Ehh I didn’t get much out of this book it was fine. Nothing to memorable, however.

*2.5

Ehh this was ok. I don’t feel like writing a review but the male love interest in here was a douche which is why the rating for this is so low. Also, the writing is very simplistic, and I also don’t usually like the “falling in love in a short time span” trope. It’s usually highly unbelievable. But it was easy to get through and I enjoyed most of it while reading so I added a half star for enjoyment factor

*2.75 stars


I feel really conflicted with Turtles All the Way Down to be honest. John Green and I have a pretty complicated relationship. I watched the movie adaption of The Fault in Our Stars and it became my new favorite movie. This prompted me to read Looking For Alaska in 5th grade, and I loved it. It became my new favorite book. I then read Paper Towns a year later and liked it considerably less (and liked the movie even less, although Cara Delevigne supremacy). And then I read the book version of The Fault and Our Stars and thought it was mediocre at best.


I feel like all of John Green’s stories are pretty formulaic and follow the exact same characters with essentially the same plot, except the characters have different names and books are set in a different small town somewhere in the Midwest (and I’m here for the Midwest slander because I live here and it sucks ass). As I get older I just can’t seem to enjoy anything John Green writes really. I even disliked the tv adaption of Looking For Alaska that came out on Hulu a few years back, and I think that was a sign that John Green and I’s friendship was over.


However, I’ve heard nothing but praise for this book since it’s release (when I was still pretty young and not reading anything older than middle grade). My expectations going in Turtles All the Way Down were pretty high, considering this book deals with anxiety and I have really bad anxiety. But that was the only thing that was really redeeming in here.


The synopsis for this book is very misleading as the MC doesn’t actually have much of a goal to find a missing billionaire. Actually the MC and her best friend basically drop the plot to find the missing billionaire in question in the first 20% or 30% of the novel. From then on, nothing really happens. Which is fine, because I really enjoy character based stories but I didn’t really like our MC in here. My enjoyment definitely dwindled because I thought we’d be getting a big mystery, but we actually just got a vague mystery with no real impact and a character set story.


Speaking of the characters, yeah I didn’t really like any of them. I think that John Green did a good job of giving these characters personalities this time, but in a way they all still felt like hypocritical, pretentious, selfish assholes (which are usually John Green’s characters in a nutshell). It was fun to see all the Star Wars references which was another redeeming factor in here, and it definitely made me smile. Also I’m just imaging John Green reading fanfiction and I can’t help but giggle at that for some reason.


Speaking of characters again, I really really don’t like Davis. He’s just walking ick, I can’t even describe it. He’s really into famous poets (because of course he is) which made me interested in him at first, but he’s just so uninteresting and he just gives me bad vibes. I also felt no chemistry between him or Aza. Because Turtles All the Way Down is heavily romance based, this definitely took me out of the story because these characters JUST DON’T WORK. Every time they kissed, every time they touched, every time they so much as talked I felt nothing except disdain for their relationship. 0 chemistry was given between the two, and the build up to their relationship was nonexistent.


However, the anxiety rep in here was done really really well. Although I didn’t love Aza as a character, I could still connect with her because sometimes I feel exactly like here. Listening to this book made me kind of hopeful because Aza and I feel similar in so many different ways and it was nice to finally have a character to connect with and understand anxiety. It was nice to finally have an author write a character who has believable anxiety and I felt so represented in this book (obviously it’s going to be different for everyone so I’m not speaking for everyone with anxiety, but I’m just saying I felt very represented in here). The anxiety rep definitely saved this book for me and made me really enjoy this more because of how I could connect with Aza as a character.


However, I can’t really look past the other things I had issues with so I’m rounding this to a 3 stars, but overall a solid read and if you’re looking for good mental health rep, this is definitely the place you wanna to be.

2021 Reading Challenge Goal: 100 Books



January (A bit late but whatever)


Book Count: 9 Read


I enjoyed most of the books I read this month and found my new favorite book of all time (Wuthering Heights)


The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes by Leonard Goldberg ★★ - Library Book

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco ★★★★.5 - Library Book

Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa ★★★★.5 - Owned E-Book

Radiance by Grace Draven ★★★★ - Owned E-Book

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing A Rake by Sarah MacLean ★★★★.5 - Library Book

Someone To Watch Over Me by Lisa Kleypas ★★★★ - Library Book

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur ★ - Owned E-Book

Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Marie Moning ★★ - Library Book

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte ★★★★ - Owned Physical Book



February


Book Count: 5 Read, 1 DNF


In February I had a terrible reading month. I read only 2 books I really enjoyed, and no 5 star books were present. I was in a awful reading slump for the majority of the month, and I had almost no fun reading.


Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare ★ - Audiobook

Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff ★ DNF - Library Book

West Side Story by Iriving Shulman ★★★ - Audiobook

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, & Cynthia Hand ★★★ ★.5 - Library Book

Fangirl, Vol. 1: The Manga by Sam Maggs, Rainbow Rowell, and Gabi Nam ★★★ - Library Book

Persuasion by Jane Austen ★★★★ - Owned Physical Book



March


Book Count: 1 Read, 2 DNF’s


March is by far the worst reading month I’ve ever had. I read 0 books, and listened to 1 audiobook. I also didn’t read a classic this month, so one of my goals has officially been broken. I’m genuinely embarrassed about how bad March was for me. This reading slump is so bad, I wish I wanted to read.


Muse by Brittany Cavallaro ★ DNF - Library Book

Blood and Honey by Shelby Mahurin ★ DNF - Library Book

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder ★★★★★ - Audiobook



April


Book Count: 3 Read, 2 DNF’s


Still an awful reading month. My reading slump sucks so bad, and everything I read feels so mediocre. I really wish I wanted to read something.


Kodi by Jared Collum ★★★.5 - Library Book

Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft ★★★ - Library Book

An Unkindess of Magicians by Kat Howard DNF - Library Book

If We Were Villians by L.M. Rio DNF - Library Book

Uprootedby Naomi Novik ★★★★ - Library Book



May


Book Count: 9 Read


May was a surprisingly ok reading month. Although I didn’t read very many good books (or highly rated) I actually felt like reading this month. I think I can safely say I’m out of the reading slump I’ve been in all year. I know a goal of mine is to prioritize quality over quantity, but this month was just kinda getting back into the feel of reading so June was definitely take on that priority.


Fangs by Sarah Anderson ★★★ - Library Book

We Were Liars by E. Lockheart ★★★★.5 - Library Book

Dating Makes Perfect by Pintip Dunn ★★★★ - Library Book

Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo ★★.5 - Library Book

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia ★★★★ - Library Book

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green ★★.75 - Audiobook

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff ★★★.5 - Audiobook (I don’t support Jay Kristoff, read my review for more info)

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik ★★ - Library Book

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power ★★★.5 - Library Book



***

2021 Reading Goals


Reading Goal: 100 books - I’m pretty sure this will be pretty doable, considering I read 224 books in total this year. But I just wanna play it safe, and set it at 100.


Read More Classics - I really got into reading classics in 2020, so I’m hoping that I can read at least 12 classics, 1 for each month in the year. This will most likely also be pretty doable, but it’s definitely a goal of mine.


Buy Less Book - I bought a lot of books in 2020, which makes sense, because I had a lot of mental breakdowns this year. But I’m 2021 I wanna try and buy less books.


Quality Over Quantity - This year I also want to read more books I think I will love (so maybe longer books too) instead of thinking about numbers. I had a lot of new favorites this year, but I also had a lot of books I thought were mediocre or I disliked/hated.


Mark Books on Goodreads Better - I’m a pretty lazy person, and when it comes to extra details like that, no thank you. I find though, that when I’m not feeling lazy and mark my books on certain shelves, I find them easier.


Finally, Write a Review For Every Book I Read - This one will definitely be difficult, considering I am a lazy person, and I read a lot of books. But, I’m going to try and hopefully I will succeed.


I will check back in at the end of the year with y’all, to see if I’ve completed these goals. Now on to the books


BOOKS


Physical TBR 2021


Non Physical TBR 2021


Most Anticipated of 2021


Series I need to Finish

The Lunar Chronicles
Caraval
Shadow Game
The Last Magician
The Diviners
Simon Snow
The Blood of Stars
The Heroes of Olympus
Anne of Green Gables
Vampire Academy
Shadowhunter Universe
Grisha Verse
Mistborn


DNF's I need to pick back up

The Well of Ascension
Blood Promise
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (audiobook)
The Gilded Wolves
King of Fools
The Devil's Thief
You Should See Me in a Crown
Sadie


* * *

June


July


August


September


October


November


December

This is my first manga I’ve ever read and I didn’t really like it. I really liked the art, but the fact the main character was in love with her uncle just took me out of the story lmao. I’ll definitely be reading more manga because I really love the art, but I won’t be continuing with this series