I have challenged myself to do something that I’m not actually fully convinced is going to happen… to read 7 books, in 7 days. That means I’ll need to read one book every day for a week to complete this challenge. Let’s see if we made it.
As part of my reading books without paying attention to my normal content warnings, I gave this one a go… I’m glad I did.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. Grumpy sunshine with a Disney park type background was really fun. The look into running something like that was very interesting, and while there are documentary style pieces about what it’s like working at a park like Disney, this was a deeper look into a potential world that could exist (minus the grumpy and temporary man in charge all of a sudden looking to head a project with a deadline). I thought the character development was pretty well done. The plot thread in the other brothers in a way that I am excited for their stories.
Honestly, this book was forgettable for me, and the only reason I kept reading it was because of this challenge.
I don’t know why exactly you should root for people who clearly dislike each other so strongly to push aside that feeling and admit their attraction to each other, but here we are. If the “hate” was dialled down a little more, I would have bought into it a little more. Still, I see what we were going for and it was fine.
Okay, so I’ll admit to a semi-cheat for this one, as I’d already read through around 1/4 before I came back to it, but due to so little of it being read beforehand (and how much I wanted to finish the book) I’m going to count it! Took me by surprise, Reminded me of The Suite life on Deck if they were doing extreme sports. Outside of the Instant attraction these 2 people seemed to have 21 another, It didn’t really see why they would want to spend time together outside of when they had to. I don’t know how Realistic it felt for people to build a foundation based only on attraction. I did like the trying to find the person sabotaging angle, I enjoyed the extreme sports and the way it tied into the cruise ship around the world and the university experience, And I thought the characters Made sense and their motivations and decisions also seem to lineup with who they were written as In general.
I don’t know quite what I was expecting with this book, but after enjoying the Illuminae files series so much, I decided to give it a go and I quite liked it.
I liked this “if Die Hard were on mars” type story as the two main characters were thrown together in a live or die countdown. It felt a little rushed at the end, and I could have had a bit more of that fleshed out, but I quite enjoyed it. The book was short enough and exciting enough that I could see myself reading it again in the future.
I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from this book, but I’ve tried reading a RF Kuang book before and I didn’t get very far… this was a different story!
I was invested from page one for this book and the increased unhinged mind of the main character grew until the very end of the story in a believable way without being too trite. The commentary on race wasn’t too in your face, and seemed quite natural in this story and setting.
Alright, so I did technically do it again. I had already read through 1/3 or so of this book previously, but it was so long ago, and I had been having so much trouble to actually finish this book, that if I hadn’t included it in this challenge, I don’t know if I would have ever finished it so… no regrets.
While I really enjoyed the first book, this one was hard to get through. I think the gambit in book 1was just a bit more interesting, and better laid out than the challenges in this book. I spent some of this book not absorbing much, and not caring much. The stakes didn’t feel as compelling, but it was still interesting to see the different heists unfold.
Okay, this might seem like a cheat, but I maintain that Manga is still reading! So… yep, we did it!
Loved the design, the plot itself was okay but the first volume didn’t do anything particularly engaging just yet. I would be mildly interested to see where the plot goes, but had a lot of fun with the animation.
Well, that was a very interesting challenge to create for myself. I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it, but it helped that I was immersive reading (audio and physical book at the same time) for about half of these. Guess it goes to show that you can read a book quickly if you don’t have much else going on 🙂
Have you read any of these books? Share your thoughts on them in the comments.
I’m not going to lie, but I was SUPER excited when I saw the ads for this movie being released because Project Hail Mary was a favourite of mine from Andy Weir… Here we go! Careful reading below because SPOILERS!
I originally read this book back when it came out, but I decided to forge ahead with the movie with only a few years old memory of the actual book. Once I watched it, however, I had to go back and read it properly to compare. This time, though, I was able to listen to the audiobook.
Audiobook Advantage
The whole reason the book had been recommended to me was apparently because of how good the audio was, and for Rocky’s sake, I have to agree!
How Faithful Was The Adaptation?
The movie did a great job at sticking pretty closely with the book, particularly the first 2/3 of the story. The last third condensed the science and for the sake of the screen time, thank you all. It didn’t take away from the story very much doing it that way, and because they had done such a great job with the rest of the adaptation, it was forgivable and didn’t feel too smooshed as it can with some movies that do this.
The Rocky Reveal Problem
I was disappointed when I saw the trailer that Rocky was such a focus, because when you read the book, EVERYONE kept that a secret. You found out about Rocky as Grace did after a portion of the book as a big surprise. I understand why the trailer focussed on it, and Rocky is such a fun character that after the initial shock that the audience wasn’t going to get a fun surprise like Grace did, I was okay with it.
