Tag: book

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about while we were dating by jasmine guillory. i gave this book 3/5 stars. honestly this book was good and fun to read, but i feel like there was nothing super remarkable about it, but it was still well done.

trigger warnings- panic attacks / disorder, sexual content, mental illness, body shaming, fatphobia, abandonment, alcohol, bullying, cursing, misogyny, medical content, racism, grief.

i think my biggest issue with this book is the fact that it still is in the wedding date series. like, i honestly liked this series, and i honestly do like guillory’s books, but i feel like that she needs to get out of this series. like the first couple books were so good, but as the series went on, i feel like it just got to be not that amazing, and slowly got bad. like, i think that she is just stuck in the confines of this series and what she can or can’t do within this world guillory built for herself. and i honestly wish they got out of this series and that she wrote books outside of this and explored more themes or characters.

another thing i didn’t really like was how that i didn’t feel the chemistry, especially on anna’s part. like, i think so much of the book was focused on ben and how ben had these feelings and all this about him. but when it came to anna’s feelings, i feel like they weren’t really there and that it was more focused on her career and her movies. and honestly, i feel like they did have the right build up, but something still was missing the mark on the characters and the relationship, and i honestly wish they had more cute moments before ben and anna jumped into bed together or just a little more fluff.

and like i feel like the pacing was just so weird. like, they had sex so quick when they first met, and even the sex just felt so outplace in the book. and than they had this fake dating plot. and i honestly feel like it just didn’t make sense and that some of the pacing in the book just didn’t fit. like, i think if it had better pacing, it would’ve worked so much better and that i honestly wish it was better. and like, i do think that it had these moments were just really randomly placed, and kind of a mess.

as for the chemistry, i think that it was honestly a mess. like, i honestly wished i liked both anna and ben, but they both kind of fell short for me. like, i mean, for one, i think they both had these side plots and then their main plots together, but their side plots lowkey sucked. like the whole plot with ben and his family and how they are having familial issues and problems, didn’t just make me really like it. and i mean, anna’s was okay, but i still think her plot with her and her movie was all over the place, and boring at that. but, i do think with ben and his family plot, it didn’t fit with the book. like, anna’s movie at last dealt with the plot and worked since this book is all about hollywood, where i feel like the whole plot with his family just didn’t work and should’ve been toned down a bit.

but, one thing i did like was the mental health and anxiety. like, i do think that it was cool because i feel like so many romance books try to have this powerful mental health journey, yet they are honestly never really good. so, i honestly feel like the whole mental health and anxiety really worked for me in this series and i honestly think it was really good. and like, i feel like it very much was equal opportunity, and they just didn’t focus on anna’s instead of both of them. and kind of overall, i honestly really like how guillory tries to normalize mental health and anxiety and therapy.

another thing i didn’t like was how basic this book felt. like, i honestly love books were one or both of the main characters are in hollywood and that famous character romances are just so good. but, i think my issue with this is that on the cover and on the description make it sound like this great big hollywood romance, but i feel like this was barely any hollywood and more just normal boring ass people. like they talk about how important anna’s job is and this role means to her, yet we know nothing about this movie, besides that it’s an action movie/ some sort of marvel type of movie, and then something about this new film and this new director, yet we know nothing about the film or the director. and like, if this movie was so important, which it obviously is, seeing that the whole book / romance revolves around this movie, i wish we knew a little bit more about it and not just be kept in the dark.

also i feel like the same thing happened to ben. like, i do think we know a lot about his job, and they kind of explained it, yet i still feel like there were moments we still were kept in the dark. and also that they talked so much about his job and how it means the world to him. yet, half way threw the book it literally just disappears and that they just stopped talking about it and he just kept blowing it off. like, i think that it was just so stupid because if it was so important, i don’t get why half way threw the book, he just stops going back to work and just lives in LA now.

and overall for this book, i feel like this book was just underdeveloped. like, the characters and the plot and the romance, just felt like it didn’t have enough time to really beat out the better and firmer details. like, most of this just rubbed me the wrong way and that i wish they developed the romance more, especially towards the end, since now we know that they ‘come from two completely different worlds’ and i think that they should’ve just put a little something more there.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly wish i loved this book than i did and i feel like so much of this book could’ve been approved upon. but, i’m still really excited to see how her next book goes, since it’s a beauty and the beast retelling in a completely new series.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about lock every door by riley sager. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly liked this book, besides the ending since i feel like it was kind of a mess and that it really just didn’t fit with the book, in away.

