bibilly's Reviews (336)

pela sinopse eu não esperava quase nada desse livro, mas acredite ou não ele é uma mistura até bem eficiente de Get Out, Maurice e Agatha Christie, com foco num romance em que ambas as partes são capazes e gostáveis, tudo isso em menos de 250 páginas. a coisa toda é ainda mais surpreendente quando lembro que em algum momento da minha vida peguei o livro mais famoso da autora (The Magpie Lord) pra ler e não continuei. sigo sem um pingo de vontade de me comprometer com uma série de um mesmo casal, mas não consigo visualizar um fã de romance não gostando desse aqui, até aqueles que, assim como eu, têm preguiça do mistério em livros de mistério.

so i resumed reading peter darling early this week, and right after the 35% mark there was a plot twist that crossed off almost everything that was keeping me from getting invested in the story Lol i still have some nitpicks: the revelations and the reactions that followed them, as well as the ending, were a bit rushed and too neat for my taste. on the other hand, once neverland was revealed to be more in line with my own interpretation than i'd thought, suspension of disbelief was no longer so necessary, and i finally started shipping the actual couple of the book (the sex scene was hot btw). im not sure how to rate this retelling, but if you're an enthusiast of the reading of peter pan as a story about roles, performance and split selves, or if you're just looking for a trans main character, definitely pick it up. warning: you might cry real tears.

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11/21: pausing this at 35% bc it's pretty good at exploring peter pan's themes and symbolism but it's not making me care that much about the story itself and i don't wanna hate it. like,,, i ship pan more with ernest than with hook, how's that possible?? im the number one enemies to lovers and age gap defender Lol that's partly bc neverland is not a place for adults imo: it doesn't sound dangerous, grand or exciting; it feels empty and too small, like the whole thing could fade away at any moment, so it only works for me as a child's fantasy/subconsciousness, where deaths aren't meant to be impactful. however, the storytelling is not drawing me in either, and i made the mistake of start reading a stronger romance right when i was trying to convince myself this one was short enough. rip.

it should be illegal to write bad hate-to-love stories. at least this book made me realize i don't enjoy my characters having sex before real feelings come to play. peak enemies-to-lovers is when two people hate each other so much that, in order to accept they want each other, they have to rebuild themselves and their conceptions of one another. the couple here doesn't scratch even the surface of that since their mutual hate is motivated by douche and teenager behavior only. you see, i don't need and most of the times i don't even like ethical reasons, but i really need a good one. if at least seyn wasn't so ridiculously reactive to ksar's cruel words their fights wouldn't have felt so gratuitous and impersonal, but there was no real defiance besides cursing, scowling and public flirtation. i couldn't see how they would redeem themselves, fall in love and start to have some chemistry, to the point that, instead of rooting for them, i was fully invested in seyn's goal of breaking their bond, which i don't think it was the effect intended by the author. anyways, ksar's cold persona isn't sexy bc he really is a cold jerk Lol there seems to be nothing more about him and his future husband, so good riddance to both of them.

dnf @ 27%

in my review of the first book in this austen retellings series i said i wouldn't continue with it bc i didn't like the secondary characters. however, some days ago i found out that the mansfield park book featured new ones and had sort of a forbidden romance just like the emma retelling. so i picked it up and here we are. besides the lazy writing and unconvincing time jumps, this book reminded me a lot of Rock, which – surprise, surprise – i also dnfed last year and only now realized is by the same author Lol you see, i appreciate a little angst in my romances, but i don't vibe with unnecessary drama mixed with a shallow relationship in which one of the characters does dumb shit while the other suffers for them both. and that's what i felt these two books were going to be about before i came to my senses and decided to sleep instead of reading.

dnf @ 53%

there was really no flavor (or build up), just a waste of good tropes.

almost all the things i hate about contemporary romance – miscommunication, childish conflicts, flawless characters created for wish fulfillment only – can be found here, but in a less unbearable form given the solid writing, which thank god resembles more a diary than a self-help book. i actually felt tempted at some point in the first half to give it 4 stars, bc unfortunately i relate too much to lonely people, and there were these specifics scenes that gave me all the feels. but then i got annoyed at the characters' motivations and the mc's lack of common sense: the guy was almost dropping to one knee to propose and she was still rambling in her head about how he totally hates her (this type of shit gives me anxiety, so it wasn't fun at all). plus the laughable conjunction of rich white people problems near the end that made the only character i liked, impossibly perfect joshua, sound ridiculous.

can we talk and act like normal adults? i guess not. can we have at least one real, convincing conflict to justify this whole mess and make me feel sorry for these bitches? definitely not. we will suffer more than the situation requires so that the story feels pointless (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

so of course this isn't really an enemies-to-lovers, like most contemporary romances labeled that way aren't (im looking at you, rwrb). it also has the worst trope of all time: the "I've always loved you" trope *pukes*. but if you're into the genre at all (im not), especially if you don't get annoyed at straight couples too easily (i do), you'll probably love it. there's absolutely nothing groundbreaking about it, even in terms of romance, but the writing achieves what is trying to. except when it doesn't. so 2,5 stars rounded up for wish fulfillment.

another buddy read with my little sister. really proud of myself for managing to finish that last chapter without crying in front of her.

just as i hoped, there's a lot to unpack here, which is a step up from the wizard of oz without being as nonsensical as alice in wonderland (the buddy reader didn't like that one either, so you can't judge me). i prefer the wendy from the 2003 adaptation tho, and i missed the movie's drama and fights in the climax of the book. i don't remember ever watching the disney version, but i do not plan on introducing it to my sister, since its depiction of neverland's indigenous people is probably worse than the book's descriptions. but it was fun to talk about all of this with her, and now i can read the retellings on my kindle.

first of all, this cover model reminds me of timothee chalamet (im currently obsessed with the new dune adaptation) and every time the author mentioned the "golden" mc i was like "nop, that's timoteo". as for the story itself, i had lots of fun in the first half. it was simple, direct, efficient and not even a little bit annoying. but the pet name and the feminization really killed the second one for me. i love stoic, straightforward characters like liam, especially in romance, bc they make things happen, leaving little room for denial and miscommunication. i also appreciate that the focus is on two actual poor people, since romance/contemporary books characters always seem to have it too easy, even when they're supposed to be struggling. however, liam started acting out of character after him and teddy got together, maybe bc there was no longer a story to tell from that point on forward and the author had to replace it with repetitive sex scenes and cringey sex talk. the romance managed to get to the point real quick without being unonvincing, but for a short novel this book did force a non-existent plot after the 50% mark. so let's just pretend i read a novella with a solid and fast friends-to-lovers.