This was just very cute. I loved the male protagonist, and the female protagonist (Haley) was kinda stupid I'll give you that. Not in a book smart way because she was very book smart, but she wasn't very observant. Usually I don't like books where the only way the plot can go further is if one of the main characters is stupid. In this case I didn't mind at all. I just found this really cute and really sweet. Just a fun, light hearted contemporary! And our male protagonist Martin is BISEXUAL!

Retelling(s) - Mulan


OWN VOICES


Wow, what a ride! This book was phenomenal in so many different ways! I loved everything about this book, and I'm even going to be bold enough to say that this might be on my favorites of 2020! [b:Spin the Dawn|42815556|Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars, #1)|Elizabeth Lim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542674036l/42815556._SY75_.jpg|58477266] was pitched to me (and everyone else), as "Fashion Runway meets Mulan". If that doesn't sound amazing to you in the first place, my question is why?


The first part of the book held up to a Mulan retelling. The second part of this book took an unexpected and great turn. The second part of this book we follow Edan and Maia going on an adventure (I'll talk more about them later).

I mainly picked this book up though for the Mulan retelling aspect. Mulan is in my top 5 Disney Princess, (probably number three, right after the tie between Belle and Rapunzel). I've never actually read a Mulan retelling and my curiosity was piqued. Here's to say, I wasn't disappointed.


We follow a a first person point of view of our main character Maia. Maia's family has fallen on hard times. Her mother died when she was just a girl, and her three brothers are sent off to war. Her father was once one of the best tailors in the land, but now he's a shell of himself. Maia was the only person in her family with the skills for a thread, and needle. But she's a woman, and in her society woman cannot become tailors. As a young girl, her dream was to become the master tailor, the emperors tailor, and all her dreams a crushed until hope arrives at her doorstep. Her father has been called to court, to compete in a series of trails to become the master tailor. Maia knows her father is not fit for the task, and so she takes her fathers place, and poses as her older brother hoping to become the imperial tailor.


THE CHARACTERS


I first want to talk about Maia. Maia is everything I want in a female main character. She's feminist (but so much so that your drowning in feminism), she's brave and strong, and she'll do anything for the people she loves. I loved her. She was such a fun character, and it was so fun spending my time in her head.


I also wanted to talk about Edan, and the romance between him and Maia. Oh my god they are so fucking adorable, I cannot take them! Edan is such a fun, mysterious character, but he isn't your typical "brood" if that makes sense. Sure he's mysterious and secretive, but I just found his character fresh in a way. He was funny, and charismatic and super smart too. I'm going to grace you with some adorable quotes so hold your horses.


“But I would give up the sun and moon and stars if it meant saving him.”


“It was the tale of a boy, too. A boy who could fly but not swim. A boy with the powers of the gods but the shackles of a slave. A boy who loved me.”


AND


“She gave off a little neigh when I reached to touch her cheek. I fell in love with her immediately.
"You like her more than me," Edan pouted.
"That's not hard to do." I petted her mane again; then offered Edan a small smile. "But thank you.”


THE WORLD


Then I want to talk about the world! The world was so damn cool! I loved the magic system, and the certain things, and people who could wield it, plus the backstory of magic and the mythology for the gods and goddesses was so interesting. And the ancient Chinese culture woven in (see what I did there) was just so fun and interesitng,


THE WRITING


Wow the writing in this book was beautiful! [a:Elizabeth Lim|6926374|Elizabeth Lim|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1508017352p2/6926374.jpg] has such a way with words. Her metaphors melded in with her writing was so pretty, and I loved every second of it.


“Seize the wind," I whispered. "Don't become the kite that never flies.”


“Above, the stars faded behind the misty sky, and the sun fanned its light upon us. We melted into each other until the dawn slid into dusk, and the sun paled into the moon, and the stars, once lost, became found again.”


AND


“I'd battled ghosts and touched the stars. I'd climbed a mountain to the moon and conquered the fury of the sun.”


