nico
2.5★
i think this was somehow more annoying than the first one... in terms of plot, it was a bit more entertaining (albeit still very dumb), but having read this translated somehow made the experience way worse.
a lot of of stuff i hated, but i kinda enjoyed those last pages of the penultimate chapter. i thought we'd be getting more of neil with the ravens, but of fucking course not; when does this author actually write about the interesting stuff? all we get is overexplained unimportant bits, and then a paragraph summarizing what could've been a nice scene. a big lack of "show don't tell" in these books unfortunately.
that last chapter was intriguing though and i kind of liked it. i'm just glad i'm done with this book
2.3★
honestly, this was as bad as i remembered... i really thought i had disliked this the first time because i was expecting a sports romance and it turned out to be an entirely different thing; but now, even knowing what i was getting into, it was still insanely bad. i will be reading the rest of the series, because i have nothing else to do and i need to see this through.
the fact that no one ever mentions any warnings about these books is crazy to me, because if you're ever thinking of reading this you have to be prepared for a lot. and i'm sorry to say, even with the mafia plot and whatever, the amount of stuff that is accepted in this book is insane. the rape jokes, sexual harassment and assault, andrew's whole character, the repetitive use of the r-slur, and the way mental illness is portrayed is simply disgusting.
i can look past unbelievable things like a made up sport becoming world famous in 30 years, or, again, the mafia subplot; and even neil knowing he can't attract any attention and still signing with a team knowing everyone is watching. but the "suicide squad" vibes all these characters have is just too much.
Contains spoilers
4.4★
loved this book, and this whole trilogy! i genuinely recommend this to everyone because everything is just so amazing.
i was a bit taken aback when alan betrayed them, and was scared that it wouldn't be well developed, but it turned out ok. though betrayals to me are always very difficult to do right
and i expected the relationship between alan and hawthorn to be done a bit differently, and have more of a slow burn that the ones from the previous books, but i didn't dislike it. i'm just not a fan of these types of relationships overall (even if it was done nicely in this case)
4.4 ★
mystery on a boat with sapphics? amazing perfect excellent i loved it! i wish some relationships had been better developed, and since this was all in the span of a week, everything had to happen rather quick; which was mostly fine, the pacing was easy to follow and immersive, but some things ended up not clear enough because of it
4.5★
i'm gonna be completely honest with you, this might be one of my favourite books ever and i am so excited to read the rest of the trilogy! everything from the the integration of magic in edwardian england to the mystery plot was so captivating. i can understand the people who had some trouble keeping up with this book, and i think its difficulty comes from the fact that the writing is very similar to novels from its portrayed time; as someone who has english as a second language, this writing takes a lot more effort and time for me to fully absorve it. although i think it's very much worth it for this book in particular
2.2 ★
what a disappointment. the writing was lackluster and the plot was missing so much. the characters were insufferable and for half of the book i genuinely thought the main character was making up everything in her mind, even though i was reading her every thought. the "twist" was terrible, and it portrayed all themes very poorly, not a single good moral in its entirety.
for the amount of descriptions and repetitions this book included it lacked a lot in settings and spaces; it never tells you what's there or what the characters are looking at, but trust me! it's terrible and horrific and you'll want to throw up. not only that but the actions scenes were so confusing, most of the times i had to reread whole paragraphs just to try and understand what was happening because it feels like there are jumps between sentences. and i still couldn't understand, because the answer for your questions is always AFTER the very confusing paragraph.
random "twists" on the end of chapters that then get explained on the first sentence of the next one ? and the same phrases/words repeated several times on the same page.
i spent the majority of the time rolling my eyes at everything. i saw some people say it would work better as a movie, and duh! because in the movie you'll actually see what's happening and can understand what the fuck the author was actually trying to show you, instead of having to create the scenes and make sense of it yourselves. most of the important stuff that should be written for you to understand is just not there, but then there are a few moments that are so obvious if you were reading the book, and yet the author explains them in 5 different sentences like you're a child that doesn't understand anything.
2.2★
i don't even know what to tell you, the writing was so poor and there were so many mistakes in the text. the mystery was ok, but then they reveal who it is in the most underwhelming way and just don't mention it ever again; and then 2 or 3 chapters away from the end they retell the information that made you realize who the killer was, but it's different ? and on the last chapter there's a sort of red herring for you to think it's someone else, but turns out it's actually who they first revealed it was.... and afterwards, just to make the matters worse, on the epilogue there's this sentence that is supposed to be a joke, but hints at the possibility that the person they caught isn't actually the killer, even though all clues point to it. with all this said, you can't really know if it really is that person, because there are just so many mistakes and stuff that gets changed throughout the book that you don't even know if these are "hints" that it's not that person, or just bad writing and editing.
i have to add though, even if it wasn't explicit, the subtle misogyny i felt while reading this... wow... all characters suck, yes, but not enough for me to justify the hate towards the women as something other than misogyny.
2.3★
i guess i really am starting the year with this book... listened to this audiobook at like 3.3x speed which is crazy even for me. i already knew the plot since i watched a 2-hour video on youtube of someone retelling the book, but i technically didn't read it so i couldn't log it. and now i can... yay, i say with the straightest most uninterested face ever. don't even know what to tell you about this. it's bad.
