Ivy

Good primordial soup

3.25 ?

This started out as a 4 star read for me but around the 70% mark I started to get irritated with the characters because they were taking much longer than necessary to find the answers for things they should have been easily able to figure out.

I briefly checked myself on these thoughts, wondering if it's because I knew things they didn't - but no, the characters and the reader had the same information. So, I started to get a bit impatient around the 80% mark, because I had already essentially figured the rest of the story out, while the characters were still slowly stumbling along in a way that didn't make sense to me.

Admittedly, I did eventually end up mostly skimming through the last 90 or so pages of the book because of this. There were some seemingly touching scenes about forgiveness and such, but alas, I am a petty b*tch and I hold grudges for life lmfao forgiveness isn't really in my vocabulary 😆

Overall, I appreciated the Author's ability to weave in important topics such as racism and generational trauma into a unique (and weird as heck - in a good way) story, & I legitimately really enjoyed the first 60% of it but, I ultimately lost interest in the characters and what would happen to them by the end.

This next part is not directly related to this book in particular, just some grumbling about unresolved feelings I've been having for a while, concerning book rating in general. A lot of it is more @ myself than anyone else lol feel free to skip 😂

Rating books has often been difficult for me for me for many reasons 🙃 it's a frustrating struggle of asking myself "is it just me, or is it the book?" And honestly, does making that distinction really matter? It's *my* rating after all. The factors that led to that decision are nobody's business but my own in the end.

I am also admittedly a mood reader, so I am often stopping to ask myself when I start to feel like I am no longer enjoying a book "did my mood change mid-way into reading, or is there something about the story/writing making me feel this way?"

I've wasted a lot of my time as a reader trying to navigate the "right" way to rate a book, and after much trial & error, and ruminating over the subject to the point of obsession - I genuinely no longer believe there truly is one. I have mostly just been rating based on vibes lately, and that works for me. I don't think anyone should judge other people for the way they rate books. I see this happen often, and it has indeed led to some of my own self-judgements, shame, and confusion surrounding book rating. Often, it leaves me feeling frustrated and wondering if I'm somehow rating the "wrong" way, as if that even exists.

Reading is subjective, and ratings are subjective. Even friends who typically have incredibly similar taste in books as I do, have loved books I hated, or hated books I loved. Shit haps 🤷🏼‍♀️

This is another reason I strongly believe authors have no business in reader spaces. You can't obsess over the ratings of your books, because it's simply a fact that not everyone will have the same reading experience (based on many different factors) and therefore will not have the same thoughts, feelings, and ratings for your book[s]. 🫡

3.75-ish, maybe?

Weird freakin vibes, but I kinda dig it lol

Definitely not like anything else I've read before

🤠🌲

Kind of bummed that I didn't enjoy this as much as I hoped I would

To be fair I jumped right into it, still on a "high" from how much I enjoyed Thrum bc as soon as I heard Meg was releasing another book I wanted to read it ASAP

A main thing that bothered me was that it was kinda lowkey military/authoritarian romance which is super not my thing - kinda gives me the ick ngl (to be fair I didn't *really* read the synopsis thoroughly, so if the MMC being military was mentioned in there, I missed it) I basically just saw "horny plants" and said ok bet 👍😂

So yeah, quick read, relatively fun/enjoyable, everyone and everything is *very* horny and uh definitely disturbing asf lmao but overall? Ehhh 🫠

I found myself a bit bored near the 80% point because I figured out the mystery and such pretty fast and I didn't really find myself actually caring about any of the characters? Dunno. /shrugs

Still a very cool concept IMO, might not have really been "for me," but I'm sure lots of other people will love it :)

As much as I love E.M. Carroll's art style, I've realized after reading my 3rd book by them that maybe their writing style just isn't really for me lol

Hm. It's a very "what the actual f*ck am I reading right now" type of book & I couldn't tell whether I loved that or hated it... apparently both somehow.

Had really great things that I enjoyed immensely, but also very "meh" things that caused more annoyance/confusion than anything else.

It's kind of all over the place in many ways & again I mean that in equal parts good & bad. I really liked the art style the most, I think.

I AM VERY (UN)CALM ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS

I can see why there's people who decide to never rate non-fiction books, this was difficult to rate. I've settled on a 3.75 & this rating is mainly based on the directly transcripted interview format, rather than on the overall content of the book itself. The book was indeed educational/informative for me as a white woman & I learned many things, I just wish the format was, not necessarily different, but perhaps edited in a better way?

Well that was...uh, interesting.

Okay, wow. 😳

God, it's got a happy ending, but reading this made me sob violently several times :')

Didn't know how to review it, decided to sleep on it, still not really sure, mainly just "holy shit"

I understand this might be a bit young for some people (I mean, it IS the drama & pining of teenagers, after all), but I dropped out of high school in my first year due to excessive bullying/struggling with my mental health. So I guess even at 31, I like to live vicariously through books about the school-day experiences that I never got to have. 🫠

It deals with a pretty long list of heavy/triggering subjects (bullying, grief, eating disorders, self-harm, anxiety, mental health, panic attacks, homophobia, etc.) & there's a lot of gore & body horror.

3.5 maybe

Idk

I'm really frustrated with this one

Loved the art style, and I liked the overall plot (especially about the Djinn), but Rami's character really killed it for me.

