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ali_k0's reviews
159 reviews
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
After I finished the audiobook, I walked around my apartment for twenty minutes replaying it in my head. I've never read a book that felt so real.
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-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
3.75
Collide by Bal Khabra
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Honestly, I thought this would be a shallow, no thoughts needed, questionable but fun hockey romance. I did not expect to love the characters, or relate to them, as much as I did.
Summers relationship with her father was the emotional highlight of this book for me. Bal Khabra described their relationship in ways I had struggled for years to describe my own.
I loved the evolution of their relationship, how much of an emphasis, from both the author and the male lead Aiden, placed on consent and respecting boundaries (we're sorely needing that in modern romances I fear). Due to this, it's probably the only friends with benefits romance books I've enjoyed.
I think the third act dragged a little, but it was so nice to not have a third act breakup (they have a spat but honestly I don't think it counts, it's more like growing pains).
Loved it, will recommend, and can't wait for her next read.
Summers relationship with her father was the emotional highlight of this book for me. Bal Khabra described their relationship in ways I had struggled for years to describe my own.
I loved the evolution of their relationship, how much of an emphasis, from both the author and the male lead Aiden, placed on consent and respecting boundaries (we're sorely needing that in modern romances I fear). Due to this, it's probably the only friends with benefits romance books I've enjoyed.
I think the third act dragged a little, but it was so nice to not have a third act breakup (they have a spat but honestly I don't think it counts, it's more like growing pains).
Loved it, will recommend, and can't wait for her next read.
Mirror Girls by Kelly McWilliams
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.75
Mirror Girls was the first horror novel I've ever read, most certainly my first Southern Gothic (here's to new things in the new year!) and I'm certainly glad it was.
Both sister had such clear voices, as I was reading I could here Charlie's Harlem accent, the stiff-backed confidence that etched itself into her narrative. And for Magnolia, her Southern Belle Drawl poured off the page. There were several moments I laughed at the way her sister described it.
Kelly McWilliams laces this book with a sense of unmooredness for the characters. Charlie returns to a home she's never known, deep in the Jim Crow South. Eureka is "a place where nothing ever changes and nothing ever dies", where her stiffed back confidence is the very thing that could get her killed. As for Magnolia, well she's a Southern Belle who's no Southern Belle at all.
Mirror Girls is a testament to Racism, dark and powerful histories, and the challenges of identity and homes that don't want you. I cried so much during the final pages of this book, it's beautiful, it's painful, I loved it all.
And I'll definitely be reading more Southern Gothics.
Both sister had such clear voices, as I was reading I could here Charlie's Harlem accent, the stiff-backed confidence that etched itself into her narrative. And for Magnolia, her Southern Belle Drawl poured off the page. There were several moments I laughed at the way her sister described it.
Kelly McWilliams laces this book with a sense of unmooredness for the characters. Charlie returns to a home she's never known, deep in the Jim Crow South. Eureka is "a place where nothing ever changes and nothing ever dies", where her stiffed back confidence is the very thing that could get her killed. As for Magnolia, well she's a Southern Belle who's no Southern Belle at all.
Mirror Girls is a testament to Racism, dark and powerful histories, and the challenges of identity and homes that don't want you. I cried so much during the final pages of this book, it's beautiful, it's painful, I loved it all.
And I'll definitely be reading more Southern Gothics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism
Tarred and Feathered... Again by Darwin Ph. D. Fishman
0.0
I didn't even read this book, I had him as a professor, and rate my professor was not enough.
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
First book of the year and I have a lot of mixed feelings. It was a good story, but I think it drowned (pardon the pin) in its own atmosphere. There were scenes I felt were missing from the book - ones meant to develop the characters and the romance at the center. Effy is a intriguing head to be in, but I think her arc suffered by the authors over commitment to the environment and under commitment to the characters development. I think the book she really wanted to write was Angharad, in which the excerpts we get are where the authors talent shines through.
There was so much in this book I wanted more of: the Drowning, The Sleepers and their museum, the war between the nations. I know a second book is coming and I hope she tells us more, but I feel she missed a lot of foundations here. To pull from the book, I think we'll find it filled with water come morning.
Effy's trauma define her as a character, and how she responds to this trauma, not by taking up a sword but simply surviving, I think is very relatable to a lot of people. Although my version of survival and hers are very different, I still saw myself in her, and I think many others will too. I just wish she had been given more time to grow. Past her trauma, but also her prejudices.
The mystery itself was timeless in its own way. Anyone who knows literary history can guess the true author of Angharad from the moment the question is posed, but I don't think the obviousness is what the mystery suffers from. The book is sold as "part historical fantasy part rival to lovers romance and part Gothic mystery" and although it was all of those things, I think breaking it into so many parts made all of them suffer. None really has the time to shine, as the authors commitments to written aesthetic seemed to be the most important thing here.
