sophiesometimesreads's reviews
221 reviews

An informative and inspiring read that has the potential to help so many young people discover their gender and feel like they're not alone. I felt so much joy through this book as Maia reached key milestones in eir gender journey and as ey had moments of gender euphoria. The art style was great too, very detailed but also easy to look at and absorb. The ending did feel a little abrupt but reinforced the well-understood circular queer experience of never having to stop coming out.

This was my first experience with a horror book, so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt as I don't have anything within-genre to compare to. I was surprised that I wasn't as scared as I expected to be, though the book was atmospheric and eery and creepy, and I did quite like that. This is not a negative against the book, just a diversion from my assumptions of the genre.

I had a good time with this book. I enjoyed the overall plotline and the characters were intriguing, though many were unlikeable (as they were supposed to be). The resolution to the mystery component was not what I expected but made sense in context of the story, and a few things I'd noticed in the earlier story tied into it.

The main way in which this book fell down a bit for me was in the pacing. The first two thirds were pretty slow, and we took a long time to get little snippets of information and hints towards what was going on. In saying this, I was still intrigued enough to keep reading and I'm glad I did, as the last third was really interesting. I just wanted a little bit of the pace of the last third in the rest of the book.

The actual style of writing, though, was really good and I enjoyed how atmospheric Silvia Moreno-Garcia's writing was, I'd definitely be open to picking up one of her books again. I'm also intending to read more horror books in the future. I'd heard this book was a good introduction to the horror genre and I agree with that statement, so if you're looking to dabble in horror then this book could be a good place to start!

This book was cute and I had a good time with it. If you enjoy fluffy YA romance with good found family, and are also interested in K-pop, then this book is probably a good one for you!

The romance was a little predictable and it did feel like a fanfiction at times, but it was still a whole lot of fun. I believe it was written to be in a similar vein to a Kdrama so that's probably why it read like this, though I don't think it made the book bad at all and didn't impact my enjoyment (if anything, it made me want to watch a Kdrama).

The biggest selling point for this book though, in my opinion, is the friendships and the found family throughout the book, that's what really made this book for me.

There was an opportunity for this book to fall into the love triangle trope, too, and I really liked how it didn't end up going in that direction, it was refreshing. I liked that the conflict was centred around the characters within the realtionship and not about others.

Overall, a really light hearted and fun read. I kept thinking about these characters and their relationships for days after finishing it, too, so it definitely left a lasting impression.

This was such a surprise. It did not go in the direction I thought it would at all, but it was excellent. 

It was fun, educational, funny and emotional all at once and I really enjoyed my time with this book. I loved the exploration of sexuality and vaginismus aimed towards high schoolers, particularly those ingrained in church life, and I think this will be an important book for a lot of teenagers.

I loved Monique, and this was really a story of her coming of age and exploration of self, as opposed to the romance that I expected, though there is a bit of a romance plot in here too. I really liked that the romance wasn't the main focus in the book and we got a lot about Monique and her journey.

A wonderful story that I would recommend for a lot of people to read, particularly teenagers but not only teenagers.

Wow. I don't know how to adequately describe this book. It was beautifully written and explores the important topic of abusive relationships and, more specifically, queer abusive relationships, though Machado's recollection of her experiences interspersed with commentary on literature, media and a societal perception of what constitutes as abuse. The short chapters made it easy to get through, which balanced out the heavy topic matter. PLEASE check your trigger warnings before reading this, but it was a very powerful and important read.

I enjoyed this overall, and I think I've found that I am a fan of the royal x celebrity trope. In saying this, there were a few factors that just weren't for me but that's definitely a me problem not a problem with the book. 

Firstly, and I realise this will be a selling point for a lot of people so I put it first, it was a bit spicy for my personal preference. Look, I don't mind a bit of spice but it is the part of romance novels I like the least. It didn't make me hate the book or anything but it's just something that factored into this not being a 5 star read. BUT if you do like spice, this has a number of scenes but also a decent storyline so this may be for you. I also felt that there could've been more romance and intimacy between the couple outside of the spice to get me more convinced as to why they work as a couple, not just as a fling. We got a bit of an insight into this and, when we did get it, it was really cute, but I just wanted more.

This also leads into the pacing of the book and the speed of the relationship. It took almost half the book before the two characters even met one another, and then it seemed like into a few chapters later they were talking about loving each other. I would've liked for a bit more development in them getting to know each other, so it didn't feel so much like instalove. The third-act conflict also felt a bit rushed in its conclusion, though I do give it points for not having a traditional third-act breakup, even though the conflict was centred around miscommunication (another trope I'm not a huge fan of).

Now, even though these things did impact my enjoyment a little, I did really like the book overall and had a great time whilst reading it. Dani's character was great, I loved her fiesty attitude, independence and her drive towards what she wanted. Like I mentioned earlier, I am a fan of the royal x celebrity trope and liked seeing this dynamic play out through these characters. There were also some good discussions about sexism in the hip hop scene, as well as racism in society and also the royal family. 

If you don't mind (or like) instalove, love a decent amount of spice in your romance and love an independent FMC, then this book is for you! 

Overall, I had a good time with this book. I particulalry enjoyed the first chapter and the insight into the world of live, late-night comedy television whilst also seeing the blossoming friendship/romance between Sally and Noah. I also enjoyed the humour throughout the book and laughed out loud a few times throughout.

