allison_jo's reviews
94 reviews

The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh

mysterious medium-paced

3.75

really enjoyed reading this as a re-introduction to the paranormal.

Pure Colour by Sheila Heti

fast-paced

2.0

*insert meme of fat amy saying "not a good enough reason to use the word 'ejaculate'."

Spy x Family, Vol. 2 by Tatsuya Endo

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

4.5

Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

i would just like to go on record that i’m on mallory’s side when it came to her conflict with easton. being left on “read” every time for months sucks, but then being blamed for pushing easton’s friendship away DOUBLE sucks. 

i would have liked a bit more development between mallory and nolan but it was still a good time. 

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

fast-paced

3.0

charlie and nora have the Curse of the Oldest Sibling, nora needs therapy, and i’m convinced that libby doesn’t actually know or understand her sister at all. the romance felt like a subplot and was rushed at the end, like emily henry forgot she was writing a romance book. 

also i’m really gonna need the marketing team to have a refresher course on the actual meaning of the enemies-to-lovers trope. not an enemy to lover in sight. 

it was meh. a good palate cleanser book.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.

Not for me. I really wanted to like it but other books were more interesting at the time. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

dark emotional tense medium-paced

5.0

Although this book is not necessary to fully grasp the original trilogy, it deepened my understanding of and appreciation for Collins’ ability to craft an excellent narrative. Being able to witness Snow’s descent into villainy brought so much context and complexity to his character and the world of Panem. It was very interesting to be able to draw parallels between Snow’s Panem and Katniss’s Panem. 

And I will never be able to hear or sing Keep on the Sunny Side the same way ever again.

Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood

funny lighthearted fast-paced

4.75

listen, by this point we all know what to expect from ali hazelwood. i came here for a silly, goofy time, and i got a silly, goofy time. this was the perfect book to raise my spirits a bit, and i love her for that. 

were each of the male protagonists adam driver but in different fonts? yes. were there cringy millennial references? yes. was i left wondering how much research was put into writing about all these different stem professions? yes. 

but i ate👏🏻it👏🏻up👏🏻

Joan by Katherine J. Chen

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

3.0

The writing style didn’t make it easy for me to connect with the characters, even though it was written well. On the one hand, I can appreciate this because Joan has become a mythological holy figure over time, but on the other, the emphasis in this book is on her humanity. I struggled with this to the point that it has taken me many months to read this book. 

Ithaca by Claire North

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.0

I had such a difficult time connecting to any of the characters, which may be because the narrator is Hera. I think this was meant as a way to offer an interesting omniscient narrator, but all it did was limit the emotional connection to Penelope. One could argue that this choice made Hera the protagonist instead of Penelope. At any rate, the writing is a mish-mash of overly complicated prose and quippy snark. It didn’t flow very well to me from one scene to the next. I often found myself wondering exactly what was happening and would have to re-read multiple paragraphs to understand. 

I had hoped to really enjoy this book, but I ended up slogging my way through and it became a rather disappointing read. I will not be reading the next book in the series.