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chronicallybookish's Reviews (1.53k)
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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:
Yes
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 4.25 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
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 don’t know why the reviews of this book are so low—I loved it. I loved Wibbroka. They simply cannot write a bad book, in my opinion. Honestly, I think their reviews for their YA books have been lower since they started writing adult, because their adult readers are reading their YA books and finding them “too YA”. Because yes, this book is solidly YA. The teenage characters act like teenagers, so if that’s not your cup of tea, you should probably pass on this one.
The premise of this book is tons of fun. Perfectionist Kaylee is forced to go on a family vacation with her childhood best friend—and recent ex boyfriend—Dean, and she decides in order to make the trip less awkward, she needs to help him get over her. Cue shenanigans. Admittedly, there are some logistical questions in there, but while reading the book I wasn’t too caught up in them. I felt like I was just along for the ride. I was having fun, because I think that’s what this book is, at its core: fun. It does touch on more emotional topics. Breakups, of course, but also family, social media spotlights, perfectionism, and more. It definitely has a deeper undercurrent that kept me emotionally invested in the story and characters, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s an emotionally driven story.
Like always, Wibbroka gives us a little cameo of the previous books characters. I loved seeing a bit of Siena and Patrick, and I can’t wait to see Dean and Kaylee in the next book. If you’re looking to pick up your first Wibbroka YA, this is as good a place to start as any—as long as you remember it is in fact YA.
I really enjoyed this book, and I think it’s a must read for any YA contemporary lover—especially if you enjoy the second chance romance trope.
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 4.25 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
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 don’t know why the reviews of this book are so low—I loved it. I loved Wibbroka. They simply cannot write a bad book, in my opinion. Honestly, I think their reviews for their YA books have been lower since they started writing adult, because their adult readers are reading their YA books and finding them “too YA”. Because yes, this book is solidly YA. The teenage characters act like teenagers, so if that’s not your cup of tea, you should probably pass on this one.
The premise of this book is tons of fun. Perfectionist Kaylee is forced to go on a family vacation with her childhood best friend—and recent ex boyfriend—Dean, and she decides in order to make the trip less awkward, she needs to help him get over her. Cue shenanigans. Admittedly, there are some logistical questions in there, but while reading the book I wasn’t too caught up in them. I felt like I was just along for the ride. I was having fun, because I think that’s what this book is, at its core: fun. It does touch on more emotional topics. Breakups, of course, but also family, social media spotlights, perfectionism, and more. It definitely has a deeper undercurrent that kept me emotionally invested in the story and characters, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s an emotionally driven story.
Like always, Wibbroka gives us a little cameo of the previous books characters. I loved seeing a bit of Siena and Patrick, and I can’t wait to see Dean and Kaylee in the next book. If you’re looking to pick up your first Wibbroka YA, this is as good a place to start as any—as long as you remember it is in fact YA.
I really enjoyed this book, and I think it’s a must read for any YA contemporary lover—especially if you enjoy the second chance romance trope.
Loveable characters:
No
<b>Quick Stats</b>
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 1.75 stars
Plot: 1.5/5
Characters: 2/5
Setting: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
<i>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>
Suite Life on Deck meets One of Us Is Lying in Diana Urban’s newest YA mystery.
That premise was so interesting to me. I loved the idea of it, but the execution did not work. There is no murder in this murder mystery until page 170, 45% of the way through. And almost everything before that point does not matter. It was painful to get through.
I went in here expecting a high stakes twisty murder mystery and I got 20 year old acting like they’re 14 fighting over boys and petty relationship and friendship drama that was way too dramatic. It’s 170 pages of woe is me my best friend and boyfriend betrayed me for each other boohoo. Until—finally—a murder! Except I was so sick of the main character at this point that I would not have cared if she ended up going down for it. I also did not care about the murdered girl. Or any of the subsequent murdered people. Actually, I did not care about a single character in this book.
This entire book was painful to read, the investigation was so stupid and pointless. “Obviously it wasn’t x character.” With no reason other than “because it couldn’t have been”.
The last 50 pages were kind of interesting to read, but honestly that’s the extent of it.
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 1.75 stars
Plot: 1.5/5
Characters: 2/5
Setting: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
<i>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>
Suite Life on Deck meets One of Us Is Lying in Diana Urban’s newest YA mystery.
That premise was so interesting to me. I loved the idea of it, but the execution did not work. There is no murder in this murder mystery until page 170, 45% of the way through. And almost everything before that point does not matter. It was painful to get through.
