Shy Swag

I love this series! Its so fun to read, even if some of the turns (literally) are expected, and in some cases (superman) a little goofy it doesn't matter because like I said its just so much fun.

I think the art style matches perfectly with the story, I love the changes between a character when they are acting human vs when they are showing off some fangs. The coloring is amazing as well. A very fluid, casual style that has a lot of grace. Also bonus! Everyone is hot!

The writing is fairly solid. I mentioned superman, how can he be turned into a vampire? But also Wonder Woman. My running theory is to think of the vampire teeth as magic weapons but I still feel based on her track record it doesn't quite work. Dick is also a wonderful villain, he's not granted the role often and being an evil vampire gives him a bit of an excuse. While its a silly lil comic the heart pulls are good too, Jason and Ollie are stand outs.

I think if you do any of the following; enjoy watching jersey shore and hate it at the same time, listen to your friends twitter beef for fun, consider Charlies Angels more than you should, can hate on at least one NBA time with ease, or enjoy funky lemonade flavors at restaurants, then you'll like DC vs Vampires :p

him keeping the eye and that picture of Eva, most intriguing aspects of the whole book to me

This took me longer to get through because the content is so gross. This is lessened by the style of writing, the craft here is incredible.

Looking through the reviews, and by other comments Ive heard, there is a lot of talk of “feeling sympathy for a pedophile” as I've read the book now, I can say I never felt this.

When are we supposed to feel sorry for him? I never do or did while reading. At anytime he was put in danger, or felt loss, even in his recollection of childhood, I simply did not care for such a characters well being.

It is strange reading about such a grotesque character. Who does irredeemable acts upon a child. Which is not even his only flaw. He is classist, he is racist, he is so so many terrible things. He is unaware of himself through the entire book while us the reader can see him in his pathetic totality.

I do not suggest this book to anyone who is weary of it. Its masterfully put together, its crafted so well, it does, after so many years, still have something worth hearing within its pages. Its about Dolores. I wanted to know her so desperately, who she was away from him. Her favorite candies and her secrets amongst friends. I wanted to know that she still had a shiny little marble of herself tucked away from this vile evil man.

Of course we only get glimpses of her through his eyes as he does not care about Dolores person. He does not see her as a person, he's come up with a terrible name for girls her age and deprives them of any humanly respect.

What made me decide to read Lolita finally was seeing that Nabokov had asked for the cover to not be of a girl. Not have any resemblance of a girl on the cover. His request had not been heeded.

This one was tough for me to get through. The first half is a slog, it's a repetitive, directionless, process. What process? Well of the main characters struggle with mental illness after the birth of her daughter. The main chunk of this book is all leading to the dinner party where the main character loses her grip on reality entirely and spirals out of control unable to separate reality for her hallucinations.

To me, this is another case of aiming too high. The idea of motifs associated with racism and sexism influencing this woman's descent into a post-partum paranoid breakdown is interesting, it's good, but I see two flaws with the execution; 1. Her husband 2. She is actually not that insane because in the second portion of the book we find out she is actually communicating with spirits??? (well one spirit)

My issues with her husband are complicated. Right away you suspect how the relationship will play out. As a matter of fact Disney's Pocahontas tells you! Which I see as an attempt to create tension, the reader wonders “well how is her husband another John? how does he ruin her life?” The exact way you'd expect he would. All the parts with the husband are incredibly dull, the few attempts to make the relationship dynamic compelling drag. Of course they aren't meant to be a romantic couple filled with passion, the issue is that the relationship only exists to show the main characters lack of direction and self respect.

The effect the husband has on the story can easily be achieved if the husband was not involved in their daughter's life. He exists only so that things “happen” to our main character, every plot point derives from the husband. This woman does NOTHING the entire story. One could say this is supposed to reflect one of the overall themes of the book but it's simply boring to read about a character who doesnt do anything and whines for an entire book.

Pocahontas is also a MAJOR dropped ball. The link that these women have in the story is the most alluring aspect of the book but it's not thoroughly explored. “Grandma was crazy everyone thought grandma was crazy and they'll think I'm crazy” the one thing I was looking forward to was the “do you remember Pocahontas not saying the right words?” and it didn't happen? She was used rather lazily as a reference to stereotypes and misrepresentation, I think the author could have used the Disney Pocahontas to do some funny and clever writing but it didn't pan out that way.

