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wrongdecision's reviews
5 reviews
Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
A lighthearted, sweet quick read with a (positively) surprising amount of information about Chinese culture.
I enjoyed this book very much for it's easy conversations, the friendships and the importance of family.
It was comforting to read for the most part and the characters were sweet and easily lovable.
While the social media, pop and meme references were a little too much for me at times, mostly they fit in and weren't too on the nose.
What I really, really enjoyed were actually the many little tid bits of information on Chinese culture, in reference to food but also traditions and beliefs as well as do's and dont's!
It was super interesting!
Sadly, I think the main part of this book, the romance itself, fell flat.
If the author had just gone a little bit more into detail about feelings it could have worked much better.
There is a lot of tell instead of show, partially a result of it being first person, but I don't really buy the emotions.
Dylan spends more time thinking about how he shouldn't show his feelings than actually showing his feelings and it gets a little repetitive.
Sure there are short moments of excitement and being flustered but the rest just doesn't come across very well.
You notice it much better with Theo, which in turn makes it a little more frustrating that Dylan isn't catching on.
The pacing is a bit off as well.
Many scenes feel like the author wanted to do something with it, make it special and meaningful but didn't want to go all the way so it is sometimes a little short and dry, more like you would write to yourself in a diary.
It's a pity, because a few extra details go a long way in making the reader feel like a part of it.
As a result the plot gets lost a few times.
In general I liked reading it, it was entertaining, informative and sweet!
Seeing as this is the author's debut novel I think it is a great start and I'm hopeful for future books!
I enjoyed this book very much for it's easy conversations, the friendships and the importance of family.
It was comforting to read for the most part and the characters were sweet and easily lovable.
While the social media, pop and meme references were a little too much for me at times, mostly they fit in and weren't too on the nose.
What I really, really enjoyed were actually the many little tid bits of information on Chinese culture, in reference to food but also traditions and beliefs as well as do's and dont's!
It was super interesting!
Sadly, I think the main part of this book, the romance itself, fell flat.
If the author had just gone a little bit more into detail about feelings it could have worked much better.
There is a lot of tell instead of show, partially a result of it being first person, but I don't really buy the emotions.
Dylan spends more time thinking about how he shouldn't show his feelings than actually showing his feelings and it gets a little repetitive.
Sure there are short moments of excitement and being flustered but the rest just doesn't come across very well.
You notice it much better with Theo, which in turn makes it a little more frustrating that Dylan isn't catching on.
The pacing is a bit off as well.
Many scenes feel like the author wanted to do something with it, make it special and meaningful but didn't want to go all the way so it is sometimes a little short and dry, more like you would write to yourself in a diary.
It's a pity, because a few extra details go a long way in making the reader feel like a part of it.
As a result the plot gets lost a few times.
In general I liked reading it, it was entertaining, informative and sweet!
Seeing as this is the author's debut novel I think it is a great start and I'm hopeful for future books!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Hm, this one I had to think about longer to rate it properly.
The book leads strongly with great humor, snappy and interesting conversations and a general good grasp on its characters.
I read the first few pages and already had to stop and read out multiple sections to my Mom, who was in the same room, because they were too good not to share.
Character wise I see no proper flaws, they each have their set personalities that run throughout the book pretty consistently.
I love them all a lot and the shenanigans they get up to are great!
The romance however was a little lacking, specifically for Gwen and Bridget.
While I could see Gabriel and Art getting along and having this pull of 'we should but we will anyways' it fell a little flat with the female leads.
I would've liked more conversations, more common interests between Bridget and Gwen because, as they point out around the end, they barely do anything but kiss.
It does feel more like a celebrity crush from Gwen's side and Bridget just doesn't feel like she had a real reason to like Gwen back. She just started flirting back and that was that.
Gabe and Art talk a lot more to each other about themselves and wishes for the future or general dreams so it's easy to see how they could find themselves falling for each other.
I think the book would have benefitted with the focus on only one main couple instead of two.
The pacing was also too slow for me.
The start was great and fun and gave me all the right pointers to plot and future set ups and then it just... dissipated at some point.
