bigtiddygothgf's reviews
293 reviews

when i was kid, on fridays i would go to my school's library and pick out what i called a 'weekend book'. these books were often realistic fiction, usually about 300 pages, had some sort of romance, and while sometimes sad, always made me feel insanely happy to have read. i would read it over the weekend and then turn it in the following monday, only to start the cycle again that friday. i haven't read a book in a while that gave me those vibes as a 'weekend book', but "she gets the girl" delivered that to me instantly. 

"she gets the girl", is about alex, a girl who wants to find a way to convince her (kinda?) ex girlfriend that she's more than a flirt and is serious about their relationship, and molly, a girl who is in love with a girl named cora but is too anxious to approach her. in order to prove that alex can be just friends with someone, alex helps molly get the girl, so that she can get her own girl. 

a very rom com premise that i love lol. this book was really well done, and alex and molly's relationship had a very natural growth as they grew closer (had me giggling and kicking my feet). it had 'weekend book' vibes where it was very fluffy and fulfilling story! and it for sure got me out my pseudo reading slump that i had been approaching. loved it, though again i wish we got to see more of how molly and alex manage a romantic relationship and not just a platonic bordering on romantic relationship. 

THOUGH I AM STILL CONFUSED AS TO HOW ALEX WAS WORKING AS A BARTENDER WHEN SHE WAS UNDER 21??? UNLESS PENNSYLVANIA IS JUST THE WILD WEST

(also the authors are married to each other and apparently this book is based on their story which i find so obscenely cute!)

"supernova" is the conclusion to the renegades trilogy and damn was it a final book. 

i found "supernova" nearly impossible to put down! the twists and turns this book had was not only incredibly entertaining for me as a reader, but it made the story have much higher stakes and improved it by quite a bit. this is definitely my favorite book in the series and after finishing it i got that post series depression, which is a good sign funny enough. 

my only complaint is the rushed ending. the end of this book happens the second after the final battle, and then we get an epilogue where everything is "perfect". a lot of the internal conflicts were left unresolved and also the ending seemed to perfect? for a series that had harped on about how nothing was ever truly black and white, it ended in a way that made everything out to be all good? it was a disappointing ending for me (and the epilogue??? why set up things for more books and then not deliver?? i would have been fine without the epilogue lol)

that being said i loved the series overall, and i'm sad to be done with it T-T

had to return my loan back to libby at 52% :(((

i LOVED this though and k already renewed my loan so hoping to get it back!! i want this book so BAD ARGHHHHH 

i’m sixth in line on the waiting list tho

"imogen, obviously" follows our mc imogen, self proclaimed #ally, as she pretends to be her queer best friend lilli's ex and spends a life changing week with lilli and her other queer friends. 

this book is all about self discovery and the journey imogen goes on as she realizes she's queer even though she has thought she was, and has been always been perceived as straight. i thought it was written very well (as someone who has gone though the same thing lol) and just overall really fun to follow along with imogen's journey! 

the writing was very simplistic but it worked really well int he context of the story, and boy does becky albertalli know how to write banter because i was laughing along with them. 

overall a very good, fluffy, queer story, though the ending left me wanting more, and i wish more had been resolved (i know the story point with gretchen was meant to be intentionally left that way, but they didn't even have an in person discussion after the fight? they just texted about it? gretchen's a dick but still i wanted more of a solid resolution on that) and i wanted to see a little more of imogen and tessa's relationship AFTER they get together ya know? 

"archenemies" follows nova and adrian as their secret identities come closer and closer to being revealed. 

this book added a lot more depth to the series and i found the discussion of who makes the idea very interesting. this is slight spoilers, but in this book a serum is found that when injected, inhaled, or swallowed, will permanently rid a prodigy of their powers. the renegades are in control of this serum and they will decide who is neutralized and why. the conversations made around this plot point i found very compelling. why do some get to rid another of their powers without a trial or simply because of personal bias? who really makes the definition of good and how do they skew it to fit their own uses? 

the romance in this book was also well done! a lot more development but the same lack of communication (it's for the plot though so i can understand lol). 

i cared more for the characters more, 

a modern retelling of persephone and demeter's relationship set against a scene of a secluded island, drugs, and serious mental health issues. 

