Sarah
2025 reread:
hell yeah! fuck yeah! still great!
original 2021 read:
i will try to say more later, but – this is how i dream every love triangle will resolve
–
I probably wouldn't have even picked this up if I hadn't found out that this was a love triangle solved by polyamory plot. But boy howdy I am so glad I did. I liked having an anti-heroine in Zetian. She is fueled by nothing but vengeance and Zhao makes that very clear from the start. She's selfish, she's rude, and she will sacrifice anything to get the revenge she requires. She's flawed beyond measure and I still loved reading about her.
This did lose me in a few places, hence the four stars. At points it felt really rushed to me; I felt like we blew through a lot of plot in just 400 pages and my head was kind of spinning at the end. The end in general felt like it went a little off the rails, although I had guessed the big final twist when I was still at the beginning of the book. I just hadn't expected it to come up in this installment. I also couldn't connect to the characters sometimes and struggled to get a real feel for their personalities.
I'm going to chalk all that up to this being Zhao's debut novel, though, and will say that despite its flaws this is very much a book worth reading if you like YA sff. I'm devastated that I have to WAIT for the sequel but am really excited to see more of this world and its characters – particularly my sweet little triad. Seriously, if anyone has recs for polyamory rep like this PLEASE pass it on.
(ok also the acknowledgements reference an R-rated version of this book and WHERE IS IT I WOULD LIKE IT PLEASE)
content warnings: Misogyny & femicide, Rape mentioned, Physical & emotional abuse, Suicidal ideation, Alcoholism, Blood & gore depiction, Murder, Torture (per the Trigger Warning Database).
3.5 ⭐️
a little too “girl boss” for my tastes, but had a lot of helpful info. i'm glad i bought a copy because i bookmarked a lot of pages and will definitely be referring back in the future. the title is a little misleading — this runs through money management pretty well from start to finish, so it's worth picking up even if you're not in a place to begin investing right now.
3 ⭐️
The comps for this were spot on – it truly is Midsommar meets Blair Witch Project, but somehow less compelling than either of the two. It was incredibly readable, but really fell apart in the last act for me. There was a hint of a paranormal element that just wasn't fully explored in any way, and some plot points that I wish had been expanded upon were just glossed over. By the end, I just kind of felt like “that's it?”
The treatment of mental illness in this was also... not great. I did like that the author addressed how draining it can be to be the sole support of a friend in the midst of crisis, but that was canceled out by writing off an entire character as psychotic and violent because they [checks notes] take abilify.
The concept itself was really interesting and could have turned out so much cooler with some more thought-out writing. I will say that I got pretty creeped out at some parts and it was an incredibly atmospheric read. This would be a fun horror read if you're not looking for anything too well put together.
Side note – I got huge queer vibes between Alice and Emmy and was so disappointed when nothing happened between them. I thought it was obvious that they were in some kind of intense queerplatonic relationship with unspoken (or forgotten?) feelings between the two of them and can't believe that wasn't the case.
I was nervous to pick this up after seeing so many middling-to-low reviews of it, but am glad my curiosity won out! I thought Bird Box was fantastic and had to pick up more of Malerman's work.
The concept itself is so interesting - a mysterious house at the bottom of a lake! It took me a few pages to gel with the writing (it's a lot of teenagers being teenagers), but I was both literally and figuratively at the edge of my seat the whole time. The plot itself is relatively slow-moving, but the tension really got to me. It felt like I was holding my breath through half of this book and I had to put it down a few times to take a quick breather here and there. I kept texting people to be like, “this book is freaking me out!!”
I tore through this in just one sitting and have already recommended it to several other people. If the concept interests you, give this a shot!
this was so fun and spooky with a really nice sapphic romance! the small town energy was on point. i was really glad to see such an upfront portrayal of comphet and how easy it can be to lose yourself in others' expectations. i didn't realize this was a debut until i hit the acknowledgements and was really impressed with Gould's writing. i think some things in the final act didn't quite work for me, but this was still so compulsively readable that i tore through it in just a couple sittings. i'm so excited to see what Gould comes out with next (more lesbians, she's promised) and have already decided that she's an auto-buy author for me.
content warnings: Homomisia & homomisic slurs; Hate crimes; Death of a child; Murder & attempted murder; Gun violence; Attempted drowning; Vivisepulture (being buried alive) (per the Trigger Warning Database)
1: A Psalm for the Wild-Built ★★★★
#2: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy ???
this was just, like, really nice. it feels a little cheesy to compare it to a warm cup of tea, but it really was a warm cup of tea in book form. as someone who feels a little lost in life right now, this was exactly the message i needed to hear. while the plot was interesting, this was largely character-focused and introspective. i definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something quiet and comforting to read.
