Chelsea T
Liked it, but expected a bit more action
After a spirit adducts his sister, Malik must win a contest, emerge as King, and kill the Crown princess for his sister's freedom. Meanwhile, struggling with the death of her mother, Princess Karina seeks the heart of a king to resurrect her. Yet, against all odds, the two fall in love with each other.
Pros
+Malik personality. You don't see much soft bois in YA. Malik was so soft and adorable and empathic. It nice change from these brooding bad boys about we always see.
+anxiety rep. The anxiety rep is so good especially when Malik had a panic attack. I am so glad to finally see some good mental health rep. I especially since love or anything else didn't cure his anxiety by the end.
+competition. I like the idea of the Champion competition and the different Aligned champions
+the twists and turns at the end redeemed the book for me and made me look forward to reading the sequel.
+history. Learning some of the history and how it all came into play at the end was interesting.
Cons
-slowpaced. I feel like the focus is so heavy on emotions and not enough on the characters task. I feel like that got nothing done until late in the book.
-Karina. Karina was so immature and infuriating to read about. She was constantly making rash decisions in her hot headness. She was also pushed everyone away and damaged her image. I mean, I know she's a teenager dealing with a lot of unprocessed grief, but that did make it any less frustrating to read. She gets better by the end but it doesn't erase the first half of the book.
-infodumps. Sometimes I felt like I was reading a history textbook. Characters would record history of the city and while it was interesting, I was left wondering what the importance of it was.
-development. Character development didn't come until exactly 65% percent of the book.
-lack of chemistry. The protagonists spend so time apart for more than first half of the book. Their chemistry felt rushed and sudden.
This book was different than I thought it would be. It was more tame. I thought it would have more action and less dialogue.
A really nice novella on the backstories of the Queens and their relationship with their foster families.
Although, I wish we had a deeper look at the life they had together at the Black Cottage, and that Arsinoe's story was more about Arsinoe and less about her friend, Jules, but other that, I enjoyed the novella.
I highly recommend that readers read the first book, or at least ending, before diving into this one. It does contains some spoilers that are revealed at the end of Three Dark Crowns.
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
☆☆☆
Status: DNF
Type: Stand-alone
Series: None
Madeline Whitter is sick with a super rare disease named SCID. She has to stay in the house all day, its too dangerous for her to go outside, and be checked around the clock by a nurse. Everything changes when a boy with a complicated life, moves in next door, she is smitten and it seems he feels the same way too. But with Maddy trapped inside her house, is love between them too good to be true?
insert long sigh
I used to like this book. I really did. Until near the end. The twist Suprise, Suprise! She not sick! Even though it was so obvious from the beginning, especially when she went to Hawaii with Olly. Honestly, the twist ruined the point and mystery of the romance. Not only that, it's kind of an insult to people who actually have SCIDS. I mean, here it is, finally, a nice, pretty book about their rare diease, then bam! It was all a lie, she isn't sick! Very insulting and a slap in the face to those with SCID. Yet, despite all it's flaws, this is not a bad book and I recommended it to people that absolutely love books like The Selection and A Thousand pieces of You.Pros•I like that there are drawing in this book.•I do like the fluffy feeling gives you (or used to gave me.)•The cover is pretty•Maddy is biracial, she's Black/African-American/Asian-American•Maddy and Olly are a interracial coupleCons
•The "twist"•Maddy and Olly have underage sex.Favorite Character: Chocolate Bundt CakeThe bundt was the only thing that saved this book. What was that thing made out of?!
Least Favorite Character: Maddy
I rate Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon three out of five stars.
The Jewel
☆☆☆☆
Status: Finished
Type: Trilogy
Series: The Lone City
Violet Lasting is a surrogate for royalty in The Jewel, a place that “guarantees” honor and glory to the surrogates. After being bought by the Duchess of the Lake at The Auction, she realizes the Jewel is darker and dangerous than it's described to be. Now, she on a mission to escape the Jewel and save all the other surrogates.
I was skeptical of this book when I first read it, but now I like this book. The cover is sooooo pretty. It has a glitzy and glitter feel to it that reminds me of Keira Cass's The Selection. The way the royalty treat the surrogates is so crazy, they act like the surrogates are pets or experiments. It's literally like a competition to the royalty.
