Viviana

If you’re looking for an enjoyable love story, with compelling characters set in the Regency era… then look somewhere else because you won’t find it here.

This book was a pain to finish. The only reason I didn’t DNF it is because it had sat in my library for too long and if it wasn’t gonna give me a good time while reading it then the least it could do was to add to my reading app stats.

I thought people were overreacting in their reviews of Benedict‘s character but they were right: he’s such a jerk almost the entire time. Next to zero redeemable qualities in his own story. I just know his character during his Netflix show season must be better because you can’t really make it worse. Sophie is a nice enough character but nothing remarkable. They fall in love SO quickly when they don’t spend that much time together nor show they have that much in common. It doesn’t feel organic at all. They’re in love because the author says they’re in love. The writing in general is not good and there’s so much misogyny scattered throughout the book.

I wanted to read Colin and Benedict‘s story in preparation for the next couple of seasons of the Netflix show, however I certainly won’t be reading any more from this saga. There are far better romances out there I can spend my time with.

A fascinating insight into a young Coriolanus Snow’s mind.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this book because well, Snow is horrible and why would I want to get inside his head? But the book captured me since the first chapter.

This is a villain origin story done right. Even though I disagree with Coriolanus’s decisions and way of thinking, you can see why and how he got there. He is the result of the struggles he faced in childhood plus the influence the society around had in him. It feels eerily realistic, it reflects the real world and real people in an almost scary way. The events with Lucy Gray and his role as her mentor in the Hunger Games were only the last straw for him to snap and become who we see in the HG trilogy.

Lucy Gray was also an interesting character and seeing her through Coriolanus’s unreliable POV made her even more compelling.

I went into this book ready to hate on Snow some more, but in came Dr. Gaul and Dean Highbottom. If I disliked this version of Coriolanus (right before he became a monster), I HATED Highbottom and Gaul. Highbottom is a petty adult who had a vendetta against a teenager for something he had no idea about. And don’t get me started on Gaul. That woman is the equivalent of Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and worse. You can see where Snow learned all his tricks from. Gaul is despicable.

I had originally rated the book 4.5 stars because the third part dragged for too long, in my opinion. However, I decided to give it the 5 starts because overall the book is amazing and the attention to detail is remarkable. Suzanne Collins is a genius. Now to patiently wait for Haymitch’s prequel.

A beautiful collection of poems about diverse topics on life and existence. Of course some ideologies are now outdated but there are plenty of poems with timeless advice. Some passages are truly beautiful and left an impression on me.

A light, sweet and enjoyable read.

I liked the characters and representation of different sexualities. Alex and Henry’s characters have a lot of chemistry and they have development throughout the book.

The parts I didn’t like so much:

I couldn’t understand why this book was written in the 3rd person. Most of the book is from Alex’s POV anyway, so why not just make Alex the narrator? I feel like this way I would’ve been able to see more depth to his character and maybe Henry’s as well.

This is a very personal preference but the way the intimate scenes were written was driving me nuts. It was like the author wanted the scene to be explicit AND “close door” at the same time and it just didn’t work for me. But again, that’s just a very personal opinion, I know many people don’t like “spicy” scenes.

Finally, the book is at times way too idealistic, although that’s hardly a complaint because I read romance to escape reality lol.

Overall I enjoyed this book a lot, I can totally see what the hype is about and I always love to see bisexual representation in stories.

While I appreciated the devastating description of this post-apocalyptic world and thought the premise was compelling, the story gets repetitive pretty soon into the book. Not to mention all the horrors and despair throughout it. I feel like the book could've been cut to half its length and still be impactful. As it was, I didn't enjoy it. It was too dark and I disagreed with many of the decisions the father makes.