1: A Court of Thorns and Roses ★★★★
#2: A Court of Mist and Fury ★★★★★
#3: A Court of Wings and Ruin ★★★★
#3.1: A Court of Frost and Starlight ???
#4: A Court of Silver Flames ???
i was going to write a lengthy review with my opinions on this but... i'm 4 years late to this book and don't feel like spending that much time justifying my thoughts. this started off a bit slow, but i read the entire second half in one sitting because i absolutely did not want to put it down. i'm apparently in a very small minority that loved the queer rep and found it nuanced in a way i hadn't seen before.
this was my least favorite of the first 3 books, but i still very much enjoyed it and am looking forward to the rest of the series!
I definitely didn't like this quite as much as the first book, even though I ended up giving them the same Goodreads rating (this one was really more like 3.5 stars). The info-dumping didn't get any better and, honestly, I felt like I ended up unintentionally skimming a LOT because we would go into pages of detail on how exactly the magic system works. It also felt like there was a lot of day-to-day slogging, following the characters way more closely than necessary. I felt bored for a lot of the first half.
The second half was much better, and I found myself much more invested in the plot even though it also struggled with some of the points noted above. I truly wish Novik would have spent a little less time cramming every bit of info she had about the magic systems into this and a little more time showing us more character interactions. It made the story feel a lot more at arm's length and harder to get invested in when having information beat into my brain instead of getting to know the characters more.
Anyway, I did like this! I blew through the last third of the book (even though I think the end is mildly ridiculous) and am looking forward to the sequel. And I'll probably preorder it so I have pretty matching books on my shelves.
3 ⭐️
This is definitely a ‘take what you need and leave the rest' kind of book and there were a lot of things I didn't quite agree with. I found the author's writing style pretty grating at times, too. But! There were a lot of great things in here and I'm glad I read it. I'll definitely be recommending it to anyone interested in glamour magic.
Reading this while on medical leave from graduate school and in the midst of a depressive episode (the very same school our narrator is attending, in fact) was... tough, to put it lightly. Wang succeeds in portraying the deep ambivalence and lack of motivation that mental illness and loneliness bring. The narrator's history slowly unravels to the reader as we follow her through this breakdown. The daughter of two Chinese immigrants, she feels immense pressure to succeed in obtaining her Chemistry PhD and can think of little else. She avoids unpacking her childhood trauma at all costs and sees little value in looking backward, even when it keeps her from moving forward.
A short and sweet novel, I found this incredibly compelling and felt deeply for our unnamed narrator. I certainly see how this wouldn't be for everyone, but highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys quietly introspective literary fiction.
2 ⭐️
I truly feel bad that I didn't like this. There was not much with the book itself; Whitehead is an excellent writer who creates believable characters. I do wish the Railroad itself was featured more heavily or more creatively, as is this was really just an over the plate historical fiction where the Underground Railroad happens to be a literal railroad. The concept itself felt underutilized and I think the book would have had the same impact on me had Whitehead not changed this, which left me wondering why he did.
It feels wrong to say that I felt bored reading this, but I truly did. I didn't feel attached to Cora or any of the other characters and didn't feel very involved with the plot itself. I kept wondering where it was going to go. This is where I mention that I think it was my mistake to read this book – I rarely enjoy straightforward historical fiction and I read this thinking it was going to be something different because of the railroad. The fact is, this read like any other historical fic novel and it's a me problem that I didn't enjoy that.
I definitely recommend readers interested in historical fiction, particularly Southern history, pick this up. It's well-written and is obviously enjoyed by many. Unfortunately I just wasn't the right audience for this.
3.5 ⭐️
Wow, this is very much a product of its time. I'm going to be delving into some spoilers, and want to put a content warning up front for discussion of pedophilia and sexual assault – they will be behind spoiler warnings though! It took me a bit to settle into the writing style, which I found to be elegant if a little dry at first. I'm not sure I would have made it very far if I wasn't listening to the audiobook. The narration was so immersive and really added to the experience. Once I got into the rhythm, I found that I really loved the book!
That wore off about halfway through. I know a certain amount of sexism is to be expected given that Gabaldon wrote this in 1991 and it takes place over 200 years ago. But there was a lot I really could not handle. At one point Claire leaves where Jamie has left her only to be captured by the Big Baddie and is saved just before being raped. Jamie then BEATS HER for disobeying his orders because otherwise the other men will be ~upset~, as if almost being raped wasn't severe enough. I was absolutely livid and considered DNFing, but managed to keep listening and ended up enjoying the story again.Lol, just kidding. I mean, I did manage to get back into the story but unfortunately it went way off the rails again. There are two gay men in this book and one of them is a pedophile. At least he's portrayed as harmless enough... as harmless as a pedophile can be portrayed, I guess. The other gay character is a sociopath who tortures people mercilessly and literally rapes the male love interest. Again, I know this was written in 1991 but seriously? The rape plotline really soured the end of the book for me, and I couldn't wait for it to end.