This book deserves way more recognition than it has.
PROS:
•I like the idea of The Auction and the Auguries, powers that allow the surrogates to change the shape, color, and growth of things.
•I also like Violet's loyalty to her tough best friend, Raven. I think that's the best part about the book to me, Violet's and Raven's friendship.
•I like Violet's love for her family. You can tell she loves each and every member of her family, dead or not.
•I like how unique the world is set up. The Lone City is shaped into an oval with five going from richest to poorest. Farm is my favorite.
•Forbidden love between Ash and Violet.
CONS:
•There also the cliché of forbidden love and insta-love in this book.
• Ash is kinda whiney and has a “woe is me” attitude.
•This book deserves way more recognition than it has.
•It can be a little slow paces at times.
Favorite Character: Raven
I like that she's tough and tries to defy the rules. Like I said, I love and adore her loyalty to Violet. I loved how reassured her when she was angry and comforted her about going into the Jewel.
Least Favorite Character: Countess of the Stone
Raven was her surrogate. She doesn't take care of Raven and instead uses her as an experiment. She is cruel and has something dark under her sleeve, and the worse part is that she's not working alone.
Overall, I rate The Jewel by Amy Ewing, four out of five hearts.
What's Left of Me
☆☆☆☆
Status: Finished
Type: Trilogy
Series: The Hybrid Chronicles
Addie and Eva live in a world where everyone is born with two souls. Dominant and reccesive. Eva, being the reccesive soul was supposed to disappear at a certain age, but she didn't. But finally, after plenty of doctor visits and whispers later, Eva was declared gone.
Except she wasn't, and nobody knows but Addie.
For three years, Eva was trapped in their body, only being able to see and hear. And just when she given the opportunity to move and speak for herself, Addie and Eva shipped off to facility with other hybrids. Now, after learning the dark secrets of the facility, Addie and Eva will need to work together to escape with the other hybrids.
I loved this book. I love the different look on two souls sharing a body and the dynamics that come with it. I loved the sisterhood and obstacles that Addie and Eva face with each other and with the world. Why the hybrids are hated is not thoroughly explained, but other than that, I loved this book. I kinda wish this was a movie, or as least a mini-movie.
PROS
▪Sisters!
▪Different look at two souls sharing a body
▪Dynamics of sharing a body
CONS
▪Battle with hybrids not explained
I rate What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang four out of five stars.
Ugh, I should have listened to the reviews.
But alas, my curiosity and love for fake-dating stories got the best of me.
And I felt that Gia become obsessed with Hayden, Fill-In Bradley's real name, way too early. Like within the first couple of pages early.
It's just boring and filled with dialogue and some of it dragged out. I began to skim through because I wanted to see where this story would go and when all of Gia's lies would come out. It was kind of anti-climatic. And so was the ending. Incomplete and unsatisfying. And I felt like Gia didn't realize her mistakes ‘til late. And the Real Bradley was like 21-years-old dating a girl in high school. Ew.
One good thing I can say about Gia was that at least she tried to get along with her frenemy, Jules. She was the bigger person and tried to makes things work.
I'm a sucker for the whole popular-girls-becoming-humble trope also, but this was not it.
Realistic, but too many lows.
“Our dad buying us food shouldn't have been a special treat, it shouldn't feel like Christmas or a trip to Disneyland; we should have had it all along. There should have been child support, there should have been someone making sure we had what we needed at school. There should have been regular bedtimes and no one working nights, leaving us home all alone. We should have been getting advice—better advice than “Don't ever go to Texas.”
This book is not what I expected.
This a book of lows with no highs to balance it out.
Dixie was annoying in how she got an attitude at Gem for things that was not even her fault. I mostly ignored her during the book and was glad when their Mom called her out that one time.
But Gem was the worst. She'd snap at Dixie and even other people for no reason or bc she was jealous of what they had. Given her situation, I get the jealous part but she didn't always have a reason. And she was also so negative, even when she was getting what she wanted, she couldn't be happy for a second. I couldn't stand her.
