val_theburrowofstories's reviews
308 reviews

Legendary by Stephanie Garber

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Caraval I enjoyed. Legendary felt more like a task and just the bridge between the 1st and 3rd book. Sadly, Legendary is following the trend of: the 2nd book is worse than the 1st one. Especially when I don't like Tella as much as I did Scarlett (i mean not that I loved her, but I liked her). Besides not much was going on, but it was a 3 ⭐ while I was reading it so I won’t change that because I remember it was entertaining at least. 

I think that the magic of Caraval was also how it was an event that only happened once a year and that was the first time of the girls there, but now it turns out there’s going to be another one just 3 days after the last one? 

I wish we got more from Scarlett and Julian here, I really liked them in the first book, but this time it was from Tella’s pov and oh I do not like this girl… besides the romance there was wayyy better than this thing between Tella and Dante. 

I'm going to say it. I don't care how many times Tella is like "I love my sister, our bond if special, there's no one like her, I love her more than anything" GIRL STOP. You don't show it or prove it AT ALL. You barely think of her for more than a second, you barely consider her. So yeah... You think you're protecting her but to me you're just thinking about yourself all the time...So, of course Scarlett doesn't know the truth, AGAIN. Then Tella got mad at Scarlett because in the conversation SHE was eavesdropping she realized Scarlett didn’t tell her an important thing, as if Tella tells her everything (she doesn’t tell her a single thing). Tella only goes to Scarlett when she needs something from her. She’s very impulsive and never thinks before she acts, she’s jumping from one thing to the next without thinking about the consequences, she doesn’t think about anyone but herself… 

These girls have both daddy issues and mommy issues, they could not catch a break. I did not understand a thing about the mother and did not care to be honest. 

I was SO excited when Jacks appeared because I know he’s the main character of OUABH (which I haven’t read yet), I was hoping to see Evangeline too here or in the next book but that didn’t happen. 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

adventurous dark reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

I’m not going to lie, when I think back to this book I finished almost a month ago I just think how this was boring and it was not the masterpiece I was expecting, and that just makes me sad. It was a disappointment. I don’t even remember most of what happened, just that it was slow as fuck and didn’t go nowhere. When I finished it I thought I would give it 3 stars but I feel now that I was being generous, so 2 ⭐ for my rating. 

Gosh I’m not even going to read my notes, I’m so tired with all the books I have to review that this is not worth it to make a well written review lol there’s hundred of those loving and hating this book already. 

It just makes me so mad that I didn’t love this, that I felt like her “bisexuality” was not represented correctly and was just something the author added so she could add it to the sell speech, the fan art is so pretty and the narrator is amazing, but that didn’t save this book. 

That “romance” she had with Henry? I did not feel it at all. And I hate that this Darkness was obsessed with her and wouldn’t let her in peace, it would’ve been sooo much more interesting to read about her falling in love with Luc but for real and if he was a bit different, but well. The ending was predictable too, I was just like “wait this is when I’m supposed to cry?” 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol

Without giving much spoiler this is how the content warnings appear in the book: Addie had to endure sexual harassment and she was almost sexually assaulted. There's a lot of sexual content because she just enjoys her sexuality I guess. There's alcohol and drug use related to Henry.

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.5

I remember being so invested when they were looking for the hobbits and then when Pippin and Merry were with the Ents because that was fun, but there was a battle and my mind could not focus on the audiobook, I had no idea what was going on from that point. 

Besides, I don’t know how many times I fall sleep while listening to this especially the second we got back to Frodo and Sam, it was just so damn boring… it’s so slow and nothing was happening. 

So, this is 2.5 ⭐ for me and I’m being generous. 

Anyways, I really love the narration by Andy Serkis. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Violence

Moderate: Grief

- Violence / War / Death: There’s a battle at the end of Book 3.

- Grief: Because of the death of Boromir in the last book.

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I’ve been waiting for months to get this trilogy in Libby and I’m so happy I ended up really liking it! 

This might be the 10th audiobook that I’ve listened narrated by Rebecca Soler and she never disappoints. 

Scarlett and Donatella Dragna are two sisters who live with their abusive father in the Isle of Trisda. The girls have always dreamed of leaving and being free, and the opportunity finally presents itself in the name of Julian Marrero when this boy comes to the island and offers them to take them to Caraval, this magical place where they can play the game and if they win they can ask for anything they want.
 

