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abinthebooks
DNF
I don't like poetry, and I've known this for years. In fact, I DESPISE poetry. I think it's far to pretentious and it's just people putting a bunch of quirky metaphors together. Which then leaves me confused, and I'm left wondering how people can understand this, and why they like it? (Think what you like. If you enjoy poetry I'm not judging, I'm happy you enjoy it and understand it!) So I have no idea why I'd think I would like this book. I'll definitely try the authors other 2 books, but I honestly just hate poetry. Plus I wasn't enjoying myself reading this book anyways so even if I did like poetry, I probably would have DNF'ed anyways or at least given this a low rating.
I don't like poetry, and I've known this for years. In fact, I DESPISE poetry. I think it's far to pretentious and it's just people putting a bunch of quirky metaphors together. Which then leaves me confused, and I'm left wondering how people can understand this, and why they like it? (Think what you like. If you enjoy poetry I'm not judging, I'm happy you enjoy it and understand it!) So I have no idea why I'd think I would like this book. I'll definitely try the authors other 2 books, but I honestly just hate poetry. Plus I wasn't enjoying myself reading this book anyways so even if I did like poetry, I probably would have DNF'ed anyways or at least given this a low rating.
Even listening to this didn't make more like it more. I feel really bad because I really want to like poetry and Acevedo's work. I just don't like poetry
This book was painstakingly stupid. Like so stupid it gave me pain. Why you may ask? Well I'm here to tell you why, or else why did you click on my review?
Retelling(s) - Hades and Persephone
The Terrible Writing
What I want to know, is wtf is this writing? This writing is so flowery, that I wanted to puke. And the fucking metaphors, God the metaphors.
'“I wanted a love thick with time, as inscrutable as if a lathe had carved it from night and as familiar as the marrow in my bones. I wanted the impossible, which made it that much easier to push out of my mind.”'
'"I want to lie beside you and know the weight of your dreams," he said, brushing his lips against my knuckles. "I want to share whole worlds with you and write your name in the stars." He moved closer and a chorus of songbirds twittered silver melodies. I want to measure eternity with your laughter."'
'“What I wanted was a connection, a shared heartbeat that kept rhythm across oceans and worlds. Not some alliance cobbled out of war. I didn’t want the prince from the folktales or some milk-skinned, honey-eyed youth who said his greetings and proclaimed his love in the same breath. I wanted a love thick with time, as inscrutable as if a lathe had carved it from night and as familiar as the marrow in my bones. I wanted the impossible, which made it that much easier to push out of my mind.”'
'“I know emptiness. I know the taste of blood against my teeth. I know what it is to fill your belly with iron. I know hunger. I know pain. I know memories that won’t stay. I know the ghost of life and the perfume of souls.”'
'“I take inspiration where I can, and devour it in one piece like I'm starving. Not because I think it's something fleeting that will never return but because I think the best inspiration is the kind that makes you feel urgent. Like you're racing against yourself to get a story on the page while you still remember what that magic feels like.”'
AND THOSE ARE JUST EXAMPLES!
Imagine reading a book with metaphors like that (that make no fucking sense may I add), on every other page.
TERRIBLE ROMANCE
So our girl, Maya is being forced to marry a guy, ok? Get that. And here is exactly what she says after she finds out she's forced to marry a guy:
There was another sorrow, tucked beneath my surprise. Although I had never envisioned marriage, I had thought of love. Not the furtive love I heard muffled in the corners or rooms of some of the harem wives. What I wanted was a connection, a shared alliance cobbled out of war. I didn't want the prince from the folk-tales or sim milk-skinned, honey-eyed youth who said his greetings and proclaimed his love in the same breath. I wanted a love as thick and as familiar as the marrow in my bones. I wanted the impossible, which made it that much easier to push out of my mind."'
Obviously, she's pretty sad, and maybe even a little pissed about this alliance, couldn't we all agree? NOT EVEN, NOT EVEN 100 fucking pages later she's completely 'enraptured' in Mr. "I can give you worlds'. And how she justifies this pull to marry this dude you may ask?
