❝ people seldom realize that they tell lies with their lips and truth with their eyes all the time. ❞
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
fine, I admit it. I like warner.
He❝ people seldom realize that they tell lies with their lips and truth with their eyes all the time. ❞
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
fine, I admit it. I like warner.
He’s not making his way onto my list of book boyfriends, mind you. At least not yet. I can’t quite find his traumatized, ocd self with an overdose of daddy issues attractive, per se, but I am… interested. However, I do appreciate him as a person. He’s not quite as evil as I thought he was and he has a well rounded character. I really enjoyed this novella; it was well-written and gave a lot of helpful insight on warner’s character. I’d definitely recommend reading this one in between the first and second books!
this book is horrifying, but it’s also fascinating— in a grotesque kind of way. The worst part is that it’s not too hard to believe that this kind of this book is horrifying, but it’s also fascinating— in a grotesque kind of way. The worst part is that it’s not too hard to believe that this kind of thing happened. In fact, events like the ones in this novel do happen in day-to-day life, even if it’s on a smaller scale and done with a bit more shame. But I, at least, can relate to a lot of the characters and their actions quite a bit and it’s an unsettling thing to think about.
the great gatsby is a very thought-provoking read, and even though it’s quite different from most other classics I’ve read, it still 100% deserves the title ‘classic’ and the esteem that comes with it....more
╰⪼ ya'll I am not feeling a review rn, but this was a ton of fun and I adored the sly, cunning, sassy protagonist. I will definitely be reading the re╰⪼ ya'll I am not feeling a review rn, but this was a ton of fun and I adored the sly, cunning, sassy protagonist. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series! <3...more
❝ Life is more interesting if you allow yourself to get lost every now and then. How else do you discover things? ❞
this was a wonderful conclusion! it❝ Life is more interesting if you allow yourself to get lost every now and then. How else do you discover things? ❞
this was a wonderful conclusion! it has just as much swoony romance as the other two in the series, and lots more danger and action regarding the Fire Eyes. They were more of a subplot in the first two, but in this book they were the main focus of the characters.
my favorite thing about this entire series is just how realistic the characters are. They aren't just young, perfect, untested young people falling in love with no strings attached. They're broken. They have messy pasts. Their sins are glaringly obvious. But they learn to love each other and the Lord despite it all, and it's beautiful.
I especially loved the romance in this one. Ella was one of my favorite characters in the first two books and I loved how her sunny personality compared with Cayton's grumpy one. They made for an adorable couple and definitely one of my favorites of Roseanna's so far!
╰› if you love Christian fiction, historical fiction, regency, romance, or all four, I highly recommend this series! it's well worth your time <3
❝ The rest of the world is filled to bursting with ill-tempered people. It is my solemn duty not to be one of them. ❞
—content and trigger warnings (minor spoilers!): this series dealt with a lot of heavy topics. In the second installment, the main character was a victim of sexual assault. there's nothing quite as drastic in this one, though it does mention sexual assault a few times, but everything else is kept to a minimum. one of the characters with a mini pov was a mistress, but it never shows or directly mentions anything remotely explicit. a woman suffers from losing an infant to a crib death. a woman dies in childbirth. One of the men is revealed to be a bloodthirsty psychopath who has an obsession with injuring people. The main character is kidnapped by a man who believes himself to be in love with her (he never inappropriately touches her). Basically, if you've had any past experiences with sexual assault or losing a child or mother in childbirth, I'd say tread carefully with this series. stay safe and ily all!! ...more
❝ We're all good. We're all bad. The hero in our own story. The villain in someone else's. ❞
The one time I bought a book without reading it firs2.75 ⭐
❝ We're all good. We're all bad. The hero in our own story. The villain in someone else's. ❞
The one time I bought a book without reading it first. *loud tsk-ing*
This was not a bad book by any means; Mrs. White is a very talented author. But the plot was very sparse and slow-paced. Aside from mini villain pov, there wasn't even really a plot for the main characters until the climax. It's mainly a romance. Which would have been fine, since I adore character-driven stories, if the romance hadn't been blander than unsalted mashed potatoes and if the main character wasn't the most infuriating character since Alina Starkov.
Let me introduce Margot De Wilde's character to you. Margot is almost eighteen, but she has the mind of an extremely intelligent elderly gentleman. She sees the world as an equation to be solved. She's so dang smart that she literally thinks and prays in numbers. She works as a codebreaker in a secretive Room 40 with a bunch of ✨men✨, creatures likeminded to her just not as smart, obviously. Margot eats lunch alone, because everyone expects her to eat with the fellow young woman who work as secretaries, but she despises them because they're all brainless gossips with only room in their head for fluff and fashion and she's the first female to ever exist who every had any common sense.
