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clovetra's Reviews (262)
ZOO WEE MAMA!!!!
for a book i got when i was 14 years old, damn this was a good book.
for the first 30 or so pages, i was a bit meh on this, but my god......
ok so, let me just get the negatives out of the way.
firstly, bennett seems to do a lot of "tell not show", especially with exposition. it is such a minor nitpick, but i wasn't the biggest fan of that. also, i got major "not like other girls" from beatrix and jack was very trope-y, but ngl this was so well written i kind of didn't care after the first 50 pages.
this book reminded me of some of my favourites in the romance department - rivalling my love of "everything everything". god im a sucker for whirlwind romances.
i also liked how just...... good at communication the two characters were? do i care if its unrealistic? NO! i am happy for once that a conflict in a romance book isn't the two love interests not knowing how to communicate. i cannot tell you how happy i was when i reached the "climax" and it WASNT that. like literal relief washed over me.
im trying to cull books ive been hoarding since 2018 but never read, and so far ive decided to sell all of them. except this one. this is the exception.
for a book i got when i was 14 years old, damn this was a good book.
for the first 30 or so pages, i was a bit meh on this, but my god......
ok so, let me just get the negatives out of the way.
firstly, bennett seems to do a lot of "tell not show", especially with exposition. it is such a minor nitpick, but i wasn't the biggest fan of that. also, i got major "not like other girls" from beatrix and jack was very trope-y, but ngl this was so well written i kind of didn't care after the first 50 pages.
this book reminded me of some of my favourites in the romance department - rivalling my love of "everything everything". god im a sucker for whirlwind romances.
i also liked how just...... good at communication the two characters were? do i care if its unrealistic? NO! i am happy for once that a conflict in a romance book isn't the two love interests not knowing how to communicate. i cannot tell you how happy i was when i reached the "climax" and it WASNT that. like literal relief washed over me.
im trying to cull books ive been hoarding since 2018 but never read, and so far ive decided to sell all of them. except this one. this is the exception.
this was um...... a book for sure!
i would like to note i gobbled this up simply because the format is so quick to read. most pages have like. 50 words max on them.
now, onto what i thought made this book.... abysmal.
first off - the plot twist. i could see it coming from what, 50 pages away? oh how easy it was to guess
too. this is marketed as a mystery novel, but ngl its not really? idk what it is, i'd say probably more contemporary/drama. but there was no mystery here.
three. all the characters are insufferable. miri is a brown-noser, penny is whiny, fatima is egotistical, soleil is boring & jonah is.... well. i probably feel like that was the author's intention but my god. when you have no redeemable characters in your novel it gets tiring.
four - this reads like a cheesy Y/A novel. like why do all characters sound like the same person? they all speak the same. im not kidding you when i say i got deja vu to my mystery piece i had to write in year 8 for school. like that's how mid this was. the inflections, the tone, the language. everything the characters speak with is so similar. and yes i know its because they're all mimicking fatima but its soooooo boring as a reader.
finally, what the fuck was that book within a book. its a neat idea but my god is it hard to equate brady = jonah, sunny = soleil. like obviously i knew that they were the same characters, but because the "book within a book" was in third person and the book itself is in first person i felt like i was having a stroke.
even though i just dunked on this book lowkey i did enjoy it tho. would i ever re-read? maybe if i was drunk. sober? god no. did i have a grand old time reading this? eeehhh debatable. i did however demolish this novel, so ive gotta give some props to the author. ive never seen a book executed this way, with so many different mediums and i lowkey loved it so much. its just the execution was a miss for me.
i would like to note i gobbled this up simply because the format is so quick to read. most pages have like. 50 words max on them.
now, onto what i thought made this book.... abysmal.
first off - the plot twist. i could see it coming from what, 50 pages away? oh how easy it was to guess
too. this is marketed as a mystery novel, but ngl its not really? idk what it is, i'd say probably more contemporary/drama. but there was no mystery here.
three. all the characters are insufferable. miri is a brown-noser, penny is whiny, fatima is egotistical, soleil is boring & jonah is.... well. i probably feel like that was the author's intention but my god. when you have no redeemable characters in your novel it gets tiring.