I really liked the sisters, but especially Scarlett because I feel I would be more like her in this whole situation. I loved seeing her romance with Julian and how she had to learn to trust him. I did not expect that many plot twist and surprises in the book, especially in the end I was loving that. I was having such a great time with this book. 

By the end we got so many emotions and information that just convinced me this is a 4 ⭐ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Death

- Child abuse / Physical abuse: The sisters are 16 and 17 years old now, but for 7 years they’ve suffered at the hands of their father.

- Death / Blood / Murder: There’s at least like three deaths in this book alone.

- Suicide: There’s mentioned of someone jumping from a high place in the last Caraval, and then something similar happens in the end.

The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

One word to describe the whole book is CUTE. Which is funny considering this is a Nico Di Angelo story, but his relationship with Will is just so cute, they’re my babies, I want to protect them from everything and I loved them from the very first pages 🥺💛 

This book is basically Nico’s quest to go to Tartarus and save “the one who calls his name” and Will knew it was going to dangerous for him to go too because he’s a son of a Apollo and needs the sun, but that would not stop him and he goes along. I loved seeing both of them protecting each other, their strength, their determination, their loyalty, their love 🤧 

I know sometimes their dialogue and nicknames could seem cheesy, but to me it was just so cute and sweet and funny. They’ve been together for a year and I was so happy that we got to read some stories between them at the beginning of their relationship (the moment they knew they liked each other, how one asked the other on a date, their first kiss). There were moments where I could’ve cried of how cuteness and how happy and proud I am of them 😭❤️ 

As always, even the smallest appearance of Percy and Annabeth makes me happy, and is so cheesy and funny that their only advice for them on Tartarus was that they would be okay because they had each other lmao but it’s true! That’s how Percabeth survived after all. 

This is so coming of age, so cute, being proud of who you are and loving who you want, coming out... I feel like this book can be SO important for so many kids out there who want and need someone to feel related and safe. And this book is perfect for that. 

I’m going to miss Nico and Will so much, this is easily a 4.5 ⭐ for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent and Death

Minor: Outing

There is just one big spoiler of something that happens in The Trials of Apollo, just so you know:

- Grief: Nico is still grieving for his mom and his sister Bianca. But most recently

he’s also grieving for Jason’s death.

- Death / Death of parent: It is mentioned how those he loved have died.

- Violence / Blood / Injury: They were in the Underworld and Tartarus, so they had to fight and were injured in the process.

- Outing: Nico tells the story of what Cupid did to him in Heroes of Olympus.

Educated by Tara Westover

challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

5.0

• Happy International Women’s Day! I didn’t plan to read this for this day, but I’m so glad that I did because Tara Westover is such an strong woman.
• This book was so powerful. This was Tara owning her story and telling it the way it was from HER perspective, the way she lived her life. I have so much respect for her, this was published in 2018 and I would not be surprised if she's still healing.

"You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them.
You can miss a person every day, and still be glad that they are no longer in your life."
-Tara Westover

