ren
4.5! really liked this one. as much as i love high fantasy and the worldbuilding/exciting info that comes with that its a nice change of pace to have a urban fantasy as a nice easy read. i still got to satisfy my love for the fantasy elements with the interesting magic system, as well as my (poor broken) magic-school loving heart. i loved how they showed all the cute dumb magic teens would get up to at school (and how much ivy hated it). I think that having a non-magical protagonist was a good choice, it meant it was simple to ease me into the magic systems with good excuses to explain stuff.
i enjoyed the romantic relationships, casual lgbt rep and surprisingly i really liked ivy's character. i think the grumpy alcoholic detective is pretty over-done, but i think this subverts(?) it well. i really felt for her emotionally and i was invested in the murder mystery.
i liked the ending and the direction it went in...
i don't have many coherent thoughts about this book lol IT WAS GOOD!!!!!
1.5 - such a steep decline. characterisation all over the place and 80% of the book is edward and jacob fighting over bella like a chew toy.
not to forget confederate soldier jasper reveal, which no one in the story bats an eyelid at.
everyone in this book manipulates and undermines bella so much. i feel sorry for her - she tries to stand up for herself and be strong in her ideals and she's constantly thrown to the side like trash. no wonder she feels so badly about herself.
reading this as an adult definitely hit different. i got the creepy vibes from edward a little when i read this for the first (and only, before now) time as a teen, but i never got the jacob hate. this book lays out so clearly all the horrible things both these boys do to bella– and she just takes it all.
#belladeservedbetter
parts of this were 4 stars, parts of it lost me completely. i nearly tapped out at 30%, before it picked up and got great. then from about 60% onwards it meandered between okay and bad and i was just listening along wanting for it to be over.
i liked a lot about this, and i think i would've preferred it if it was more memoir, less inspo. i didn't gel with a lot of her advice in the beginning, and found it more powerful when she spoke about her own experiences and how she overcame them. eg: being fireproof (the burning bush allegory was a nice touch) and that emotions are there to be felt.
i loooveed when she described meeting her wife, i wish to read a book simply about her gushing about how much she loves her, their relationship is really sweet.
its a very religious/spiritual book, and gets very preachy at parts even though i think she's trying not to be. she also talks a lot about 1 child and how much they are bonded in great detail and only briefly mentions her other two children - this is obviously not a huge deal but was just something i noticed.
sadly, this was a disappointing for me compared to the first book which i really enjoyed. i wasn't invested in the storyline, or even really the characters - which was hard for me to grasp because in the previous book i was cheering along for their romance pretty hard. book 1 did lose me at the end with the card games on motorcycles etc near the end but i still enjoyed it yanno? especially at the beginning, i had to really force myself to keep reading through.
there were so many nonsensical moments, i know that fantasy, and ya fantasy (don't come for me) always has those eye roll moments but ‘what if we were in the middle of a riot and are surrounded by enemies who could kill us at anytime and we kissed
disappointing read after a strong start :(
i wasn't interested in the present day story at all, ok maybe for the tiny hopes of a sapphic romance (I'm seeing a pattern here with all of my reads) which never fruited. present day mc made sooo many silly decisions and i just didn't like her character and couldn't stand by any of the weird choices she made, her internal thoughts were quite frustrating. and oddly, the narrator had an English accent for this American character during all thoughts and first person description. but whenever she spoke aloud she put on an American accent. why not just have an American accent for the entire present part? they also had an Extremely English man say sneakers aloud. #petpeeve
i was enjoying the historical parts, nella and eliza were great characters but the whole thing was a little slow. and far far far too many women spoke about the longings of their wombs. maybe the author is going through something wrt to that but it felt unesessary.
i think this shows promise and i look forward to see what the author will write next. the premise was so intriguing, just a shame about the execution.