Messy messy book that I wanted to like.

Of note that I preferred the second narrative to the first, and found it much easier to digest.

I was expecting cannibalism the whole time and really wanted to be surprised
It was a pretty fun read overall though, the atmosphere is really nice.

The racism, classism, sexism, and negative stereotypes of just about every type of person is getting unbearable, its so bad, these are bad, they are annoying and bad and I genuinely think I am reading them to torture myself. I hate these books, the pacing is off, the mystery is dull, the romance is bland, the characters are like cardboard, this woman says “dear old bookie dad” too many times, the coffee talk is just these insanely long info dumps, everytime I read I think its the worst thing Ive ever read and I cant believe that someone would write these and publish them and then I think that its impossible for these to get any worse and now Ive read SEVEN SEVEN?????????

Epilogue undercuts the entire novel. Most of this is repetitive information and ideas as the writing tries to get across how obsessed the woman is. Everyone keeps talking about the suspense and intrigue and how intense the book is, really I think that sells the book differently than what it is: a microscope over minute details of a relationship. That's all.

originally read these in middle/highschool am going on a nostalgia trip and read all of them :p

I think that I interpeted the social clubs in the book differently than a lot of others. I found them very plausible, especially when it's paired with the climate crisis(es) that plague this book, or rather the background of this book. I can see clubs, fraternities, like this being very popular in times of such uncertainty. I do find that the whole “secret” parts of the clubs are less so about “secrets” and more about what the people in these clubs get up to when left to their own devices.

Despite this above defense I still would have rather given the book a 2.5 because of the clubs . They are the least interesting part of this book. The coupling of magical realism and climate crisis made for an interesting atmosphere. I wanted to hear what these little guys had to say so bad. I wanted to see care for these human made creatures. I wanted to know more about the magic in this world so badly.

Her relationships were also complicated, interesting, and felt real to me in their messiness, more so the ones with the other women in the book. East, is painted very slowly and I could feel the betrayal of him to her character. Still I had gotten the idea that East had used her in the creation of the homunculus and was disappointed when this was not the case, I felt like he had already committed such evil against her it would have not surprised me if he had done so. He had been shown to have more obsession with magic and the club as well I felt it would have been fitting. A relationship, in the sense that they are two humans, with one abusing the other, taking advantage is hard to write on a technical level and I didnt see Feldman quite pull it off here.

I was actually pretty indifferent about the dynamic here until he picked her up??????? That is threatening and strange and not cute or funny it's fucking weird. He's trying to buy her out of the house, make her uncomfortable enough to leave, they're still new in each others lives and he thinks it's okay to grab her???? He does this several times but the first time he does is baffling.

I understand that this genre of book is based on tropes but god every line is like a sassy Twitter recap of a TikTok book review of this book. It's not just that you know what's going to happen or what a character is going to say it's that it's exactly what words will be on the page.

Not to mention how utterly insufferable these characters are. Everything about them can be gleaned from clicking through a millennials instagram story. There is no depth, no chemistry, nothing fun or cute or interesting about them apart or together.

Novellas can be packed with interesting characters, well built relationships and good pacing this has none of that. There actually isn't any humor in this either, unless you count references to Disney movies, online comment section templates for epic burns, and celebrity name dropping as sooo silly goofy.

Also god we get he's fucking huge, if he's so fucking big and tall why isn't a NBA player.

The woman lead also suffer from some form “not like other girls” I wasn't going to post this review until I saw the title of this novella series was “STEMinist Novellas” which is insulting. What? It's feminist because she gets harassed and belittled at work? Which is a problem we never see her solve, she is actually passive about her position at work and it is the man who 1) tries to solve the problem and 2) puts her in the position to get the problem solved.

AND GOOD HELL THE ENDING?????? Worst sex scene I've ever read. Up until the sex scene there is nothing explicit, erotic, or sexy happening in the text. He walks around their shared house without a shirt once, he walks in on her showering but those are framed more so as cute scenes with undertones of sexual tension. The absolute whiplash I got when the first smutty line dropped was crazy because it does not ease into it, saying something like “I wish he would pull my legs apart and fuck me over the counter” isn't actually a good way to transition into a sex scene????? It wasn't just clunky it was jarring.

Every line in that sex scene is horrendous.

