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chronicallybookish's Reviews (1.53k)
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 2 stars
Plot: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Setting: 2/5
Writing: 2.5/5
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 love retellings, but this one disappointed me. Honestly, it just didn’t feel fleshed out enough. It was the definition of telling instead of showing. I felt no connection to the characters, no connection to the plot, nothing. Interesting things were happening, but the writing was so sparse that I was never able to truly engage with what was happening. It also had the worst case of instalove I think I’ve ever read.
We get three scenes in which they have no chemistry aside from platonic. Then a time skip of a year. They run into each other and have a quick conversation and a dance—still no chemistry. Then the next time they see each other it’s true love. The only scene that I felt any connection between them was the one in the fountains. Also the kiss was so poorly written. It was supposed to be this world shattering kiss, and yet it had no description or anything, only Cendrillon telling us that it was a world shattering kiss.
I flew through this book, but it was painfully boring and predictable, and I really just didn’t enjoy it, unfortunately.
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 2 stars
Plot: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Setting: 2/5
Writing: 2.5/5
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 love retellings, but this one disappointed me. Honestly, it just didn’t feel fleshed out enough. It was the definition of telling instead of showing. I felt no connection to the characters, no connection to the plot, nothing. Interesting things were happening, but the writing was so sparse that I was never able to truly engage with what was happening. It also had the worst case of instalove I think I’ve ever read.
We get three scenes in which they have no chemistry aside from platonic. Then a time skip of a year. They run into each other and have a quick conversation and a dance—still no chemistry. Then the next time they see each other it’s true love. The only scene that I felt any connection between them was the one in the fountains. Also the kiss was so poorly written. It was supposed to be this world shattering kiss, and yet it had no description or anything, only Cendrillon telling us that it was a world shattering kiss.
I flew through this book, but it was painfully boring and predictable, and I really just didn’t enjoy it, unfortunately.
1.5 stars
Emily XR Pan’s debut, The Astonishing Color of After was one my top 5 books I read in 2019, so I’ve been desperately awaiting her sophomore novel ever since. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I could not get into this book.
An Arrow to the Moon is pitched as a contemporary fantasy Romeo and Juliet retelling with inspiration from Chinese mythology.
It sounds incredible, and I’m so disappointed that I wasn’t able to enjoy it.
AAttM is told in third person with the POV character shifting every chapter. There are 115 chapters in this 400 page book. 65% of the book is told from Hunter or Luna’s POV, while 40 chapters intersperced are told by Hunter’s brother, Cody, both teen’s respective parents, or the antagonist, Rodney Wong.
Now, I prefer short chapters, but when the POVs are switching every chapter and each chapter is an average of 3.5 pages, it’s hard to connect with the characters or the story. The constant change of POV was choppy, and none of the other character’s POVs were necessary for the story. They didn’t add anything to it.
There was just so much going on, it was hard to follow any one strand of plot. If every chapter except for Hunter and Luna’s were removed, the book would read virtually the same.
The writing itself was pretty, though it was a bit too flowery at times. I had a hard time getting into the heads of the characters and feeling what they were feeling, because I was so bogged down in the writing.
When it comes to plot, I’m not sure I could tell you what it was. Weird, magical things happened, we never fully learned why. Why did the ground crack? What was the “bad energy” seeping from those cracks? What was the point of the fireflies? The indigo kiss-spots? The only magical part of this book that made any sense was Hunter’s archery skills. The money, the wind, the fireflies, the cracks, the peaches, the rabbit, and everything else was given no explanation. Half the time I couldn’t tell what was “good” magic and what was “bad” magic, though I was given the impression it was supposed to be apparent.
For star crossed lovers, Luna and Hunter didn’t have much chemistry. Maybe this goes back to my inability to connect to them, but there have been plenty of books where I couldn’t connect to the characters but still enjoyed the apparent chemistry between them.
The entire subplot with Luna’s parents’ marriage—what was the point of that? It wasn’t resolved, it didn’t add anything to the plot. It felt awkwardly plunked into the narrative solely for the shock factor of Luna walking in on her mom in a… compromising position. I kept thinking it was somehow going to tie into some aspect of the magic, or the triad, or anything especially after we got a few chapters from Luna’s mom’s POV talking about the affair. But no. It was there, and then it gets lost in the mess of the plot.
The end, too, was wholly unsatisfying. I knew there wouldn’t be a happily ever after. It is a Romeo and Juliet retelling, after all. But there was no closure to any of the story lines. They float up into space, never able to touch. Eternally alone, just plucked out of their lives with no warning, and we know absolutely nothing about how they feel about it. If it were a sacrifice they willingly made to save the world/their families/each other, that would be one thing, but Luna just eats a rock because some fireflies told her to and floats to the moon with Hunter chasing behind.