4 stars!!
i don't really have any coherent thoughts about this one but i loved the creepy(?) vibes. i suppose it's ~atmospheric~ (which i had always imagined i would love in a book, as i do for movies. but i was so sorely disapointed in the bone houses which was also touted for its atmosphere i thought the genre was a miss for me. happy to see that its not and that one just didn't do it for me) it wasn't too scary but i enjoyed how it was a little dark fairy-tale esque.
i am 100% here for merin and i think she was a great character. i really felt for her and i wanted to find out everything about her history and family as she did. the twists and turns kept me interested, but the ride was enjoyable too. i wasn't just skipping ahead dying to see where it would end because the various settings and minor characters were really interesting and felt whole.
the narrator had a great voice, and it really suited the setting. but i did find it a touch quick – whereas usually i'll speed up audiobooks a little i actually had to slow this to 0.95 to pay attention properly, but that may be saying more of my current brainstate than anything else.
there are a few things i wish were explained/visited a bit more deeply (the automaton, the queen, her parents, her grandmother etc) but it works in this kind of story. i don't feel dissatisfied or cheated because its kind of supposed to be a mystery?
i liked the casual drops at same sex relationships being typical in this world, i am just sad that merin didn't run off with a mer and/or automaton to live her (my) sapphic dreams.
fuck it 5 stars :)
it was alright. i preferred the martian, suffers a bit from male writer of female character syndrome. overall a fun story and the narration was good.
i hope that there's fanfiction that gets to see those condoms that were constantly mentioned put to use bc i was very disappointed when they stopped being mentioned.
a fine book! 3.5* i think i would've enjoyed this more as a teen. its very coming of age.
i found it a bit pretentious at times and found the main characters both unlikeable at the start but they grow throughout the story which is nice.
by the end, i was getting teary eyed at many random parts so it definitely touched me.
it is kind of similar in vibe to ‘we are okay' which is on my favourite list of all time, so i wonder how much listening to this on audio affected my opinion of it. The narrators did well but rufus' sections voice for matteo was so whiny - it definitely stopped me from connecting so much.
like, you know it's coming but it just hit me hard when it happened. it happened and then it was over.
kind of felt meaningless towards the end but i suppose that's the ‘point' - it's over when it's over.
I listened to the audio book, and I was taken for A RIDE. GOOD GRIEF. I Knew nothing about this book, just saw that the author of convience store woman had a new book out, and it had a cute hedgehog on the front and an interesting name. It's been on my TBR on libby since its release and yesterday I decided to pick it up.
i'll start out with (minor spoilers) a CW for abuse of all forms. this book is not for the faint hearted. I think this bait and switch is part of its appeal, but I wish i had known before getting into it. It doesn't stop there.
then there's BIG SPOILERS CW for CSA, rape/abuse, parent neglect/abuse to children, sex between children, victim blaming a CHILD, murder, murder again, murder again AND EVEN BIGGER SPOILERS CW - seriously this spoils the ending, read at your peril and cannibalism and LIVE CANNIBALISM. this isn't just a little cannibalism as a treat, this is EXTENSIVE DESCRIPTIONS OF EATING DEAD AND LIVE BODIES/PEOPLE.
I really should have looked up the first genre on this page as HORROR and not read this book. Horror is typically not a genre I like in any media. I don't even watch scary movies with friends. But I didn't know, and once I popped I could not stop.
I was enjoying immensely the little odd chuuni girl talking about her cute hedgehog friend and her magic mirror. and i really vibed with the parts of the books where she described her powers, the fictional planet, and appreciated the allegories around disassociation/protecting oneself from abuse and how that shows up differently in different individuals etc. it was horrifying, and the abuse was harrowing. But I was incredibly drawn into Natsuki's story. I found an odd vindication when she killed "the witch" - being her paedophile teacher. and the imagery around this was really interesting to read. I wish all abuse surviours a very murder your abuser, so it hit home for me. The parts describing the pink walls, blue blob, golden liquid were *chefs kiss* And when she couldn't put two and two together, when later it was revealed that he was murdered with a Scythe 'just like the one i used to kill the witch!'