Then Drake Elton comes along. Drake is very hot, and he asks very good questions, and he can't resist any challenge. He immediately is smitten with the very quick-witted and sarcastic and hilarious Margot De Wilde. Everything she does becomes even more annoying from his pov because he is obsessed with her and thinks she's ✨really great✨.
As you might have guessed, after lots of flirtation and Margot being too good for Drake, they fall in love.
Now people, I really wanted to like Margot. She had her moments, such as this one:
"wait just a blighted moment. Do you mean to tell me-" "Shut up, Camden. My feeble feminine intelligence requires a bit of quiet for such tasks."
But overall, she made me want to punch her in her super-smart face. Which made her romance, while still cute, overall very meh for me, and I thought Drake deserved a lot better than he was getting with her.
I expected a bit more from Roseanna, especially after just previously reading The Reluctant Duchess (which was beautiful and gripping), but the next book in the series (about different characters thank goodness) looks good so I'll probably still pick that one up.
❝ I love to watch you and try to imagine the thoughts pouring through your mind... I picture them like a whirlwind, each thought a bejeweled raindrop. Beautiful storms of brilliance. ❞
happy reading my loves <33 remember to stay safe and drink enough water!! ...more
۫ ˑ⊹ ۪ ❝You're not nothing to me. That's precisely the problem.❞ ۪⊹ˑ ۫
This was such a fun book! The idea of a wonderous and magical hotel, with 3.5 ⭐
۫ ˑ⊹ ۪ ❝You're not nothing to me. That's precisely the problem.❞ ۪⊹ˑ ۫
This was such a fun book! The idea of a wonderous and magical hotel, with all the mysteries and lore that surround it, were so compelling and intriguing. Taylor creates a solid backdrop for her story in a magical France where magicians are feared and outlawed and an orphaned young woman is struggling to fend for herself and her sister while wanting more in life than what the dice have cast for her. Nothing extremely new, but the story itself was original enough that you can definitely say this book is its very own, and the author has a wonderful imagination.
The plot was a bit slow-paced, but each chapter was stuffed with magic and wonder like an overfilled cannoli and I was never bored! Jani was a great protagonist and I enjoyed seeing her development. Bel was also cute, and their romance was sweet, if a tiny bit bland in my opinion. Another negative was that the climax seemed a bit lacklustre and coincidental, but hey, we love a nice happy ending.
Overall this was a great debut, not amazing or completely memorable, but fun! I will definitely look out for more from this author! <3...more
❝ you should be wary of setting rules with me. you know I live to break them. ❞
ಇ ~ I can see you by taylor swift then we kiss, and you know I won’t e❝ you should be wary of setting rules with me. you know I live to break them. ❞
ಇ ~ I can see you by taylor swift then we kiss, and you know I won’t ever tell
I’m humbled. I thought I would have the same meh feeling about this as I did the author’s other books, and bought it solely for the cover. but boy, was I wrong. this was just about the cutest thing ever.
the reason that axie’s other books were a miss for me was because of the writing style, and unfortunately, that’s usually not something that varies from book to book; an author’s writing is what can make them well-loved or well-hated, because it has a distinct impression or voice. From my previous experiences with axie’s writing, I knew it to be cheesy and a bit stilted, and frankly incapable of writing chemistry or angst. imagine my surprise when the writing style in this book was not only fun, easy-to-read, and flowed remarkably well, but had a sizzling romance (not in regards to spice, obviously, as it’s YA, but in that the chemistry was immaculate).
sori and nathaniel are both, well, extremely hot characters and their moments actually had me silently squealing and cackling. I say this a lot, because I’m a hopeless romantic and almost anything remotely related to romance will make me pass out, but seriously; it was too good! I felt like I was watching a k-drama. the pool scene?? unwell. I loved how nathaniel didn’t force himself onto sori but waited patiently for her and respected her boundaries. They were such simps for each other and I was eating it up.
I also loved the kpop-based plot. The xoxo band members are all cute (youngmin & hyemi spinoff when??) and it was refreshing to have a protagonist who knew what she was doing and how to handle herself while being scrutinized by the media. speaking of awkward and oblivious characters… what do you know, I liked jenny a lot more when she wasn’t suffering from main character syndrome. She was actually really cute. The platonic & familial relationships in this book warmed my heart– sori had such cute relationships with jenny, hyemi, and her mom. we stan!!
–bottom line: this book really is just as cute as its cover <3
❝ I would walk the same path every lifetime, if I knew that at the end of it, you were waiting for me. ❞
I now know what premeditation means, from some very helpful friends in the comments section. And it definitely fits the book. If you’re smarter 3.5 ⭐️
I now know what premeditation means, from some very helpful friends in the comments section. And it definitely fits the book. If you’re smarter than me (which, let’s be honest, you probably are) and already know the meaning of the word, then it will be no big surprise to you that this is a murder mystery.
