Joy
This poetry collection left me thinking about the digital world for a long time. This collection could've been way longer for me.
I really loved the poems and they left a big impression on me. DETERIORATE makes the reader reflect on what we have become in this digital world. The author is brutally honest in this collection, which I really appreciate.
I will definitely look out for more poetry collections from this author, as I really loved this one.
I really really loved the first book in this series (Yes & I Love You), so I was very excited to get to the second book, and it surely didn't disappoint!
Andi is such a badass character. What a strong character that was emotionally really well build by Loren. Hill was also a real great character. He was really charming.
Roni Loren is really great at tackling mental health issues. This can be seen in both the first book in this series and this second one. I think she's one of the authors who does the best job at this.
Dit boek speelt zich af in één zomer. Doordat het boek slechts 168 pagina's lang is, leest het verhaal ook zeer vlot door. Dit vond ik zeker een voordeel voor de leeservaring. Toch had ik soms een probleem met de snelheid van het verhaal. Soms vond ik het voor mijn persoonlijke voorkeur iets te traag gaan. Toch zie ik wat de bedoeling was van Rosoff bij het kiezen van het tempo.
Toch bevat het verhaal heel wat interessante aspecten, waardoor je graag wil verder lezen. Er hangt een soort spanning over het gezin in het vakantiehuis, maar toch kan je niet grijpen vanwaar deze komt. Naar het einde toe wordt het duidelijk dat deze spanning er grotendeels hing door de Godden broers. Het einde was voor mij een verrassing, wat ik zeer aangenaam vond!
Hoewel ieder familielid en ieder personage in het boek zeker uitgebreid besproken wordt, blijft er over de ik-verteller een waas hangen. Nergens in het boek wordt de naam of het geslacht van de verteller besproken. Toch viel dit mij pas op naar het einde toe. Ik vind het speciaal hoe het verhaal zich ertoe leende dat het niet belangrijk aanvoelde wie de verteller was.
De Godden broers is een speciaal boek dat heel snel leest. Het is zeker een aanrader om te lezen op een zonnige zomeravond!
Dankjewel VIB Young Adult en LS Amsterdam voor het recensie-exemplaar.
DNF at 65%
I really tried to push through and finish this book, but I just really didn't enjoy it anymore. There were just some things in this story that weren't it for me. I didn't like how the love was insta-love and the pacing just didn't feel right to me. I really wanted to enjoy this story and in the beginning I did, but I guess that after some time the story kind of fell flat and lost its charm for me.
Het is lang geleden dat een verhaal me zo heeft aangegrepen. Sy slaagt erin om de lezer enorm te laten meeleven met het verhaal. Als lezer volg je op de voet hoe mensen zichzelf ontwikkelen en hoe vriendschappen ontstaan in de wrede oorlog. De personages zijn allemaal enorm goed uitgewerkt, waardoor je dubbel zo hard meevoelt met iedereen. Het is moeilijk om je in te beelden hoe het was om te leven in de oorlog, maar door dit boek krijg je pijnlijk hard een idee hoe het geweest moet zijn. Hoe pijnlijk het ook was om sommige stukken te lezen, ik denk wel dat het belangrijk is om er bewustzijn van te verspreiden.
“Ze verslond zijn woorden. Woorden die door hem waren bedacht en aangeraakt. Het enige tastbare bewijs dat hij had bestaan en niet een mooie, veel te korte droom was geweest.”
Dit is een boek dat lang blijft nazinderen. Zelfs als ik het boek niet aan het lezen was, dacht ik vaak aan de personages en wat ze meemaakten. Ik kreeg het verhaal niet uit m'n hoofd en werd er echt door gegrepen. Als je je realiseert dat al deze dingen echt gebeurd zijn, is het zelfs huiveringwekkend.
Dankjewel VIB Young Adult voor het recensie-exemplaar!
I had never really read a book about the profession of a funeral celebrant before. I had never really thought about it, if I'm being honest. Too often, we see the way funerals are delivered as a ‘normal' thing, at least I did. Having been to three funerals in my life, I remember that those services were delivered beautifully. Reading this book, I came more to the realisation that behind these beautiful services, a funeral celebrant works hard to make it that way.
Graham delivers her stories in a poignant, humourous and emotional way. The balance between these aspects is really taken into account. The stories are told in a respectful, but still funny way sometimes. You can really see that Graham is passionate about her job and that she has a lot of respect for all the people she encounters.
