laur gluchie
I have received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book through a giveaway hosted by the publisher. This has not affected my rating or review in any way.
Stars & Smoke is everything I want in a young adult adventure novel- enemies-to-lovers (!!!), a pop star boy, a secret agent girl (and y'all already know how much I love spies and secret agents), and one big espionage mission. Fortunately for me, Marie Lu delivered on exactly what she promised.
This novel was brilliantly written, and I loved every second of it. The characters were well-developed and entertaining, I especially loved the spy Sydney Cossette. The popstar Winter Young was also great. As for the plot, it's a spy thriller with plenty of action and steamy romance sprinkled in- it's definitely upper young adult level romance.
My favorite part of the novel was definitely the secret agent and espionage aspects of the story. I've loved spy stories since I was young; Black Widow is my favorite Avenger and one of my favorite book series is the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter. Would I have loved this novel without all of the spy stuff? Yes, but probably not as much as the novel wouldn't have a plot otherwise (lol).
I'm eagerly waiting for the next novel!
[Listened to the audiobook narrated by Kate Beckinsale.]
Wow. Oh wow. I did not expect to love this as much as I did.
Late last year, I read Pride by Ibi Zoboi. Prior to reading it, I stated that if I didn't enjoy it I would read the actual Pride & Prejudice for comparison. (Spoiler Alert: I didn't enjoy it.)
This was my first ever audiobook that I was able to listen to in full, which I think helped me to understand Austen's very formal writing. I loved Elizabeth and Darcy (aka the original enemies-to-lovers blueprint), the Bennet sisters, the drama and the unexpected humor. This was a great read, and I will definitely be checking out Austen's other works!
Edit: I'm raising this from four stars to five stars because I've had many revelations about this novel over the past few days and also Mr. Darcy is autistic because I (an autistic person) said so.
Hello and welcome to the first installment of a new review series I'm calling “Retrying Books That I Didn't Give A Fair Chance To In My Youth (Because I Was Influenced By The Bandwagons Of Their Time, Or Simply Because I Was A Stupid Teen).” Today's review is on Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys, which I had previously DNF'ed at 30% in 2018. I decided to try this again with OwlCrate's The Nest community for their The Raven Boys read-along. It's a great community and you should check it out if you're into books!
I feel scammed. But I'm not entirely upset about it?
When I read the blurb of this book, I thought that this would be a young adult fantasy romance about a girl who can't kiss her true love, featuring plenty of angst and mutual pining galore with magic/supernatural elements. What I got? A borderline educational story about said girl, boy, and some friends of this boy going on a supernatural adventure to find some dude named Glendower and ley lines with maybe a teeny tiny smidge of romance.
And here's the thing- I liked this. Not as much as I probably would've if this book had been anything like I thought it would be, but I still enjoyed this. Now, onto the meat of the review...
To start with the characters, I found it strange how much I can relate to Blue. We almost have the same mom, they're so similar in both their actions and behaviors. I could definitely relate with her on the absent dad thing (lol) as well. My family's also super spiritual like the Sargents, so I wasn't new to the psychic elements in this book. This was definitely my favorite parts of this story.
Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah reminded me way too much of the Marauders from the Harry Potter series. Their personalities and physical appearances are very similar; Gansey is like James, Ronan is like Sirius, Adam is like Remus, and Noah is like Peter (minus all the betrayal... stuff)- there's even a confusing plot twist where Noah turns out to be a ghost kinda like the plot twist were Peter turns out to be Scabbers. Hell, even Ronan has a brother he has beef with just like Sirius and Regulus. Blue isn't much like Lily outside of being Gansey's love interest, but everything else is too similar to consider as a coincidence. If you had told me this was originally written as a Marauders fanfiction, I would believe you.
All of this aside, these characters weren't very well characterized. For example, I found myself frequently wondering whether these Raven Boys were high schoolers or college-age kids because Stiefvater never made it clear within her character's actions. These characters are somewhat barebones, given a small hint of personality and prematurely pushed to the stage similar to the Thirteenth Doctor's companions from Doctor Who. It was almost as if Stiefvater was trying to be mysterious but just ended up being confusing.
