blewballoon's Reviews (763)

Light from Uncommon Stars

Ryka Aoki

4.5

adventurous dark funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book has so much going on. The closest thing I can think of to the tone is maybe the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once? The plots are not related, but there is a similar layer of chaos and humor along with grounded conversations about life and meaning. The text jumps around perspectives very frequently, which can be disorienting, but also usually pays off. The closer you pay attention the more humor you will find. As someone who reads for fun and teeters on the ledge of depression so often, I was worried this book would be too dark and cynical for me. I was pleasantly surprised at how positive it was. The hardest passages for me to read were about Katrina's experience both as a trans girl and as a

sex worker

, but those passages are not lingering or gratuitous. The audiobook narrator seemed like she was whispering the whole time, which I didn't love, but I thought her comedic timing was pretty good.

Content Warnings

Hen Fever

Olivia Waite

4.25

emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I love Olivia Waite's writing! I enjoyed the small town tension with the chicken competition and how all that played out. For a short novella, there were a lot of characters to add texture to the story, but I did struggle a little to remember who they all were. Due to the short length, the romance moves pretty fast, but I think that also made sense based on the traits of the main characters and where they were in their lives.

Content Warnings

Georgie, All Along

Kate Clayborn

4.0

emotional lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was pretty good. I am not sure it quite met my expectations, but I think I wanted something different than what this book set out to do. This is predominantly a love story despite the other plot beats kicking around, and it's a small scale, low stakes one. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I prefer that over unnecessary injected drama just for the sake of drawing a story out. I also appreciate romances where we get chapters from both characters perspectives, so that was a point in favor here. I enjoyed Levi's chapters the most, but felt like there was a slight dissonance between how Georgie came across in his chapters than how she came across in her own; it was almost like she was two different characters. Overall I'd recommend to contemporary romance readers who want a more chill book to relax with. It worked well on audiobook.

Content Warnings

The Familiar

Leigh Bardugo

DID NOT FINISH: 11%

Really not loving this so far. It's a bit too crass and unpleasant; there were 3+ mentions of casual sexual assault in the first 5% of the book. It feels like everyone is just abusing each other, or making whatever the most selfish and impulsive choice is that they can make. All the side characters seem to be there to add more awful texture. I think you're meant to sympathize with the main character and her bad choices, but the writing is missing the mark because I don't feel anything for her apart from mild exasperation.

It reminds me of some other books I read narrated by Saskia Maarleveld (Hester, God of Endings, Little Thieves), but she didn't narrate this one and I wonder if she could have made it much better if she did. I can take some grit and darkness, but I need there to be a sense of hope and change to get me through the sloggy parts. I am not finding that here.

This is my first Leigh Bardugo book, and if this is a good indicator of her writing style, I don't think I like it. I had high hopes since I know her books are quite successful, and this premise interested me, but hopefully this is a fluke and I'll have better success with one of her other books in the future.

Content Warnings

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love

Lex Croucher

4.0

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I wasn't super into this book at first. I found Arthur annoying, and I think part of that was the narrator for his chapters in the audiobook. I was hoping he might go through some character development and I'd like him more, which happened so gradually I didn't even realize it was happening until I was practically crying for him. The book in general has a bit of a slow start and it took me a while to get invested in the characters and get a sense of where the plot was going. The end kind of rushed at me and I found it hard to put down in the last 70%. There is a pretty big tonal shift after that point as well, I didn't expect it to go as dark as it did. I kind of wish this had stayed a bit more lighthearted.

Content Warnings

Crumbs

Danie Stirling

4.5

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I enjoyed the simple interweaving of the modern world with the magical world, it made for a fun but easily relatable setting. I thought the soft, sweet approach to the romance was lovely. This story felt much more about the individual character journeys than the romance, though. Great diversity representation and slice of life vibes.

Content Warnings

Delicates

Brenna Thummler

5.0

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was a little too real, I got pretty sad during the lower parts and I'm glad it came together in the end with positivity. I really love the art style with the detailed clothing and persistent color palette. A worthy sequel to Sheets for sure.

Content Warnings

A Walrus & A Gentleman

Emmaline Strange

4.25

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I thought this would be a funny follow up to A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland (highly recommend) and I think I was right. Some of the writing and dialogue was a little clunky or jarring, and I found some editing mistakes, but overall this was a very spicy and romantic read about two idiots falling in love. I breezed through it, and it made me laugh.

Content Warnings

A Sweet Sting of Salt

Rose Sutherland

5.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is a debut!??! This was awesome! I was worried this would be an overly grim and dark story, but it was not. There was an excellent balance of tension and softness. I really enjoyed the setting, I always felt in particular that I had a great sense of the weather with the changing levels of winter and how it affected the little homestead where most of the story took place. I loved Kicker and the little fox. I really enjoyed the romance. If you have any interest in the premise of this book, I suggest going ahead and reading it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Content Warnings

To Kill a Shadow

Katherine Quinn

3.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book featured many tried and true staples (or tropes) of the YA dark fantasy genre. Apart from there being more

character deaths

than I initially expected, I found the plot somewhat predictable. Perhaps that's more due to the fact that I've read a lot of these kinds of books than anything else.

I found the two leads pretty likable, I am not a big enemies-to-lovers fan, so I appreciated a more refreshing example of two people who just happen to have natural chemistry and bring out the best in each other. They always treated each other like respectful equals, despite there technically being a power imbalance.

Praise be to Moira Quirk for her masterful narration, as always. I appreciate when audiobooks do dual narrators for dual POVs, but honestly I wouldn't have minded if she narrated the whole thing. Sorry to the male narrator, he was fine.

Content Warnings

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