four - this reads like a cheesy Y/A novel. like why do all characters sound like the same person? they all speak the same. im not kidding you when i say i got deja vu to my mystery piece i had to write in year 8 for school. like that's how mid this was. the inflections, the tone, the language. everything the characters speak with is so similar. and yes i know its because they're all mimicking fatima but its soooooo boring as a reader.
finally, what the fuck was that book within a book. its a neat idea but my god is it hard to equate brady = jonah, sunny = soleil. like obviously i knew that they were the same characters, but because the "book within a book" was in third person and the book itself is in first person i felt like i was having a stroke.
even though i just dunked on this book lowkey i did enjoy it tho. would i ever re-read? maybe if i was drunk. sober? god no. did i have a grand old time reading this? eeehhh debatable. i did however demolish this novel, so ive gotta give some props to the author. ive never seen a book executed this way, with so many different mediums and i lowkey loved it so much. its just the execution was a miss for me.
crying screaming vomiting throwing up
MYY GOODDD. this book has EVERYTHING!
legbt+ main characters? yes. horror themes? yes. thriller themes? romance? yes. quirky teen dialogue? yes.
my god.
i know this is a 5-star but i do have some gripes. one, the first couple of chapters especially, but the rest of the book seem to suffer from "tell not show". this probably could've been resolved if the book was longer, but i mean that's kind of a positive wanting a book to be longer lmao
im not kidding when i say this was such a great book. i literally got to page 100 and couldn't put it down. this book must have been laced with drugs
the plot was swift, fast-paced, yet believable. the science-fiction elements were explained super well. i loved the flashbacks to pre/during the hollowing, i preferred it immensely to putting the chapters n chronological order. honestly i could have just an entire book of jasmine, val, celeste & zoey's backstory pre-this delicious death,
this book has literally everything for everyone. this has got me addicted to cottingham's writing. i literally spent 3 hours today reading this.
ok i m rambling i cannot put into words how much i loved this book
MYY GOODDD. this book has EVERYTHING!
legbt+ main characters? yes. horror themes? yes. thriller themes? romance? yes. quirky teen dialogue? yes.
my god.
i know this is a 5-star but i do have some gripes. one, the first couple of chapters especially, but the rest of the book seem to suffer from "tell not show". this probably could've been resolved if the book was longer, but i mean that's kind of a positive wanting a book to be longer lmao
im not kidding when i say this was such a great book. i literally got to page 100 and couldn't put it down. this book must have been laced with drugs
the plot was swift, fast-paced, yet believable. the science-fiction elements were explained super well. i loved the flashbacks to pre/during the hollowing, i preferred it immensely to putting the chapters n chronological order. honestly i could have just an entire book of jasmine, val, celeste & zoey's backstory pre-this delicious death,
this book has literally everything for everyone. this has got me addicted to cottingham's writing. i literally spent 3 hours today reading this.
ok i m rambling i cannot put into words how much i loved this book
look, as much as i love dan, this book was not made for a psych student
i gobbled this book up just so i could get it off my shelves
like it was ok but. it was tailored towards kids
also with a disabled parent myself reading this pissed me tf off regarding sadie
i liked hafiz's story though, and i do understand that a kid's story doesn't need to have a sad ending but i did want them overcoming some more adversity. idk.
this book felt very predictable for me, but i still had a good time reading it!
this was for a middle school kid and i am Not That. which is probably why i did not enjoy reading this too much. like it was tolerable. and easy to read. but like. i would not keep this on my shelf.
granted im not too mad at 14 year old me for buying this book, cuz 14 year old clover would've loved the shit out of this story. 18 year old clover is just a tad bored.
like it was ok but. it was tailored towards kids
also with a disabled parent myself reading this pissed me tf off regarding sadie
i liked hafiz's story though, and i do understand that a kid's story doesn't need to have a sad ending but i did want them overcoming some more adversity. idk.
this book felt very predictable for me, but i still had a good time reading it!
this was for a middle school kid and i am Not That. which is probably why i did not enjoy reading this too much. like it was tolerable. and easy to read. but like. i would not keep this on my shelf.
granted im not too mad at 14 year old me for buying this book, cuz 14 year old clover would've loved the shit out of this story. 18 year old clover is just a tad bored.
fun fact i stole this book from my primary school <3 i still have it
GOD DID I GOBBLE THIS BOOK UP.
i debated giving this 4 stars instead of 5, but i literally spent every waking moment wanting to read this.
now, the one thing that made me possibly want to make this 4 stars is the sheer disbelief you have to suspend to read this story.
also, the sheer amount of characters gave me an aneurysm for the first 100 pages. for the life of me, i could not remember who was who's sibling or who was dating who. i got over that by about page 90 tho, so that's such a minor nit pick from me.