I went in here expecting a high stakes twisty murder mystery and I got 20 year old acting like they’re 14 fighting over boys and petty relationship and friendship drama that was way too dramatic. It’s 170 pages of woe is me my best friend and boyfriend betrayed me for each other boohoo. Until—finally—a murder! Except I was so sick of the main character at this point that I would not have cared if she ended up going down for it. I also did not care about the murdered girl. Or any of the subsequent murdered people. Actually, I did not care about a single character in this book.
This entire book was painful to read, the investigation was so stupid and pointless. “Obviously it wasn’t x character.” With no reason other than “because it couldn’t have been”.
The last 50 pages were kind of interesting to read, but honestly that’s the extent of it.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
<i>Quick Stats</i>
<b>Age Rating: 18+</b>
<i>Spice Level: 2/5</i>
Over All: 2.5 stars
Plot: 2.5/5
Characters: 3/5
Setting: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Representation: 1/5
<i>Special thanks to Berkley Romance and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.</i>
I really wanted to like this book. Largely because the author’s name is Katie Shepard, which is my cousin’s name (or it was, before she got married). Also it has disability rep! What else could you ask for?
A lot, apparently.
The characters had no depth, no personality, and no chemistry. The story didn’t really go anywhere, and the entire premise… did not work for me.
Darcy and Teagan meet at rehab, where she is the groundskeeper and he is an inpatient. He’s there because, for some reason, his sister decided to drag him to rehab for drug addiction and alcoholism to treat a panic disorder. So, Darcy thinks he’s an alcoholic. And when he has to leave early, she decides to go with him and be his sober companion while he lies about being an alcoholic. Also while they sleep together and have a romantic relationship. What.
They do touch on the potentially ethical dilemma of SC screwing her recovering alcoholic for about a sentence, but decide it’s fine because “she’s not his sponsor or his therapist.” Wrong. Also they don’t consider the quite obvious negative effects that would have on his purported recovery if their relationship went south. Like, I get he’s not actually an alcoholic, but Darcy thinks he is. But I digress.
Anyway, they decide this is totally a great idea! And Teagan decides to just, lie to her indefinitely without getting any help for his actual mental health issue. Also he goes off his meds without talking to a doctor because they’re giving him ED, which Darcy has no problem with him doing. And aside from a single comment from his sister of “you did WHAT?!” it’s never condemned as a dumbass thing to do.
You know what other stupid thing is prevalent throughout the book and never condemned? The comparison of addiction and panic disorders, as in panic disorders are worse to have than addiction. Teagan has multiple internal monologues about how it would’ve been easier to have an addiction, because he could just not drink, but his panic disorder is a part of his brain chemistry and he’ll have to live with that forever. That’s not how addiction works and that entire thought process is fucked on so many levels. So many. Similarly, when talking to his sister about her own potential addiction, Teagan tells her she just has to decide to do better and go to rehab, as if it’s that easy. Darcy’s thought process about the whole thing seems nontoxic, but this aspect is never addressed from her POV, and it’s never condemned in the novel.
None of this worked for me, and I’m beyond disappointed that that’s the case. But even outside of the rep, I simply did not care about the characters, the setting, the world. It all felt underdeveloped. While these things weren’t terrible, I’m not sure I could call them good, either. I can’t say I recommend this book, nor do I intend to pick up any of this author’s future work.
<b>Age Rating: 18+</b>
<i>Spice Level: 2/5</i>
Over All: 2.5 stars
Plot: 2.5/5
Characters: 3/5
Setting: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Representation: 1/5
<i>Special thanks to Berkley Romance and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.</i>
I really wanted to like this book. Largely because the author’s name is Katie Shepard, which is my cousin’s name (or it was, before she got married). Also it has disability rep! What else could you ask for?
A lot, apparently.
The characters had no depth, no personality, and no chemistry. The story didn’t really go anywhere, and the entire premise… did not work for me.
Darcy and Teagan meet at rehab, where she is the groundskeeper and he is an inpatient. He’s there because, for some reason, his sister decided to drag him to rehab for drug addiction and alcoholism to treat a panic disorder. So, Darcy thinks he’s an alcoholic. And when he has to leave early, she decides to go with him and be his sober companion while he lies about being an alcoholic. Also while they sleep together and have a romantic relationship. What.
They do touch on the potentially ethical dilemma of SC screwing her recovering alcoholic for about a sentence, but decide it’s fine because “she’s not his sponsor or his therapist.” Wrong. Also they don’t consider the quite obvious negative effects that would have on his purported recovery if their relationship went south. Like, I get he’s not actually an alcoholic, but Darcy thinks he is. But I digress.