In one scene, Gem goes up to Dixie in the school cafeteria in front of her friends and asks for a letter that their Dad sent them. Dixie say not right now. So of course Gem gets mad and throws away the food she was complaining about not having and sticks the middle finger up to a boy that did nothing to her.
Overall she was just very unpleasant to read about.
The sisterhood. Where? They were always snipping at it each other. Gem is constantly thinking about her she has to take care of Dixie but even sometimes she has moments where she doesn't trust her. I thought it get better once they run out by themselves and maybe learn about each other, Gem manipulated her into coming and everything was the same.
This book get props for have a realistic potryal of what it like to live in poverty and how neglectful parents can affect you generationally. While the writing wasn't stellar it was pretty decent and this book was a pretty fast read. But in the end, I just did not like this one all that much.
Eve Undone
☆☆☆☆☆
Status: Finished
Type: Stand-alone
Series: None
This a beautiful and realistic retelling of our beginning from the eyes of the First Woman on Earth. The writing is just so beautiful and believable. I recommend this book to everyone, Christian or not, or if someone didn't understand what went down in the first few moments in Genesis.
PROS
▪Realistic and beautiful writing
▪Short and sweet.
CONS
▪I'm sure somebody will see some cons in this, but I didn't.
I rate Eve Undone by Alanna Rusnak five out of five stars.
Counted Worthy
☆☆☆☆
There are several of things I liked about this book and several things I didn't like about this book. Before I get to that, I want to say that I'm glad this book exists. It was an enjoyable, modern read about a problem that some people have to face everyday. I wish people would write more Christian modern books or dystopia based off of serious topics instead of sticking with the Amish historical ones. In the end though, it was refreshing to read a book with God, and bible verses in it for once. This book definitely deserves more attention in the reading community.
Most of this book contains Heather running, hiding from the government, and putting flyers up, they're way of protest against the government. The pacing is a bit slow, but things really get interesting and speed up towards the end. There's some violence but not a whole lot, and its not in heavy detail. I liked how non-believers were not antagonized. I liked the way the characters fought back against the government, it was very creative and Ms. Good's poetry is phenomenally beautiful.
I'm going to be honest, I didn't not like Heather for most of the book, except for the end. To me, she was selfish, stubborn, reckless, hypocritical, and negative. She seems to always want to get her way, not anyone else's or even God's way. I felt like sometimes she put her father over Him. Her ideas were not always great, especially her first one, but it show that she a character with flaws and the idea she had near the end was pretty smart and inspiring. I guess I liked her ambition to free her Dad. Near the end, I starting like her more. Even though I didn't like her, I was always rooting for her.
Anyway, there was really no romance in the book. I mean, a few times Heather wondered if she and her best friend, Bryce, could be more than friends, but thats mainly it.
PROS
▪Creative way of fighting back against the government
▪Heather's ambition
▪Good's poetry
▪No romance
▪God and Bible verses
▪The ending
▪Modern read on serious topic
▪Character with flaws
▪No heavy descriptions of violence
▪Non-believers are not antagonized.
CONS
▪Kinda slow
▪Heather selfishness, recklessness, and hypocrisy
▪Some of Heather's ideas
▪Heather seem to put Dad first before God.
In conclusion, I rate County Worthy by Leah Good four out of five stars.
Quotes:
“Someday I would live in a house without so many ghosts.”
“These pages held the words of life, but how many would have to die to preserve them?”
“But no one could be sure of their reaction under such pressure until they faced it.”
“Even in the hardest of times you can find God's blessings if you open your eyes.”
“Take my heart, Lord make it thine,Make it mold to Thy design,Satan whispers he has won, Tempting me to turn and run. Darkness fills the world around, Keeping sinners firmly bound.Fill my quailing soul with might, Help me always do what's right,Pressing on with radiant light.”
This book was a good book. You felt every struggle and every obstacle that the girls face. I also like the little mystery element thrown in surrounding their mother and people going after them.
I liked Callie and Del's relationship. I liked seeing Del grow protective of her and claim responsibility for her sister.
