blewballoon's Reviews (763)

The Bodyguard

Katherine Center

4.5

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-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

I'm so glad I picked this up on a whim, it wasn't on my TBR and I just grabbed it on Libby because I recognized the author from Hello Stranger. I hoped it would be a decent gender flip of typical bodyguard romance tropes, but it really impressed and surprised me.

The romance aspect is gradual and natural. It just kind of floats along developing in the background while all the other plot movement and character dynamics unfold in the forefront. The writing is profound in its emotional moments and really funny in its lighthearted moments. There's a level of detail with certain characters and in-story anecdotes that make the world and people feel real. There are a couple of characters that get a more shallow take, but it works along with everything else.

I wasn't sure about the audiobook narrator at first, but she won me over as well and imbued a lot of personality into the narration.

Content Warnings

Dragonology

Ernest Drake, Dugald A. Steer

5.0

Adored this book as a child. I read it so many times!

We Could Be So Good

Cat Sebastian

5.0

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense 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

5 stars for how delighted I was throughout this book. It's so much fluffier than I expected! That being said, it's not without depth, and the sweetness feels earned. I adored the characters. I dunno, this book was like a warm hug from someone you didn't expect to hug you.

Content Warnings

Providence Girls

Morgan Dante

DID NOT FINISH: 6%

This writing style is not working for me. It reminds me a little of This is How You Lose The Time War where the emphasis on style and being vague makes it hard to understand what's even going on. In this case it seems like what's going on is a lot of pain and suffering. The cover is gorgeous and I love the concept, maybe I'll try it again someday.

Content Warnings

Escaping Mr. Rochester

L.L. McKinney

DID NOT FINISH: 12%

I meant for this to be the 3rd book in my series of reading Jane Eyre retellings, which I was just doing for fun because I like comparing and analyzing things. I loved Salt & Broom, a version where Jane is a witch. I enjoyed John Eyre which merges the story with Dracula and has the genders of the main characters swapped. I was looking forward to this one, where Jane and Mr. Rochester's secret wife presumably fall in love and run off into the sunset together. It's a great premise, but the execution is not working for me at all. The tone of the book reads like an angry teenager, and it kept taking me out of the story and making me feel increasingly cynical. I hope it gets better, and I hope it finds the right audience, but at the moment that isn't me.

Content Warnings

Just for the Summer

Abby Jimenez

4.5

emotional funny hopeful medium-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

I really enjoyed Part of Your World, which is why I picked this one up from Book of the Month. Wow! This was great! I absolutely loved the chemistry between Justin and Emma, their conversations do such a good job of showing how compatible they are as people. It was so fun to see the connections and Easter eggs from Part of Your World, I'm sure I missed some from Yours Truly and I'll have to read that one as well. There are definitely some darker topics covered in this story, so I recommend checking the content warnings, but if you're a contemporary romance reader I think you'd probably enjoy this!

Content Warnings

John Eyre

Mimi Matthews

4.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I love the way Mimi Matthews writes, and this was such a cool blend of Jane Eyre and Dracula! I really enjoyed the epistolary segments from the letters and journals that told the Dracula side of the story. I also enjoyed John's slower paced days bonding with the young boys that were underpinned with a layer of foreboding. I think my trouble is that, while I wanted to, I never really warmed up to Mrs. Rochester and felt like John's attachment to her was a little forced. Honestly, that matches up with my feelings with the original Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, so it's fitting for an adaptation. Overall I had a great time reading this!

Content Warnings

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Robert C. O'Brien

4.0

adventurous reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I've always loved the film adaptation of this book by Don Bluth, but I wanted to see how close the movie was to the book and see if maybe there were some extra tidbits that would help flesh the movie out for me. There are definitely stylistic and character changes for the film, but it kept a lot of the bones of the book. The pace of the book is a bit erratic, with some tense action sequences that Mrs. Frisby has to get through and other slow retellings of past events or daily life. I think I like the movie version of Mrs. Frisby a little better than the book version, but I liked her reflections on her children here. The tone of the book reads like a classic children's tale, almost like a Beatrix Potter story, but then is darkened by some sci-fi like elements. I listened on audiobook and I probably would have preferred to read it on the page myself.

Justice for Justin! I hope he's okay, he was a real one.

Content Warnings

Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix

Gabe Cole Novoa

4.5

emotional hopeful 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: No

I really hoped this would be good, and it absolutely was! Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books, and I loved this take on the story. It's a significant change for the Elizabeth role to be filled by Oliver, and I think the author did a good job of showing how that change would impact the rest of the narrative. This is definitely written in a more modern cadence, it doesn't read like it's trying to imitate Jane Austen's style, and I think that also suits the story changes and the different character perspectives. I really liked getting to see Darcy and Oliver communicate openly with each other without the limitations of the more historical restricted conversations between sexes, it helped make the romance feel more natural. I do wish the story hadn't ended somewhat abruptly, I would have liked the epilogue to cover more after

Oliver comes out to his family. We don't get to see the sister's reactions, and I would have liked a little more time with his mother treating him as her son. I also wonder how Charlotte would be impacted by her husband's schemes and loss of inheritance and how that would impact her friendship with Oliver.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narration was fantastic.

Content Warnings

First Comes Scandal

Julia Quinn

3.75

emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I liked this entry more than Because of Miss Bridgerton, the first book in this series. I really like it when Julia Quinn tries something different with her leads, in this case having her male lead be a virgin along with his wife. I thought this dynamic was done well and very refreshing for the genre. The spicy scenes had a fun element of discovery and sensual silliness that I found a lot more enjoyable than Quinn's more often used setup of a girl who barely knows she has any anatomy under her dress and a man who draws her a map using references from the 100s of women he's slept with.

Other than that, the book didn't have much going on. Very slow paced, lots of traveling from here to there, a couple minor events that are resolved quickly, and some dry but interesting medical discussion. The leads are both interested in health care, but of course only the husband can actually become a doctor in this time period.

It was a nice little treat seeing Violet and Edmund being happily married in the background of a couple scenes, and seeing the baby Bridgerton boys briefly.

Content Warnings

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