mj_reads's Reviews (415)

This story has really vivid and mesmerizing writing. It was what kept me going even when this book was so incredibly boring in the beginning. The way that the story was presented kept me under the impression that something was finally about to happen.

Unfortunately that "something" didn't happen until over halfway through the book. And what is even worse is that there isn't really a clear motive behind anything that is going on. Everything is left to the interpretation of the reader, which can be a lot of fun BUT this story is just so full of manipulation and confusion that the end left me feeling like I was missing something rather than feeling like I figured it out.

Here's what I think the point of this story was:

Spoiler

This book frequently refers to the idea that every story has a hero and a villain, and I think the idea here was to show that people are more complex than that. People can be both heroes and villains depending on context/motives/etc. In this story we have both Wink and Poppy who are being manipulative for their own personal gain -
we see hero and villain sides to both of them. And despite the hero image being pushed on Midnight, we also see a villainous side of him.

This story just wasn't for me. The only reason I didn't DNF this was because I read a review that said it picks up around page 150 and I was pretty close to that point. It did pick up quite a bit but I don't think I would have been missing much if I decided not to finish the book.

This Impossible Light is a beautiful story about struggling with your image. A girl is trying very hard to live up to the picture perfect image that she has created for herself, and as a result falls down a very dark path with her physical health. She develops an eating disorder. The portrayal of the MCs ED is the only saving grace of this book. The rest of the story fell really flat for me.

This story does hit a lot on the head when describing the internal battle that someone who has an eating disorder may experience, there were a few spots that I really felt connected too. But unfortunately other than that, the story was lacking a lot. It was beautifully written, but ultimately it was pretty unremarkable. Nothing about this story is memorable. If I didn’t connect to it, I probably would have DNFed it because it was generic and boring.

My biggest issue with this book was how simple it made everything surrounding eating disorders seem. It made it appear so easy to hide, so easy to start, so easy to decide when enough is enough. But honestly it is a lot more complicated than that. I’m honestly so surprised at how the author nails the portrayal of ED on the head and then misses so much at the end, it could be to leave this as an optimistic ending for others who suffer in ways similar to the MC, but it just made the entire process feel to clean and simple for me.

This book was okay, it was just missing something for me.

The Couple next door was a really interesting read. I was very much captivated by the story while I was reading it, but now that I have had some time to look back and think about what I’ve read I honestly think that there were just a few to many flaws.

The writing was pretty awkward at times, this became easier to overlook as the story picked up but whenever I put this down and picked it back up it took me longer than usual to dive back in.

The plot was intense and full of a lot of twists and turns BUT I think there may have been too many. There is this fine line in thrillers and mystery novels, because while I don’t want to necessarily know who did it from the start, I don’t find super complex motives to be particularly persuasive. Surprises are fine, but when they feel forced on the reader they just kind of take away from the story in the first place. In The Couple Next Door, the who did it aspect is easy enough to figure out, but when we reach the explanation it honestly becomes so complex, and honestly just dumb that it kind of ruined the story for me. The ending and the explanation of the events in this book felt messy and like they were put there for a shock factor rather than to make actual sense.

Another thing that I disliked was the focus on mental illness but only as a way to explain a negative situation. The representation was more problematic than not and honestly felt completely unnecessary once everything with this story was said and done. This was not the only thing presented in this story that felt like it was just used as an object to move the story along rather than hold any sort of significant value, but I don’t want to give too much away so I will avoid naming any others and let you see for yourself.

In summary, this book was entertaining while reading it but ultimately falls flat as a result of a messy conclusion, and the use of a lot of unnecessary details.

When I finished this book I instantly gave it five stars. And then when I finally sat down to review it, I couldn’t help but notice that the general tone of my review was so incredibly negative. I have restarted this review at least six times, and every time I start typing I find myself going off on rants about the things I disliked about this book. So this is my disclaimer that despite the negative tone of this review, I still stand by my high rating of this book and I'll try my best to explain my negative thoughts along with the positive ones (realistically this is a 4.5 star read but it is just so well done and thought out that I cannot give it anything less than 5).

Lets set the scene: In this book we have an innkeeper who is actually more than an innkeeper. He is currently living in hiding, he is living under a different name and denying his identity to anyone who recognizes him. But it is very apparent to the readers that this guy knows more than he is letting on. This book starts off with what I believe is best described as a demon attack, unfortunately I am unable to give any further explanation on what it specifically was (because tbh I forget) or why they are there because it never gets explained. Despite the exciting introduction to our innkeeper, the rest of the story is about something completely different. Although I think if we take a step back and look at the (much) bigger picture, it does suggest we will get back to the mysterious demon creatures at some time before the end of the series.

