Anyone who gives this book above a 3 star is really lying to us all or has the worst taste in books and you should really consider unfriendDNF page 84
Anyone who gives this book above a 3 star is really lying to us all or has the worst taste in books and you should really consider unfriending them.
The back of the book is described as “sexy, dark academia” maybe it gets sexier in the future, but right now the “sexy” scenes are written similarly to the way I used to write vampire fanfiction when i was a freshman in high school and actually had no idea what people actually did. Sure the students are making out but it’s written in such - he pushed her up against a wall and kissed her face off - fashion that it’s not sexy. In fact, it’s actually kind of cringey
So if you’re not here for the smut then….the plot? The plot? What is the plot? At this point, it’s a bunch of Elite kids going to school and occasionally fighting but the dialogue isn’t strong enough for them to be called snarky which brings me to my next point.
The writing style is actually horrible. I checked the back of the book just to confirm that this actually had a publisher stand behind it. Because I’ve honestly seen better edited books in Wattpad and Kindle Unlimited (no offense to either). Actually Galatea is better than this. Shame on Simon & Schuster as their editor needed to do just a bit more work on this. It’s actually crazy how many times “feck” was used. And don’t tell me it’s “just the vernacular.”
If I were in charge of editing this book - I would have aged the characters up, cut out the majority of special snowflakes antics in the beginning, added some better enemies to lovers snark dialogue, moved in a couple of (actual) smut scenes and updated the cuss words to actual cuss words. But honestly at page 84, there is nothing compelling about this book. Don’t let people trick you into picking this up thinking that “trashy” means it’s smutty. It’s literally no chili peppers 84 pages in. ...more
It was interesting. But the beginning just had too much exposition with setting up the main character - and then a lot of the stuff really didn’t comeIt was interesting. But the beginning just had too much exposition with setting up the main character - and then a lot of the stuff really didn’t come into play for there to be that much time spent on it. In addition, I really didn’t like how the main character (and really everyone) felt so heartless. The characters were set up to be spoiled, rich influencers, but it was just kind of weird how people were literally DYING and the main character was like “oh we have to make sure we collect evidence so the police will believe us”. I totally get that she is a POC and likely concerned about her treatment with a bunch of rich white people dead, definitely not a good look. But shouldn’t your first thought be how sad you are?
Overall, it was a fun read once we got past the first 70 pages and I would be interested to see what the author does next. ...more
This was good, but really short. It’s about a rivalry between potential members on a fencing team. And the rivalry continues in book two I’m guessing.This was good, but really short. It’s about a rivalry between potential members on a fencing team. And the rivalry continues in book two I’m guessing.
Merged review:
This was good, but really short. It’s about a rivalry between potential members on a fencing team. And the rivalry continues in book two I’m guessing....more
I think whether or not you enjoy this book is based entirely how you feel about the main character: Daniella “Dani” Sunder. Personally, I found her toI think whether or not you enjoy this book is based entirely how you feel about the main character: Daniella “Dani” Sunder. Personally, I found her to be quite annoying. I really didn’t enjoy her interactions with the majority of the characters other than maybe Jeondar - who is just a star in his own right.
The side characters, especially the prince’s clique, were really difficult to discern from each other. The majority didn’t really have any defining personality traits or a voice. And since we didn’t see them have separate interactions very often, it was made even more difficult to figure them out. Silver is briefly described in the beginning and then the main “personality trait” he has going forward is that he likes to f*ck. Cylea’s main trait is that she likes to shop. All of them were kind of a-holes outside of Jeondar which made them feel like the same character written over and over.
The romance between Dani and the prince was really lackluster, especially in the beginning. They had very few interactions, and then all of a sudden they seemed to be hot for each other. Honestly, I’m not even that mad at the insta-love, only mad that Jeondar had so many better interactions with Dani and so there was an opportunity to have swapped some of those conversations to progress their romance.
The plot and action moved pretty quick with really no slow points. The story starts off pretty quickly with the kidnapping, and then there are multiple battles, as well as a ball, and introductions of new side characters. Overall, the plot was definitely the strongest for the book.
