hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about all this time by Mikki Daughtry and Rachel Lippincott. i gave this book 5/5 stars. i honestly loved this book so much, and it was honestly such a cute and amazing book, but also so freaking heartbreaking.
trigger warning- death, harry potter mentioned, car crash, hospital, death of a sibling,
okay, but can we just take a moment to look at the cover of this book? it is literally so beautiful, and hell the cover of five feet apart was also so freaking beautiful. and honestly whoever designed these covers honestly needs a raise and needs to make my cover if i ever publish a book. and this book also gives me major disney vibes.
a little ‘spoiler’ warning. i’m going to be talking about Kimberly dying, even though it’s in the description on goodreads, i just wanted to put that out for anyone that wanted to know.
one thing that i honestly hated in this book was just how Kimberly treated Kyle before they broke up and even after they broke up. i honestly thought he treated her like shit, and like he might have been a little naïve, but i mean he was still treated terribly by Kim.
with that being said, i still feel like Kim didn’t do everything terrible. so, i mean like Kyle thought they would go to college together and also like spend the rest of their life together, when he never really asked about her feelings. but, i still think Kim shouldn’t have broke up on graduation night, but that can be argued.
but, i honestly thought that Marley and Kyle were honestly so good together. like, they were just so amazing and they were just so cute. and like they were broken, and i mean in this really weird way they are now being saved and they are helping each other heal. and they were just so pure and cute.
there also is this big plot twist towards the end of the book, which i literally did not expect at all. like, it was honestly so shocking and i literally did not see it happening. but, i mean, it was still really good and cute, not gonna lie. and yeah it was kind of cheesy, but like it was still so good and i honestly loved it.
but, once Kimberly died, i have no clue why her parents went to Kyle’s house and took everything that remotely looked like it could belong to her. which, i honestly thought was pretty shitty, since i mean, like they were dating, so why can’t he have a couple things to remember her by. like that was kind of stupid and honestly annoyed me a little bit.
this book does deal with some harder topics, which is honestly kind of expected in a book like this. and i honestly think they did it so well, and they really wrote these characters so amazing. especially with all their trauma and just they were so well written, and i honestly loved it so much.
honestly, if you want to read a very cute and fulfilling YA romance, that i kind of heartbreaking, read this. it honestly is so good and i honestly love this one so much. and if you liked five feet apart, i highly think you should read this.
anyway, that is all for today! i know this is a pretty short post, but if i make it any longer i’d just be repeating myself over and over again. but, i such an amazing book and i honestly hope everyone reads this soon.
hello everyone! happy Valentine’s Day! today i am going to be talking about some of my all time favorite romance books. honestly, there is a ton, so i’m just gonna pick out the ones i remember the most and i remember liking the most. and i did break this into two different sections, adult and YA.
adult romance
the unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. Olive has always been unlucky, in her career, her love life, and everything else, her identical twin Ami, is the luckiest person in the world, well until everyone at her wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish. now, Ami forces Olive and her sworn enemy, Ethan, to go on an all expense paid honeymoon to Hawaii. as they pretend to be loving newlyweds, her luck is just draining out.
the roommate by Rosie Danan. when Clara’s childhood crush invites her to move cross country to live with him, she jumps on the chance. but, after a change of events, Clara find herself living with a complete stranger, Josh. she could have spent a good summer with him, till she googled him. once she learns about Josh’s job, it can break her families reputation, while also tackling the stigma about woman desire into her own hands. but, Josh and Clara don’t agree on much, but they both thing woman deserve better sex.
the happy ever after playlist by Abby Jimenez. after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can’t get her life back on track. but, once she finds a puppy on the road she looks into his eyes and bring him home. she starts to find herself more by herself then ever, but, after she gets a text from Tucker’s owner, she learns he is a musician on tour in Australia and he wants his dog back. after flirty texts and long calls, Sloan can’t deny her connection, but there is no telling what could happen when they meet.
the proposal by Jasmine Guillory. when Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor, man bun boyfriend, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. but, saying no is not the hard part, but they’ve been dating for 5 months and he can’t even spell her name right, but now they have a stadium full of disappointed fans. luckily, Carlos Ibarra comes to Nik’s rescue and rushes to help her from the camera crew. he knows what it’s like to have a video go viral, and now Nik’s social media blows up, but not a good way. Nik knows everything about how crazy LA is, and a handsome doctor like Carlos can’t be looking for anything to serious, so she can start on an rebound with him, with food, fun and, of course great sex.
red , white, and royal blue by Casey McQuiston. first son, Alex Claremont Diaz is the closet thing to a prince in American. with his sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they are the trio in the white house. but, as Prince Henry at a royal wedding leaks to the tabloids and threatens the American/British relations, but for damage control they are staging a fake friendship between the first son and the prince. as the Presidents starts her reelection bid, Alex starts to hid his secret relationship with Henry that could mess up the campaign and mess up the two nation.
the kiss quotient by Helen Hoang. Stella Lane thinks math is the thing that unites the universe. she thinks of algorithms to predicate customer purchases, a job that has given her more money then what she knows what to do with it, but she also has way less dating experience then the average 30 year old. it doesn’t help that her Asperger’s and french kissing doesn’t like it. so, she hires an escort, Michael Phan, a Vietnamese and Swedish stunner who can’t afford to turn down her offer, and agrees to her lesson plan. before long, Stella not only learns his kissing, but to crave all the other things she now feels.