trigger warnings- death of a parent, medical content, medical trauma, death, murder, fire/fire injury, suicide, trafficking, blood, grief, kidnapping, confinement, self harm, gaslighting, injury/injury detail, violence, terminal illness, torture, classism, chronic illness, forced institutionalization, body horror, gore, gun violence, infidelity, toxic relationship, stalking, car accident, cancer.

honestly, one thing i really liked was that this book was the normal and basic thriller book that are mainstreamed today. like, i feel like so many books that are popular thrillers or mysteries are these stories about married people, couples, or families. so, i feel like having this book not focus on married couples cheating or something was honestly so nice. plus, it honestly felt very original and that it also kind of only murders in the building, which was honestly super cool.

but, another thing i really liked was that this book was a slow paced thriller. like, i think so many authors try to make their thriller books be so fast paced and pack so much action in these 300 ish paged books. so, i honestly really liked and thought it was honestly so cool that this was slow paced and that you’re figuring everything out, and not in this fast way, in more of a slow way and that with it being slower and having a slow paced books honestly upped the tension and that it made it kind of creepier.

but, when it came to the end of the book, and the final big reveal, i honestly hoped that it was this supernatural or something satanic or something that wasn’t as, lack of better words, ‘normal’ as the reveal. like, i wish that they had more of a can’t explain ending as this book was. like, was it was cool and i’ve never read anything like that before, i just wish that it had something more. and like they’re was so much build up in this book that it had these supernatural build up moments, but then it was like surprise, it wasn’t.

another thing in this book i really liked was the atmosphere of this book. like, i feel like they really did a good job with writing it and that it was honestly very spooky, and that it taking place was just so cool. and i mean, i honestly think that it was one of my favorite parts, since this big apartment made it seem so much cooler, and just having these parts where she would hear screams or something, it was just so cool and i really ate it up.

but one thing i wish they did was have more talk and more a little in depth were they talk about classism and and money and financial situations. like, i think they should have completely had a bigger part about it and did more about it, cause you could really see the difference, and if they went into it more i honestly think it would’ve been better and honestly something that a lot of people could probably relate to at the same time. and plus they always talked about money and how much it cost to live at this place in all, so i don’t know why they just didn’t completely jump in deeper.

but when it came to the main character, i honestly don’t know if i liked her or not. like, she did have moments that she was really kick ass and that she was smart, but at the same time she was just kind of slow and boring. but, at the same time, i think it was cool, but not. like, i think she did kind of suffer from the whole part that this book was way to slow, and that her as a character / person kind of suffered from that. but, i do think that if the plot was higher stakes or that the book was just faster, she would’ve been a better character.

but besides jules, i didn’t really have a connect with any of the other side characters in the book. but, like even though the two other side apartment sitters were cool, i just didn’t connect with them. like, i feel like yeah they were characters, but they were just characters that aided jules in her journey a little bit. and like, i think they also just didn’t add enough to the story, like the yeah ingrid had plot, but it still wasn’t interesting enough at the same time to really feel bad for her.

and like when you see the other ‘real’ tenants in the apartment, i honestly didn’t like. like, yeah they’re stories were kind of cool but one of them was just a bitch and the other one was way to shady to actually like her. so, i mean, overall, i did kind of like that they were shady, since it really brings in the ending better, but still i wish that they were a little better and more of a friend, than these random characters that were just oddly placed.

then, with how they introduced jules’ family, i was so confused, like i think her sister’s name was like anne or something. but, like i literally thought that they were just friends, but than they lived together so i thought they were sisters, but i still don’t really know if they are sisters or friends, and i honestly wished it was explained better.

one thing that i did like though was how this book kind of flashed between present and when jules’ came to the apartment building. if i’m being honest, i probably wouldn’t have really stuck with the book if they didn’t have the present part, since it did have those whole present moments, and it honestly was really cool to see how it plays into the end of the book and seeing how the present and the end of the flashback part. and honestly, it was cool because it gave you knowledge but also didn’t tell you shit.

anyway, that is all for today! honestly liked this book, but at the same time i didn’t really like it. but it still was just still a decent book, but i wish it was a bit more supernatural than it was.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about love in the afternoon by lisa kleypas. i gave this book 4/5 stars. honestly, i think that this is the worst book in the series, and i feel like it just had a completely different vibe from the rest of the books in the series, which i think is super disappointing.

trigger warnings- gun violence, mental illness, death, panic attacks / disorder, sexual content, violence, blood, war, injury / injury detail, terminal illness, alcohol, classism.

honestly, i think my favorite thing about this book was beatrix. like, i think that each of the heroine’s in this series were just so completely different, so i honestly really liked her. in away, i think that beatrix is kind of like what they wanted show!eloise bridgerton to be. and like i honestly really loved to see how much she cared for her family and how she had this passion for animals, that it was something i honestly loved to read about. but, there was still some moments in this book were she just pissed me off so much, since she did get to be on my nerves after it all happened.