My Biggest Change From the Book
I felt like Ryan did a really good job at playing Grace on screen, but I don’t really know why we got a more humanised version of Stratt. She’s supposed to be unlikable. That’s the point. I don’t know why Hollywood is obsessed with trying to make people more likeable at the detriment of the ‘bad guy’ feel they are supposed to have. I know people like to think that deep down the troubled villains are just tortured, but sometimes people are just bad. They just let the evil win, and there’s not much we can do to excuse or to explain it away (speak to a psychopathic serial killer one day and then say people are just complicated). Having said that, Stratt wasn’t some sociopathic killer, but she didn’t need that much humanisation in my opinion. She could have just remained the character she was on page (who, by the by, did explain why she made the decisions she did and they did make sense… we just didn’t need the warm and fuzzies to round it out).
The Visual Experience
Seeing the visual of things that were explained in the book was amazing. I loved being able to see not just an interpretation of Rocky, but the ships and the story unfolding. I think they did a great job at making the movie look good visually. This story was made to be visual, and I enjoyed it a lot.
So… Did the Book or Movie Win?
So, the final question remains, did the book or the movie win out as the best? Well, the book explored a lot more science, a lot more inner dialogue and emotion, as books often do. However, the movie was able to show some of the incredible visuals of this story and explore another side that the book couldn’t. I actually think I’m calling a tie, because I was so impressed with how the movie handled the story. If I HAD to pick, the book would probably squeak by, simply because of the additional details it was able to bring (and there’s more Rocky in there than the movie!).
The first in this series did great, the second was a flame out, but what about the third? I’m reading books from Booktok and Booktube while throwing out my normal reading rules. I don’t usually like explicit scenes or darker themes, certain trigger/content warnings put a book out of the running, but we’re ignore those rules and trying out these books to see if they’re worth it.
Wasnt expecting a war between “gods” and that is not something I was interested to read. The conflict of fighting journalists was resolved before the end of the book…. it was the whole reason I came and I wasn’t interested to see the new direction of the story afterwards. Didn’t finish this one.
Ridiculous, horrendous, hilarious. The idea is so preposterously amazing that I absolutely loved it. Even amongst the dark, very intense moments and ideas, the humour made it enjoyable. Something that would otherwise be horrible, somehow is now incredible. I now officially want a cat to win and rule the world… yup.
A bit slow to start for me but once it got going, I had a lot of fun. Hearing someone else’s thoughts until you write the song that plagues you both was such a fun idea. Part Music and Lyrics, this was laced also with dementia and family history.
While some of this book was genuinely hilarious, I thought Christopher was the most insufferable, selfish, entitled, un redeemable asshole that didn’t deserve jack! I don’t understand why she liked or chose him. He had literally zero redeemable moments. In fact, the idea that he was semi nice to a kid on the streets of Spain was NOT enough. He was a dick regardless. The story really was a love story between him and this kid because he didn’t do squat for the woman he supposedly loved, but then when this kid needs him, he’s willing to change it all. Nope. Why did she even bother with him? He didn’t have any character development or emotional intelligence upgrades. He started as an ass, and he ended as an ass. I wasn’t rooting for him whatsoever and she deserved better.
I loved the style that this book was in, loved the way The story unfolded, Just everything. I dont normally read something like this, But I’m so glad I made an exception. Because of the format, it was different and way more engaging for me. I was yelling at the book and my jaw dropped to the floor so many times as things happened. I was absolutely enthralled the entire time.
I think this was the first challenge where I found a five star book! And one that came remarkably close. Honestly, this round was a mixed bag, but some hit the mark and others fell flat. I think this back and forth has convinced me to hang up the hat.. or…..
Let’s do it one more time!
Have you read any of these books? Let me know what you thought.
I LOVE the TV Show Firefly. I was so sad that there was only one season and a movie, but imagine my surprise and delight to find out that the world continued in books! Creators teamed up with talented writers to make several books, and once I read the first one, I was hooked. It was so amazing to see the characters once again, and I want to share the experience with you.
I didn’t read these in order, so you’re not getting the reviews in order… here you go!
I had more fun reading this and I thought I would. I really enjoyed the show Firefly, and this really did feel like it could have been another episode. I would have loved to watch this episode. I thought it was really well done, the characters felt pretty close to the show, we got some insight into each one’s perspective. I normally don’t like jumping around to too many characters in a book, but this was done really well. I really enjoyed seeing all the characters in what they got up to. There was almost a plot A and plot B element to this, but then all plots converged to the same spot. I really enjoyed that. I thought this was a great story and I’m excited to see what the rest of these books look like.
Another fun adventure with Firefly characters. This one had a little bit of mystery to it, and a lot more insight into some of the River aspects of the show.
Treasure map mixed with psychotic killers, yup that was this book. Another great storyline that would’ve been a good episode to watch, but easy to imagine the characters as I listened to the audiobook.
Really interesting look into the background of Jayne, but also another Firefly story. I thought the plot was quite good, and enjoyed seeing this different side of Jayne. Even though we got a little bit of it in an episode on the show, this was a little bit of a different look as well. The interactions between him and Temperance were really good, and I quite enjoyed Where the everything went. I wish I had known about some of the content warnings beforehand, but I will say that they didn’t go too far into descriptive things that I couldn’t enjoy the book as a whole.
