an error rate of 1 is too much when you’re dealing with people’s lives. (Hint the death penalty has definitely killed more than 1 innocent person).

<blockquote><i>The death penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for the crimes they commit. The real question of capital punishment in this country is, Do we deserve to kill?</blockquote></i>

I spent a lot of my academic career studying racial injustice and imprisonment so a lot of this was things I’ve heard before. The brief sections about convict leasing, arrest rate differences, community policing, etc. was all stuff I researched for my capstone project. However, the personal stories, the individual cases, were all extremely fascinating. So many people’s lives have been completely ruined, or ended, because of a racist system that refuses to bend to people’s mistakes.

<blockquote><i>Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.</blockquote></i>

Reading about the worst parts of our society always makes me pissed off and motivated. I think last time I almost applied to law school because I wanted to work for the Innocence Project lol. (this is still an option omg I’m appalled and pissed). How can I go back to reading my silly little fantasy and romance books after this?

Also: Audiobook read by the author ✅

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

4.5

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK. Except there was one smut scene towards the end that was so foul and disturbing and flabbergasting and slightly triggering that it completely ruined the book for me. I’ve decided to pretend this scene doesn’t exist, and rate it off of that. It’s written so vaguely that it’s easy to miss what’s happening. I didn’t miss it Ali. I’m looking at you.

4.5⭐️

The characters 🤌🏻 muah. Some of Ali’s best character work and definitely her best side character work. The relationships all felt real, deep, and earned. Vandy has just enough personality that you could argue that she isn’t a self insert like a lot of Ali’s other books. All the characters with any amount of screen time had really good arcs that were satisfying to see. You won’t believe me when I say the sex tells the story of their relationship. No joke the ungodly amounts of straight up kinky porn in this book DOES serve a purpose (even the scene we shall not name).

The book was objectively too long but I actually liked that. I loved the characters so much that I didn’t mind “wasting” time on some fluffier scenes.

This is what Not in Love should’ve been and was trying to be. It is characters using sex to explore themselves and their relationships. I don’t think Ali fully achieved that in her last book but this one absolutely does.

I am so here for Ali breaking outside of her comfort zone with all these new romances. Give me a cowboy romance NOW!

Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood

3.5

3.5⭐️

It’s funny how Ali Hazelwood has written the same romance book like a dozen times and I eat it up every time. Big, tall, strong, refrigerator man secretly pines after the small, tiny, FMC. He is reserved and not sure how to express his feelings for her. She believes he hates her. He is overly cautious about making her uncomfortable. Eventually they smash and then fight about a stupid thing and then fall in love. (yes I know her newer books have broken the formula but still)

This is exactly that book. But instead of physicists or chess players or biochemists our main characters are video game developers. 

I love Ali Hazelwood’s stupid cheesy writing style and this is a perfect example of that. I think because it is shorter it is both better and worse than a normal full length romance novel. It cuts the fat and the b-plot that can sometimes ruin an otherwise great romance (looking at you Love on The Brain) but it also lacks the side characters and character development that can turn a good trashy romance into a great book (Love, Theoretically).  

This book is the ultimate sweet treat romance novel. There is no plot, no character development, no side characters with any personality. I love slow-burn romances so this was a little too rushed imo but still a lot of fun. Ultimate guilty pleasure.

Very funny reading this and Deep End at the same time. Deep End is so focused on kinks that this book seems ridiculously vanilla. Also having an hour of smut in your four hour audiobook must make the book qualify as erotica. A quarter of the time is spent on sex. It was well written as usual with Ali but was a little egregious considering the overall runtime.

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

dark emotional inspiring 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

4 ⭐️

This is an objectively great book. It is extremely well written. It clearly has a lot of care put into it. It deals with heavy topics in a tasteful way. It humanizes chronic illness. I’m not sure why I didn’t like this book more. I think I like my romance books more lighthearted than this. This book teeters the line between romance and literary.

I think I wanted more book references. The two main characters are authors and it is a part of the book but not in the ways that I wanted. I’m not sure how to put it into words but it didn’t hit the way that I wanted it to.

This book is not a rom-com. It has some comedic moments, but I think they actually hurt the book more than help it. They felt a little out of place. Tonal whiplash a little bit. I guess that was probably the point. Life is messy. Good comes with the bad.

I can’t really speak to the Black experiences but it made the book stand out for sure. Probably the strongest point besides the romance.

On paper these seems like it should be my dream romance. It is serious, deals with heavy topics, steamy, is a book about books, has a 3rd act break up that makes sense, great prose, under 350 pages, etc. These are all things I love in fiction. I still enjoyed it obviously. I feel like I should’ve liked it more?

This didn’t change my life. Lexi recommended it and I can see why she liked it. Part of Your World still holds the title for best romance IMO.