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sara_berlin's reviews
270 reviews

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ladies, gentlemen and the technicolor rainbow in between, Laini Taylor’s done it again! 
I admit, the first half still felt really middle book style, but the half really hooked me. It’s  action packed but still slows down for the more emotional moments. If Laini Taylor is good at anything it’s pacing (besides every other aspect of storytelling that she’s also really good at). 
There’s a decent amount of twists and revelations, but not so many that it’s nauseating to keep up with. I felt shaken by the end, but more by the emotional than plot aspects, which is what I prefer. 
A cataclysmic ending to a superb trilogy about war and peace, love and hatred, regret, and redemption. 
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

For about the first half, I wasn’t really sold. It was lacking the depth that Casey McQuiston’s adult novels have (and not because it’s YA, plenty young adult books have good depth and wonderful characters) but as I kept reading it just got more complex and multidimensional. Personally I couldn’t relate to having to deal with an oppressive religious environment or livingin the depth south, but it was very interesting to read about. I do wish we got more of the friendships in the story, and Chloe’s love for theater, because honestly those were the best scenes. Though, it does makes sense for the plot, considering how much trying to find Shara takes over her life. Also I’m a sucker for epilogues, but again, so much of this book was about anticipation for the future that having an epilogue that kind of resolved that might not have worked. 
Godslayers by Zoe Hana Mikuta

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It reminded me of House of Leaves, but then again, so does everything. In this case especially because of the setting and the unreliable narrator, as well as the "experimental/exploration" vibes of it, albeit House of Leaves really gets into it right away, while Piranesi takes a little while to make you realize "huh, something's weird here." In that way it reminds me of a classic (specifically Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne), since it doesn't really bother to get your attention at the start and only gets good if you stick with it. I admit, if you let yourself get wrapped up in the details, instead of just being swept along by the story and getting immersed, it can be a bit of a drag and tiring to read. There's kind of a slow build up of tension, and then all the sudden so many things are happening and there's almost a plot. Also, the ending was pretty quiet, but so was most of the book so I think it worked. Overall, I think this is an interesting little book that I'd like to reread sometime, as there's probably plenty of foreshadowing.
Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

Yet another hit by the beloved Laini Taylor. I admit, it didn't have the intrigue and curiosity of the first book, but I am still freaking out about what's going to happen in the third one. I fall more and more in love with Laini Taylor's writing the more books of hers I read. I'll be so sad once this trilogy is over. 
Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan

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emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think the best way to describe this book is it's insightful in its own, quiet way. Definitely a coming of age story, but I think because of the characters' lifestyle and perspective not everything is relatable. Personally, I've been overly self aware for as long as I can remember, unlike Cecile who is the exact opposite, but I still could empathize with some of her struggles and laugh painfully in understanding as she thought certain things. The ending was definitely... interesting, and not quite what I expected from such a generally-lighthearted-but-melancholy-on-the-inside book, yet somehow it still worked. All in all I don't think it was bad, and I did enjoy a decent chunk of it, however if it was any longer I definitely would've dreaded reading it. Not quite for me but still decent. It only really took me this long because I had other, more interesting, things to read. 
Loveless by Alice Oseman

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I cannot stress how important this book is to me, to people I know and to thousands of people out there, and how many more it could become important to. I'm so glad that this exists, I can't even begin to explain the depth of my love for everything Alice Oseman does. On a personal level, I'm still figuring out the asexual aspect of my identity (so far we've got demisexual), and even though I think I know a lot more about different kinds of attraction and how to identify them than your average person, and probably more than even most queer people, it's still so validating to have something like this printed and just written out in a way that sums up all my thoughts. The main thing is that, unlike a lot of teen books, this book makes it so abundantly clear that romance isn't everything, to which I can only say PREACH. I read this mostly digitally, but I wish I had a physical copy so that I could look at it on my shelf and immediately go back to that feeling of certainty and security this wonderful book gave me. 1000000/10, a must read for anyone who has questions or is just curious about this topic.  
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A very fitting, albeit bittersweet, finale to the series. It's got to be my favorite book out of the three, and I think you can definitely see the improvement in Leigh Bardugo's writing which eventually built up to Six of Crows. She said at one point that she decided to write Six of Crows in third person because she enjoyed writing the prologues and epilogues of Shadow and Bone that way, and I definitely think it's fitting. I also think that in this book Alina's voice was more distinct, and the general plot and world become more unique and less generic-YA type. I'm also happy that I can watch the show and read King of Scars now (we stan Nikolai). 
Here and Queer: A Queer Girl's Guide to Life by Rowan Ellis

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

I'm so glad this exists! Personally, I've been entrenched in the LGBTQ+ community for long enough to understand most of these things, but I think it could be very helpful to the "baby gays." It's also useful to have something like this that basically sums everything up. Of course, I am biased, since I really enjoy Rowan Ellis' content on YouTube (Go check it out! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCniXurp_3xcDh923eiqGX3w), but I highly recommend this book! Also, like some of the other reviews have said, it would make a great gift to a young (or maybe even not so young) queer girl you know.
No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I was very excited for the representation in this book, and I will say that it was good it just didn't hit the spot for me. Only thing is, it does take more than half the book to get to what's said in the blurb (that's a first for me!), but maybe it's just the blurb that should be rewritten. I will say that even though Kat's personality was pretty far from my own, and I found her a bit difficult to relate to, I still liked her as a compelling and interesting character. Also, I really enjoyed the focus on her photography as an art, as well as how that brought Kat and her friends together. It reminded me of my friend group. Either way, I do recommend it as a book, just not a new favorite.