Overall, this book was phenomenal! Definitely check it out if you haven't already. i'm really excited for my copy of [b:Unravel the Dusk|36683940|Unravel the Dusk (The Blood of Stars, #2)|Elizabeth Lim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1572261457l/36683940._SY75_.jpg|58477276]

* * *

Me after reading this - So how much is the sequel you say? - REVIEW TO COME

*4.5


This was so good omg. I started this at about 11 PM last night, and stayed up till 3 AM just binge reading this. I was very invested in these characters, and the mystery plot. Feeling lazy so I'm not writing a full review lol

This book just made my heart feel so full. These characters are so adorable together and I just love them so much. To lazy to write a full review tho so

I’m not going to log 30+ episodes, so I’m just going to count this as one whole comic. Anyways, this is my introduction to DC comics, and the Batfamily, I love this so much. It’s so wholesome, and sweet, and really helps me distinguish and flesh out these characters so that I can dive into their individual, canonical and longer runs. I’ve always been told DC is better than Marvel in terms of comics, and this has already proved those people right.

2nd read:

9/10 would still recommend

*4.5

* * *

1st read:

*4.5

I really don’t know why I didn’t read Percy Jackson earlier but I love it. The story is so unique and different to anything I’ve read, and it was nice to finally have an MC that was closer to my age range (kinda).

Annabeth and Percy are adorable and their probably one of my biggest ships of all time, and the trio is absolutely amazing. I love this book and excited to continue with the Percy Jackson series!

OH MY GOD.

So this is my favorite book in the series so far. We follow Percy as he tries to save Annabeth, and I’m HERE for it.

Their are so many plot-twists and unexpected things in this book and it has me shook.

Plus Annabeth and Percy are so fucking adorable and Percy thinking about saving Annabeth the whole time has me in the FEELS.

The gods and goddess in this book was so hilarious. Their all plotting against each other, and talking LITERAL SHIT behind everyone’s backs and I really couldn’t stop laughing.

And A+ to Rick Riordan for adding in all the dad jokes. I was cracking up laughing.

I loved this book so much though, because it seemed more original, better written, more thawed out, and more YA(ish) than the other 2 books and it really made my enjoyment heightened for this series.

Really excited to continue on, and if Percy and Annabeth don’t kiss soon...I’M GOING TO STRANGLE SOMEONE!

DNF *sigh*

I really wanted to like this book. But, I felt bored. Originally I was reading this to read Crooked Kingdom and Six of Crows, but I felt uninterested.

Not to mention Alina annoyed me. I’m still gonna try and pick up Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, because I genuinely enjoyed Bardugo’s writing, but this just wasn’t for me. ):

ORIGINAL RATING 4 STARS, BUT BROUGHT DOWN TO 3 STARS


(If this is your favorite Austen this isn’t a personal attack against you, it’s just my personal thoughts)


Alright, it’s finally time to sit down and talk about my thoughts. This classic wasn’t necessarily bad, but I didn’t really get the feelings that Pride and Prejudice just give me. I even watched the 2009(?) adaption of this book and it was ok, but it just felt really bland.


Anne was ultimately a very boring character who we were told was a reader and had much opinions on things, but really Anne is just a character that doesn’t read a lot and doesn’t have much of a free will thought process. I get it, I really do. Women weren’t aloud to have their own thoughts, but Jane Austen had really shown me in Pride and Prejudice that she can write strong willed and independent characters. The entirety of the Bennet family are feminists in their own way, even Lydia who went against societies norms and fought for what she thought she loved. Or Kitty who had her own opinions, even when Lydia told her what to do.


But in this novel, we didn’t really see any of that strong willed feminism. Of course Jane Austen isn’t going to write every book the same, but Anne felt like she didn’t have that backbone that even Lydia or Kitty or God even Mrs. Bennet could have. She just lacked a personality, and while we did see the pining for Captain Wentworth, that was really the only thing that made me continue following Anne as a character.