Overall, I don’t know if I’ll continue with the series. Since this is the first book, and all of the books seem to be relatively short, I don’t have an issue with continuing with the series.
Emily Henry is normally my happy place. But this one just really bothered me right from the start and I not only didn’t like it, but had to DNF it lesEmily Henry is normally my happy place. But this one just really bothered me right from the start and I not only didn’t like it, but had to DNF it less than 150 pages in. I then later picked it up over a year later and decided to finish it. Something I now regret since before Emily Henry could remain my untainted beautiful queen and it might have been a me issue, and now I know this book just really wasn’t good.
I actually have given her other books five stars before and out of the four prior books have enjoyed them all. But, I think a specific reader won’t enjoy these.
First off, within the first few pages, our main character Harriet is described essentially as a pushover, this is later reinforced with how her friends describe her. She has issues making decisions, and if someone were to fall asleep on her on the plane, she would be okay with it. This is a fine personality trait to have, and can be realistic, but paired with our tropes, it just feels icky.
The premise of the book is that Harriet and her ex-fiancé have to fake date because if they don’t, then their friends who sprung their engagement-turned-wedding-in-three-days on them, will feel sad to find out that they’re no longer dating. What? This felt like I really weird reason to fake date (your ex-fiancé) and is just worse and worse the more we learn. We find out said ex-fiancé, Wyn, not only broke up with Harriet, but he did it over a four minute phone call, and had her stuff mailed back within a few days. And this was so traumatizing to our MC that she didn’t tell her friends for months. And of course, who is the one to initiate the fake dating, but Wyn. And he does so by talking over her. Yes, our first impression of Wyn is him talking over her and then coming up with this horrible plan.
As if it’s not bad enough, apparently Wyn is such a guy’s guy that he’s basically some kind of man slut and they can’t pull off this fake dating without allowing him to kiss and touch her. IM SORRY. But if someone broke off my engagement in a five minute phone call and then proceeded to allow themselves to just touch and kiss me even though I’m not yet over the breakup I would just leave or breakup with all of my friends if need be.
And the longer we hear about the pass, the less and less I was onboard for this relationship.
Overall I really didn’t like Harriet and Wyn’s relationship and I didn’t believe in them. Beyond that, this book is just much more depressing than some of her other books. Funny Story for example deals with a tough situation and also some deep topics but was actually funny at times and just a joy to read. This on the other hand also has those tough subjects but is also very stressful to read because there was no humor and there was no redemption just a ton of suck in the relationships. ...more
THIS WAS SO PERFECT. I will not be hearing anyone out on why this book is less than a 5 star. Kindly see yourself out. -_-
I honestly can’t believe thaTHIS WAS SO PERFECT. I will not be hearing anyone out on why this book is less than a 5 star. Kindly see yourself out. -_-
I honestly can’t believe that I love everyone in this friend group and I feel so conflicted on who Naho should choose. Definitely invested in the series and will continue. ...more
Rebecca Yarros did not come here to play. What a slay. #slayqueen
Okay I’ll stop.
But seriously, this was a darn good book. I stupidly started caring Rebecca Yarros did not come here to play. What a slay. #slayqueen
Okay I’ll stop.
But seriously, this was a darn good book. I stupidly started caring about so many characters, even though the book literally tells us the majority will die in the stupid school. But it’s fine. I knew this was going to be special when we got to Threshing and everything just started happening. The book seriously did not slow down after that.
This book has a slow burn romance, which I liked. It was maybe a little tropey but I wasn’t bothered by that. And it also had me literally laughing out loud between the romantic tension and the conversations with the dragons and then just the general friendships. I really liked the dragon aspect of the book and how the dragons chose their riders and had their own weird personalities.
This book for some reason really reminded me of Divergent, so if you didn’t like the first book especially, then you may not like this one. The “school” in this one has a very familiar vibe to the Dauntless testing, and there’s the whole political corruptness along with our main character falling for the leader bad boy. These books are completely different, and if you did like Divergent, I would still recommend, but they are pretty similar in some of the tropes they’ve used. ...more
Really loved this one. It was super fast-paced, had a ton of representation across different groups and I loved how naturJuly 2023 24 Hour Read-a-thon
Really loved this one. It was super fast-paced, had a ton of representation across different groups and I loved how natural it felt. Obviously it’s a high fantasy novel so most of the book was not necessarily realistic in that aspect, but the characters and how they interacted with each other did feel very natural.