'"Something else guided my hands.'"
Oh give me a fucking break.
And then, it gets fucking worse. And you know why? Because our alpha male love interest (with dare I say, NO PERSONALITY) is a cheese ball, with the cringiest lines you can conjure.
'“I love you," he murmured into my hair. "You are my night and stars, the fate I would fix myself to in any life.”'
“No matter where we are, we’ll always share the same sky. We can always find each other in the same constellation.”
“The truth,” said Amar, taking a step closer to me, “is that you look neither lovely nor demure. You look like edges and thunderstorms. And I would not have you any other way.”
“My star-touched queen,” he said softly, as if he was remembering something from long ago. “I would break the world to give you what you want.”
“Then what do you want from me?"
"I want to lie beside you and know the weight of your dreams," he said, brushing his lips against my knuckles.
"I want to share whole worlds with you and write your name in the stars." He moved closer and a chorus of songbirds twittered silver melodies.
"I want to measure eternity with your laughter." Now, he stood inches from me; his rough hands encircled my waist.
"Be my queen and I promise you a life where you will never be bored. I promise you more power than a hundred kings. And I promise you that we will always be equals.”
And finally
“'You know nothing about me."
"I know your soul. Everything else is an ornament.”'
*GAGS*
Next, our weak, idiotic main character named Maya.
God, Maya is such a weak bitch. She has no backbone, and no personality and God she's STUPID! For example:
"'Do these past days mean nothing?" he asked, so gently that my weak self curled around his words. But I would no longer be weak.'
And I was thinking, oh thank God she's finally growing some back bone. But not even two paragraphs later she says this:
"'My promises were true. You seek to punish an illusion without fully knowing. What were your kisses, them? Vengeance?"
The wall of flames shimmered away. Anger still flared inside me, but now it was mixed with something else. Something I couldn't push away, despite fury. Want.'
Never mind then.
And when I mean stupid, Jesus I mean stupid. I can't say much, because spoilers, but please take my word for it.
And finally, The Plot
And honestly, I can't say much about the plot, because there isn't one. Or if their was I couldn't see. And even though their isn't a plot, I felt like everything was going over and over and over again. It was repetitive.
Anyways, I'm super dissapointed in this book. I've really wanted to like [a:Roshani Chokshi|13695109|Roshani Chokshi|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544538355p2/13695109.jpg] as an author. I really tried to like this book too. But I don't, and I just don't think she's the author for me.
* * *
Get ready for my rant review, coming soon
Retelling(s) - Hades and Persephone
The Terrible Writing
What I want to know, is wtf is this writing? This writing is so flowery, that I wanted to puke. And the fucking metaphors, God the metaphors.
'“I wanted a love thick with time, as inscrutable as if a lathe had carved it from night and as familiar as the marrow in my bones. I wanted the impossible, which made it that much easier to push out of my mind.”'
'"I want to lie beside you and know the weight of your dreams," he said, brushing his lips against my knuckles. "I want to share whole worlds with you and write your name in the stars." He moved closer and a chorus of songbirds twittered silver melodies. I want to measure eternity with your laughter."'
'“What I wanted was a connection, a shared heartbeat that kept rhythm across oceans and worlds. Not some alliance cobbled out of war. I didn’t want the prince from the folktales or some milk-skinned, honey-eyed youth who said his greetings and proclaimed his love in the same breath. I wanted a love thick with time, as inscrutable as if a lathe had carved it from night and as familiar as the marrow in my bones. I wanted the impossible, which made it that much easier to push out of my mind.”'
'“I know emptiness. I know the taste of blood against my teeth. I know what it is to fill your belly with iron. I know hunger. I know pain. I know memories that won’t stay. I know the ghost of life and the perfume of souls.”'
'“I take inspiration where I can, and devour it in one piece like I'm starving. Not because I think it's something fleeting that will never return but because I think the best inspiration is the kind that makes you feel urgent. Like you're racing against yourself to get a story on the page while you still remember what that magic feels like.”'
AND THOSE ARE JUST EXAMPLES!
