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chronicallybookish's Reviews (1.53k)
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 2 stars
Plot: 1/5
Characters: 3/5
Setting: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
Special thanks to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
So, This Is Christmas follows Finley as she returns to her hometown Christmas, Oklahoma, after a unideal first semester at a prestigious east coast boarding school. But it turns out one of her classmates has arrived in Christmas wanting the full Christmas experience that Finley had told her classmates about—only… Finley may have embellished the truth about her home town a little (or a lot), and her classmate Arthur is none too happy about it. And using Finley’s guilt about ruining his and his aunt’s holiday against her, Arthur forces Finley to give him the holiday experience she had promised.
Sounds like so much fun, right? Wrong.
It… was… so… boring. It felt like nothing happened. The pacing was so slow, and I was not a fan of Finley’s narration. As a character, I liked Finley fine, but her inner monologue and the way it was written out made me want to bang my head against a wall. The characters were all fine, actually, but they were pretty two dimensional. Finley’s previous friends (Brody and Mia) were infuriating. They had no personalities, and most of their reactions made no sense and they seemed to zing from trying too hard to be friendly to irrationally angry at Finley for basically no reason.
There were also multiple instances that made me kind of uncomfortable. A few things that felt a little like fetishizing Native American women, a throwaway sentence that was mildly ableist, and another throwaway remark that felt a bit homophobic.
Here are some quotes. Please keep in mind that these are from the ARC and not the finished copy. They’re also all very subtle, but they just didn’t sit right with me.
“…ever since his wife left him two years ago for the local male dance teacher who—surprise!—turned out to not be gay after all…” (pg. 43)
I’m sorry… what? That was just super weird. Later in the book there seemed to be positive LGBTQ+ representation (I’m not a part of the community though, so I can’t guarantee that the rep later on was positive).
“Tall and trim, and sporting movie star cheekbones inherited from the 1/16th Cherokee side of her genetic tree…” (pg. 43)
“I may have a smidgen of Cherokee in my DNA thanks to Grandma Joe’s side of the genetic tree, but mom’s Nordic/Irish ancestors won out in the most overt ways.” (pg. 69)
There are more mentions of her grandma’s beauty and relating it to the 1/16th Cherokee ancestry. These were just the first two, so I took specific note. Again, I’m not Native, so I guess I don’t know that that’s offensive, but I know that Native women are often fetishized, and something about the way it was written made me uncomfortable. Like, why was it necessary to repeatedly mention that this white woman was 1/16th Cherokee?
“[Arthur was] suddenly hit by an case of tourist ADD. He touched every Christmas, OK-stamped souvenir and knickknack on the tables between the door and our destination.” (pg. 54)
I thought we learned our lesson about trivializing mental illnesses and disabilities that can be debilitating with the “I’m so OCD” and Target’s “OCD: Obsessive Christmas Disorder” sweaters back in like 2017. Also the correct term is ADHD. ADD was removed from the DSM-5 a few years back. ADD is already a disability that is often trivialized as “distractability” and “hyperactivity”. It’s so much more than that, and we don’t need to add to this mentality and make it harder for people who struggle with ADHD to get the accommodations they need.
There were also many instances of what felt like fatphobia, where Finley said her dad was more attractive than the other dads because he was thin and they weren’t. This came up several times, but I only made note of one that felt pretty blatant:
“He’s not fat, and that puts him ahead of most of my friends’ dads in the looks department.” (pg. 114)
So, this is a disappointment. I love holiday romcom books, but this one was not worth it. Even if you ignore the subtle issues, the book itself was just incredibly boring.
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 2 stars
Plot: 1/5
Characters: 3/5
Setting: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
Special thanks to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
So, This Is Christmas follows Finley as she returns to her hometown Christmas, Oklahoma, after a unideal first semester at a prestigious east coast boarding school. But it turns out one of her classmates has arrived in Christmas wanting the full Christmas experience that Finley had told her classmates about—only… Finley may have embellished the truth about her home town a little (or a lot), and her classmate Arthur is none too happy about it. And using Finley’s guilt about ruining his and his aunt’s holiday against her, Arthur forces Finley to give him the holiday experience she had promised.
Sounds like so much fun, right? Wrong.
It… was… so… boring. It felt like nothing happened. The pacing was so slow, and I was not a fan of Finley’s narration. As a character, I liked Finley fine, but her inner monologue and the way it was written out made me want to bang my head against a wall. The characters were all fine, actually, but they were pretty two dimensional. Finley’s previous friends (Brody and Mia) were infuriating. They had no personalities, and most of their reactions made no sense and they seemed to zing from trying too hard to be friendly to irrationally angry at Finley for basically no reason.
There were also multiple instances that made me kind of uncomfortable. A few things that felt a little like fetishizing Native American women, a throwaway sentence that was mildly ableist, and another throwaway remark that felt a bit homophobic.