Plot-wise this was very slow- not as slow as I remember when I originally DNFed this, but not as fast-paced as I usually like when I read a book. The plot was set up in the first three-ish chapters, then the story didn't really pick up until a bit over the halfway point for me. Everything between that was just filler that I managed to push through.
My main problem with this book, though, is Stiefvater's writing style. It's comparable to Holly Black and Alex Aster's writing styles (or so I've heard for the latter). For example, “April days in Henrietta were fair, tender things,” “Mornings at 300 Fox Way were fearful, jumbled things,” and “Robert Parrish was a big thing” are comparable to quotes I've seen tossed around from Lightlark- quotes that were quite the opposite of praised.
I also found the dialogue pretty confusing at times, considering the dialogue practically carried this story. One of the raven boys would say something, and another would reply with something completely confusing, complex, and/or off topic that didn't make sense. I found myself more and more confused over these scenes but trying to ignore them as I continued. I think this adds to the case of Stiefvater trying and miserably failing at being mysterious. Overall, the writing of this book is very poor quality in my opinion, but it's definitely not the worst I've seen. Though it's much worse when you realize this is far from the first book she's ever written.
In the end, this was an okay book. When reading this, if I was not bored I was confused, and vice versa. I believe I would've been less bored if this had focused more on romance than the adventure and if the pacing issues were fixed. Or maybe if it had been advertised as what it actually is, I may have entered with a different mindset and not have been so thrown off. Yet somehow this was still enjoyable overall despite feeling scammed by that description, and I do want to continue on with The Dream Thieves. 3 out of 5 stars.
I have received a copy of this book through a giveaway hosted by the publisher. This has not affected my rating or review in any way.
Random Shit I Wrote Down In My Notes While Reading Kingdom Of Ash FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME Because AAAAAAAAAAA:
• I'M FINALLY READING THIS I'M SO EXCITED
• That intro has me so scared rn like I can't even sleep bc of this series
• Ok Aedion's anger at Lysandra is so uncalled for. Like if anything she is doing u a favor my guy. Be mad at dumb bitch Maeve not ur future wifey.
• NOOOOO AELIN AND FENRYS DESERVE BETTER :(((((
• A bite mark on the neck “A mate's mark” WHAT IN THE A/B/O
Okay what happened??? Because that was a severe disappointment after the four previous installments. I really enjoyed Everblaze, Neverseen, Lodestar, and (despite some minor issues I had with it) Nightfall. However, compared to those, this book just feels so... subpar?
The first thing I didn't like was Sophie and Fitz's hospitalization taking up about half of the book. That was so boring and I was practically dragging myself through it. I thought for sure when that part was over I would start to enjoy the book but I was wrong, it still felt like a chore to read this up until about the 90% mark. The story was lacking in action-packed scenes I'd expect from this series by now. It also doesn't help that the chapters are longer than usual, or the chapter breaks are more spread out this time around.
I'm worried about reading the rest of the series now, as I've already purchased a copy of Legacy. I'd previously heard somewhere that this series declines in quality sometime around Nightfall and I'm beginning to see this as true. I'm still going to continue on in hopes of Legacy not having as much filler (also because I already bought it like I'm not gonna waste a good three dollars).
4.5 Stars
huh. so. didn't enjoy this one as much as the last three i've read but this was still pretty damn good.
Pre-Reading Updates:
oh when will my beloved (the sixth book in the keeper of the lost cities series) return from war (arrive at the holds section of my local library)?
i literally started reading the ebook version of it because i'm tired of waiting
My first Big Finish audio drama! So excited!