• I'm genuinely surprised she didn't talk about menstruation. And I have to admit I was so scared for her when she was a child that Shawn would rape her, then I was scared he would kill her. Can we talk about how she barely looked or talked to boys and yet when Shawn said she had a "reputation" they were horrified of her being pregnant, SHE thought she was pregnant and looked at herself in the mirror... The lack of sexual education. And then when they confirmed she wasn't??? I'm scared of just thinking how they confirmed it.
• I feel so so sorry for those kids of the siblings who don't support her. but especially for the ones of Audrey and Shawn, because they are just the living image of their parents which means their childhood will be just like hers unless they run.
• She is right by mentioning that this is not about Mormonism. Maybe religion played a role in this, but her brother and parent’s evil in my opinion belonged to them, not to any Satan and of course is not the will of any God they believe in.
• I have to admit that I didn’t cry. I understand the moments that I “should’ve”, I understand why other people would’ve cried. But I’ve never lived abused so I can’t say I was reliving something, and I’ve always been the “strongest” child who didn’t cry easily because I had a “cold heart”, that’s how I view myself and maybe there’s something wrong with me too that I can’t see, but that’s the truth.
• I didn’t cry, instead I was shocked, stunned, angry, I could not believe it, it was all just so crazy. When you think of stories of more kids living like this, that’s it, they’re just stories you hear of someone else living far far away, they didn’t happen to you, you don’t read about them with more detail in a book. It’s is eye opening to finally read this story and realize “this is real, this has happened, this is still happening not only in her family but probably so many others”
• I can’t stop thinking on how powerful this book is and how more people should read it, yes it was Number 1, yes it’s acclaimed, yes it has Awards, and somehow it’s not enough. It will neve be enough.
• I want this book in my library, highlighted with tabs, with annotations written by me and other people, I want to have discussions around it, I want to check on it from time to time. I want to highlight with a pencil all the obstacles, and with colors her support system, her quotes, her growing up and changing her mind. There’s so many things to point out, so many things to discuss.
• I feel so overwhelmed by this whole book. She’s powerful, she’s brave, she’s inspiring. She got over the obstacles, she got her education. Education IS a privilege and it could be life changing for some.
• The fact that she dedicated this to her brother Tyler, because he was always nice to her, he always supported her, he is the one who kept telling her to go to college.
• This is so far away from my fantasy books, hell I WISH this was some dystopian shit, but it’s a MEMOIR and I just can’t stop thinking about it. This is not fantasy, and yet this is one of the few examples of why I must keep getting out of my comfort zone tbr every once in a while, to discover stories (fiction or not) like this one.
• I want to keep reading so many reviews now, from all the ratings. I need to read more opinions. I even want to read the thesis she presented for her PhD.
• This makes me think of the kind of parent I would be, consuming books, blogs, podcasts about parenting the second I learn I was pregnant. I almost want to study psychology just to help kids.
• I'm thankful my healthcare and education were priorities in my family. I'm thankful I was not forced into any religion. I'm thankful I was loved. I'm thankful I didn't live an abuse like this and I pray I never will, thankful that I can recognize the signs of when something is wrong and I must ask for help. I'm thankful for my family (we are not perfect, and of course I have many complains about them lol but I'm thankful for them)
• I keep thinking and thinking and thinking, and there is no denial to me. I can’t rate the same way I do my fantasy books (or any other fiction book for that matter). I can’t even compare it to other non fiction I’ve read because they are self help, and I’ve read just a couple of memoirs. So this is a very unique book to me, and as such it has to be rated for it’s own reasons. At the beginning I thought how difficult it would be to rate it, but now I think it's a 5 ⭐

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexism, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Medical trauma, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Car accident

Minor: Mental illness, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Please read the trigger warnings before reading the book (there might be spoilers here):

- Emotional abuse / Physical abuse / Child abuse: The way the mother and father (especially) raised the children had me sick, the emotional and physical abuse those kids had to endure…

- Domestic abuse / Violence: Her brother would beat her up and humiliate her.

- Gaslighting: I swear her parents were living in another reality, all the stories they got in their heads and the lies of how the world worked (the end of the world, how the government was evil and it was dangerous to go to school or the hospital)

- Racial slurs: Her brother kept calling her by the N word because when she worked with them she got her face dirty…

- Animal death / cruelty: Her brother killed his dog with a knife, who the fuck does that.

- Injury detail / Blood / Fire Injury: When she was a child she had to help her brother with his leg because there was another “job incident” with their father. And later her father is near an explosion and ends up pretty bad. Her other brother also injured his head twice.

- Mental illness: She’s convinced her father is bipolar.

- Car accident: As children they had not one but TWO car accidents. And then his brother had yet another car accident on his own.

- Sexism / Misogyny: Basically what her father and brother are. Her father treating her like shit inside the house because she was a woman and she could not even have short sleeves. I don’t know a lot of stupid ideas about women and how they should behave.

- Medical trauma: From all the injuries, accident, simply being sick and going to the hospital for the first time.

- Panic attacks: She experienced this at college.

- Cancer: One of her grandmothers had cancer and died of it.

- Adult / minor relationship / Pregnancy: Her brother was like 27 with a 17-18 yo he ends up marrying. And later she has two dangerous pregnancies.

- Drug abuse / Alcohol: Her brother, of course.

- Toxic relationship: Pretty obvious with who (her family)

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

I predicted that this would be a new favorite book, sadly it isn’t, but still I really liked it and it’s a 4 ⭐ for me. 

