This was actually really fun to read. The beginning was a bit slow but picked up after Naomi's first or second night back home. I loved that Naomi was an unreliable character. She didn't purposefully mislead the reader but because her memory of her attack was so unreliable, it created a present unreliable narrator responding to new information that she should've known, without her consistently contradicting herself. I had a few theories that were correct and a few that weren't and it was a fun discovering which was which.

well. I very rarely call books a waste of time, and yet.... First of all, this didn't give adult fantasy as all. The writing felt very juvenile to the point of being unenjoyable. The plot was more of a collection of tropes held together with a dream. There were practically no stakes, Sora was the only fleshed out character (barely) and the only reason I didn't DNF was because I own a physical copy. All of the couples irritated the FUCK out of me. It was insta lust/love with a heavy, repeated "oh I don't actually care about them... or do I?" for all four couples. They were all the same. All of them. I should've put it down but unfortunately for me I didn't and it is contributing to my slump. Maybe the main factor of it. 0/10

I think the premise for this was really cool but the ideas were really underdeveloped, even for YA. I feel like the romance subplots were completely unnecessary and I kept getting irritated by Dia saying she was in love with Poe and Choke, even though neither character was redeemable. I think going from being distrustful of the interns to being found family at the end was odd because there was no build up of the bond. The scenes had no palpable tension, the game was unclear, and the resolution of the mystery felt lackluster. The ending was meh, and the motivation for Dia to ride away didn't make sense.

This was interesting in that it's a war book that hates war. It was extremely descriptive but even from a first person perspective, it felt too descriptive, like no one is that observant, as if Paul was removed from himself from the beginning. Every sentence has a heaviness to it, there's very little in the way of superfluous meaning, even though Paul is superficial, which I think highlights the fact that he is neither man nor child at this time, he's just a soldier caught in  between. It's a very straightforward read, there's no poetic meaning nor romanticization of war and I can understand why it's been banned and burned

This was an entertaining read and a cool ode to The Haunting of Hill House, but ultimately, it was an unexceptional and  forgettable story. The short chapters felt manufactured solely for the sake of creating tension, rather than as a natural end of scene. The characters were insufferable and lackluster. It felt like there was too much emphasis on the character backstories and not enough on the actual haunted house. There wasn't even a lingering feeling of dread that the original had. It was just meh.

Is it me? Am I the problem? Another classic read that I found just alright. The premise was completely interesting, don’t get me wrong. I liked the idea of a Faustian bargain with the devil to retain youth in exchange for a painting to reflect my decaying moral and mental state.

There were so many things I found interesting and yet none of them are positive other than I enjoyed the flowery prose. I think the indulgence of it suited the kind of character Dorian was. I feel like, without the context, this seems to be less of a queer masterpiece and more of a warning about predatory men, which makes sense considering that Wilde was one. Maybe it’s because I didn’t seek out the uncensored version, but Dorian Gray felt more like a story of obsession and possession than one of love between Basil and Dorian. Basil treats Dorian as an object, not even taking the time to speak to him while painting but was jealous when he had to share Dorian with Henry. I understand the descent into hedonism and how it reflects the themes of morality and societal influence, but I fear the obsession of Henry and Basil with boyhood innocence, aesthetics and wittiness just felt like evidence of Wildes pedophilic tendencies more than his homosexual ones. 

That’s not even to begin broaching the treatment of women and the themes of gender roles throughout the book, especially as Dorian and Henry demean women consistently while Dorian also takes up womanly hobbies such as embroidery or jewelry. I can see why this is important to many people but it wasn’t clear or special to me to pedastalize this as a queer work of art, even within context.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I was trying something different and outside my comfort zone when I requested this, and it was a good choice. I was thoroughly entertained throughout the entire story.

I’m not sure if centering the spy thriller aspect was the best choice because this was so much more. It was an insight into the Korean diaspora and the way nationality and exploration of identity intersect.  I find the character study almost as or even more interesting than the overarching spy plot. I liked the separation of POVs between “The Northerner”, “The Southerner”, and “The American.”

I’m not sure if it was intentional but the writing did feel disorganized a bit, but at the same time, I feel like it makes it rereadable, there’s sure to be a different hint or clue to find through each read. However, for such a short book, the ending felt bogged down with the circular nature of the subplot resolutions, which ruined the pacing to me. The timeline jumping also felt hard to pinpoint at times, it took me a paragraph or two to realize when I was. Otherwise, this was an interesting debut and I’m looking forward to Jinwoo Park’s next book.

I needed a palate cleanser after the reading month I had and this did the job. The prose was very emotional and sensitive although I fear I wasn’t as moved as I had hoped to be. Van Booy did a great job of conveying the grief and loneliness that losing two loved ones causes, especially when they were both lost in a traumatic way. I liked the way Helen’s community build her up step-by-step and came together for her.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

This was so strange (/pos). I’m not sure if I would qualify this exactly as a haunted house story, but it was enjoyable all the same. I feel like the center of the book did get a bit repetitive and I think only one journal entry at a time made the story feel like it dragged on. I did like the pros. I think it began feeling like a fever dream which I really enjoyed. I honestly wished there was more of it. I think the ending did feel fitting for the tone of the story. 

This was a great debut and I’ll be keeping an eye out for Gonzalez’s next book.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

This was an interesting read. I think the world building was very well done. The magic system wasn’t hard to understand and yet it was still unique and well integrated. I feel like there were points that there was a lot of info dumping which made the story drag. 
There was a lot more telling, especially in regards to the political situation, than  showing. 
I also feel like the only character that was developed and given an arc was Heidi/Sylvie. The rest of the First Borne felt very one dimensional. I feel like Gaëtan all but disappeared by halfway through. I also feel like there weren’t very high stakes or excitement throughout, and the climax felt strangely paced speeding up the end of the story in comparison to the rest. 

I will probably be reading the sequel, but I wanted to see more of Sylvie and Loïc’s relationship beyond a few moments here and there. I did like Sylvie and Margot‘s growing friendship. I am excited to see how the quests work out. I like how the plot was formatted and it was a fun read. I do also think and hope that we see more age-appropriate content. All four of the firstborns were 20 but they were referred to his children so often they could’ve been 16 and nothing in the story would’ve changed.