Showing posts with label Adult. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adult. Show all posts

Saturday, December 28, 2019


It's come to my attention that while I do TOPFIVE Favorite Kdramas posts every year, I've never done any sort of list of books, and I've read some really good ones this year that I want to talk about. Of course, I've also read a lot of not great books this year that did not at all live up to the hype I heard about them, but that's a conversation for another day. All of the books on this list are absolutely brilliant, but I have attempted to order them from most favorite favorite to least favorite favorite, although there may be some overlap because they're all so good.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

I literally just finished reading this one — I kind of like that fact that one of the last books I read in 2019 trumps all the other ones read in the past 360-some days. That's not an easy feat. This book is both huge and gorgeous (I dished out on the Waterstones Exclusive, so sue me), and I won't lie: I was very intimidated by both its size and all the love for The Night Circus by the same author, which I still haven't read. This always seemed to me a book you had to think through; it wasn't just something you could read and enjoy. Well, I was right and wrong. You don't really have to think particularly hard - the author does a great job laying everything out; the hard part is definitely in the writing of the book rather than the reading of it - but it also does provoke thought. The story itself - a meta-story of sorts - is so large in its scale, and yet also so small, that it is something you have to wade through. But in a good way — you have to experience it. It's intimidating in the way that The Book Thief is intimidating: it's big, it's fancy, and it's beyond brilliant, but every page enchants the mind. It's hard for me to describe exactly how amazing it is, but I loved every moment of reading this, from page one to the end that's really only another beginning.

Lovely War by Julie Berry

I already mentioned this book in another post, but this was about to be my favorite book of the year if The Starless Sea hadn't shown up and stolen its thunder. It's a book about war and segregation and love, and as expected of Julie Berry, it's beautifully written. This aching, lovely story is further encased within the narrative of a trial going on between the gods: Aphrodite and her husband Hephaestus, as well as a few other key mythological players. This is another book that's enchanting from the first page on, and I highly recommend it if you're in the mood for a gorgeous historical fiction or romance.

I hadn't even known that Julie Berry had a book out this year, so I'm extremely glad the cover got my attention.

Between the Water and the Woods by Simone Snaith

I also wrote a post about this book — check it out if you want to see the kinds of beautiful illustrations you can find in it plus general flailing. I randomly picked this one up in the bookstore earlier in the year, and what a great decision that turned out to be! It's so rare that I pick up a book without finding it on Goodreads first, plus I just loved it so much and it successfully drew me out of the book slump I was in at the time. It's a cute little YA fantasy novel that combines magic with science, and the romance between the characters was so soft and probably hate-to-love (it's been a while since I read it) considering how much I adore this book. And of course one of the best parts plus one of the reasons I bought it is became there are some really pretty illustrations in it that I just had to own.

Stormy: A Story About Finding a Forever Home by Guojing

This is the only picture book on the list, but it's one of my favorite finds of the year. I kid you not, I cried almost the whole way through. The reason I added the book to my TBR (to-be-read list) is because of the gorgeous art on the cover, but then I saw that the author/illustrator was a POC and I knew it was a must-read. When I finally picked up the book at the library - it was pleasantly large in shape - I was beyond in love (and in tears, of course). The art is gorgeous, and it's amazing that such a compelling story can be told without words. It was a very quick read, but it's not one you're going to forget quickly. Also the puppy is so adorable and I love soft, happy endings.

I literally could not say no to this cover. I mean, look how cute!

Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab

I wasn't the biggest fan of the first book in the series, City of Ghosts, so I'm very surprised that I not only read, but loved this book. I'm a fan of the author, although not everything she writes ends up becoming a favorite, or even something I enjoy (apparently I read The Near Witch sometime before I purposefully read V.E. Schwab books and I saw on Goodreads that I only gave it two stars — ouch). I hadn't even planned on reading this book, but I picked it up in the middle of my last uni semester and raced through it. I just ended up loving the Parisian setting, the female friendship, and the ghost friend, and even the plot was entertaining, although things weren't as surprising as they would have been if this wasn't written for a Middle Grade audience. I can't wait for the third book!

Friday, May 17, 2019


I'm not one to read books on war, but I'd heard nothing but ridiculously positive things about this book plus I learned afterwards that it's actually based on a real war! And so I checked it out from the library, started reading, switched to audiobook (the older I get, the more intimidated I am by huge books), and finally finished reading/listening over the course of several commutes to uni and forty-five minutes spent reading the last forty physical pages because I have no patience. Was it a great book? Most assuredly. Did I enjoy it? Only the first half.