YA
all this time by Mikki Daughtry and Rachel Lippincott. Kyle and Kimberly have always been the perfect couple all through high school, but when Kimberly breaks up with him on graduation night party, his entire world flips, literally. they get into a car crash and he wakes up with a brain injury, Kim is dead, and no one in his life can understand. until Marley, who has her own loss and she thinks it’s her fault, but when their paths cross, they click. as Kyle and Marley work to heal each others wounds, their feelings for each other grow stronger. but, Kyle can’t shake the sense that he’s headed for another crashing moment that will blow up his life.
heartstoppers by Alice Oseman. Charlie Spring is a Year 10 at Truham Grammar school for boys. the past year wasn’t good, but he’s not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11, and is on the school rugby team, and he’s heart a little bit about Charlie, the kid who was outed last year and bullied for months. but, they quickly become friends, soon Charlie is falling for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance, but love works in crazy ways.
felix ever after by Kacen Callendar. Felix love has never actually been in love. he wants to know what it is like, but he secretly fears that he’s too black, too queer, and too transgender. but, when an anonymous student starts sending him transphobic messages, and also publicly posting Felix’s deadname and also posting photos before he transitioned. Felix comes up for a plan of revenge. but, he sure didn’t expect a catfish scenario and landing him in a love triangle.
cemetery boys by Aiden Thomas. this is all about trans boy, Yadriel, who summoned a ghost and now he can’t get rid of him. but, Yadriel traditional Latinx family has problems with accepting his true gender, so he becomes determined to prove himself to them. which, is performing a ritual by himself, and he sets out to find the ghost that murdered his cousin. but, in the end, he summons the bad boy, Julian, who doesn’t want to go quietly to death. now, they work together to figure out what happened to Julian and also Yaddy’s cousin.
a quiet kind of thunder by Sara Barnard. Steffi has been a selective mute for most of her life, she has been silent for so long that she feels completely invisible. by Rhys, the new boy at her school, sees her. he’s deaf, and her knowledge of basic sign language means that she she assigned to look after him. but to Rhy, he doesn’t care that she doesn’t talk, and they find their way to communicate, Steffi finds that she does have a voice and she is falling in love for the only person who makes her feel brave enough to use it.
anyway, that is all for today! i honestly love all of these books so freaking much, and honestly i really want to reread some of these this year, since i miss some of them so much. but, anyway, i hope you have a great Valentine’s day.
hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about super fake love song by David Yoon. i gave this book 2/5 stars. honestly, this book was so bad, and just so cringey and just not good. and it kind of had some of the things that i just didn’t like in books, so that honestly sucked so much.
trigger waring- bullying and harry potter mentioned
with that being said, i honestly hate books that deal with lying. and Sunny pretty much is lying for this whole book to Cirrus, cause she walked into the wrong bedroom, so he just chose to lie to her about being a singer. and it honestly was such a bad book, and i lowkey hated it all so much. like, lying just makes me hate this book so much. especially how dramatic he was about coming out about it, especially was Cirrus freaked, which is completely normal.
but, this book was also just so annoying. like i understand what the plot is, but it just dropped off the deep end. and i mean, the plot is so basic, so that probably didn’t help. but, also it was like a good plot till like 35% and it just ended. and it was just so annoying. and maybe this just needed better writing or maybe just a better plot, but it’s probably both.
i also really don’t understand how / why Cirrus was like living by herself at 17. like, yeah that isn’t that crazy in the grand scheme of things, but her family was like filthy rich, so i don’t really know why they didn’t hire someone since i think she was alone for like years. but, i mean who really cares but still.
and i mean, everybody was calling this book to be so cute and fun, when it wasn’t. like everyone was annoying, and it was just stupid. like, it was kind of like every single YA book plot, which was just stupid, so nothing really original in my mind.
so, in the end of the book, and mind you a lot of this book talked about how Sunny would get bullied by this dude. and then in the end he just became besties with Sunny and he was like reformed cause he was ‘misunderstood.’ and it was just so stupid and i honestly hated it so much. like, he bullied you, why/how could you just forget it and become amazing friends.
but, there was this under laying plot about how you can’t have anyone love you unless you love yourself. which, i guess is a little bit true, but you don’t need to be perfect to even get any type of love from a partner or like a parent. like love is kind of a basic thing, so that kind of pissed me off in this book.
but, i honestly did not find this book to be any bit of funny. like it was just so stupid, and maybe a 3rd grader would find this funny. but, i sure as hell didn’t find it remotely funny or anything. if anything, it just got to be so stupid and/or unbearable it got to be kind of funny after awhile, but not like modern family funny where i’ll laugh my ass off.
this book was also so nerdy it gave me a headache. like, i can put up with a lot of nerdy books, to a degree. but, this one i just couldn’t do at all. like, his whole personality is making stupid shit from video games. and like what he was building just didn’t make sense, and it was just so stupid. Yoon would go on and on and on about how he’s building something, but it would be like ‘it’s a sword’ and then we would get this talk about how cool it was, when it really wasn’t.
and we also got pages and pages and pages about how Sunny’s whole life was in these boxes, and instead of being like a normal person and putting all of his books and clothes and shoes in a closet, dresser or on a shelf, it’s all in this boxes. and he would go on and on and on about how he was saying so much room, when he really wasn’t and it was just annoying af.
