smokedshelves's reviews
483 reviews

thank you to st. martin's press, wednesday books, and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
give me all the arthurian shenanigans and i am in!!!

lex croucher is officially an author i cannot believe i waited so long to finally read. honestly, i was particularly terrified of historical fiction as a genre, but this year has really truly been one that i’ve really enjoyed discovering. and this story was no exception. the writing, the humor, it all feels so modern.

i mean, hell, we have a riverdale reference in the first couple chapters of the book. and from that line on, i was hooked. this story uses so many of those cliche tropes: “oh. oh.”, “i let go of a breath (sword) i didn’t realize i was holding”, and so on. genuinely, it was so laugh out loud, and i really can’t say that often about books in humor. but i was giggling and kicking my feet like an idiot the whole book. basically, if you liked the humor in any of casey mcquiston’s books, you will adore croucher’s humor.

now on to the actual story. well, really the characters. because that’s what we’re all hear for. i absolutely adored gwen and art. the two of them have the friendship of friendships. they help each other through their tough times, and love to pick on each other. their sibling dynamic is just so fun. it’s so wholesome and i want to be their friends. i loved being able to follow both of them through these events.

gabriel, the poor tortured soul, i love you so damn much. adding you to the list of characters i want to give the biggest hug too. seriously, who hurt you so much to make you think you have to be one thing and nothing less than your truest self.

bridget. god, you are so hot. teach me your ways!!! that is all.

one thing that's important to note is that this book isn't a retelling of king arthur's story. i know that's what i first thought, hearing the title. but rather it's a story set in an england, where king arthur isn't a myth but a true man. gwen (kind of) and art were named after their predecessors. and a lot of the politics and world building are built around these myth's being fact/legend in this world. and honestly, i think it was an interesting twist on the story.

genuinely, i am begging croucher to write a follow up book for each of the couples. i will devour it all in a heartbeat.

thank you to viking books for young readers and penguin teen for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

this was the perfect "pick me up", something short and sweet that gives you all the feels. a swoony sapphic romance that also birelf discusses some important topics. those being, mainly, toxic relationships and proper communication in romantic/sexual relationships.

i really appreciated how these were brought up for each of our main characters. however, i do wish we had a bit more closure with momo's hesitations for romantic relationships, given the information we learn. but i do appreciate that we were able to have that with pg, especially since we're not really in their head. we don't know what she's thinking. maybe. hopefully though. that means there might be more releases in the future following pg and momo then?

truly though, the perfect graphic novel for those who love heartstopper.

thank you to razorbill and penguin teen for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

it’s really unfortunate to say that i don’t think i’ve ever struggled through a graphic novel as much as i have with this one. despite really appreciating the art style, i really could not get into the story very well.

we’re thrown right into it with honestly too many characters to keep track of. it was hard to remember who was who beyond our main cast (jekyll/hide, rachel, lanyon, the wolf guy who i can’t remember the name of, and of course frankenstein and their monster). the main cast is already a ton of creatures to keep track of and then we’re introduced to 30ish more scientists. wow, it was a lot. and really no one stood out to me, unfortunately.

also, this book is marketed as young adult. however, all the characters are adults, beyond university age. they use curse words, talk about sex (“shagging”), and definitely get a bit to drunk a few times. and yet this book is marketed for 12 and up? i’d definitely say that’s a bit generous.

girl, what did tattoos ever do to make you hate them so much. damn.

thank you to penguin teen for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

i honestly enjoyed this way more than i was expecting. given this is (somehow) my first ali hazelwood, its her ya (but really new adult, imo) debut, and i’ve heard a lot about her writing feeling like a fanfiction. i was… well, i was worried. and honestly yeah it kind of read that way but also i do understand why so many people love her stories??

like, it was funny, it was quick and and it was digestible. i know the book is short. but i really do feel like i devoured it anyways. were there a lot of pop culture references… yeah. but i genuinely got so into the romance and the chess storyline that none of it truly bothered me, per se. but also, i’ve always been a fan of chess (i mean, i’m ukranian, it was like a birth right to be taught to play by my grandpa when i was a child) so i’m definitely biased on that front.

of note, i know a lot of people have been and will ask about the spice levels of this story. personally, i wish publishing companies recognized new adult as an age range because this would fit perfectly into it. our characters are 18 (mallory) and 20 (nolan) throughout the majority of the book. they are fully adults. hazelwood mentions a lot of discussions about sex, often in relation to mallory hooking up with people.

