Reham
started reading without knowing the synopsis and i guess, i'm glad i did that because otherwise i might not have read this. it was an okay read, i suppose the fact that it received a somewhat happy ending made it a tad bit unrealistic. i hoped for something much darker, i was ready to bawl my eyes but nothing happened. not even a little tremble of the lower lip or a simple frown.
i'm probably just heartless.
reread this because i missed my book boyfriend clay johnson. i thought i might like it less but i still loved it the same. i liked that there is no heart wrenching angst, just some confusion in prioritizing yourself or your parent.
the scene where zeke, riley and holden confront clay, letting him know that parent is supposed to care for the child hit me real hard. thank you kandi steiner for this beautiful piece of work. especially clay <3
Um, no.
Ali Hazelwood took the enemies to lovers trope (is it really if the guy is in love with the girl the entire time so it makes it miscommunication trope), tall broody dark haired male and tiny, dumb, doesnt enjoy sex female mcs and made it her entire personality.
If you think you're meeting Levi and Bee for the first time, then you're wrong. I'm sure they seem familiar to you because you met them first in:
The Love Hypothesis,
Under One Roof
Stuck With You
Below Zero
They just had different hair colors at most.
2.75/5
The fact that the author talked and showed the anxiety the male mc suffers through made it more realistic for me. I liked that he was aware that despite talking shit that he was overstepping a stone.
I didn't like the fact that he only apologized for being dismissive toward all the sexism and misogynistic shit Nina had to go through because they got into an arrangement that benefitted them both and it took him so long to come forward and publicly apologize. Had he done this before, then there wouldn't have been any hate between them.
I didn't particularly like the female mc, her personality wasnt intriguing enough for me. The only thing i felt being pointed out was that she's bossy, blunt and reserved. I felt no connection between the MCs even though i liked the male mc.
The story itself in general was meh. It could have been better. There was zero chemistry, zero yearning. The smut itself was meh as well.
I feel really disappointed because this book was high on my tbr for this year. It was one of the few books i've been anticipating and it let me down :/
3.25
At first, I devoured the 40% of the book which i started last year but then i came to a stop and couldn't find the energy to understand all that was happening from different POVs. I generally try to avoid reading books with multiple POVs as it gets confusing and exhausting. The story looked promising but then half way through, i think it all felt scattered and redundant somehow. It stopped making sense to me, or perhaps it is just not my kind of book. I have read Alone With You In The Ether by the same author and i devoured that book in matter of a day.
Besides, fantasy isn't my favorite genre to begin with, so. I didn't get the hype around this book, it's well written and you can tell the author is brilliant, but...nope.
it's difficult for me to articulate how i feel about this book but to be fair if i hadn't read this for my 24 hour readathon challenge then i probably would have dnfed it half way.
the only thing i found interesting in this book was the description of shanghai, but other than that, it seemed too mundane. like the gangs are described so scary and powerful but honestly it didnt live up to its name, it felt like it was all names and no games (???).
2.75
where do i start? where the fuck do i begin?
i'm so so happy that i found this series, because what would i have done without it. i feel like my mind, my life, my heart was empty before i read this and now i feel full, i feel complete, i feel whole again.
this saga broke me, patched me up and tore me apart all over again. i dont think i am ever going to find any other series similar to this, any other characters that will come close to the ones i've come to love and adore in this, or have similar story to what this saga had. to that one person who brought the name of the first book on my feed on twt thank you
5/5. in fact 10/5.
if there is one fantasy series i would get physical copies of and reread again and again, it would be this.
to be honest, this one dimmed my love and excitement for this series because how much it dragged on. how i had to read 800? pages just to get that ending. i understand it, i get why rin did it, but i think it wasnt fair. it wasnt fair to kitay, it wasnt fair to herself.
there was so little nezha, unlike in the first two books, and the yearning we were given. i understand that this series is basically about war, but i also wanted to read about war more from nezha's side and him being around rin more?
also, the hype surrounding the trifecta and suddenly they just die? like that? there is no fight? riga is supposed to be this big bad wold and rin just kills him? what the fuck was all that for?