A Thousand Goodbyes is a fascinating, light-hearted and entertaining book. It's quick and easy to read, so if you're interested in getting to know some more about the life of a funeral celebrant (which is really interesting!) I would definitely recommend reading this one.
This was such an inspiring story. Jen White did a great job in portraying mental health issues and how people and their environment handle this.
Cora is an interesting character to follow throughout the story. In the book, we get to see her struggle against her ‘talking brain', which was very fascinating to discover. White made Cora into a complex character, which the reader can connect with and understand.
I love how Cora's friendship with Patrick eventually grows and how she begins to see things in another light. That she can actually make friends and maintain them. The adventures she goes on with Patrick, are lovely to read.
The story about uncle Richie was one I would've loved to read more about. I would've loved to know how the two of them bonded together later on. That was an aspect I missed in the story. The ending was rather rushed on that part.q
The writing style was easy to read, yet very fascinating.
I love how White talks to the reader at the end of the book and provides sources to go to if you're struggling.
I think A Thousand Minutes to Sunlight is a wonderful story about mental health, family and friendship;
Thank you to the author and Xpresso Book Tours for the free e-copy. This in no way affected my opinion.
I have been so conflicted about this book for quite some time. On the one hand I really liked it. On the other hand I had some issues with some of the aspects and things that happened in the book.
First of all: after reading the Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas, I realized that I am a sucker for office romance books. I don't know why, it's just the truth
I really enjoyed this book. I had already enjoyed Lovett's first book: The First Time We Met, but I think The House Swap must be my favorite Lovett book now.
I must admit that at first I strongly disliked one of the main character - James. He came across as a pretty rude and rigid character, which I didn't really like. Luckily, this changes throughout the story. Luckily, both main characters - Cassie and James - turned out to be pretty funny and friendly, both with their own haunting past.
From the moment on I felt like the book was picking up pace, I quickly flew through it.
This story is both funny and emotional all at once. It has been a long time since a book made me tear up, but The House Swap managed to do that to me.
Another factor I liked is that the scenery of the island on which Cassie/James lives is explained so well. I loved imagining how the island looks with the alpacas and chicken.
This is basically a slow burn romance book, but in a way that makes you squeal when finally something happens (at least that's what I did).
The only reason why I didn't give this book 5 stars is that at times I had a feeling that there were too many time jumps. We'd suddenly make a time jump of for example 3 weeks, which I didn't really like.
Thank you NetGallley and Bookouture for the free e-copy. This in no way affected my opinion.
4,5 stars!
First of all, I'd like to mention that I absolutely LOVED this book!
I really liked the main character: Hollyn. She is such a relatable character and Loren did a great job in portraying Hollyn's Tourette syndrome. This was really refreshing to read.
I also really liked the comedy vibe that is part of the story. The whole improv class situation is so much fun to read.
Jasper is the second main character in this book. Sometimes, I didn't fully support the decisions he made, but overall he is a pretty lovely character. He makes his mistakes and has his insecurities, but he seems to make a pretty good duo with Hollyn, in my opinion. Their chemistry is amazing and a joy to read.
I'm really excited for the second book in this duology and will definitely read it.
Thank you NetGalley and SourceBooks for the free e-copy. This in no way affected my opinion.
I haven't read Pride & Prejudice (yet), so I stepped into this book with basically no knowledge of the original story. I don't know if this is an advantage or a disadvantage, but I didn't feel like I needed to have had read the original story to like this one.
I love how feminist Pride & Premeditation is. Elizabeth tries to prove that she - just like any other men - can be a sollicitor or barrister. I loved this aspect: fighting the patriarchy.
I also really appreciated that the story wasn't too predictable (at least not for me). Near the ending, I had an idea who murdered Mr. Bingley (and turned out to be right), but I really loved the fact that I guessed it, instead of thinking it was too predictable. I flew through the book and really enjoyed it.
Thank you TBR and Beyond tours, Edelweiss and Harperteen for the free review copy. This in no way affected my opinion.
Everything After is such a wonderful book. I quickly flew through it and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a touching story about Emily, who is trying to find out who she wants to be and what she wants to do with her life. Everything After consists of a love triangle, but it's not only that. It doesn't solely focus on love, but also on self development and finding out who you are. The bond Emily and her sister Ari shared was very special to read and I loved that it was mentioned so clearly.
The short chapters made this book quick and easy to read. I loved that there were two types of chapter: Emily now and Emily in the past throughout her diary. This really added to the story and makes the reader discover Emily's past. Because you know her past, you can understand the things she does better.