but, i did really like the whole part about Sunny’s family. i really liked how when Grey came home things where brought to light that probably wouldn’t have if he didn’t come home. and i honestly loved to see how just because they are rich doesn’t mean they are perfect. and i honestly really liked the relationship between Grey and Sunny.
and honestly this book was just basic love story. it really had that basic YA book feel, and the romance was definitely that basic love story. which, honestly isn’t really an issue, when it’s written good and not boring unlike this one. and i even feel like the characters were kind of stereotypical YA characters, but who knows.
with that being said, i feel like Cirrus was very basic woman character in YA books, especially when it’s written by a man and a male is the narrator. like, she kind of came arcos to me is that she was really just there to please the males around her, since she was pretty much just hot and cute. and maybe she’s just underdeveloped or something, since she was as boring as her apartment.
spoiler-
honestly, i really think he shouldn’t have got Cirrus in the end. like he lied to her the whole relationship and then it was like she forgave him. and i know i say this in every book where one person lies in a relationship, it is so stupid. like Cirrus fell for the rock star, not the nerd, and she just gets with him. like i know this might be petty, but i literally don’t think i could ever do something like what she did.
end of spoiler.
anyway, that is all for today! i hope you liked this post, and liked this book more then i did if you read it. but, i’m still planning on reading his other book, just to see how it is compared to this one, sometime in the future.
hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about they wish they were us by Jessica Goodman. i gave this book 2/5 stars. honestly, i hated this book and it was just so bad and just like cringey and so white it was annoying. and i lowkey have no hope for this adaption.
my first issue with this book is how white and straight this book is. like to me, this is a fictional world, and a fictional school, so it’s not like impossible to thrown in a couple queer characters or a couple Black or POC characters. and yeah the girl Halsey is said to play is like bi i think, but she’s on for like five seconds and then she kind of disappears and they barely talk about it. and in my mind it kind of like this book is diverse with one queer character.
and another issue with this book was how they book was just filled with prep kids and they were so annoying. like damn all they did was talk about their parents money and random crap like basic prep kid drama. and i honestly feel like it was kind of stereotypical, since everyone was so rich and whatever and then there was Jill was that weird trope were she is the main character and doesn’t have that much money, which i feel like happens in every single prep school book.
and since she was like one of those kids where they are on the scholarship, all she talked about how she kept talking about how she can’t loose her scholarship. and like it would be all this talk about 24/7. and it got to be so annoying since she just kept talking about it. and it kind of annoyed me to death cause we understand it, y’know.
this is also one of those books where they talk about so much how the seniors, or i mean just the players that are seniors, they just rule the school. and they just bully everyone that isn’t players and it was just so annoying. cause like i could careless about how the seniors were just the best person.
also, since they go to this rich school they have this big ass cafeteria. which, is like cool. and i mean, how they talk about it, made it seem like it was the best thing since sliced bread. but, that’s not my issue. but, Jill and her friends would go and get these balls of cookie dough, like raw cookie dough. so, i’m not even sure how the school even got across with selling raw cookie dough, since that has got to be going against some type of health code rules.
but, this plot is honestly so freaking slow and boring. since, i feel like the whole plot about her best friend dying took forever to get into it. like the good 60% was just petty high school drama and just the hazing. so, i mean it was so stupid to call this a mystery since the mystery never really was that good. so, i mean it honestly just sucked.
and i mean i feel like there was so much time jumping it got to be annoying. like i feel like we were just in January, which was cool and everything, then it like jumped to April and i was like huh?? cause they never even said that they jumped. and it was just so confusing. and it was just a pain and i wished they said that the time jumped or whatever. and then it just jumped a couple times, like not back in time or something it just jumped to like May and June and shit.
also, there was so much hazing in this book it was just so gross. like, the hazing was just so gross and i literally just hated it so much cause it made me so uncomfortable. like the locked Jill in a dark room and she had to drink a thing of vodka and like pee in a bucket in shit and like even worst. and it was just so gross and i literally hated it so much, and it was like ‘normalized’ in this book, which just sucked.
and they kept saying that they were gonna reform the school system and how they were gonna make everything be so much better for the next generations, cause what they went threw was hell. but, they literally did it. and i’ve heard those real life horror stories about what happens when people get hazed, and hell there is even a blue bloods episode that talks about it, so i don’t know why Goodman just talked about it so freely.
and all of these characters were just so selfish. like, they only cared about them and their life and they could give two shits about their family or anyone around them. they were just me me me and it just wanted me to poke my eyes out. and i mean, i think being players kind of went to their heads, which i expected.
but, i don’t really understand how the teachers and the office never learnt that the players were a thing. i mean, i don’t know how they never figured out anything, since i mean they cheated on school ground and i mean they acted like they were Beyoncé for most of the story. and i just don’t know how nobody ever figured it out. and like there was a teacher that went to that school, so he knew about the cheating and i just don’t know how this was got to be a secrets for years.
but, this book also was like so sexist?? like i literally found it to be so sexist when they were talking about the players table and it was just annoying. like they would keep talking about how the men pretty much rule this world and kind of like rule the players for years.
and the killer was so easy to pick out who did it. like from the start of this book it was so hard to be like oh they did this. cause it was just so easy and never like seconded guessed myself. and i mean, if Goodman just put everything out there in the book, it would have been such a better story and not make that character to be so sus.