I also hated the Elliot’s, a lot. Each and every one of them (albeit Anne Who I just thought was a bit lackluster). If their is one thing that Jane Austen has done to me in Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion it’s that she had persuaded (wink, wink. I’m so punny) me to hate and dislike a lot of her characters. And it’s totally intentionally. And it makes her brilliant. Jane Austen had an idea here. Create a family, similar to the Bennet’s, who only care about class and money. But see with the Elliot’s, Austen ventured out further and made us hate this family entirely more.


The Elliot’s are all annoying, pretentious as fuck, and gave me a headache. But for the Bennet’s, I still enjoyed that aspect of them because the Bennet’s still had redeeming qualities. Even Lydia, Who is...a challenge to like. But with the Elliot’s I found no redeeming qualities. And I find myself praising Austen for this whilst also being annoyed. If I didn’t like Elizabeth, at least I could have fallen back on her family or Mr. Darcy (although I love Lizzie) But here, I didn’t love Anne at all. And I didn’t have her family to fall back on because I didn’t like her family either.


Captain Wentworth was an ok hero, although he can never live up to Darcy. I’m sorry Wentworth stans, The pining in here was the only thing that saved him as a character for me.


Anyways, this was definitely not my favorite classic, but it wasn’t bad if that makes sense. I just will probably never reread this, or at least I won’t until maybe I’m old enough to appreciate it more? I think I’m a little young for Persuasion since these characters are Austen’s oldest and most mature, so maybe when I’m older I’ll give this a reread and see how I feel.


3 stars


* * *


A few days later (in Sponge Bob’s way of saying it ofc)


If their is one thing this book taught me, its that Jane Austen is very very classist.


Still review to come. Abi write a god damn review.



* * *


I really know how to feel about this book. On one hand, I did really enjoy this. On the other, I feel as though Persuasion was rushed, and definitely not Austen at her best. I will continue to think about this, and write a longer review in a few days, but right now this is a 4 star


Review to Come


* * *


Prereading thoughts:

Mr. Darcy is my husband, but will Captian Wentworth become my 2nd? We shall have to wait and find out.

Also, this is my 2nd Jane Austen, and I'm beyond excited!

*4.5


I don’t really know how to write reviews for classics, it’s such a hard thing to do. Everyone else is putting pretty words and pretty quotes in their reviews and I’m just like “should I just review it like a normal book???” Anyways beside my internal monologue, I feel like 99% classics are 300+ pages of deep thoughts, pretty writing, psychological meanings, and highly unlikeable or very likable characters. And that’s really what The Great Gatsby was. I don’t really know what my expectations were going in, but I feel as though they were exceeded.


This story was so beautiful and so melancholic. I cannot believe I enjoyed Gatsby as a character as much as I did. He was captivating but from the moment we see him first introduced, he’s very lonely and sad. I really sympathized with him the entire time, and I loved his character arc. (Also btw, Gatsby isn’t the narrator of the story which really surprised me but I ultimately agree with the decision not to make him the narrator, he definitely would have concocted it into a love story).


Also Fitzgerald’s writing is bewitching. His prose is utterly stunning, and his metaphors are absolutely incredible. I couldn’t stop tabbing pages of The Great Gatsby because I kept finding so many pretty quotes. It was also so interesting to read about the thrilling night-life of the 20s, especially New York City at the time. I had to stop reading at times because I was laughing so hard at how utterly ridiculous these characters were, and their ideals and values (because they were party people ya know?)


I guessed the ending for this, but I ultimately wasn’t too mad because I really really liked this overall. I think I reread this in a few years I’ll definitely appreciate just as much, probably more to be honest. Overall, definitely worth the read.


- I know I’m supposed to hate Daisy but I don’t exactly, there were times where I laughed at her and sympathized with her character. Tom however…


- You know what Tom? Screw you, you sucked and you definitely didn’t deserve Daisy


- Just me arguing with fictional characters, nothing to see here


Ok I’m done (: