breezie_reads's reviews
985 reviews

This book tore me apart. Not About a Boy is a heart-breakingly accurate portrayal of what it's like growing up not knowing who you are, what you're doing here, or how to find those answers. Mel's struggle with addiction and depression and not knowing how to ask for help or if she even wants it is the same story so many people live through, and Myah Hollis captures that despair beautifully. This is an amazing debut and I'm looking forward to reading more from her.

Artyom has some mighty fine plot armor, but it isn't so unbelievable that it distracts from the book. Especially with everything going on throughout. This was a nonstop rollercoaster ride of a series finale and I enjoyed every second of it.

I really disliked the blog post chapters, mostly because I thought the way the blog post was written was super annoying. But I understand why they were included and why they are important to the story. That didn't stop me from rolling my eyes and dreading having to read them, though.

Other than that, I thought this was amazing. I hadn't known what to expect going in, and that made everything hit harder. I also think this is the book that finally made me understand what an unreliable narrator is. I'll be thinking about this one for a bit.

I didn't expect to cry while listening to this, and the back of the book does not do it justice. Despite it being a slower-paced read, I couldn't stop listening. My favorite parts were obviously when they were actively rewriting The Council because those were the best written parts in my opinion, but everything about this was well done.

I originally only borrowed this book from KU to support the co-author and her medical bills, and even though the writing/editing itself was very poor and inconsistent, it's a really unique concept that I believe I would enjoy more if it was ever cleaned up a bit.

This book just didn't do it for me. I was bored and uninterested. I managed to get to chapter 16, but trying to read chapter 16 was my breaking point. I couldn't read any more of it without getting annoyed, and it was mostly just because I was somewhere between bored and disappointed. Disappointed because I did genuinely want to enjoy this, but the writing style just wasn't for me, I'm not a romantasy fan, and the cliches that riddled this book were all over-used and in my opinion poorly executed.

The characters themselves were what started to aggravate me because they weren't well written. They were flat and not fleshed out in the world or in their interactions. Darmik especially was so contradictory he might as well have been two separate characters. And let's not forget about Rema, the golden child who is so different and strong and stubborn, and let's not forget she's the only person in the entire island with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Which then leads me into the world building, because that was also something that I tried to look past and just couldn't. It didn't make any sense. Maybe I would have understood more if I had actually finished the book, but based on the reviews of people who had finished the book, it doesn't get any more fleshed out. Why are people tattooed? Why is no one allowed to travel? What's the history, and why, if the royal family was blonde with blue eyes, did no one think to put two and two together and think "oh maybe that girl who's the only person on the island with blonde hair and blue eyes is related to the royal family in some way."

I didn't pay money for this book because I got it during one of those Stuff Your Kindle Day sales, and I'm so glad I didn't waste even $1 on this. Note to self for the future: just stay away from romantasy, because it will disappoint.

A great ending to a great series. I definitely felt a little dumb at times, but the author did a good job of explaining things that you needed to know.

The ick never left my face while I was reading this, and I really only finished it so I could hate on it properly. Someone please tell me I just chose the worst Palahniuk book as my first because this was awful. The writing style, the language, the content, all of it. And I'm not saying "the content" because of the porn and cussing. I read monster smut, idgaf about language like that. I'm talking about the unnecessary slurs, the implied incest, the constant "dude" and "true fact" and how every single vulgar line seemed to only have been written to force a reaction out of the reader.

I was interested in this solely for the dog's POV but it was only ever random throw away paragraphs. The writing was so amateurish it was grating. I had already decided cozy mysteries weren't my thing but tried to read this in hopes the dog would make it bearable. Book club be damned, I can't finish this.

This book is definitely more interesting than the first, but parts 1 and 2 still dragged when compared to part 3. That's when it picked up a lot and I barely noticed time passing as I listened to the last third of the book. Absolutely amazing and I can't wait to read the final book.