This book is written and plotted brilliantly - something made more amazing by the fact that the author was a mere 22 years old at the time of publishing. The first half takes place in an academy and depicts a story akin to something like Nevernight or Harry Potter, except it's Chinese-inspired and definitely much bloodier than HP. Needless to say, I loved that part. The main character Rin is a badass who thinks twice about nothing - not necessarily a good thing - and will go to any lengths to get what she wants. She's also surrounded by several interesting masters and students and yes, I did identify some HP counterparts (one of the masters had a twinkle in his eye at one point and I was like "why hello there, Dumbledore!"). During this half, I enjoyed my commutes to school because I was really into the story and whatever crazy thing Rin decided to do next. But as soon as it came time for her to leave the Academy, I grew bored. 

Characters are dying? Okay. Rin is being stupid? Okay. She keeps saying she loves Altan and she probably means it platonically because there is literally zero chemistry between them? I mean, I don't like Altan, but fine. People have said that in the last portion of the book, the plot outshines the characters, but honestly, I was disinterested in both. And it's not because this is a bad book - no, definitely not. Objectively, it's brilliant. But I was right when I held off on reading this because it didn't sound like my kind of book. Also, I didn't really feel super connected to any of the characters: Rin is cool, but I don't love her, and I never really became invested in her. As such, I won't be reading the second book in this series, but I don't for a moment regret having read this; it was a story of such breadth, and I'm in awe regardless of the fact that I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as I'd hoped to.

Tuesday, December 25, 2018


I'd stayed away from Fight or Flight by Samantha Young when it first came out because I'd heard some pretty negative things about it from fellow readers. I'd been told that there wasn't so much chemistry between the lead characters Ava and Caleb as there was inane arguing and insults being traded back and forth. I'd also heard that Caleb isn't such a great guy and really shouldn't be featured in a romance novel. And to an extent, all of these things are true, especially when you crack open the first chapter of the book and find two stupid characters being terrible to each other for no good reason. But thankfully, the further on you get into the book, the better it gets - although I never end up falling in love with the characters or their story.

The main issues I have with this novel are the meet cute, Caleb, and Caleb's backstory. The so-called meet cute in this novel is that Caleb cuts Ava in line and takes the last first class seat available on their flight, which Ava was patiently waiting in line for. When apprised of the situation, he isn't apologetic in the slightest and goes on to call her pet names like "babe" and blows her off despite the fact that he is entirely in the wrong. He continues to do rude things to her throughout the course of the day, and somehow readers are expected to fall for him while he's being a complete ass. That's not quite what I would call a meet cute, and indeed, I'd be more likely to toss him from the plane at that point than smooch with him. And yet despite all of this, Ava does find herself intrigued by him, which made both of them super annoying to me quite quickly.

But Caleb isn't like that because he's in an airport and exhausted - no, he's just terrible to strangers in general. He never says please or thank you to waitresses or flight attendants on purpose because, according to him, why should he thank a person who is just doing their job? And he never fixes this either - Ava just comes to accept it. Now that I think about it, I don't think Caleb even has a character arc in this novel other than his coming to accept love again. But I was never fully on board with Caleb's character because there was always something off about him. He did have his typical romantic hero moments later on in the novel, but a lot of his scenes - especially toward the beginning - made him seem like a possibly unhealthy romantic interest. But then by the end, he was completely normal, as if he was a different character entirely, and we don't get to see the changes that brought him there.

Caleb's traumatic backstory is a whole different mess. I can't say much about it without spoiling it, but it does seem to be a tad problematic. There seems to be an aspect to it in which a woman is villainized for a certain decision and Caleb apparently cares more for that decision than the woman herself, who apparently did it for her physical and emotional well-being. The woman is called a selfish, conceited jerk because of this decision, and the reader knows nothing else about this woman to be able to agree with or refute this claim. Of course, this woman probably should have confided in Caleb regarding her decision - I don't know enough about the backstory or Caleb to say this confidently - but either way, this is definitely not a black and white topic, and the author only dedicates a couple paragraphs at most to it. 

The strongest part of this book is without a doubt the friendship between Harper and Ava: they're always there for each other, and this friendship is much more appealing than any romance offered in the novel. Their relationship is the only thing that I found genuinely appealing in the book, and indeed, Harper's scenes were more compelling than whatever happened with Ava, which is odd considering that this is Ava's book. Ultimately though, if I could make the choice again, no, I would not choose to read Fight or Flight. I also definitely wouldn't re-make the choice to watch Destination Wedding - I may still be traumatized.