Anyway, they decide this is totally a great idea! And Teagan decides to just, lie to her indefinitely without getting any help for his actual mental health issue. Also he goes off his meds without talking to a doctor because they’re giving him ED, which Darcy has no problem with him doing. And aside from a single comment from his sister of “you did WHAT?!” it’s never condemned as a dumbass thing to do.
You know what other stupid thing is prevalent throughout the book and never condemned? The comparison of addiction and panic disorders, as in panic disorders are worse to have than addiction. Teagan has multiple internal monologues about how it would’ve been easier to have an addiction, because he could just not drink, but his panic disorder is a part of his brain chemistry and he’ll have to live with that forever. That’s not how addiction works and that entire thought process is fucked on so many levels. So many. Similarly, when talking to his sister about her own potential addiction, Teagan tells her she just has to decide to do better and go to rehab, as if it’s that easy. Darcy’s thought process about the whole thing seems nontoxic, but this aspect is never addressed from her POV, and it’s never condemned in the novel.
None of this worked for me, and I’m beyond disappointed that that’s the case. But even outside of the rep, I simply did not care about the characters, the setting, the world. It all felt underdeveloped. While these things weren’t terrible, I’m not sure I could call them good, either. I can’t say I recommend this book, nor do I intend to pick up any of this author’s future work.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-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:
N/A
<i>Quick Stats</i>
<b>Age Rating: 18+</b>
<i>Spice Level: 2/5</i>
Over All: 5 stars
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Disability Rep: 5/5
<i>Special thanks to Red Tower Books for an ARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.</i>
This is one of those books that I do not know how to review because I loved it so much.
It has dragons! Magic! Politics! Action! Romance! A lil spice! And #ownvoices disability representation! And it just so! Freaking! Good!
I will admit it was a little cliche, a little predictable at times, but the tension—both plot and sexual—was immaculate. Even when I pretty much knew how something was going to play out, I found myself on the edge of my seat anticipating it, and when those not quite surprising twists came, I was shrieking and freaking out over how obsessed I was. Yarros gripped and thrown into the story. I could not stop reading—I finished the entire 500+ page book in a day and a half. Even without the disability rep, this book would’ve been a five star read. With it, it’s become one of my favorite books of all time.
Violet, our main character has ehler’s danlos syndrome (EDS), which is a connective tissue disorder that essentially makes your joints loose and fragile. Dislocations, sprains, subplexations, and other similar injuries are very common. Of course, since this is a high fantasy, the disorder is not named, but the symptoms are present, and Rebecca Yarros has said that’s what Violet has—and that its portrayal is based on her own symptoms. I don’t personally have EDS, but I am disabled, and despite the differences between my and Violet’s disabilities, the representation was incredibly meaningful to me. There were so many quotes, conversations, and scenarios that were so similar to my own experiences. I felt seen in Violet in a way I rarely get to in fantasy, and I love it.
I love this book with all my heart and I can’t wait until it’s out in the world, because I think it could—and SHOULD—be the next big romantasy book.
<b>Age Rating: 18+</b>
<i>Spice Level: 2/5</i>
Over All: 5 stars
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Disability Rep: 5/5
<i>Special thanks to Red Tower Books for an ARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.</i>
This is one of those books that I do not know how to review because I loved it so much.
It has dragons! Magic! Politics! Action! Romance! A lil spice! And #ownvoices disability representation! And it just so! Freaking! Good!
I will admit it was a little cliche, a little predictable at times, but the tension—both plot and sexual—was immaculate. Even when I pretty much knew how something was going to play out, I found myself on the edge of my seat anticipating it, and when those not quite surprising twists came, I was shrieking and freaking out over how obsessed I was. Yarros gripped and thrown into the story. I could not stop reading—I finished the entire 500+ page book in a day and a half. Even without the disability rep, this book would’ve been a five star read. With it, it’s become one of my favorite books of all time.
Violet, our main character has ehler’s danlos syndrome (EDS), which is a connective tissue disorder that essentially makes your joints loose and fragile. Dislocations, sprains, subplexations, and other similar injuries are very common. Of course, since this is a high fantasy, the disorder is not named, but the symptoms are present, and Rebecca Yarros has said that’s what Violet has—and that its portrayal is based on her own symptoms. I don’t personally have EDS, but I am disabled, and despite the differences between my and Violet’s disabilities, the representation was incredibly meaningful to me. There were so many quotes, conversations, and scenarios that were so similar to my own experiences. I felt seen in Violet in a way I rarely get to in fantasy, and I love it.
I love this book with all my heart and I can’t wait until it’s out in the world, because I think it could—and SHOULD—be the next big romantasy book.