Here are some quotes. Please keep in mind that these are from the ARC and not the finished copy. They’re also all very subtle, but they just didn’t sit right with me.
“…ever since his wife left him two years ago for the local male dance teacher who—surprise!—turned out to not be gay after all…” (pg. 43)
I’m sorry… what? That was just super weird. Later in the book there seemed to be positive LGBTQ+ representation (I’m not a part of the community though, so I can’t guarantee that the rep later on was positive).
“Tall and trim, and sporting movie star cheekbones inherited from the 1/16th Cherokee side of her genetic tree…” (pg. 43)
“I may have a smidgen of Cherokee in my DNA thanks to Grandma Joe’s side of the genetic tree, but mom’s Nordic/Irish ancestors won out in the most overt ways.” (pg. 69)
There are more mentions of her grandma’s beauty and relating it to the 1/16th Cherokee ancestry. These were just the first two, so I took specific note. Again, I’m not Native, so I guess I don’t know that that’s offensive, but I know that Native women are often fetishized, and something about the way it was written made me uncomfortable. Like, why was it necessary to repeatedly mention that this white woman was 1/16th Cherokee?
“[Arthur was] suddenly hit by an case of tourist ADD. He touched every Christmas, OK-stamped souvenir and knickknack on the tables between the door and our destination.” (pg. 54)
I thought we learned our lesson about trivializing mental illnesses and disabilities that can be debilitating with the “I’m so OCD” and Target’s “OCD: Obsessive Christmas Disorder” sweaters back in like 2017. Also the correct term is ADHD. ADD was removed from the DSM-5 a few years back. ADD is already a disability that is often trivialized as “distractability” and “hyperactivity”. It’s so much more than that, and we don’t need to add to this mentality and make it harder for people who struggle with ADHD to get the accommodations they need.
There were also many instances of what felt like fatphobia, where Finley said her dad was more attractive than the other dads because he was thin and they weren’t. This came up several times, but I only made note of one that felt pretty blatant:
“He’s not fat, and that puts him ahead of most of my friends’ dads in the looks department.” (pg. 114)
So, this is a disappointment. I love holiday romcom books, but this one was not worth it. Even if you ignore the subtle issues, the book itself was just incredibly boring.
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 4 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Special thanks to Underlined and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
I really liked this book. It was fun, fluffy, cute, and quick. So I was totally shocked to see that it only had a 3.56 average rating. Especially since the last YA Christmas romance I read had a higher rating and I didn’t enjoy it at all—read that review here.
Then I started reading the poor reviews. And found a common thread that infuriated me. So many 2 star reviews said some form of “I think teenagers would really like this book, but as an adult it was too immature for me.”
REPEAT THIS WITH ME: If you are an adult reading a book that was written for teenagers or children, and one of your reasons for not liking it is that it’s too immature for you, your opinion does not matter. If you don’t like a YA book because the teenagers are too teenager-ish, you should not be rating or reviewing that book. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the book you read, truly I am, that’s the worst. But you are bringing down the average review of a book that was never written for you when you admit that its target audience would enjoy it. You can simply add it to your review shelf without adding a rating. Rate it in your head. Rate it in your journal or spreadsheet or whatever. Just don’t bring down the average review, because then people of that target audience who would love this book might see that it has poor ratings and not read it.
The Holiday Switch is a small town holiday romance with a mainly POC cast. Do you know how rare that is? It was everything I wanted it to be. I related heavily to Lila and her struggles with figuring out what she wants to do with her life. I think that feeling of needing to have everything figured out as you get toward college is something every high school senior feels all too acutely—especially the panic when you realize what you thought you wanted might not actually be what’s right for you after all. The small holiday-focused town setting was adorable and so much fun. It truly felt like the best kind of Hallmark Christmas movie in book form: slightly cheesy; innocent, adorable romance; and tons of fun.
Many reviews say that Lila and Teddy didn’t have any chemistry, but I don’t think that’s true. I thought their interactions were really sweet, and I was invested in their relationship. There just wasn’t really sexual tension. But sexual tension ≠ romantic chemistry. To me, The Holiday Switch focused on the sweetness of young love, and I really enjoyed that. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a place for the intense tension in romance (YA or otherwise), but it isn’t necessary for a good romance book.
All I can say is, if you like YA romance and Christmas—read this book. I genuinely enjoyed it so much, and I highly recommend it.
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 4 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Special thanks to Underlined and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
I really liked this book. It was fun, fluffy, cute, and quick. So I was totally shocked to see that it only had a 3.56 average rating. Especially since the last YA Christmas romance I read had a higher rating and I didn’t enjoy it at all—read that review here.
Then I started reading the poor reviews. And found a common thread that infuriated me. So many 2 star reviews said some form of “I think teenagers would really like this book, but as an adult it was too immature for me.”
