Tag: book nerd

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about city of villains by Estelle Laure. i gave this book 1/5 stars. but, thank you so much Disney books and Netgalley for an arc of this book! and all of the thoughts on this book are my own, and didn’t get changed because i got an arc. and also happy pub day for this book!

i feel like in any fantasy book, or book that takes place in the real world, but turned fictional. the author really needs to explain everything how this world works. where in this case Laure did not do this. she pretty much was like yeah this takes place in this fake New York and then would talk about the schools and the different takes on the different disney worlds (ex. Wonderland was a big one) but they never explained it. like it was so confusing and it just didn’t make sense at all. and this was for the world, the schools, and all of the bars/clubs if you could even call it that. and like it was so confusing because it was talking about Michigan and the Bachelor, so i don’t even know what was happening in here.

but, i do think it was kind of cool that we got to see a lot of these disney villains. like it was cool, but half of them didn’t make any damn sense. like the mad hatter made sense, and like the fairies in sleeping beauty made sense, but that was literally it. which, was so confusing, especially when they had three different girls that changed to villains, and the only one made sense and the other two i had like question marks around my head cause i was so confused.

then the writing. this writing was honestly such a god damn mess. everything was like i read this, i did this, i said this, i examined this. so, you get the point. which, this got to be a pain in the ass because it just was so boring. and like it was just not it. but, i mean this was honestly kind of a shit show.

and i’m not sure if this was just me, but i found like writing to be a little childish. like not one of these typical middle grade writing style, this was just plain childish when this was supposed to be this upper YA book. but, now this was just so not good in my mind. and like with what is talked about it feels like older YA, with all the swearing too and all the marriage plot, but then the writing told me something else.

if you follow me, you know that i a lot of my reviews are way more negative then not. but, in here there is literally nothing positive about it. like i read the first maybe 75% word for word then i just skimmed it cause i literally could not care about this world. but, in here i literally cannot think of one positive thing sometimes though i like to put a little positive thing. but, there is not one positive thing in here, not on single thing.

personally, i really like crime books, i really like the stories about people going missing and getting killed. and this seems to be like such a good story combining two things i love, disney and crime stories. but this is not it. and like it was all about how these girls where going missing but it was just not it. like this was just so crappy and did not do anything remotely good.

this is kind of jumping back to the whole world building, but they would have all of these characters that i can pin point being like ‘oh that is supposed to be Maleficent’ or ‘that boy is kind of like Jafar.’ but, then there would be these characters named Kyle and Lucas, and i was like huh??? how does that even make sense.

honestly, this whole book felt like a CW tv show. it is all over the place and does not make any bit of sense at all.

and i’m such a big disney fan. like right as i’m writing this i have a disney jacket on and a walt disney t shirt on. hell i have one whole wall that is filled up with disney world maps and the other one i have a ton of pictures on, and one of my all time favorite books is the kingdom keepers. so, you get how i really love disney, but this was just so bad and did not do it justice. the villains did not make sense at all and this whole world was not it, and it was so weird.

i completely know that this review makes zero sense and is literally all over the place, but there is no way to talk about this book in a cohesive way. so, honestly i’m sorry if you got this far and this does not make sense at all. needless to say i’m not going to read this series.

anyway, that is all for today! i hope you understood this review even a little bit. but, thanks so much for an arc of this book to Netgalley and and Disney books. but, yeah i won’t be reading this series or anything else by the author in the future.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about more than just a pretty face by Syed M. Masood. i gave this book 2/5 stars. first off, thank you so much Netgalley and Little Brown Books for an arc of this book! and all of the feelings in this review are my own. honestly just bare with me here since i read this book a long time ago so yeah.

trigger warning- a lot of food talk, body shaming, some harry potter talk, slut shaming, arranged marriage, a lot of food talk, and sex tape of a minor.

first thing first, Danyal was honestly cocky, and not even a good kind of cocky. like, it was literally so annoying about how everything was about him and he was just so self centered. and this got to be so annoying after awhile and it just made me so pissed off while reading it.

the next thing is how sexist this book is. this honestly kind of played into the whole being so cocky. since he always made himself act like this big and powerful guy, and how he is such this lady’s man, and that all these girls are just good for being pretty and having sex. which, honestly got to be so annoying. and he also needs to tell all of the woman in his life is how to act and how to dress, which was just so annoying. i know i’m not explaining this well enough, but hopefully you get the point.

