claudcloud's Reviews (310)

This could have been so much less boring than it was 😕

The setting, the premise, the vibes had so much potential, but unfortunately... it just didn't make me feel anything?? The characters were one-dimensional, the games aspect of the whole thing felt like an afterthought rather than the whole reason the plot exists (not to mention that the game system made exactly 0 sense and was just a complete mess??), nothing felt explored as it should've been??? And if I'm being quite honest, this did not feel like an adult novel in any way, shape or form??

The Anton-is-now-in-August's-body reveal at the end would be the only reason why I would even consider continuing with this series, but even that was so rushed and so completely unearned that I just?? Don't know if I will.

I wanted to love this one way more than I did 😥 I enjoyed the writing style, which I knew I would after reading If We Were Villains, and the atmosphere that M.L. Rio creates in her books is always a plus - but the plot and the characters were boring (due, in part, to this being a novella), the mystery was not that exciting at all, and it just fell flat. I will say that having the audiobook alongside the physical helped quite a bit, so it's worth giving that a try!

I've officially adopted these two. That's all 🥹

FINALLY. FINALLY. FINALLY. It ached how much I was able to relate to both Kouhei and Taichi and all the reservations they both had about the other - but FINALLY 🥹

Oh, the trials and challenges of miscommunication... we love to hate it and we hate to love it! I'm not above admitting that I eat it up every single time - but I just want these two to finally talk everything through properly!!! PLEASE!!!!!!

Oh Taichi, my sweet summer child... I get you so deeply 🥹

This tugged at my heartstrings then single-handedly stitched them all back together in the span of a few chapters and I LOVED IT. I'm officially adopting these two 🥹

One of my goals this year is to read more manga, since I fell woefully short in 2024, and I could think of no better place to start than something I've heard nothing but praise for and that has been on my TBR for way too long!! I had such a lovely experience reading this first volume, and the warmth and coziness of this series is exactly what I needed 🥹 Looking forward to seeing how these two evolve!!

This was such a lovely little book to start the year off with - and it's also an incredibly current and important one. Who gets to decide the story that gets told? The colonizers (aka the people in power, who, more likely than not, also have all of the control), or the colonized (the oppressed, the ones who actually suffer under the powers-that-be, the ones who have to struggle and fight to make ends meet and to keep living)? Why do tend to place more importance on the former, rather than the latter? And when the curtain drops, as it inevitably should, what are we willing to do to stand up for justice?

DNF at 54%

Note to self: always check a book's ratings before you decide to pick it up on a whim!