'fruit of the dead' was very well done in what it is tried to portray. the heart of the story is a complicated mother daughter relationship with a cycle of hurt and repression that keeps repeating. this was done very well and the writing was awesome. 

my gripe with the book comes in three ways; 

1) the hades and persephone angle- now, one really big pet peeve i have with h&p retellings is the age gaps that are often and unnecessarily large and creepy. most retellings make her either underage or barely legal, looking at you 'lore olympus'. while yes the original characters in the mythos did have an age gap, they are also GODS aka NOT HUMAN, and most of these retellings do this to satisfy the author's age gap kink (NO SHAME! just not in my mythos). the difference between 'lore olympus' and 'fruit of the dead' though, is that in 'fruit of the dead' this relationship is SUPPOSED to be creepy. it is SUPPOSED to be predatory because it is supposed to pass the message of a young girl being prayed upon by an old man, which is the cycle repeating from what happened to the main character, Cory's, mother. we are supposed to be disgusted by the hades stand in, rolo, as the writing describes him as gross (constantly mentioned how egg shaped he is) and with his actions. while i understand this angle and how it does suit the story, it just irritates me personally for no solid reason. i'm tired of seeing the h&p retellings done egregiously bad, and while i can see why the author wrote it like this, it doesn't mean i have to like it. i've thought about it and realized there is no real reason for me to rate it lower for this reason, i've even pointed out it hammers home the author's message. but then i remembered that reading is subjective, my opinion of this book with not affect the author in any way, and i run this review, so i do what i want. 

2) lack of an emotional punch- knowing this is a persephone and demeter retelling, we can all imagine that there is a tearful reunion. cory is taken to a place that is not safe for her, being fed highly addictive drugs and cut off from service, internet, and by extension, her mother. the demeter stand in, emer, has been searching for her all book, losing her mind with worry and regret. when they finally reunite, it is in the  LAST THREE PAGES. we are given almost nothing imo, and mother and daughter do not talk about ANYTHING. throughout the book we are told of their rocky relationship and the miscommunication that caused rifts. in the conclusion they do NOT talk about these issues to the depths that i was hoping, and that stopped the punch for me. by the end of the book emer is treating cory the same way she was at the beginning; she went on a whole journey where she realized what she did wrong, and then was back to square one at the end! and the end is so abrupt we don't get a chance to reflect on ANYTHING. the ending overall fell really flat for me, which made me feel removed from the story.

and 3), the worst one. THERE WERE NO QUOTATION MARKS IN THE DIALOGUE. NO ITALICS. NOTHING. ZILCH. NADA. there were no quotation marks! or anything! to show what was dialogue and what was text! i understand we are a literary novel and we are trying to be cool and emo and shit BUT PLEASE. i cant function under these conditions!! it made nothing feel solid of real! i couldn't stand it!

overall, it's a book that i probably wont remember in a month. i think the subject matter was handled well, and the author knew what she doing it and executed it fairly well, it just wasn't my cup of tea. i didnt feel any connections to the characters and had some gripes. the writing was fantastic and i can tell the author put her heart and soul into it. great writing, overall mid for me tho. (also rolo,🫵 when i catch you rolo🫵, count your days 🫵, GET AWAY FROM THE FRESHLY TURNED 18 YEAR OLD🫵, PUT UR PANTS BACK ON🫵)

"so gay superman kills ace attorney?" -my dear friend, Finn Eus, when i explained the plot to him 

'renegades' is a story centered around prodigies (people with powers) and those who lean towards heroism with the group the renegades, and those who lean towards villainy with a group called the anarchists. our main lead is nova, a girl who was raised by the anarchists and wants nothing more than to see the renegades fall. to do this she infiltrates the group and disguises herself as hero. our other main lead is adrian, raised by two main renegades he has a strong sense of justice, but finds himself chafing against the strict rules of the renegades that make them more of a glorifed police force than superheros. then plot things happen.

overall, this was a fun story that i enjoyed reading. nova's secret identity was a point of suspense and the author gives prodigies interesting powers instead of too many generic ones. for example nova's powers are she can put people to sleep and doesn't need to sleep at all and adrian power is he can bring his drawings to life. other powers include turning into a swarm of butterflies, control over bees, blood turning into crystals, and the ability to make and detonate bombs. the powers were fun to read about and i enjoyed seeing how they were use. 

unfortunately i didn't really feel a connection with the characters until the end, which made me want to read the next one right away. towards the end of the book themes of morality and who decides what is "good" and what is "bad" is something that is briefly talked about and i'm sure is going to be expanded on in the next book. 

and there's gay superman and his husband who can turn invisible, raising a son who can bring his art to life. 

