blewballoon's Reviews (763)

I really like Alice Oseman's writing and I've been following the heartstopper comics for a really long time. I will say that their written works (not graphic novels) tend to be a bit more dark, so be prepared for that if you are only used to Heartstopper level drama and angst.

I listened to this on audiobook and I really enjoyed the narration. I have spent a lot of time in nursing homes, my mom has worked in one since I was a child and I also worked there for many years. It was easy for me to connect to the older characters, and I was moved by the types of struggles they face that are touched on in this book. It's a very funny murder mystery for sure, but there is depth as well. I laughed out loud, but I teared up and cried too. 

 I really like Alice Oseman's writing and I've been following the heartstopper comics for a really long time. I will say that their written works (not graphic novels) tend to be a bit more dark, so be prepared for that if you are only used to Heartstopper level drama and angst. 

I struggled to finish this. I kept hoping it would get better, and I thought it might be when Henry joined the story, but the more time we spent with him the more I realized I wasn't interested in his character either.  Addie isn't the kind of person I find myself rooting for or invested in, neither was Henry. Their choices felt arbitrary a lot of the time, like their dialogue. The chapters in the past never explored anything particularly interesting, just highlighted the overall misogyny of the past in ways that I didn't want to be immersed in. The past chapters stayed fairly far back in time without exploring more modern eras like the 50s-80s, which would have been interesting considering how much Addie lamented that women had no rights and women's rights changed a lot during that period. It feels like most of the book and plot take place in 2014. In general, the book is very repetitive. Overall things were just too sad yet uninteresting for me and it was a slog from start to finish. I am glad so many people liked it and I will try another V.E. Schwab at some point, but honestly I wish I hadn't wasted my time with this book. 

I have enjoyed every book by Casey McQuiston so far. This one feels the youngest since the main characters are still in high school, and it's probably my least favorite of the three books I've read, but it's still one of my favorites for this type of story and genre. The characters are flawed, but in realistic ways, and it's fun to watch them grow and learn from their mistakes. Weirdly, I feel like the titular romance isn't really the focus of the book and maybe could have used more development. 

I wasn't looking forward to this book because everything to do with Neve was my least favorite part of the last book, and I kind of hated her going into this one. I was pleasantly surprised. The main supernatural setting of this book feels so different from the last, much darker and less like a classic fairy tale. I still enjoyed the chapters that focused on Red and her gang more, it was lovely to be with those characters again and I think the new additions worked well enough. Some plot threads from the last book took some unexpected turns in this book, and some of the events/plot that popped up in this one threw me off, but overall I think this was a good conclusion to the duology and I wasn't unhappy with the ending. 

This type of book always feel especially up my alley. Like One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, there's a contemporary story with a solid romance, but there are also other character journeys happening, a lovable cast of characters, and something slightly supernatural going on. I laughed, I cried, enjoyed reading this very much.