Rivka

This was… super weird. The dialogue felt unnatural and the ending was severely unsatisfying… I would’ve LOVED to see more of the “outside”, that would’ve improved the story by a lot. We get small comments about how life is big not enough to satisfy my curiosity… I think if I had to describe this book in one word it would be “unsatisfying” lol. It’s a really cool concept that kinda didn’t go anywhere interesting? Like I’d love to read some writers on Reddit write a story with this prompt it would be FASCINATING. Also I feel like the book had a lot of good points to make and yet…. didn’t make any of them?? idk man

All in all it was fast and entertaining, but felt incomplete. and I’m SO sorry but I will continue to devour love island and you can’t take it from me

so good!

I get the hype lol

honestly after 1000 pages if this WASNT a five star read I would've been personally offended....... Lucky it exceeded expectations and I'm actually obsessed

this book was pretty cute, but the amount of pop culture references was actually alarming, and it was way too self aware that it was a book. like idk it kept saying things that felt like they were only in the book for booktok, like I FELT the booktok influence, you know? also why was the main internal conflict between Bailey and her mother never fully addressed and why was Charlie's feelings towards HIS parents never addressed? Weird.
anyways, cute story, I'll excuse the how to lose a guy in 19 days rip off, but it was kinda poorly executed.

this was just so underwhelming idk

you know what I really didn't appreciate that ending sir thanks

I really enjoyed this book! So much so that I was able to overlook the insta-love (which really isn't that bad but like 2 night together and she's like “am I falling in love???” anyways)

I really needed this after the train wreck that was powerless.

Edit: it's been a month. This book is so bad it put me in a literal reading slump. Don't do this to yourself.


I really wanted to rate this 2 stars but since I kinda want to know what happens in the next book I think it deserves 3.... I'm not happy about it though. (Edit- I went down to 2 stars)

first of all, my Goodreads reviews are always unhinged and full of grammar errors and whatnot- I'll go through and fix it later when I'm less mad, but for now we roll. Here goes.

Okay so first of all the plot was just a rip off of popular ya series- the whole trials thing is overdone, but I can go with it if it's at least done well- this was not done well. And the final trial being a maze??? okay Harry Potter.
you know what else is overdone? the “there was plague and whoever survived got powers” plot line. What I especially loved about this book in general was the complete lack of history or backstory about the actual plague, that was great.
and the “ordinaries” being discriminated? very red queen
Like, nothing in this book was original and it pissed me off

another thing that pissed me off was the repetition. There is no way you could forget Paedyns hair color with her “silvery strands” being mentioned EVERY. OTHER. WORD. And why did MULTIPLE chapters start with “it's been three days. Three days since I read this book. Three days since I hated ever starting it. Three days since I read about THEM.” I don't know maybe it's just me but I feel like maybe you can only pull that off once a book, not FIVE TIMES. Another thing my girl Lauren loves is an alliteration. Ooooh there were so manyyyy and the first time I was like yes girl slay with that alliteration. And then she put thirty more of them in the book and I was like yeah no pls stop
One of the reasons I was so excited to read this was for the banter I was promised. SO many people said the banter in this book was unmatched. So tell me why this “banter” was just Kai and paedyn talking about how she wants to stab/slap/maim him, and or her calling him a cocky bastard. That's it. That's the banter. ????????? I don't get it bro
I feel like maybe instead of all this repetition, we could've cut out 100 pages of THAT and used it to give some backstory about the purpose of the trials, and the history behind how the plague came about, and maybe some character backstory for the side characters? Idk I would've appreciated some of that. I felt like I was reading something made up. (Which obviously this is but I could FEEL it) There was NO worldbuilding at all! We're told the bare minimum about this mysterious plague, shown the smallest snippet of the slums, and that's it. Idk man this book had a lot of potential and it just fell flat in every way. Even the romance felt forced. OH AND THE DARLING THING??? It was not as cute as you thought Lauren. Just because Rhys can pull off the darling doesn't mean Kai can

In conclusion this book was a rip-off of some of my favorite (and not so favorite but very popular for good reason) books, it was poorly written and edited, the world building was nonexistent, and I hated every minute of reading this. I kinda do want to know what happens in the second book but I don't think I'll end up reading it.

I feel like there's more to say but this bid already way too long and rambly. I wish booktok had higher standards for fantasy, that's all. Also if she makes Kitt a villain I will RIOT he's the one character I liked besides Andy and Jax WHO WE BARELY GET TO LEARN ABOUT whatever it's fine I wouldn't recommend reading this but if you got this far thanks for reading me rant ily bye

EDIT
was just reading reviews and seeing this compared to the masterpiece that is the hunger games makes me want to cry

you ever read a book that's just EXACTLY what you need? I had just finished the five people you meet in heaven and the handmaids tale so AS YOU CAN IMAGINE I needed a light happy read that would have me giggling and blushing and THIS BOOK DID THAT

five stars no notes

probably closer to a 4.5 but Feyre is so annoying

I don't know if I LOVED this book but there was nothing I DIDNT like about it

I hate murder mystery's but this one was SO GOOD I think what made me love it so much was the narrator, Ernest is simply the best narrator I could've asked for and I DIDNT KNOW THERE WAS A SEQUAL I CANT WAIT

Woooow

okay so I usually love a courthouse drama but this was just not it

wtf did I read

The entire first half of this book felt like I was fighting against a brick wall

I am very upset

I think this book was just not for me

new book bf unlocked


no but this book was sooooooo good you guys


update it's been 2 days and im still thinking about Justin

I had very very high expectations and they were not met... still thoroughly enjoyed myself but this felt like it was trying to be a man called ove and a man called ove is better

no

this book was so unremarkable that I was 2/3s of the way through before I realized I'd already read it

Mariana zapata holds too much power

wat the fuk


okay okay okay wait im gonna try to write something resembling g a review but HOLY HELL

okay spoilers ahead beware blah blah

the beginning of this book was SOOO slow and repetitive but I have this 4 (more like 4.5) stars so CLEARLY IG GOT BETTER but like I need Xaden and Violet to be a tad less angsty for like thirty seconds

also Rebecca Yarros's writing style takes a good 50-100 pages to get used to, no matter how many books she's gonna write the modern language and terminology mixed with the very high fantasy world is very jarring -there's also a LOT of repetition with how violet is feeling from her not trusting Xaden to her being afraid to lose Rhiannon to Sawyer not liking her like it's just a LOT and don't get me started on xaden's “hard” kisses and violet “melting” or her “insides liquifying” ....i can look past all the repetition it's just something I noticed, like she probably could've cut out 100 pages and had the exact same story

Plot was very entertaining though I was having fun Rebecca pls don't kill off my faves in onyx storm thanks

also what the hell with XADEN BEING A VENIN???? HELLO?????

also fuck jack barlowe all my homies hate jack barlowe

neither of the two main characters were likable in the slightest sense