There were a few chapters that had me so bored I thought of leaving the book unfinished because nothing really happened or the same things that were spoken about before just got repeated.
There could have been many more hints toward what happens at the end, some investigating maybe even or just general mentions because the one we got were so sparse and always overshadowed by other concersations that I find them lacking.
When the plot picks back up again it's great!
I sped through the last few chapters hungry to know what happens.
Just the middle part could've been cut shorter.
Generally this was a fun read, i might reread it again and just skip a few chapters in between.
The book leads strongly with great humor, snappy and interesting conversations and a general good grasp on its characters.
I read the first few pages and already had to stop and read out multiple sections to my Mom, who was in the same room, because they were too good not to share.
Character wise I see no proper flaws, they each have their set personalities that run throughout the book pretty consistently.
I love them all a lot and the shenanigans they get up to are great!
The romance however was a little lacking, specifically for Gwen and Bridget.
While I could see Gabriel and Art getting along and having this pull of 'we should but we will anyways' it fell a little flat with the female leads.
I would've liked more conversations, more common interests between Bridget and Gwen because, as they point out around the end, they barely do anything but kiss.
It does feel more like a celebrity crush from Gwen's side and Bridget just doesn't feel like she had a real reason to like Gwen back. She just started flirting back and that was that.
Gabe and Art talk a lot more to each other about themselves and wishes for the future or general dreams so it's easy to see how they could find themselves falling for each other.
I think the book would have benefitted with the focus on only one main couple instead of two.
The pacing was also too slow for me.
The start was great and fun and gave me all the right pointers to plot and future set ups and then it just... dissipated at some point.
There were a few chapters that had me so bored I thought of leaving the book unfinished because nothing really happened or the same things that were spoken about before just got repeated.
There could have been many more hints toward what happens at the end, some investigating maybe even or just general mentions because the one we got were so sparse and always overshadowed by other concersations that I find them lacking.
When the plot picks back up again it's great!
I sped through the last few chapters hungry to know what happens.
Just the middle part could've been cut shorter.
Generally this was a fun read, i might reread it again and just skip a few chapters in between.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Blood, and Death of parent
Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Dungeons and Drama is a lovely slice of life book with all the right amounts of humor, drama and romance.
I needed a few chapters to get into it (I am not a fan of first person) and the many descriptions of outfits were a little too much for me, but soon I was caught in the cheeky silliness of the main characters and her friends.
Some parts of the book feel very dated, whenever the book speaks about music and popular media mentioned in childhood stories, but that doesn't really take away from it.
The characters are lovable and funny, all quirky in their own way and grew on me very fast.
They perfectly match some of my own friends I know from and play DnD with and the teen angst and anxieties as well as bad decision making is very accurate and well written.
I laughed a lot reading it and eventhough I almost threw the book across the room in frustration at some point, I couldn't put it down.
I read this in one day.
Cute and amusing and a nice look into nerdy friendships ♡
I needed a few chapters to get into it (I am not a fan of first person) and the many descriptions of outfits were a little too much for me, but soon I was caught in the cheeky silliness of the main characters and her friends.
Some parts of the book feel very dated, whenever the book speaks about music and popular media mentioned in childhood stories, but that doesn't really take away from it.
The characters are lovable and funny, all quirky in their own way and grew on me very fast.
They perfectly match some of my own friends I know from and play DnD with and the teen angst and anxieties as well as bad decision making is very accurate and well written.
I laughed a lot reading it and eventhough I almost threw the book across the room in frustration at some point, I couldn't put it down.
I read this in one day.
Cute and amusing and a nice look into nerdy friendships ♡
The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
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
Oh Jean...
I will try to summarise my love for this book in as few words as possible.
Jean was always a complicated character to me, someone who was difficult to love due to his complicity in Riko's violence until you really started thinking about his life and reasons.
I've read books 1 to 3 more times than I can count and the first two or three times I definitely did not like him.
This book perfectly lead us through what I started figuring out on my later rereads, fleshed out his person with his thoughts and struggles.
I adore Nora's writing and it was easy to love this book as well.
I loved all the Trojans we've met closer so far, Jeremy, Laila and Cat are a great addition to Jean as company and he will definitely not be able to escape their friendship and passion.