The relationship between Sally and Noah was cute, and I was rooting for them, but I felt like the conflict in the third chapter was a bit jarring, given the format of the first chapter didn't really give much insight into the flaws of the characters. I think a bit more development of the characters in the first part of the book would've made this feel a bit more natural. The love also did feel a little fast tracked, thiugh I guess thus is relatively normal for people of their age so it didn't put me off too much, but was something that took away slightly from me believing in their relationship. In saying all this, like I said previously, I was really rooting for them as a couple and enjoyed watching their story unfold.

It is also important to note that the second and third parts of this book deal heavily with the pandemic and covid. It didn't completely take me out of the book, but I found that it delved far deeper into these topics than I expected and I don't know if it was necessary. I feel like, to me, that we aren't far enough removed from these events for me to be able to compeltely enjoy a book that deals with these topics. It wasn't enough to make me DNF, and I did still enjoy watching their relationship develop more through these events, I just think similar events through a different point in time could've been better.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and the relationship and the characters, but there was just some things that took me out of the story a little bit. I would be interested in picking up another book by this author, though.

A lot of people have said that this is the best book they've ever read... I'm not really sure about that comment. Was it enjoyable? For the most part, yeah. Was it a literary masterpiece? No.

The storyline was predictable, I predicted all but one or two of the plot points, as they've been heavily used in (YA) fantasy for at least as long as I've been reading it. This was partly due to the really clunky foreshadowing. The number of times the text says something along the lines of "that's impossible because that doesn't happen!" and then a few pages later, lo and behold, said impossible thing happens. And really, that was the extent of the foreshadowing.

The pacing through the middle lagged. It got to the point where I KNEW something was up, that people were hiding things and something wasn't right but we just didn't get much information scattered through to keep me super interested in why all this was happening. We spent a lot on the school, which was overly cruel and no one seemed to point this out, and didn't really get into the why of the story until the end, despite it being obvious something was coming.

The world building was okay. I liked the little snippets from texts from the world at the start of the chapters but I did feel like the book relied too heavily on these as world building and didn't give enough in text, and these were sometimes spoilery. Most of the early world building and lore was done through the MC reciting facts to herself, though, which was an... interesting choice. Also, a pro-military tone was present through the whole thing, which I could mostly push aside but some may not like that about it.

The dragons were cool and one thing I did really like was the disability representation. I really enjoyed everyone around Violet telling her that doing things differently to account for her disability didn't mean she was weak, and how those close to her supported her making the consessions she needed to do the job properly. Overall, Violet was also really strong and I liked that she wasnt portrayed as weak or in need of fixing. (This is coming from a non-disabled person though, and I have since seen discussion on how this "push through the pain" narrative can be harmful to disabled people. It is really important to listen to the people who are being represented on the quality of this representation. In hindsight, I can see how this can be harmful to people who suffer from the same thing as Violet, or disabled people in general.)

Though I did have a number of criticisms of the text, I did enjoy the book overall for what it was and I may pick up the second book (spoiler: now Iron Wing is out, I have zero desire to pick it up so this is where it ends for me and Fourth Wing). It is far from a literary masterpiece but is generally enjoyable if you can look past the flaws.

Update: Upon reflection over many months, it wasn't that great, despite having some enjoyable moments throughout, so I have dropped my rating from 3 stars to 2.5 stars.

Just gotta wipe the tears away before I can even fathom writing my review.

I really, really loved this book. The second half, in particular, gave me so many feelings. It was so heartbreaking to see the relationship come together and then fall apart in the flashbacks, whilst Harriet was trying to navigate seeing Wyn again and how that played into her friendships in the present timeline.

Honestly, the shining star of this book was Harriet and her friendships. Whilst I did come to be invested in her relationship with Wyn, the friendships and the exploration of friends to lovers and how this impacts friendship groups was wonderful and really resonated with me.

This was almost a perfect book for me, but I did have a desire partway through to have more context as to why Wyn and Harriet made a good couple together, as I felt we had seen a lot of them coming together and falling apart, but not as much in between. In saying this, this part of the story was further developed in the second half and by the end I did feel invested in their relationship.

Emily Henry has a way of making me so invested in the world of her characters that I literally cannot stop thinking about them whilst I'm not reading the book, and this was no different. I absolutely loved it, and would recommend if you love novels with a bit of angst and a bit of sweetness mixed together.

I really enjoyed this one and the commentary on different facets of the book publishing and reviewing industry. 

It does read a little bit more subtle in its criticisms than expected from the advertisment as a "scathing review" of the industry. This is likely due to the choice of narrator, so I think it's important to go into this book knowing it's a satire and that the thoughts portrayed by the narrator aren't reflective of the author. Though most in online book spaces would know this from the large amount of advertisment, it does come through quite subtle until the end so hopefully the message gets across to all readers. The relative subtly of the criticisms, particulalry on the first half of the book, wasn't bad, it just was different to the expectations I had developed based upon how it was pitched.

Aside from this, I think it made some really good points about book spheres on social media, the short-term memory of cancel culture and performative activism and diversity in publishing.

June was absolutely insufferable, as she was supposed to be, and made me cringe many times. The ending was also absolutely wild and gripped me, as well as tying together the whole story and reinforcing those more subtle threads through the rest of the story in a strong way.

Another great book by RF Kuang, in my opinion, but I can definitely see how it has been and will continue to be a divisive book in terms of content and execution. I'd still recommend it, though, particularly for fans of unlikeable narrators and satire.