The abuse descriptions/general theme of this book were heavy, and hard to get through. Sayaka does not pull her punches with being extremely graphic with this. (The period pad scene!!! BRO!!!) It's so unsettling and creepy. It took a real turn at the end and MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS: during the whole eating people section I found it really hard to get through, and I'm not sure if any of that even happened. How were they there chomping on each other's shoulders, index fingers, thighs, eyelids and internal organs and still able to stand/walk around the next day. Time to go and watch some youtube analysis and wash my ears out with bleach.
I really don't know how I felt about this book, It was not enjoyable or pleasant, but parts of it were really gripping and I couldn't put it down. its the classic ‘like watching a car crash'
But the ending really tipped it over for me and I couldn't handle it. Jeez this book is gonna stay with me for a long time
it fell flat for me, there were definitely things of merit but i felt like the trans/nb inclusion was a tickbox at best and could have been expanded on. it would've been interesting to see the parallels between how cis women's health has been pushed to the side for centuries, and how this is also happening to gender non conforming people.
i think this book would mean a lot more to you if you have endo, as thats a big focus of the book.
i think this would be better read by picking out the bits you're interested in, rather than cover to cover. i couldn't skim as it was on audio. it was quite repetitive.
The subject matter was interesting but just not for me, this one i think!
i don't know what i can say that others haven't far better than i could. (then i go and write a freaking essay on my random twilight thoughts, go figure) There are many obvious issues with this book that i was aware of when reading for the first time but many that went over my head.
it's so unrealistic but at the same time knowingly how deeply (and stupidly) i loved at 17 I'd probably throw it all away for a hot vampire boy i didn't know too
i read this at some point between 2006-2008, i don't remember much of what i thought at the time. i wasn't as into it as some of the kids at my school were but i read them all and remember talking about them with my friends.
a year(?) ago i watched this youtube video called something like ‘sorry smeyer' about how she got absolutely bodied for stuff which was kind of out of her hands (basically that she was writing wish fulfilment and wasn't trying to be a model to young girls or best seller) and how while there are some questionable things in the book she didn't deserve the strength and amount of hate she got. it was an interesting video and must have planted a seed. two months ago i randomly watched the first twilight movie and unintentionally ‘ironically' got back into twilight. i found all the Twilight memes from the tumblr Twilight renaissance which had been going strong for a few years i guess. and discovered that midnight sun was officially published. i read it because i didn't want to reread the whole series but wanted to remember what fandom was talking about. i watched all the movies in a few days while i was recovering from my covid vax and a fun time was had by all. i ended up deciding to listen to twilight when i needed a break from ‘serious' reading. (hey, I've read much worse for dumber reasons)
reading midnight sun made me appreciate Bella's character a lot more this time around as she had more of an obvious personality. While it was hilarious to read from Edward's perspective it really hit home all the fucked up stuff he does (wish i could remember what teen me thought about Edward watching her sleep). i just feel so sorry for Bella. she's infatuated with a guy who is terrible for her, the only thing she seems to appreciate about him are his looks and mysteriousness (no judgement i was obsessed with a guy in high school I'd never spoken to lol, being a teen is fun) and then when unexpectedly they get together the only thing they really do is stare into each other's eyes and tell each other how much they love each other. except when edward tells Bella she's stupid and puts her down. :( like Bella IS being stupid but that's no excuse Edward!!!
The fandom for this series is so fun and im glad it's become so far removed from the author and the less savoury things in the story. i mostly enjoyed myself while reading this book but the most interesting part was the beginning when she was figuring out wtf Edward was. The longer it goes the more infatuated she gets and i feel bad for her, she really needs good friends. by the time we get to the james stuff i was
i finished it! all 26 hours.
this book, or rather, diving back into the twilight franchise after a little over a decade was a whole bunch of fun. I definitely got the most enjoyment out of the first movie, and this book was a nice accompaniment to that.
I think this would be a great buddy read for those who enjoyed the original books. Whether you still think they have literary merit now, or you don't really care and just want a good time.