I thought villains we're okay, not too fleshed out though. And the book does leaves some holes open, but they might be answered in the next book? I'm not sure.
Anyway, I totally recommend this book for a causal read about sisterhood, heavy emotions, and family.
“History was always labeling women as mad, whether they were witchy or not.” -Iris Ch 2, pg 14
Perfect for Halloween and black witch rep
Honestly this book kinda of surprised me, I wasn't feeling it at first, beavuse of the writing style, it took me a minute to used to it but I pushed past the 6% mark, I'm so glad I did.
This is the first book I've read featuring witches and I liked it. I can definitely see it as a series on Peacock similar to Vampire Academy. I really liked it was a great introduction to the theme and aesthetic.
I don't how to describe the writing style but with it being in third person as well, it's not for everyone and it may takes some getting used to.
Jailiah and Mathew was my favorite, I see myself most in Jailah and Mathew was kind and supportive.
Logan was the worst. Her chapters were full of self-deprecating and “woe is me”. Then she, one of the only white characters of the main cast, was suppose to be this super special powerful Proxy witch. She never accepted anybody encouragements or compliments. She withheld information just because she wanted to prove herself first.
“She didn't want to hide this, but she couldn't tell them, not until she felt like she could be the witch that they wanted her to be.”
I hate it when characters in books withhold information from everyone else for reasons that don't make sense. Especially when the info would be super helpful.
She really got me with these two lines:
“Not only was Logan terrible with a wand, but she wasn't even special in her awfulness.”
Like, what? I was literally baffled when I read this line. Like you want to be awful and special, what?
“It was easy for Logan to detach herself from the heirloom's grip. It wasn't like with Iris, all violence and horror, maybe because as a necromancer, those things were already in her. Or maybe it was Logan's ability to proxy that protected her. [Thinking] Maybe I'm more special than even Iris.”
More special? Eye roll
I enjoyed this book and had learned so much from reading it.
It was look to look into the world of prosthetics and see Jessica's journey as she grapples with her feelings about this huge change and adjustment in her life. I loved how close knit her running team was and the effort they put into support her, her family also.
The romance was okay and lackluster but it was put waaayy on the back burner and wasn't the main focus of the story. But it was still cute, I guess.
Other than that, I loved Jessica's relationship with her friends, Fiona and especially Rosa, a math genius with cerebral palsy. It was to see her deal with her issue of not being seen because of her condition. The disability rep in this book is really great, especially like the receptionist at the prosthetics fitting center who also had a positive attitude and a prosthetic leg and cancer survivor, also. She was a warrior!! You can tell that research really went into making the characters fleshed out and more than just their disability and “woe is me” stories.
Another thing that I like about this book was that parents had insurance coverage issues. It exposed the atrocious healthcare and insurance system and the reality that so many people face in this country. It reaffirms why we need universal healthcare so badly here in the United States.
Anyway, this book is highly worth the read for the representation, friendships, and realistic problems. I would love to see this turned into a movie. Had a blast.
Seventeen-year-old Cheyenne Wilder, blind and sick with pneumonia, is unintentionally kidnapped by Griffin, a kid pressured by his father to steal the car she was in. While Cheyenne becomes bait for ransom and wonder if she'll see her family again, she befriends Griffin and slowly plans her escape.
Girl, Stolen by April Henry has an amazing concept but a bit of a dull execution. After Cheyenne is kidnapped and ransomed, it kinda dragged on, full of her worrying, befriending Griffin, and slowly making a plan to escape her captors.
I wish the stakes were higher and we could feel the danger she was in. Sometimes it felt like just a huge info-dump about being blind. Although, it was very educational and taught me more about what it's like to be blind. Her pneumonia was kind of inconsistent in my opinion and was only to serve as a plot device to add suspense.
I want to like Cheyenne and Griffin's relationship, but I just felt like everything they talked it was an info dump about being blind or background stories about the characters. Which is nice to have, but they rarely talked about anything else.
Things pick up and get interesting near the 15% mark, but other than that, the book really dragged on. And I won't be reading the sequel. I can't say that I recommend this book, but I will say that isn't the worse I've seen on the market.