though, even some parts about her got to be annoying. like, she was just one of those know it all’s, and like she knew everything about every single plant and every single animal. and after awhile, it was just such a pain in the ass and very boring to read. like, i get that you like it, but at the same time it’s like girl, shut the hell up. and like there is a time and a place for it all and i mean, i think they just needed to stop having it in this book. and even when he went and kidnapped the dog, it was like girl what the hell, like yeah i know it’s the right thing for the dog, but like still, she took this mans dog.

but, one thing that i didn’t really like in this book was the whole love letter things. like, i honestly just didn’t like add anything and this whole ‘he thinks someone else is writing’ love triangle thing just didn’t work. like, so much of this book was just lying and scheming and i just didn’t like it. plus, i feel like the whole love letters just didn’t work, since beatrix is this headstrong and not your stereotypical historical romance lead, i feel like these small little love letters just didn’t work in her story. like, the whole love letter / pen pals thing could’ve been so cool in leo and marks’ story.

then when we actually meet christopher in the book, like in person, i didn’t like him and i never really warmed up to him. like, i think so much of this book was how he was just this brooding asshole and i really didn’t like him. like so much of his personality and just all the small interactions were just him being an actual asshole to everyone, especially beatrix. and i think that so much of this book just annoyed me. like, i think so much of the parts of his grief was just done bad, since he was just being a dick to everyone. plus, i think he even took advantage of beatrix at times, since she was not your basic heroine.

and i also think that he was just very over dramatic at some parts. like, half of the book he was brooding and the next part he was like super dramatic with his love and then super lusty. and i mean, i think that they should’ve just handled it better and made it work a little better. and i mean, i did think he did have some parts were he was better, like towards the end with his PTSD. and i mean, i also think seeing his PTSD with how he wanted to stop talking about the war, i honestly liked that.

but, when it came to this whole romance / ptsd balance. i feel like in away, it did kind of come off to be this whole ‘love cured ptsd/mental health issues’ which i honestly didn’t like. i mean, i think the ptsd part was honestly pretty good, especially in a historical romance by a mainstream author. but, i feel like that once it did get to the whole ending, it just felt very underwhelming and i think they still should’ve made it a little better and maybe not cut the ties loose.

one of my favorite things in this book though, was the hathaway’s. honestly, i think they were honestly this killer family and i do really like how they all band together and deal with every other. but, i do feel like we were kind of cut for them. it might just be because my favorite couple/characters is marks and leo and they were like barely in this book. but, i feel like the family just wasn’t this big part of the book, and i do wish they did have more of a plot and more of a bigger part in here. and i honestly think it was truly criminal that they didn’t have the whole family together with their kids, like years in the future.

i also think though is that there was just so many possibilities in this book, that never really happened. like, i understand what they were trying to do, but i think that they didn’t really use this book to the full value of this book and i just wish they didn’t waste so much of the book on the dumb and stupid things. like, the whole courtship too just took way to long and i wish they honestly wish that they just didn’t make the whole formalness take so much time and than maybe give more post marriage stuff.

another thing that kind of annoyed me was the whole dramatic elements and drama. like, i think that there was so many moments that were so much more dramatic from the other books in the series. and i think all the drama did take away from the story and that it could’ve done without it and just changed it and made it to be more into a feel good romance story.

anyway, that is all for today! honestly i wish that this book was better than it was, since it could’ve been such a great story and a good way to wrap up this series and i think that it could’ve been so good.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about all the books i want to read this month. honestly i feel like i’ll read most of these, since i’ve been reading more books recently than i have before and honestly these all sound so good.

desperate measures by katee robert. this i an aladdin retellings. this is a jafar and jasmine AU. so, this is a story about jafar, the villain, who claims and owns princess jasmine, after taking away everything from her father, his money and his empire and everything inbetween.