then when they got into Jill coming to the killer and getting into this fight. the person just confessed what they did and how they killed Shay. and then it was like, i never really understand how Jill and Halsey’s character would just walk away with the person confessing. so, when the person beat them up and try to kill them wouldn’t be out of the possibilities.
and i mean, this could just be built up for book 2, but i wish we saw more of the girls recovering from what happened with the murderer. i mean, they should be kind of fucked up mentally, but they literally weren’t and it was annoying. like, they got beat up and almost killed, so i don’t know why they were just like fine after it.
anyway, that is all for today! i hope you enjoy this post, and i mean this book was honestly kind of bad. and i hope this book does get a sequel, since there was so many untied things. but, if it doesn’t it would honestly be such a disappointment. but, who really knows.
hell everyone! today i am going to be talking about as far as you’ll take me by Phil Stamper. i gave this book 3/5 stars. happy pub date to this book! and also thank you so much Netgalley and Bloomsbury YA for an arc of this book! my review will be honestly and won’t be changed by the publisher or author.
trigger warning- bully, toxic relationship, manipulation, hemophobia, religious homophobia, body dysmorphia, eating disorder, self harm by not eating, use of a queer slur, public outing with no consent, almost sexual assault, harry potter mentioned (Stamper tweeted that this was gonna be taken out in the final version of this book.)
i’m going to be completely honest, i was so excited for this book. so many people have been hyping up his other book, so i was excited when i got an arc. but, this was just not it. the description makes it sound like such a cute coming of age, but instead this book was so triggering to me and i almost hope i never read it. and weight talk is such a huge issue, which is kinda way i don’t read a lot of books with plus sized since i’ll get really triggered, and i never really expected it in here cause nobody was talking about it. but, yeah, it was quite triggering in my mind.
with that being said, i personally i thought the weight talk was so toxic. like, it really was just not it, especially how they talked about it. but, to a degree i really liked how Marty’s family and friends kind of talk to him about it. since, i feel like that is really truthful. and this is just my own opinion as someone who dealt with this, so someone could think completely different and that is okay.
and i can kind of touch on the outing of Marty since it happened to me but mine was completely different, which i don’t really want to get into. but, i do feel like it just didn’t make sense, not really why he was outed, but the outcome of him being outed. like, i really felt like he would go on and on about everyone being homophobic, where everyone was so supportive. so, honestly that just made me so confused kind of.
but, i feel like the portrayal of anxiety and the unhealthy relationships were honestly so good. like i feel like Stamper really talked about it, and didn’t like brush it off like a lot of people do. and i really like how Stamper went into depth about talking about how Marty wants to fall in love so bad, that he has blinders on in order to find love and fit in.
so, now i’m going to touch on the whole almost rape scene cause this was pretty much dropped. so, basically Pierce wanted to have sex, and Marty didn’t really want to or anything cause he was so self conscious. so, Pierce tries to like take Marty’s boxers off and that was pretty much it. like we got a fight between the two, but then it was like dropped, completely. which, this feels like such a big thing that could be talked about, since i feel like i YA we never get books that talk about same sex rape, but they just dropped it.
this is probably just me, but i feel like there was so many different characters and little plot points that were brought up, especially Pierce and Shane’s friends, and they kind of got pushed off a cliff or something. since, they were this part in the start and middle, but their plots just ended, and never got fleshed out or anything. which, was super annoying.
and i feel like the writing was just not it. like i feel like it was lacking and just one dimensional. and it just wasn’t good. like the writing and a book was kind of all over the place and i really did not like it whatsoever. so, it probably plays into why the characters were pretty flat.
but, Marty would go on and on about how his mother is from Ireland, and because she is Irish it means he is a England citizen. which, i know the american school system isn’t the best, but i know that it doesn’t work like that. cause, if his mom was born and raised in Ireland, he wouldn’t just get an England citizenship. and i mean that’s kind of common knowledge but whatever.
and i also don’t really understand the whole talk about because Shane is Marty’s cousin and lives in London, and Shane’s mother is Marty’s moms sister. which, makes sense. but, then Shane said that he lived in London most if not all of his life, so just because your mom has an Irish accent, accents just don’t get passed down like eye color and hair color. so, wouldn’t he have a British accent? since he does live in London.
then another thing that was just so stupid was Marty was so confused about what busking was. like i knew what it was when i read this book, and it might just be because i live by a bigger city with busking, i know what it is. and like yeah he was from this small town, he might not be around it, but shouldn’t he see it on tv shows that take place in New York, LA, or Chicago? and he also says like he was looking into the London culture, so wouldn’t he see something about it? like that just didn’t make sense.
but, this book wasn’t for me, obviously. but i do feel like there is some life lessons in this book, which many people will probably like. and hell, i know a lot of people on instagram really liked this book. so, i still think this is worth the read.
anyway, that is all for today! honestly, this wasn’t the book for me, but hopefully it might get changed in the final version. but, thank you so much Netgalley and Bloomsbury YA for an arc! and of course this is an honest review.
hello everyone! today is going to be bit of a different post, since all of the discussion posts i do are a little more happy, but this one is just me talking about what i’ve seen going on in the book community, mostly just twitter. but, today i am going to be talking about Branson Sanderson and how his homophobic past and just talking about it all.
before we get into the actual talk there is going to be talk about jk rowling, harry potter, sexism, racism, and homophobia.