I can't wait to see how he grows after this.
I also am very curious to hear more about Jeremy's family life as we got a bunch of hints toward it already.
A little minus point to me, that isn't really one, was that Nora said she sees this as a stand alone, which it definitely is not.
I don't think anyone who starts with this book would understand what went on with the Ravens, the sport and the general idea behind everything early enough to keep reading.
Would not recommend this as a good start into the series, although I'm sure that wasn't what she intended for it to be anyways.
Seeing Neil come in at the end again brought me so much joy, btw.
I adore that man with every fibre of my being. He really is THE character of all time for me.
Love him.
Warning for everyone who is uncomfortable with cult recovery, sexual abuse and general abuse, torture and violence. There is a lot of hinted and some more graphic descriptions.
I will try to summarise my love for this book in as few words as possible.
Jean was always a complicated character to me, someone who was difficult to love due to his complicity in Riko's violence until you really started thinking about his life and reasons.
I've read books 1 to 3 more times than I can count and the first two or three times I definitely did not like him.
This book perfectly lead us through what I started figuring out on my later rereads, fleshed out his person with his thoughts and struggles.
I adore Nora's writing and it was easy to love this book as well.
I loved all the Trojans we've met closer so far, Jeremy, Laila and Cat are a great addition to Jean as company and he will definitely not be able to escape their friendship and passion.
I can't wait to see how he grows after this.
I also am very curious to hear more about Jeremy's family life as we got a bunch of hints toward it already.
A little minus point to me, that isn't really one, was that Nora said she sees this as a stand alone, which it definitely is not.
I don't think anyone who starts with this book would understand what went on with the Ravens, the sport and the general idea behind everything early enough to keep reading.
Would not recommend this as a good start into the series, although I'm sure that wasn't what she intended for it to be anyways.
Seeing Neil come in at the end again brought me so much joy, btw.
I adore that man with every fibre of my being. He really is THE character of all time for me.
Love him.
Warning for everyone who is uncomfortable with cult recovery, sexual abuse and general abuse, torture and violence. There is a lot of hinted and some more graphic descriptions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicide, Torture, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Murder
Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland
dark
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
2.0
My feelings toward this book are messy.
All in all I did not enjoy the book in it's totality, eventhough there were scenes that made me laugh and scenes that had me giddy with excitement.
TLDR:
People who enjoy this genre and like the tropes that come with vampire romance typically will like or maybe even love this book.
I am not one of them.
Spoilers for major plot points from here on out.
The main characters:
MC Fin started out as interesting. Her hatred for vampires and the sacrifice for Sylvia gave the book an easy start that had me wanting to find out more about her.
Her still being in her late teens makes sense for a lot of her behavior, since many people that age are still very self centered and focused on personal goals instead of other people. In that sense I have to say that the author captured teenagers very well and wrote Fin realistically.
That's about all the good I can say about her as a character.
I have rarely stumbled across an MC more exhausting.
Fin walks over others with such a narrow minded, self centric world view that it makes it difficult to root for her.
Every character has flaws, especially at the start but Fin does not truly change until the very end of the book.
She keeps repeating the same things to the reader so often that it had me actually rolling my eyes at them eventually.
She acts brash and rebellious to everyone who tries with her and it gets more and more annoying the longer it goes on.
She will not listen to anyone, no matter who, and therefore runs into problems that could have easily been avoided.
I personally don't love conflict like this, it feels immature and unnecessary.
She is so unaware of the way she's treating others that at some point I wondered if the author thinks this way as well.
Fin never really apologizes for what they've actually done. Except to Kash, because at least it was obvious that stabbing him was wrong.
Although, even then she did not really learn and still rushed straight into accusing Claudia instead.
Gavron... I honestly don't feel much about him.
He has less character than Kashire and seems to really only to be there to be the LI and sort of mentor to Fin.
I didn't really catch any proper characteristics than 'fondly annoyed over Fin' or 'twisted in pain because of not being able to be with Fin' or 'the damsel in distress'
He had a short moment of setting boundaries after the fight between Fin and Kash but that was about it.
Pity.