Imagine reading a book with metaphors like that (that make no fucking sense may I add), on every other page.
TERRIBLE ROMANCE
So our girl, Maya is being forced to marry a guy, ok? Get that. And here is exactly what she says after she finds out she's forced to marry a guy:
There was another sorrow, tucked beneath my surprise. Although I had never envisioned marriage, I had thought of love. Not the furtive love I heard muffled in the corners or rooms of some of the harem wives. What I wanted was a connection, a shared alliance cobbled out of war. I didn't want the prince from the folk-tales or sim milk-skinned, honey-eyed youth who said his greetings and proclaimed his love in the same breath. I wanted a love as thick and as familiar as the marrow in my bones. I wanted the impossible, which made it that much easier to push out of my mind."'
Obviously, she's pretty sad, and maybe even a little pissed about this alliance, couldn't we all agree? NOT EVEN, NOT EVEN 100 fucking pages later she's completely 'enraptured' in Mr. "I can give you worlds'. And how she justifies this pull to marry this dude you may ask?
'"Something else guided my hands.'"
Oh give me a fucking break.
And then, it gets fucking worse. And you know why? Because our alpha male love interest (with dare I say, NO PERSONALITY) is a cheese ball, with the cringiest lines you can conjure.
'“I love you," he murmured into my hair. "You are my night and stars, the fate I would fix myself to in any life.”'
“No matter where we are, we’ll always share the same sky. We can always find each other in the same constellation.”
“The truth,” said Amar, taking a step closer to me, “is that you look neither lovely nor demure. You look like edges and thunderstorms. And I would not have you any other way.”
“My star-touched queen,” he said softly, as if he was remembering something from long ago. “I would break the world to give you what you want.”
“Then what do you want from me?"
"I want to lie beside you and know the weight of your dreams," he said, brushing his lips against my knuckles.
"I want to share whole worlds with you and write your name in the stars." He moved closer and a chorus of songbirds twittered silver melodies.
"I want to measure eternity with your laughter." Now, he stood inches from me; his rough hands encircled my waist.
"Be my queen and I promise you a life where you will never be bored. I promise you more power than a hundred kings. And I promise you that we will always be equals.”
And finally
“'You know nothing about me."
"I know your soul. Everything else is an ornament.”'
*GAGS*
Next, our weak, idiotic main character named Maya.
God, Maya is such a weak bitch. She has no backbone, and no personality and God she's STUPID! For example:
"'Do these past days mean nothing?" he asked, so gently that my weak self curled around his words. But I would no longer be weak.'
And I was thinking, oh thank God she's finally growing some back bone. But not even two paragraphs later she says this:
"'My promises were true. You seek to punish an illusion without fully knowing. What were your kisses, them? Vengeance?"
The wall of flames shimmered away. Anger still flared inside me, but now it was mixed with something else. Something I couldn't push away, despite fury. Want.'
Never mind then.
And when I mean stupid, Jesus I mean stupid. I can't say much, because spoilers, but please take my word for it.
And finally, The Plot
And honestly, I can't say much about the plot, because there isn't one. Or if their was I couldn't see. And even though their isn't a plot, I felt like everything was going over and over and over again. It was repetitive.
Anyways, I'm super dissapointed in this book. I've really wanted to like [a:Roshani Chokshi|13695109|Roshani Chokshi|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544538355p2/13695109.jpg] as an author. I really tried to like this book too. But I don't, and I just don't think she's the author for me.
* * *
Get ready for my rant review, coming soon
(ORIGINALLY A 3.5 BROUGHT DOWN TO A 2.5)
*2.5
TRIGGER WARNINGS - DEPRESSION, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, CAR ACCIDENTS, EMOTIONALLY ABUSVE + PHYSICALLY ABUSIVE PARENTS, ANXIETY, SOCIAL ANXIETY, MANIPULATION, PAST SUICIDE ATTEMPT, UNAVAILABLE PARENTS!
