ali1311's reviews
191 reviews

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

This book was hard to get through at times. The narrative voice was just not for me, lots of plot holes, and very boring main characters. I think this book would fair better as a movie honestly. It's very farcical but I think the main character's personality and narration made it less fun. 
Iris Kelly Doesn't Date by Ashley Herring Blake

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Unsurprisingly, I loved this book. Ashley Herring Blake does it again! To have every book in a trilogy slap is very impressive, and this book delivers. It's very sexy, very sweet, and overall just a real joy to read. I love the fact that the characters of this book are just "top who has anxiety disorder" and "bottom who's pretending to be a top." Absolutely fantastic work. The only reason I'm refraining from 5 stars is because sometimes the descriptions felt a little weird. The first half of the book, introducing new characters and scenarios, it felt, dare I say, overly PC. It felt more like she was describing things based off a user's guide to writing diversity, which was somewhat off putting. But overall, I loved this book and it may be my favorite of the three (though I've said that every time I've read a new one). 
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm not a big fantasy person, but this book was very sweet. I liked the touch of romance (obviously) and the characters were great. The book had some monologuing by the narrator that was a bit much sometimes, and oftentimes it felt like a life lesson was just thrown into sentences occasionally (which I would generally appreciate, but it got a bit old after awhile). You have to wait for the payoff a bit with this book, but the payoff was great so it's worth it.
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

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lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I can't tell if this novella went over my head or under it. I felt like I was looking for the writing to take a clearer stance on capitalism than it did, but it almost seemed like it leaned into capitalism and the ritual of daily life under it. Like I said, maybe I'm missing key parts of this book because I'm not convinced that's true, but I'm having a difficult time proving to myself otherwise. I couldn't tell if this book was a specific type of hyperbolic commentary or if the character was on the autism spectrum. That made it sort of hard for me to fully understand what the story was trying to say, if that makes sense. I do think it was nice to see a book where the character knew what she wanted from the start and was able to work her way back to herself despite what the rest of society was telling her. But the fact that what she wanted was to work in a convenience store almost felt sort of like she was falling prey to capitalism. Keiko is what a perfect worker under the capitalist system would look like: no interests outside of work, no desire for personal connections. So in that way, it made me wonder if we were meant to read the book as a sort of funny, satirical take on the monotony of work or if it was a genuine, supportive take on finding joy in routine. I like having options like this while reading, but I felt that this was too much, and I'm left not fully knowing what I was meant to get from this story.
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

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

4.0

it's percy jackson! it's classic! interesting to read this book as an adult but i'd say generally it holds up.
This Winter by Alice Oseman

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emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was sad but sweet :( typical Alice Oseman style smh
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Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey

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

4.75

This book was sweet! It's a little stereotypical with gender roles, but never in a way that felt oppressive, which is interesting. It was cheesy, but also I cried a bit. I liked this one better than the first, probably because the characters were quirkier. It was a nice feel-good book and also Tessa Bailey is good at writing her spice, so that's always a fun addition 
Ryan and Avery by David Levithan

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emotional hopeful slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This was a very sweet book! There wasn't a lot of plot it felt like and lots of the conflict felt kind of distant, but overall the message was nice. I love a high school love story gone right!
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I devoured this book. Every time I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about reading it. Talk about unreliable (and unlikeable) narrator! The main character sucks and it's awesome. I think it was so smart for RF Kuang to write this story from the perspective of a white woman--a white woman masquerading as a good, progressive person who in fact sucks. A really cool interrogation of whiteness and racism from someone who both doesn't believe they're doing anything wrong and isn't obvious about their prejudices. That's why it was so interesting being inside June's head--the way she justifies everything is fascinating and a great chance for reflection of internal biases. June seems worst than most people, but then again, we're not in most people's heads. This book was also just such a good read. An amazingly interesting premise! You spend the whole book needing to know what happens next because the choice she makes early on is so damned you need to watch it unfold. This book took a stance and didn't all at once; I think it opened up a dialogue about a lot of these topics and you could guess what RF Kuang believes about these topics, but it hardly takes a solid stance. And I think that's extra interesting coming from a character so unlikeable. It also doesn't supply any solutions to the topics it tackles, which feels like an invitation to white people and the publishing industry to figure this shit out because it's not on marginalized people to do so. Idk I thought the whole book created a lot of questions and was honestly quite philosophical despite the heavy presence of social media and echo chambers discussed throughout the book. Every time you thought you got an answer there was another complication, and I think that's super cool and an interesting exploration of a topic that's really expansive. Overall, awesome read because it's entertaining and awesome read because it tackles a lot of interesting questions and issues in publishing and creativity. 
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