vickycbooks's reviews
871 reviews

Talia Hibbert is such a master of her craft!!! This was exceptional, as all her books are, and as her first (I think?) YA, she still wrote something romantic and comedic, yet well-oriented to a YA audience. 

Clearly, her skills in crafting well rounded, relatable romances translates well even for a teenage audience. I don't mean in terms of sexual content or lack thereof, but in the sense that the story feels like it's meant for teens and is very firmly rooted in kind of the high school experience. It doesn't try to make them fake adults in teenage bodies, Celine and Bradley are very much teenagers being silly in their senior year of high school. 

Do I think the marketing could have made the YA distinction a little more clear? Yes, definitely. But at least it's not the same exact branding as her other novels (*cough* other romance authors that are writing YA now *cough*). But overall, this was a really great work that I think teens will enjoy, and even as not-so-teen anymore, I also thought it was another great Hibbert novel that was such a nice comfort read. 

Kippa is so baby. Please protect her. I would cry if Kippa died. 

I wasn't sold on this in the first couple chapters, but was definitely hooked by chapter 5. It was a lot more gory than I expected or thought was possible for a graphic novel! But the eldritch horror things were very cool. 

CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS was visceral and compelling in the voyeuristic way that the story itself comments on. The act of reading it felt, in many ways, like watching something you're not supposed to. I think the story made itself very easy and obvious for readers to read. It chose its message and it stuck to its guns the whole way through. It wasn't trying to be coy or subtle, it was instead blaring and violently in your face, which mimicked the "hard action sports" in the novel. 

I'm glad to have read it. I thought it was interesting and brutal and terrifying and horrible, but I appreciate what Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah was trying to create. I don't really know what I would rate it, or even if I am qualified to rate it at all. I think the summary represents the story very well (exactly what's on the tin), and if it seems intriguing to you, definitely take a shot. 

Read as an audiobook on 2-2.4x speed, courtesy of Libro.fm! I really enjoyed the main narrator Shayna Small, but some of the sound mixing for the secondary narrators, especially when they were doing very low voices, were hard to hear even on max volume. I wish that was managed a little better. Overall, the narration was great!

Luo Ji really looked at the Trisolarians and said "No❤"

Wow! CHLORINE was absolutely visceral and one of the best

body horror

novels I've read in a long time.

Read at 2x speed on Libro.fm! Thanks to their ALC program for providing me with the complimentary copy. The dual narration was fantastic and really contributed to the unreliable narrator aspect of the story. 

This was so captivating -- I saw someone talking about the euthanasia rollercoaster on Twitter and this book came up, and it very much intrigued me. And then I realized it was by Sequoia Nagamatsu, whose short story collection I thoroughly enjoyed! 

This is very much a plague/pandemic novel, and it's at times saturated with grief and horror. Nagamatsu creates a 30,000 year old plague that starts shapeshifting cells for your organs into cells of different organs. This sweeps across the world, and you see its effects in a series of fourteen or so short stories about different, yet interconnected, characters. From a scientist involved in the discovery and spread to his granddaughter embarking on a space journey away from Earth; from a man who repairs robot companion dogs that preserve loved ones' memories to his great great niece's struggles; from a death hotel manager to his brother's contribution to previously mentioned spaceship, the stories are wide and interconnected. All of the stories are so very human, and Nagamatsu treats his characters with dignity and respect as they traverse a trying reality. 

I really enjoyed this set and felt that all the chapters worked very well together. Some will inevitably stick with me more than others, but overall I am very much glad to have read HOW HIGH WE GO IN THE DARK. I'd definitely recommend to anyone who can stomach a plague/pandemic novel that is extremely compassionate and captivating (not particularly graphic in terms of the plague itself, but the depictions of death and grief can be very graphic at times).

Another banger from Talia Hibbert! I thoroughly enjoyed 🥰 all of their romances are exquisite.

I did not realize this was written by a non Chinese person (presumably a white man) when I first obtained it.  I admittedly should have been tipped off by the names of the author and narrator. Not interested in reading this. 

OMG that ending! Both Ouyang and Zhu kind of wrecked me with their choices at the end of the novel. The build up to it was so good and exquisitely done. I really enjoyed SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN and I'm excited for the sequel. It's that type of plotty, journey-to-greatness kind of build up that you see in THE POPPY WAR, but with a more historical, political bend and much more minor fantasy elements. I think it is also notably not overall a very angsty book (there are definitely moments that are angsty, however!), but instead is a very satisfying one. I love seeing the ascension of the characters and I especially loved reading the underdog-like subplots when Zhu was faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, but found a clever solution. I felt like Parker-Chan gave us a really good sense of scope and that helped us appreciate the beauty of the storylines being woven. I also really like how a lot of common motifs penetrated the different storylines without being overwhelming, especially about fate and dedication to people or causes. 

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this novel to people who like meaty fantasy novels with oodles of plot and satisfying underdog, coming-into-greatness type stories. 

The audio narration was also great -- I listened on 2x speed the whole way through, although I would have preferred a faster speed (but it was not available on the platform I used to listen).