Also, I really loved how there were a couple of characters who were *truly* grey in that they would act one way, and then find out the consequences and then realize “hey maybe the way I’m acting doesn’t make sense and I should change a bit”. I loved that so much.
Somehow this book was less than 300 pages but felt more fleshed out then some 500 or 600 page novels. No names, but you know the ones. ...more
I don’t know if it’s just me, or maybe I’m just not interested in “witchy vibes” stories, but I just didn’t like this one.
First off, it’s pretty boriI don’t know if it’s just me, or maybe I’m just not interested in “witchy vibes” stories, but I just didn’t like this one.
First off, it’s pretty boring. The whole premise is a murder mystery and we really don’t get that rolling until 50% or more through the book. Also, the town is full of the least diverse characters I’ve seen in a while and the “twists” could see coming from a mile away.
I, personally, get pretty triggered with cheating. And I really hated that the main character doesn’t ever break up with her boyfriend she’s been dating for years before not just emotionally cheating but then actually cheating on him. And it was cute how right before we find out he’s the biggest a-hole so that way we can all feel better about the cheating.
The writing style was somewhat pretty, but it felt like it wasn’t quite right for the story. Or maybe because the plot and characters also weren’t that great, it made the writing style have to carry the whole book on its back which it couldn’t. Aside from that, I felt a lot of the romantic lines were kind of cheesy and felt a little unnatural which made me feel uncomfortable at times instead of swoony.
This was such a joy to read and extremely fast paced. I wish this was required reading for school (instead of so much Shakespeare) especially since acThis was such a joy to read and extremely fast paced. I wish this was required reading for school (instead of so much Shakespeare) especially since according to some reviewers this is actually an allegory for part of history in the US. But this was such a fun read and I’m so happy that I got to it. ...more
This volume was just okay for me. There wasn’t anything super special in it and I felt like it was really just a prequel of sorts that didn’t have mucThis volume was just okay for me. There wasn’t anything super special in it and I felt like it was really just a prequel of sorts that didn’t have much to add to the story. ...more
This book is pretty sad and has so many trigger warnings I would be careful walking into it. Tw for bullying, homophobia, self-harm, suicide, deat4.5
This book is pretty sad and has so many trigger warnings I would be careful walking into it. Tw for bullying, homophobia, self-harm, suicide, death of a loved one, physical and mental abuse. Hopefully that was the majority of them.
This book is about a group of friends who meet in a hospital and who are all sick in some way. Think of it as Six of Crows meets The Fault in Our Stars. I won’t say it was fun to read, because it was sad for the majority of the book. But there were some truly beautifully poetic lines in the book, and I loved following our main characters. There is also a small mystery that the author drops hints about throughout the book which was interesting to try to come up with theories for.
My only negative and why I can’t go l the way up to 5 stars is just that it was a bit long-winded at times and almost too poetic. I didn’t find this to be super negative, just not 100% a 5 star read for me. ...more
This book ended up really surprising me. The beginning started off pretty slow, but in the end I think it paid off. The world building is establish4.5
This book ended up really surprising me. The beginning started off pretty slow, but in the end I think it paid off. The world building is established and our main character’s characterization in the beginning getting to really see a lot of her flaws and dreams instead of just be told really helped propel the story later on. And it became easy to feel sorry for or be happy and celebrate with her when something happened.
I wish the end had given us just a smidge more - I don’t know what - since I felt like something was missing that would push me over the edge to really give it the full five stars. ...more
It was just okay for me. I loved the addition of the MC’s sister with Cystic Fibrosis and I thought the action was done well. But it probably won’3.5
It was just okay for me. I loved the addition of the MC’s sister with Cystic Fibrosis and I thought the action was done well. But it probably won’t be one that I will pick up again. ...more
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