booksandbotanics's Reviews (492)

Heartstopper Volume 4

Alice Oseman

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful fast-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: Complicated

Content Warnings

Heartstopper Deel 3

Alice Oseman

5.0

funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

Zo lief als de dood

Holly Jackson

4.0

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book was a little less tense than the previous books. It also felt less realistic.
I still enjoyed it very much though.

De waarheid

Colleen Hoover

4.0

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

A Coin for the Ferryman

Megan Edwards

4.0

adventurous informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book sounded so interesting, and it definitely met my expectations!

The story revolves about Cassandra, who gets enlisted into a team of researchers that try (and succeed) to get Julius Caesar to their time.

The book starts slow. For the first 25% (more or less) we get a lot of information. All of the characters that we come across get some background information, which was sometimes interesting, sometimes not so much. There were definitely parts that didn’t contribute to the plot. We also make some timejumps, that I didn’t always get. But after Cassandra gets enlisted into the team, we stay in the same time and the story starts to flow.

I did like that we didn’t get much information about the technology they work with. To some it could maybe feel like “easy”, but I didn’t feel the need to know more about that.

The chapters are really short (like 2-5 pages), which makes you want to read “one more chapter” all the time, but it also “breaks” the story in a matter of speech. Especially when the POV changes, you feel a bit disoriented. We get POV’s from almost every character, which makes it complex, but it enriches the story as well. I especially loved the chapters from Caesar’s POV.

It’s always tricky to write a POV from a real person. I’m definitely not a Caesar-expert, but I do know some things about him from my Latin-classes in high school. I found his character really well done. We see how cunning and smart and controlling he is, yet he also experiences emotions like love and sadness. I loved seeing his reactions to modern technology, even though that part may be a bit unrealistic. I get that Caesar wants to be in control all the time, but I can’t believe someone would be THAT chill if he gets transported 2000 years into the future.

It’s in the blurb, so we know that it’s coming, but after we get to the point where someone is after Caesar and wants to abduct him, the story reads like a thriller for a part. I found the escape-scenes very exciting.

What I didn’t like as much, was the relationship between Cassandra and Caesar. I get that they get closer as they are on the run together, but it was a bit too much for me.

Also, everything comes really easy for Cassandra. I understand she has real academic talent, but she has the right connections for everything and gets almost immediately what she’s always wanted.

I found the ending really well done. It definitely felt like this could have happened.

The writing style was also very fluent. The short chapters definitely helped to get through this book easier, as I found myself saying “only one more chapter” very often. It’s also easy to read a chapter in between your work or something, as it takes literally only 5 mins to finish a chapter.

To summarise: I liked this book very much, it read fluent and the plot was really interesting. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who has interest in Rome/Caesar and timetravel.

Huis van Aarde en Bloed

Sarah J. Maas

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I love this book so much. Many people say it starts slow, but for me it definitely didn’t feel like that. Maybe it was because this was a reread, so I kinda knew what was coming, but I think this book has a lot of action. Of course there’s a lot of worldbuilding and information as well, as this is a first book in a series, but I definitely didn’t get bored once while reading it, on the contrary.

I do agree that not THAT much happens in the first part (except the last chapter of part 1 ofcourse), but I think it sets the mood for the rest of the book, as we get to see how much Bryce has changed.

There are a lot of plottwists in this book. First you think it happened a certain way and then BOOM it turns around again. I actually forgot some of it, so it was fun to be surprised again (and also it made me realise I did good to reread this one before diving into HOSAB).

What I didn’t really notice the first time around, was how little we know of the world. A map of the whole world, and not only Crescent City would’ve been really helpful. I still don’t get how all the places that are named (Valbara, Pangera, …) relate to each other. But I really like Crescent City as a setting. I always love it when magic gets mixed with modern (or futuristic) technology, I’m a big fan of the Urban Fantasy genre.

There are so many characters in this one that own my heart. I love Bryce, Hunt, Ruhn, Tharion, Hypaxia, Danika, Connor & the rest of the wolfpack. Ofcourse there are also the villain characters, but I also like how they are portrayed.

I also forgot some of the characters, like Aidas. I think he’s super intriguing and I don’t know how I could forget him. Also Tharion was really vague in my memories, but I remember liking him and I was not disappointed meeting him again.

Then of course the writing style. I read the Dutch translation, so I can’t say anything about the English version, but I FLEW through this. When you’re reading it, it definitely doesn’t feel like an almost 1000 pages long book.

To summarise: I totally remember why I loved this book. The plot is soo good and exciting, the characters are interesting and the writing style is very fluent.

I can’t wait to dive into book 2!!

Content Warnings

Just The Way You Are

Beth Moran

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

This book was absolutely lovely and I enjoyed it immensely.

Not only was Ollie very likable and relatable, the side characters were just as fun to read about and they all contribute really well to the story.

Ollie’s progress was very fun to read about; how she fails but gets back up again, how she gets in some really stupid situations. At some parts I laughed out loud! Nesbit (the dog) was so cute!!

I also really related to her because of her job. She works for an organisation that helps illiterate adults to learn to read, and as a speech therapist myself that was very interesting!! The organisation is also based on a real one, so it’s definitely good that it gets some attention this way!

But not everything was as happy. The book definitely tackles some harder topics as well, like poverty, drug/alcohol addiction, … Leanne and Joan’s storyline was often really heartbreaking and made me tear up a couple of times. I’m so happy they found Ollie and I’m so happy Ollie found them.

And then of course there is Sam, the love-interest. It’s definitely a slow burn, and usually I don’t really like those, but there’s so much going on in this book, the romance doesn’t take the spotlight, which I really liked.

There are some more side characters that I really loved, like Irene (the Library Lady) and Ebenezer and all of Ollie’s clients.

The writing style was really fluent. We only read from Ollie’s first-person perspective. The pacing was variable. At times, it was really fast and I couldn’t put the book down, at other times, especially the more emotional parts, were medium-paced.

What did struck out to me, Ollie definitely didn’t read like she was almost 30-year old. Often she came across as someone in her early 20’s, but maybe that’s because of her moving out only now? I did relate to her though, so I didn’t mind that.

to summarise

This was a super-enjoyable feel-good book that tackles some harder topics as well. It reads very fluent and I really liked all the characters and the plot!

Content Warnings

Little Bird

Tiffany Meuret

3.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

Attack on Titan, Volume 7

Hajime Isayama

4.5

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This volume contained a lot of fighting, which made it a quick read.
I really want to know who the female titan is though.

Content Warnings

Attack on Titan, Volume 6

Hajime Isayama

5.0

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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: No

This was more action-packed. I liked it!!
The flashbacks are still confusing me though. It takes me always a long time to realise we’re in a flashback 😅

Content Warnings

More...