Lastly, although the tale of stolen works is one that needs to be told, the starting evidence for the case Myrddin wasn't the author is, "a southerner is not smart enough to write this, so it must be a northerner" which then turns out to be true. Myrddin did write works, but they were bad middling poetry and one unsuccessful romance. In the end, it was the ingenious Northerner who wrote Angharad, only she was a women, which was the twist. I really think this book could have been better if the author went the route of, "it was a Southern girl, which everyone thought would be to much to believe, so it was given to a southern man." That the male lead Preston is so against how his people, the Argantians, are stereotyped, but is fine with the ones around southerners, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
In the end I still liked it. It's dark and dreary but also enchanting, a perfect book for cold nights by warm fires. I don't know if I'll pick up the second book, but I don't regret that I picked this one up.
There was so much in this book I wanted more of: the Drowning, The Sleepers and their museum, the war between the nations. I know a second book is coming and I hope she tells us more, but I feel she missed a lot of foundations here. To pull from the book, I think we'll find it filled with water come morning.
Effy's trauma define her as a character, and how she responds to this trauma, not by taking up a sword but simply surviving, I think is very relatable to a lot of people. Although my version of survival and hers are very different, I still saw myself in her, and I think many others will too. I just wish she had been given more time to grow. Past her trauma, but also her prejudices.
The mystery itself was timeless in its own way. Anyone who knows literary history can guess the true author of Angharad from the moment the question is posed, but I don't think the obviousness is what the mystery suffers from. The book is sold as "part historical fantasy part rival to lovers romance and part Gothic mystery" and although it was all of those things, I think breaking it into so many parts made all of them suffer. None really has the time to shine, as the authors commitments to written aesthetic seemed to be the most important thing here.
Lastly, although the tale of stolen works is one that needs to be told, the starting evidence for the case Myrddin wasn't the author is, "a southerner is not smart enough to write this, so it must be a northerner" which then turns out to be true. Myrddin did write works, but they were bad middling poetry and one unsuccessful romance. In the end, it was the ingenious Northerner who wrote Angharad, only she was a women, which was the twist. I really think this book could have been better if the author went the route of, "it was a Southern girl, which everyone thought would be to much to believe, so it was given to a southern man." That the male lead Preston is so against how his people, the Argantians, are stereotyped, but is fine with the ones around southerners, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
In the end I still liked it. It's dark and dreary but also enchanting, a perfect book for cold nights by warm fires. I don't know if I'll pick up the second book, but I don't regret that I picked this one up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Stalking, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
This book is enrapturing. It is terrifying. It is a car crash you can't help but watch and a murder that freezes your blood while you cheer for the murderer. I would say I couldn't put it down, but that's untrue. I threw it on my couch and ran laps around my house from the adrenaline it caused me. I was screaming in the drive through for in-n-out beside my mom. I was reading every word between the fingers I covered my eyes with and pausing for breaths at every turned page. I was scared to start every chapter for fear of what lied before me. This was the most stressful inducing book with some of the most complex characters I ever read.
But I was also cheering, whooping with joy, crying from relief. I swooned at certain romantic lines (even when I was aware I *really* should not be, but Wu Zetian the women you ARE) and reveled at the characters vengeance.
The author stings along your hopes, crushing them in one hand while reviving them in the other. They twist your view of the world in so many knots your as unsure of every step as the characters. It was thrilling.
I hadn't realized how much I've missed books that make me feel this way until I read Heavenly Tyrant. They are rare and brilliant and this is at the height of them. We had to wait a long time for the sequel to Iron Widow because of the industry, but this book is a testament to how good things are worth waiting for, and how revolution relies not just on violence, but the voices of artists to carry it.
But I was also cheering, whooping with joy, crying from relief. I swooned at certain romantic lines (even when I was aware I *really* should not be, but Wu Zetian the women you ARE) and reveled at the characters vengeance.
The author stings along your hopes, crushing them in one hand while reviving them in the other. They twist your view of the world in so many knots your as unsure of every step as the characters. It was thrilling.
I hadn't realized how much I've missed books that make me feel this way until I read Heavenly Tyrant. They are rare and brilliant and this is at the height of them. We had to wait a long time for the sequel to Iron Widow because of the industry, but this book is a testament to how good things are worth waiting for, and how revolution relies not just on violence, but the voices of artists to carry it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Moderate: Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Miscarriage and Terminal illness
The authors own included Note on content warnings:
"Please beware that this book contains violence and abuse, body horror, mass murder, toxic relationship dynamics, discussions of reproductive coercion, allusions to childhood sexual abuse, and references to mis- carriage, domestic violence, sexual assault, and suicide.
Although inspired by figures and events from across Chinese history, this book is not historical fiction, historical fantasy, or alternate history, but a futuristic story set in a science-fiction world entirely different from our own in the way that many sci-fi stories riff off of the Roman Empire. Historical figures are reimagined for the purpose of exploring the spirit they represented rather than accurately depicting their origi- nal life circumstances and upbringings. This book should not be taken as an educational guide in any way. To get an authentic view of history, please consult nonfiction sources.
The fictionalized characters in this novel make many morally ques- tionable choices in the conditions unique to their world. Depictions do not equate to endorsement in real life, and parallels to reality should not be drawn without considering the impacts of the existence of fantasy plot devices such as Chrysalises." -Xiran Jay Zhao
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Did not finish book. Stopped at 55%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 55%.
I'm tireddddddd. Why are their like seven books and the main characters aren't the POV in half of them??? I want to here about their adventures as the rulers some fucking random!!!
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Well this book certainly aged interestingly.