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afrathefish's reviews
210 reviews
Can't Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan
4.0
love love love this woman and how she writes. while the tropes in this romance weren’t what i usually go for, it reaaalllyyyy worked for me. i loveddddd how it ended, knowing that all your troubles don’t magically end when you find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, but instead, you finally have a pillar to rest against, to hold you and support you, as you guide yourself through it. hendrix was someone i saw myself in a LOT, and i love how it explores how choosing to love doesn’t remove your individuality, but adds to it. i love the reminder that you might lose things, but better things will always come your way. the ending made me cry. i love how KR emphasised that despite these three girls learning to lean and love on partners, they were always each others’ soulmates. i find that intricately aligns with the way i am with my girls and those i love. i love how these men were their pillars but these girls are each others’ solutions. thats the way it should be.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
2.75
this book made me wish i was a decade younger, bc ik i would have EATENNNN THIS UPPPPPP during my ya / dystopia phase as a kid.
this has been my first fantasy in MONTHS, and for my first foray back in, it wasn’t too bad. but it also reminded me of all the reasons i became tired of the genre pretty quickly. i’m old. i’m too lazy to keep up with the differing roles and varying creatures that keep appearing. i will say that the exposition is mostly presented very well - there’s none of the nonsense you see in fourth wing. the world building works, but as i’ve said. i’m old lol. i’m also too tired to handle love triangles. nate annoyed me. like they had tension but he was just . there. the stuff with selwyn felt more promising, but the turn from hatred to supposed adoration felt WAY too quick - IM SO TIRED CAN SOMEONE PLEASE WRITE HOW TO YEARN PROPERLY 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭. ig it makes sense bc they are literally 16 and 17. but im TIRED . the ending was a bit jarring as well, and while it makes sense, it felt a smidgen too grandiose, as is prominent with this genre, which again reminded me of why i have such disdain for it now. also this is more minor but the welsh threw me off and the welsh pronunciations in the audiobook annoyed me, but that’s more of a me thing.
saying that, some things were phenomenal. the world building and magic system incorporating historical injustices was phenomenal. the way it explores being in environments that directly profited off of your ancestor’s oppression and exploitation, inhabiting buildings and spaces that would have viewed you as lesser than is so Wonderfully portrayed. the magic system on paying homage to all those before you and to the earth was also quite beautiful. more than anything, the portrayal of grief in this book is among the best i’ve ever read. i disliked this book more than i liked this book, but the way grief is portrayed had me crying for chapters at a time.
it kills me bc ik if i read this a decade ago, it would’ve been so powerful that it probably would’ve shaped a fundamental part of me. but reading this now , just makes me feel old lol. considering how big the other two books are, im reluctant to carry on with the series and am now looking for good plot summaries
this has been my first fantasy in MONTHS, and for my first foray back in, it wasn’t too bad. but it also reminded me of all the reasons i became tired of the genre pretty quickly. i’m old. i’m too lazy to keep up with the differing roles and varying creatures that keep appearing. i will say that the exposition is mostly presented very well - there’s none of the nonsense you see in fourth wing. the world building works, but as i’ve said. i’m old lol. i’m also too tired to handle
saying that, some things were phenomenal. the world building and magic system incorporating historical injustices was phenomenal. the way it explores being in environments that directly profited off of your ancestor’s oppression and exploitation, inhabiting buildings and spaces that would have viewed you as lesser than is so Wonderfully portrayed. the magic system on paying homage to all those before you and to the earth was also quite beautiful. more than anything, the portrayal of grief in this book is among the best i’ve ever read. i disliked this book more than i liked this book, but the way grief is portrayed had me crying for chapters at a time.
it kills me bc ik if i read this a decade ago, it would’ve been so powerful that it probably would’ve shaped a fundamental part of me. but reading this now , just makes me feel old lol. considering how big the other two books are, im reluctant to carry on with the series and am now looking for good plot summaries
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
1.5
2 felt generous, 1 felt mean. nothing worked for me in this book. the characters felt lacklustre, the story building was subpar, and writing, while well done in some parts, was utterly abysmal in others. the level of abysmal would have been excusable if this was henry’s first work, but this is far from the case. i’m struggling to figure out how it went this badly.
i’m aware that henry’s books either REALLY WORK or REALLY DONT, and ive always aligned myself with the former of the two stances. her annual releases were books i’d anticipate reading and i’d grab ahold of them the day they were released, bc up until now, her works have mostly been superb for me. bar happy place and the people we meet on vacation, her works have been solid re-readers. it’s why im struggling to understand how this book is so diametrically different, and how it got so bad. even in the books i didn’t like, characters were still solid and tension was still written really well. but what the hell was this??