That’s right folks, this book is just a small part of an entire series. Which is impressive because that means that this book is just a 600 paged introduction to something much larger, its also exhausting because it’s a 600 paged introduction. Lets go back to our innkeeper, he appears to be going through a lot to keep who he is a secret. But when a storyteller, (I can’t remember the term used to describe him) Chronicler, comes looking to hear his story he opens up. We find out that our innkeeper is actually Kvothe, who is basically legendary in this world. And well that’s it, that’s the plot. Kvothe is telling his story, explaining his past, and randomly throughout his tale we are brought back to the present and reminded of the fact that he is now an innkeeper.

The twist is that Kvothe’s story takes three days to tell. And we have three books in this series. Which means that at the conclusion of book one we only have one third of his story, which still leaves a lot of questions about who is Kvothe, why is he in hiding, and why are all these weird demon creatures coming out to play in the present? It leaves the ending of this story feeling relatively anti-climactic in my opinion. While I can definitely appreciate the amount of work that goes into creating a story that takes three large books to tell, I can’t help but wish that there was more clarity in understanding why his story is so important.

Readers are told about how great Kvothe is, and while we start to see some of that in his story, we only get to see the early bits in this first book. And while the early bits of his life are impressive, there is still just so much to learn about him as a character so I unfortunately don’t care as much as I think I’m supposed too? Kvothe’s early life is a lot to take in, and I can definitely play along and believe that if he accomplishes so much so early that he is going to be this great incredible character that has been hinted at, we just don’t get to see that yet in this book. So it just kind of leaves me wanting more. This is probably the point considering that it appears these books are going to flow relatively seamlessly into one another.

So basically to sum all of that up, my issue is the delivery of the story. It’s basically 600 pages of info dump and even at the end of it we don’t get any answers as to why any of it matters. We just get more questions.

I suppose now that I’ve spent an hour figuring out what it was about this story that left me feeling …meh, I can talk about what I did enjoy! (Here’s a list because if you follow my reviews you probably know by now that I LOVE LISTS)
- Kvothe. I know I just spent the entire review saying I didn’t understand why he was so important yet, but I also love him. (Also, looking at the title of the series suggests why he is so important but we don’t get to that in this book so I stand by everything I say even though some people might tell me it’s clear enough)
- The individual stories from his childhood were all really great in their own ways, super well written, easy to follow, like I said it is just difficult to understand their significance at this point in the series.
- The concept of the chanderlain (???spelling???)… definitely eager to read more about them
- The writing is honestly just so beautiful
- The pacing, this story switches from present day to Kvothe’s past and also to stories from Kvothe’s past (that makes more sense if you’ve actually read it) very smoothly. While there were some parts I felt that dragged out a bit, the changes of pace kept pulling me back in before I got too bored at any part.
- The magical aspect, watching Kvothe learn about it
- The rumor aspect of this story, watching Kvothe’s life turn into stories and rumors is actually quite fun
And because I love lists, heres a short one with things I wasn’t super crazy about
- Ambrose. He is the WORST my GOD.
- Denna, I think I’m supposed to like her much more than I do.


All in all, this story is worth reading. But I wish I had waited to read this until all three books were out. I imagine I will feel differently about this book when I finally have Kvothe’s entire story laid out in front of me, along with some answers about what is happening in the present day. I imagine that will not happen until book 3, so I have a long ways to go/wait. I appreciate the writing, and that everything I currently feel uncertain about are also things that I enjoyed and am excited for find explanations for. This book really makes readers think about the bigger picture, and at the conclusion of this book I was just annoyed that I only got a part of it.

WOW. This was one of the most magical contemporaries I've ever read (at least recently).

I put this book off for a while. I haven't read any of Nina LaCour's work before this book and to be quite honest I haven't liked much of David Levithan's work before this. So I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. But this book was incredible.

In this book we have two characters who meet each other, literally, at the most perfect time. Their paths crossed exactly when they needed each other the most. The story follows these two over the course of a week (specifically pride week), a week that has a much bigger impact on their lives than they were anticipating. This book is about so much more than any description can give it credit. Its about friendships (old and new ones), relationships (that fail, that succeed, that never were, and that could be), its about figuring out who you are and who you want to be.

The characters and the relationships all feel incredibly realistic and natural, I didn't stop to question any of it. This was one of those stories where I was able to understand where every point of view was coming from.

This story is really important. It deals with a lot of issues that so many people are able to relate too. It stays away from stereotypes. It helps readers think. Its a story that stays with you. I only just finished it, but while I was at work all day I couldn't get it out of my head.

Would I read it again? Yes. 100 times yes. Would I recommend it to a friend? Absolutely.
This book has me even more excited than I already was to read other Nina LaCour books, and it even has me wondering if I should give David Levithan another chance.