first thing first, i know he has said he’s sorry for everything that he did, but there is still no excuse about completely ignoring what he has said, and just brushing it off and still reading his books without talking about what he did is wrong. and honestly if you want to read his books, fine, but you still just need to be aware of what he said and that he still is problematic.
there also has been some talk about how Sanderson has a gay friend, so he couldn’t possibility be homophobic. which, is honestly bull shit, since you can still be homophobic and you literally have 0 ground to stand on with that claim. and being homophobic is still being homophonic. and we don’t know what their relationship is, so we are only seeing what it is like from Sanderson’s POV, not how his friend feels like whenever he is with him.
people have also brought up the topic that Sanderson has gay characters in his book, like one per book or something. where, honestly having 1 or 2 gay characters, is literally the bare minimum. especially when they barely talk about their sexuality, and they are just those Netflix forced diversity just to hit their quota.
the next thing is the talk about the homophobia that he has expressed. so, for a little back story, jk rowling made some post or said somewhere that Dumbledore is gay. and there was people that expected these things, then there was people, like Sanderson, who basically ripped this apart with their homophobia. and in this little post he wrote, he said something that if there was an option to vote for gay marriage to be a thing or not, he would vote for it not to happen. now i found the post, and i’m going to be putting a quote in here about it.
“Another note to those who might be reading this who are, themselves, gay. No, I don’t believe that homosexuality can—in many cases, at least—be treated and ‘cured.’ I do believe, however, that impulses of attraction between people of the same gender are something that can and should be resisted, in the same way that my impulses of attraction toward women who are not my wife can and should be resisted. You probably believe differently. I’m okay with that. End note.”
which, if you read that, it pretty much says that if you are attracted to your same gender, it is the equivalent to cheating on your wife. which, is straight up disgusting.
but, then in 2011 he learnt from his mistakes and kind of apologized for everything that he said in the past. with that being said, he said that he learnt from all of his mistakes, and he now knows that being a white straight male does give him a massive privilege. but, he followed that up with saying, he said that he supports gay marriage now. then he followed that up with saying that marriage still is and should be a religious term. so, now i’m going to put another quote about all of this.
“I cannot be deaf to the pleas of gay couples who want important things, such as hospital visitation rights, shared insurance, and custody rights. At the same time, I accept and sustain the leaders of the LDS church. I believe that a prophet of God has said that widespread legislation to approve gay marriage will bring pain and suffering to all involved.”
so, he says that he learnt from his mistakes and that he fully supports lgbtqia+ people, and yes he improved and learnt from his mistakes. he agrees that they should get their rights, but does he actually believe that? because from what i took out of that is that it will bring “pain and suffering to all involved.” so how much as he actually learnt?
and i know it sucks to think that your favorite author said some shitty things like this. but, this is older, but just because it is old doesn’t mean that this is okay to say.
now, this is something i’ve seen going around reddit a little bit, but it was how he handled the POC and Black characters in the Mistborn era 1. so, there has been people that said it was plain racism, since all of the white people have the higher jobs, and everyone that is a POC or Black, and this is all shown via the class divisions of their skin color, and there also is racism between the different classes.
granted, i can’t say how i feel since for 1. i’m white and 2. i’ve never read the book, this is just facts that i found on reddit and other websites. but, i still wanted to bring it up. and i’ve seen a couple people bring this up on instagram, so i feel like it is enough to bring up here.
now i’m going to talk about the sexism in all of his novels. since, for one, all of his characters fall into the typical gender roles. and i don’t know about you, but i feel like a lot fantasy today are pushing the gender roles and not just even in fantasy books, its in all the books and then in real life.
and i know people can make the argument about that Sanderson has books with female main characters. which, is just like the terrible argument about how he has a gay friend, so he can’t be homophobic. and all of the people that are talking about this is how some of the men characters are like so well written and these badass roles.
where, for the female roles they are kind of written shitty and like super flat. and that they aren’t written half way as decent has his male characters. and then people we also pointing out that how he gives the woman the “cool” roles, to try and cut out the sexism, which obviously didn’t work for him.
honestly, i just wanted to bring this up, since i know that some drama was happening all over book twitter. so, i just wanted to put everything up front. and honestly i’m just here to present the facts that i found, so here it is.
anyway, that is all for today! i honestly you hope you liked this post, even if it wasn’t fun and light hearted like the rest of my post. but, i honestly have more of these planned for the next couple months, just talking about different problematic authors that have done some other questionable things. and if you have any other authors or books you want me to cover, you an comment and i’ll look into it.
hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about love is a revolution by Renee Watson. i gave this book 2/5 stars. thank you so much Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA for an arc of this book. and my review is going to be biased cause i got an arc or by the author.
first off, i honestly hated this relationship between Tye and Nala. like the whole relationship was just based of lies, and everything that Nala did was pretty much just a lie. and i honestly cannot take books that have lies on the relationship, and is the only part of it. like, Nala lied about everything and it got to be so much after awhile.
and this isn’t a spoiler cause it’s in the description. but, when the truth came out, that Nala wasn’t who she said she was, Tye freaked out, which honestly was so understandable. since every single thing, besides her family, he thought was the truth but was actually a lie. and i honestly don’t see an issue with him freaking out, since it was honestly understandable.
but, Nala was so pissed when Tye got mad at her, even though what he did was understandable. where, when Tye got Nala a water bottle, she literally flipped out and was so close to break up with him cause he got her a goddamn water bottle. like what???? how are you gonna get mad about a water bottle but he can’t flip out when she lied you?? like please let that make sense Watson. and like it literally is just a water bottle cause you’re using ones you throw out. it’s not that deep for you to flip out.