The whole time I just wanted her to explain to her grandma how the ghosts work and that she cant really control it. Everything else was so good but damn that was an itch for me.

I'm sorry Ellie has cousins??? She has family??? Why was she staying at an orphanage if she has family???

Also her narrator for the audiobook does this annoying quivering voice thing, at some point her entire voice became so grating

I finished reading this today and have mixed feelings about it.

I like;
-The emails and the format of it all
-The cover art
-When Zoey asks Agnes to do something it is the best. Starting off with something easy like the red dress, the slight escalation to the underwear, and then the odd request of the salamander.
-The apple slicer, how its a symbol of how Agnes believes Zoey can/will/is taking care of her. How it ends with the apple slicer.
-The line ‘I guess that's what makes people do horrible things – they think whatever they're doing isn't nearly as bad as what somebody else will do'

Things I don't like;
-Holy fuck the apple slice talk in the start is almost unbearable. It's way too long.
-I don't give a shit about Zoey or Agnes. I have no feelings towards them at all.
-The pacing is off. They exchange for too little, even for lonely mentally ill girls I think there isn't enough words between them. It makes some of the conversation feel jarring and oddly interjected.
-I feel like the redacted and court files aspect could have gone a lot harder and drove some of the tension more.
-Speaking of, the tension is like zero lol xd
-I also don't feel like Zoey and Agnes have any sort of relationship. They are just two people who talk on the internet who happen to have their own separate burdens who happen to entangle. Perhaps that is the point, but I wanted something more substantial between them.
-There a few times where the girls will go on long tangents describing things that I think are supposed to be scary but really just drag out for far too long.
-The most interesting moment (or at least for me personally) is when Anges opens a bit about the abuse she endured as a child via the hands of her aunt, how her aunt used to make her eat eggs whole. I understand that leaving Anges past vague is in some part intentional, but I really wanted to hear more about it.
-As other reviews and comments have pointed out; is this lesbian torture porn? While the author does identify as queer, they don't identity as a woman, or a queer woman at that. Am I saying that anyone who's not a woman should be restricted to not writing lesbian or queer woman characters? No, of course not. Still, I also can't help but wonder the same. While I imagine that was never LaRocca's intention the book doesn't have enough intention or purpose for the reader to draw any conclusion, positive or negative in regards to the question of wlw torture porn. Which is a problem in itself, that I cant garner any message from the text.

Would I suggest reading this? Yes. I think this is a book you have to read yourself to determine your thoughts about it.

This is the most dull writing. There are dozens of overused phrases and lines. There is no suspense, no intrigue, NOTHING. Reading this is like sticking your hand in a bucket of sludge and finding only cheap carnival toys as your prize.

I literally can not think of anything to say that's positive. The verse? Boring, choppy, repetitive. Structure? Exactly as expected and executed poorly. Characters and dialogue? Like a toddler A.I. was told to come up with something.

I do not recommend this and am baffled by its high praise when this is the worst thing I've read in recent memory.

Should have given up when the “Thanks to some distant Cherokee ancestor I have these cheekbones” and “She was the best looking of the children with her auburn hair and fair skin” I kept reading because I was interested in what Judy Blume, an author I associate with middle grade fiction would write and publish for adults.

( warning I am mean and vile :D )

I thought about not writing a review for this but I feel compelled to warn those who think this will just be a cute quick read. First, I slugged through this. It was boring, uninteresting, had no charm or mystique about it. Also the sex scenes were bland and added NOTHING to the story, maybe if the sex scenes were written better I could have ignored how egregious this book is.

Too many Harry Potter references. Like shut the fuck up lol.

The quick added little “omg women moment! women taking back their power!” feels cheap. There is nothing else in the book that supports the few pages that try to strike at a feminist notion. Its insulting honestly.

Also white people alert! I was put off immediately by the Penhallow family. Rich europeans who came to America, stole land, built a town using a woman's body, and live as legacy holders who don't even live in the town they built. The whiteness is staggering and uncomfortable. With the authors stab at feminism I expected nothing less. Any message this book tries to send about anything meaningful is so clumsily that its degrading. I'm not saying a book has to make some statement either, but this one was teetering around race and sexism in a way I suspected was meant to be cheeky and light hearted.

Next is the dialogue. HOLY SHIT. Most annoying people ever. Only characters worth not hating are the cat and aunt. Everyone else has the most insufferable dialogue and internal monologue. Would you like to read an example???

