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annieice's reviews
731 reviews
Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch by Julie Abe
3.75
had this in my tbr for years and yesterday thought it was the day. it is a very cozy fantasy, like almost like magical realism and it definitely is an unfinished story. the main character was interesting, I like reading about a magical person that isn't really magical. the friendships were sweet and it was a breath of fresh air to have supportive sweet parents. in other words, it was slow and it was a bit boring but oh well. i don't think I'll continue the series but it was a fine time. gotta find fantasy books that hold my attention more... it's a me problem I know
Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
4.0
i don't really know what to say. i have never read a book remotely like this, where the mc is in kids jail, where the mc is a pregnant teen or with such a crazy traumatic past. it was a bit of a hard read and I would definitely not be able to read it if I was her age let alone live through what she did, but now I feel like I'm more mature. i can read darker shit now and I love that. the book was interesting I gotta give it that, but I pretty much knew all the plot twists and stuff the only thing I didn't expect was the ending. not that it is that surprising it just breaks the point of the book for me. i lied how this book showed how awful the prison system is especially the juvenile one and how often black people especially teens get wrongly accused so the ending kinda ruined it for me. also I didn't agree with the decision to keep the baby, it makes no sense you're a kid, you definitely can't take care of a kid... tf?! anyways the book was a fun dark time. i learned more about how f-ed up the world is for some people. i did want Mary to get adopted by mc. Cora though...
The Undine's Tear by Talena Winters
3.75
Holy s@#t, this one was a looooong ride. My… I'm not really much into YA fantasy, especially epic fantasy though I'm trying to get into the genre, but this was crazy yo! I liked it, though I do wish it was shorter as it was 500ish pages long for me!!! The main characters are flawed and weird, and sometimes really frustrating, The worldbuilding is done pretty well, but wow, did the politics and stuff frustrated me… I hated queen Aduna… I liked Zale. Calandra was kinda annoying, and her relationship with Oyuke felt so cringe and fake… yikes. I felt like it was forced, ok? But it was to make a point, as here there are only female mermaids which here are called undines, and they marry human men, whom they control basically, and can't have male kids… it's messed up. It's historical fiction so there is a bunch of slaves there too. It's interesting to see Calandra's growth though, as she didn't think about this stuff much at first, but at the end she basically starts a revolution, which turns into a disaster, of course, to set the sequel. I don't know if I'll be reading the sequel, I want to read some other books first, but maybe sometime in the future, I will. I want to get more into the mystery, and MG books now as they make me feel better, fantasy especially YA ones always tend to mess me up, lol. I do recommend it to YA fantasy fans though, and this is a childhood friends to lovers to nothing trope. Also, there's no love triangle, just a jealous cousin that is desperate to get her mom's attention.
The Burning Secret by Stefan Zweig
4.0
I like this man's writing and how he always seems to explore this loss of childhood. And i appreciate that he gives grace to bis female characters even if they're doing not very moral things.
The Governess by Stefan Zweig
4.0
It was actually interesting weirdly enough. Felt very Edwardian and the two girls didn't have any names but you still felt for them. The best thing is that the girls don't know what is going on but they still are worried and sad for their governess while we the readers do. It felt a bit too telling not showing but i guess that's how they wrote back then.
Where You See Yourself by Claire Forrest
4.0
this was an interesting read. it was definitely slow so I listened to the audiobook at 2.5x speed (ADHDers unite) but the topic was awesome. i think this was the 3rd book I ever read with a wheelchair-user MC. The other two were Out of My Mind duology who also have an MC with cerebral palsy, although the writer isn't disabled herself. I have a special interest in disability advocacy as I'm invisibly disabled myself but also care a lot about all other kinds of disabilities and accommodations and accessibility. it makes me furious to see how much more our countries have to do to be better. Effie was a character I understood even though our struggles are different, but it's also important to say that Effie is privileged. she's rich and she can go to college anywhere she wants which makes her story a bit easier. it's good that she acknowledges that because throughout the book all I could think about was what about other wheelchair users who don't have accessible colleges nearby and can't go somewhere further and more expensive... it's a thing that shouldn't go on anymore. my college for example doesn't have a lift/elevator so wheelchair users can't even go to their classes if they're on the 2nd/3rd floor... it's awful. Anyway the book was nice, I liked the inner and intrapersonal conflicts. I'm happy for her and Wilder (the asking for consent for a kiss made me so happy, need to see that more). also the audiobook narrator is also a wheelchair user and that made me even more happy. we ned audiobook narrators to share the MCs identity more!!!
The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He
2.75
probably the worst book of the year... dear Lord this was hard to read/listen to. i didn't understand much at all, there was no ending and I just feel so disappointed because I had this in my tbr for so long and the cover is just so gorgeous but nope... i cant recommend it. Celia was fine as a character although a bit too horny for my liking for a ya book, while Kacey was just meh. i mean I read her as autistic but just because she is autistic doesn't mean she should be boring. like hell, i read a lot of books with autistic MCs and i liked most of them. I'm autistic myself and if i read a book about my thoughts and stuff they'd probably be way more interesting than hers... oh well, better luck next time for me i guess. and it's such a shame because I like that it has this free will/environmentalist/anti-capitalist message but it just doesn't deliver...
Elle Together by Kid Toussaint
3.25
i don't know how to review this graphic novel... seems to me that all that I think and feel about it has been said by others. i just really LIKED the idea and all the complex themes and topics it wanted to explore. BUT the execution man... it's not there. the art style is gorgeous, but the MC's personalities are just not it. that's not how DID is or is developed from. the ending where they all merged together made ZERO sense, I would've preferred they came to working together and that it's OK for her to have all these sides of her, but them just becoming one out of the blue while she was trying to off herself isn't it. speaking of offing herself, that came out of NOWHERE, like not realistic at all. i can't believe how shallow the side characters are, including her parents. her bf is also just blah I don't see any of their chemistry. Glinda's story didn't make much sense, I feel like we were owed more. the white Ella thing was also not talked enough about. which brings me to the main issue with this series but this book in particular. it is too fast-paced, and it will flip from inside the head to outside so rapidly it made NO sense. the convos feel weird and like they're being interrupted. the main issue is the PACING. it's not done well at all. and I feel like for this particular story it would really benefit if it had 50 more pages. like I would even excuse all the fantastical backstory to her DID if they just explored all these things better and slower. she can't just heal so fast like that, girly has years of therapy ahead of her... i dunno I just feel a bit disappointed because I really wanted more from this story but oh well... also Ella being bi/nb would've been interesting to be explored more but oh well...
How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
4.0
i heard about this book right when it came out and found it intriguing, who deosn't with such a title? but I didnt read it, i thought it was too much for little me who wasn't used to crime stories much, well that has come to pass. now they seem to be my type of stories. i enjoy watching crime dramas and even a little true crime here and there. and of course thriller books are my favorite. so I thought I could give this a go. it was actually tamer than I thought, I did enjoy it though. the sex club part felt a bit iffy but other than that I actually liked the main character, which doesn't seem to be a popular opinion in the reviews here. id say I agreed with her opinions on things a lot, she's my anticapitalist queen who's a bit hypocritical at times, lol. her revenge plan made sense although I personally wouldn't have killed the cousin and half sister, but what do I know, I wouldn't kill anyone at all. anyways the end killed me, like bruh all that word and where did it get her?! still it was an enjoyable read and it made me think about it when I put it down for the day and after so it was good. it did try to be humorous and honestly I did find it funny at bits, I guess I vibe with British humor for some reason. id say most people were pretty harsh about this book, but then again who knows maybe I just have bad taste?!