librarianryan's reviews
6364 reviews

 

This is a DNF. This book was 18 hours and it feels like it. Maybe if I was reading this book instead of listening to it as an audiobook that might’ve made a difference. I got more than four hours into it, and I don’t care about anything that’s happening. Plus, there is slippage going back-and-forth. different characters brought in, it’s sometimes confusing. There is something out there in the mountains. Two experienced climbers go to hike this peak and only one comes back. And this hiker does not come back hole. They are missing half their face due to a fall. We start the story hearing from the significant other. We hear them talk about whether they should stay with the hiker or not. How people are praised for staying when things get rough instead of parting ways. But then you also have our hiker who’s like we “weren’t alone on the mountain there was something”. I’m at the point where the hiker is reminiscing about a hike with their grandmother. There are just so many limbs to this tree that the story is all over the place. There’s not a linear story and it is so big and so much more than it needs to that it made the book boring. As a reader I didn’t care about any of the characters. What I really cared about is the entity on the mountain but there’s been nothing.  No hide nor hair, just there’s something on the mountain. This is almost like Midsummer. A great big buildup to fizzle out to nothing and has me thinking “Why does everybody love this?” That’s where I’m at in this book, which is why I am at 4 1/2 hours out of 18 and DNFing. 

 

There is nothing about this book that appeals to me. I know this book is a booktok, darling. I know librarians of TikTok who manage middle school libraries saying this book comes up for a lot of middle schoolers as their favorite book. Or as a book, they should be added to the collection. I also know that this book is not intended for middle school at all. It is a new adult steamy romcom. I know that this cover makes this book look like a closed door cutie teen romcom that may be appropriate for middle grade. It’s not it. It’s a new adult erotica style book. You have a college ice skater and a college hockey player. One of the skating rinks is vandalized so they all must share one rink.  Of course, the hockey player gets together with the ice-skater. I’m trying to figure out why so many people love this book. I find the woman annoying. I need some actual story not just sex to make a book entertaining. And if the two aren’t having sex then they’re describing it or describing the actions with the boyfriends. Or, they are being made fun of by their other friends for their sexual escapades. Seriously there’s no plot in what i have already read. I know people say page 136. I’m reading a digital e-book so my page number don’t match but I’m at page 100 and could care less. I find the female character to be a snotty perfectionist who is constantly worried about her weight and getting big which is annoying. And the jock has almost no personality, except I carry a big stick and a bang on my chest movement with thoughts of being a sex god. This is not geared towards me and it’s that belongs with Fifty Shades of Grey i.e. in the recycle bin. There is better stuff out there. This is not a book for middle school. I can see why younger teens in the fresh Bloom of puberty find this exciting and romantic but at the same time I feel bad that they’re missing out on actual good material so they can read this. If it’s not noticeable, this book was a DNF. I have no desire to finish it or pick up any others. 

 

Welcome back to the Buffy verse. Long time viewers know that there is only one born in every generation. And that the only way to get a new slayer for the previous slayer to die. That is until Willow and Buffy get together and make sure every possible slayer is given their powers so they can defeat evil. But that was 16 years ago. Something has happened to the slayers. At least four are dead, and no one knows where the others are at. We’re back in Sunnydale with Willow who has a daughter named Frankie. And her daughter has been called up to be the next slayer. Frankie has always known she’s a witch and has always wanted to be a slayer, but when the actual time comes, yikes! However, she won’t be alone. Vi’s sister comes into the picture and Oz’s nephew who was a born werewolf (not a “made” one) are Frankie‘s best friends. They will create a new Scooby game and start getting down to the bottom of what is happening in Sunnydale. Is the Hellmuth really reopening?  This book was fun.  It does not end on a cliffhanger, but you don’t get the end of the story so have book two on hand. If you are a Buffy person, you’re going to like this book. If you’ve never watched Buffy in your lifetime, but you like the idea of vampires check this out. My nephew got hooked on the audiobook in the car with us, and he only listened to an hour!   It’s nice to see vampire that don’t sparkle and are sometimes the bad guys. 

 

Welcome back to the Buffy world and back to the Frankie lead Scooby gang. They know what happened at the last slayer retreat, they even kind of know what happened to some of the other slayers. Frankie has a new watcher and her new watcher is SPIKE!!!. While we know from the first book that Willow aged up Spike’s face and magically changed his cloths to tweed, he gets even more into his 40-year-old teaching persona. He’s not quite Giles, but he substitutes for him very well. Demons are coming back. The hell mouth is at least active, and more and more demons are coming around and we meet a new demon. Technically not a new demon, a very old demon. Older than Angel, but with powers and a good intention. The Scooby gang finds out about something called The Darkness and their role in book 2 is to figure out who the darkness is and how they can be defeated. This was a great continuation to the first book and once again it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, and the story doesn’t end so have book three ready and waiting. 

 

We know who the darkness is. We knew who the bad people are, the villains of this book. We know from the beginning and now it’s do we defeat the villains or do we do something else. Plus, the Scooby’s really need to get Buffy back. This book also gets a little bit into Frankie‘s romance with a demon which is interesting but is a little too much Angel angst for this reader. Even Willow is like oh my god, Angel 2.0. I (Willow) do not need to deal with this. Overall, this is a fantastic conclusion to this series. Is this the best book series? Probably not. However, this book ended the series in the right place. I love that this book and the series wasn’t about the romance, even though that is prevalent in this book, unless you can Willow’s romance… This was about growing up taking on a new lead and learning that you can do anything and that others believe in you as well. I like this book. I like this series. It was a great trip down memory lane even if I did do a little look up for who some of the old characters were. I think this was a great addition to Buffy and I’m glad I finally got around to reading them. 

 This was such an interesting read. I was one of judges for Soon to Be Famous who ultimately picked this book as our winner. It was worth it. The ideas were unique. Feeling and reliving every tire mark on the Road? All the ways to avoid it. Then using this weird ability to solve a crime. It all worked spectacularly well together. Give this book a chance. It is worth it. 

 

This is fun to read aloud. It has all the mechanics that one wants an easy reader. It also has a cadence so kids when they’re practicing their reading skills will feel more like their rapping or singing as they’re reading aloud. 

 

This is a ready to read easy reader. It is a pre-level one. That means this is meant for parents and kids to be reading together. It is very much like one would expect from a dick and Jane book. Very repetitive rhyming words said over and over and over again. Everything about this book works and the story is cute. The illustrations are great. 

 

For an easy reader, this has a lot of understandable information. I don’t know who the StoryBots are besides they have a Netflix series. But these weird little robots in a cadence filled rhyming narrative, explain the basics of how money works. Yes, it’s the very basics, but for the age this is made for it’s perfect. I was surprised by this book and happier for it. 

 

I liked the original Uni the Unicorn books the easy readers, ehhh. I don’t know if they’re based on a TV show or just easy readers, but kids will love them. I as an adult don’t have to. This is a Step into Reading level two book, but it feels a bit more complicated than most easy readers. I do know that step into readings levels are higher than some other publishers easy reading books.