dlrosebyh's Reviews (773)

and colleen has done it again.

reminders of him is probably my favorite romance book of hers. i cried, i smiled, and i pretty much enjoyed everything about this book.

i didn’t care about ledger at first, but after redeeming himself, i absolutely loved his character. kenna is one of my favorite contemporary romance protagonists now. i also relate to her in a deeper way compared to ledger. i suppose that’s why i loved her character from the first chapter.

though colleen is known for her plot twists, i wasn’t really amazed with her plot twist here. i felt like it was just alright and predictable. the ending also felt rushed, especially with scotty’s parents.

**note that this book focuses on grief and death heavily. if you’re feeling devastated, i don’t recommend reading this book. it will shatter you.

sally rooney can never do wrong in my eyes. she can release her grocery list, and i’ll sell my whole house just so i can be the first person to buy her grocery list.

and as for the people in this book, i don’t care if they’re red flags. i love screwed up characters in literary fiction. reading literary fiction is the only time i’m accepting red flags !

this book is advertised as an academic rivals to lovers slow burn story, so that’s what i expected going in this book— and not here to be liked was definitely not that book.

i do understand why it’s marketed as an academic rivals to lovers. eliza, our protagonist, and len, our love interest, were competing against each other for the better editor. though it seems like an academic rivals to lovers trope, it’s more of an enemies to lovers trope as eliza was pretty much the only one exerting effort to prove herself worthy for that spot.

for the slow burn trope, this book was pretty much instalove. did they get together at around 85% of the book? yes. but only because they barely had interactions. i could barely sense their chemistry, and that sucked because this book was supposed to be a romance book.

i didn’t necessarily like eliza. she was very intolerable, especially her pride. her idea of feminism is not feminism at all, which threw me off.

the only thing i liked about this book was each characters’  development, and that basically was the only element i stayed for.

i picked this book up because i enjoyed sorcery of thorns. as said in the premise, fire with fire is perfect for people who loved sorcery of thorns. 

though i did enjoy the sisters’ adventure, i found eden’s character quite intolerable. the bad guys were stereotypical, and it felt like everything was rushed. i also felt like that the pov’s switch too frequently which makes it for me to understand the story better. i did love the world building, though— with the dragons and fantasy elements.

overall, it was an alright read. i wouldn’t probably continue to the next book in the series.

i really wanted to enjoy this book. the idea of a modernized fairy-tale with a mix of cinderella retelling intrigued me. it was definitely a worth read, but it felt like every other ya books. same story, different setting.

the romance: i felt like the romance was rushed. i don’t know how they fell in love with each other in a span of days. the chemistry was barely there, the romance element just disappointed me. i definitely was wishing for something more, but overall it was adorable. the romance got me smiling, regardless.

the characters: i love the characters, but i didn’t feel as attached as i thought it would be. overall, the characters’ personality were likable despite their flaws.

the plot: as i’ve said earlier, it was just like every other ya books, but with the same story, and different setting.

the mystery part was the only thing that kept me reading this book. though the ending was satisfying, i still expected more to it as this book is loved by numerous people.

honeymoon for one is a short read that has a lot of summer vibes in it. it also was a quick read, though the pacing was inconsistent.

i loved both of the characters so much. i love how they both got to discover themselves more and more as the book went on. furthermore, i fancied the tropical setting, especially that i’m already counting down my days until summer.

though, i definitely enjoyed this read— i felt like it was rushed. it didn’t really have much of a climax, making it a comfort read. i wished the honeymoon was longer because i’m not really a huge fan of insta-love.

i can’t believe i finished this series already. 

i enjoyed every minute in this book, and i think i loved kenan and lotus the most out of the series. i disliked the second book, but kennedy ryan redeemed herself once again in hook shot.

lotus is an incredibly strong woman, i aspire to be like her. i definitely was more intrigued with kenan’s side, though. the single dad trope is one of my favorite tropes of all time, so i was interested to witness how he got out of his relationship and everything— which brings me to my next point. 

i wished i saw more of how kenan filed a divorce with bridget. it was only mentioned that it was a struggle to file a divorce, but kennedy ryan didn’t actually show the whole process. likewise, i also didn’t like how everything was clamped in a year. the whole story happening in a year simply feels unrealistic. i don’t like rushed stories, so maybe that’s why i found it a little bit annoying.

overall, i loved this book so much. it might have some plot holes, but i think kennedy ryan wrapped this series up perfectly.

the first part of the book before the cheating trope was entertaining. i was rooting for the couple because i’m a sucker for enemies to lovers and second chance romances.

however, after the cheating incident, the story went downhill. kennedy ryan should have had made the second chance romance better without the cheating trope.

not only that, but the character development was threw out of the window until the last few chapters of the book. banner’s character was very relatable, but i do not tolerate her actions with her former boyfriend. on the other hand, i did not like jared at all. he is your typical egotistical athlete who doesn’t care about anything. oftentimes, he gets into my nerves, especially that he does not communicate properly. he always jumps into conclusions and that frustrated me so bad.

this book had an interesting proposal, but the execution was disappointing. 

i enjoyed the whole boston setting, but everything else was a mess. it is embarrassing how a white author used harmful stereotypes for the poc characters. when we say we want diverse characters, we mean we want diverse characters with good representation. if the case was harmful stereotypes than no poc characters at all, the second option would have been better.

in addition, mae’s character was extreme insufferable. she constantly talked about astrophysics— that’s her whole personality. she has no flavor at all. it was interesting during the first chapters of the book, but it became excessively repetitive to the point that it’s annoying. demetrios could have had a good nerdy scientist character, but the character still has to have flavor in order to make a character-driven book interesting enough. no one would want to read about astrophysics for almost 500 pages. that’s dull.

if you want a book that constantly talks about physics and racist micro-aggressions, then i guess this is the perfect book for you. 

there are so many trigger warnings for this book, so don’t let the cover fool you. it is not a lighthearted book, but rather a dark one. i was shocked reading this as well.