Elisabeth McMichael

this exists in one of my favorite genres: books so bad you can’t put them down. the characters were flat, the plot lines felt like they went everywhere and nowhere, and the ending was very anticlimactic. naturally i read it in 2 days. i had to know if it would be worth it. the twist was fun for 2 seconds and then the book was basically over.

I loved this book!! I can relate a lot to the main character about having something bad happen and then feeling scared and lost because you have to change your life. I’m jealous she seemingly figured it all out in a week, but that didn’t detract from the story lol. I loved the mess. The ending was super satisfying because it didn’t end in a perfect way. I liked that all of the characters sort of found themselves by the end in ways that’s felt right for them.

Eh. Beautifully written but would have been much better if it was like 200 pages shorter. Nothing happened—and I suppose that’s the point but there was no greater purpose imo. Very existential. I wouldn’t say it was a waste of time but I don’t think I got much out of it unfortunately.

I enjoyed this book but I don’t think the memoir/documentary narrative was as effective as it could have been. I always felt very detached from the main characters which works for the documentary style but didn’t work for the romance and drama that this book really boasts about. Like the drama was there for sure but sometimes it fell flat because I didn’t get the characters FEELINGS as deep as I needed to. Like I truly felt like i was watching a documentary about people I don’t know. I would have liked more emotional depth around the events and to have spent more time with the dramatic events and how they played out in between. I also thought the final few things were out of place and we didn’t have enough foreshadowing to make it seem like yeah those are things that they would do/would happen to them.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with this book. It definitely provided the drama but not always the emotional depth needed to make me care.

I liked this book a lot. I had the expectations that I might not after seeing such mixed reviews but I was pleasantly surprised. I took off a star because i felt like nothing got as deep as I wanted it to like there was a lot of build up and the conclusion didn’t quite deliver and felt rushed. And i felt like i wanted just a little bit more from the main characters. Regardless, it was cute and fun and i liked it.

this one was better than iron flame but didn’t get interesting until 2/3 of the way through. i enjoyed the politics but got bogged down by all the new characters and places. i started reading this series for the romance but honestly (and this is a hot take) violet and xadens intensity is kind of annoying to me and i think the whole book would benefit by taking out their spicy scenes (also so it’s shorter) and just focusing on the plot. there’s nothing wrong with xaden, but i really enjoyed the scenes of violet by herself or solving problems with her friends/dragons more than i enjoyed scenes with them together. she could be such a strong fmc and she was so much better in this book but xaden really bogged her down.

HELL YES.

This is what I wanted Normal People to be. The genius of this book really snuck up on me and this novel turned out to be SO satisfying. I loved that I could feel the tone of the novel and voice of the narrator change/grow/evolve in time with the character (which should happen but sometimes doesn’t).

I loved that-despite not really liking any of the characters at first-I was rooting for all of them at the end. I also really loved that the author managed to take such a frustrating “romance” trope and somehow not make me feel frustrated. She didn’t lean into miscommunication or genuinely stupid characters to drive the issues between the main characters and that was very rewarding. The dynamics in this book all felt very realistic to me. And the timing of everything was so right and felt so natural. This is such a perfect coming of age (like frontal lobe development) novel for adults (coming from a 23 year old lol).

I loved this book. And what a perfect ending.

as someone’s whose mom actually did die from cancer, Aidan’s “strife” was a big eye roll to me. but i also deeply understand his trauma and it wasn’t actually an eye roll. hard situation for me but it didn’t detract from the book. this book was cute and i really enjoyed it.

being in snow’s head for 16 hours (audiobook) was EXHAUSTING. but what a supervillain! his inner thoughts really got kinda scary at the end.

i liked how this book gave me a lot of insight into the WHYs of the hunger games. i liked the politics of it and i liked hearing his inner thoughts and turmoil as he justified his actions and worldview.

i loved all the easter eggs and tie-ins to the original series. and i loved that every time he showed his true colors i could think about how he gets his comeuppance in such an unwittingly personal way.

really very good. classic john green. the depth of research was really incredible considering i never felt overwhelmed by the amount of information i was given. i learned a lot from this book.

this is one of the first books i’ve read in a long time that i didn’t want to put down. i thought about it constantly. i’d read it on my lunch break at work and then as soon as i got home. it is so good. i think what makes it even better is that i really wasn’t expecting to like it.

i really loved that the ending of this book changed my perception on the whole of it it felt like the whole world opened up and everything from the beginning could be seen in a new way. i was also pleasantly surprised with the direction it took because i really wasn’t expecting different dimensions and i’m happy that the whole story won’t stay within the confines of the school or the government the way i figured

i only took off a star for two reasons:

1. i felt like the world building was a bit confusing. probably reader error but i felt like there were things that were explained too late or not at all and i really had to rely on context clues to figure it out. there was a helpful glossary in the back but i’m lazy and also forgot about it for half of the book.

2. i really liked that vis was a no-bullshit type of hero. he is strong, capable, extremely intelligent, and had a realistic moral code. BUT there were some victories of his that felt slightly unbelievable. am i bad for wanting my hero to fail sometimes? mainly i’m talking about the foundation game between him and belli. i didn’t really want him to fail but i would have maybe liked him to struggle more.

otherwise, this book is fantastic. it was slightly slow to start but so so worth it. i can’t wait for the next book.

man. i knew in advance i needed to suspend disbelief for this novel yet still i was unprepared for how ridiculous it got. i really enjoyed it (mostly because it is ridiculous and outdated and mostly incorrect and every character/plot line came full circle at the end (classic dan brown)) until the climax and ending where i had to roll my eyes at every new chapter. i mean come on. you’re telling me these are some of the most intelligent people in the country and they couldn’t solve that man’s riddle?? it was SO OBVIOUS. whatever. i’ll probably still read another dan brown book after this and roll my eyes some more.

This was a cute and fun read that I devoured in about a day. I'm really picky with my romances and I often don't finish the ones I pick up. About halfway through is where this book really charmed me. I loved Will and the supporting characters a lot, but I feel like Anna's character fell a little flat for me. Part of this book was about her finding herself after her divorce--and she definitely did that--but I felt that she could have had a few more unique characteristics considering every other person in the novel was very distinct. She was just kind of there to me. Regardless, I rooted for her the whole time and was satisfied with the ending.