Hi so sorry for writing this at 3:30 IN THE MORNING, but it's my Goodreads and my life to ruin am I right? Anyways, I want to start this review off by saying, I have no idea (still) how to rate this book. If I'm going to rate this critically, it would be probably a 2 star and we'll talk about that in a second. If I'm going to rate this based on how much I related to the characters, we'd be talking about a 5 star. If I rate this based on my enjoyment, this is a 3 star. I've decided to just put it in about the middle, meaning a 3 and a half. Still don't really feel 100% about this rating, but I can't seem to find the right one, so 2.5will have to do. So I'm also going to split this review up in 3 sections. I'll put each section in bold heading, so that way if you want to read a specific part, you can just read through whichever on you want. Without further or do, let's get into it.
This book follows a girl named Jubilee, who's step-mother writes her own comics, and owns a comic book store called Verona Comics. It also follows a boy named Ridley, who's father owns a huge chain of comics. The two meet at a comic Prom? And the later meet again at a ComicCon the very next day, and finally, Ridley moves back in with his father and they meet again.
Retelling(s) - Romeo and Juliet
!!!
CRITICALLY
I think in a critical standpoint, this book is a 1 or 2 star. This book would have been fine, if it wasn't marketed as a cute, YA, Romeo and Juliet retelling. From what I saw of of this book, I got the idea I was getting into a sweet book, and I was entirely wrong. There are so many triggers in this book that I wasn't aware of going in, and it took me by surprised. I was even triggered by some of these, and it made me upset that their aren't any reviews about the triggers, or triggers at the beginning of the book.
Then, I'd like to comment on the amount of telling instead of showing. It was aggravating how much telling their was. Weeks would go by, but it wasn't clear about how much time, and then the characters would say a certain date, and I was utterly confused about the timeline of the whole entire book. And then characters would say at the end of a chapter, "I'm going to do this, or I'm going to do that", and then it would switch to the other characters perspective, which is fine, but we never got to see the character actually doing it. All we got was the next day, or week, and it was ANNOYING!
After, I wanna talk about the shitty friendships. I love books that have great friendships. They often times are some of my favorites, because it shows that books don't have to have romance for it be entertaining. It can honestly be about a small or large group of friends, or even 2 friends and it can still be amazing no romance and all. But every friend in this book is a no from me. I can say I enjoyed Jayla's character the first 50 pages but afterwards, when she was questioning Jubilees judgement every 5 damn seconds, I had enough with her bullshit. I know that she was just trying to be a friend, but but trying to be a friend, she became a shitty friend. Also all of Jubilees other friends were a no from me. They rarely ever came up when they did, they had nothing good to say or do so what was the point of them?
Then, I'd just like to say, that everyone in this book is a TERRIBLE person. I'm gonna give 3, no spoilery examples.
1. Jubilees boyfriends anxiety is spiraling out of control and all she cares about is her music tryout for a prestigious summer program.
2. Ridley manipulated everyone for the first 150 pages
3. Ridleys family are all trash. Not just dad, but the mom and the sister too (see what I did there? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5W2YPKH9XE)
Finally, I'm gonna talk about Ridley and Jubilee's unhealthy relationship. Their relationship is the definition of unhealthy and here's why. Ridley is manipulative, Jubilee is either so obsessed with Ridley that she forgets everything else going on around her, or she's so detached from him that she could care less what he does, and Ridley knows going into the relationship that his anxiety is fucking awful, yet he thinks that maybe Jubilee with fix him??? God I hate that trope.
Now I will talk about the good criticism I have to give. Everyone is queer, which is great in my book, and no one is pressuring anyone to find out their sexuality. I see that a lot in YA fiction, so thankfully it wasn't their. Their is comic books, and where can you go wrong with that, and...well I can't think much else positive critically to say so, here you go for the critical category.
!!!
RELATED?
This category is gonna be pretty short, as well the next one, but I wanted to say, I haven't related to a character as much as I've related to Ridley in a very long time. His inner monologue felt like me, and his thoughts and feelings were so relatable. I was really into his character because of how much I related to him. If their is one thing [a: Jennifer Dugan|17061749|Jennifer Dugan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1548116553p2/17061749.jpg] got right, it's the depression + anxiety + social anxiety rep. Super good.
