krayreads's reviews
1217 reviews

this was buck wild lol. i will say that akwaeke has such beautiful writing. she captured the dark, provocative, and gritty underground world of a big city in nigeria with such clarity that i could perfectly imagine the streets, the parties, and the atmosphere.

the characters were a MESS. there was a diverse group of characters that are going through so much and when the events over a weekend take a completely insane and chaotic turn, it interweaves all of their stories together. there wasn't a single likable character in this book but my god, was it entertaining to watch the consequences of their mistakes unfold.

there are heavy themes of sexuality and shame that i wasn't expecting but it made sense for that part of the world. lots of trigger warnings in this too! i do think that aside from all the excessive drama, i couldn't really see the point of it all? i wasn't sure what akwaeke was trying to say after everything. overall, an interesting and crazy read.

this was such a charming book! we follow several individual characters who have the most interesting jobs i've ever read about, and most of their jobs/interactions happen throughout the night all over tokyo. in the beginning, i wasn't really sure where this story was going. as with some other japanese translated books, sometimes the writing can feel a bit dry and disconnected. 

however once the story started connecting each character together, and the theme of how fate intertwines people even in one of the largest cities like tokyo, i was locked in. i really ended up enjoying the moments these characters had together, how they each had a part to play in each other's lives, and i was happy to get a satisfied ending (despite some of the characters having an open ending!).

this was absolutely ridiculous but such a good time?? phantom was unhinged and immature and childish yet endearing?? and hot??? and super funny like i lol'd multiple times throughout this book??idk???

also yay to a childfree by choice couple!

i liked this in the beginning and had some fun in the middle but towards the end i was over it lol. this is a romance between kyrell, a successful businessman, and quinn, a nurse, who meet because of mutual friends. they were both such complicated people individually and together tended to be toxic - but the fun kind of toxic? i don't know how to explain it. they started hooking up casually which caused a bunch of fun and hilarious scenes that i genuinely enjoyed. then within the last third of this book, it took a complete 180 and became super emotional and intense in a way that i wasn't expecting at all, as kyrell began to foster a relationship with his dying father and quinn ends up as his father's nurse. 

it focused so much on kyrell and his relationship with his father that the romance fell flat (and then became mostly about their physical relationship), and even quinn's own story was forgotten.

to top it all off, the bain of my existence of a trope happened - surprise pregnancy. UGH. they both acted pretty immature about it, but then i was reminded that they're only like 23/24 years old so yeah, it made sense. idk, this book was a journey. it felt like i read three different kinds of stories in this one book lol.

"if the assignment had been to be human, to fail, then i succeeded."

an incredible story that explores the pains and beauty of the human experience. writing was unlike any other! this will stick with me for a while.

this definitely read like a debut novel. while i enjoyed parts of it, there were definitely some blips in the writing that could use work and also parts that i didn’t particularly agree with.

the overall plot is a romance between dakota, a new team photographer for a major league baseball team, and calloway, the pitcher for the team (who also happens to be dakota’s best friends adopted older brother). i personally didn’t think there was much chemistry between dakota and callaway as it was more of lust at first sight and infatuation that was the driving force behind their interactions. there were factors that prevented them from being together but i still didn’t think that they got to know each other enough to fall as hard as they did. there was some emotional depth to each character that we got insight on but it still felt a bit surface level because there was so much focus on their physical attraction that i didn’t think there was enough vulnerability either character really had a chance to show and grow on.

i do think that the author has potential to grow. despite my own personal problems, this was a solid foundation for the author to build on and can only get better from here!

what worked:
- the cover is stunningggggg
- i appreciated how callaway knew that he wanted dakota and didn’t shy away from making it known to literally everyone. he wanted her, he wanted to make her his, and nothing was going to stop him (even if he did come off a bit strong in the beginning).
- i really enjoyed callaway and navy’s relationship as siblings, especially because they are adopted siblings and met later in life. they genuinely care deeply about each other and always supported one another!
- the found family aspect with the baseball team was definitely a highlight - i loved the friendships between the players and also the friendship that dakota formed with kingston, callaway’s best friend.
- DYING to get bodhi and navy’s story because i can just already tell from the little glimpses we got from them, there’s going to be some angst and tension!
- i don't know a single thing about baseball but the author made it easy to follow along with the sport

