ishu_u's reviews
132 reviews

Scythe & Sparrow by Brynne Weaver

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dark funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i'm kind of disappointed w this book but maybe it's bc i was really looking forward to reading this one. bc of rose and fionn's excerpts from the other two books, i thought they'd definitely be my favorite couple in this trilogy. but compared to butcher & blackbird, this and leather & lark just seems to fall flat. there's romance there, sure. but it doesn't feel like it after the smut happens. i just feel like there were a lot of better directions this book could have taken, instead of the friends w benefits trope and all. i guess if u like that and smut, this would be a decent book. but i don't really enjoy reading most smut and it's a little cringey to me. this one wasn't any different. if only they made fionn more pathetic 😞 i'm mostly disappointed bc i saw so much potential and it just... it's just all so bland.
especially when leander has fionn leave for croatia w him. did not like that at all.
honestly, i just had sm hope for their chemistry and it ended up giving me mostly nothing. i feel like it was good in the beginning but the more this book progressed, the more i felt bored. very tragic considering i do like both rose and fionn. i wish more was done for their personalities and the plot overall. this might be a great book for anyone who doesn't mind the things i did, though. but it unfortunately just doesn't do it for me. butcher & blackbird remains my favorite in the trilogy.
also!!! i wish something different was done for each couple instead of being a copy paste of rowan and sloane. serial killer and person who covers up their murders. for every book? that becomes boring. i'd like to see something new. not to mention all the fmcs seem far too similar. and so do the mmcs, in some sense. i thought fionn might be a little different but they're all copy and paste. especially in the smut scenes. so.. yeah, not very interesting.
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

although short, this book was able to invoke a lot of feelings in me. reading about the reality of war is always terrifying and really sad. to think that so many women go through this during war is heartbreaking. i was more immersed reading the first part than the second. the detached way the soldier's pov is narrated is chilling. the second part is sad.
she goes through all of that, trying to retell that girl's story, just to get shot in the end 😭 and in the same place the girl was killed. crazy.
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i wasn't expecting to enjoy this book so much but i did. it's so tragic and i really did want to hate david and objectively, he is a horrible person for what he did to both giovanni and hella, but i also think david is super realistic. it's sad that he loved giovanni but pushed him away bc he didn't want to accept his sexuality and that he loved giovanni. in the beginning of the book, i found the two of them super sweet and i liked the conversations they had. the yearning 💔 and giovanni is a sweetheart.
i'm so sad for the way things ended for him. he deserved sm better.
this book absolutely broke my heart and just made me feel really sad for everyone in it 😭
also i'm so glad that hella left david. i was scared she was going to get married to him and never find out he liked men.
also i really love the writing and the symbolism. great book.
The Latch Key by Olivia Atwater

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emotional lighthearted sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

i love elias sm ☚ī¸ he's so cute. his childhood was sad and i can relate to his fear of becoming a father like his own. but i don't think he'll be anything like his own father. it was so cute to see how carefully he handled abigail. elias only man ever. 
The Lord Sorcier by Olivia Atwater

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fast-paced

3.5

cute that we got to see how albert and elias became friends. i love them sm. 
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this is such a cutesy book!!! i absolutely loved it. elias #1 yearner. i LOVE him and dora sm. cutest ever. the beginning felt kind of slow to me but it got better and better as it went on. i love plenty of the other characters too. like albert and vanessa. the plot was lovely and it was romantic. i loved it.
Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i love almost every book i read by sarah adams bc her books feel like classic 2000's romance films to me. and this one was no different. i really enjoyed it and per usual, the mmc had me going teeheehee. i love emily's character, she reminds me a lot of myself.
afraid of change? can't cry? doesn't want to accept help? me. she's literally me. even in that scene where she gets super mad after receiving criticism on her book. i do think though that she has a lot of issues she needs to work on. and i'm glad she acknowledges that but we don't really see her actively working on them 😭  which is okay, i guess.
jack is wonderful and cutesy but i can't help but feel like there isn't anything that stood out about him to me. i read practice makes perfect months ago but somehow i feel like jack is the exact same as will in terms of personality. which, obviously i don't dislike. i just would have liked to see something... newer. but he was still great. oh and found family is my favorite trope ever so it's really nice to see all the characters together.
for criticism, i don't think the bit with jack's dad exposing that he's AJ ranger was necessary tbh. like yeah it's meant to show that he can and will stand up to his narcissistic father but the problem is, that was a problem that arose right at the end so it doesn't feel resolved even if jack says jonathan will take care of it. i just don't feel it was necessary. but given his dad's character.. yeah, it's definitely something his dad would do. and i feel like the book info-dumped on me a lot 😭 like it would just start explaining things in the middle of a scene so that would mess with my imagination. i feel like there could be a way to introduce us to that information without spilling it all randomly in a character's thoughts in a scene that has little to do with said information.
anyway, cutesy book. though i don't think i enjoyed it as much as i enjoyed when in rome and practice makes perfect. and i look forward to madison and james' book. 
Heartless by Marissa Meyer

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

this was a really well-done retelling of alice in wonderland. i loved the magical vibes right from the beginning and i adored catherine and jest.
given how... whimsical the beginning was, it's so strange to think about how dark the ending became. i saw it coming tbh. since i knew she'd become the queen of hearts at the end, when the three sisters showed the drawings and in it, jest dies, i knew he would die. i didn't even hope for anything more 😭 didn't delude myself into thinking he still lived somehow. thinking about that ending genuinely makes me feel so depressed. catherine only wanted to open up a bakery and to be with jest and she didn't get either of those two simple dreams. i also really adored her friendship with mary ann in the beginning so to see it become like that in the end was heartbreaking ☹ and hatta going mad after jest's death is devastating. i'm just so, so sad for all the characters. even peter peter bc he only wanted to heal his wife. and to think that jest wouldn't have liked who catherine became at the end 😭 he'd be so devastated.
good book, anyhow. i liked the vibes and i adored the characters
and mourned them. just thinking about how literally none of the characters i liked got a happy ending makes me want to kill myself. i only wish the romance aspect was a bit more focused on bc it seemed like jest and cath spent more time thinking about how they could never be together instead of... being together. which makes sense given their circumstances, but still. i will say that that just makes me sadder though bc of all the dreams they had and what they could have been. R.I.P jestie 😞
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

this was so fun to read. i was hooked from the beginning bc i had no idea what it was about and as the story went on, i still had no idea what it was about 😭 i wanna say the whole thing is a train wreck. but a really well thought-out train wreck. if that makes sense. bc oh my god, after finishing it i had so many questions. i immediately googled fan theories and all the theories make sm sense and that's so fun that it's a book that allows the readers to come up with their own theories.
also drove me insane for a lil bit bc i was like HUH?? what's real and what's not yk. but like all the alternate timelines and eve being in a timeline that's not hers and stuff is so interesting. i wouldn't say i expected a "good" ending exactly (good, in the sense, a happy ending) so the ending didn't disappoint me. it was really interesting. also the theory about jenny being in the wrong timelines is sooo interesting too bc she refers to eve as emma when they first meet. crazy.
really great book, i had such a fun time reading, it was like seeing a horror movie play out in my head. very very fun.
Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

this was a lovely read! i felt bored at times but that's natural for me bc i don't often read non-fiction. but this was nice. it taught me a lot about love. some things i already knew, but it was nice to get that reminder regardless. i think it's a great read if u want to understand love better and the different types of love there are. i love that the book touched on so many different types of love. platonic and familial love r the most dear to me and it was nice to see it talked about here. great read, i enjoyed it.