Kashire thankfully went a little deeper and he was probably the most enjoyable character in the book, eventhough not by much.
A lot of him seemed very all over the place, which I guess fits to a chaos lover, and a lot of his jokes were immature and fell flat to me.
Somehow he still cared more about others than Fin did, eventhough his first appearance in the book literally had him kill a novice.
Generally he mellowed out a lot toward the end which I am a little confused by, maybe that was Jane's influence.
Marai only existed as 'the best friend' and she did not have any character beyond 'being into girls' and 'letting Fin walk all over her multiple times'.
Still, I liked her well enough and she brought at least a more leveled opinion into conversations with Fin, even if she never managed to convince her to not be stupid about things.
I do have to say that I am pleasantly surprised that she survived, I did expect her to die from the moment she was established as the best friend.
Plot:
A lot of the plot twists were predictable.
I figured out who Claudia is pretty early on, the ritual murder plot is already revealed in the synopsis and the twists that weren't predicatble were partially just because we/Fin didn't have enough information.
Still, decent enough and the more fun parts of the book!
When it actually focuses on building up a scene, it is interesting.
However.
The synopsis promised somewhat of a murder mystery and that must have been my biggest disappointment in the entire span of reading it.
The actual first murder happens 12 chapters in and is not actually investigated at all.
They act upset but then continuously forget to do any actual investigating besides "stalking Kash" (which btw never tells them anything) and they don't do anything besides.
After the second murder there is no researching how this could have happened, or why, there is no smarts required to solve anything, none of the fun parts of an actual mystery.
Jane comes in and tells Fin it's a ritual and that's it.
It feels like someone stole the reward from me as the reader.
I don't get to figure out anything, I just get to sit there and watch Fin accuse one person after the next and then wait for the obvious to be revealed: She's wrong every time!
It's sad, boring and disappointing.
It actually makes me a little mad that it's sold the way it is, as it was my main reason for picking it up.
Another minus point is an almost endless amount of exposition and each time it's done in a 'tell' form instead of 'show'. It gets boring and hard to concentrate on at times.
There are positives however.
Some of them are classes.
Learning about what each court teaches and how were very fun and so are the fight scenes.
They're well done and exciting and they did have me on the edge of my seat or even laughing.
I wish the book had had much more of them.
The romance:
From the moment Gavron bit her to heal her I knew he was going to be the LI.
Pity. It was predictable, they had no proper chemistry besides agreeing that 'enslaving humans is literally bad', she kept lusting after him but also shamelessly using him grossly for her own gain with no regards for his feelings (not that this mattered bc Fin is always forgiven bc of MC sickness) and I just started to skip scenes that got more heavy on the lusting because she would literally repeat herself so often in how much she wanted to drink his blood that I got tired of it.
The writing:
Not bad!
I did enjoy the style despite not being too keen on the first person style.
It was colorful enough and read easily in most parts!
Sometimes it did get very repetitive but mostly it was fine, I don't have much to say about it.
All in all...
I do think the comparison to SJM wasn't wrong. People who enjoy this typical vampire romance stuff will like it!
I went in hoping for something special and it wasn't. It isn't usually my style of book and I guess it was a refresher as to why.
I do still commend the author for the dedication and love put into the work, that is always deserved and I'm sure the characters are beloved by many.
All in all I did not enjoy the book in it's totality, eventhough there were scenes that made me laugh and scenes that had me giddy with excitement.
TLDR:
People who enjoy this genre and like the tropes that come with vampire romance typically will like or maybe even love this book.
I am not one of them.
Spoilers for major plot points from here on out.
The main characters:
Her still being in her late teens makes sense for a lot of her behavior, since many people that age are still very self centered and focused on personal goals instead of other people. In that sense I have to say that the author captured teenagers very well and wrote Fin realistically.
That's about all the good I can say about her as a character.
I have rarely stumbled across an MC more exhausting.
Fin walks over others with such a narrow minded, self centric world view that it makes it difficult to root for her.
Every character has flaws, especially at the start but Fin does not truly change until the very end of the book.
She keeps repeating the same things to the reader so often that it had me actually rolling my eyes at them eventually.