I absolutely could not stand her personality/behavior throughout the book. Maybe it's a personal issue, but it made me wanna quit reading it multiple times.

Went directly into my notes app to draft up this nonsense 😂

this is my review now idc 💁🏼‍♀️

I don't feel like tidying it up into something more public eyes friendly

My reviews are mainly for myself anyways 🥴

Rating: ???

Mixed feelings

Pros -

Fun "easy" read

Hashtag relatable

Hilarious sh*t happens

Gorey asfff

Sh*tty men die horrible deaths they definitely deserve

Vampires duh

✨️vibes✨️

Pro/con - lot of the dialogue was cheesy as hell

It's giving campy horror

Cons -

Some of the writing was irritating (overly descriptive like: "...it hurts like nothing I've ever felt before. What I imagine it would be like to have a tooth extracted without anesthetic, a bone hammered broken, a limb axed off. A removal. An unwelcome alteration." Like okay damn we get it geez moving on lmao)

The ending/epilogue was ??? kind of a mess? weird and didn't make much sense IMO

There's plot holes, so many plot holes

The vamp lore and overall world building didn't feel fully fleshed out

Insta love in the cringiest way possible like mf you are bein goofy rn pls shut the f* up 😂😭

Fmc b*tching and moaning like every other page about being "old" (36) and uGlY, and miserable

Annoying but honestly same gurl 💀

The toxic bestie situation, like are y'all okay? 🤔

Basically -

If I was rating for vibes and overall enjoyment of the absolute *ride* that was this book then it's a 4.5 but if I'm rating based on the writing and story, then it's more like a 3.5 and honestlyyy I think if I hadnt read this while I was hormonal it would've gotten a solid 3 stars ngl

I did actually like how the author made the reader get the distinct feeling that the ending would somehow involve the dream mall and it would likely be a tragedy (or is that just me? Surely not?)

God, I love finding books that make me remember why I love reading so much. This was definitely one of those.

I had the pleasure of being an ARC reader for this beautiful childrens book - it uses a kid friendly approach to explain the adoption process.

I think this book is an excellent way to teach your children (adopted & otherwise) about how adoptions work & helping them understand that being adopted is nothing to be ashamed of nor does it make you any less worthy of love.

5 stars for the ✨️vibes✨️ + cute art & my type of humor 🥴

So it makes me extremely sad to have to do this, but unfortunately this book is the very first one I have EVER decided to DNF (at 76% - page 213) & after skimming to the end, my rating would have to be about 2.75 out of 5 stars. Please understand that I do not believe this to be a "bad" book, there were a lot of interesting and thought provoking quotes and ideas, but overall I just (personally) found it to be incredibly boring! That being said one person's 2 star book could be 5 stars for another, and that's okay! The premise was promising, but sadly, for me, the execution was just not what I was hoping for.

2.75 ⭐️'s

Overall an interesting read, but there was plenty about it I wasn't a fan of.

Many unnecessary details that I assume were an attempt to make the characters feel more "real" but I felt myself getting annoyed while reading through some of the chapters.

Biggest "ick" for me, is the lack of warning about the book containing scenes depicting the violent assault of a child (age 6) & d**th of a child (age 4)

I think I would actually read a book by this author again, given the chance, as I didn't completely hate it - the way the details of the story were slowly woven together actually worked quite well.

Also, I think detective Rita Myers was probably the most interesting character in the book. I didn't care much for most of the other characters though & there were a LOT to keep track of.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

♡This was going forward. This was what it was to take your heart back from the past. ♡

I am legit awful at writing reviews (I find it hard to articulate my thoughts without turning the review into an ADHD word vomit) so I hardly ever write them, but this book was so, so, SO amazing.

I was lowkey super worried about reading through some of the very heavy topics discussed in this book, but it definitely deserved every single one of the 5 stars I decided to rate it.

I hope as more people purchase, read, rate, and review The Isa Project, it will continue to garner attention & reach all those who have ever experienced the trauma and grief of "loss" - whether it be a loved one, an animal, a relationship, or a stolen innocence, etc.

This was at times heartbreaking to read, yes, but also incredibly therapeutic because it sends a strong message that it is not your fault, you are not alone, and you are stronger than you think you are. ❤️‍🩹

"Hard doesn't mean bad"

🪽 Fly little bird 🪽

3.5 stars

I feel like this is one of those books that depends heavily on who the reader is and whether their interpretation of the stories is literal or metaphorical. Some of the stories "worked" for me (made sense) while others... didn't. Mothers Tongue was just very confusing to me. However, My Better Half was incredibly well done, as was Smaller. I absolutely loathed The Lord Above though, it was just plain disgusting honestly

Well, at least the art was very pretty...

(All jokes aside, it wasn't the worst thing I've ever read, some* of it was actually quite good - & it must've been very therapeutic for Megan to write.)

Decided to DNF at 46%

I'm just completely uninterested.

The MC is annoying, and the writing is driving me insane tbh 🫠

I don't think I would've made it this far into the book if I'd been reading it vs listening to the audio book [the narrator is great].

7 hours left in the audio book and I just can't listen to it anymore sorry 💀

I actually really enjoyed this book, but there were some things in it that bothered me enough to feel the need to dock my rating a bit.

Should have DNF'd 😮‍💨