they also talk and bring up every single thing that they do, what they feel, and what everything looks like. and honestly it was just so annoying. cause i feel like the important parts were so short, but then we would get 10 pages about her hair. and there wasn’t really a balance between the two of them. and i just hope it gets fixed in the actual published version.
but, then we get this part that was honestly just more funny then anything. it was how Nala went on this tangent about how she hates reading and how she thinks it is so stupid. when we are literally reading about her. and i that was kind of funny i guess. but, it was also so weird and kind of annoyed me at the time for some reason.
and i’ve been kind of going back and forth about if i think this book is body positive or not. and i’ve seen a lot of non plus sized creators say it was, but also someone that isn’t that skinny, i honestly did not find it to be. like Nala’s cousin definitely was, but Nala kind of hated her body, which is against the point of being body positive. but, that might just be me, but who knows.
but, i do feel like this book was written for teenagers. like most YA books are written by older people who don’t know shit about teenagers today. and i honestly really feel like this was written and kind of dumbed down, for teenagers to read. which, i honestly really liked. but, at some parts it did even feel a little too young, and kind of got to be a little middle grade.
with that being said, this a group of teenage activist, but is there seriously not at least one queer character? like you’d expect at least one, which is still the bare minimum, for just one. but, i just feel like it wasn’t realistic. and they kept quoting these queer icons, from what i remember, but yet their was zero queer characters.
“In Love Is a Revolution, plus size girls are beautiful…”
okay so that is in the description about this book on goodreads and it kind of just rubbed me the wrong way. since, i mean it kind of implies that plus sized girls being beautiful isn’t a thing and like never happens. which, was pretty annoying since all plus sized girls are beautiful and can pull that hot guy just like anyone else.
and i also found Nala to act like she wasn’t like other girls, cause she doesn’t live with her mom, has this big family, etc. which, just pushed down our throat. and then she would go on these long talks about how she judges and doesn’t like all of these activist, when in relate she doesn’t even own a water bottle. and like then she would be like ‘i’m not like other girls cause i can’t do my hair lol i’m so funny’ and it honestly just got on my nerves.
i also thought that Nala’s growth was barely there. cause in the end of the day she never really owned up to the lies she told Tye, she like acknowledged them but it was like yeah i did it, but i’m not sorry lol better luck next time. and like in the end, she was still the same person she was in the start and never really learnt from her mistakes.
and she also like hated her friends?? like she always acted like they were so annoying and that she could not understand and get behind their ‘woke activist bull shit’ which was just super annoying. like they are trying to save the planet, when you are over here chugging 50 plastic water bottles when they told you not to around them.
Nala also always talked about her falling out with her mom, which is something that i’ve never really see for teens in books. so, if Watson just went better into that it would honestly be so cool and i would honestly love it. but, we also never really got to see the full story about what was happening and why they had this massive falling out.
and since there was so much lying and everyone was just down everyone’s throat the whole time it honestly became to be such a toxic book. like from the romance stand point, it was super toxic. which, is mainly because of all the lying and not being honestly about anything. and also the toxic positivity from some characters got to be a bit much.
also Nala and Tye barely even kissed and literally just held hands, so kind of a middle school relationship. but they literally had no chemistry, which got on my nerves. like they didn’t really click or anything and it honestly felt so forced. which again is probably because of the lying but who knows.
moral of the story: don’t read this book to be this cute Black, plus size love story, cause it’s not. it’s a book about lies and about random teenage drama. and it just became more and more toxic as it went on. and they barely even kiss so i’m not sure how much of a romance it can be.
anyway, that is all for today! i hope you liked this post and if you read or will read it, you will have a better chance with it. and honestly i just hope that it got chanced before the publication. but, still thanks for the arc.
hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about the project by Courtney Summers. i gave this book 2/5 stars. first off, thank you so much Netgalley and Wednesday Books for an arc of this book! my review won’t be impacted by the author or because i have an arc, all my opinions are my own.
Summers tweeted “this is a book that will make you reconsider everything you think you know about yourself.”
here’s the thing, i know authors need to hype up their book and make it seem like such a great book, but this is taking it way to far. i have never reconsidered anything about me, only why i picked up this shit show of a book.
see, most people understand how bat shit crazy cult’s are. like i knew how crazy they are from a young age. and i grew up in a catholic family, which is kind of a cult by itself, and i’ve always knew the horror stories about these cults and how you don’t want to mess around with them. but, this cult was just so crappy, like their ‘selling point’ wasn’t even that good of a selling point, which probably just needed more research.
since Lo was going into this cult for the first time, just like we were, i honestly expected this book to explain how this cult works, and the different systems of this cult. but, we pretty much just got thrown into the deep end, and not in a good way. like we just were expected to understand how this whole world works. when, i had no clue what was actually was happening and how everything worked.
but, this book was also just so much preaching. like with whatever she was doing was just preaching, like Lo but also even Summer i feel threw the writing was just preaching. and i mean, to me i feel like it was all just like trying to make you see how everything worked and that they were supposed to be so scary, but just preaching.
