i liked it...but DAMN she gay as hell and this can refer to both zinnia and eva

 a quick read that mildly interested me

this book follows tatum, a young woman who gets wrapped up in a toxic relationship with a famous author when she's young and later, an older tatum who decides to tell her story to a reporter reporting on the famous author's sexual assault. the plot was intriguing and interesting from a glance, and i thought the writing moved at a brisk pace. tatum and the author's relationship is a very slow unraveling rather than a big fallout, which i thought made sense, especially in the context of the novel. how their relationship ends is truly shocking to me; i never even imagined that ending. i was unable to fully connect with tatum, however; she seems like a character i would dislike or feel indifferent to in real life, but i felt that her relationship and the power dynamics were nuanced and well-handled. i really enjoyed how she was able to find agency and firmly realize that this idol of hers was a false reality at the end. i just found some parts of the book to be boring, especially since i wasn't a huge fan of the mc. i am giving this book 3 stars.

thank you to netgalley and celadon books for this arc! 

i read this book for school but was surprised to find how much i liked it and how much it resonated with me. an incredible feat of literature and so so important. chapter 25 was so fantastically written it's one of the best chapters i've ever read in any piece of literature ever

i really enjoyed this; i read it all in one to two days, which is so rare for me now(junior year YIPPEEE)...but i thought the world was really interesting if not kinda confusing and the story to be actually thrilling like this is one of the books where i regret spoiling myself. robert jackson bennett you may be winning over a new fan of your work

kinda a snooze to me...i thought the use of social media and tweets was interesting but ultimately i wasn't fully invested in this

really love this unique setting and the character dynamics. kol is an excellent mc and helps immerse you in the empire of khanum fully. his dynamic with ana was a highlight, but i also enjoyed his relatioship with miljin. the plot was well-developed and i had no idea where the story would lead next. can't wait for the next installment!!!!! rjb is too good at writing he's about to be my next client if he keeps this excellence up

the way yunjae's mom and grandma loved him so much...I CRIED I REALLY DID. emotional, reflective, and will have you pondering on your own emotions. 

russian soup being mentioned in here is when i really knew ms. fuchsia was locked in

ooh i so wanted to like this but i just could not get into this book.

the premise is pretty promising and at first i liked it, but as we got deeper into the plot i started to lose connection with it. i'm not the biggest fan of the writing; maybe the non-arc writing was better but i felt like the writing was unpolished in a sense; the sentences were short and stilted and the flow of dialogue was choppy. the world-building was also confusing and at the end of the book i found myself puzzled by the different people and their roles and the world around them, such as the two queens and the inheritance. i really think this world had so much potential but it was left unexplored. i also felt like the romances were badly built up and underwhelming. the characters were kind of bland and i honestly wasn't that invested in them.the side characters in particular were hard to be interested in because they were just one-note. i'm not gonna lie tho the ending surprised me.

it was promising! i was hooked at first! i just think it didn't have enough focus on the background and the actual driving forces of the plot, and the robotic writing and underdeveloped characters and romance caused me to really lose my interest in this book. i give this 2.5 stars rounded up.

thank you to random house and netgalley for the arc. 

note: yeeran needs to stop thirsting over her ex like WE GET IT DAMN but also her and furi were so bland

so good and unexpected. loved the cast of characters and the action scenes; the personalities of each character felt very individual and i enjoyed watching relationships form and develop