!!!!
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT
I enjoyed this book. I thought it was pretty ok though. It wasn't anything spectacular or earthed shattering, or anything like that. I don't know who I'd recommend this book to honestly. Maybe people who like hard hitting contemporary? Which I do, but I don't feel anything after this book is over so maybe not 'hard hitting'. I honestly have no idea. But one thing I know for sure, don't let the pretty cover art fool you into thinking this is a cutsie YA contemporary. It's not; it's more of a hard YA contemporary so if that's what your into it, go for it? Again, I probably wouldn't ever recommend this book to anybody, but if your into these kinds of books, pick it up!
!!!
FINAL THOUGHTS
This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020, and I'm sad to say I didn't love it. Like at all. I just wish I did, because I was expecting so much more from this. From the beautiful cover to the synopsis I thought I would love is but unfortunately not ):
- Another shit review from yours truly, Abi
* * *
*3.5
I have no idea how to rate this book, but I'm gonna sit it on 3 stars for now, REVIEW TO COME!
*2.5
TRIGGER WARNINGS - DEPRESSION, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, CAR ACCIDENTS, EMOTIONALLY ABUSVE + PHYSICALLY ABUSIVE PARENTS, ANXIETY, SOCIAL ANXIETY, MANIPULATION, PAST SUICIDE ATTEMPT, UNAVAILABLE PARENTS!
Hi so sorry for writing this at 3:30 IN THE MORNING, but it's my Goodreads and my life to ruin am I right? Anyways, I want to start this review off by saying, I have no idea (still) how to rate this book. If I'm going to rate this critically, it would be probably a 2 star and we'll talk about that in a second. If I'm going to rate this based on how much I related to the characters, we'd be talking about a 5 star. If I rate this based on my enjoyment, this is a 3 star. I've decided to just put it in about the middle, meaning a 3 and a half. Still don't really feel 100% about this rating, but I can't seem to find the right one, so 2.5will have to do. So I'm also going to split this review up in 3 sections. I'll put each section in bold heading, so that way if you want to read a specific part, you can just read through whichever on you want. Without further or do, let's get into it.
This book follows a girl named Jubilee, who's step-mother writes her own comics, and owns a comic book store called Verona Comics. It also follows a boy named Ridley, who's father owns a huge chain of comics. The two meet at a comic Prom? And the later meet again at a ComicCon the very next day, and finally, Ridley moves back in with his father and they meet again.
Retelling(s) - Romeo and Juliet
!!!
CRITICALLY
I think in a critical standpoint, this book is a 1 or 2 star. This book would have been fine, if it wasn't marketed as a cute, YA, Romeo and Juliet retelling. From what I saw of of this book, I got the idea I was getting into a sweet book, and I was entirely wrong. There are so many triggers in this book that I wasn't aware of going in, and it took me by surprised. I was even triggered by some of these, and it made me upset that their aren't any reviews about the triggers, or triggers at the beginning of the book.
Then, I'd like to comment on the amount of telling instead of showing. It was aggravating how much telling their was. Weeks would go by, but it wasn't clear about how much time, and then the characters would say a certain date, and I was utterly confused about the timeline of the whole entire book. And then characters would say at the end of a chapter, "I'm going to do this, or I'm going to do that", and then it would switch to the other characters perspective, which is fine, but we never got to see the character actually doing it. All we got was the next day, or week, and it was ANNOYING!
After, I wanna talk about the shitty friendships. I love books that have great friendships. They often times are some of my favorites, because it shows that books don't have to have romance for it be entertaining. It can honestly be about a small or large group of friends, or even 2 friends and it can still be amazing no romance and all. But every friend in this book is a no from me. I can say I enjoyed Jayla's character the first 50 pages but afterwards, when she was questioning Jubilees judgement every 5 damn seconds, I had enough with her bullshit. I know that she was just trying to be a friend, but but trying to be a friend, she became a shitty friend. Also all of Jubilees other friends were a no from me. They rarely ever came up when they did, they had nothing good to say or do so what was the point of them?
