charvi_not_just_fiction's reviews
695 reviews

Okay I didn't per se realise it was historical fiction when I began but it was so good?? I rarely enjoy historical fiction centered in the West but then again, this was a diverse take and located in Dublin so maybe that or Adiba Jaigirdar's wonderful writing and characters helped.

I was all in with the heist plot but this book is so much more than that. It's about Josefer, Emily, Hena and Violet and damn it these four made me cry. It was beautiful to see their friendships and a budding romance between these girls who are so different from each other. All four of them had character arcs, they were all their own people and stayed true to themselves until the end.

Maybe don't count on me for a comprehensive review but I learnt more about the Titanic from this book than I've ever learnt in my entire life. Love, love, love this book so much!

This was an enjoyable read. Rather predicted, enemies to lovers although I'd rather frame it as rivals to lovers since Vik and Deepa have been childhood rivals but you won't call their relationship hatred. Just intense, friendly rivalry.

Anyway, I could relate to Deepa a lot, she's your typical Type A personality who plans everything in her life and likes to be in control. Which is why the unpredictable prankster Vikram gets on her nerves so much. All Deepa wants is perfection, which is really the central theme of the book. I thought it got a bit repetitive with repeated emphasis and started getting on my nerves. 

I wish we could have seen more of Vik and Deepa, I loved their chemistry but so much of the book was taken up by Rohit and Deepa. The author kept teasing us about some secret about Rohit or his past and it felt very anti-climatic in the end. Rohit is seen as the perfect guy and his perfection truly got on my nerves. On one hand, the author tries telling us that nothing and nobody is perfect but on the other hand even at the end of the book, Rohit remains a perfect guy with no flaws which is frustrating.
I did like the message of different things and different people being right for someone but wrong for another person and the story carried that out quite well.

I loved the side characters as well, especially the younger sibling squad but I wish their stories had been elaborated more on. I feel like we started with character arcs for most of them but the author kind of abandoned them halfway through. Like what happened with Lily and the idea of her coaching? I would have loved to see their arcs completed and given a better ending, or rather any satisfactory closure. 

All in all, the book has its ups and downs but special props to the lovely audiobook narrator who got all the pronunciations right and made the experience so enjoyable!

 

I think this is a wonderful book for everyone to read.
As a rule of thumb, if a psychologist or therapist writes a self-help book it usually is good and helpful. Not only does Julie Smith debunk and clear some of the myths and counteractive advice propagated by pop psychology, so-called life coaches and other self-help books, but she also does a great job of integrating different kinds of things in this book.

Whether you need help managing your emotions, are thinking of starting therapy or want to focus on yourself or your relationships, this book can help with it all. Of course, it isn't magic but as a psychology student, I can attest that it is a wonderful place to start and provides many helpful tips. It's armed with a toolkit to actually implement the practices talked about so I'd suggest purchasing a physical copy or an ebook.
(I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author but unfortunately couldn't access the toolkits despite the provided directions.)

All in all, a highly recommended book from my side!

 

This was such a short read, I wish there had been more. As in this book was so short that I started and finished it immediately so it feels like I just ent through a couple of social media posts.

The idea was nice and the comics were very relatable but like I said, it felt less like a book and more like just a bunch of comics printed and published. Not my cup of tea, I guess.

 Holy shit. This is the rare case where the sequel has far surpassed the first book - I'm just shook.

Right from the get-go I was in love with the direction this book was taking. The plot had me hooked and the way I just flew through the pages was insane. It was addictive. I don't know how people guess the mystery and the murderer because I don't give myself the time to make guesses, I'm just too eager to read ahead.

One thing that I genuinely loved was how the book reflected the aftermath of the previous case. Murder and crime novels are fun and all but rarely do authors explore the emotional and psychological impact of being so closely involved in such murders and Holly Jackson did such a splendid job at that. As this book unravelled I was chilled to the bone by the depth of the mystery, the crimes and the consequences that followed.
The book also had several other themes, like the justice system and how the truth isn't always given the justice it deserves. How you sometimes don't know your friends until something drastic like a missing brother case happens. How people are quick to turn on anyone and make a spectacle of everything rather than looking for the truth. And my favourite - Pip's self-discovery journey and her realisation that maybe 'good' is just a label that she doesn't want to carry.

I'm just in love <3 

4.5/5 stars

Heavy, heavy TWs apply. TWs are read out (in the audiobook) or printed on the first page of the book so please take them into consideration.

I was shaken by this book and at the same time, it took a lot out of me. I had to take breaks between the reading because it's such a raw portrayal of young girls getting caught up in the music industry and being groomed by adult men. Ironically I had catalogued it as right-space-of-mind-tbr and then forgot about it when I started reading it. Don't be me.

