hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about unbirthday by Liz Braswell. i gave this book 1/5 stars. first off, thank you so much netgalley and disney books for an arc of this book. and of course, this is an honest review, and it is not going to be changed by the author or the publisher, it is completely honest.
trigger warning- sexism, death, blood.
i think my biggest issue of this book was that it was just so much ‘i’m not like other girls.’ and it honestly sucks so much, since i feel like she made fun of all the girls that wanted the traditional life, so they wanted to get married, not have a job, and also have kids. like, i feel like Alice made fun of everyone in the town and it got to be so annoying. and she also made it some big ass deal that she liked to take and look at photos, it ain’t a big deal mate.
but, on a positive note, before we get way more negitive, i really liked the romance, to a degree. like, i think it was cool to see her and Kaz, i believe that was his name, but don’t quote me on that, but i honestly don’t remember if they actually ended up together, since i completely skimmed most of the end of this book. but, i feel like when they were together they were super cute and i honestly really liked them.
and i feel like most of the books in this series are completely like, let’s take the story we all know from our childhood and twist them in a different way. but, i feel like this book just took place way after the movie, which got to be a pain, since i never watched the movie, which i’ll talk about next. and i feel like they just didn’t do this justice and not enough research was put into this book.
like i said, i feel like most, if not all, of the books in this series take place during the movie, and like twist the movie completely. like, for the beauty and the beast ones, we still have the really defining moments from the movie, but then instead of some of it, we get a more aged up version with a different punch line. where, i feel like in here, it’s like years after the movie, so she is like 18 in here.
with that being said, their was no research into this book, and it was obvious. like, this book took place in like the 18th- 19th century. and this isn’t gonna make sense, but bare with me. so, if you read stalking jack the ripper or any bridgerton book, or even seen the bridgerton tv show, you know of know how protective audrey rose’s family was over her and how protective anthony was over daphne. okay, and you know the fight that goes down between anthony and simon when simon and daphne are together and how audrey rose always needed to have someone with her when she was with thomas. so, i expected that in here, since i think they were very wealthy in London, so like upper class with a title and all of that. so, even if audrey rose or daphne weren’t going to see their respective suitors, they always had someone with them. but, in here, Alice never did. like, yeah okay fine, she was taking photos, but doesn’t she still need someone to be with her, so she doesn’t get into trouble? like, wouldn’t she need a butler, female friend, mother, or her sister with her when she was going out, even if Kaz isn’t there?
also, i feel like the dialogue was way to modern. the best way to explain it, was this book had very very modern writing and dialogue. like, i feel like they wrote this book. i mean, there obviously zero research put into this book, and it like kept getting worst. and yeah, i guess you write a book with some more modern writing in an historical setting, but i feel like then you need to have more of a setting that is actually really historical, which this one obviously wasn’t. and this is completely a modern story just stuck in this random time period.
with that being said, the writing was very very descriptive., which isn’t a good thing. it was pretty much like after 2.0. basically this book went something like this. “in order to get to the shop, Alice needed to walk past the tea shop, duck under the pastry overhead curtain, walk past the tall, dark, and mysterious fountain of the man nobody ever knew. but, she also had to go past the small, tiny, row of bushes to the right of her. passing the babies and couples holding hands, kissing, and talking.” most of this book went something like that, and it just got to be on my nervous after awhile.
and also, Alice was so freaking stupid ?? like, she literally would be in the middle of the street, like in the middle of a busy ass road. and then she would be like talking to the fern or like the rabbit from the movie, and she looked insane. obviously this is a completely different time period then we are in now, so like talking to the fern or some invisible rabbit, isn’t a good thing and like, probably get you thrown into the asylum. like, i might be a little dramatic there, but it kind of made me go like huh???? when i was reading this.
and i think this book is like 500+. which, i guess you do you, but honestly it is such unneeded. like, i feel like this whole book was just so much drama about the characters being idiots and not doing really anything fun. and also, i don’t even know if i’d consider this to be a retelling since it happened way after the movie.
anyway, that is all for today! honestly, this book was not for me, and i honestly think the biggest part was that the writing honestly sucked so much, which i think is mostly just the writing. but, thank you so much for an arc!
r.bookish 