The Endless Night: ★★★★
The Flood: ★★★★★
Ghost Machines: ★★★★★
The Last Party On Earth: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★★
This is very similar to what I would expect from a RTD2 Disney+ era spin-off! Limited series style, entertaining, amazing quality, has a focus on global warming/climate change (which RTD confirmed will be discussed in Series 15), and stars a RTD1-era main character. This was the best Big Finish box set to start with for me, considering Rose Tyler is one of my favorite companions. Now I just need some Ace McShane, Clara Oswald, and Bill Potts-centric adventures!
Episode-Specific Spoilers Beyond This Point!
The Flood Spoilers:Donna Noble being a secret agent for a rebel group of climate change activists in another universe is so iconic.
Ghost Machines Spoilers:This one really reminded me of the series 8 finale Dark Water/Death In Heaven (AKA one of my favorite episodes ever). Very spooky, fits well in the vein of Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead and Midnight!
The characterization and representation of autism of all time. /s
I'm just going to get right into it- I had so many problems with this book. Way too many problems, problems that shouldn't exist in the first place. Julie Buxbaum has written a very ableist and ignorant portrayal of autism in the form of David Drucker, one of the two main protagonists in What To Say Next. If you have seen my review on Serena Kaylor's ‘Long Story Short', then you know how much I take autistic and neurodivergent portrayals in media seriously as an autistic person. What To Say Next was highly disappointing (and somewhat disturbing), to say the least.
Trigger Warnings Beyond This Point: Discussions of ableism, bullying, discrimination, stalking, racism, reverse racism, mentions of anti-semitism, death, grief, depression. It's going to be very ranty and all-over-the-place. /srs
Some Of The Problems I Had With ‘What To Say Next' As An Autistic Person:
• David tells us in the first chapter that he doesn't believe he is autistic in an ablephobic way... despite portraying multiple of the widest-known stereotypes of autism.
• David/Buxbaum uses labels such as Asperger's and high-functioning, the former of which is rooted in anti-semitism as the doctor who named Asperger's (after himself) was a Nazi and killed autistic people. The fact that it's not in the DSM anymore is acknowledged, and yet the term is still used. The latter is considered ableist and autistic people have been urging for neurotypicals to stop using functioning labels.
• David is a stalker, and he tries to blame it on his neurodivergency and that he's bad with names. He even comments on Kit and her friends' “larger than average breasts” in his notebook.
And everything listed above is all in the first chapter alone.
David forms an unlikely friendship with a semi-popular girl Kit Lowell (the other main protagonist), who is suffering from grief and depression after her dad's passing, and he agrees to help her investigate the car accident that killed him (which is barely addressed afterward). He is bullied throughout the story, notably by two neurotypical classmates named Justin and Gabriel. They call him slurs and go as far as to steal his notebook and post the contents on a site called “The [...] Guide To Mapleview,” leading to further discrimination by his community. Kit must become his neurotypical knight in shining armor to defend him and his honor multiple times, because apparently autistic people need neurotypicals to stand up for us. (How do you decide to write a book about an autistic main character and wind up using him as a plot point to glorify neurotypicals? Like c'mon.) Buxbaum begins to close out this book with revealing that David's guitar teacher is actually a social skills tutor and that his newfound “popularity” is the perfect excuse for him to start masking his autistic traits. Kit and David go to sensory hell a party, they kiss. Everything falls apart again, everything gets solved, the end.
So what is the end-goal message here? That autistic people can defend themselves physically but not verbally unless we have a neurotypical to do it for us? That the “good ending” for autistic people is to mask our autism? This book left such a sour taste in my mouth, then I look at my friends four and five-star reviews of this book and ask myself, “Did we read the same novel?
I wanted to note two quick things; First, that I was uncomfortable with Buxbaum's usage of the r-slur. As she confirms she is not autistic and is in fact an “ally” in her acknowledgments, the word is not hers to reclaim and use even if she is attempting to use it in a sensitive or educational way (which I am not even sure about). Either way, it is extremely disrespectful.
The second thing I wanted to note is Buxbaum writing Kit's Indian grandparents as “racist towards white people.” There is no such thing as reverse racism, period. However, I'm not Indian so I do not believe I am the person to speak any more on the topic.