Friday, February 23, 2018


Me describing this book to people: It's about a married couple that finds out that they're both super healthy and have a good sixty-eight years ahead of them. Instead of being happy about their long life expectancies, they begin freaking out about how they're going to make their marriage work for that long, because apparently when people make marriage vows and claim they'll love each other forever, they don't actually mean forever.

I was pretty hesitant going into this book, both when adding it to my tbr as well as when I actually picked it up and began reading. I've read a couple Sophie Kinsella novels before, and loved quite a few of them, but this would be the first one I've read that features a married couple, and I wasn't sure I'd be into that. And taking that further, a married couple story always leaves a window open for affairs and whatnot, and I'm certainly not here for something as depressing as that. Nevertheless, I figured I'd give the book a chance, because the only Sophie Kinsella I've read that bored me to tears was The Undomestic Goddess, and what are the chances of that happening again? (And you'll be happy to note that thankfully, this is not a married couple story that revolves around that open window.)

As I continued reading Surprise Me, I grew convinced that an alternate title for the book could be "Marriage: You Should Know What You're Getting Into". Things went so horribly wrong - sometimes hilariously - with the two partners, Sylvie and Dan, and at times, the stress of their marriage made we want to forswear marriage completely in favor of a happy and healthy mental state. Which begs the question the title of this post poses.

Luckily, I kept reading, because oh, this book so has that Kinsella British romance thing that her other books have. Also, apparently I was really in need of some British love and humor because this book totally did it for me despite my hesitancy in picking it up. The characters grow on the reader fairly quickly, and you really see the effort both Sylvie and Dan make to make each other happy, and wow, that's the kind of love you want, y'all. There's also an interesting bit about Sylvie's family that adds an extra oomph to the story; you don't exactly see it coming, but at the same time, you knew there was something off. I don't know how Kinsella writes such likable, well-rounded stories - that sounds so boring but I swear it's perfect - but there it is.

Additionally, I just adore the idea of poking your marriage with a stick. It's exactly as scary as it sounds.

Thursday, December 21, 2017


A Scot in the Dark by Sarah MacLean is the first book I've finished in a while, and it's one of the better historical romances I've read lately. So there I was, basking in the fact that I'd finished a book for the first time since, say, summer break, when I decided to check out some reviews on goodreads. Clearly, that was an awful decision, as I went to bed quite angry, and yes, ranting.

I won't name names - partly because I can't remember the reviewer's name - but she wrote that she hated the novel because she absolutely couldn't stand the main character, Lily. She said that she lost all respect for Lily when she was "stupid enough" to pose nude for a guy, and also she hated how "whiny" the main character was. Lily was sad about being lonely, she was beautiful and yet had no self confidence, and she was preoccupied with the idea that she could never be loved; oh, how unrealistic - I may be paraphrasing a bit, but I am so offended on behalf of Lily.

First of all, I fail to understand how you can hate a girl because she chose to pose in the nude for an artist that she was in love with and fully expected to marry? And not only that, but the reviewer is basically judging her the same way English society would and does in the book, and in fact, I don't believe that the reviewer said anything at all about the scum of an artist. I shudder at the double standards. So yes, sexism was one hundred percent a part of why the first part of that review riled me up. The second part of the review, however, is just as unconceivable to me, and I'm still shocked that there wasn't a single comment that disagreed with the review: just lots of thumbs ups and "wow, you said that so solidly, I totally agree"'s.

My problem with the other part of the review is, again, a lack of empathy, except not just with the main character, but mankind. This might just be me, but personally, I feel like it's quite normal for a person to feel like he or she doesn't belong. In fact, a lot of people probably feel this almost every day. Furthermore, you can't possibly tell me that the majority of people in this world haven't at least once worried about not being lovable or being desired and keep a straight face - it doesn't even have to be in a romantic context. Not everyone is fully confident in the fact that they'll find someone they want to marry some day in the future, and that that person will feel the same way. I believe this worry about the future is a perfectly plausible thing. And it's not like Lily was actually complaining about it - no, she was content to live alone and unloved, no matter how lonely it would be.

The essential part of all this is that I'm not exaggerating when I say that Lily is unloved. Her relatives are all dead, literally nobody loves her or acknowledges her until the annoyed and also mostly unloved Scot comes into town, and now this new scandal will most certainly further her isolation. So the fact that this reviewer and all the people who commented on the review are in agreement that Lily is unrealistic or weak or boring, it just frustrates me.

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