mcgbreads's reviews
964 reviews

And my first 1-star of the year goes to...

This was the most disappointing dark romance book I've ever read in my life. The premise is so delicious, I was so hyped for it, and this is what was done with it? Criminal. 

The characters are blander than plain oatmeal and not an ounce of personality or depth was poured into them; they're cardboard cutouts. The dialogue reads like AI meets Tumblr or something and the spice gave absolutely nothing. 

I'm trying to think of more to say, but there's just nothing to this book. 

I bought this for a friend from her wish list and I genuinely regret spending money on it. The only way I'll feel okay about it is if she ends up enjoying it. 

ARC review; thanks to NetGalley, Ebury Publishing, Penguin Random House, and Rider for the access to this ebook. 

I decided a while back I wouldn't rate nonfiction and memoirs anymore, so I'll skip the rating, here are my thoughts. I've read a few memoirs from holocaust survivors and I always appreciate their strength in sharing their stories with such detail about the horrors they endured and survived. 

According to the author's note, this is a retelling of her memoir "The Choice," geared towards a wider audience. Apparently, most of this book is quite different from "The Choice" and a lot more personal. I haven't read "The Choice" so I can't compare, but this felt indeed very personal and open. I also appreciate the author's intentions in revisiting this story and her message of resilience and hope. 

One thing I have to say is that Palestine is mentioned as an escape route Jews considered during the holocaust, and the author provides no thoughts or opinions about her views on Palestine or what's currently happening. I found this a little odd because she inserts current thoughts and opinions about the things she's writing about from her past. So it stands out to me that there's no reflection about or condemnation of the current genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. 

Perhaps this retelling was written long before October 7th, but this genocide started long before then and I believe the author would've known that, so, I don't know... In the author's note, the author also mentions a lot of the issues that plague the world today, like suicide, depression, etc., but genocide isn't included in that list, and I would say it's definitely a big issue that's affecting a lot of people. 

I feel some type of way about that, but it doesn't take away from how powerful I think this short book was. 

Friendzoning but make it 19th-century St. Petersburg. 

She's 17, very sheltered, and in love with a guy who left but promised to return; he's 27, and a lonely daydreamer who just wants to connect. A friendship does blossom between them, but while he falls in love, her heart already belongs to someone else. 

I love that he doesn't turn into an asshole when he's rejected. He's actually really sweet and I like to imagine he eventually found someone for him.

The feelings both of these characters express are so relatable. That's the thing I love about classics; they're often so grounded in the human experience, they're timeless. 

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Ballantine | Del Rey for the access to this ebook.

Oh, I'm sad about this one. That first chapter was AMAZING. So good, I was so into it! But then I kept reading and was met with Sciona, and it all went downhill from there *for me*. I greatly appreciate the creativity that went into the magic and magic system, I really do, but it was overexplained and it made this draaaaag. Meanwhile, the characters felt one-dimensional, and that's my biggest issue with this because I just wasn't invested in them at all.

Sciona is unlikeable and she's meant to be, because she reflects the society she's in, but I just couldn't get behind her at all. The writing was so incredibly heavy-handed with its themes as well, I didn't like it at all. Like, I get it, I really do, there's no need to spell things out for me when they're already so in my face. Anyway, I didn't vibe with this at all, but I'm not writing off this author. I'm very interested in checking out The Sword of Kaigen at least.

This is a great thriller, but what I liked most about it wasn't the thriller aspect of it, but the characters and the exploration of grief, violence, homophobia, and racism. 

I understand why some people may not like this book. Following the perspective of two homophobic fathers who loved their sons but didn't love them enough to accept them as they were when they were alive won't be what everyone wants to read about. And the way they go about soothing their own guilt about being shitty, unsupportive fathers, through so much violence, won't be for everyone. 

However, I found that this perspective was very interesting and it was compelling. It's clear that they loved their sons, but it's also clear that they weren't good parents or good people to them. They had a lot of battles to wage within themselves. You can see why, due to the context of their upbringing and way of life, they were the kind of people they were. It took their sons being murdered, and everything that followed, to unlearn some of their bigotry, and it makes sense for these characters that that's what it took. 

I wish there was more about Isaiah and Derek, though. They seemed like really wonderful men and it would've been great to see more of that, to see how they didn't inherit any of the shit they could've inherited from their fathers, and became the decent, loving people their fathers couldn't be. 

Uhmmm, this was kind of mid. I don't remember exactly where, but I had already read 4 of these stories before, and I liked them, especially Alley, but I had already read them. The other ones were just okay, none of them stood out to me.

ARC review; thanks to NetGalley, Holiday House / Peachtree / Pixel+Ink, and Peachtree Teen for the access to the ebook. Pub date: Sep 10.

I really enjoyed this! It's whimsical and atmospheric, the fairytale vibes were great, and the characters are very likable. I wish the tension around the romance was developed a bit more between all the characters, but it was still cute and the banter was very fun to read, especially between Gisela and Kazik. Overall, it's a nice YA queer romantasy and sometimes that's all you need! 

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Del Rey for the access to the ebook. 

I think it's criminal that a book with such a STUNNING cover and interesting premise is so BORING. DNF at 20% cause I know myself and I know what I like to read, and this isn't it. The characters were bland, the jumps between diary entries, present-day, and therapy session transcripts was jarring, and I just didn't vibe with this at all. So I'm not pushing myself through this to give it a mid rating when I'm done. 

Thanks to NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group, and Tor Nightfire for the access to this ebook.

Had I known that this: "A virus is spreading across America, transforming the infected and making them feral with lust," meant that infected people became rapists, I wouldn't have requested this book and I'm sorry I got it because I'm not finishing it. I understand why that's a horrific element, but it's just not something I want to read about, so I guess that's on me for not picking up on what the description of this book was putting down. That, combined with the choppy writing style, is a no for me. 

ARC review; thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the access to this ebook. 

This was just an okay thriller to me. It's interesting and engaging enough, but I wasn't a huge fan of the characters or the use of Dissociative identity disorder (DID) as a horror element, but overall, it was just fine. The pacing could've been better, but it was easy to read and it entertained me.