what didn't work:
- there were some inconsistencies with the writing in terms of the actions of the characters and what they said. for example; dakota wanted to go to a nightclub for a night out on the town to relieve some stress and even had to convince navy to be her wingwoman, but when callaway asks her later what brought her out, she says "you can blame your sister for my appearance here tonight" even though it was her idea to go out.
- both dakota and callaway came off as misogynistic at times (surprisingly, more dakota than callaway??). callaway claimed to be “team woman” and was raised to to treat a woman properly, but in his inner monologue when he is thinking about his emotions and feelings towards dakota, he thinks that he’s “acting like a chick”. i also am not a fan of the word chick and it was used quite often in this lol. dakota was even worse - at a (naked) team photoshoot, there is a woman assisting with the shoot and we barely introduced to her when dakota immediately says “not sure who this high and mighty itty bitty titty chick is, but her presence is not exciting me in the slightest”. yikes. furthermore, when it looks like this itty bitty titty chick is flirting with the baseball players (and i'm assuming her only role as a character was to cause a reaction from dakota), dakota says, "what i was not expecting, though, was to be accompanied by ms. barbie who looked like a diva with her long blonde hair and tight body, leaving nothing to the imagination". definitely not a girls girl, lol. i literally cringed at these statements.
- there were certain times with the dialogue between dakota and callaway felt a bit corny and forced, not cohesive at all.

i definitely had a hard time reading certain parts. i think as a debut novel, the author has some things to improve on and i'm hoping the next book in the series for bodhi and navy will be even better!

there are simply no words to fully express what this book did to me. this was, without a doubt, one of the best books i've ever read. period.

this is a story about the summer that changed the lives of four best friends and the lasting effects it had twenty-five years later. this was a story about friendship, love, loss and grief, and everything beautiful in between. every line was pure fucking magic. this was a masterpiece. i'm honestly in awe of the pure and raw emotions i felt reading this. no one can quite hit the way fredrik can. the man is unmatched and unrivaled.

these characters have my heart but their hearts belong to each other. i wish i could explain exactly what i'm going through but the best way to understand is to simply read this fucking book. oh my god. i will never be the same.

"this feeling of love, it transports me, it makes me happy. At the same time, it consumes me and makes me miserable, the way all impossible loves are miserable." yep yep yep SEVERELY UNWELL. 

the writing in this was actually superb. perfection. the emotions and feelings this author captured were so vivid. the way he perfectly described your first love made the rest of the story even more painful. this was beautiful and inspiring and DEVASTATING. the ending literally broke me. i will never be the same. 

why must the gays always have a tragic ending!!!!!

the first play i've ever read as a recommendation from uncarley on youtube and this has absolutely blown my mind. the setting is a corporate publishing office and the characters are pretentious and whiny editorial assistants complaining about their mundane lives. the end of act one fucking shook me to my absolute core!!!! in act two there's a conversation between two characters that explore the effects of a traumatic event, claiming and exploiting that traumatic event for selfish gain. this was short and quick but incredibly powerful. absolutely loved this. it will live with me for a long time.

for the most part, this was tolerable. this was a second chance romance between denzel "denz" carter, who work for his family event planning company, and braylon, his college ex that has moved back from london and is now working in their hometown. while this was pitched as a romance, i would argue that the romance actually took a backseat in this book. because it was only from denz perspective, there was more to the story about his own journey in the competition against his sister, kami, to run for the next CEO of their company after his dad announces retiring, rather than the actual romance.

i loved reading about the carter family and their chaotic but loving and loyal dynamic with each other. their interactions were my favorite part of the book! they were hilarious, and the true definition of showing "tough love". i especially loved auntie eva - an fashion icon! i adored the sibling relationship between denz and kami because while they had their arguments and fights, they still always supported and loved each other.

when it came to the competition of who would become the next CEO, i have no idea why denz was delusional enough to think he even had a chance against kami. kami was a boss bitch who had her shit together and had to save denz from the mistakes he made multiple times. denz as a character was selfish, arrogant, disorganized, and forgot so many important things that i'm genuinely confused as to why he thought anyone would hand over him the reins of their company. he had his flaws and while there was a bit (A BIT) of character growth by the end of the book, it wasn't enough to make me like him lol.

also, braylon lived in london for only 3 years and he comes back with an accent and starts saying "innit" and "ello"????? huh??? lol and he was such a dull character. he fell so flat. he hardly contributed anything to the story besides the plot of fake dating and even the reason for that was so farfetch'd. their romance was boring and i felt nothing towards it. in the end i was really just reading on to read kami make it as CEO which of course, she does.

the writing was great but it definitely read more YA than adult. denz and braylon acted very young and naive for their ages, and also their actions and dialogue read very young as well.