REPEAT THIS WITH ME: If you are an adult reading a book that was written for teenagers or children, and one of your reasons for not liking it is that it’s too immature for you, your opinion does not matter. If you don’t like a YA book because the teenagers are too teenager-ish, you should not be rating or reviewing that book. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the book you read, truly I am, that’s the worst. But you are bringing down the average review of a book that was never written for you when you admit that its target audience would enjoy it. You can simply add it to your review shelf without adding a rating. Rate it in your head. Rate it in your journal or spreadsheet or whatever. Just don’t bring down the average review, because then people of that target audience who would love this book might see that it has poor ratings and not read it.
The Holiday Switch is a small town holiday romance with a mainly POC cast. Do you know how rare that is? It was everything I wanted it to be. I related heavily to Lila and her struggles with figuring out what she wants to do with her life. I think that feeling of needing to have everything figured out as you get toward college is something every high school senior feels all too acutely—especially the panic when you realize what you thought you wanted might not actually be what’s right for you after all. The small holiday-focused town setting was adorable and so much fun. It truly felt like the best kind of Hallmark Christmas movie in book form: slightly cheesy; innocent, adorable romance; and tons of fun.
Many reviews say that Lila and Teddy didn’t have any chemistry, but I don’t think that’s true. I thought their interactions were really sweet, and I was invested in their relationship. There just wasn’t really sexual tension. But sexual tension ≠ romantic chemistry. To me, The Holiday Switch focused on the sweetness of young love, and I really enjoyed that. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a place for the intense tension in romance (YA or otherwise), but it isn’t necessary for a good romance book.
All I can say is, if you like YA romance and Christmas—read this book. I genuinely enjoyed it so much, and I highly recommend it.
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 13/14+
Over All: 4 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Special thanks to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
I’m loving the up-tick in vampire YA books. And they’re all so good. I thoroughly enjoyed The Coldest Touch, but I honestly thought it was a standalone—it’s not. I’m kind of disappointed by that (I’m a sucker for fantasy standalones) but I’m also excited because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Elise and Claire. If only I didn’t have to wait a year!
The Coldest Touch follows two girls in a delightfully paranormal world.
Elise’s life hasn’t been the same since her brother died in a tragic accident nine months ago and she saw his death before it happened. Now, she can’t touch anyone without seeing their death. Anyone, that is, until she meets Claire.
Claire is 17.
How old are you?
17.
How long have you been 17?
A while.
Annnnyyyyywayyy (I promise this book is so much better than Twilight). Claire is a vampire who has been frozen at 17 since she was turned against her will in the 1930s.
Claire has been sent by a magical organization of supernatural beings to watch over Elise and help her learn how to use her powers, but Elise has no interest in learning. She isn’t even sure she believes in magic.
But Elise’s mind changes when she sees a future murder, and she needs Claire’s help to stop it from happening.
I loved both Claire and Elise. I was expecting more of a traditional mystery aspect, but the book definitely focuses heavily on the magic of it all, and the mystery becomes a subplot, which I actually think ends up being the right choice for the book. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. Claire and Elise have great chemistry from the start—it’s especially well shown from Claire’s POV. The exploration of discovering your sexuality when you thought that wasn’t even an option was well written and nice to see, but I’m also glad that we had Claire who was already comfortable with herself. Seeing POVs from both sides, and having each be accepting of the other’s pace, was great. Often these sorts of scenarios end up with the “out” character pushing the other character who’s still trying to figure things out into defining themselves and coming out before they’re ready, and it’s great to see a storyline where that doesn’t happen.
The vampire and paranormal lore was pretty typical, but it was unique in enough aspects that it didn’t feel overly cliche or trope-y. Isabel Sterling really got to the heart of her characters, giving them fully developed personalities, wants, hopes, and dreams. Many of the vampire novels from the early 2000s (*cough* Twilight and it’s many copy cats *cough*) rely so heavily on the tropes and paranormal aspects, that the characters are just card board cut outs going through the motions. Claire, Elise, and even the minor characters were fully fleshed out and I really like that.
I can’t wait for book 2—seriouslyyyy why is it a whole year awayyyyy—and I think I need to check out These Witches Won’t Burn ASAP.
Age Rating: 13/14+
Over All: 4 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Special thanks to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
I’m loving the up-tick in vampire YA books. And they’re all so good. I thoroughly enjoyed The Coldest Touch, but I honestly thought it was a standalone—it’s not. I’m kind of disappointed by that (I’m a sucker for fantasy standalones) but I’m also excited because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Elise and Claire. If only I didn’t have to wait a year!
The Coldest Touch follows two girls in a delightfully paranormal world.
Elise’s life hasn’t been the same since her brother died in a tragic accident nine months ago and she saw his death before it happened. Now, she can’t touch anyone without seeing their death. Anyone, that is, until she meets Claire.
Claire is 17.
How old are you?
17.
How long have you been 17?
A while.