Then, I'd just like to say, that everyone in this book is a TERRIBLE person. I'm gonna give 3, no spoilery examples.
1. Jubilees boyfriends anxiety is spiraling out of control and all she cares about is her music tryout for a prestigious summer program.
2. Ridley manipulated everyone for the first 150 pages
3. Ridleys family are all trash. Not just dad, but the mom and the sister too (see what I did there? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5W2YPKH9XE)
Finally, I'm gonna talk about Ridley and Jubilee's unhealthy relationship. Their relationship is the definition of unhealthy and here's why. Ridley is manipulative, Jubilee is either so obsessed with Ridley that she forgets everything else going on around her, or she's so detached from him that she could care less what he does, and Ridley knows going into the relationship that his anxiety is fucking awful, yet he thinks that maybe Jubilee with fix him??? God I hate that trope.
Now I will talk about the good criticism I have to give. Everyone is queer, which is great in my book, and no one is pressuring anyone to find out their sexuality. I see that a lot in YA fiction, so thankfully it wasn't their. Their is comic books, and where can you go wrong with that, and...well I can't think much else positive critically to say so, here you go for the critical category.
!!!
RELATED?
This category is gonna be pretty short, as well the next one, but I wanted to say, I haven't related to a character as much as I've related to Ridley in a very long time. His inner monologue felt like me, and his thoughts and feelings were so relatable. I was really into his character because of how much I related to him. If their is one thing [a: Jennifer Dugan|17061749|Jennifer Dugan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1548116553p2/17061749.jpg] got right, it's the depression + anxiety + social anxiety rep. Super good.
!!!!
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT
I enjoyed this book. I thought it was pretty ok though. It wasn't anything spectacular or earthed shattering, or anything like that. I don't know who I'd recommend this book to honestly. Maybe people who like hard hitting contemporary? Which I do, but I don't feel anything after this book is over so maybe not 'hard hitting'. I honestly have no idea. But one thing I know for sure, don't let the pretty cover art fool you into thinking this is a cutsie YA contemporary. It's not; it's more of a hard YA contemporary so if that's what your into it, go for it? Again, I probably wouldn't ever recommend this book to anybody, but if your into these kinds of books, pick it up!
!!!
FINAL THOUGHTS
This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020, and I'm sad to say I didn't love it. Like at all. I just wish I did, because I was expecting so much more from this. From the beautiful cover to the synopsis I thought I would love is but unfortunately not ):
- Another shit review from yours truly, Abi
* * *
*3.5
I have no idea how to rate this book, but I'm gonna sit it on 3 stars for now, REVIEW TO COME!
Aww this was really cute. I really liked Moth, and the witchy aspect of this. It almost felt like a fall time read, so I probably would have enjoyed this more during fall, but it was still really cute. Also Moth’s best friend was adorable, I really wish the author would make more volumes of this!
DNF FOR NOW
There is no way in hell I’ll complete this book before I have to take it back to library tonight. I’m enjoying it, and when it’s available again at my library I’ll pick it back up
There is no way in hell I’ll complete this book before I have to take it back to library tonight. I’m enjoying it, and when it’s available again at my library I’ll pick it back up
At about the 70% mark things started going down hill for me. The characters were making assumptions and not communicating and it felt like Michael’s character changed. He got really possessive and aggressive and didn’t like it. Still enjoyed this though, I loved Stella and the smut was really good. Also the own voices Asian rep, and autistic rep was done really well. I will read the other 2 books in this trilogy!
I actually really enjoyed this book. I was expecting a fast mediocre read, and while it was fast, it definitely wasn't mediocre. The romance was cute, and Rosa was a pretty great MC. I've never really liked "the saving the town" books because they all often feel to similar, but I really enjoyed this one. With the combined Latinx culture in the "saving the town" I was really entertained. I liked the commentary on absent family members, and what death of a family member can do to a family and how it can shape it. Also, its own voices, with a very diverse cast of characters ranging from Latinx, black, white, and a bunch of different Latinx cultures which was really awesome. I really enjoyed this, highly recommend!