Reviews by takarakeireads | The StoryGraph

632 reviews by:

takarakeireads

The Favorites

Layne Fargo

4.5

emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I DEVOURED THIS! The audio narration was SO GOOD!! It was like listening to a documentary about real ice skaters (positive).

I didn't realize this author writes thrillers so it got a little whacky at the end. This would make SUCH a good movie!

Content Warnings

Fan Service

Rosie Danan

4.0

funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was just fun, idk I like Rosie's silly plotlines. Like a guy who plays a werewolf on TV suddenly turns into one and his number one fan is the only person who can figure out how to help him? He stands up to her childhood (and honestly adult) bully? AND SHE'S A BISEXUAL VEGAN? Yeah I was sat.

Content Warnings

Ebony Gate

Ken Bebelle, Julia Vee

2.0

Run away now, this was so bad. The writing was extremely repetitive: like I cannot count how many times I heard about her BuSINEsS ParTNeR tESSa!!??!?! - I'm not dumb I remember you telling me who Tessa was a page ago...

"I loved urban camo"
"To access the records, I had to step into the dragon's mouth. Cute. I rolled my eyes and stepped through."

Honestly it read like YA in the worst ways

Spells For Forgetting

Adrienne Young

3.5

The mystery definitely kept me reading!

Content Warnings

Water Moon

Samantha Sotto Yambao

3.0

This started out with potential but it ultimately did not hold my attention and fell flat. Do not compare this to Miyazaki how dare you

The Song Rising

Samantha Shannon

4.0

I love that as this series progresses we get wider maps and larger world-building. SS really knows what she's doing.

Paige is a menace fr.

Content Warnings

Sea of Tranquility

Emily St. John Mandel

4.0

A little too pandemic focused but I did really like the idea/message behind it

Content Warnings

The Serpent and the Wings of Night

Carissa Broadbent

4.0

medium-paced

I enjoyed this! Didn’t blow me away, but especially for self-published fantasy it was good (bc I did audio and tandem physical and only found slight word changes so it seems like not a lot was edited from the og version). I struggled a tad bit with the world building, but I hope that it will make more sense as I continue the series. I’m also not a big tournament trope girlie :/ I did really like the romance and the ending was kwazy. Excited to keep on with this...

Content Warnings

We Unleash the Merciless Storm

Tehlor Kay Mejia

3.25

emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was a bit of a letdown from the first book, which I really enjoyed! It's not that I minded the pov shift to Carmen (I think logically that makes sense for the storyline) but actually the plot moved so slowly. There really wasn't a whole lot going on until the very end, and so the shift to a more character focused storyline just didn't really work for me. Bummer :(

Content Warnings

We Set the Dark on Fire

Tehlor Kay Mejia

4.0

adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

A Latinx dystopian political fantasy with clear influence from Handmaid's Tale

I thoroughly enjoyed this! I was immediately hooked from the first few pages and in an era when YA fantasies have really struggled to hold my attention - this one truly did until the end!

Dani constantly being forced to repress her anger and feelings in this society is tangible and so relatable.

I also really enjoyed the sapphic romance subplot - childhood enemies/rivals to friends to lovers ftw!

I very excited to start the sequel!

Content Warnings

More...