Danyal was also so mean to Bisma. like before they really got together, and even the first time they met all he is doing is calling her ugly and fat and how so many girls are so much skinnier and so much prettier. and, this honestly got me so pissed off, since this literally made me want to slap him cause he was just so rude.

and the whole family was just so rude about her. like i’m going to pull this quote “keep an open mind about this girl. she’s not, you know, hot exactly, but she’s got sex appeal.” which honestly just pissed me off cause they are pretty much just telling you that the only thing a girl is for is having sex and that you need to be conventionally pretty to have people like you, which is just so annoying. and they also talked about how they need to be skinny to have guys like you.

but, then i feel like Danyal was honestly so toxic. like he was so much of one of those guys that always here for looks and that it. and i mean he was so into girls that was skinny. and then he was like going after this girl and though she was so not into her, and he kept like chasing her, which overall was kind of toxic.

i also can’t talk about the Muslim rep, but i there was a lot of slut shaming. like it got to be so much, and it honestly made me want to dnf, which i obviously didn’t. but, it was just so annoying, and it was just so much and it was honestly so toxic. like, in my mind i just wish they kept the slut shaming to a minimum.

but, with that being said, Danyal kept making all of these jokes about his religion, which a lot of own voices reviewers said that it honestly just made them uncomfortable. and a lot of this book he was just making fun of the Muslim religion and all of the traditions. and he kept repeating them over and over, and i think Masood was trying to be funny, but it honestly didn’t work out.

this book was honestly pretty political, which was honestly not that bad when it was talked about. i honestly really enjoyed how they talked about how Winston Churchill wasn’t this amazing person, and how everyone thinks he is. and honestly how they always talked about him and how they kind of intertwined that into the romance.

with that being said, it got to be so annoying how Danyal would keep making comments about how if you do homework your a nerd, and it’s not good to do it. which, just got to be on my nerve, like some of us don’t really have a choice to do it so we don’t fail the class.

but, i also wish we got the romance upfront. like, we got it very much in the end, but i wish it was throughout the whole book. there was definitely some flirting and attraction in the start and the middle. but, the ending is when it really started, which i honestly kind of liked.

i also feel like this book had the whole teenagers are teenagers in it. which, is probably why Danyal was so god damn annoying. but, i mean, i really liked how all of the teenagers kind of acted like it. there definitely was moments that you can just tell an adult was writing it, but it was pretty good though.

and of course, this is a romance so it is going to be pretty predictable. which, was just expected. but, i feel like this was just a bit extreme. like i knew what was going to happen, not even just the romance, like everything else. but, you can’t have everything i guess.

overall, this book kind of made me uncomfortable at different parts. like, it might just be me. but the way he was talking about different girls and his religion just didn’t sit right with me. and this honestly gave me that feeling in my stomach, if you know what i’m talking about.

spoliers-

i did find the whole proposal in the end was a bit much. like i get that he is 19 and all, but it still felt a bit rushed. i would have totally just took a good old, ‘will you be my girlfriend?’ but, the proposal felt a little unneeded.

i also wish the talk about the sex tape was more positive. like i understand that she had sex out of marriage, but i just wished they understood that she didn’t want it to be recorded, the boy did it by himself. this honestly just pissed me off how she was the only one to blame, when it is more of the boys fault since he recorded it and put it on the internet.

end of warning.

anyway, that is all for today! obviously this wasn’t the best book in the world, but i still enjoyed reading it, to a degree. but, thank you so much for the e-arc of this book Netgalley and the publisher.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about cemetery boys by Aiden Thomas. i gave this book 4/5 stars. it was honestly so good, and i completely loved all of the characters and honestly the story as a whole. it was just so good and i completely loved it.

trigger warning- transphobia and fat shaming

first thing first, i really loved the romance. i completely loved the whole slow burn romance, and how a lot of stuff didn’t happen that quickly. and, Julian is also a ghost, i really liked that they didn’t jump into things. and that they took time to show their relationship and let their relationship really grow, and that they really grew everything happened.

on a worst note, there is a lot of transphobia in this book. it was honestly kind of shitty, but at the same time i feel like it was a learning experience for the family and the everyone else. but, i do really like how in the end they where so happy for Yaddy when he showed his powers, and then the whole fact that everyone literally expected him, which was just so cute and made me so happy.

this book is also so depressing. which, honestly wasn’t the worst thing in the world. since if this book was so happy, it probably wouldn’t have been that great of a book. but, this book is so sad, but i feel like it is a ray of sun shine and also such a feel good book. even if it was so sad.

but, i do feel like Thomas is such a great writer. i mean, there are writers who write characters, then there is authors who write characters. and Thomas is totally the second. they doesn’t half ass anything, they really write it completely. they write the characters inside and outside, and these stories are so personal, but also completely personal. but, Thomas wrote these books and characters who have so much care and are so polished characters.