Annnnyyyyywayyy (I promise this book is so much better than Twilight). Claire is a vampire who has been frozen at 17 since she was turned against her will in the 1930s.
Claire has been sent by a magical organization of supernatural beings to watch over Elise and help her learn how to use her powers, but Elise has no interest in learning. She isn’t even sure she believes in magic.
But Elise’s mind changes when she sees a future murder, and she needs Claire’s help to stop it from happening.
I loved both Claire and Elise. I was expecting more of a traditional mystery aspect, but the book definitely focuses heavily on the magic of it all, and the mystery becomes a subplot, which I actually think ends up being the right choice for the book. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. Claire and Elise have great chemistry from the start—it’s especially well shown from Claire’s POV. The exploration of discovering your sexuality when you thought that wasn’t even an option was well written and nice to see, but I’m also glad that we had Claire who was already comfortable with herself. Seeing POVs from both sides, and having each be accepting of the other’s pace, was great. Often these sorts of scenarios end up with the “out” character pushing the other character who’s still trying to figure things out into defining themselves and coming out before they’re ready, and it’s great to see a storyline where that doesn’t happen.
The vampire and paranormal lore was pretty typical, but it was unique in enough aspects that it didn’t feel overly cliche or trope-y. Isabel Sterling really got to the heart of her characters, giving them fully developed personalities, wants, hopes, and dreams. Many of the vampire novels from the early 2000s (*cough* Twilight and it’s many copy cats *cough*) rely so heavily on the tropes and paranormal aspects, that the characters are just card board cut outs going through the motions. Claire, Elise, and even the minor characters were fully fleshed out and I really like that.
I can’t wait for book 2—seriouslyyyy why is it a whole year awayyyyy—and I think I need to check out These Witches Won’t Burn ASAP.
Age Rating: 13/14+
Special thanks to FierceReads and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
I have never read an anthology before. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Serendipity is a YA romance anthology edited by Marissa Meyer where each story follows a favorite romantic trope. Sounds cute, right? It definitely was. There are 10 stories by 10 authors, most of which I’d heard of, maybe half of which I’ve read before, and a couple that were totally new to me.
I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to review this, because each individual story is unique and I had differing opinions and ratings on each one. In the end, I decided to give a mini review of each story (no spoilers—promise).
So, starting with the first story:
Bye Bye, Piper Berry by Julie Murphy
4.5 stars
Trope: Fake Dating
One of my favorite tropes, an author I know and love, and a great start to the anthology.
I loved the characters; I loved the story; I loved the writing. I wish it was longer. Like, if this story were turned into a 3-400 page novel, I would read it. That said, I do think Julie Murphy did a good job of taking this trope and writing such a short story. From the start, I was skeptical. Fake dating didn’t seem like it could be accomplished successfully in like 30 pages. But the chemistry was there, and I got into it. I want more, but I don’t feel like it needed more like I did with some of the stories.
Anyone Else but You by Leah Johnson
4 stars
Trope: Forced Proximity
Leah Johnson is an author I’ve so many good things about, but have never gotten around to reading, so I was excited to get a taste of her writing in this anthology—and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Another trope I can’t help but love, but the fact that it takes place over one night did make me apprehensive. I am not a fan of instalove. But the characters had enough history and chemistry that it felt more like the acknowledging of feelings than them just poofing into existence. The little epilogue at the end was also adorable and I thought it was a great touch.
The Idiom Algorithm by Abigail Hing Wen
2.5 stars
Trope: Class Warfare
I read Abigail Hing Wen’s debut novel, Loveboat, Taipei, and really enjoyed it when it came out, so I was really excited to get to her story in the anthology… but unfortunately it disappointed.
To start off, I didn’t know what class warfare was. All of the other tropes were ones I was very familiar with and were all prevalent in YA romance, so I kind of assumed it meant academic rivals? I realized pretty soon that was wrong, and eventually I realized it meant socioeconomic class. I’m pretty sure I’ve never read a YA romance where that was a major trope, but that wasn’t the main problem I had with it; it was just a confusing piece. It just didn’t feel romantic. The girl the character spends the whole time trying to win back was kind of rude and stuck up. There’s no chemistry, nothing making me vote for them. With the way it ends up, maybe it would have been more enjoyable if it were a full novel, giving the reader more time to grow to care for the characters and build chemistry between them, but as it is, it was my least favorite of the stories.
I also thought it was weird that it was in 3rd person when everything else was in first person.
Auld Acquaintance by Caleb Roehrig
3 ish stars
Trope: The Best Friend Love Epiphany
I really liked the plot. I really liked the characters. The writing style was… not for me. I don’t know if it was objectively bad, but there was just something about the narration that bugged me, and I couldn’t get into it like I wanted to. But the romance was cute, the characters were relateable, and I think that it worked well as a short story. Also I dont know what “auld” means but thats irrelevant.
Shooting Stars by Marissa Meyer
5 stars
Trope: One Bed
Marissa. Freaking. Meyer. AND ONE BED TROPE?? Enough said.