this honestly could be taken as a spoiler, but then again who cares. but, there is this romance, and the first romance was in the first 30%, it was just so bad. like the whole romance was just built on a foundation based on sex, and they never even like went on a date or had a heart to heart, it was just sex. like whenever this couple was together they would be naked walking around, or like laying in bed having sex or just being naked in bed which i just found to be super weird.
but, this book also didn’t make any sense. like, the whole plot was just all over the place and all of the back and forth just didn’t make sense. i mean, to me they would just bring up rather crap, so i literally could not get into this book. which, kind of made me go back and forth from to the synopsis, just so i honestly could get a little ground to stand on, since this was just a mess.
i also feel like this book just couldn’t make sense. since, i feel like Lo went in knowing shit and this just didn’t work. like she was this 19 year old character who was like lol i’m going to go into this cult and investigate. and she was by herself and had no one to help her do anything, which cool i guess. but you cannot look me dead in the eye and tell me this 19 year old girl who can barely walk in a straight line without balling her eyes out is going to overthrow this whole cult, with like thousands of followers, and she cannot possibly overthrow this cult.
also, there was some romance / sex plots. which, cool whatever, you do you girl. but, there was just so much sex in this book, that it was kind of gross and just overall weird as hell. and they would just be like having sex and shit, and then the next 5 pages would them just being naked, and like they were naked so much of this book it was just weird as hell. like whenever they were in their room or hell just in the house, they would just be walking around naked which was just so weird. but, that might just be me. and the whole walking around the house naked honestly weirded me out so much. and they will be having a heart to heart standing there butt ass naked and literally nobody was talking about this.
with that being said, this was pretty much a dark romance book. the cult info was just saying the same info over and over and we got told it like 50 times. but, then the rest was this dark cult leader romance. which, i literally did not care for at all. cause for me when there is romance i need some substance, and i need them to actually be together, not just based on sex and how hot each other are.
spoilers-
here’s the thing, i went back and forth to bring this book up, but i think it needs to be said. i found the romance between Lo and Lev to be so weird. like, the whole reason she met him was because Bea was with Lev was with her, but then Lo and Lev go have sex in the church and become this couple. which, was honestly just so weird.
like this might just be me, but if i have a sister, who has a daughter and was with this man, but then the sister goes missing. i wouldn’t just turn around and get with the dude my fake sister has a baby with. like i just found it to be so weird. and i really couldn’t get with it.
end of spoiler warning.
anyway, that is all for today! i hope you enjoyed this shit show of a blog post, cause i mean it just is like the book, an absolute shit show that does not actually make any sense. anyway, i hope you liked this and hopefully my review for tomorrow will make more sense then this one.
hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about the revenge of the sluts by Natalie Walton. i gave this book 4/5 stars. first off, thank you so much Netgalley and Wattpad books for an arc of this book! and my review isn’t going to be impacted by the publisher or the author. also, happy almost pub date to this book!
trigger warning- cyberbullying, revenge porn, porn of minors, and slut shaming.
i’m going to be completely honest, i thought this book was going to be terrible, since before i actually started i thought it was going to be super slut shaming. but, this book was honestly completely different. i honestly found this book to honestly be tasteful and that they never shamed the girls for sending the pictures, or at least Eden, and i honestly really liked that. and with that being said, i honestly really like the whole victim blaming wasn’t even that bad, which i also really liked.
but, i also really liked how this book is played into the whole how sending nudes kind of plays into social media and everything. and like how if you send nudes to people, and how instagram and even like blogs and how everything kind of goes hand in hand into todays climate and culture.
then, i also found it was kind of cool about how this author and all the characters talked about consent. and i feel like when we get talk about consent we only really get talked about rape, but i feel like we need to bring more awareness to people that are pressured to send nudes, especially when the person that is sending is a teenager. and i mean it was kind of cool to see how feminist this book was in the end of it all.
and i also love mystery books so much, so this was honestly so cool. and i know i will always love more of the murder mystery plot, but this was honestly so cool and i honestly really liked it. there was the whole figuring out who done all of this, but also still supporting the victims and then also roping this school newspaper in it. and i honestly really liked it, since it did mix my love for YA contemporary and then the whole mystery element.
with getting all of that ramble out of the way, i honestly wish Walton did do this in multiple POVs. since we honestly only got Eden, and she never got any of her nudes leaked. and i feel like we could have gotten so much more insight and have more talk about how the victims were handling it and how their life got flipped upside down. and overall this would have made it so much better, but it was still a decent book.
the ending was also kind of bad and not that good. i honestly never really remembered who that character was in the end. and either the author needed to have the character to have a bigger part or just be rememberable. but, i still feel like there just needed to be bigger of a punch in the end of it all.
then another bigger part of this book was the whole journlism and how they need to keep the story up and and keep it truthful. and i honestly really liked that, since the school was trying to keep this hush hush, and the media can’t know what was happening. but, Eden still kept reporting on this story and that she kept it real no matter what came her way. and i honestly really liked that.
i also really liked about how Eden talked about how the school didn’t give a rats ass about the girls. and i honestly really liked it since i believe this is a private school, it was honestly really believable. like no school is going to come out and say something, especially if this actually is a private school.
but, i also feel like this book needed to make the characters voices to be different. like i feel most of the victims had such a similar voice and they all acted the same. and that might have just been because we really focused on one girl for the most of it. but, when we get more and more into this story, i feel like all of the girls just blended together. which, i honestly just wished we got more of a difference between all of them.