'the summer i turned pretty' follows the main character bellie and her summers at her mom's friend, susannah's beach house. bellie has always had a crush on susannah's oldest son, conrad and is friends with her youngest jeremiah. this summer bellie goes through changes in romance and mentality but a heartbreaking reveal towards the ends throws her whole life into focus. 

this book was very mid overall. it's been a week since i read it and i don't remember anything lol. i do appreicate the summer vibes though and the easy way i was able to consume it. this would have been a three star read if not for my beloved lola tung. lola tung plays bellie in the show and was the narrator for this book (and i hope for the ones after it) and she killed it! she made the characters seem more real and endearing, and i actually really liked bellie despite of the things she did because of lola's depiction. 

i was not a fan of the narrator which really pulled me out of the story. the plot was interesting but didn't quite manage to capture my interest, and i could feel a reading slump coming on so i decided to dnf. the writing was also a bit to cringe for me and the characters would say the most generically online things T-T

i will try to come back and finish this one day when i am in the mood for it tho!

this is the fourth and final book in the stalking jack the ripper and follows for the last time audrey and thomas's adventures through love, chicago, and the realization that jack the ripper may not be done with them yet. 

this book is split into two parts. part one is set in new york city, where audrey rose and thomas attempt to get married while bits of the murder plot is sprinkled throughout. i actually really loved this section as it was so fun to read about and i loved following the relationship. i actually believe i blew through this part in one sitting, and it's my favorite part of the book. 

part two follows audrey rose and thomas in chicago as they hunt down the white city devil. this was the part of the book i had problems with. i think the writing in this section is quite rushed and choppy, which made me sad because i enjoyed the writing of the other books very much. i didn't find the ending with the villain very satisfying and it felt rushed to close. i found this was also the case with the book as a whole. while i thought the ending was cute, we did not get any follow up on characters who had conflicts later in the book such as audrey rose's cousin liza and thomas's sister. i think the author didn't know how to end it so she just did what she could, leaving a lot of open endings that weren't satisfying. 

my two major problems with this book were the writing and the pacing. the writing took a decline in this one which made me really sad because it was so good in the other one! the writing turned cringe and very emo tumblr 2016 era. audrey rose would say how deep down she was "a mistress of darkness" (THAT'S AN ACTUAL QUOTE) to the devil and other stuff along those lines that made me cringe and pulled me out of the story. girl, you are a forensic scientist not a fallen angel. the writing sounded like something out of a fantasy novel and not historical fiction. i know it was supposed to cause angst and to be "powerful" one liners but really it gave me the ick lol. my other problem was with the pacing which was so sporadic throughout the book. the first part was pretty consistent but when we got the second part suddenly it was rushed and shallow. i feel like the author could have connected the romance plot and the murder plot and intertwined them together like she did with the other three books instead of making them into different parts. it pulled me out the the story and was not my favorite. it was janky. 

a smaller problem i had was the focus on the romance instead of the murder. in these books that author has done a great job of keeping the romance a subplot and the murder as the main plot. that doesn't happen in this book though. the romance is the main plot. now i like romance as much as the next person, but it didn't fit with the other books and seemed to be differently entirely. i missed the more murder focused plots even though i enjoyed the romance. i also was sad to see that audrey rose's character did not get better from escaping houdini, she got worse. i LOVED audrey rose in the first two books but in the last two books i couldn't STAND her. she was whiny and just unlikeable to me which is again, SO SAD. i was sad to see this change with her especially because i loved her so much earlier in the series. 

despite my complaints though i think this was a decent book. i think about rating it anything lower than a four star and my heart hurts because i really did love this series. thomas and audrey roses's banter had been my favorite thing and i love them and their lil gothic relationship a lot (also loving how audrey rose's disability did not immobilize her!!). i think realistically this is a three star book for me but in my heart and soul it's a four so-

so sad to have finished this series because it was so good! the balance of history and fiction was done excellently in this series and i hope to find something like it.