chronicallybookish's Reviews (1.53k)

Quick Stats
Overall: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4/5


I’ve got to say, I think Winterkeep is my least favorite Graceling novel so far. I was really excited for this, but it took me a really long time to get into it. It felt a lot more “tell” than “show” for the first 100 pages, and it took as long for the plot to really begin. I didn’t like Giddon’s POV. He was just… so boring. He had no personality. We needed to see the story from that side, but I think Hava would have been a much more interesting narrative to read and we would have gotten the information that we needed, too.
Now, that’s not to say that this isn’t a good book—it’s a bit slow to get into, but once it picked up, I was fully invested. I loved getting to see Lovisa’s point of view. Again, it took me a handful of chapters from her POV to get invested, but once I did, she became my favorite character. There was some set up that makes me really hope that we get a fifth book about Lovisa in the future—or even a novella. I want to see more of her in the future and continue to see her grow as a character. She had an incredible arc in Winterkeep though.
I also really liked seeing from the POV of Adventure Fox, that was very interesting. He’s another favorite character of mine, and again, I’d love to see more of him in future books—if there are any.
The plot itself took a while to develop, but a little over halfway it really picked up and got me invested. There were plenty of twists and turns I didn’t see coming, and it all wrapped up very nicely. I just wish we had gotten to the plot a little sooner, because then it could have been a five star read.
I wish I could give the first half of this book 2.5 stars, and the second half 5 stars.
I do recommend this book—especially for Graceling fans—but definitely be aware that it takes a while to get good.

This is my second time reading this book and I still can’t formulate my immeasurable love for this book into words. It is my absolute favorite book of all time.

Please read it.

5000000000/5 stars

Quick Stats
Overall: 3.5 stars
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 3.5/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 3/5

This was a thoroughly solid start to a YA fantasy series, and I intend to pick up book 2 when it comes out, but I have to admit this book came as a bit of a disappointment to me. This was a book I’d been highly anticipating—the premise sounded incredible—but it just fell a little flat.
I never got really invested in the story. It was interesting; I wanted to know what came next, but it didn’t pull me in the way a truly good fantasy novel does. I never felt immersed in the story, and I never felt super connected to the characters. I felt disconnected.
The plot dragged at times, and was overall a bit disjointed and slow up until the last fifty pages where it really picked up. The last bit of the book was by far the best part, but it too felt a little disconnected from the rest of the plot up until then.
None of this is to say it’s a bad book—it’s very much not. I did enjoy the book and intend to continue with the series. I loved the magic system and world building, and I really liked the last bit of the book, which made me eager to see what comes next. But knowing Sara Raasch’s earlier work (specifically Snow Like Ashes) I had high hopes that just… weren’t met. It was a good read, but it had the potential to be really great, and it was disappointing that it didn’t live up to that.

Quick Stats
Overall: 4 stars
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Chronic Illness Rep: 5/5
POC Rep: 1/5

Content/Trigger Warnings: discussions of chronic illness, depression, suicide, bad POC rep, and some mild descriptions of blood/gore

I’m just going to start this review by saying what this book is—and what it isn’t. It IS #ownvoices chronic illness rep. It IS NOT, I repeat, IT IS NOT #ownvoices South Asian rep, or POC rep at all.
I guess, before we get into the review any further, I should also let you know what I am. I am chronically ill. But, my skin is the color of Wonder Bread. My ancestry is just a melting pot of Europe. So it is in no way my place to comment on the portrayal of the Indian characters in this book—so I’m not going to.

Please check out these reviews for information on that:

Aparna R.'s reviewtalks a lot about the racist implications in the cover, and why white people shouldn’t be writing books where the main character is POC, because of issues and complexities POC individuals face that we can’t understand. Overall, she explains the problems with this book--and similar ones--very well.

I struggled a lot with how to review this. I requested an ARC before I was aware of the problematic elements. But since I requested an ARC, I felt obligated to read and review it. I actually wanted to hate this book. I wanted it to be badly written and for the chronic illness rep to suck. Then it would have been easy, right? I could have just give it a 1 star, scathing review.

But the problem is, I didn’t hate it. I loved it. The chronic illness rep is the best I’ve read outside of Sick Kids in Love, the story was perfectly weird and interesting, and the writing was fantastic. So I’m not really sure what to do. I really just tried to factor in everything and average my ratings.

I’m not going to tell you to read this book, but I’m not going to tell you not to, either.

Now, for the actual review:

I’m going to focus on the chronic illness aspects of the book, since, in that area, I am an own voices reviewer.
The rep is so good. I absolutely ADORED every single member of the group chat, and I really appreciated the group chat plotline. Such a big part of my own journey towards accepting my illnesses was making other chronically ill friends, and like Priya, I met them online. Unlike Priya, however, none of them are werewolves (unfortunately).
I also really liked how the author addressed the feeling of a flare. That was really resonated with me, how Priya talked about feeling so stupid for thinking she was really better. That’s a feeling I’m much too familiar with, and Kristen O’Neal put that feeling—and so many others that those of us struggling with chronic illness feel—in a really validating way.