the maidens by alex michaelides. edward fosca is a murderer; of this, mariana is certain. but fosca is untouchable. a handsome and charismatic greek tragedy professor at cambridge university, fosca is adored by the staff and the students alike, particularly the members of the secret society of female students known as the maidens. mariana andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on the maidens when one member, a friend of mariana’s niece zoe, is found murdered in cambridge. mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. and she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, edward fosca is guilty of murder. but why would the professor target one of his students? and why does he keep returning to the rites of persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

a far wilder magic by allison saft. when margaret welty spots the legendary hala, the last living mythical creature, she knows that halfmoon hunt will soon follow. whoever is able to kill the hala will earn fame and riches, and unlock the ancient magical secret. if margaret wins the hunt, it may finally bring her mother home. while margaret is the best sharpshooter in town, only teams of two can register, and she needs an alchemist. weston winters isn’t an alchemist, yet. fired from every apprenticeship he’s landed, his last chance hinges on master welty taking him in. but when wes arrives at welty manor, he finds only margaret and her bloodhound, trouble. margaret begrudgingly allows him to stay, but on one condition: he must join the hunt with her. although they make an unlikely team, wes is in awe of the girl who has endured alone on the outskirts of a town that doesn’t want her, in this creaking house of ghosts and sorrow. and even though wes disrupts every aspect of her life, margaret is drawn to him. he, too, knows what it’s like to be an outsider. as the hunt looms closer and tensions rise, margaret and west uncover dark magic that could be the key to winning the hunt.

all my rage by sabaa tahir. lahore, pakinstan- then. misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to toufiq in an arranged match. after their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the united states and open the cloud’s rest inn motel, hoping for a new start. juniper, california- now. salahudin and noor are more than best friends; they are family. growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of juniper, california, they understand each other the way no one else does. until the flight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a start exploding. now, sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her watchful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him, and juniper, forever. when sal’s attempt to save the motel spiral out of control, he and noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth, and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.

gallant by ve schwab. olivia prior has grown up in merilance school for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal, which seems to unravel into madness. then, a letter invites olivia to come home- to gallant. yet, when olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. but olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin matthew is hostile or if she sees half formed ghouls haunting the hallways. olivia knows that gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. when she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, olivia finds herself in a place that is gallant, but not. the manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. now olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.

jay’s gay agenda by jason june. there’s one thing jay collier knows for sure, he’s a statistical anomaly as the only out gay kid in his small rural washington town. while all of this friends can’t stop talking about their heterosexual hookups and relationships, jay can only dream of his own firsts, compiling a romance to do list of all the things he hopes to one day experience- his gay agenda. then, against all odds, jay’s family moves to seattle and his starts his senior year at a new high school with a thriving lgbtqia+ community. for the first time ever, jay feels like he’s found where he truly belongs, where he can flirt with very sexy boys and search for love. but as jay begins crossing items off his list, he’ll soon to be torn between his heart and his hormones, his old friends and his new one, because after all, life and love don’t always go according to plan.

disney lands by ridley pearson. with the defeat of the overtakers behind them, the five teenagers known as the kingdom keepers should be celebrating. by all accounts, they saved disneyland from a certain destruction. now, the keepers must solve a puzzle of the past, or be crushes under an evil that makes the overtakers seem like gentle souls.

until friday night by abbi glines. to everyone who knows him, west ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way too handsome for his own good football god who led lawton high to the state championships. but while west may be the big man on campus on the outside, on the inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching is father slowly die of cancer. two years ago, maggie carleton’s life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. and after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. even the move to lawton, alabama, couldn’t draw maggie back out. so she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away. as west’s pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father, so in the dark shadows of a post game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won’t tell anyone else.

delilah green doesn’t care by ashley herring blake. delilah green swore she would never go back to bright falls, nothing is there for her but memories of a lonely childhood where she was little more than a burden to her cold and distant stepfamily. her life is in new york, with her photography career finally gaining steam and her bed never empty. sure, it’s a different woman every night, but that’s just fine with her. when delilah’s estranged stepsister, astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five figure check, delilah finds herself back in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. she plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees claire sutherland, one of astrid’s stuck up besties, and decides that maybe there’s some fun, and a little retribution, to be in bright falls. but, having raised her 11 year old daughter mainly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, claire sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. and delilah green is an unwelcomed surprise, at first. though they’re known each other for years, they don’t really know each other, so claire is unsettled when delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. when they’re forced together during a gauntlet of wedding preparations, including a plot to save astrid from her horrible finance, claire isn’t sure she has the strength to resist delilah’s charms.

dial a for aunties by jesse q. sutanto. when meddelin chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is inadvertently shipped in a cake coolers to the over the top wedding meddy, her ma, and aunties are working at an island resort on the california coastline. it’s the biggest job yet for the family wedding business and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie’s perfect buttercream flowers.

promises and pomegranates by sav. r miller. i’m not sure what this book is actually about, but all i know is that this is a hades and persephone retelling.

