lanidon's reviews
1735 reviews

I read this fully expecting it to be trashy fun, but it's genuinely well crafted and compelling. The characters, the setting, the plot, the magic system... All so well done

This is not the number one best romance I've ever read, there are definitely some shaky bits as a debut, but I smiled so hard through the whole thing and couldn't possibly give it below 5 stars. It's a five star experience, but objectively a four star book. I cannot wait to see what the author does next.

I love the slow burn of carefully rebuilding their friendship before coming together romantically. I love the added depth that being in the minors brings as everyone is in different stages of their careers. I love the team atmosphere (even though they could be a little more fleshed out). I love seeing them play a full season together.

This book has a few elements I typically am wary of in romance but finally done well. I'm normally put off by ADHD depictions because they tend to act like it's a cute and quirky trait, instead of a real struggle people have to deal with and accommodate for as is shown in this. Anxiety is often depicted like a quivering chihuahua, so I really appreciated how it affected Luis; he shuts down in a way that makes him seem cold and brusque when really it's his body trying to protect him from his anxiety.

 I'm normally hesitant with lighthearted trans books because they tend to be a 101 course for cis people instead of actually fleshing out the trans character. It was so refreshing how this book made being trans a part of Gene without making it the whole of him. It perfectly balances between an idealistic world where it's not a big deal and a realistic one where it still affects him and his goals. I find a lot of lighthearted books will go entirely into a fluffy dreamland which softens the edges so much that nothing makes an emotional impact, that's thankfully not the case here. 

I kinda hope the author expands this world, perhaps a prequel with Jack and Vince... perhaps a Kyle/Kyle/Kyle triad......

DNF @13%

The writing style and especially the tone really wasn't working for me. It felt strangely blasé about everything, including introducing us to the magic, the mystery, and the characters. Why am I supposed to care about a book that doesn't seem to care about itself? 

The magic is really cool in concept but I could just feel we weren't going to get enough depth to it for my liking. I also genuinely could not tell the characters apart, the two MCs are indistinguishable despite ostensibly being quite different

Literally read 2%, I just find music references cringe 

It simply felt like it was going in circles. We can't be together, we can't stay apart, but I'm scared of my family, over and over and over. They decide he has to leave but then oh no actually stay in this house within like an hour of danger. They go to Tokyo for a date so there's no chance of them being seen, but then return together to the outskirts of the city where the danger is. Angel dude can teleport babes, the demons could move so far away and still be able to see each other

I tried twice and it's really just not grabbing me, I can't even say why. The narration style feels coldly ruthless which is something that often puts me off

I really disliked the writing style and the dog stabbing 

I really liked Jack and the portrayal of his struggle with OCD, but Raine's ADHD was treated like a cute and quirky trait which drives me wild. I hate how often ADHD is treated as the manic pixie dream girl disorder

The relationship was also underdeveloped. The author did a good job of laying the groundwork but then kinda just skipped to them being a happy perfect couple with almost no work outside of compulsion accommodations

It really sucks that I have to DNF this because I WAS enjoying it in the beginning. The first three characters (Francie, Indy, and Wade) are fun, if the book was just them it would be good. Then they add on a screaming alien obsessed idiot who yells about alien movies all the time and he's insufferable. Then they add another character who speaks in references to westerns and I genuinely couldn't deal with a second more of this book. Who in their right mind would think it's a good idea to put two different chatterbox characters in their story who add nothing but annoying pop culture references. Please shut up and tell the story, they're not comic relief, they're just annoying

It really sucks because I love the tumbleweed alien as a concept and I really wanted to see where this was going

One star extra for the audio performance alone. Hiring an actual child to narrate a book from the perspective of a child adds so much immersion. She does a great job with the adult voices as well, really talented girl

The weakness is the adult characters and the pacing. It starts really fast and then drags pretty long. The parents are immature and unlikable, I think their drama took too much space. The way the parents would freak out and scream and run meanwhile the kid was calm and logical,,,,, it did make it scarier but it also made it more annoying. I wanted less adults and more child perspective, which feels odd to say. I think they could've dug in deeper with her thoughts and emotions

Solid, could have been remarkable, impeccable audio performance