titalindaslibrary's Reviews (687)

I’m not a poetry girly, but this is a powerful collection. 

Damn. Jennette has been through it. 

Here’s the thing: I LOVE how unapologetically Filipino this romcom is. Our two main characters come from different backgrounds and I adore how this book highlights that. It really shares a better look at how diverse Filipino people and our diaspora can be.

However. My major complaint? The romance. And that should not be the case in a romance book 🥲 Idk, the sudden hookup at the very start felt so forced, all in order to establish a connection? It just didn’t work for me. I think the character progression afterwards was well done, but I never reached a point where I fully believed in these two as a couple. As two individuals? Absolutely! 

Another thing that bothered me throughout was how Mon was the only person who consistently wore his mask. Like if you’re going to set your book in our current time-frame and acknowledge the need for COVID precautions, why is it only one person who seems to care? Literally the only time it’s mentioned  anyone else wears a mask is when Olivia visits the Philippines. So it’s obviously a performative gesture, because it’s never mentioned at any other time that she bothers to wear one. 

A very well researched and damning read of Israel’s military and surveillance tech and how the Palestinian cause is one we should all care about. It truly shows how none of us are free until all of us are free.

I just wish the writing style was delivered in less infodump style, because my brain felt scrambled by the run-on sentences containing all this information. 

If you loved Disorientation, enjoyed Yellowface, and wrestled with Identitti (aka: ME), add this to the list of satirical fiction that tackles racism in publishing. 

Kennedy Ryan does it again 🥹

Daughter of the Moon Goddess was among the first fantasy books that got me back into reading, so I’ll always have a soft spot for it. 

Returning to Tan’s writing now…well, perhaps I can see how reading DotMG would hit differently if I picked it up today. The writing is overtly flowery and the characters are pretty one-dimensional. If sections hadn’t been labeled by a different POV character I would’ve had a hard time differentiating between their voice. 

However this short stories collection is a sweet addition to the previous two books and she picks characters and stories that answer questions and breathe new life into the duology. This is a short book written for already-established fans and it does the job. Also, the illustrations throughout were lovely! I wish more adult books had this! 

Damn, this cured my Six of Crows hangover 😮‍💨 An absolutely fun, fast-paced read that delighted me in so many ways! A heist? Found family? Tension-filled romantic subplots? Badass women? Vampires??? 

Absolutely loved this one! 

Based on what I’d heard and what others had told me, this should have been a 5-star, new favorite read, and I went in fully anticipating that. And yet…something about this just didn’t work for me. I think this is a book that’s for a certain niche. You either get it or you don’t, and unfortunately I do not 🥲

I really admire the complex and entirely different types of FMCs Ava Reid can write. A Study in Drowning introduced me to Effy, the gentle, strong scholar. Evike was a snarling outcast who, despite some “not-like-other-girls” moments, won me over. Marlinchen is one I struggled to connect with the most, despite being able to personally understand aspects of her sheltered upbringing. 

There were several repetitious phrases when it comes to her internal dialogue that drove me up the wall. 

And towards the end when she confesses these “I’m so ugly” thoughts to her love interest, I couldn’t help thinking of a previous read, Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang, and the way that book addressed ugliness. It was a much more satisfying commentary on this topic, one that Juniper & Thorn dismisses with a “There there, but you’re not plain-faced to ME!” 🙄 

Speaking of love interests…this is very much an insta-love connection, and it’s my least favorite thing in the world. 

The first 60% of this book is quite meandering, with beautiful, poetic prose that spends all its time describing the dishes Marlinchen makes for her father, two random nights of escapades (aka: the ballet hottie!), and the family’s monstrous garden and relationships. 

In the end…I think I should’ve DNFed because even that wild, horror-filled ending couldn’t save this for me. 

Like most short story and essay collections, there are certain chapters that are stronger than others, but Dinner on Monster Island is a rather dark, cohesive work. Despite not being a huge horror aficionado, I was able to connect with the few referenced works throughout. Amazingly, I seem to have been drawn to the same titles Tania happens to dive into, and perhaps that is not a coincidence. I really loved the analysis of Ringu, Sadako’s character, and the history of monstrous women in Asian mythology. 

Tania explores the full range of her disappointment, rage, and sorrow over the people and country that raised her, and I finished this with a heavy feeling in my chest. I will definitely be mulling over these essays for days to come.