i did love the moments when venka, rin and kitay plotted together. i loved their friendship. even in the second book, with nezha around.
for some reason, i was heavily attracted to jiang in this one. him using words of endearment like darling and dear for daji made me quiver and melt?!?! idk why the fuck was that happening
when jiang and rin meet each other for the first time since he locked himseld up
when he comes between riga and rin to prevent riga from killing rin
when she builds a grave-like stone whatever in memory of jiang but also calls him a coward
when nezha tells kitay that he knows rin is not dead...
i didnt tear up like i thought i would, but thats fine. reading jade legacy after this did it for me
3.75
who ever said this book is fast paced, to the point and easy to read, or has great writing style...well, you all have your own opinions but this book was terrible, took me 2 months to reach 40% (!!!) and was just outright horrible
when i reached closer to the middle of this book, i realized that this is just another young adult fantasy novel that came out in the 00/10s because juliette is another alina, warner is the darkling and adam is mal. if was too obvious not to notice.
and though i might found warner more alluring than adam (though they both sucked equally) warner made uncomfortable with his constant persistence that juliette belonged to him and then kissed her(?) idk if he forced it or not because i literally skimmed through that scene.
i found a court of thorns and roses more enjoyable than this and THATS saying something.
3.25 stars and i'll tell you why
the writing was exceptionally well in this book, poetic at the right places and hit home on the other but as with the first one, i could not connect with the characters or the story. it didn't fee personal to me, it felt like i am standing somewhere far away and i am being forced to watch the story unfold. i understood frances' pain but i didn't feel it, you know. i felt an ache in my heart but i didn't want to cry for her. i hated that she was lonely but not once did i want to coddle and embrace her. i felt disassociated the entire time i read this.
in truth, it was a lot better than normal people, and that alone deserves a whole star.
after i finished reading it, i realized how little i cared for this book, its characters and plot.
Also, adding this note: though i didn't enjoy the story and didn't like the characters that much, but one thing i appreciated was melissa broder's view on isrel-palestine situation where she noted isrel building a country on the expense of palestinians losing their homes and lives. I appreciated that about this book.
honestly, i had no idea what this book was about when i first picked it up but dear God, it was disgusting, terrible and downright cringeworthy but in a good way. like i hated it, but because of what the story implied. the ending was unsatisfactory though. perhaps the author wanted to make it realistic as possible but this was work of fiction, she could have given us some justice, she could have given vanessa some justice. what was the point of having him kill himself and escape all the punishment he deserved.
3.75
none of these characters were likable but only one held my sympathy and that was obviously cleo because i think some fucked up traumatized part of me attaches itself onto broken people who are neglected and whose pleas are ignored at best (if anything this book made me realize this!). i didn't enjoy reading different POVs and which made me skim and skip forward to next chapters. some seemed unnecessary. in short, i felt like i wasted my time reading this book.
i don't know how to rate this book, because if i speak generally, i feel like this book lacked in places. some things confused me while others seemed unnecessary. however, personally, i did feel relatable to the protagonist in some moments, like when she keeps mentioning that she hasnt told him about herself, her being fat that is, or how she has low self-esteem and takes any kind of attention from a boy. i understood and related to that but i felt like it wasnt enough.
the entire time i was reading, i had an itch to just get to the end and find out what happened. it wasn't so...mindfuck? like i kind of guessed that she faked her own death to frame her husband. that much was obvious. the only shock i received was that the diary was fake. i knew she would come back. the ending sucked, like, it was twisted and fucked up. the characters were really terrible, like so well written that you couldnt help but hate them
i read this book based on a book aesthetic post shared on instagram and i think for the first time ever it did not disappoint. mafia romance books are usually cliche (much like 365 days) and cheesy, and make you cringe and wonder what you are doing with life but this book, gOdaAmn, this book was beautiful. i devoured it. i inhaled it. the chemistry, the characters, the romance, the story, the fact the male mc wasn't just morally gray, but completely dark. sometimes you have to read about main mc with no redemption streak to them and accept them the way they are.