the plot was contrived, and ridiculously paced. henry attempted to do a TJR-esque story about a biography, but these stories only work if the character central to the novel was interesting. i didn’t give the first flying fuck about margaret’s story. the pacing was so so so off, and while the ancestral background of the character might have helped contextualise her wealth, it was seldom touched upon in the end, and had no relevance to her story. the book spends half its runtime baiting you with this supposed great love story between margaret and cosmo, but when push comes to shove and you finally begin reading about it, it’s so brief that it could’ve been an email. it comes down to they met, it was love at first sight, they fought and made up, “made love and fucked”, and somewhere along the line decided to have a kid that they gave up . like i just didn’t care. the twist might’ve been more meaningful if i gave more of a shit about the main characters, but even then, it wasn’t interesting or fascinating enough to warrant a care. and also . enough with the pregnancies. seeing that in the end pissed me off in more ways than i can explain. i understand why it was included considering some of the themes of the book but my GOD i did not care .
and on the main characters. JFC. by far the weakest characterisation by emily henry, which is insane considering how well fleshed out most of her protagonists are. the fmc was a shade away from the manic pixie dream girl trope, and felt like smth out of a delaney rowe skit. the mmc should’ve been someone i loved, but there wasn’t enough too him that would’ve gotten me attached. the two of them together was also just OFF. the pacing of their supposed romance made no sense to me, and again feels insane bc emily henry is usually wonderful at writing tension. with these two, their first kiss comes out of nowhere, and the random hugs which lead to humping just felt weird and out of place??? like i couldn’t tell why and at what point they went from disliking eachother to friendly to love. when they confessed their love for eachother, it felt so odd bc it came out of nowhere, and there seemed to be no payoff. like i couldn’t tell why or how they began falling in love. like it was so ODD. like there seldom felt like there was any buildup to their relationship, and they sort of had a few conversations about their quirks and that was sort of it . idk.
also the writing again. felt abysmal. some parts were written well, don’t get me wrong. but again, incredibly uncharacteristic to henry, some parts were so boring i was fighting not to skip the page, forget the paragraph. there were just huge huge dumps of “i did this. and then i did this, while wearing this. the sea looked blue, i did this”. this isn’t at all what im used to from henry, and again was so unpleasantly surprising.
some parts weren’t the worst. the exploration on having kids and retaining parts of our loved ones were cute and i did get teary when alice started chronicling her parent’s love story . henry also explores sisterhood so well whenever she decides to depict it in her novels, and this was no exception. the themes of expectation and learning to move on from them and learning to be enough for yourself was also something that really hit home.
it’s what makes this book so so so confusing, bc it was supposed to work for me in every single way. however, it has done the complete opposite :(.
i’m aware that henry’s books either REALLY WORK or REALLY DONT, and ive always aligned myself with the former of the two stances. her annual releases were books i’d anticipate reading and i’d grab ahold of them the day they were released, bc up until now, her works have mostly been superb for me. bar happy place and the people we meet on vacation, her works have been solid re-readers. it’s why im struggling to understand how this book is so diametrically different, and how it got so bad. even in the books i didn’t like, characters were still solid and tension was still written really well. but what the hell was this??
the plot was contrived, and ridiculously paced. henry attempted to do a TJR-esque story about a biography, but these stories only work if the character central to the novel was interesting. i didn’t give the first flying fuck about margaret’s story. the pacing was so so so off, and while the ancestral background of the character might have helped contextualise her wealth, it was seldom touched upon in the end, and had no relevance to her story. the book spends half its runtime baiting you with this supposed great love story between margaret and cosmo, but when push comes to shove and you finally begin reading about it, it’s so brief that it could’ve been an email. it comes down to
and on the main characters. JFC. by far the weakest characterisation by emily henry, which is insane considering how well fleshed out most of her protagonists are. the fmc was a shade away from the manic pixie dream girl trope, and felt like smth out of a delaney rowe skit. the mmc should’ve been someone i loved, but there wasn’t enough too him that would’ve gotten me attached. the two of them together was also just OFF. the pacing of their supposed romance made no sense to me, and again feels insane bc emily henry is usually wonderful at writing tension. with these two, their
also the writing again. felt abysmal. some parts were written well, don’t get me wrong. but again, incredibly uncharacteristic to henry, some parts were so boring i was fighting not to skip the page, forget the paragraph. there were just huge huge dumps of “i did this. and then i did this, while wearing this. the sea looked blue, i did this”. this isn’t at all what im used to from henry, and again was so unpleasantly surprising.
some parts weren’t the worst. the exploration on having kids and retaining parts of our loved ones were cute and i did get teary when
it’s what makes this book so so so confusing, bc it was supposed to work for me in every single way. however, it has done the complete opposite :(.
The Worst Guy by Kate Canterbary
2.0
what i said on GR. cheerleader kink was an experience. never wasting that much time figuring out how bodies are supposed to be positioned again.
The Ex I'd Love to Hate by Nadia Lee
2.0
wattpad esque writing. mind turning off moment. hit where it needed to hit. ashamed it worked so well. really not well written