And, based on the cover and title, you have probably already guessed that it is also a Pride and Prejudice retelling.
A murder mystery Pride and Prejudice retelling.
BOOM.
This had an absolute heck ton of potential and it… mostly lived up to it. It wasn’t phenomenal, show-stopping, amazing, but it was fun. And cute. And really not super bloody. All pros!
I’ve had time to ponder it since I read it though, and upon further examination… it is quite forgettable.
I know this because from all the time I’ve had to ponder it, I haven’t, really. At all. Nada. Zero. I remember the plot pretty well, and I remember liking, if sometimes being annoying at, Lizzie, and not knowing what the heck was even happening with Mr. Darcy. I remember thinking all the little quotes the author put it from the original novel were cute, if a bit cheesy. I remember some good plot twists and a kind of very convenient climax and some very unrealistic aspects, but the author addressed it in the author’s note so I’m not too peeved about it because at least she’s aware.
Wow, my brain hurts from all this remembering. This book is even more forgettable than I am.
*laughs in humor as a defense mechanism*
Bottom line: I didn’t fall in love with this book, but it was a very pleasant acquaintance to have.
And now I’m going to leave before I start spouting more awful metaphors ...more
this book was a bit predictable, but it was also cute and fluffy and light and helped me get back on track with my reading challenge so there’s 3.5 ⭐️
this book was a bit predictable, but it was also cute and fluffy and light and helped me get back on track with my reading challenge so there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it in my eyes ...more
this was basically the princess diaries except with an enemies-to-lovers featuring a hot bodyguard and,❝I'm still a work in progress.❞ ❝Aren't we all?❞
this was basically the princess diaries except with an enemies-to-lovers featuring a hot bodyguard and, well, it's actually good.
❝ when it comes to the things one loves most, it is always better to be trapped together than safe and apart. ❞
❀ ~ long live by taylor swift I ha3.20 ☆
❝ when it comes to the things one loves most, it is always better to be trapped together than safe and apart. ❞
❀ ~ long live by taylor swift I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you
this book was such a cute fantasy romcom! it wasn’t as similar to the tiktok series as I was expecting but I did get the little references and I love how she expanded upon her idea with the tiktoks to make a full-blown book.
₊˚❀.ೃ character breakdown ࿔*:・
~ evangelina sage: she was adorable! her personality went quite a bit overboard at times and I kind of wanted to put duct tape on her mouth at some of the stuff she said... the secondhand embarrassment was real. but I did love her and all her quirks for the most part! she reminded me a lot of evangeline from ouabh. even the names are extremely similar ...more
The whole time I was reading this book, I was telling myself to rate it based on my enjoyment. The flow of❝Save your tears for when your mother dies.❞
The whole time I was reading this book, I was telling myself to rate it based on my enjoyment. The flow of the writing, the way the characters and story are brought to life, and how the grief and loss are portrayed.
But I still feel strange doing it.
This is an incredibly personal book. The writing is extremely raw and the author's grief flows through every word she writes. It felt less like a book written to tell a story and entertain an audience than a therapeutic process for the author and a last homage to her mother and all that she taught her. Reading it was like drawing back a curtain and looking through a window at Michelle Zauner's relationship with her mother and her last cry for her to be with her again, even though it's impossible. And now the curtain is back over it, but the image will always be burned into my memory.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I rated this 4 stars for my own personal enjoyment. But I don't think it's appropriate to list my likes and dislikes and opinions when the simple truth is this: It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because this author lost her mother and if writing this book held any kind of healing or any balm on her wound for her, then that is all that matters.
Crying in H Mart is a beautiful, poignant, story of grief and loss and trying to find a place in this world. It is a story of a life, and I applaud Michelle Zauner for being brave enough to expose herself to the world.
❝For the rest of my life there would be a splinter in my being, stinging from the moment my mother died until it was buried with me.❞
**content and trigger warnings** obviously this is a very heavy book with a lot of grief and loss and anxiety. I don't feel eligible to say what is triggering or what isn't but if you or someone close to you had cancer or sickness or if you lost someone close to you I urge you to look up more detailed trigger warnings lists. As for content, there were f-bombs dropped throughout the story, as well as s--t, a--, and d--n. There's several brief mentions of sex and sexual innuendos. Characters get tipsy/drunk repeatedly.
♨ pre-review ♨
THE FOOD DESCRIPTIONS HAD ME SALIVATING. BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN JUST LIKE THE ENTIRE BOOK!!!!
frtc!
♨ tbr review ♨
I am prepared to sob <3
I'm not Korean but I LOVE Korean food so that's another bonus ...more