NOW, ONTO THE GOOD SHIT!!!!
first off........ SAPPHIC GIRLIE POPS AS MAIN CHARACTERS!!!!!!!!!!!
this was a re-read for me; ive only read this once waaayy back in 2018, but i fully forgot everything except that it was a school shooting book so like. this was a fresh read for my noggin. and i will say i loved sylv <3 shes wifey idc idc idc
the pacing ate so hard, i had minor gripes with like major tension scenes getting cut with some random ass backstory, but that was just me hungry to read more so technically that's a positive
claire was lowkey an unnecessary inclusion to me, like i actually did not care about her or her story at all! i would've loved to see a teacher perspective instead but.
this book was scrumptious. it had all the things i wanted in a book. thrilling scenes, drama, romance, gore, adrenaline-pumping events, and THE GAYS!
i literally would've read this in one sitting last night if i didn't have to go to uni today. that's how yummy this book was. oh my god.
especially in the political climate of good ol freedom land rn, i would highly recommend this book. and not even for its politics and view. its just a fire ass book.
14-year-old me did truly have superior taste.
i debated giving this 4 stars instead of 5, but i literally spent every waking moment wanting to read this.
now, the one thing that made me possibly want to make this 4 stars is the sheer disbelief you have to suspend to read this story.
Spoiler
like ok.... tyler managed to kill 39 people in ~40 mins? him not finding sylv? the principal doing the same mf speech every year with like 3 exits? like who in the education system thought that far into it. also like how tf did nobody say anything about this boy? like i get that in good ol murica school shooters go under the radar because nobody gives a fuck, but like....... the entire town knew he was fucked in the head. how did nobody think to do a welfare check or sm.......also, the sheer amount of characters gave me an aneurysm for the first 100 pages. for the life of me, i could not remember who was who's sibling or who was dating who. i got over that by about page 90 tho, so that's such a minor nit pick from me.
NOW, ONTO THE GOOD SHIT!!!!
first off........ SAPPHIC GIRLIE POPS AS MAIN CHARACTERS!!!!!!!!!!!
this was a re-read for me; ive only read this once waaayy back in 2018, but i fully forgot everything except that it was a school shooting book so like. this was a fresh read for my noggin. and i will say i loved sylv <3 shes wifey idc idc idc
the pacing ate so hard, i had minor gripes with like major tension scenes getting cut with some random ass backstory, but that was just me hungry to read more so technically that's a positive
claire was lowkey an unnecessary inclusion to me, like i actually did not care about her or her story at all! i would've loved to see a teacher perspective instead but.
this book was scrumptious. it had all the things i wanted in a book. thrilling scenes, drama, romance, gore, adrenaline-pumping events, and THE GAYS!
i literally would've read this in one sitting last night if i didn't have to go to uni today. that's how yummy this book was. oh my god.
especially in the political climate of good ol freedom land rn, i would highly recommend this book. and not even for its politics and view. its just a fire ass book.
14-year-old me did truly have superior taste.
reread!!!!!!!!
i actually enjoyed this book a lot, and was surprised how invested i was. for the first 100 pages or so i was bored cuz there was no tension, and although there was only tension at the end, i still enjoyed this pretty well. i can't point out a lot of positives, i just really enjoyed the writing style. what i CAN do is point out a bunch of things this book flopped at!