She acts brash and rebellious to everyone who tries with her and it gets more and more annoying the longer it goes on.
She will not listen to anyone, no matter who, and therefore runs into problems that could have easily been avoided.
I personally don't love conflict like this, it feels immature and unnecessary.
She is so unaware of the way she's treating others that at some point I wondered if the author thinks this way as well.
Fin never really apologizes for what they've actually done. Except to Kash, because at least it was obvious that stabbing him was wrong.
Although, even then she did not really learn and still rushed straight into accusing Claudia instead.
Gavron... I honestly don't feel much about him.
He has less character than Kashire and seems to really only to be there to be the LI and sort of mentor to Fin.
I didn't really catch any proper characteristics than 'fondly annoyed over Fin' or 'twisted in pain because of not being able to be with Fin' or 'the damsel in distress'
He had a short moment of setting boundaries after the fight between Fin and Kash but that was about it.
Pity.
Kashire thankfully went a little deeper and he was probably the most enjoyable character in the book, eventhough not by much.
A lot of him seemed very all over the place, which I guess fits to a chaos lover, and a lot of his jokes were immature and fell flat to me.
Somehow he still cared more about others than Fin did, eventhough his first appearance in the book literally had him kill a novice.
Generally he mellowed out a lot toward the end which I am a little confused by, maybe that was Jane's influence.
Marai only existed as 'the best friend' and she did not have any character beyond 'being into girls' and 'letting Fin walk all over her multiple times'.
Still, I liked her well enough and she brought at least a more leveled opinion into conversations with Fin, even if she never managed to convince her to not be stupid about things.
I do have to say that I am pleasantly surprised that she survived, I did expect her to die from the moment she was established as the best friend.
Plot:
I figured out who Claudia is pretty early on, the ritual murder plot is already revealed in the synopsis and the twists that weren't predicatble were partially just because we/Fin didn't have enough information.
Still, decent enough and the more fun parts of the book!
When it actually focuses on building up a scene, it is interesting.
However.
The synopsis promised somewhat of a murder mystery and that must have been my biggest disappointment in the entire span of reading it.
The actual first murder happens 12 chapters in and is not actually investigated at all.
They act upset but then continuously forget to do any actual investigating besides "stalking Kash" (which btw never tells them anything) and they don't do anything besides.
After the second murder there is no researching how this could have happened, or why, there is no smarts required to solve anything, none of the fun parts of an actual mystery.
Jane comes in and tells Fin it's a ritual and that's it.
It feels like someone stole the reward from me as the reader.
I don't get to figure out anything, I just get to sit there and watch Fin accuse one person after the next and then wait for the obvious to be revealed: She's wrong every time!
It's sad, boring and disappointing.
It actually makes me a little mad that it's sold the way it is, as it was my main reason for picking it up.
Another minus point is an almost endless amount of exposition and each time it's done in a 'tell' form instead of 'show'. It gets boring and hard to concentrate on at times.
There are positives however.
Some of them are classes.
Learning about what each court teaches and how were very fun and so are the fight scenes.
They're well done and exciting and they did have me on the edge of my seat or even laughing.
I wish the book had had much more of them.
The romance:
Pity. It was predictable, they had no proper chemistry besides agreeing that 'enslaving humans is literally bad', she kept lusting after him but also shamelessly using him grossly for her own gain with no regards for his feelings (not that this mattered bc Fin is always forgiven bc of MC sickness) and I just started to skip scenes that got more heavy on the lusting because she would literally repeat herself so often in how much she wanted to drink his blood that I got tired of it.
The writing:
Not bad!
I did enjoy the style despite not being too keen on the first person style.
It was colorful enough and read easily in most parts!
Sometimes it did get very repetitive but mostly it was fine, I don't have much to say about it.
All in all...
I do think the comparison to SJM wasn't wrong. People who enjoy this typical vampire romance stuff will like it!
I went in hoping for something special and it wasn't. It isn't usually my style of book and I guess it was a refresher as to why.
I do still commend the author for the dedication and love put into the work, that is always deserved and I'm sure the characters are beloved by many.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Violence
Moderate: Death, Gore, Torture, Stalking, and Alcohol
Minor: Child abuse