I remembered so little of the synopsis I thought this was set in a time before Christ even or in just a little town in the middle of nowhere with very few civilization, I was very surprised when I saw that this was set in the second half of the 1900’s. 

I didn’t understand at first why so many women turned into dragons, I thought it was magic, but the fact that it’s presented as part of their BIOLOGY is crazy to me, it’s such an interesting concept. I don’t blame them at all for turning into dragons and leaving because it was mostly to escape men, but there were also some cases where they turned because it just made them happy and feel free and there was no men involved. 

The way Alex’s father made my blood boil so many times in this book… he got an easy death for what he deserved. Then there’s her mother who is just… shit at communication, the only good thing she did was not abandoning her but I almost wish she did and killed her father in the process, maybe the girls would’ve been better off that way. He made me so mad I almost wanted to DNF, but this isn’t about him and I would’ve given him the power he doesn’t deserve, so he can go to hell and I’m glad I kept reading. 

As Taylor Swift once said: fuck the patriarchy!

Her aunt Marla fits so perfectly the “stereotype” I just knew she loved women, and good for her because damn men are shit in this book, they’re all either sexist or misogynist, that’s the description of the society here to be honest.
 

We almost never see any representation of menstruation in books, so I was glad to have that here. 

I can’t begin to explain what I felt reading how Alex had her friend Sonja and how they clearly liked each other, you know? Like the first innocent love as a child. And when they are together again when they grow up I was just so happy for them. 

Alex is so incredibly strong because to Beatrice she was her cousin, sister and mother. She was a child raising another child and she did such a good job on her own and still stayed a good student. I felt sorry for her by the circumstance but at the same time I was proud and just wanted the best for her. 

This is a book I would love to have in my library and recommend to every girl, I feel it’s such an important read because it shows how a sexist and misogynistic society was and is, talks about menstruation, about how lucky we are to have education for little girls and women, the importance of family, girls loving girls, having a support system, being free… there could be so many conversations around this, and I love that. 

Dragons coming back is something I didn’t expected and it was so interesting to see how people reacted to this and changed their lives and spaces so dragons could study, work, be part of society. I really liked seeing Alex learning to live with and love her new family. 

I loved the ending for the sisters and reading who they grew up to be. 

Finally, I’ll just like to say that I absolutely LOVE this narrator, I loved picking up this audiobook and hearing her voice again, it was just so comforting and soothing, I will be checking out more of her work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Sexism, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Cancer

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Alcoholism

I’ll make a list of the trigger warnings and how they appear in the book.

- Death of parent / Grief: A bit of an spoiler, but if you wanna know,

both of her parents die.

- Abandonment: When women transform into dragons they leave to the abandonment issues these kids grow up with is crazy. And her father can go to hell.

- Sexism / Misogyny: This whole society.

- Cancer: I think her mother has breast cancer.

- Death: Sometimes dragons killed their husbands.

- Gaslighting: The way adults in society collectively agreed in silence to never speak about dragons and make children believe they didn’t exist.

- Fire injury: Obviously, there’s dragons lol

- Homophobia / Lesbophobia: Once again, her father can go to hell.

- Alcoholism: Aunt Marla married and alcoholic.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

adventurous emotional funny slow-paced

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

3.5

For months now I’ve been meaning to start reading The Lord of the Rings and recently I found out there’s audiobooks narrated by Andy Serkis and I just knew I had to listen to that version and I’m happy I did! 

I watched the movies two years ago and I remember few things so I was comparing it to that at some points, there’s some things here I know didn’t happen in the movie and a couple others that were modified, it was interesting to see that. I was hoping to see more of Arwen but her appearance was so brief here. 

I love to see that Sam's loyalty and devotion towards Frodo is the same in the book. While having Pippin and Merry in the adventure is like having two little kids in the company lol 

I didn’t know Frodo leaves Hobbiton when he’s 50 years old, just like Bilbo did when he went on the journey with the dwarves 🥺 

My rating is 3.5 ⭐, it was entertaining and I love the audiobook, but I have to admit at some points I had no idea what was going on, and that’s because this is slow and (i’m sorry!) a bit boring sometimes lol so I lost my focus. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Violence

Here’s the three main trigger warnings in my opinion, I’ll be explaining a bit of how they appear in the book without much spoiler.