It sucks because the first half of the book had me expecting a 5-star rating and recommending it to my friends. The second half made it really difficult to decide on a rating and had me rescinding those recommendations. I don't even know if I'm going to be able to continue the series and I really don't know if I want to. I guess I can at least check out the TV series. I hate that I ended up being so disappointed by this after loving it so much. I'm not sure I can recommend this on good conscience without warning about everything mentioned in the spoiler brackets above; some of the content truly made me nauseous.
content warnings: sexual assault, pedophilia, domestic abuse, gore (graphic injuries), animal death
[edit: changing this to a solid 4 stars instead of 3.5, because i keep thinking about it!]
i spent way too long reading this because of personal reasons so i feel like i didn't get the Full Experience and would have enjoyed it more if i had. i highly recommend you pick this up if you're interested and also want to boost Marija's review, as she's the one who got me to read this!
4.5 ⭐️SAD that I waited so long to write a review because my thoughts are no longer fresh, however I liked this sooo much! It hurt my heart to read, but in a good way? I thought the characters were great and loved their relationship. A lot of readers have complained that the main conflict is lack of communication, which I usually hate as well, but I feel like it makes complete sense here. Lara is struggling with compulsory heterosexuality and doesn't even know if she's queer – she's not talking about her feelings because she doesn't even know what they are! Anyway, this was a nice quick summer read and I highly recommend it.Blog Twitter Instagram Facebook Ko-fi
january 2024 reread review to comeoriginal june 2021 review:4.5 ⭐️ RTC once i'm done crying–This ended up being an incredibly impactful read for me, although I wouldn't have known that from the start. I went into this relatively cold, knowing only that it had ‘two parts' and had a lot to do with online culture. Both of those things are very true, but what I wasn't prepared for was how absolutely this would destroy me. The first part reads much like a Twitter feed and contains plenty of internet humor; I was nearly cackling at both how relatable it felt and how Lockwood was able to condense and present these collective internet experiences. If you are not capital-O Online, I worry that you'll be lost and/or hate this. If you hate books about the internet, definitely do not read this. I personally found it to be a unique take on tackling the intricacies of modern technology and was looking forward to seeing where Lockwood took it.Enter, Part 2. I had absolutely no idea where Part 2 was going to go and won't discuss it too thoroughly because I think going in without expectations will give it the biggest impact. Let me just say that I think Part 1 sets the stage perfectly for the tragedy that unfolds in Part 2. It provides the foundation to understand how the narrator copes and to see the lens she views the world through.I feel like this will be a divisive book so I hesitate to recommend it to anyone who isn't fully convinced by the concept. I struggled myself a little bit towards the beginning to read this in anything other than small bits. But close to Part 2, I was able to sit down and and carefully inhale the rest. I really, really enjoyed this though and very much look forward to reading more by Lockwood.content warnings: birth defects, infant deathBlog Twitter Instagram Facebook Ko-fi
1: Graceling ★★★★★
#2: Fire ★★★
#3: Bitterblue ★★
#4: Winterkeep ★★
#5: Untitled - will not be reading
2 ⭐️
i am begging kristin cashore to get an editor, you do not need to jam together every plotline you can think of to create some monstrous story. this could have been 2-3 separate books.
also it was incredibly cowardly not to have [redacted] in a sapphic relationship by the end.
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I went into this knowing pretty much nothing except that the general plot ‘zombies but different' and think that was the right way to do it. I think this was an incredibly creative take on the zombie genre and was very impressed with the science of it – although I can't attest to how accurate it was. I really loved Melanie and getting to know the rest of the characters was great as well. My only pet peeve was that it was very apparent that this was written by a man; there were bits where the group would be in life-or-death situations and the men would be thinking about having sex or masturbating. The sex and romance felt shoehorned in and took away from the story imo. Aside from that, this was an incredible book that I'll be recommending quite a lot.
4.5 ⭐️
This is by far one of the most inventive and well-written YA horror novels I have ever read. I picked it up after seeing Sarah rave about it and am so glad I decided to prioritize it. It's the story of three strange sisters who are plagued by strange circumstances. Emphasis on the strange. I loved how atmospheric this was and how I felt truly wrapped up in the story; I probably would have read it all in one sitting had I not started it so late. While I wondered for a bit how it would all wrap up, the ending was truly better than anything I could have expected. I highly recommend this if you're a fan of horror – although I'd steer quite clear if body horror bothers you at all.
content warnings: body horror; sexual assault; kidnapping; child death.