No one ever has any reactions to the absolutely insane things that happen in this book, and it’s so boring. Yes, things happen, but they’re just glossed over. Never explained, never resolved, never felt. The book is resolved by simply erasing everyone’s memory, so there is no impact.
The whole book just lacks emotion or any kind of driving force to keep it interesting.
I wanted to enjoy this book, but I couldn’t. I was so bored while reading, it was physically painful, but I forced myself to finish it. I can’t say I’m glad that I did.
All in all, the biggest disappointment so far this year.
Emily XR Pan’s debut, The Astonishing Color of After was one my top 5 books I read in 2019, so I’ve been desperately awaiting her sophomore novel ever since. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I could not get into this book.
An Arrow to the Moon is pitched as a contemporary fantasy Romeo and Juliet retelling with inspiration from Chinese mythology.
It sounds incredible, and I’m so disappointed that I wasn’t able to enjoy it.
AAttM is told in third person with the POV character shifting every chapter. There are 115 chapters in this 400 page book. 65% of the book is told from Hunter or Luna’s POV, while 40 chapters intersperced are told by Hunter’s brother, Cody, both teen’s respective parents, or the antagonist, Rodney Wong.
Now, I prefer short chapters, but when the POVs are switching every chapter and each chapter is an average of 3.5 pages, it’s hard to connect with the characters or the story. The constant change of POV was choppy, and none of the other character’s POVs were necessary for the story. They didn’t add anything to it.
There was just so much going on, it was hard to follow any one strand of plot. If every chapter except for Hunter and Luna’s were removed, the book would read virtually the same.
The writing itself was pretty, though it was a bit too flowery at times. I had a hard time getting into the heads of the characters and feeling what they were feeling, because I was so bogged down in the writing.
When it comes to plot, I’m not sure I could tell you what it was. Weird, magical things happened, we never fully learned why. Why did the ground crack? What was the “bad energy” seeping from those cracks? What was the point of the fireflies? The indigo kiss-spots? The only magical part of this book that made any sense was Hunter’s archery skills. The money, the wind, the fireflies, the cracks, the peaches, the rabbit, and everything else was given no explanation. Half the time I couldn’t tell what was “good” magic and what was “bad” magic, though I was given the impression it was supposed to be apparent.
For star crossed lovers, Luna and Hunter didn’t have much chemistry. Maybe this goes back to my inability to connect to them, but there have been plenty of books where I couldn’t connect to the characters but still enjoyed the apparent chemistry between them.
The entire subplot with Luna’s parents’ marriage—what was the point of that? It wasn’t resolved, it didn’t add anything to the plot. It felt awkwardly plunked into the narrative solely for the shock factor of Luna walking in on her mom in a… compromising position. I kept thinking it was somehow going to tie into some aspect of the magic, or the triad, or anything especially after we got a few chapters from Luna’s mom’s POV talking about the affair. But no. It was there, and then it gets lost in the mess of the plot.
The end, too, was wholly unsatisfying. I knew there wouldn’t be a happily ever after. It is a Romeo and Juliet retelling, after all. But there was no closure to any of the story lines. They float up into space, never able to touch. Eternally alone, just plucked out of their lives with no warning, and we know absolutely nothing about how they feel about it. If it were a sacrifice they willingly made to save the world/their families/each other, that would be one thing, but Luna just eats a rock because some fireflies told her to and floats to the moon with Hunter chasing behind.
No one ever has any reactions to the absolutely insane things that happen in this book, and it’s so boring. Yes, things happen, but they’re just glossed over. Never explained, never resolved, never felt. The book is resolved by simply erasing everyone’s memory, so there is no impact.
The whole book just lacks emotion or any kind of driving force to keep it interesting.
I wanted to enjoy this book, but I couldn’t. I was so bored while reading, it was physically painful, but I forced myself to finish it. I can’t say I’m glad that I did.
All in all, the biggest disappointment so far this year.
4.5 stars
A great start to the series. I want to binge it so badly but I have other books I need to read first
A great start to the series. I want to binge it so badly but I have other books I need to read first
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 4 stars
Plot: 3.5/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting: 4.5/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Special thanks to Holiday House for sending me an ARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
This was such a fun, quick, and romantic read. My Mechanical Romance is Olivie Blake’s (the author of The Atlas Six) YA contemporary debut under her given name. I haven’t read TA6 (yet!) but reading MMR bumped it higher on my TBR.
Teo is the school’s golden boy and the head of the robotics team. Bel is the new girl who got roped into joining the team mostly against her will. The two bump heads almost immediately when Bel tells him his plan for the bot isn’t going to work. Instant rivals-to-lovers. The banter, the chemistry, the budding friendship and romance that develops from said rivalry was everything I wanted it to be. Told in dual POV, I was able to connect fully to both Teo and Bel, and quickly became invested in their relationship. The other characters often felt a little flat, underdeveloped, which took away from the story a bit when it came to group interactions in robotics club.