“Pushing herself off of him, Vivienne rose to her feet and began brushing the leaves and various debris from her skirt.

Her polka dot skirt.

Her whole dress was polka dot, he saw now, little orange ones on a black background.

Had he always found polka dots so instantly, intensely erotic?

Wasn't really a thing he'd considered before, and it was possible he'd hit his head somewhere in his fall, but there was nothing for it now. Polka dots had replaced black lace and red satin in any sexual fantasy he might have had for the rest of his life.”

Apologies for the formatting but is that not the most ridiculous, least funny, annoying thing you've ever read? The entire thing is written this way.

Speaking of the way it's written, the plot, the romance, the characters, it's all so boring. So many things can be removed and it would not affect anything. The characters do not develop or change, they stay the same as the were at 19 years old even though they are now 30. Perhaps these boring empty slates of words should be together.

They never talk about why the summer they shared in college ended. Us, the audience, understands both sides of the story but it was the only conversation I was looking forward to in the entire book and it did not happen. Essentially, Rhys (terrible name btw, choosing to hate it because I am a hater), the male lead, is from a prestigious line of witches, his father decides to arrange a marriage for him.

Rhys, tells Vivi about this. True he does not soften the blow, but Vivi storms off before he can explain any of it. He has never met this other woman, he had no plans of his own to get married, he is being forced into a situation that he did not intend to be in. Why did he never explain this to Vivi? And why did Vivi not have more questions herself if she was so madly in love and heartbroken by him?

Not to mention, the degree to which they hold flames for each other is ridiculous. Years, years, years have passed, they did not have an epic summer romance. The book describes a typical summer fling, not a relationship worth spending your late teens to early thirties still so deeply hurt about.

Then of course there is the magic aspect which is perhaps the most appealing part of the book. The magic is dull, not explained, not honed, and flip flops between its own rules. Not even the autumn atmosphere could have saved this for me.

Every now and then I pick up middle grade books. When they are good they are powerful and moving because its pure simple clean story telling. Sparrow Rising is that.

The characters are crafted well. The pacing is tight and sturdy the whole way through. I was a bit shocked to find a good amount of violence, this violence is justified in my opinion. The messages of these books are to communicate dangers of authority, class divide, the importance of knowledge, and the effects of racism.

The violence and harsh lessons are paired with typical adventure antics, charming characters, the fun fantasy setting and the mystery! Little seeds of a bigger mystery are planted in this book and I am so excited to read the next ones in the series.

This is an excellent thing to hand off to young readers who crave fantasy or adventure books.

(flopping between a 2 and a 3 star)

I thought I would love this. I too am a young girl in my twenties who finds myself in the art scene. While the dialogue is impressive I found that the main characters own dialogue was utterly unbelievable which was a contrast to her inner dialogue which I found funny. She goes back and forth between simple honest observations about class, life, art, to shallow, naive, self-righteous lines, this jump is usually pretty quick and I huffed in laughter a few times at the jump. I consider this part of what the book was trying to accomplish, not quite a child but definitely not an adult.

Isa and Gala were irritating to me, they squandered their months in New York by not using the network of people they had set up. They wasted money and time, which is another symptom of being young. They never used their strengths, this bothered me most in Isa. Every character looks down upon Gala but I do not see how Isa and Gala are different. Isa annoyed because she was never shown this, or never understood. Nothing ever came of her friendship with Gala in terms of depth, action, or meaning, or in storyline I should say. Her and Gala are friends because they understand each other, are alike, and have known each other a long time, but what else?

This book does not rely on plot it is carried by conversation and characters but I found these characters boring. I never wondered about their relationship, if it would end or change. I never wondered about any of these relationships.

So why did I keep reading? Because of the prose. The writing lulls you into it, it sets atmosphere well, has a strong consistent tone that does not question or doubt itself.

I actually really loved the prose and the way this was written. It's wonderful writing. But every person in this book is utterly insufferable. I enjoyed very few pages of the book overall because of this and struggled to put together any well meaning thoughts about the experience.

Because like I said the writing itself is wonderful, the structure of the sentences, the choice of words, the little patterns that come out of the writing.

But the stroy and people in this story I couldn't stand.

Two stars because I liked Dima and Anna.