Matched
☆☆☆
Status: DNF
Type: Trilogy
Series: Matched
Cassia Ryes have always trusted The Society on everything, from what job she has, what she watches, and now, what guy she will call her husband for the rest of her life. At her Matching Banquet, it is revealed that her Match is none other than her best friend, Xander. Cassia receives her microcard with Xander's info on it, but when she tries to view it, the intro is cut short and presents another familiar face that is not Xander. This face is Ky, Cassia knows him and is falling for him. Now, she is conflicted between the two boys, her Match and best friend, Xander Carrow, or the mysterious and cool, Ky Markham. She also begins to question the true purpose of The Society.
I thought I would like this book when I first bought it, but it turned out I was wrong. The action is little to none and it just boring to me. On the bright side, the cover is very unique and I like how it symbolizes how trapped Cassia feels and the green dress she wearing is pretty. I don't hate it, but I definitely don't love it etheir.
Pros
•I like how The Society is set up. I like the way The Society controls everything from what they read, when they die, what job they have, what music they listen to, what activities are available and who they love.
•The idea of the pills. The Society gives everyone to carry three different colored pills with them. The green one calms people. The blue one provides nutrients. The red one erases memory. I thought the book covers colors of the series would correspond will the color of the pills.
•The Matching Banquet. I like the idea, it's cute.
Cons
•VERY WEAK AND ONE SIDED TRIANGLE. What's even worse than having a love triangle is having a weak and predictable one sided triangle. It was clear when they first met that she chooses Ky over Xander.
•Extremely slow paced. It takes forever to get from point A to point B.
•Like I said, little to no action. Barely anything happens, expect for bits and pieces, other than that, it's just Cassia obsessing over Ky. It makes the story a bit bland and boring.
•Characters are okay. I didn't fall in love them, but they're not bad. The boys are cliché though, especially with Ky being the cool, tough, mysterious guy.
Favorite Character: The Ryes Family
I like Cassia family, especially cute little Bram.
Least favorite Character(s): Everyone Else
Beside Cassia's family, everyone else I didn't really care for.
Overall, I rate Matched by Ally Condie, three out of five hearts.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
The dialogue and characters in this book were so realistic and complex. I like that samantha and her friends were mean but not cartoonish mean girls level. They were realistic with feelings and their own issues in their lives under the surface. I also like the whole theme around death, realizing and fixing your mistakes, and appreciating life.
My favorite character was Samantha's friend, Eloddy. Although I wish we chore to see more of her and explore who she really was. She felt more than just the party girl.
Overall, I really like this book and glad this got a movie.
“Aren't you going to eat?” he asks. “I don't like salmon.” Another lie. “What do you like to eat, then?” “The rich.” I glare, daring him to sneer.
-Ch. 13, pg 194 Adina and Graham.
I really liked this book.
The writing is nice and the world building was good. I liked the Finish, it was done very well with each segment. You could really feel Adina being surrounded by sharks. Every girl has a distinct reason for being there and strategy to get what they want. They were developed. The twists at the end was good and entertaining and the stakes were always high. This book help me get out of my reading slump.
Which brings me to my grip with the book, Adina's development. She's very passive until like 80% into the book which surprised me. I do like that she's a girl just trying to survive and black girls don't always need to be macho and strong willed, but everything she is kind of just handed to her and I feel she was always on the losing side of things. But on the other hand, I do kind of understand why she was developed so late.
Another thing I didn't like was the little love triangle that was briefly slipped in. What was the point of Adina kissing those boys, especially with one of them effectively cheating on his girlfriend. It's not even apart of a strategy or anything, they have a moment and she just...kisses them.
Overall, Their Vicious Games is still a good and entertaining book with good twists and high stakes, I just wish Adina's development was different but I definitely will be looking for more of Wellington's books in the future.
Imani was annoying and kept letting her mother's past see overtake her mother happiness, although that's partially her mother's fault. Everybody kept saying having to repeat over and over that Cyril and his dad are good people. Also I don't know why he got so mad that she accidentally squirted ketchup on his shirt, it's ridiculous. Also the whole about to step siblings falling in love was just TOO weird, that not how I thought the plot was gonna go at all.