But I will say a little more. This was my favorite (although I did rate another of the stories 5 stars) story. I adored the characters. I adored the writing. I love this so much. More Marissa Meyer contemporaries please and thank you.
Keagan’s Heaven on Earth by Sarah Winifred Searle
3.5 stars
Trope: The Secret Admirer
ITS A GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMIC!!! I was super excited to see this, because I wasn’t expecting it and I love a good graphic novel. Plus, the drawings were stunning. I liked the characters. I liked the idea behind the story. I just needed a bit more. I didn’t feel any chemistry between the characters and events seemed to jump around too fast. It just needed a bit more. But it was still fun, and I enjoyed it.
4 stars
Trope: The Grand Romantic Gesture
This one was really well written and I fully enjoyed it. It just wasn’t really a romance? At all? But I loved the main character and her friends and the events of the story were tons of fun. I think it worked really well as a short story. And again, the writing was so good; it swept me in immediately. I haven’t read Elise Bryant’s debut, but it is sitting on my shelf, and it just jumped to the top of my TBR. Despite the fact that I didn’t think this was really a romance at all, which is weird for a romance anthology, it was still one of my favorites.
4 stars
Trope: Confined Spaces
So again, this one wasn’t really a romance? Yes she ends up in a confined space with a person, but it’s about friendship, not romance. The other character is her best friend’s boyfriend. But it was another of my favorites. The writing style was so much fun and I absolutely adored the characters. I’ve never heard of Elizabeth Eulberg before, but I’m definitely going to check out some of her books, because I really like her voice.
Liberty by Anna-Marie McLemore
5 stars
Trope: The Makeover
Did “the makeover trope” play into this story, like, at all? No. I think a better trope would be Celebrity Crush or something. But still—it. Was. So. Freaking. Good.
I love Anna-Marie McLemore. I’ve read several of their books and enjoyed every one, but I actually think I liked this more than I liked any of their novels, simply for the plot of it. They should write a whole contemporary romance novel. Maybe… they could write this into a novel??? Pretty please???
But seriously. I adored this story. I loved the characters, the plot, the way it handled some seriously tough issues in such a short story and did it so well. And I think it worked really well as a short story. Nothing felt too rushed. Nothing felt missing. I just want more.
The Surprise Match by Sandhya Menon
4 stars I think?
Trope: The Matchmaker
I liked this. It was solid, it was fun, and I’ve always liked Sandhya Menon’s writing. It was just one of those where it felt a little rushed. It just needed a little more fleshing out in places. But regardless, it was still fun and I did enjoy it.
All in all, this was tons of fun, and a great first anthology! I highly highly recommend!
Special thanks to FierceReads and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
I have never read an anthology before. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Serendipity is a YA romance anthology edited by Marissa Meyer where each story follows a favorite romantic trope. Sounds cute, right? It definitely was. There are 10 stories by 10 authors, most of which I’d heard of, maybe half of which I’ve read before, and a couple that were totally new to me.
I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to review this, because each individual story is unique and I had differing opinions and ratings on each one. In the end, I decided to give a mini review of each story (no spoilers—promise).
So, starting with the first story:
Bye Bye, Piper Berry by Julie Murphy
4.5 stars
Trope: Fake Dating
One of my favorite tropes, an author I know and love, and a great start to the anthology.
I loved the characters; I loved the story; I loved the writing. I wish it was longer. Like, if this story were turned into a 3-400 page novel, I would read it. That said, I do think Julie Murphy did a good job of taking this trope and writing such a short story. From the start, I was skeptical. Fake dating didn’t seem like it could be accomplished successfully in like 30 pages. But the chemistry was there, and I got into it. I want more, but I don’t feel like it needed more like I did with some of the stories.
Anyone Else but You by Leah Johnson
4 stars
Trope: Forced Proximity
Leah Johnson is an author I’ve so many good things about, but have never gotten around to reading, so I was excited to get a taste of her writing in this anthology—and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Another trope I can’t help but love, but the fact that it takes place over one night did make me apprehensive. I am not a fan of instalove. But the characters had enough history and chemistry that it felt more like the acknowledging of feelings than them just poofing into existence. The little epilogue at the end was also adorable and I thought it was a great touch.
The Idiom Algorithm by Abigail Hing Wen
2.5 stars
Trope: Class Warfare
I read Abigail Hing Wen’s debut novel, Loveboat, Taipei, and really enjoyed it when it came out, so I was really excited to get to her story in the anthology… but unfortunately it disappointed.
