sophiesometimesreads's reviews
221 reviews

2.75 stars (ish?).

This one is a difficult one for me to rate because I actually really enjoyed the general overarching storyline, but I think the execution left a lot to be desired. The first half had me thinking this could be a 3.5 to 4 star book, but then the second half dragged so much I had to drop the rating.

I think the book lost a lot of momentum at the tribe scenes about halfway through the book. I also think the reader was left in the dark too long with answers, given we had pieced together the "what" about halfway through but didn't get the "why" until the end of the book - and this is a 500+ page book! I felt like we went in circles a little bit towards the end.

I liked the original dynamic between Raeve and Kaan, but it sort of became bland the further we went on. I also don't really think he stood out a lot in the way of romantasy MMCs - he was tall, dark-haired, chiselled with a huge 🍆, and was very protective, almost veering possessive at times, over the FMC. At least he was genuinely nice for most of the story, though, and was a consent king (pun intended). Same character, different font. Raeve was a bit more interesting, as was her story, but I would have liked to see more character development throughout this book as she felt like she ended the book in the same place as at the start - stab first, ask questions later.

The writing started out pretty decent but the flowery prose got too over-the-top by the end and the word use got repetitive. How many times can one say "cleft" in a book? 36 times apparently. "Maw" also had it's fair share of page time, though it wasn't quite as obvious. I also don't understand the reasons why the names of some things were changed and not others. Why call it a "dae" when you can just say "day"?

I also would've liked more dragons.

Though I have said a lot of the negatives, I thought the premise of the story was interesting and I feel like if this and been shorter and more focused on the core storyline, it would've been far better. It just felt a little all over the place, with a lot going on but also not a lot. But I obviously seem to be in the minority with this opinion so take what you will from this review.

This did what it said on the cover and was a quick and easy guide to asexuality. It didn't go in depth to a lot of the aspects of asexuality but it wasn't meant to, so that's fine.

Sometimes this did lean more into anecdotal responses regarding asexuality moreso than factual, though, so those unfamiliar with asexuality and reading this as educational may want to take that into consideration.

There were also a couple of contentious things mentioned. The A in LGBTQIA+ section was a bit iffy to me, as the A does stand for asexual, aromantic, agender, and does not stand for ally. The book says it's "unsure" what the A stands for but it has always stood for non-allocishet A identities, not ally. It also contractied itself a couple times, like saying asexuality is defined by attraction not action but including action (or lack thereof) when defining asexuality later on.

I also don't know if the graphic novel format did anything extra for this book than a novel or short PDF could, given it was mostly in talking heads format, but that's not to say the art itself was bad.

I did like the extra references at the end for further reading and the disclaimers at the start.

Overall, it did what it said on the cover and was a quick and easily digestible introduction to asexuality, though it did have a few flaws in doing so. I would still recommend it as an introduction but encourage others to do more reading on the topic through other sources and books.

2 stars, maybe 2.5 if I'm feeling generous.

Look, I think this thriller has its audience but that audience is not me. If you're looking to branch into thrillers, then you may really enjoy this but, as someone who has read their fair share of thrillers, this felt very "been there, done that". I guessed the whole resolution with more than 100 pages to go, which equates to about 60% of the way through this book. The dialogue felt clunky, the characters underdeveloped and surface level, and the plot was very convenient. I also didn't find it very thrilling, more dramatic, but this was also because I predicted a lot of the plot. It was easy to read though and quick to get through, so I can see why people like it. Overall, not a completely awful book but it just didn't do much for me personally, and may not be your cup of tea if you've read a few thrillers.

Thank you NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - words & pictures for providing me with a copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Diwali is a children's picture book that follows Sonali and her younger brother Jay as they celebrate the Hindu festival of Diwal, surrounded by friends and family.

This book was wonderful! The illustrations were so cute and had enough detail to be capturing whilst not being overwhelming. The story was fun and I learnt some things about Diwali, even as someone far outside of this book's target audience.

I loved the fact we had a little story first, followed by a non-fiction section at the back, and little-kid version of Sophie would've LOVED that little quiz at the end.

This was really a wonderful experience and is very educational whilst be easy to follow and fun. I would definitely recommend.

I was intrigued by this and thought how it all came together was smart, but I just struggled to feel really invested in the story such that the twist didn't absolutely floor me, I was just pleasantly surprised. This seems like a me problem not a book problem, though.

I really enjoyed this! Miles and Daphne were cute, and the cast of side characters were interesting and fleshed out. It had the usual EH charm but was a little more lighthearted and romcommy than Happy Place was. As is usual for an Emily Henry book, I really loved the personal journey the characters went on as well as the development of their relationships with each other. I had a wonderful time, though I'm sure no one is surprised, and I would recommend this book.

This was the first collection of poems I've read, so it's hard for me to know how it compares to other poetry, but as Mosab says, a good poem makes people feel things and the feelings conveyed in these poems did really hit me. A harrowing look into the lives of people in Gaza throughout the years in short yet powerful poems. I would recommend this to anyone.

Please check content warnings before reading.

I thought it was good with important messaging and an intriguing plot; however, it was a little longer than it needed to be and I think the same effect could've been achieved with fewer moving parts in the plotline. Some of the resolution was a little predictable, too, but I thought the overall story was important and pointed out some very important issues in academia and private schools.

I loved this! So cute, heartwarming, realistic (except the magical creatures...) and funny.

This was well-paced, in my opinion, as it kept my attention the whole time, though I did go in with the expectation that this was more of a mystery over a thriller so wasn't expecting a super fast pace. Some people seem to feel like it dragged in the middle but I didn't really find this to happen for me.

I didn't pick much of the nitty gritty details (and most of the time when I did it was two pages before it was revealed in text). Some of the overarching details I did get, but I was questioning myself the whole time, and there was one reveal that really shocked me but made sense when looking back, so that was fun. I was hoping for a little more of a shocking reveal for a five star read, but there were components that shocked me so I wasn't disappointed, just felt like there was a little room for more shocking details or a big twist to the overarching narrative. In saying this, all the loose ends were tied up one way or another which is something I really appreciate about Holly Jackson's novels. Even the red herrings were explained away.

A lot of the characters are unlikeable, so if that's not your think you might not enjoy this, but I thought it made for an interesting dynamic between them all. Bel did get a bit frustrating at times, but it wasn't enough for me to hate her or to feel as if I didn't want to keep reading. I did feel like her character development happened a little quickly at the end though, and could've been fleshed out a little more, particulalry given the length of the novel, but it was still good to see how her character changed and grew across this novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this and if you like HJ's other novels, I'm sure you'll also like this one!