Caitlin

Consider this book solid travel fluff and not much else. The main character's relationship with her mom felt extremely unhealthy from the word go and the romance was messy in a bad, cringe kind of way. The magic elements were also weird and I'm not sure I'm the type of person who likes contemporary fiction diddling around with magic. That said, I do love Italy as a setting and that was the biggest saving grace for me here. I do have to assume this book is basically Eat, Pray, Love, but I've never read that one (and never will).

I went into this one mostly blind, thinking it was going to be Haikyuu, but with soccer. HA! I was SUPER wrong. Do yourself a favor and go into this one with zero info. I'll only say I'm really excited to see where this one goes.

This is the author's first outing in self-pub and it shows, mostly in the prose and pacing, but the novella had an unpolished charm to it, too, that had me engaged. A fun read and excited to see how Daniel grows as a writer with time and experience.

Now we're talking. King's character was really interesting and brought out an added layer to Saitama that made me really start to like him. The cliffy with Genos also has me especially excited to pick up the next volume. FULL PAGE FIGHT SPREADS FOR THE WIN.

The core subject matter kept my interest; I both love Trader Joe's and find the behind-the-scenes inner workings of most businesses to be fascinating. The execution (prose, structure, etc.) on the other hand? Very sloppy, Joe. Very sloppy.

This one is just very squarely not for me. The main character is Deadpool-esque, but with less clever humor. His flaws also overpower any sense of irreverent charm he might have had and he kind of just reeks of an edgy teenage boy appeal to me. Based upon the marketing, I thought Pochita was going to stink around for longer, but c'est la vie. It is unlikely the case that I'll be continuing this one.

Bechloe fan-fic, is that you? I like my romance novels as tropey as possible and this definitely scratches that itch, though it also veers into romance cringe sometimes. Also, if this story was an AITA post, everyone would be the asshole.

A simple premise, but a strong execution. I really liked the leads who felt like real people, though maybe they don't feel as iconic or distinct as other romcom couples as a result. The ex-boyfriend redemption arc was great, especially because I was worried he would become cartoonishly evil. I mean, that role is reserved for the female lead's dad, but I'll let that one slide. And is it just me or did this one have Little Mermaid vibes? Was that intentional? Am I going crazy?

I read this out of a fear of FOMO: the series hit its zenith past my YA prime, but the premise had me interested, especially considering Cassandra Clare has apparently developed her writing over time with her later Shadowhunter books. The start of this one was fun, but Jace is unbearable. What an edgelord - I have no idea what made people think this sort of attitude was ever attractive. I also knew about the “incest” part and still got whiplash. What a weird “twist.” Still, I've heard this is one of the weaker entries for Clare and that the series/universe gets better so I will likely continue in spite of the low rating.

God why. The leads are bland and obtuse. Although the male lead starts on a dickish foot, his choice to leave the female lead was honestly the only noteworthy thing that happened in this book at all. In fact, I might describe it as the only actually well-motivated choice anyone makes in this thing. The plot has zero tension or conflict. Also, riddle me this: why is it three parts? Why break up the acts like this? It makes no sense. At least it's short.

I like romance full of shlock, but I'm not (in theory) opposed to challenging the leads with non-romantic IRL issues. It's just this one dug so deep in that direction that it made me wonder why it needed to have any romance at all. Quite frankly, I'm kind of wondering if it's worse off for having that as a focal point since it just distracts from the other elements at play. The book's resolution also really rubbed me the wrong way.

OPM truly just aligns better with my satire tastes than Chainsaw Man, but it's been a minute since I read Vol. 5 so this wasn't hitting full force. The action is always the best though.

A fairly extensive peek into the components required to achieve top athletic performance. It wasn't a a light read by any means, but it definitely made me appreciate the complex machine of the human body a little bit more.

I'm really enjoying this series so far! The magic system interweaves interesting themes about ableism that I wasn't expecting and the art style is gorgeous. I'm not sure we've really hit the meat and potatoes of the story yet, but even if it is a bit before we get there, I'll be reading!