nico

3.25 ★

this was fine, but i wanted to give up several times... around 20% i had to stop reading for a few weeks, cause i just didn't have the energy to go on, and i guess i just finished it, cause i needed to know what happened to all the kids. the "plot twists" were so basic; i didn't predict exactly what they were, but i knew something like that would happen...

the young mila pov one was so predictable, it's always the same. i thought it was that, but i guess i didn't want it to be that, so i believed it wasn't. then we get to know the shadow was a kid, and i was expecting the present day sidekick would also be a child. but we find out it's a woman, so i just resigned. and boom! mila is the kid who was kidnapped gasp no way :|

and the goran one.... ok. i wasn't expecting tommy to be dead and be a figment of his imagination, but i was waiting for them to reveal that goran wasn't who we thought he was. at one point i even thought the twist was that goran was the real mastermind behind everything, but i couldn't fit that with the amount of time he spent with everyone + his time with tommy. fortunately, i was wrong about that, but of course they'd pull some other shit from there. he wasn't the killer, but he was a killer.

i also despised whatever was going on between him and mila. just what the fuck? based on what? i already hate the way authors treat heterosexual relationships, because to them is just "man + woman= romance" without any trace of chemistry, rationality, or sense... but for fuck's sake, boris made so much more sense, than mila and goran.... and then she gets pregnant immediately????? girl...

anyway, i will not be reading the next ones, even if we were technically left on a cliffhanger and i want to know how it all connects. i'll just search about it online, cause i can't deal with any more of this.

the last thing i wanna address is the way abuse, mental illness, and self-hatred is portrayed in this made me very uncomfortable. i'd love to comment on the possible misogyny, but alas we only really have 2 female characters that talk more than twice so i hope you understand what i mean

4.5 ★

ok, no. what the HELL....... i just finished this and i am blankly staring at my screen trying to figure out what to write, or even what to think. that was a roller coaster. my thoughts on this when i first started were interested, but not too sure if it could hold up until the end; and then 2 quarters through it didn't feel mature enough, and i was a bit tired of the juvenility of everything. afterwards though, i got sucked in and i couldn't stop until the very end. i started this at 1am today, and somehow it's 10pm and i've finished it, even though i told myself i'd actually work on my project today instead of spending my day reading... i did have a whole reunion about the project with a friend of mine during the afternoon, but i couldn't stop thinking about this book. and i don't think i'll be able to stop thinking about this book for a while

3.8 ★

so interesting! i've been meaning to read this for a whole year now, but hadn't yet for no reason. the concept is so intriguing, and i think the writing did a great job of keeping it eerie, and i liked this a lot. it's a short read though, and it develops quite quickly, which isn't bad in itself; i was just left wanting a bit more

3.9 ★

this was such an interesting take in cinderella's fairytale and i liked the world building behind it, and how everything worked. i just felt like most of it was underdeveloped, a lot of plots or characters who barely got any time to really feel like part of the whole narrative. sophia and constance's relationship also felt rushed, and i think my biggest issue with this book is not so much the pacing itself, but the lack of depth or development. a lot of stuff happened and then it's softly thrown away, instead of being explored further.

4.25

after cemetery boys i knew i was gonna like this book, i just wasn't expecting how much i would love the world building. the plot is so well written! i think my only problem with this is that it seems a bit juvenile on certain parts or themes; and how a lot of expression were always reused to a point where some actions of certain character were always described the same exact way.

all in all it's a great book, and that ending made me want to read the next one so badly (i was already gonna do it anyway)

4.2 ★

this book was so good. i was so scared of not liking it, because i've read one of the author's other books and the story left me disappointed, and the writing didn't help; but with this one i didn't feel that way at all. the plot, the characters and the world building were all very nicely done, and the writing felt on par with everything

i actually thought eli and victor were canonically something, the whole subtext is there, so they are to me, but from the way i saw people talking about this book, i thought it was more explicit.

4.4 ★

you can't give me a book about a trans gay man and not expect me to love it! i'm so tired but i really wanted to finish reading this so my review is kinda half-assed, but man... gene's trans journey is just so relatable, and i saw myself so much in him

3.3 ★

very interesting concept, and i loved the obvious criticism. i'm not too keen on epistolary novels, and the letters were very difficult to read towards the end, but i enjoyed this

3.5 ★

the haunting of hill house series is brilliant and one of my favourite horror shows, but i never knew it had been inspired by a book. i was reading 'you should be so lucky' by cat sebastian and the characters mention this book and i just had to read it.