To start off, I didn’t know what class warfare was. All of the other tropes were ones I was very familiar with and were all prevalent in YA romance, so I kind of assumed it meant academic rivals? I realized pretty soon that was wrong, and eventually I realized it meant socioeconomic class. I’m pretty sure I’ve never read a YA romance where that was a major trope, but that wasn’t the main problem I had with it; it was just a confusing piece. It just didn’t feel romantic. The girl the character spends the whole time trying to win back was kind of rude and stuck up. There’s no chemistry, nothing making me vote for them. With the way it ends up, maybe it would have been more enjoyable if it were a full novel, giving the reader more time to grow to care for the characters and build chemistry between them, but as it is, it was my least favorite of the stories.
I also thought it was weird that it was in 3rd person when everything else was in first person.
Auld Acquaintance by Caleb Roehrig
3 ish stars
Trope: The Best Friend Love Epiphany
I really liked the plot. I really liked the characters. The writing style was… not for me. I don’t know if it was objectively bad, but there was just something about the narration that bugged me, and I couldn’t get into it like I wanted to. But the romance was cute, the characters were relateable, and I think that it worked well as a short story. Also I dont know what “auld” means but thats irrelevant.
Shooting Stars by Marissa Meyer
5 stars
Trope: One Bed
Marissa. Freaking. Meyer. AND ONE BED TROPE?? Enough said.
But I will say a little more. This was my favorite (although I did rate another of the stories 5 stars) story. I adored the characters. I adored the writing. I love this so much. More Marissa Meyer contemporaries please and thank you.
Keagan’s Heaven on Earth by Sarah Winifred Searle
3.5 stars
Trope: The Secret Admirer
ITS A GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMIC!!! I was super excited to see this, because I wasn’t expecting it and I love a good graphic novel. Plus, the drawings were stunning. I liked the characters. I liked the idea behind the story. I just needed a bit more. I didn’t feel any chemistry between the characters and events seemed to jump around too fast. It just needed a bit more. But it was still fun, and I enjoyed it.
4 stars
Trope: The Grand Romantic Gesture
This one was really well written and I fully enjoyed it. It just wasn’t really a romance? At all? But I loved the main character and her friends and the events of the story were tons of fun. I think it worked really well as a short story. And again, the writing was so good; it swept me in immediately. I haven’t read Elise Bryant’s debut, but it is sitting on my shelf, and it just jumped to the top of my TBR. Despite the fact that I didn’t think this was really a romance at all, which is weird for a romance anthology, it was still one of my favorites.
4 stars
Trope: Confined Spaces
So again, this one wasn’t really a romance? Yes she ends up in a confined space with a person, but it’s about friendship, not romance. The other character is her best friend’s boyfriend. But it was another of my favorites. The writing style was so much fun and I absolutely adored the characters. I’ve never heard of Elizabeth Eulberg before, but I’m definitely going to check out some of her books, because I really like her voice.
Liberty by Anna-Marie McLemore
5 stars
Trope: The Makeover
Did “the makeover trope” play into this story, like, at all? No. I think a better trope would be Celebrity Crush or something. But still—it. Was. So. Freaking. Good.
I love Anna-Marie McLemore. I’ve read several of their books and enjoyed every one, but I actually think I liked this more than I liked any of their novels, simply for the plot of it. They should write a whole contemporary romance novel. Maybe… they could write this into a novel??? Pretty please???
But seriously. I adored this story. I loved the characters, the plot, the way it handled some seriously tough issues in such a short story and did it so well. And I think it worked really well as a short story. Nothing felt too rushed. Nothing felt missing. I just want more.
The Surprise Match by Sandhya Menon
4 stars I think?
Trope: The Matchmaker
I liked this. It was solid, it was fun, and I’ve always liked Sandhya Menon’s writing. It was just one of those where it felt a little rushed. It just needed a little more fleshing out in places. But regardless, it was still fun and I did enjoy it.
All in all, this was tons of fun, and a great first anthology! I highly highly recommend!
!!!18+!!!
I love Talia Hibbert. And I adored Zaf with all my heart, but there were some things Dani did that didn’t quite sit right with me.
Dani decided Zaf is going to be her f-ck buddy, and even when she thinks he probably isn’t okay with casual sex, she decides she’s going to seduce him into it anyway. She just had no respect for the fact that maybe he wasn’t okay with casual sex, and that was okay. She seemed to think that if that were the case, she was simply going to not ask him about it and then seduce him until he changed his mind. And she expected him to then do that and not catch feelings. Like. What? That just felt really disrespectful to me. Also the way she treated Jo was pretty shitty.
I know she has character growth and acknowledges things with Jo, but she never acknowledges how sketchy her intentions with Zaf were.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this was SA and I’m not even saying I’m upset that they did end up in a casual sex situation—they’re consenting adults and Zaf made his decision—but her internal monologue about it as she was attempting to get to that place did not sit right with me.
I love Talia Hibbert. And I adored Zaf with all my heart, but there were some things Dani did that didn’t quite sit right with me.