layla by colleen hoover. when leeds meets layla, he’s convinced he’ll spend the rest of his life with her, until an unexpected attack leaves layla fighting for her life. after weeks in the hospital, layla recovers physically, but the emotional and mental scarring has altered the woman leeds fell in love with. in order to put their relationship back on track, leeds whisks layla away to the bed and breakfast where they first met. once they arrive, layla’s behavior takes a bizarre turn. and that’s just one of many inexplicable occurrences. feeling distant from layla, leeds soon finds solace in willow, another guest and the b&b with whom he forms a connection through their shared concerns. as his curiosity for willow grows, his decision to help her find answers put him in direct conflict with layla’s well being. leeds soon realizes he has to make a choice because he can’t help both of them.

anyway, that is all for today! honestly, i’m so excited for these books, and i do feel like i will get to a lot of them since i do have a break towards the end of the month.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about the love hypothesis by ali hazelwood. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly liked this book, but i don’t feel like it deserved all the hype it got, since it did feel a little overhyped and it just wasn’t anything special on top of it.

trigger warnings- sexual harassment, sexual content, sexual assault, sexism, cancer, death of a parent, misogyny, cursing, emotional abuse, gaslighting, grief, death, bullying, toxic friendship, terminal illness, chronic illness, medical content, alcohol, panic attacks / disorder, fatphobia, body shaming, mental illness, physical abuse, rape, sexual violence, violence, medical trauma, abandonment, ableism, addiction.

i think my biggest turn off from this book was the sex scene. like, so many people would hype this book up because of the sex scene and how good it was and how spicy it was. but, like this book was so bland, when it comes to sex scenes. like, it was one scene, and the whole scene was just so underwhelming at that, and it was just so random. especially with the whole tit sucking scene, that was just so weird and i honestly really was uncomfortable with it, and it just didn’t make sense, even if her tits were that small. but, i mean this is a booktok book, and they think that it ends with us is a romance, so i can’t be to surprised.

one of the things i did really like was olive. like, her personality was nothing to write home about, for good or for bad, but more so her job. like, i honestly really liked that she was this young girl who works in stem and wants a future working in this line of work. like, i don’t think i ever really read to many books, or even have to many books mainstreamed that have young woman in stem, so having this representation for woman that want to do this career path, it would be so cool to have someone in a big romance book to do that career path. plus, i believe that hazelwood is also going to publish more books with woman scientists, i think that it is just so cool.

with that being said, i also really liked how they didn’t shy away from the harder parts about being a woman in stem. like, they could have completely glorified the position and just make it seem like a better job than it actually is, so i honestly really liked that they were honest about it and that they did say that it sucks for woman, especially young and pretty woman. so, i honestly really liked that they did open up those conversations about sexism and how she is seen as not good enough or that they think she can’t handle it because she is woman, i honestly really liked those parts. and i think they were so good is because they felt genuine and they felt like something that would actually happen to soemone, instead of someone just completely guessing about what it would be like to go through all of this.

but, something else about olive, she just felt like really childish. like, i don’t know if it’s because adam is older than her, but for so much of this book she just felt like a teenager. like, i think the biggest thing that makes me feel this way is because she is makes adam pay for literally everything and than never compensates for anything, and barely ever offers to pay. and like i know she is a struggling PhD student, like i get that, and i understand that money is tight. but, it just felt so childish that he had to pay for everything. and then there were just other moments where she just felt very young and kind of naive and childish.

then for adam, honestly he was kind of boring. like, i think that as a character, he was fine, but as a person, he was annoying. like, they always talked about how hot and how brooding and how sullen he was. i mean it’s probably just because this was just olive talking. but, i feel like we knew literally nothing about him, besides that he’s hot and kind of a dick to his students and that’s it. and i mean, it only got to be annoying because it was literally shoved down our throats at least once a chapter and i honestly wish they gave him a bit more personality and a little something more than just the same info repeated over and over.

as much as i liked to see olive and her work and all of that, i still feel like this book would have better with dual pov. like, in general, romance books are so much better with two povs, and i feel like this book would have been so much better with it having both. in my mind, it would have really benefited to have olive and adam’s thoughts about everything that was happening, and so we could possibility see more about adam than just the superficial things that they told us with olive’s pov. and i think with two povs we could have gotten to know them both so much better and i think that this book would have really benefited from two povs.

but, i honestly really liked the tropes in this book. like, with this book being a fanfic book, i honestly expected it to have a ton of good tropes. like, i think the whole age gap was done really well, and that they didn’t do it so it was creepy and that it didn’t feel unnatural between the two of them. and the fake dating and slow burn was good, and like i feel like that there was done really well and that they honestly really did it well, and honestly wove it into the plot that made it feel natural and made it feel like it was something that just worked, and honestly didn’t feel to forced and that it was just really good.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly liked this book, but i don’t think it deserved all the hype that booktok gave it, but it still was a decent book. and i honestly will read the other books that this author puts out, since it was just so good.