Cecilie
It was just good, you know? A bit slow to get the ball rolling, but once it was, I really found myself enjoying it and depuzzling the pieces of Define and Kostas lives in Cyprus.
It's got major book 2 vibes from having the love interests be separated for the vast majority of it, but it also has major final book vibes from all the planning to save everyone, and both of those things are not super fun, so. It was fine. I was there for the characters I've grown to love but even those were separated for a while. And we weren't in the school anymore either. Basically, all the fun bits were out and all the serious bits were in. It put a damper on everything. 🤷🏼♀️
Percy is a fantastic and wonderful narrator, and the audiobook narrator was really good at finding Percy's voice for it, which was great. I think putting lots of modern references in the dialogue (like tempting a god with cookies) was a clever way to make the storylines feel more modern too, like the amount of times the word ‘babe' shows up in this book is honestly probably too many. I wasn't kidding when I said the male gods all sound like jocks, lmao.
As a remnant of the old stories, I'm sure, there was a repetitiveness in the stories which was rather tedious at times. The amount of times Zeus raped females (because they weren't always goddesses or humans) is appalling (and Poseidon did it too!), and the gods getting mad at each other and killing someone else out of revenge or jealousy is just 🤦🏻♀️. You can only listen to the same thing happen to different people by the same people so many times before it goes stale.
Otherwise it was great.
Meh. Stoner was a coward, and I wasn't very invested in his life. Overall, it was just too boring for me to find much more enjoyment from than 2.5.
Holy wow.
I honest to god think I enjoyed this more than Just One Day.
I absolutely LOVED Willem's story and the whole thing was incredible and miserable and amazing all at the same time! Just everything about this book had me going
I finally finished this beast. Actually, it's only 236 pages but it felt like a beast. It took me so long and I'm not well so it took me even longer.
It had interesting parts but I felt like it dragged overall. Pretty much all the characters were interesting, but again, it dragged. So I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I didn't hate it and I didn't love it. It had a nice message, and it wasn't hard to figure out what it was trying to say.
This was so great, I really enjoyed it. It's undoubtfully written for children, but nonetheless, I really liked it.
It was just very mid. And I didn't like the writing style, I kept getting lost in it unless there was dialogue.
Gahhh, I just love these books so much!
Julie James is fantastic at writing books that just make you so happy!
I love Rylann's sass, it's fucking fantastic, and oh my god, I can't even with how cute Kyle is, and why why why with the whole thing that happened nine years ago, and ugh, this might be my favorite of them, but gosh, I don't even know.
I absolutely LOVED the business aspect, seeing Kyle get his business going, it was so cool, made me want to start my own company there for a second, gosh and I just fucking love these attorneys, okay, my GOD, it's fantastic.
The book was hilarious and amazing and I needed some fluff and I finally got it, and it made me so happy, and squeals hysterically for two hours
First read: This book is fantastic.
Reread 2015:
I've been in a reading slump for about a month, so when I picked this book up, I had a hard time reading it. And it's not that it was bad or anything like that at all, but this was reread for me, which I did because the movie is coming out soon, and because I was in a reading slump it was just hard to read. I didn't want to, which was and odd feeling. But I could just tell that I was craving a new story, something that wasn't a reread and so I decided to just “get it over with”. I'm so happy that I did because it was amazing once again. I didn't love it as much as the first time, but it was still amazing. I still love Quentin Jacobsen. I am still in love with Ben Starling. I still absolutely adore this story.
Shit that the best shit ever, I just absolutely can't, I love family! I just love family so fucking much, fam!
I was having a fine time with it, it was a quick and easy read. But the ending disappointed me. I was debating where it would fall between three and four stars as I was reading, but the last 50 pages really didn't do it any favors so this where we ended up. The twist was bad.
Side note: One of the blurbs said “the twist blew my mind” which I can see why someone would feel that way but it's not for a good reason. Because it wasn't foreshadowed at all. It didn't give the book more depth. It was just shock value and it didn't make me feel like I should have known all along. There was no way to know. The hints were not there.
Can we just talk about how absolutely gorgeous Anna Lightwood is??? JUST LOOK AT THAT COVER, SHE IS SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL
This was so good! I enjoyed it so much, and it was such a genuine surprise the entire way through.
What I absolutely loved the most about this was the found family. Hana and Caravaggio especially have such a wonderful bond with each other, the way they banter, and how they knew each other before the war and are now able to see how it has changed each other and like the other for it more, it was just so heartwarming.
Kip ended up being a nice addition to their little family, despite him being a bit in his own little shell a lot. He ends up being the one to make them all hang out together with the English patient in a way where you really feel their love of each other's company.
All of the characters had such interesting stories, and were traumatized by the war they had been part of in different ways, but were understanding of each other and always respectful and I just really loved their family dynamic, okay, it was so wonderful!
