bookstabob's reviews
69 reviews

The Betrayals is a puzzle that combines love, hate, intrigue, mystery, friendship, enemies and a wisdom that comes from higher learning. In this way, it is like the grand jeu it mentions so many times and that the entire story is about. However, why this book is extremely intriguing and has multiple plot twists that keep you turning page after page, it has a similar flaw as The Binding and that this book does a lot of tell where it doesn’t show. Because of this, it reads a bit as a play. Made to physically show something, but it doesn’t as there is no play or movie to show us. Of course, that leaves many things to the imagination which some readers might greatly enjoy but personally it made me feel like I truly missed the pieces that would have made this book absolutely great. The same feeling I had with The Binding, unfortunately.

How I had wished I knew this was a duology BEFORE I got it… it was an unpleasant surprise. The Sunbearer Trials are fast paced and full of teen-angst that make you want to slap some characters against their heads, but that also makes them relatable. It wasn’t fully clear to me in the beginning that it takes part in a different world and a map might have worked, or a bit more world building but in the end this tale had it all including a natural-flowing bit of LGBT+ representation. Can’t wait for the sequel.

Looking at the time frame from when this was written, Carmilla isn’t half bad. Its slow pace, the tension build up, and the language all fit the time and world in which the book is set and the writer is from. However, this book is severely overhyped as a sapphic and potentially erotic vampire tale. It might indeed have inspired Dracula, and it connects very well to the mythology of vampires at the time and the fear and superstition. But the female characters remain “flat” as well as there not being a great love story of bond building introduced in this short book.

A cute read, heart warming and endearing. This book can be easily described as cozy, and that is how it should be treated. Because One Last Stop has a weird tendency to seem to want to “bridge” two eras and make it confusing for the reader to see that one of the two characters is not from this time. But how can you not notice? The world has changed so incredibly much in just the last 5 to 10 years, bridging the gap between the two protagonists should have been much harder and could be filled with actual funny stuff. None the less, One Last Stop is heart warming, although hearing the reviews from actual people from the Flatbush area is a bit disheartening.

The trilogy this book is part from, is just the epitome of Hallmark in book form. And there is nothing wrong with that. Hang the Moon is the straight-equivalent of its predecessor Write Me The Stars and while not as funny, it is still endearing and almost sickeningly sweet. Sugar in page form. Nothing too heavy, nothing serious, and you know it will have a happy ending from the beginning. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Let me start with: this book is extremely predictable. But that doesn’t make it any less heart warming and fun to read. It is, however, the reason why I won’t give it five stars. Now on to the review.

Red, White & Royal Blue is the perfect queer summer read. Light, full of joy and full of love this is the book that will warm your heart and make you happy. It will also spark hope in the hearts of many queers for whom the world has become a scarier and darker place. And therefore I say: go get it this summer, or any time after. Because we can all use some light right now.

A fun and light read showing the struggles in different communities and how they can come together instead of fighting for the spotlight. It’s a bit slow paced which makes it lazy and relaxing read.

Simply said: a page turner. I couldn’t put De Laatste Dochter down, and neither could my mother (who stole it while I was going to the bathroom because she was bored and forgot her own book…).
De Laatste Dochter is not just exciting to read, it is eery because the scenarios written, the crudeness and the sheer selfishness of some characters is so realistic. This book describes the fear of many women in our current society so well, that it makes the main character all the more relatable. As well as flawed. All characters have their moments where you just want to hit them in the back of the head with something, where you find them endearing or just blatantly annoying. Because no one is pure good, or pure evil. And De Laatste Dochter who’s perfectly that everyone can have flaws, but we as humans decide what to do with that.

Why this review in English? Because I also highly recommend this book for those who are still learning Dutch, but are already more advanced and who want to read something more exciting and challenging!!