1) disordered eating. why oh why is simone's entire character just about the fact shes overweight and hates the way she looks. like i get that it is a big deal for her but... please my girl needed some depth. which also combines with my second point:
2) the outdated language. there's an entire paragraph dedicated to how simone wishes she was anorexic and/or bulimic and im like. oh my god. or the language used at other points was um..... Questionable at best. i get this is from 2006 but yikes
3) the buzzwords. my god does this book sometimes read like a BuzzFeed article. and at some points it hurt so much. So Much.
i kinda enjoyed amal? she has a similar personality to me, but she also is kind of insufferable at times? i didn't have a strong liking to any of the characters other than maybe yasmeen.
i also didn't like how the book paints muslims one way or the other. like either you have leila's family or amals. no in between. like ok the spectrum is like i get this book isn't trying to speak for every single muslim ever but............. WHERE ARE THE LAYERS
overall i enjoyed this book, but honestly i couldn't see myself rereading it. the book was giving millennial's perception of teens core, and esp now that i am finally free from high school i could not give a shit about books that solely revolve around teenage drama.
i actually enjoyed this book a lot, and was surprised how invested i was. for the first 100 pages or so i was bored cuz there was no tension, and although there was only tension at the end, i still enjoyed this pretty well. i can't point out a lot of positives, i just really enjoyed the writing style. what i CAN do is point out a bunch of things this book flopped at!
1) disordered eating. why oh why is simone's entire character just about the fact shes overweight and hates the way she looks. like i get that it is a big deal for her but... please my girl needed some depth. which also combines with my second point:
2) the outdated language. there's an entire paragraph dedicated to how simone wishes she was anorexic and/or bulimic and im like. oh my god. or the language used at other points was um..... Questionable at best. i get this is from 2006 but yikes
3) the buzzwords. my god does this book sometimes read like a BuzzFeed article. and at some points it hurt so much. So Much.
i kinda enjoyed amal? she has a similar personality to me, but she also is kind of insufferable at times? i didn't have a strong liking to any of the characters other than maybe yasmeen.
i also didn't like how the book paints muslims one way or the other. like either you have leila's family or amals. no in between. like ok the spectrum is
Spoiler
either a misogynistic mother & brother who is borderline abusive, or literally the nicest family in the world.......overall i enjoyed this book, but honestly i couldn't see myself rereading it. the book was giving millennial's perception of teens core, and esp now that i am finally free from high school i could not give a shit about books that solely revolve around teenage drama.
my god was this book good.
i have no words for how good this was.
if you haven't read this, you need to.
i have no words for how good this was.
if you haven't read this, you need to.
i am MAD
so let me first say that this was a re-read. i first read this in 2018, and finally decided to re-read. and let me just say i am disappointed. booktok hyped this up, and my nostalgic love of this book was shattered.
im going to say it - this is not a slow burn, this almost reaches queerbating levels. like im sorry, i was CRAVVIINNNGGG the gay..... but this did not deliver. im so sorry this was such a pitiful example of queer novels not solely about romance. i also did not really care about the characters until about the last 80 pages, because only then did i find this interesting. this was not thrilling to me - i was just waiting for them to die so it could be over. however, i did enjoy myself at times, and the last 80 pages did eat, but cmon. ur book is ~370 pages and i enjoyed only about 80 of them.
also can i just say the other chapters of other people are unnecessary? i don't care about peck's mindset or deliah. i could give less than two shits about the gym bag guy, or the creator of last friends.
anyways this was an ok book. the writing was nice at times, and i loved it when the lads were bonding, it was really sweet. as a lgbt+ book however, this was not great.
so let me first say that this was a re-read. i first read this in 2018, and finally decided to re-read. and let me just say i am disappointed. booktok hyped this up, and my nostalgic love of this book was shattered.
im going to say it - this is not a slow burn, this almost reaches queerbating levels. like im sorry,
Spoiler
you have the main characters get together with fucking 60 pages left? "oh its supposed to be soul-crushing and upsetting and make you mad like you're feeling right now!" no im mad because it was so fucking hamfisted. mateo never even shows an incling that he is gay, and rufus only mentions in his bio he's bi. not to mention they have no romantic chemistry - they have platonic romance coming out the wazoo, but their romantic chemistry was like nails on a chalkboard for me. and im literally a lesbian soalso can i just say the other chapters of other people are unnecessary? i don't care about peck's mindset or deliah. i could give less than two shits about the gym bag guy, or the creator of last friends.
anyways this was an ok book. the writing was nice at times, and i loved it when the lads were bonding, it was really sweet. as a lgbt+ book however, this was not great.