2.2 ★
this was a nightmare to finish, the writing just wasn't for me. the plot is so interesting, and its take on slashers is amazing, but unfortunately that couldn't save this book... i didn't care abut the characters, and i felt a huge weight on me every time i tried to read this, it was so tiresome
4.3 ★
i loved this so much! it was just so good. i really love juniper's characterization and how she's portrayed; you *know* she is a bad person, and every thing she does keeps proving that, but the way this is written reminds me so much of some classic literature. the moment "lolita" by nabokov was mentioned i knew exactly what was up. not only that, but having studied tragedies since february i can't help but compare her to the figure of the tragic hero, and i'm so glad i read this book, because r.f. kuang knows exactly what she's doing!
3.4 ★
so yes, i have fallen into heated rivalry's propaganda. the third episode got me to start reading this just from how much i loved kip and scott's relationship. i listened to the audiobook and kip's voice annoyed me a lot, especially during the sex scenes... i already have a difficult time reading sexual content, and now having to listen to it and with that voice? man, that was difficult. i got annoyed at some of kip's complaints throughout the book as well, but i guess it had to happen (thank you kyle though, for putting some sense into him!!!)
3.6 ★
the fantasy aspect of this book was amazing, i absolutely loved the world building and how everything worked in the other world, but i hated the romance in this. i couldn't get behind hana and kei's relationship at all; it just annoyed me honestly.
these are people in their early 20s, and they talk like that all the time? i just don't buy it. it got to a point when keishin said something around the lines of "did you know i actually hate maps" and i couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes and screaming 'shut the fuck up!!!'. how is it that everything they say has to be "deep" and "meaningful", it just becomes hollow after a while. i can understand where the author was coming from and what they were trying to convey, but both the main character's motivations are nothing but mommy issues, and that's fine, but there's nothing more beyond that. i can understand they both want more than what they have, that they feel lonely, and that they don't ever feel like they belong; but this is all thanks to both of their mothers who left (albeit for different reasons). even their romance is solely based on this, no connection whatsoever besides "we're both mom-less, and we both feel lonely because of it". unfortunately, what could've been an amazing read and a book i would've loved, turned out to annoy me most of the time because of the two main characters and their lack of depth and personality
2.25 ★
this was ok... i never thought i'd say these words, because man, i really do hate this phrase but this book just had too many words. it doesn't really matter to me if i connect to the characters or to the plot, all i care about is enjoying reading, and i simply did not. all i was doing was looking at words, and after a while it felt exhausting; i was reading sentences and couldn't put together a narrative, or any character... as a whole, i understood it, i know what the plot is, who the characters are and what they did; but that's just it, there were too many instances in which i felt like i wasn't reading about anything at all, words after words after words, and nothing with <i>meaning</i>. so, this wasn't for me - i can understand why this is considered a great book, especially for its impact at its time, but i don't care for it
2.3 ★
didn't dislike it as much as the last one, but this one was just so ... why? predictable, no development whatsoever, what even was her problem? i started this and was hoping the love interest wasn't her best friend who was about to get married (it wasn't, but still uninteresting). i understand it can be hard to write a fleshed out interesting relationship in a short story, but my god it was so uninteresting
4.0 ★
i found this audiobook and it was so short i decided to give it a go! this was very cute and i might read the other books in this collection. i could've done without the 2 conversations about how good that man was in bed... genuinely added nothing, it just threw me off from what was happening.
either way, i liked how their relationship was developed; especially since it was done in such a short amount of pages, it was nice.
(another thing, in the audiobook having them read the emails over and over again was getting annoying. i understand we have to know who's sending what, but most emails were two sentences long, so i was listening their emails 5 times in the span of a minute)
3.4 ★
ok, i'd say this one was a lot less developed since the plot happens in like ? only a couple of hours? i didn't connect to any of the characters, and i kinda hated how "not like other girls", "poor me" rosie was :/ and even leo had his own e4 traits, and that is just NOT for me. tbf i kept imagining him as buck from 911 so a few points for that (even if it had nothing to do with it, i just love buck). still cute-ish but lacking some flavor
2.0 ★
this was such a dumb book. i really only read this because i've had it in my tbr list for ages now, and i was in the mood for something bad. unfortunately, it really was bad. the guy main character was such an asshole, and not even a likeable asshole, but a spoiled rich heartless pretentious thinks he's better than everyone asshole. and the way they try to tell you it's for a reason, and "once you find out you'll understand why he's that way"... i really didn't. he was an asshole, fuck him honestly. my jaw dropped when i found out this man was 30 years old. THIRTY. i was imagining a stupid 19 y/o kid, the way he talked about everything (like literally that one man from after, or the way people pictured harry styles in wattpad fanfics).
zahra was also a terrible character, the way she kept excusing that manchild every time he treated other people like shit ? she had a few more redeeming qualities, and the diversity in this was appreciated, but fucking hell man, stand the fuck up. the plot in itself was lacking to say the least. literally a disney fanfic, and not in a good way. thinking about this woman being the same age as me, i cannot excuse a single choice of hers, and i can't even comprehend most of her thoughts. i liked that she was a positive person, but it was treated like something NO ONE above the age of 10 does,, i can guarantee you there's a ton of people who like to have fun in life, and it's not something to be ashamed of nor the "i'm not like other people" discourse. especially with people working in a disney amusement park, c'mon now...