claudcloud's Reviews (310)

DNF at 57%

It's so bad, I want to give you a 0. But that's not possible, so I give you a 'this book completely wasted my time'.

Aside from the mediocre plot and writing, the characters are the most insufferable bunch of people I've ever read about - especially miss Katie Daniels, who's so wrapped up in her need for society to be binary and in gender stereotypes that she has a aneurysm when she encounters women who?? Shockingly?? Don't like to wear dresses, or makeup, or bras?? After living in New York City for years?? I absolutely hate her, and I don't say that lightly. Cassidy is equally obnoxious though, so I suppose they deserve each other, even if I would personally rather claw my own eyes out than read another word about them ever again 😊

아포방포 💜

So it turns out that the Emily Henry girlies were right all along and I will now proceed to read anything and everything that this woman writes...

This was such a fun read! I'm always a sucker for the fake-dating-but-not-really-because-it's-only-practice-but-oh-no-it's-becoming-real 👌🏻

I loved Molly and Alex as characters (and especially was able to relate to Molly a lot), and I loved the exploration of identity and self-love that we got through their individual stories, as well as through them learning more about each other and falling in love.

The strongest points of this book are definitely the characters, their relationships and all the diversity that we get within them, and I really enjoyed its pervading message of not devaluing yourself for the sake of others, not being a people-pleaser above all and living for yourself while trusting yourself and your heart. However, it did still end up as a middle-of-the-road read, and I feel like that's mainly because of the pacing issues and the very quick, unsatisfying finale.

It did give exactly what I was looking for, which was a light, fun summery read - but again, I feel like personally I just need to start honing in on the YA that I really love, and try to consume it a little more sparingly in the future.

Sometimes I catch myself thinking "I'm definitely getting too old for YA" - but then I stumble upon gems like this who give me all the feels and who remind me how fun YA can be when it's done well 🥺

This is genuinely the sapphic romcom of my dreams and I don't say that lightly. Saoirse as a character was so compelling from the very beginning, and she felt so real the entire time - she is young and messy and makes mistakes and lashes out and is reckoning with something looming over her that is so much bigger than herself, but she is so, so deeply human, and I just really loved being in her shoes! Ruby was also absolutely fantastic, and the whole montage had me giggling and rooting for them from the beginning (which, admittedly, they started off as very insta-lovey, but they're lesbians, what did you honestly expect?)

Also, can highly, highly recommend giving the audiobook a go, because I feel like everyone should get to hear what an incredible job Alana Kerr Collins did (and her cute as heck accent)!!

In spite of the fact that I really loved Millie and Flora's dynamic and that their growing relationship was what kept me going throughout the whole book, this ended up being just okay. All of the characters - except maybe Flora - felt very one-dimensional and not properly developed, the ending felt very rushed, and I didn't really connect to any of it as much as I wished I would've. 

Had I read this when I was younger, I definitely feel like I would've liked it more! But for now, this will remain a middle-of-the-road, quick and easy read that I did enjoy parts of, but that I don't see myself reaching for again.

Alice genuinely puts magic into every single one of their books and I'm so happy that I get to read them and love them and hold them close to my heart 😭

Georgia was an absolute delight and such a breath of fresh air!! I loved her from the very first page, and her journey is very inspiring (even though she did have some stumbles along the way, but I loved the maturity with which she accepted that she'd messed up and proceeded to do her best to apologize and make it up to the people she loves)!

We don't get very much aro/ace representation as is - even with recent media starting to shine more of a light on these specific identities, they are still very much under attack even in queer spaces. So it makes me so happy that Alice, who is ace themselves, unapologetically gave us a protag who becomes more and more proud of who she is, even with the whole entire world telling her why she shouldn't be. The love and care put into this story, from Georgia's entire arc of realizing that love is not exclusively romantic, to her friends learning about what it means to be aro/ace alongside her and proceeding to support her unconditionally... it was an absolute delight to read about, and I love these kids a lot 🥺

I loved this second installment even more than the first! Malini and Bhumika I will protect you with my life, you've never done anything wrong in your lives and I know this and I love you...

Surprisingly enough, it was the villains that really shone in this book for me, specifically the yaksa and Chandra! The yaksa are both beautiful and terrifying - you can't help but be entranced by them even as they rip the world around you apart and show blatant disregard for anyone and anything other than themselves, and their portrayal is absolutely haunting.

As for Chandra... Chandra is equally terrifying, but in a different way, meaning that the author has been especially careful to hone in to the idea that him and Malini are eerily similar, two sides of the same coin, even. They both seek power, and they both feel like they've always had a higher destiny to fulfill, but Chandra's downfall is that he seeks his blindly, unquestioningly, never stopping to consider that faith isn't as absolute as he thinks he is. His sister certainly knows how to play the game better - but after what happened between her and Priya (and OH MY GOD THOSE CHAPTERS. HOLY FUCK), Malini's also beginning to tap into the monstrous side of herself that she loathes, that she never wants to use, but that she feels like she has to use in order to win against the yaksa and save Parijatdvipa.

I am... scared, and excited, and very eager to read the conclusion to this story!!