there also is two different ways of queer books. there is the whole part where they have everyone accept them, then there is the whole nobody accepts him. but, Thomas went in between them both. he got the whole people not accepting them, but also not people completely accepting Yaddy. we got that people still thought that he needs to be with the woman in the kitchen, but then how his grandma says that he will always be “her little girl.” and i guess, that most books with trans character they are so negative, where when this happened it had the whole stab you in the heart, quick, then it would leave. and then you had the people that accepted him, and how he will always be a man, and screw everyone else. and Thomas constantly wants to go in the in between the two, the two where it is powerful, but also so sad and then happy.

i also completely loved Julian so much. he was honestly so cute, and i loved how he acted around Yaddy, and he was honestly so amazing. and also it was so amazing since he cared so much for his friends, which is something i love in friends. and this was just such an amazing character.

there also was the whole tropes. which, also kind of hit you in the face. but, it still all worked. it honestly wasn’t the best, but then tropes will work forever and ever, and they will always be a stable. we get the whole ‘bad boy’ and then the also troubled kid, but he actual is just kind of misunderstood, but also a kid. where he really cares about his brother and his friends, and he just wants to keep them safe. like he’s the typical kid, he is loud and nice, kind, and he is just so funny and will honestly walk threw fire to keep everyone in his life safe.

anyway, that is all for today! i know this book is honestly kind of short, since i feel like, since i liked this book so much, it was honestly kind of hard to write a post about. but, this was honestly such an amazing book i hope more people read this.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about the voting booth by Brandy Colbert. i gave this book 4/5 stars. this was honestly such an amazing book, and it honestly was so cute. so, thank you so much Netgalley and Disney Publishing for an arc of this book!

first off, i really liked how this whole book encourages younger people to vote. i feel like when your a teenager and just get the chance to vote, there is always so much pressure in the media, and you never really get told anything other then you need to vote. which, this book is honestly so positive, which i really liked.

i also feel like if you like the sun is also a star, you would completely like this book. since, this pretty much takes place in only one day. and it honestly was so cool, and that it honestly was just so cool to see everything happen in one day. and also to see how much a relationship can grow in one day.

but i also really liked the whole plot about the cat, and how the cat is like instagram famous. and this was honestly so cute, since there was time that it took away from the whole stress about murder, but also makes it happy. and also who doesn’t love a good cat plot in a book.

and also there was so much chemistry in this book. which, i honestly really liked in this. and i don’t know if it is just me, but i feel like there is some YA books that don’t have that much chemistry, and if they do it’s really boring. but, i honestly really liked the whole chemistry between the characters. and most of this book isn’t even that much of a romance, since they barely even kissed.

honestly, this book was kind of hard to read, since there is always so much political stuff going on in the world, since there is always politics in the world. and when i read this book it was around the time of the election, which probably wasn’t the best move. but, to teach its own, this was still a really good to see a cute story about voting.

this book also tackles all of the issues about Black Americans voting. since, it is a little harder to vote for Black people, and it is still something that we have seen a little bit in the last complete months the election so i really liked how it talked about that. and also how we just get to see how they have to overcome it and how much they need to do to get into the polling place and actually getting your vote counted.

it was honestly really nice that this was like a non fiction, mixed with complete fiction. and how Colbert got to see all of these struggles in this book. and also how there was some racism in this book, but it also wasn’t like the major theme of this book.

and honestly this book was honestly so important and i actually have heard that people have to read this for some of their classes. and i honestly really like it, since it is such an important read. and i honestly really hope that more high schoolers get to read this book for summer reading or something like that. but, even if it isn’t for school, i still really hope more teens read this.

but, i also really liked how there was more of a neutral stance on politics. since, i feel like there is always more of a party inside the books. but, this book was honestly pretty neutral and they honestly never talked about a party in this book. it was completely just a cute story about

going back to the cat thing again, i honestly am really happy that the cat didn’t die. i mean, i feel like a lot of books that have animals have something bad happening. but, this wasn’t even that bad.

duke- i honestly really liked the insights that we got on his past. i honestly thought he was actually kind of a good character, and i didn’t completely hate him that much. like, he was honestly so freaking sweet, which i really liked.

marva- i honestly feel like we don’t know that much about her. which, to teach its own, wasn’t the biggest deal, since this was more about voting. but, i still really liked her, and what she added to the story, and how everything played together. and also how she had this boyfriend and how that played into the story and the romance.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly really liked this book, even if this review is a bit short, since this book is honestly kind of short. but, thank you so much Netgalley and Disney Publishing for an arc of this book!