(on a huge side note, mallory is bi or pan or poly. they never label her exactly. but she has sexual relationships with multiple genders. and i did not expect that going in and was pleasantly surprised. nolan… well i’m going to headcanon him as demi. i don’t know if she ever mentions their exact labels anywhere. but given the man acts like i do about sexual relationships, i’m going to presume. okay, back on track!)

so, i mentioned that mallory has a lot of very casual discussions about her hook-ups, including using dating apps, etc etc. they talk about how she grew up in a house that wasn’t bothered by sex and chastity. so that, their ages, plus the few fade to black sex scene(s) in the book, i personally think it should be classified as new adult, not ya. but that’s on publishing. but yeah. if anyone was wondering. no, there’s nothing explicit on page. and i firmly believe that it should stay that way because it will be published as a ya book. which usually features minors (i know it’s different in this case, it’s still icky to me, this could be a whole conversation).

anywho. tl;dr, i really enjoyed this story way more than i was expecting. it was one of those books that was a true palette cleanser. a book that reminds you how fun it can feel to swoon over some humans figuring their life out, finding their person, and ultimately learning from their mistakes.

thank you penguinteen for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

i… genuinely don’t know where to begin. how much should i say? everything i want to say, really, feels like a spoiler.

i guess, let me just say. i hope this book receives the recognition it deserves. the importance it has to our current day. the slippery path our world could easily go down, if extremist parties gain more traction. this book, does a beautiful job portraying how deeply frightening it can be if this does happen. it scares me with how unfortunately probable this path is in our current political landscape, especially here in the states.

but also, throughout it all. it gives us hope. it shows people like eleanor, people like me, who subtly fight back. like sheila, who’s a flame, burning almost too bright. like betty, who bury their hurt deep deep down until they drown. the amount of times i held back sobs reading this story. it’s so damn powerful. so well portrayed. it uses a dystopian landscape with highly advanced technology to “mask” the how similar it is to our modern world. but at its core, its a story about us now. and it’s done so well. so intricately constructed. i really, truly, could not explain this all this book contains properly.

i had the lovely opportunity, albeit completely unplanned, chance to buddy read this with mel (@mel.muses). and i honestly think this is the way to go. grab a friend or two. make a lil group chat and buddy read it. because your brains will be swimming with theories and confusion and beautiful quotes. and you will want to talk to it with someone.

this book is made for conversations. so lets start them.

thank you to atria books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

so, i really feel like i had to sit and think about this book before deciding exactly what i was going to rate it. process everything that did and didn’t happen. in some moments i loved cameron and adalyn. in others i felt completely ambivalent towards their romance, their story.

i think my main annoyance came with how long adalyn hid her reason for being sent to green oak to cameron. and cameron was honestly totally okay with her telling things on her own time. but then the second the roles were reversed and cameron didn’t tell adalyn about the club sale for one (1) day, it caused a fairly big argument. it kind of felt frustrating to see how that played out between them. and while, yes, they didn’t break up in that typical sense you see in most romance books. they didn’t not break up either??? i guess, cameron was so damn patient with adalyn, and she didn’t really ever give him much back. he literally would always lay things out on the line, think of her, and she would almost never do the same back. she would think it. acknowledge it. but then say something completely opposite to how she felt. and this went on until the last 5% of the book.

on to the soccer/football aspect of the story. i know its tough for an author to decide how much they’re going to share about it. especially in a romance book, when that’s not really the main point of the story. neither of them really play, its not a rivals story. but i do wish we had a bit more. we only learn of like three of the girls’ names, and only ever interact with maria after the first scene. i honestly wish we got to see more of the team, the practices, the games. but also, i personally didn’t love maria’s character that much either. so… i’m torn.

i think bottom line, while i might not have enjoyed all the aspects of this book. objectively, this might have to be armas’ strongest book so far. you can clearly tell the structure and storyline are so much cleaner than her debut and sophomore novels were. and with the ending/epilogue. i am definitely intrigued enough to read onto josie x matthew.