With all being said I did like writing and I'm curious to see Halle's story in the sequel.
CW: a bit of deadnaming, traumatic scenes and descriptions, religious and physical abuse, lots of references to the Bible and God, blood, violence, foul language, gore, death, discussions of dysphoria feelings.
“Being transgender is who you are, and the pain is what the outside does to you. The pain is what happens when you and the world go for each other's throats.” -Benji, Ch. 11, pg 126
If you're expecting a apocalypse story with found family & pocket of happiness, then this is not the story for you.
Hell Followed Us is dark, honest, a bit gory and very queer. All the characters are some form of queer and use all kinds of different pronouns. It also has deep insight on what's it like to be a trans person. The world building is great and you really get a feel for what living and strugging in a apocalyptic world is like.
With that being said, this isn't really a happy book. The only moments of true happiness we see is when Benji is with one of the boys he crushing on. As for the love triangle, it's not really one. Benji doesn't really explore the feelings for one until more than 60% in the book.
Another problem is character development. Nobody besides Benji and maybe Nick & Theo gets any. We don't really learn about anyone else outside of them. It sucks bc this could have really been a queer found family type book. Benji mostly keeps to himself and we never see him hanging with anyone else besides Nick at the ALC.
This book is rather gory. It's doesn't shy away from talking about dead bodies, splatters of blood or crushed skulls. It also has heavy religious themes, there tons of bible verses, prayers, bible references, fictional religious references throughout the entire book.
All in all, I thought was good but the execution could have shown more of all the characters. If a very dark, very queer apocalyptic YA fantasy from the perspective of a trans MC, then this is the book for you.
It was okay
Deliah Green Doesn't Care wasn't bad, it was just okay.
It could have been better. To be honest, this book should have been more about Deliah's relationship with her family or Astrid and her journey from a posh obedient woman to finding out who she really is and standing up for herself, especially against her mother. With that said, can't wait to read the second book.
I thought Deliah and Iris, especially when they were interacting with each other was very childish and immature. I really didn't like Iris, she was the overly sexual best friend character and I hate that type of character. It just comes as bland, annoying and lazy to me.
The book also made me realize how much I don't like the relationship bet trope. At the beginning, Deliah and Astrid, make a bet that Deliah can make Claire fall in love with her. Really, the bet makes no difference, it could have been written out and the book would have been exactly the same. It was just there to drum up more conflict in the third act.
I don't know I just didn't like this book as much as I wanted to or really cared about Claire and Delilah's relationship.
“You,” she said. “All I want is you. I made so many lists of things I thought I wanted, but I threw them all away because it kept coming down to you. I know it'll get messy at times and we won't always agree, but what we have together is worth fighting for... you're worth fighting for. This... this is my parachute moment and I really hope it opens.” -Sonya, Ch 41, pg 403
A very cute story
This is first the Adult Romance book I've read from start to finish and I have to say I was not disappointed! I really liked it and Sonya and Trav were really cute.l together.
I cheered for them and felt fustrated when they wanted to be just friends. Their relationship was a rollercoaster of emotions and their backstories were very believeable. I also like the focus on consent and wearing condoms during sex. I liked the friendship between the girls and how cute their dynamics were with their husbands.
The only downside I found was that I felt like Trav feel in love Sonya pretty quickly, at time that I felt they still barley knew each other. I wished Sonya opened up to Trav about her Dad, it would've made their relationship deeper and why she reacted to certain a patients a certain way. But other than that, a total recommend and very cute story.
Merged review:
“You,” she said. “All I want is you. I made so many lists of things I thought I wanted, but I threw them all away because it kept coming down to you. I know it'll get messy at times and we won't always agree, but what we have together is worth fighting for... you're worth fighting for. This... this is my parachute moment and I really hope it opens.” -Sonya, Ch 41, pg 403
A very cute story
This is first the Adult Romance book I've read from start to finish and I have to say I was not disappointed! I really liked it and Sonya and Trav were really cute.l together.
