eloise_bradbooks's reviews
780 reviews

This was a really good YA sapphic graphic novel where a girl gets caught between two classmates who are in a complicated relationship.
I really appreciated the story altogether, the pacing felt perfect, and the characters complicated enough to be interesting beyond the simple romance.
I would have preferred to not have characters be so mean though... It felt unnecessary and could even lead to not understanding how they could end up romantically involved.
I still found myself fully invested and appreciative of such levelled queerness in a YA graphic like this.

Well this was a pure delight. Brilliant art (nice manga inspiration in there), very funny, loveable characters and a story to warm your heart.
I must admit, living in France and loving cheese, it felt reeeally weird that everyone's names were different varieties of cheese. Its' funny but maybe a little too much for me.

I was hooked from early on, I got attached to the characters and the story. 
The spice was also VERY GOOD 🔥
I need the second book so desperately but why do I have to wait so long???

It is one thing to love a book, a book series or a specific character.
It is a whole other thing to have known a character for over a decade, to have followed through the worst things imaginable, to have read about his sadness and despair and shame (again, for fifteen years!), to then have him have his own journey of acceptance and relief and joy and love.
There is no feeling better than this.
And no other book will make me feel this again. I can guarantee that.

Nico Di Angelo, you deserve all the beautiful things this book gave you.
And to all the Nicos reading this book, 

A very strong, powerful and needed book about finding the strength to accept painful truths, about standing up to disgusting men, condoning sexual assault and fighting against r*pe culture, about female empowerment and sorority.
A strong point is also the diversity within this friend group (MC is Latina, queer, autistic, with selective mutism, secondary characters include non binary SC, black SCs, sapphic/bi SCs).
I hope many people get to read books like this one, to know they're not alone, or to understand what it could feel like to go through this, and to see how the system can work well in some ways, but not in other ways...
Ultimately though, it isn't just a book to learn about sexual assault. It's also about friendship, possibily accepting romance after trauma, family issues and coming of age.

Well, this book is far from being bad. Loads will probably really enjoy it.
For the casually queer cast, asian rep, chinese cuisine and popular tropes.
Even though I found the book to be enjoyable to some extent, it remains pretty simple and basic for me. Overused tropes that did nothing to surprise me, characters that fell for each other too quickly for my personal liking and a lack of depth to pretty much anything and anyone.

This is what would have happened if Neil Josten (from The Foxhole Court / AFTG) had been bitten by a vampire and thrust into their problems.

Thank you to the author for sending me a copy of the audiobook.
On that note, it took me a while to get into the audiobook as the narrator sounded a little robotic at first... But I got used to it and ended up enjoying it.

Cutting Your Teeth was a really solid read. Characters you root for, a story that holds itself together very well, a sweet romance, and a found family aspect that makes your heart melt.
The vampirism aspect isn't particularly heavy which was okay to me but I wouldn't have minded a little more gritty or fantastical elements.

I always find it a little odd that creatures like vampires, who have lived for decades or even centuries, kind of act like normal people. To me they would be different in some sense, otherworldly almost. I didn't really get that in this story but once again, that's very much a personal preference.

I try not to spoil any ajor plotpoints but my reviews does kind of tell you in what direction the story goes (without details of course), so feel free to only read my short review and skip the longer thoughts.

Short review: I really enjoyed this book. I got attached to the characters and really appreciated seeing quite complex teen friendship dynamics. I loved the non binary and aro ace rep too!
On a slightly more subjectively disappointing note, I didn't like the ending.

Longer thoughts, slight spoilers:
- As is often the case with graphic novels, some things felt like they could have been developed a little more. Or maybe I should say I really wanted to learn more about things that weren't the limain focus. Family, especially.
- I must say I struggled to completely understand some reasons behind the characters choices, especially Leighton's family (who seem particularly accepting at times and then horrifyingly disrespectful and snooty at other times).
- Bittersweet can be good sometimes. But I do think I would have preferred a slightly different ending, for this story.
It honestly feels like the writer and artist want to end on a bittersweet postitive-ish note, but to me it's mostly negative.
One of the main characters is going to live a particularly difficult life and I don't like knowing that... 

This felt different to Emily Henry's other books, in the sense that the romance isn't really the centre of the story.
It's about a friend group coming together for a few days in their "Happy Place". Harriet and Wyn's secret breakup will need to be discussed, and revealed, at some point, but for now they'll fake it. Anyway, that's not the only thing that's "off" between all six of them.

The 'romance' didn't work as well as I wanted. It's essentially based on miscommunication, or not wanting to talk about the issues... out of love? Out of fear, maybe. But still. These people love each other so much and can't talk to each other to try to figure out a way for both of them to feel happy? It felt to aggravating and tiresome to me.

As for the rest of the story, it could have been great.
The first two thirds felt quite long, very slice-of-life, not much going on. Just getting to know these characters interacting with each other. I started to think it was just going to be boring but then it turned around. The last third was packed with great discussions (finally!) from every character, realisations, thought-provoking internal questions...
But so many great things packed in the last few chapters... It still feels aggravating to wait so long for them.
WHY CAN'T PEOPLE JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF LETTING THINGS GET TO A POINT WHERE THEY MIGHT LOSE EACH OTHER?

You do get those cutesy grand love declarations, great found family vibes, but only in the last few chapters... So it's up to you to figure out if you're willing to endure the rest. 

 I have finished this book. That's one thing i know.
What i don't know is how to put into words what I'm feeling about it.
When the author of your favourite book from last year releases a new one, you can only expect the absolute best. And although this book wasn't bad, it was far from being Ophelia level and I need time to digest that.