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souvlakisuperfan's reviews
5 reviews
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
5.0
wonderful, wonderful book. nothing to criticize. i thought i wouldn’t like it because i don’t often read poetry, but this… this was great. i will 100% read again sometime soon. <3
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
4.5
the ending killed me no no no i’m in denial. ok but this book was really good victoria schwab has a way with words for sure, i found myself highlighting a lot of quotes. i felt henry and addie to be good characters, but luc was a bit shallow. i hate the trope of devil men having to be possessive and abusing ‘love’ to hurt others. he’s also supposed to be hot i think, why? why? why? he’s evil. not hot. but really i enjoyed this book a lot. i didn’t like the alternating storylines sometimes, because i felt like i couldn’t really get absorbed into the individual moments in the book. we kept bouncing back and forth. but, i did really love this. it genuinely hurt to see the end, i got very attached to these characters in only a week, which is so rare for me. i know the book is slow but i thought it was so worth it. <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
fast-paced
3.25
ddfffdsjahahhshsjagdgshabvdhd. the ending definitely got me. i heard some people saw it coming but i definitely did not. this book humbled me; i was wrong the entire time. but it’s easy to be wrong when reading this book, it’s meant to stump you (at least, if you don’t read other teenage-high school-murder mysteries). it was really good right up at the end, when we got the plot twist. i thought it dragged a bit for the last 20-30 or so pages, but that doesn’t matter that much. other than that, i really enjoyed the romance, and i thought the characters all had their positives and negatives. now for my complaints. the writing? bland and juvenile. it’s set in a high school, i know i shouldn’t have expected much, but still i was so disappointed by how cheesy it could be sometimes. why does everyone cheat on each other in this book? (this is not a spoiler, don’t worry lol it’s prevalent right from the start). i wonder, is it to make a certain couple stand out? is it to carry the plot? i’m not sure, but it was really annoying at times (very annoying at times). also, i felt like coopers character wasn’t very rounded out until around the middle of the book. i liked his character after a certain something got revealed, but before that i felt like he was just pure baseball. i don’t like baseball, i’m biased here. to summarize, it’s a nice guilty pleasure read for me. i know it’s a corny stereotypical book but i enjoyed it lol.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Suicide, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Homophobia and Mental illness
Minor: Vomit
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
medium-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
4.5
mild spoilers !!!!
aaaa. the cutest, gayest, sweetest book about monsters i have ever read. lol. i was sucked into the story from page one. i didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as i did, seeing that the magical children trope is used often by ya fantasy authors. however, this book used it wonderfully. an adult and a child could read this and get something different out of it, whether it’s the overarching theme of understanding others through differences, or the philosophical messages of arthur, linus, and sometimes sal. i have highlighted many passages in this book. it’s so whimsical yet it’s not immature. it embraces a sense of childlikeness and imaginative youth without becoming a children’s book, and that i appreciate. the setting over the sea was perfect. the quirks of all the characters were perfect. in fact, all the characters felt perfect. lucy was caught in these complex moral dilemmas that reached onto many pondering conversations about good and evil. sal was always battling small and big, and how to handle fear. talia had the hard shell that only few could crack, but once cracked she was sweet and loving. phee was powerful and strong, yet not in control and working towards that. chauncey was trying to work towards a goal that many would consider unachievable. theodore was hard for linus to understand but had so much depth once he could. linus was trying to navigate the boundaries and differences between home and work life. arthur had a secret he had to hide. zoe hated men (as we all do) and she had the strength and kindness to help arthur and the children (especially phee) through thick and thin.
aaaa. the cutest, gayest, sweetest book about monsters i have ever read. lol. i was sucked into the story from page one. i didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as i did, seeing that the magical children trope is used often by ya fantasy authors. however, this book used it wonderfully. an adult and a child could read this and get something different out of it, whether it’s the overarching theme of understanding others through differences, or the philosophical messages of arthur, linus, and sometimes sal. i have highlighted many passages in this book. it’s so whimsical yet it’s not immature. it embraces a sense of childlikeness and imaginative youth without becoming a children’s book, and that i appreciate. the setting over the sea was perfect. the quirks of all the characters were perfect. in fact, all the characters felt perfect. lucy was caught in these complex moral dilemmas that reached onto many pondering conversations about good and evil. sal was always battling small and big, and how to handle fear. talia had the hard shell that only few could crack, but once cracked she was sweet and loving. phee was powerful and strong, yet not in control and working towards that. chauncey was trying to work towards a goal that many would consider unachievable. theodore was hard for linus to understand but had so much depth once he could. linus was trying to navigate the boundaries and differences between home and work life. arthur had a secret he had to hide. zoe hated men (as we all do) and she had the strength and kindness to help arthur and the children (especially phee) through thick and thin.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
i would’ve liked it more if it wasn’t for the insufferable hype surrounding this book. i felt like in my entire experience i was waiting for the plot twist, looking between every sentence to see if i could find foreshadowing. still, even without the hype, i felt the writing to be corny and juvenile sometimes. not juvenile in an immature way, but in the way where i could tell the writer was trying to be “deep” and sound mysterious and professional. the characters were the strength of this book. the relationship between gat and cadence was the only thing really pulling me back to it. i didn’t find the plot twist to shock me as much as i was hoping. i did not throw my book across the room. i see the appeal and i can understand why some people adore it so much. everyone gets shocked to varying degrees and although i wasn’t extremely surprised i see that some people could find the twist more unpredictable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Racism, Blood, and Vomit