The pacing, too, was not the best. It definitely felt like a debut novel in that sense—which it kind of is, but also not really. The story just jumped from plot point to plot point in some areas. It was jolting and I needed more build up for some of the more major decisions and events that took place. These jumps were almost constant from about the 60-80% marks, though there were a few instances where they occurred otherwise as well.
I loved that the book took on women in STEM and the sexism they face. For the most part, I think it was handled well. I liked how they acknowledged Bel’s girlyness and its affect on whether or not she was taken seriously as a mechanic—and that the fact that such things ever have an affect is bullshit, but does happen.
I really didn’t like the girl v. Girl fighting between Bel and the other girl in the club. She was just really unnecessarily bitchy and mean, and it played really hard into that stereotype, which felt counterproductive and just, shallow. I’m glad it worked out in the end, but up to that point it was really annoying and I think it did the book a disservice.
Likewise, I think the book was trying a little too hard with the “wokeness,” for lack of a better term. Don’t get me wrong, I love when books address activism and sexism, racism, homophobia, climate change, etc. I think it’s so important that the books teens read hit on this issues. The problem I had with it, with the exception of the women in STEM aspect, was that it just felt so performative. These references are asides were awkwardly thrown into the dialogue as if the author was trying to hit as as many buzzwords as she could to get “points.”
Let’s make a random reference to heteronormativity out of the blue.
Now we’ve got to mention the Bechdel Test! (the mentioning of this always irks me, because it’s never done naturally, and is always the author trying to be “clever”, but it never hits.)
Of course, a random joke about global warming here!
These remarks always felt out of place in the context of the conversations, and were never elaborated on or discussed in any meaningful way. It felt awkward, shallow, and really took me out of the reading experience.
In the end, it was a very enjoyable book. If you’re looking for a quick, fun read to breeze through, I definitely recommend. Plus, it’s a women in STEM novel. Why wouldn’t you want to pick it up?
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 4 stars
Plot: 3.5/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting: 4.5/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Special thanks to Holiday House for sending me an ARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
This was such a fun, quick, and romantic read. My Mechanical Romance is Olivie Blake’s (the author of The Atlas Six) YA contemporary debut under her given name. I haven’t read TA6 (yet!) but reading MMR bumped it higher on my TBR.
Teo is the school’s golden boy and the head of the robotics team. Bel is the new girl who got roped into joining the team mostly against her will. The two bump heads almost immediately when Bel tells him his plan for the bot isn’t going to work. Instant rivals-to-lovers. The banter, the chemistry, the budding friendship and romance that develops from said rivalry was everything I wanted it to be. Told in dual POV, I was able to connect fully to both Teo and Bel, and quickly became invested in their relationship. The other characters often felt a little flat, underdeveloped, which took away from the story a bit when it came to group interactions in robotics club.
The pacing, too, was not the best. It definitely felt like a debut novel in that sense—which it kind of is, but also not really. The story just jumped from plot point to plot point in some areas. It was jolting and I needed more build up for some of the more major decisions and events that took place. These jumps were almost constant from about the 60-80% marks, though there were a few instances where they occurred otherwise as well.
I loved that the book took on women in STEM and the sexism they face. For the most part, I think it was handled well. I liked how they acknowledged Bel’s girlyness and its affect on whether or not she was taken seriously as a mechanic—and that the fact that such things ever have an affect is bullshit, but does happen.
I really didn’t like the girl v. Girl fighting between Bel and the other girl in the club. She was just really unnecessarily bitchy and mean, and it played really hard into that stereotype, which felt counterproductive and just, shallow. I’m glad it worked out in the end, but up to that point it was really annoying and I think it did the book a disservice.
Likewise, I think the book was trying a little too hard with the “wokeness,” for lack of a better term. Don’t get me wrong, I love when books address activism and sexism, racism, homophobia, climate change, etc. I think it’s so important that the books teens read hit on this issues. The problem I had with it, with the exception of the women in STEM aspect, was that it just felt so performative. These references are asides were awkwardly thrown into the dialogue as if the author was trying to hit as as many buzzwords as she could to get “points.”
Let’s make a random reference to heteronormativity out of the blue.
Now we’ve got to mention the Bechdel Test! (the mentioning of this always irks me, because it’s never done naturally, and is always the author trying to be “clever”, but it never hits.)
Of course, a random joke about global warming here!
These remarks always felt out of place in the context of the conversations, and were never elaborated on or discussed in any meaningful way. It felt awkward, shallow, and really took me out of the reading experience.
In the end, it was a very enjoyable book. If you’re looking for a quick, fun read to breeze through, I definitely recommend. Plus, it’s a women in STEM novel. Why wouldn’t you want to pick it up?