There are many many effed up things about the twilight series and i'm not going to go into them now, i'm definitely not the right person to discuss them – but they're valid and should be given the appropriate thoughts. Many other reviewers here and elsewhere will have put it much better than I. I will say that many authors write many effed up things in books and don't get nearly as much hate for it. While Bella deserved SO much better, and Edward is an absolute freak, I support Bella's rights to be a dumb ass monster fucker. I too remember the intensity of my relationships and stupid choices made at her age, I'd probably think its cute if a sexy vampire man watched me sleep too.
This book really showed Edward's frightening side well. It was brilliantly read by the narrator - Jake Abel. I'll have to look out for other books read by him. He delivered the lines with such emotion, and I was genuinely taken back when he would gutturally growl Edward's scary lines. He didn't butcher the women's voices either, which was a welcome change. It was a very immersive listen. It was interesting to see Edward's side of things, and get more time spent with the Cullen family. This book was definitely, far, far too long. So many things were happening (which were all quite slice of lifey) but about 30% in I couldn't believe how much story was left to go. As mentioned, I haven't read the first book in at least 13 years, maybe longer. So I didn't really get the little nods to the crazy shit Edward was doing while Bella was watching him and just thinking ‘WTF'. I do remember Edward randomly laughing out loud frequently, so it was cute to see it from his perspective.
I loved the characterisation we got in this book, I definitely had a sunnier view of Bella. I don't remember too much of my feelings about her back in the day but I would say it's only improved from then. Mostly, I really fell in love with Emmett's character in this story, what a sweetheart.
While I don't think this book is necessarily ‘good' I enjoyed reading it, it was a fun ride. If Meyer releases the rest of the series from Edward's perspective, i'd almost definitely put myself through this again. Especially if it's narrated by Jake Abel. It'd be cool if she did it from another Cullen's perspective, or to go with the obvious choice for New Moon - Jacob.
I started this book about 4 or 5 times this year, usually while commuting and got a chapter in each time before drifting off, through no fault of the authors. Finally, I put on my headphones and started doing some chores at home on a cold winters day and was able to listen to it all in one sitting. (it's not a long book)
I'm sad I wasn't able to take notes or write down some of the great quotes or the parts that really spoke to me.
i really enjoyed the start of this book but I didn't personally get so much out of the later parts. it was still enjoyable and interesting, but i'm not american or religious/christian - so a lot of those parts went a bit over my head.
it was really nice to have this read by Dr Angelou's herself. She has a great voice. I liked how she was really honest about her stuff ups, I learnt a lot and it really felt like I was being told this story by my own mother figure. I'd like to read some more of her poetry :)
The last section lets this book down for me, the whole book was a little slow- but i didn't dislike that. The last 50 pages or so are just a turnabout speedrun with - for me, an unsatisfying ending. i know things can't be wrapped up in a bow but i do feel a certain character was let down and lacked a lot of agency. i wish we could have seen more of her own perspective, mixed/changing feelings and agenda.
I was very enthralled by parts of it and thought Snow was written very well, always teetering between charming and terrifying. I found my self simultaneously cheering for she being unnerved by the romance, i think this is exactly what Collins was going for. I would have liked Tigris to have a larger role, she was a very interesting character especially knowing where she ends up!
The Mockingjay symbolism was interesting but was a bit in your face by the end of it
i enjoyed this book and the characters were really well written. it throws you in at the deep end and i was completely lost. i had to reread the first 2.5 chapters to have any semblance of what was going on, and parts of the more actiony scenes i found hard to follow which was a shame. but this was a great read which kept me on my toes the whole time! looking forward to seeing what comes next
i liked this less than i should have on paper, a spooky folklore skeleton story set in wales sounds right up my alley. The narrator was lovely but the story was very slow at times and parts of it were really hard to get through. i had to force myself to listen but i loved the atmosphere. i found the action scenes a bit boring and i wasn't a fan of the romance at all and actually ended up rolling my eyes at a lot of it. The big reveal was one that i picked up immediately so it wasn't exciting for me sadly and i just kept wondering when they would bring it up. i was ready to rate this 2 stars but then it picked up in the last 10% again. i really enjoyed the strong sibling relationships