honestly, it was very confusing and i really liked it. when i first started reading it, i skipped the introduction written by laura miller cause i didn't really want to be spoiled; but once i finished it, i had to go back and read it, and it definitely adds to everything.

i have so many thoughts and no way of knowing how to express them, but this was an experience and i definitely recommend it

4.2 ★

i'm giving this roughly the same rating as the first one, but i might change the other one to be higher. this was so enjoyable and i might've started reading this today at 2am and went until 5am, slept and got back to it during the afternoon; i just couldn't put it down. cat sebastian's character writing is just so good, i love them all. and her writing in general is amazing; after only reading two of her books consider me a fan of hers already.

i actually got emotional a couple of times while reading this, and thinking about the queer experience, especially in the past and i'm really glad i read both of these books

3.0 ★

not quite the plot i was expecting, and it all happens throughout a very small amount of time, but it was fine. the interactive bit didn't really work for me, cause my kobo didn't take me to the actual parts, so i had to read everything out of order and without really choosing...

lovedd apple and frankie being jealous of raven and draculaura, those are my sapphics !!

4.2 ★

i found out i downloaded the ebook a few weeks ago at like 3am, so that explains why i couldn't remember where i got it, but i'm glad i did! it was cute and it had its own uniqueness, which was great. i've seen some reviews about this book, and most weren't very positive, but i have to disagree; i enjoyed this book a lot, and it was so easy to read! i can understand some of the points, but nonetheless i think this book was quite good

3.9 ★

i really liked this book, could barely even put it down. it was nothing like i was expecting, and i enjoyed that! the characters were all very well written and even though i was only thinking of reading this book, i am now compelled to read the rest of this series

4.25 ★

honestly, i was really enjoying this but i found the last quarter of the book to be a bit disappointing. i still liked it a lot, i was just expecting something so very different.

spoilers i guess, but joar being alive felt more like an "unexpected twist" that no one would guess, rather than a good reveal. he is definitely one of my favorite characters and i love that he didn't die, but for the sake of the story it feels poor. (also when we find out joar and ali kissed i was thrown back, cause i genuinely thought joar and the artist were actually in love fr. joar and ali felt meh in comparison)

also i don't know if it was me who got it wrong, but i was almost certain ted had been stabbed once BEFORE the school incident. the way it was written, it felt like they were hinting at a first injury before his student stabbed him and i kept expecting it to be related to that supposed "dreadful ending of the summer".

i can understand that the whole point was for us to think both joar and ali had died, and joar would definitely die THAT summer and that's what changed for everyone; and then it's revealed that it wasn't quite like that. but we spent so much time being led towards that direction, that when you find out that's not what happened, it ruined the magic for me. i would rather have had a heartbreaking and tragic end for that summer, because then it would feel consistent with the rest of the book.

man... i don't know, i still loved this, but. i guess i was expecting something different

4.5 ★

holy shit. no words to describe this book. so much happened and yet there's still so much to come.

OIKAWA IWAIZUMI NISHINOYA

3.4 ★

loved the reveal and i really enjoyed the game as a whole, but seeing everyone's future was so underwhelming. i didn't think it was necessary for everyone to stay connected like that especially turtle and theo like ?

3.9 ★

i'm not really sure what to say about this book, it took me a really long time to find how and where to get it, but i was able to buy it eventually. the story is fine, but i feel like most of the development between the characters is lost in the moments we don't get to see. apollo is one of my favorite characters and i enjoyed his portrayal in this book, even though i'm not the biggest fan of his "fears" in the more modern times. the book had quite a lot of errors, including misspellings, switched names, and a couple of words that shouldn't've been there, and there were a few repetitions of phrases that could've been written differently.

all in all, this was fine, i enjoyed it and it was a nice read nonetheless!

4.5 ★

rip charlie, you would've loved gross by hitgs

ok, but fr though, i have been waiting for so long to read this book, i pre-ordered it months ago, and it finally arrived just 2 days ago, and i had to start reading it! honestly, it's everything i was hoping for. it's cute, it's fun, and it's great! for some reason, i actually thought this was in uni, and not high school, so it caught me off guard when suddenly they were only sixteen.