I cheered for them and felt fustrated when they wanted to be just friends. Their relationship was a rollercoaster of emotions and their backstories were very believeable. I also like the focus on consent and wearing condoms during sex. I liked the friendship between the girls and how cute their dynamics were with their husbands.
The only downside I found was that I felt like Trav feel in love Sonya pretty quickly, at time that I felt they still barley knew each other. I wished Sonya opened up to Trav about her Dad, it would've made their relationship deeper and why she reacted to certain a patients a certain way. But other than that, a total recommend and very cute story.
“They may not be the Musketeers I'd imagined. But they were better, because they were mine. And I knew, as I looked at them and saw the cold steely resolve inside me mirrored in their eyes, that I was theirs.” -Tania, CH 18, pg. 206
“The three of you made me realize that whatever this dizziness is... well, maybe it's never been the real problem. It's horrible and it hurts and it makes me feel fragile in a way I never wanted, but it's not the thing that tears me apart. The problem, the real problem, is the people who decide I'm unworthy because of it.” Tania Ch 27, pg 325
Great med-paced read!
For starters, I loved this book. The sisterhood, mystery, the disability repsentation. This book really put in perspective what it's like to have POTS, at least in one example. It's definitely one of fav books and I'm sad to see it end.
He shakes his head and cups my cheek. “Yes, it is, Karina. I want you with all your lines.” A tremor runs through me. “All my lines?” Ace nods, resting his forehead against mine. “All your lines.” “There are so many,” I whisper and my voice cracks. “You should give up now.” He smiles faintly. “That doesn't change anything. I want you, Karina Ahmed. That means lines and all.” Ace, Ch 40, pg 314
Goody-two shoes Karina is assigned her teacher to tutor bad boy Ace Clyde. Things escalate when she is invited over his house and Ace suddenly blurts out that they are dating, prompting the two to fake a relationship. With ever increasing expectation put on marina by her parents, she struggles between fighting for happiness and feeling for Ace or let it all crash and burn.
This book has it's fair share of cliches and cheesiness but it was a good book. This book taught me a lot about the damaging effects of heavy expectations from parents. The anxiety rep was great and Ace was the BEST boyfriend. Seriously I want a guy like that when I get into a relationship. He the type of guy you marry.
However despite all the good, I did have some gripes:
•Ace didn't really feel like a bad boy to me. Sure he got detention or whatever but besides not caring about school and hanging out alone, he didn't do anything inherently bad. Besides wear a leather jacket and suck on lollipops like right out a 60s' movie.
•I wasn't really feeling the fake dating part in this one. I think it was mostly because Karina was trying to hide their relationship from her family. There was no real stakes or purpose to it except for on Ace's side. The book would have been fine if the fake dating was written out and maybe replaced.
Overall this book was EMOTIONAL. The writing was topnotch. You feel every inch of Karina's anxiety and understand why she hides who she is from her parents.
Definitely recommend for people seeking book featuring heavy anxiety rep, and characters in an actual healthy relationship.
“That's the thing about new generations— they change things in ways that the old ones didn't. They add something new and make it their own.”
-Voya's father, Ch 28, pg. 382
Really good book with themes of choices and making hard decisions. There are a lot of good quotes about racism and being black even when that's not the main theme. It's nice to read another book about black witches and an interracial couple without one of them being white for once.
However, this book does suffer from info dumping. The book does this thing where somebody mentions something in dialogue, and Voya goes on the explaining to entire history with that person and then some for several of paragraphs. It really puts a pause on the story for me. Another thing that irked me was her family pressuring to make a decision and not believing in her. Plus, the fake cursing, I hate it when fantasies do this, it never fits naturally.
Overall, this book was really good and the ending was something I didn't expect. I can't wait read the next book and see how Voya handles everything and how her story ends.
“I want to know she understands how it feels to be falling in new love and bleeding from old love at the same time.” Ch. 13, pg 200 Scottie
Very good and fast read
After getting into a car accident, heartbroken basketball player Scottie Zajac is forced to drive popular Irene to school. Soon after that, the two enemies make a deal to fake date each other in order to each get what they want. Drama and emotions abound as Scottie begins to battle her feelings for both Irene and her toxic ex-girlfriend.