The plot and mystery itself are quite intriguing, I was at the edge of my seat the entire time. This is my first Tiffany Jackson book and I'm struggling to convey how utterly raw, terrifying and powerful this book was. It made me cry and feel claustrophobic and so fucking mad at what was happening. 
This review is a mess, more of me spewing my words and hoping its comprehensive.

Enchanted is a young girl with the dream to sing and a crush on the superstar Korey Fields. And when he seems to fall for her and offer Enchanted her own album it seems like a dream come true. Except Enchanted is 17 and Korey is a 28 year old predator whose not going to let her go once he has her.
It was so terrifying to see the way Enchanted fell for Korey and was slowly caught in his web. You see her thought processes shift and change as Korey manipulates her and the psychological and emotional torture that's carried out. It's absolutely harrowing and even when Enchanted manages to get away she isn't truly free.
Because black girls don't get justice, especially against superstars like Korey Fields who has everyone in his pockets. 

I don't even know how to wrap my thought up but this book utterly destroyed me and did such a realistic portrayal of the themes it took upon. Don't expect anything to be sugar-coated here, it's a great mystery and a terrifying yet powerful depiction of predatory relationships and being a black girl in American society.

I'd definitely recommend everyone to read this but heed the TWs and read when you're in the right space of mind.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't it for me.

This is probably an unpopular opinion but I didn't vibe with Dani, at least on an emotional level. I'm not into the commitment-phobe trope in romances plus the whole repetitiveness of Dani not expressing her emotions and clearly having feelings for Zafir got boring. I absolutely loved Zafir - his story, personality and character arc were lovely. I just found the romance lacking when these two got together. I feel like the romance was a bit more tell than show plus I hated how the third act went about. 
I think it was annoying, Zaf kept being thrown under the bus and the resolution was very quick and written to progress the plot. All in all, it's not my favourite Brown sister book.
I adored Chloe Brown's story so fingers crossed that the third book in this series will be as good as the first one!

Whoever decided that this book needed to be written in this pov can go die a million deaths.
HONESTLY, WHY?!
It makes sense in the first book, no matter how much I hated it but this pov actively dissuaded me from reading the second book.

I took months - MONTHS - to finish this book. Why is it that I have to suffer through the first 40 to 50 percent of information overload, boredom and confusion and then get glued to each book in this series? I'm tired of it. This book takes too much brain. It answers several questions and adds many more but holy shit it takes dedication to get through.

Will I read the last book? 
Yes, god help me. Please let it be a great ending and not make me suffer through the prose and POV.

This is an extremely it's me, not you issue.

I love the author's works, the Darius series is absolutely stellar but this book isn't for me. I've become extremely picky about the kind of YA I read and this one feels slightly younger with very simplistic language and the kind of story I can easily predict with characters and situations I cannot relate to. None of that is the book's fault, I'm just not the target audience for it. I don't even enjoy band books but I decided to pick this up anyway.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, I hope you pick it up and enjoy! 

I've been struggling with how to rate this book, and ultimately based on my enjoyment I'm going with 2.5 stars.

Child of Etherclaw started off a bit rocky and then had potential which was ultimately squandered in the last section of the book. In the beginning few pages there was very little hook or personal investment in the characters. It wasn't bad but it could've been stronger. As we progress further into the book, things start getting interesting and ramping up with a decent air of mystery around all the characters.

I quickly got attached to the main characters, especially Elliot and Nico. I think this story could've been explored in a better manner though. Things start feeling rushed and sort of dumped on the reader to move the plot ahead. The world-building wasn't the best, I still have so many questions for this book which never got answered. I'll say though that this book is supposed to be the first in the series so I'll be a little lenient on the worldbuilding for that reason.

But because certain worldbuilding aspects aren't built well some reveals don't hit the same way I wish they would've and I come up feeling empty. I wish the author had also done more foreshadowing to battle this, a lot of the reveals feel lackluster and unsatisfying because they seem to come out of nowhere or pertain to things that weren't well explored.

Other than that, the side characters felt like they were just there to make the plot move forward and support the mc. They felt underdeveloped and just rushed? After t he halfway point everything started feeling rushed. Once more of what Arkamis is doing gets explored it almost starts to feel like a different book altogether. The ideas brought up are quite interesting but the way they're laid out really need to be worked on. Towards he end I had more or less lost most of my interest because of the rather lackluster relationships and a forced romance or two which I couldn't really give a shit about.

I guess in the end I'm disappointed because this could have maybe been a 4 star read if some of these points could've been improved.

(I received an arc of this book long back so it pains me to write a rather negative review but nevertheless, I thank the author for sending me a copy and wish them all the best with their future books.)