emilyburdick's Reviews (389)

Read for my Novelogues YA scratch off poster. 

It's been a minute since I read a YA contemporary romance and man was it good. I didn't know anything about this story except that it was a teen romance. I fully planned to think it was corny. And it was with the classic, "my mother doesn't understand me" and "I'm secretly dating the boy-next-door" tropes. BUT, the twist events that happened after the halfway point had me on the edge of my seat. I was mind blown and totally not expecting anything like that to come into this story. It really added some umph to the story. 

Spoilery content below: 

I absolutely adored Tim and his character development throughout the story. I didn't know he was going to have such an impact on the story but he really became like a main character and after he stopped being such a dick and got his shit together I was rooting for him so hard. That said, I detest his sister Nan. She seemed like a shitty friend from the get-go and she proved herself to be exactly that. When Samantha approaches her about the cheating and she just ends the friendship they've had for most of their lives over it? That just did not sit well with me. I wished they could have had more closure but I also appreciated how this story realistically showed that longterm friendships can just end in a snap. 

Lastly, I commend Huntley Fitzpatrick for her lack of fear in writing a sex scene in a YA book. Samantha and Jase's relationship felt like what a first love really is.

I said it before and I'll say it again. I don't know why I never heard this series being hyped up when I was younger! It's so good and the story and world is so well developed. I love these characters more with each book I read, especially Nine. The audiobooks are incredible, with different voices for each character it feels like a movie in my head. I'm really only trying to listen to one of these books a month so I can make it last but I want to binge them so hard.

I just want Nine to narrate the rest of the books ❤️

This is the second Sophie Kinsella book I've read and it did not disappoint. Her characters are always so entertaining and certainly not without their flaws. I really enjoyed Rebecca's crazy scheming and her development through the book. Rebecca's shopping addiction truly gave me second hand embarrassment, and I also saw a lot of my own bad habits in her actions that had me cringing about myself. If you're looking for an easy to read, laugh out loud, chick lit book, this is it. 

Phew. This book may be small...but it sure does drag. It had me in the first few chapters, but it slowed quickly and became predictable and repetitive. I was excited about the different format: backwards storytelling. I just feel like Lockhart fell short with it. I was a big fan of We Were Liars and I had high hopes for this story. It's been awhile since I read WWL but I feel like in Genuine Fraud, Lockhart tried too hard to sound unnecessarily mysterious and metaphorical and it made the story hard to follow. 

For instance: 

What was the deal with Jule's mysterious past? What happened to her parents? Who killed them? Lockhart would write the scene but then make it seem like Jule made that up to repress what really happened or to make her parents seem better than they were.

So many things were left up in the air and felt like unnecessary additives in this book.

I'm not sure what Paolo's whole role was or why he even existed. I'm not sure why Imogen's parents would randomly hire a girl Imogen used to go to school with to follow her and see what she was doing. I get dad was sick and they couldn't go after her but it just felt so weird. Like why Jule? And what happened to Jule in her life to make her do these things.

I don't know, maybe I just didn't get it. But it was certainly a disappointment when my expectations were set from We Were Liars.

I enjoy this series the further into it I get! I have to admit when I read Cinder I was a bit skeptical of the hype, but after Scarlet and Cress it has really grown on me. The characters are all so distinct and mesh well together. I love the whole "found family" vibe. I'm so glad Kai is with them now and I can't wait to see how his and Cinder's relationship progresses. I also desperately want them to find <Spoiler> Scarlett </Spoiler>. I'm eager to read Fairest and learn more about Levana's backstory and maybe learn why she is so hateful. Overall this is a fun series that is full of fairytale vibes mixed nonstop action. 

Incredible. A slow start, but give it a chance and you won’t be sorry. Ness does an awesome job of dragging out the truth in a way that makes you yearn for it; you just have to finish the book so you get all the answers. He found a way to make running across a country and through the woods entertaining and not a total drag fest. With that cliff hanger, I fully intend to read the rest of the series. I can’t wait to see the movie adaptation, which is part of the reason I picked up this book in the first place and how they visually adapt the ‘noise’. 

*Edit* The movie fell SO flat. They definitely wrote it the way they did in case it was unsuccessful and they couldn't do a sequel. 100/10 the book was better. No ifs, ands or buts.

Trigger Warnings: death, graphic depictions of violence, funerals, mention of blood, anxiety, parental neglect 


What I liked:
🔫This is the first book I’ve read that had a non-binary character (and being NB not being their only personality trait)
🔫the concept of this book as a whole is good, even if the execution wasn’t all the way there
🔫Once I did figure out the killer it was cool to go back and see the clues that would have indicated that it was them 

What I didn’t like: 
🔫These characters, especially Lia, did not act like seniors in high school. I felt that their behaviors and tendencies were immature for the most part 
🔫 I figured out the killer pretty easily after one incidence that happened at the halfway point 
🔫I would say the first third of this book is a slow start 
🔫The writing style of this author was not it for me. It almost feels like it didn’t go through editing to chip out the unnecessary moments/portions of dialogue 

I wanted to like this book so much because the concept was great to me. The execution lacked so much and the characters were incredibly flat. Lia’s only personality trait was being obsessed with Assassins because she’s apparently mediocre at everything else. Even by the end she was still boohooing about not having a path and how her parents would probably go back to not caring about her as much as her brother soon enough. The other characters barely existed, and I had no feelings about the ones who died because I didn’t even know them. This story was a classic case of the teenagers being smarter than the cops and the cops not even trying to do their jobs. The writing style made me want to quit so many times and there were so many things that seemed like they were missed in editing or that were just unnecessary and made the story confusing to read.

What a conclusion. I don't know how but Rick Riordan managed to make a battle last 3/4 of a book and I wasn't bored one bit. He had me on the edge of my seat, cheering on the Half-Bloods and simultaneously broke my heart for our lost heroes. I was not expecting any deaths and I commend him for not being afraid to take that plunge. Grant it, they were like secondary characters but for being considered a children's book, he wasn't afraid to take out some named characters. Reading Percy Jackson just fills my heart with happiness and I love entering a new world and just being able to feel at peace for awhile in it. I've seen reviews that say Riordan's books aren't the best representation of mythology, but this was the first book/series I read about mythology and I think I learned a lot. Maybe it's not entirely accurate but it has to be at least somewhat and for that I enjoyed it. I can't wait to get into the companion series' later this year!