This book was very good.
The Zajac family dynamic was really good and had a healthy relationship. Irene and Scottie's relationship was really cute and it was nice to see them grow feelings for each other, although I did hate that Irene was forced to come out to the school, but at least she was okay with it.
I just felt like I didn't like Scottie at times. I felt like she went too far sometimes and has horrible pep talks with her friend, Danielle. Come to think of it, I didn't like her sister Thora at times either, as Scottie said, she was very judgemental and didn't really listen to her feelings. I was so glad when Scottie called her out on that.
But yeah this was very emotional, Scottie feelins are very layed out, but not too emotional to where it bogs down the story. Very good and quick read.
OTHER GOOOD QUOTES FROM BOOK:
“Oh come on. AP European History? A class where you literally study how white people fucked up the world with the Crusades and colonization and smallpox? Yet there's no room in the budget to offer Asian or African History? Yeah, no. If that's the pinnacle of academic study our school has to offer, I'll fucking pass. Say what you want about Ms. Bowles's ‘regular track' modern history class, but she makes a point of dismantling the whole European hegemony thing, and that's a much better use of my time.” -Ch 3, pg 37 Irene
“I smile. We lean our foreheads together, breathing. “I want to get to a place where I'm ready for you,” I whisper. “Just get to a place where you know how wonderful you are,” she whispers back. “They're one and the same.” -Ch. 16, pg 248 Irene
“Because before you can worry about who's in your passenger seat, you have to learn to drive yourself.” -Ch 16, pg 249 Scottie
“I've been falling for you since the second you hit my car,” I tell her, my voice shaking. “You are the most brilliant, passionate, infuriating person I've ever met. You make me feel seen.” -Ch. 18, 280 Scottie
If you like argument and more arguments, sub-subplots, and toxic relationships, then this is the book for you.
Honestly this book started off so nice but ended so different from what I expected it to be. I expected cute, instead I got angry.
PROS
+I like reading Colby's POV more than Meg's, I felt like I connected to him more than Meg. Mostly because he works a minimum wage job and works in “poor” town, aspiring for more.
+I like that Meg phonebanks and is good at her job. We need more books about voting and the different ways to register.
+Tris, Colby's dog, is really cute and I like that she was a Pit Bull. We need more pets and Pit Bulls in YA.
+Colby's a virgin. It nice for the boy to be the inexperienced one for once.
CONS
-I'm still trying to figure out exactly why the two MC we're attracted when they first met. All of took was one phone call and suddenly they couldn't stop thinking of each other voices. It didn't make sense at all
-On that note, their entire relationship was infuriating. It was so toxic. They always picked a fight with each other and ONLY talked about politics. Barely anything else. They were BOTH so annoying and didn't deserve each other. I HATE their relationship.
-Colby had better relationship with his friend Joanna. She was the better and more healthy option. She was way more compassionate than Meg too. When Colby lied about his mother being sick, this was Joanna was compassionate. She even offered to give her soup. I wished they had gotten together even for a little bit.
-I couldn't stand Meg's friend Emily, she was kind of selfish and didn't put much on their friendship. I didn't feel like they were best friends.
-Meg was politics and nothing else. Everything to her had a political element. She even turned a conversation about a movie into a political fact. She had really no other personality outside of politics, no hobbies are mentioned. She even lied to her mother, drive 8 hours to a town she doesn't know, with a boy she doesn't know and be all feminist and tell everybody what to do and what they should care about. She was obnoxious, infuriating, and exactly why people don't like radical feminists today.
-the third person POV was a big weak point of the book. I didn't feel what the characters felt and there was more telling than showing. I don't see why at least one of the POV couldn't be in first person. Bad choice.
-and if IK hear the phrase ,”Nobody can pull the rug from under you if you decide the rug doesn't exist in the exist first place.” again... the phrase is repeated so many freaking times throughout the novel
I was gonna give this book three stars but as the book went on and the couple we're supposed to root for got into yet ANOTHER argument. I couldn't do it anymore. I didn't care about the characters and I certainly didn't care about their relationship, which by the way will not survive in the future, no what the ending implies.