this book always talked about these toxic males in the school and what they say to the girls and even just their friends. which, is so true to high school in general. but, i mean there was this one male character, Attius, who i actively really liked him. he definitely was that whole, i’m not like other guys, but i still really liked how he keeps the calm between the girls and then the guys, and overall how he just influenced the stories. and i honestly really liked how he stood up to all the men about everything they were saying.
i’ve already kind of talked about Eden, since she is the main character. but, i mean i feel like she just needed more depth, because she didn’t have that much of a personality since all she did was work and work and work. so, i mean i would have liked to learn more about her other relationships and how her personality is. which we didn’t get.
now i’m going to be jumping back to the writing, so just bare with me. i honestly really liked the writing. since i feel like it really told the story well enough and was honestly super truthful. and i’ve read my fair share of Wattpad published books and also just regular wattpad books, but i feel like this is the best written one i’ve read in awhile. and the writing really was so amazing, at most parts.
anyway, that is all for today! i honestly really liked this book, and i honestly hope Walton writes more books in the future since this was just so good. but, thank you so much Netgalley and Wattpad books for an arc of this book, and my review wasn’t changed because of this.
hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about all of February book releases i’m so excited for. honestly, i didn’t have too many that i was excited for, since i feel like it is a lot of sequels and fantasy books this month, which i’m not really interested in. but, i also didn’t include any arcs, since i read most of those.
kill joy by Holly Jackson. this book comes out February 18th. Pip Fitz- Amobi does not want to go to her friends 1920’s fancy dress murder mystery party. and pretending their town, Little Kilton, is an island called Joy. but, as a game begins, Pip finds herself drawn into the made up world of murder, intrigue, and deception. but, the case of Reginald Remy isn’ the only case on her mind.
the obsession by Jesse Q. Sutanto. this book comes out February 2nd. nobody knows Delilah like Logan does. he has been learning everything from her social media and watching by the secret camera by her house. most people would call it a stalker, but he thinks it’s romantic. then Logan sees Delilah kill her abusive stepfather, he now knows that his perfect Delilah isn’t so perfect after all. now, she feels free, even though she should feel guilty, she is all over men controlling her life. expect Logan knows what she did and he will not let her forget, but she is done being the victim, and she refuses to be the character in Logan’s fantasy.
what big teeth by Rose Szabo. this book comes out February 2nd. Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years, when she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe, her home. but, when she gets there she finds it hard to fit in with her relatives, who prowl the woods around the house and read fortunes in the guts of birds. Eleanor finds herself trying to hold the family together in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monster.
Amelia unabridged by Ashley Schumacher. this book comes out February 16th. Amelia Griffin’s life has been ripped apart when her father left her, but then she became obsessed with the Orman Chronicles. the books brought her and her best friend, Jenna, together they get a chance to attend a book festival with Endsley, the author, there they are so happy. but, then everything goes wrong, Jenna gets to meet the author and Amelia doesn’t, they get in a huge fight and Jenna gets killed in a car crash. but, then a rare edition of the Orman Chronicles arrives, Amelia thinks it’s some secret message from Jenna. she tracks down the books, and finds herself face to face with the handsome N.E. Endsley, the reason they fought might have been Jenna helping her all along.
a pho love story by Loan Le. this book comes out February 9th. if Bao Nguyen had to talk about himself he would say he is rock, steady and strong, but not very interesting, his grades aren’t that good, his social status is unremarkable. but, he works at his parents pho restaurant, and he is his parents fifth favorite employee. then there is Linh Mai and if she had to describe herself she would say a firecracker, stable when unlit, but full of potential joy and fire, she loves art and dreaming of doing art for a living. but, her parents rely on her in ways she doesn’t want to admit, basically working full time at her families pho restaurant. but, their families don’t get along since they are owners of neighboring pho restaurants. and Bao and Linh have been avoiding each other, but they both suspect their families feud stems from feeling much deeper then a friendly competition.
a taste for love by Jennifer Yen. this book comes out February 2nd. to everyone, Liza Yang is nearly perfect, smart, kind, pretty, and she dreams big and always is up for a good challenge. but compared to her sister, Jeannie, Liza is stubborn, rebellious, and wants to push against Mrs. Yang’s values, especially when it comes to dating. but, this mother daughter duo only agrees to their love of baking, since Mrs. Yang is the owner of the popular Yin and Yang Bakery, with college around the corner, Liza agrees to help out at the bakery’s annual junior competition to show her mom that she is more then her rebellious tendencies. but, once Liza gets there on the first day of the bake off, she realizes the catch of all: all of the men there are young Asian American men her mother has handpicked for Liza to date.
fat chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado. this book comes out February 2nd. Charlie Vega is smart, funny, artistic, ambitious, and fat. but, everyone has an issue with the last one, especially her mother. Charlie just wants a good relationship with her mom, but her mom leaving weight loss shakes on her dresser, doesn’t help anything. the whole world thinks she needs to be whiter, thinner, straight hair, and slimmed face. there is one friend that is always in Charlie’s corner, her best friend Amelia, who is slim, popular, athletic, and really cool. but, when Charlie starts a relationship with her cute classmate Brian, everything seems perfect till she learns he asked out Amelia first.
anyway, that is all for today! i honestly am so excited to read all of these books, since they all sound so good. and i literally cannot wait to read kill joy since it’s one of my most anticipated books of the year. but, i also didn’t include any arcs in this list, since i’ve already read most of them at this point.
r.bookish 