- Violence: They have to fight to escape other creatures.

- Grief / Death: One of the members of the Fellowship dies in the 3/4 of the book and in the rest of the book we see how the others are grieving.

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

1.5

I almost feel like I don’t want to do the review for this book because I’ll rather just forget it exists. It makes me sad to think how I waited so long to read this one and I was so excited… and then I read what I read… I was 5% into it and I wanted to DNF so badly but I’m so freaking stubborn I continued and then it was a bit addictive and then the ending was just that?? well. I even had this as one of my 5 stars prediction, stop 😭

Please read the trigger warnings before picking up this book because it’s insane and I felt sick the first 100 pages, I don’t enjoy reading about a town full of sexism, misogyny and let’s be honest, pedophiles. And then this book was way darker than I expected. 

Every year girls who are 16yo are sent to their Grace Year which is basically leaving them on their own in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with little to no supplies while they’re being hunted by men, and all so they can release their “magic” and then come back and be proper women who marry the boys who picked them before leaving. 

So the book revolves around this girl named Tierney because it’s her grace year and we see how the town behaves just before they all leave, and then the group of girls when they leave. It’s divided in the 4 seasons of the year and then the return of the girls alive. 

I hate that this book is promoted as “fantasy” because I kept waiting for the magic but there is none!! This “magic” translates to “this little girls are becoming women and the men are pedophiles who can’t control themselves and use it as an excuse to make the women behave”. But I would say the genres of this book are dystopia and horror, and there’s this little romance. 

I don’t even want to look at my annotations because I was SO angry at everyone here 😭 the more I think about it I keep reconsidering my rating. 

I’m just realizing the fmc did have the “I’m not like other girls” thing and in the end she ended up being just like the other girls and there was no character development lmao. But what makes me mad about the end is how NOTHING changed, everything stayed the exact same so where’s the so called revolution and changed she wanted to make? She’s supposed to join her family in this secret organization but we don’t see that and she says how her child will change things for the future, girl, YOU were supposed to be the change for her! 

If it wasn’t because of the writing, the audiobook and my stubbornness, I would’ve DNF this, but yeah this is a 1.5 ⭐ for me because at least it was addictive and it was something… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Cannibalism, Infertility, and Sexual assault

Here’s a list of all the trigger warnings, I’m going to be specific about how they appear in the book and I’ll be hiding some spoilers:

Misogyny and sexism: from the very beginning that town is just full of it from both men and women, the way the town works is based on hating women.

Pedophilia: This made me so sick but yeah these men are all pedophiles and you can’t change my mind, the way they looked at the girls or talked about them was sickening.

Sexual assault: In the beginning is mentioned the story of a girl who was taken and she screamed and fought but no one helped.

Cannibalism: They fucking eat the girls parts?? When the girls leave for their grace year they’re hunted by poachers and they skin them alive and cut them in little pieces and sell them to be eaten wtf

Suicide: After the girls leave for their grace year, this girl kills herself in the river.

Death, child death, violence, gore and blood: That grace year is way more dark than I expected 😭 (the girls killed each other or cut their fingers as punishment, the poachers skin the girls alive, the girls fight, etc)

Sexual content: Some nudity and

the fmc had sex.

Pregnancy:

I guess the fmc learned simply biology lol but yeah she ends up pregnant.

Infertility: This is minor, but her older sister is mocked by some woman because it’s been years and she hasn’t had any baby yet.

Lesbophobia: One of the girls kissed another and she was "dirty" ever since.

The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months by Brian P. Moran, Michael Lennington
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.

(Tried to read this in February 2024) 

• You know what’s funny? I was doing so well on my own 12 Week Year (actually 10) plan I created after watching a couple of youtube videos, then I attempted to listen to this audiobook and I haven’t done anything from that plan for almost 2 weeks 🧍🏽‍♀️
• This was SO short, I started it at breakfast hoping to finish it that same day but this was so damn slow and boring, then I picked it up again after five days and I was so over it, every sentence felt like an eternity.
• I truly dislike non fiction books lol I went through my TBR again after DNFing this and deleted some.
• The thing that truly made me DNF this is the fact that I was not retaining a single thing from the information here, and I do have a good memory! I could recall an entire book I read years ago but I can’t tell you a single lesson from this even when I was actively reading this lol