Dani decided Zaf is going to be her f-ck buddy, and even when she thinks he probably isn’t okay with casual sex, she decides she’s going to seduce him into it anyway. She just had no respect for the fact that maybe he wasn’t okay with casual sex, and that was okay. She seemed to think that if that were the case, she was simply going to not ask him about it and then seduce him until he changed his mind. And she expected him to then do that and not catch feelings. Like. What? That just felt really disrespectful to me. Also the way she treated Jo was pretty shitty.
I know she has character growth and acknowledges things with Jo, but she never acknowledges how sketchy her intentions with Zaf were.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this was SA and I’m not even saying I’m upset that they did end up in a casual sex situation—they’re consenting adults and Zaf made his decision—but her internal monologue about it as she was attempting to get to that place did not sit right with me.
3 stars
Honestly all I can say for this is meh. It was fine.
The plot sounded so fun! Twin swaps! A baking show! Home bakery! Romance! The execution was just not up to par. The writing was fine, but it wasn’t engaging. The pacing dragged and I often found myself bored. Cass and Charlie were decent characters, but I just couldn’t connect with them.
Very promising storyline, but it suffered from poor execution.
Honestly all I can say for this is meh. It was fine.
The plot sounded so fun! Twin swaps! A baking show! Home bakery! Romance! The execution was just not up to par. The writing was fine, but it wasn’t engaging. The pacing dragged and I often found myself bored. Cass and Charlie were decent characters, but I just couldn’t connect with them.
Very promising storyline, but it suffered from poor execution.
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 14+
Over All: 5 stars
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
MARISSA MEYER!!!!!!!
Marissa Meyer is probably who I would consider one of my favorite authors. I love pretty much everything she has ever written, and Gilded is no exception. My only complaint is that I want book 2 right now.
One thing I found kind of funny while reading this is how similar it is to Little Thieves in a lot of ways—another of my favorite fantasies of 2021. Both follow goddaughters of gods/goddesses. Both characters get into trouble because of their lies. Both take place in a Germanic-inspired fantasy world. Both were published by FierceReads. Both came out within a little over a month of each other. Both were SO FREAKING GOOD.
I loved Serilda. I loved Gild. I loved the lore and the world and the story. I was swept up from page one and barely put it down until I was finished.
I will say this book is definitely a lot darker and a little bit more mature than anything Marissa Meyer has written before. The gore and dark fantasy aspects are ramped up significantly compared to The Lunar Chronicles, Renegades, or even Heartless. I believe this is also her first book to feature a sex scene—though it is fade to black.
So while The Lunar Chronicles is a great series for middle schoolers—and even upper elementary—I would recommend holding off on Gilded until 14 or 15. The descriptions of carnage were… a lot, and there were a lot of deaths of innocents… I honestly don’t know how to explain it except that it got really dark at times.
I definitely recommend this book! I just know Meyer’s name can be synonymous with younger YA, and this book is definitely more mature YA.
I loved it. Marissa Meyer is a master of her craft, and I can’t wait for book 2.
There’s so much more I want to say and talk about—but I try to keep my reviews spoiler-free, so all I have to say is read this book! I need people to talk about it with!
---
MARISSA. FUCKING. MEYER.
this is definitely the darkest book she’s ever written. But sosososo good. I have so much I wanna say but it’s like 90% spoilers so I shall refrain myself
Age Rating: 14+
Over All: 5 stars
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
MARISSA MEYER!!!!!!!
Marissa Meyer is probably who I would consider one of my favorite authors. I love pretty much everything she has ever written, and Gilded is no exception. My only complaint is that I want book 2 right now.
One thing I found kind of funny while reading this is how similar it is to Little Thieves in a lot of ways—another of my favorite fantasies of 2021. Both follow goddaughters of gods/goddesses. Both characters get into trouble because of their lies. Both take place in a Germanic-inspired fantasy world. Both were published by FierceReads. Both came out within a little over a month of each other. Both were SO FREAKING GOOD.
I loved Serilda. I loved Gild. I loved the lore and the world and the story. I was swept up from page one and barely put it down until I was finished.
I will say this book is definitely a lot darker and a little bit more mature than anything Marissa Meyer has written before. The gore and dark fantasy aspects are ramped up significantly compared to The Lunar Chronicles, Renegades, or even Heartless. I believe this is also her first book to feature a sex scene—though it is fade to black.
So while The Lunar Chronicles is a great series for middle schoolers—and even upper elementary—I would recommend holding off on Gilded until 14 or 15. The descriptions of carnage were… a lot, and there were a lot of deaths of innocents… I honestly don’t know how to explain it except that it got really dark at times.
I definitely recommend this book! I just know Meyer’s name can be synonymous with younger YA, and this book is definitely more mature YA.
I loved it. Marissa Meyer is a master of her craft, and I can’t wait for book 2.
There’s so much more I want to say and talk about—but I try to keep my reviews spoiler-free, so all I have to say is read this book! I need people to talk about it with!
