bibilly's Reviews (336)

not even half away through this, I knew I'd give it 2 stars. I made myself finish out of annoyance at my self-knowledge (that and bc my dnf rate is getting ridiculous). the thing is: I'm not a fan of mystery books, the who-did-it, let's-follow-the-clues type of books. I don't vibe with tv shows of this sort either. most of the time with these stories, the writing's main role seems to be just to tell you things, to explain them, to say what's around the characters and what they've learned; while the protagonist's only task is to go from one place to another, leading you through the plot, in which a great deal of (hopefully) surprising stuff will happen in order to shock you. and I'm almost never impressed. this structure actually bores the fuck out of me. so why did I pick this up? bc I wanted to be blown away by science! seriously, I thought the sci-fi aspect of Dark Matter would make a difference, but now I'm afraid I'm allergic to sci-fi books too. I'm still not sure what quantum superposition is, and the story fails to link the subject to any meaningful human facet. the family drama, or the lack of it, never really lands; consequently, the what-ifs when dealing with the multiverse theory are pointless. all of the characters are middle-class white people who live fairly good lives compared to most of us mortals, so why even go there? the mad scientist here is cartoonish at best, going through a lot of trouble to fix a simple problem. the "trauma" of his mother's death is dropped out of nowhere so we can finally have a motivation for something, even if that something amounts to nothing. of course, there's a woman who eventually proves to be a temptation to the male lead, and their connection is even flimsier than the one he swears to have with his wife. she has no backstory whatsoever and is there only to help our man out of the goodness of her heart, make him company during his little spacetime travel, and then disappear out of the picture the same way she comes into it. talk about a self-realized character. the rest of the cast is as much fun as her. about the plot, other reviews already pinpoint its many inconsistencies, but what makes two adults deliberately walk into a fatal blizzard when they can simply stay where they are? also, the protagonist/narrator doesn't talk/think about his son half as much as he thinks about his wife? most of the time, it's as if the boy doesn't exist, just a name tag in a formulaic family that's supposed to be the reason the mc never gives up. moreover, the two major plot lines are predictable even to me. I'm a hater of the hidden identity trope (in my head, that's the miscommunication trope for non-romance books), but the chaos that arises from the disruption of the multiverse should be more astonishing. perhaps if I'd read this book in the year of publication, 2016, something in it would have amazed me. it's 2023, however, and I couldn't care less. despite all the action, the three acts of the story are dull and lackluster, stirring in me nothing besides a little curiosity, which no dimension visited by the characters was compelling enough to quench. maybe I should knock off another star.

the author tried very hard with the vampires-that-dont-sparkle thing, but her writing and worldbuilding are still boring and unconvincing /sigh

I've been looking for a good book with this kind of premise —romance between celebrities or set in the entertainment/book world— for a while now. in the right hands, I think it can offer really exciting takes on the fake dating and rivals-to-lovers tropes. unfortunately, I'll have to keep searching*. Stars in Your Eyes reads like ya, but there are ya books less contrived than this, and the first-person narration with its confessional tone doesn't help. the author gives a trigger warning for pretty heavy topics, but the story presents no nuance that lets you hope they won't be dealt with by the usual artificial and didactic prose of contemporary books ("this is problematic and here's why"). the bad boy doesn't have a real personality to deserve the epithet and I don't see myself becoming particularly fond of the good one. also, both protagonists are black men, but neither the cover nor the synopsis hints at that, even though it's a focus point from the beginning. regardless of my opinion on the book, I think the publisher lost the chance of attracting new readers for this author by not being more clear in its marketing.

* I've already tried some titles by Emily Henry and Christina Lauren btw, so I'm accepting recs.

se por um lado não consigo visualizar não fãs pegando este livro pra ler, por outro, quem acompanha o BTS há anos como eu não vai encontrar muitas informações novas nele (inclusive o narrador consegue ser bem repetitivo). trata-se de um apanhado da carreira monumental do grupo que oferece um olhar por trás das cenas, como uma bangtan bomb mais séria e documental ou um artigo extendido da weverse magazine, mas que não diz nem 10% do que haveria pra ser dito sobre a década em que sete coreanos, com todas as suas falhas, contradições e idiossincrasias, comeram o pão que o diabo amassou e conseguiram juntos transformá-lo num banquete. porém, não me arrependo de ter lido. pelo contrário: quero tempo para ouvir, ler e assistir toda a discografia deles de novo, agora com a consciência de que cada álbum foi mais que um conceito e realmente representou uma fase dessa trajetória bem como um estado de espírito do grupo.

after so many quick dnf's I didn't bother to shelf, I'm begging for a romance to grab my sick with anxiety attention. it doesn't even have to be an enemies-to-lovers, just something that feels real for a change.

dnf @ 41%

the "sex work saved me" part was a bit too much. also, there's something off about the whole premise of working as a teacher on modern intimacy for a synagogue. and although i find rabbi Ethan endearing, im not feeling their insta obsession with each other. besides, his behavior just started entering unrealistic territory, so im putting this at least on pause, but i probably won't come back to it. 

só deus sabe o que se passa na mente do palhaço. na minha, porém, a personagem da virgem tola nos primeiros Delírios é Paul Verlaine, e a do demônio, Rimbaud.

confesso que a (longa) nota biográfica me impactou mais que os poemas. como pode um francês ter inventado a adolescência antes dos 20. e enviar Uma Temporada no Inferno para o amante preso por lhe meter bala? a bit too iconic.