So I ask, when will neurotypical authors stop portraying us all as Sheldon Cooper? Buxbaum even says in her author's note that “there is a famous expression that when you meet one person with autism, you meet one person with autism” (a statement that is ableist in itself, but that's a whole other topic). However, despite saying this, she proceeds to write David as the most ignorant neurotypical view of autism- highly intelligent and obsessive, seen as weird/outcasted by peers, and tends to be very blunt with his words. While these are traits some autistic people may have, they are also the most commonly-seen traits by neurotypical individuals and used in their portrayals of autism, effectively turning autistic characters into ‘weirdos', ‘creeps' and thus making these the defining characteristics of autism in society's eyes. While I understand Buxbaum trying to say that every autistic person is different, it would've helped if she had made David more than just a one-dimensional view of autism as a whole.
Then, Buxbaum clearly writes that masked autism is the “good ending” of the story. Autistic people have said it before and will say it again- unmasking our autism is the end goal. Not masking, not unmasking and re-masking, just unmasking when you're in a safe place to do so. Buxbaum, as a neurotypical, clearly wrote David's character development as from an autistic boy to a neurotypical-presenting masked autistic boy. It's such a weird way to end your book after campaigning so much for David to be accepted by his peers for who he is.
Despite how much I enjoyed Buxbaum's former novel, ‘Tell Me Three Things', I will likely not be reading any other works by her. In her acknowledgments, she states that she is “still learning [about the autism spectrum and how to be an ally],” and I can only hope that she can recognize her mistakes and decides to learn and grow from them.
TL;DR: This book is proof of why neurotypicals, or “allies” as Buxbaum calls herself, should not write fictional books about autistic or neurodivergent people without proper research and care. And maybe having an actual autistic person read your book before you send it off to publication.
I believe it's safe to say that Hollowpox: The Hunt For Morrigan Crow is definitely my favorite in the series thus far! Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban meets Alice In Wonderland in the third Morrigan Crow novel.
Wunimals (not to be confused with unimals) are beginning to act strange in Nevermoor. With erratic behavior and glowing green eyes, the Hollowpox becomes a Wunimal pandemic in itself (which we understand all too well, the past few years considered).
Aside from that, Morrigan has finally been moved to the School of Wunderous Arts- where every Wundersmith before her has learned and trained. With the help of Conall, Sofia, and the Headmistress Rook, Morrigan finally begins to hone her skills.
After a visit to the Wintersea Republic on the Gossamer Line, Morrigan finds out that the president has the cure for Hollowpox. Managing to arrange a meeting between the diplomats of the Wintersea Republic and the Free State, she realizes just too late that it was a trick- and she will be forced to turn to the most unlikely of allies for help.
(If you can't tell, I'm mainly writing these summaries for myself so I don't forget anything between now and Silverborn lmao)
This was the darkest novel in the Morrigan Crow series so far (yet still family friendly), and I'm so excited to see where Jessica Townsend takes us next!
Jessica Townsend has done it again! This next book in the Morrigan Crow series is almost as good as the last!
Morrigan has successfully passed the trials and is now a member of the esteemed Wunderous Society and Unit 919. On top of that, she now knows that she's a Wundersmith like Ezra Squall- a person who can make pure energy called Wunder and turn it into something greater.
However, despite her monumental Knack, Morrigan is placed in the School of Mundane Arts rather than the School of Arcane Arts. Even worse, her only class focuses on the history of Wundersmith mistakes- any and everything bad a Wundersmith has done throughout time.
When people begin to go missing around Nevermoor, Morrigan (albeit secretly) takes up the task of finding them- only to uncover the mythical Ghastly Market, but will she be able to save her friends before their Knacks are sold to the highest bidder?
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone meets Alice In Wonderland in Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow, which takes a bit of a darker tone than the previous novel making it so much more enjoyable.