---
MARISSA. FUCKING. MEYER.
this is definitely the darkest book she’s ever written. But sosososo good. I have so much I wanna say but it’s like 90% spoilers so I shall refrain myself
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 14+
Over All: 5 stars
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Little Thieves was one of my favorite books I read in November. Vanja is an incredible character; Margaret Owen’s writing is breathtaking; and the world and story swept me up from the start.
Little Thieves follows Vanja, the goddaughter of the Goddesses Death and Fortune, as she fights to free herself from a curse—she must make up for all she has stolen by the new moon, lest she become nothing more than a pile of jewels. She has two weeks.
With the help of a shapeshifting demigod Vanja struggles to figure out how, exactly, she’s supposed to break this curse. With a charming prefect trying to track her down to bring her to justice for all she’s stolen, and a murderous fiance who wants to kill her even before the curse does, shennanigans ensue.
I am awful at these little recaps. I promise it’s better than I make it sound.
One of the things that drew me to this book was that it has demi rep. I was seeing it lauded for that a ton on instagram, and while it did have that rep, I was a little disappointed. I was seeing so many posts saying it had great demi/ace rep, and I had just read The Love Hypothesis, that I had really high expectations. And don’t get me wrong, the rep that was there was really well done, but it literally was only one paragraph. Both main characters are demi, and they have a conversation about it that lasts half a page, and then it’s never addressed again. Which is fine. The book itself never claims to have a ton of rep and Margaret Owen doesn’t claim it does either, it was just the way I saw it recommended a on instagram was a little misleading.
So: There is ace/demi rep! It is there! It is really well addressed! But it is not a large part of the story and only comes up once. I still loved that it was there, I just was expecting a little more of it.
I love morally gray characters, and Vanja is 100% one of my favorites. She’s damaged, and she’s going to look out for herself, no matter who she has to hurt in order to do so. But she also is a genuinely good person. She does care about others and the good of the world, she just puts herself first, because that’s what she has had to do in order to survive. But now, in order to survive, she has to do the opposite. Seeing her internal struggle to come to terms with what that meant made her feel like a truly well written character.
I also loved the juxtaposition of Vanja’s morally gray me before everyone else and Emeric’s incessant do-gooder sunshine personality. Both of them experienced trauma and they reacted differently, and seeing each of them interact with the other and learn from the other was really cool.
I absolutely adored every character in this book (aside from the obvious evil villain). They were all well written and engaging, and the ways that they interacted with each other and balanced each other out was just…immaculate. Perfection. So. Freaking. Good.
I cannot express how much I loved this book and how much you need to read it.
Age Rating: 14+
Over All: 5 stars
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Little Thieves was one of my favorite books I read in November. Vanja is an incredible character; Margaret Owen’s writing is breathtaking; and the world and story swept me up from the start.
Little Thieves follows Vanja, the goddaughter of the Goddesses Death and Fortune, as she fights to free herself from a curse—she must make up for all she has stolen by the new moon, lest she become nothing more than a pile of jewels. She has two weeks.
With the help of a shapeshifting demigod Vanja struggles to figure out how, exactly, she’s supposed to break this curse. With a charming prefect trying to track her down to bring her to justice for all she’s stolen, and a murderous fiance who wants to kill her even before the curse does, shennanigans ensue.
I am awful at these little recaps. I promise it’s better than I make it sound.
One of the things that drew me to this book was that it has demi rep. I was seeing it lauded for that a ton on instagram, and while it did have that rep, I was a little disappointed. I was seeing so many posts saying it had great demi/ace rep, and I had just read The Love Hypothesis, that I had really high expectations. And don’t get me wrong, the rep that was there was really well done, but it literally was only one paragraph. Both main characters are demi, and they have a conversation about it that lasts half a page, and then it’s never addressed again. Which is fine. The book itself never claims to have a ton of rep and Margaret Owen doesn’t claim it does either, it was just the way I saw it recommended a on instagram was a little misleading.
So: There is ace/demi rep! It is there! It is really well addressed! But it is not a large part of the story and only comes up once. I still loved that it was there, I just was expecting a little more of it.
I love morally gray characters, and Vanja is 100% one of my favorites. She’s damaged, and she’s going to look out for herself, no matter who she has to hurt in order to do so. But she also is a genuinely good person. She does care about others and the good of the world, she just puts herself first, because that’s what she has had to do in order to survive. But now, in order to survive, she has to do the opposite. Seeing her internal struggle to come to terms with what that meant made her feel like a truly well written character.
I also loved the juxtaposition of Vanja’s morally gray me before everyone else and Emeric’s incessant do-gooder sunshine personality. Both of them experienced trauma and they reacted differently, and seeing each of them interact with the other and learn from the other was really cool.
I absolutely adored every character in this book (aside from the obvious evil villain). They were all well written and engaging, and the ways that they interacted with each other and balanced each other out was just…immaculate. Perfection. So. Freaking. Good.
I cannot express how much I loved this book and how much you need to read it.