Throughout, I was often wondering how I would rate the book, as I enjoyed almost all of it, and when I wasn't entirely enjoying it, it was more from a perspective of me not quite understanding what was happening for a page or two. But when we got to the last chapter is when it fell through a bit. There was a lot of exposition suddenly, and not in the way it had been before, and I wasn't a huge fan of it. Kip's reaction to hearing about the bombings in Japan, however, I thought was incredibly valid and nicely done and I can completely understand why he reacted the way he did, but then when we get to the last 4 pages, we're sent into the future that I didn't want to know about, and which I felt was focused on the wrong person.
I think it was an odd choice to end the story the way it did, but alas I can do nothing to change that. But it definitely solidified the rating for me.
I loved the way the story was told overall, and how moments of humor would come in to break the tension. The tone of the book is heavy, but it's never dark or grave, at some points it even feels light hearted. And when the English patient is telling his story, which is long and comes in parts throughout the book, it helps so much to have Hana or Caravaggio occasionally come into the picture and have them asking a question or something, which pulls you out of the story he is telling for a short second, relieving some tension, which helped to digest it much easier.
I also loved the setting of the book, and it made me realize how I have practically never considered how South Europe was affected by World War II, which is awful actually. Being in this deserted part of Italy was a great setting for the story, as well as intriguing for me personally, and it was incredibly interesting how there was an entire storyline about spies and Egypt and secret intelligence, which I would have loved to know more about, it was so fascinating!
Overall, it was just really really good, man.
I sit here at 3 am trying to gather my thoughts on this. It's been, I think, six years since I read this book. I was honestly unsure what I was going to think of it, especially when I finally remembered what the entire plot was about.
But it was better than I remembered it actually. The absolute grandness of the story is insane considering where we started, and in this one we truly get a sense of just how crazy the villain really is. It's messed up and insane and I honestly love that he's just absolutely batshit crazy because there's just something so fucking unnerving about that.
I think the progression of Magnus and Alec's storyline is both heartbreaking and very interesting to follow, and this book really settles how deep Alec's insecurities lie in him as well as proving how in love with each other they are. I had forgotten the book ended with them like it did.
Before reading I was predicting that Isabelle would again be my favorite of the book, but was pleasantly very surprised that Simon crawled out of the shit hole of the last book and went right up there to the top with her.
The entire book is a battle for Clary and Jace, so the fact that they ended up sitting serenely next to each other in the epilogue was almost ironic, 1) because THE PLOT, and 2) because when have we ever seen a TMI book with Clary and Jace feeling serene at the end of it????
Genuinely could not put the book down after about page 200 which is why I'm here writing this when it's almost 4am. Just loved it. It was addicting, haunting at times, there was so much plot progression, like I just loved it.
I... am so angry.
These are my immediate thoughts after reading, so bear with me.
But why? I don't get why this? Why?
It feels pointless to have read this book.
The first 75% of the book, I was enjoying so much. Genuinely was having such a good time, and I was excited to read it whenever I picked it up. So WHY.
OLIVIE, WHY. MISS BLAKE, WHY.
She killed off my two favorite characters of this book. Why would you do that? You made, arguably, the main character so... uninteresting. The motivation felt so disconnected from what was happening. It was characte deterioration at its worst, like, I didn't like it at all. And like, what was the point? To say “haha life sucks and people are bad”?
I just don't get it, Olivie. What did you accomplish here? Like, why? Why? Why?
I'm so conflicted.
This was not what I thought it would be at all but if I didn't enjoy the hell out of it anyway, tho.
It's actually gross, so don't read it if you're squeamish. But otherwise? Who doesn't love some good ol' wlw romance?
Very much enjoyed it this third time around! Even more so than the last two, I think. I wasn't as confused about what happened and I thought it was a great storyline, really, I don't see why people don't like it aside from the typical YA stereotypes. But that just it, you know, they're there or they're not there, either way people complain.
I don't know what I'm saying, it's two am.
I really loved it though.
LOVE THIS SO MUCH!
IT HAD ALL THE FEELS!
IT MADE ME LAUGH AND WANT TO CRY!
AND IT WAS SO GREAT!
I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS SERIES TO EVERY PERSON ON THE PLANET
4.5 Stars
Honestly this book was so good, better than I expected, and now I just wish I'd waited with reading this until I had the third book. This is killing me.
Oh
My god.
Every single chapter that started with Six Years Earlier made me want to crawl into a corner and weep. Just weep for hours and hours and hours.
Deeply, deeply, deeply emtional, I was so surprised, I literally picked this book up 8 hours ago. It's 1am, I just finished and I have school tomorrow. So, yep.
It's so addicting.
Amazing.
Tragic.
Wonderful.
All the feels.
ANOTHER FANTASTIC BOOK, ERHMAGODSSSSSS!
Hehe, see what I did there?
Sorry, that joke was weak as hell.
I just loved the fact that Percy's growing up and suddenly Annabeth is like... more interesting than before to him. Hm, wonder how that turns out! (As if I don't already know lmao)
Missed Annabeth a whole dam (oh my gods, I'm sorry I can't help myself, these puns are too great) lot, but it was 80% made up for with Zoë and her old talk, and Zoë and her story ‘bout that one Hero, you know which one I'm talking about and basically, Zoë made up for a lot of things considering she's a fucking pain in the ass