2024 Reflection Time: Now that I'm older, wiser (maybe), and have read way worse things than this, I don't think this is as bad as plenty of other books out there. Yes, it's trashy, but it's entertaining trash and that's what matters to me. I know I said I wouldn't be reading the following books but my interest has been reignited I miss Nina my beloved (and I will still probably be skimming Daphne's chapters). Gonna leave my original review up because it's iconic as fuck bye.
2022 Review:
Take all of the shitty people from the British royal family (aka anyone but Diana and Meghan) and make them American. Now add a dash of Gossip Girl (which I hate), a pinch of The Bachelorette (which I also hate), a hint of The Selection, and a few splashes of Dance Moms-level drama. Don't forget to toss in a few pick-me girls (except for you, Nina Gonzalez). That is the recipe for American Royals.
Now if this sounds good to you, that's great! I'm happy for you and hope you enjoy this. But to me, this sounds like a load of flaming garbage and I wish I had known this before buying a box of cereal for it. So I hope Nina Gonzalez is doing well in the next books, because I'm not reading them.
(And just as a warning, Daphne Deighton is one of the most disgusting, vile, and self-absorbed characters I've ever had the displeasure of reading about, so if you do decide to read this make sure to skip her chapters.)
No but genuinely, someone tell me what happens to Nina in the next books. I don't care about spoilers and I need to know.
But also I kinda had fun with it and I may read book two if I'm ever in the mood to read some flaming hot dramatic garbage a la The Selection lmao
TL;DR: Concept was cool, execution was shit.
Original Rating: 2 Stars
Pre-Reading Updates: i heard this is trashy like trashier than the selection ooo i'm like 99% sure i'm gonna hate this lmao
I've received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book through a giveaway hosted by the publisher. This has not affected my rating in any way.
3.5 Stars
Calling all Rick Riordan fans; your new obsession is right here! If you love the sass and humor of Percy Jackson, you are going to love Alcatraz Smedry.
We, the readers, live in the Hushlands. It's the majority of the world that is controlled by the Librarians. A very small portion of the world which isn't controlled by Librarians is called the Free Kingdoms, but that's not where our story starts.
We follow Alcatraz Smedry, our very unreliable narrator, as he finds out he and his family are Ocularltors and they have the ability to see certain things others can't using Lenses (glasses). The Smedrys are the last known non-Librarian family with this ability, as the other families have become Librarians or died out due to the Librarians.
Another thing about the family is that each Smedry has a Talent. It's like a Quirk from My Hero Academia, or a knack from the Morrigan Crow series, but with a lot less pizzazz. For example, Alcatraz's Talent is the ability to break things, Grandpa Smedry's Talent is always being late to everything (a Talent I believe I have as well), Sing Sing Smedry's Talent is falling over, and Quentin Smedry's Talent is talking in gibberish. We also have Bastille, a thirteen year-old Crystin knight who is sworn to protect the Smedry family.
After the Librarians get ahold of Alcatraz's inheritance, the Smedrys and Bastille must get the sands back and stop the Librarians evil plan. But what is this inheritance, you ask. Well, it's a bag of sand. But not just any bag of sand... you'll have to read the book to know exactly what I mean. This story's a pretty cool adventure, not gonna lie.
This is the first Brandon Sanderson book I've read, and with how all of his other books have been hyped up, this did not disappoint! I also loved the illustrations! Some in the corners of pages, some taking up a full page spread, they were very well drawn and gave some energy to the story.
All in all, this was a fun middle-grade read that I'm sure any and all ages would enjoy!
3.5 Stars
the way i kept going back and forth from “yeah this book is good” to “this is the most boring thing i have ever read” lmao
i read this for three reasons:
1 - this book is set in north carolina. i, too, am set in north carolina. so i bet u can guess how everyone and their mother was badgering me to read this.
2 - i was going to see the movie for my birthday (but ended up seeing thor love and thunder instead).
3 - taylor swift.
and i don't really regret it? just wish it wasn't so predictable (like c'mon, i knew kya killed chase from the very beginning) and wish it wasn't so boring before the arrest/courtroom parts.