This book was written very powerfully and it really touched me to the core.
This made me really excited to read The Light We Lost and More Than Words soon!
TW: miscarriage, growing up with an ill parent, death of a parent, grief, depression, drug use while pregnant, infidelity
Thank you for the free e-book, Penguin Random House. This in no way affected my opinion.
At this point, I don't think any Davina Stone book will be able to disappoint me. I enjoyed The Polly Principle, I really did. I think it was different than The Alice Equation, but it was nicely different!
In The Alice Equation, we got a glimpse of Polly Fletcher, who is Alice's best friend. I was so intrigued by her when I read The Alice Equation, so I was really excited to get to know Polly better in this new book.
“You're a tightly closed book masquerading as a full-page spread.”
Polly has always helped her friends meet their one true love, and she's perfectly okay with that. She loves helping her friends but doesn't see herself committing to anyone, ever. That is until she meets Solo Jakoby.
God, how I loved Solo. He's such a sweet, caring man with an interesting backstory. I love how throughout the book, he is also trying to let the past go and fully live his life. Polly also has a very interesting backstory, and I think both Solo and Polly's backstories were interestingly worked out.
Stone always manages to build such interesting side characters into her books, such as Carts and Judith. I'm really excited to read their story because book three in The Laws of Love series will be about Carts, ahhhh I'm so excited! I also loved the small appearance of Aaron and Alice, who were the main characters in The Alice Equation.
The Polly Principle is another slow burn romance book, and I'm beginning to realize that I love slow burn romances.
The setting of this book was different from the settings in other books I read. It was refreshing to me!
The main character, Zaffron, is portrayed as a strong girl. She is complex in her own way, but throughout the story, she develops into a strong character. Blaire also is a very interesting character. He carries secrets with him, which are uncovered through the story surprisingly. In general, there's a varied group of characters with each a different background and a different story to their lives. This was very interesting to explore. We have someone dealing with getting their life back on track, someone dealing with a divorce, someone dealing with a haunting past,... This was so interesting to read.
This story is one full of hope. I loved the messages it carried and flew through it. Burke writes in a very fluent way.
Thank you to the author and Rachel's Random Resources for the free ebook. This in no way affected my opinion.
I love that Love and Other Moods really is a portrait of Shangai. By reading Love and Other Moods, I learned a lot of the Chinese culture and history. It was one of those books I couldn't fly through, because I wanted to take my time to explore the culture and history and really take it in.
Every character in this book has a very interesting background. Everyone had a totally different story and they were all equally interesting to discover.
“For Naomi, existing on the hyphen – balancing her Japanese, Taiwanese, American identities – feeling neither here nor there, a drifter among homes and countries, was a perpetual state of mind.”
Crystal Z. Lee also doesn't hesitate to touch upon the subject of the patriarchy in China, the corruption in China, and that was very interesting to read. At times I was shocked that such things can still happen today, in 2021. Of course, also the good sides of living in Shangai are mentioned which was amazing to discover.
This book also tackles the subject of cultural tensions, immigrants, expatriates,... which is something I hadn't really read about before.
“But I do know this – We're right for each other, we make sense. Even if we're the only ones that believe it.”
I think Love and Other Moods was worked out really really well. I loved discovering Naomi's, Dante's, Joss',... life.
TW: rape, abuse, death of a parent, infidelity and infertility.
Read my full review here: https://ohsrslybooks.com/2021/03/19/book-tour-review-love-and-other-moods-crystal-z-lee/
I really enjoyed reading this debut poetry book. Gabrielle G. really managed to express a lot of emotions into her poems, such as heartbreak, love, anger,... The book consist of 14 ‘chapters', all with a different but meaningful meaning. The artwork that each ‘chapter' starts with is really pretty as well.
Gabrielle G.'s poems are really raw and thoughtful. You can really feel the emotions through them, and I think that's important in poetry.
Here's my favorite poem from the short collection:
‘I asked the moon to guide me,
In the path of our love,
As I was blind to see.
Stellar tips.
The moon stayed silent,
But the stars screamed
That our love was distant.
Lunar eclipse.
The sun came to my rescue
And burnt all my doubts
But then payment was due.
Solar explosion.
So, I gave my sky away,
Blackened by madness;
And left you in dismay.
Heartless decision.'
At the end of the book, there was also a list of other books Gabrielle G. has written. I'm really excited to look these up and dive into them!
Thank you to the author Gabrielle G. for sending me a copy of this book. This in no way affected my opinion.