“But I grew up not knowing the difference between a bearable life and an unbearable life, and by the time I discovered there was such a thing, it was too late.”

I know lots of girls like these girls. I know women like these women. The ones who call me at any point of the 24 hours of the day asking if we can go out to eat, they are starving. Some who mention diets and trends in a nonchalant way, but who I can tell still care. Who chide another womans choices, joking and not joking.

And, like the women in this book, you gravitate towards the ones that understand your gears. Perhaps some of them don't like the way you work or the things you do but they get it. You both obsess over the same thing, you grew up in the same place and both got out, or maybe you both stayed. Maybe you have the same taste in shoes, eat the same take out. There is something you cling to that they know how to hold with you.

Anyway about the writing. Its lovely. Usually if there is a character who has sections that drag on me it changes the way I view the entire book, leaves me sour. While I disliked Miho, I think this is just because my own way of viewing trauma and art clashes with her characters personal opinions. I found What drove me wild about her was the way she said victim, how Kyuri is so silly to her sometimes, the way she says “Kyuri thinks she is a victim and it holds her back” that's not exactly what she says but I returned the book already.

Miho's sections were best when talking about her friend Ruby. Her paintings of Ruby are also interesting to me. On one hand, I understand this elaborate shrine of grief dedicate to her friend. On the other hand Miho is blinded by her world of art. She was so irritating to me because I know so many like her, and want to shake her by her shoulders. But she is well written despite my dislike for her.

There is a line where Kyuri is talking about how absurd it is for Miho to try to talk to people on the train, and be hurt when they are rude and suspicious in return. I found myself agreeing with Kyuri. I feel inclined to mention it just because how much this appalled me, Miho really just pushes all my buttons :p

I feel like I'm rambling but these are just my book thoughts as usual :p

This one is worse than the first. If youre wondering why I read the second one its actually because I want to torture myself a little and this is an easy way

I read this book yesterday and am quite conflicted about it. On one hand it is very well put together. The photos, the cover, the paper, even the size of the books fits together so well.

I really enjoyed flipping through this book and reading. While there were some great photos, and a few good poems, I couldn't help but feel like this was just not enough?

She is definitely a good writer. There is potential here, and sometimes there is a line or a stanza that made me go “Yes!!! That's it's!!” so it was continually disappointing to have a few high points followed by boring, dull, choppy writing.

If it wasn't for the photos and layout of the book this would have been a terrible experience to read. I didn't know that she was an influencer of any kind so I went in blind, I think that was for the better. It made some of the photos feel less Instagram esque because that wasn't my expectation of her.

I really hope that whatever she comes out with next is better. Because it can be better.

if you become vegan because of this book I actually think you should be hosed down

Typically I would give a book like this, this being issues I consider it to have, two stars. But Katy does do something well with her characters. Especially her leading woman, who in this book actually has a personality! Something I'm running into on my quest to find romance books I enjoy, is that the woman is often plain. She is average and this is her defining quality. Meg in this is an artist, she loves, she has a skill, she knows she's good at it and she tangles it.

Reid and Meg's number v letter talk was also fun. Most romances come with a cute gimmick like this that I feel is often dropped or played too much, but the prose while talking about art and math was some of the most enjoyable parts of the book. It gave it extra flavor.

So now I bet youre thinking, “why it sounds like you enjoyed the book why only three stars? Dare, you said two!”

The pacing felt a little strange to me. The last half of the novel was overly dramatic, which I do not always mind, but it felt a little too silly for the tone of the rest of the book. I liked the FBI coming and the raid but I think it could have been done better. Also god that letter was soooooooooooo long. Had to skim that part. It really brought down the entire book for me.

I disagree with a lot of reviews that this book was too gruesome, strange, or touched on these high school girls sexuality without tact or intent.

Rather, the cruel hierarchy and shenanigans of these girls is completely plausible, I just had issue with the pacing and the structure of this novel, which I understand is possibly due to the translation. I feel like the jumping between times really undercuts the tension, as I matter of fact I didnt feel like there was much tension.

The two events I was most interested in were glossed over, the chats with the therapist were hit or miss in terms of prose, and I feel like the atmosphere was not as fleshed out as I wanted it to be. Still I will be reading other works from Ojeda because there was still things I enjoyed from this work. Wish I could give a 2.8 or a 2.9 star review.