i do have a few other stuff i wish were different; like, i wish we could've gotten this written in a 3rd person's pov just because i NEED to know everything jasper was thinking as well, charlie is great as a main character (more on this later), i just think i would've gone insane (positively) if we had also gotten to know more from jasper. and of course, the fact that this was set in high school just felt a bit too lacking to me. yes, high schoolers ARE that dramatic, and honestly, annoying me with the amount of stuff they think is so important when it's not is very accurate, and the whole hating romance makes sense for charlie because of course a 16 y/o would think that after ONE failed experiment, but i think their romance could've been more impactful if they were older

now, charlie! he was dramatic and anxious and honestly just a complete enneagram 4; unfortunately, e4s are not my favourite people. as a trans guy who is older than charlie, but behind him in terms of transitioning, sometimes i felt some of his fears were a bit much (though i can excuse him since he's a teenager). like, there's NO WAY i would make myself suffer through 1 hour of pe every day ???? (also, whose high school only has 6 classes, and it's the same schedule every day? what?) besides all this though, after my therapy appointment today and the fact that she made me talk about my feelings, which i can't (i get you charlie) i realize that maybe everything charlie's feeling is still what i feel even if i try to push it down and pretend i don't. so haha you know, fantastic...

anyway, i really liked this! i think the first half was my favourite, and more towards the end it started feeling a bit too much. mostly with charlie's lack of confidence and low self-esteem and thinking no one likes him, because i've gone through that when i was his age, and technically i only really accepted i was trans when my depression wasn't so severe, so seeing him be so far ahead with his transition and still have these fears was a bit disquieting to me.

i don't know, i've said a lot and expressed too much of my feelings...... this was great btw! love it when characters only get together at the end, and the humor was also very nice, i just really really liked it

3.25 ★

i read the whole book today, so my judgement may be a bit clouded with the amount of information i had to process, but this was... something. i actually wrote down a couple of things that were a bit annoying(?). did jessica have to almost spit her wine quite literally EVERY time? and what even are "masculine colors" ? the amount of expressions/phrases that kept being used over and over and over again when most of the time were unnecessary or didn't even fully fit in with the rest of the sentence.

the plot was ok, nothing too great. i actually hate when the culprit ends up being the last one to be suspected, because it's just going through each one of them and you KNOW whoever is last will be the killer.. i just think it's a little lazy, especially in books that love "showing off" with so many twists and turns. the characters were all detestable, and my god did jessica annoy me; none of them is a good person but i felt like the female characters were constantly being punched down for no reason other than them being girls. out of the 7 characters + eric and courtney, jack and frankie are easily the best ones. not just in personality, but the way they were written; even with their flaws you can see them beyond that. even eric felt like that. but none of the female characters have that, caro is infinitely better than most of them and yet we get nothing for her, i understand that was the point for her IN the narrative, but as a whole? really? you're not even trying to pretend you also care about her. and heather! the girl who DIED, the supposed character who is haunting the narrative barely has any information on her, we get this whole plot point in which you find out MAYBE she's more than she shows, studying hard, and right on her sophomore year thinking about how to get a recommendation for later, even if she ends up playing it as "i decided on a whim" and then there's nothing? no explanation? no depth into her.

and the whole crime just being the blueprint of physical misogynistic behaviour... qnd it's painted off as "but my daddy issues". girl, shut the fuck up.

i was gonna develop more on that + a few more things, but i'm too tired for that rn. the book was fine tho, as a mystery it keeps you hooked on finding out who did it, it's just not very well executed.

3.4 ★

very cool premise, and i liked it, but a lot of stuff just wasn't for me i think

3.0 ★

joana and i have started a new fun game in which we choose a random 1€ book for each other, and we have to read it. she got me this one, and i was interested since it was basically the fake dating/fake marriage trope! it ended up not being quite that, but it was fine nonetheless. this was a very fast and light read, and the plot unravelled rather quickly in a short window of time. not a lot of development nor depth, you're just thrown into the middle of the plot, but it works ok!

3.8 ★

this is such a difficult book to rate, because .... man i don't even know. i am very excited for our discussion in class tomorrow, and i really wanna hear more about this. i found the second 'kidnapping' a bit meh, and i didn't really enjoy that part of the story as much; even if it's supposed to be a mirror of the protagonist, it fell short, to me. it is kinda crazy how much the writer (humbert, not nabokov) tries to manipulate the reader, and does his best at trying to gain sympathy, because if we weren't aware of the severity of his actions and be able to tell apart what he really did from how he tells us, someone could really be tricked into understanding and justifying his actions

1.8 ★

i was hoping i would like this, but unfortunately virginia woolf's writing style (especially stream of consciousness) is just not for me

3.9★

i really enjoyed this one! the world building was amazing, and i loved getting to know how time and the clocks worked. the romance was cute, and since the characters get together quite quickly i'm glad it wasn't the main focus of the rest of the book; instead we got to know more about everything else and what is happening both within the group of people in charge of the clocks, and the protestants

while i was reading i guessed most of the "twists", but in no way did that make the reading experience worse, and it really immersed me in the story and in its world (love love love the steampunk vibe btw)