So, in short, I loved this book. But but has some seriously problematic issues when it comes to it’s POC rep. Read at your own risk.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Delacorte Press for an early eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

Quick Stats
Age Rating: 12+
Overall: 4/5 stars
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 3.5/5

Kasie West and I have a complicated relationship. Her books have been really hit or miss with me in the past. I’ve loved some and hated others, but Sunkissed has falling squarely in the love category.
This was such a fun, summery read—perfect for reading stretched out on a towel at the beach. I really liked Avery, Brooks, and Maricela. Kai and Lauren were solid characters as well, though sometimes they got on my nerves. I related a lot to Avery, and though she annoyed me at times, her actions always made sense and were usually what I’d have done in that situation too.
I loved Brooks. Typical, broody but actually sweet, damaged and yet not toxic YA love interest. He hit all the marks of a typical swoon-worthy YA love interest without the toxic edge that so many have, yet still seemed like his own character instead of a walking cliche. I really enjoyed his character and the relationship that developed between him and Avery.
Speaking of their relationship—the romance in this story was Kasie West at her very best (hey, that rhymes): sweet, swoony, stock-full of chemistry, with a dash of teen angst, and my favorite part—innocent. Kasie West’s books are perfect for every age of reader, and they deliver swoon-worthy chemistry and romance without any smut that many other contemporary/romance books (even in YA) have. I really like that.
The plot was fun, it sewed teen angst, family, friendship, and romance together nicely. I loved the music and song writing aspects—another common staple in Kasie West’s works—as well as the journey that Avery went on to sort of “find herself”. Avery grew as a person very steadily throughout the plot, and it felt natural and not forced, which is hard to do. I never felt like the story dragged or rushed. There was nothing super special about the plot, but it was solid and enjoyable.
If you’re a fan of fun summery romances I highly recommend you check this out—whether you’re 12 or 20, this is a great beach read.

Quick Stats
Age Rating: 12+
Overall: 3.5 stars
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 3/5

I’ve always been a bit iffy on Kasie West, but this being the second book of hers I’ve read and enjoyed in the past… two days… I think I might officially have to call myself a fan.
Fame, Fate and the First Kiss is the companion novel to Love, Life, and the List, and follows Lacey Barnes, the best friend of Abby, the main character from Love, Life, and the List. Fame can be read on it’s own, however it does include some spoilers for Abby’s story.
Here’s the thing: I didn’t like Love, Life, and the List. I think I gave it 3 stars when I read it a couple years ago, but if I were to read it now, I’d probably give it 2. However, I enjoyed Fame a lot, the plot and writing were all around better, and I found the characters involved to me very entertaining and much better developed. It’s ironic, that I liked this book, because in the first book, Lacey was my least favorite character. I found her annoying. But as the protagonist of her own story, I liked her a lot—and I loved Donovan so much.
I picked this book up because I found it at a thrift store while I was reading an ARC of Sunkissed (Kasie West’s upcoming novel, out 5/4 and very good!) and it was $3 for a hardcover, so I was like “why not”. And I’m so glad I did because I liked this book a lot more than I expected to, and I think I’ve maybe—hopefully—decided that the few books of West’s that I didn’t like were flukes and she’s an author I enjoy.
I think this book is definitely worth checking out—even if you weren’t a huge fan of Love, Life, and the List.

Quick Stats
Age Rating: 13+
Overall: 3.5 stars
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Writing: 2.5/5
Representation: 5/5


I wanted to love this book so much. It has such high reviews and SUCH AMAZING REP for so many different people. The concept is cute and fun, and I liked Skye’s character. But it just… fell flat.
I really liked all the characters. Skye was a great narrator and protagonist, and she was easy to love. Lana was sweet and spunky and I loved every scene she was in—she’s definitely my favorite character. I wasn’t a fan of Clarissa, and I didn’t see enough of Rebecca, Tiffany, or Imani to be able to say I enjoyed their characters. Henry was fine, I guess. As a character I liked him, but I just never fell for him as a love interest, and I felt like he and Skye had zero chemistry. I knew they would get together in the end because, well, it’s a romance, but I genuinely wouldn’t have cared if they didn’t. There were no sparks. They almost kissed a few times, but there was no tension or build up, and I wouldn’t have even known it was an almost-kiss if it weren’t for the fact that Skye said “we almost kissed.” The romance just wasn’t very well done.

The plot was fine. It was predictable and pretty average interest-wise, but there was nothing wrong with it. I wasn’t a fan of the writing. I don’t know if the style just wasn’t for me, or if it was objectively bad, but it just felt like their were words/phrases/sentences that were weak or awkward. The dialogue, especially, at times felt stilted, and the author relied a bit too heavily explaining things via internal monologue and then saying “and I told him as much” or “I explained my thinking to him”. It happened a handful of times throughout the novel, and I just think it may have been stronger and built more of a tangible relationship between Skye and Henry if those page long monologues were more conversational—or part monologue, part conversation. They just got tedious.

Would I still recommend this book? I guess, because it has such amazing rep for Korean people, plus sized people, and LGBTQ+ people, and that’s so important and lacking in books.

All in all, it was still a bit of a let down, and my rating is only as high as it is because of the representation.

18+
4.5 stars

I really enjoyed this! RTC