Really enjoyed this one. It was almost like a life the way it could be for all the characters. It was quite interesting, and gave you a look into what could explain their backgrounds and why some of them could be the way they are. Not everything, but it was quite authentic to the show. So some of the clear links between the show and the movie, and I really appreciated a lot of what we saw in this story in that regard.
Written very well, but there was an awful lot of information about a random character that we will never see again. Her POV which did link into the story but it took a while to finally get there. When the mini plots all combined it was really good. I love seeing the characters as always, and overall it was a good story. I just could’ve done without the little girl character that we seem to get a lot of in the first half or so of the book.
As always, love to see the crew again in a story. Felt like it fit into the universe, but it was heavy on the feminism… very heavy. I saw what they were trying to do, and how they were choosing the write the story… but it did bring me out of the story when feminism ideology was slammed into my face every so often. I love a strong female character but this one was literally every guy = bad/stupid and woman = stronger/smarter. It felt unbalanced. I did enjoy the story on the whole, and it is always good to see the characters back at it.
Prison break on a frozen planet and a crew desperate to save a loved one. Who could want anything else. I will say, the POV of a wolf was an unusual choice but it did well in the story. I felt the plot sort of came out of nowhere with Inara but I was okay with it. Carried quite well across and I was pretty happy with the plot progression and where things ended.
I liked it, but it felt a little different than some of the others. Not sure why it was, but there was a lot of POV of a character that isn’t the Firefly crew so maybe that’s why..? Still a fun read and of course, love to see another episodic style story.
Always reading like an episode of Firefly, this story was no exception. I really enjoyed seeing a little bit more into the Shepherd’s background, and the geese were a fun touch. Getting River’s point of view was also nice in this one as well.
I wonder if I got fatigue by the end, as the review scores started dropping, or if the stories were just not as interesting. Either way, I really enjoyed re-entering this world with new stories and the same characters.
Have you read the Firefly books? Are you a fan? Let me know below!
Scott Westerfield’s Uglies explores beauty standards, societal control, and personal identity. With the release of the film, I decided to read the book which came out a while ago now and decided to bring out Book vs Movie from retirement for it… let’s see how the film and book did!
Tally & Peris: A Different Beginning
The book begins with Tally sneaking into New Pretty Town to see her best friend, Peris, who has already undergone the operation to become a Pretty. The movie, however, introduces more of Peris before his transformation, allowing more development of his character and his pre-Pretty mindset. While this gives viewers more time with him, it also removes the mystery and tension from Tally’s daring infiltration.
Additionally, Peris in the book is compliant with the system, believing in its ideals. The movie, however, makes him more defiant about beauty not mattering. This shift alters his arc and makes his eventual fate as a Special (in the movie, not the Uglies book) even more shocking.
Dr. Cable: From Mysterious Special to Public Authority
In the book, Dr. Cable is an ominous, near-mythical figure, a Special Circumstances officer working behind the scenes to maintain control. The movie turns her into a well-known governor, diminishing the eerie secrecy surrounding the Specials. Her intimidation tactics and manipulations are softened as well, making her less of the terrifying antagonist she was in the book.
The Smoke: A Bigger Deal from the Start
One of the biggest changes is how the Smoke—the rebel settlement outside the city—is handled. In the book, Tally doesn’t even learn about it until meeting Shay, while in the movie, it’s talked about early and frequently. The film condenses much of Shay’s storyline, having her leave for the Smoke earlier and making her feelings about David more obvious.
The book also emphasizes that books, history, and knowledge are strictly controlled within the city, and the Smoke is the only place where they are accessible. The movie removes this detail, weakening the contrast between the two societies.
The Specials—Revealed Too Soon
One of the most disappointing changes is how early the movie reveals the Specials and their abilities. The book gradually builds up to this revelation, making it a shocking twist when Tally finally encounters them. By showing their abilities too soon, the film removes this element of surprise, making them feel less mysterious and threatening.
David & Tally: A Rushed Romance
In the book, David and Tally’s relationship develops slowly, allowing trust and emotions to grow naturally. The movie accelerates their connection, even adding a scene where he teaches her to use a crossbow to build romantic tension. While this is a nice touch, the pacing makes their relationship feel unearned.
Additionally, Shay’s jealousy over David in the book is built on subtle tension. She actually has feelings for him, not just worried about Tally in the rest of the community (which was what the movie focussed more on rather than creating the love triangle situation). The movie makes it more dramatic, shifting her role from a rebellious friend to a more antagonistic presence.
A Chaotic Third Act
The second half of the movie diverges wildly from the book. Key changes like Tally destroying her tracking locket much earlier and for different reasons, the Smoke’s destruction happening on-screen instead of being discovered afterward and David finding out about Tally’s betrayal much earlier, affecting their dynamic, to name a few.
We also saw the infiltration of the Specials’ compound happening differently and feeling less suspenseful, a bizarre addition where Cory arrives with a flamethrower in a helicopter and Peris becoming a Special and facing off against Tally and David, ultimately falling to his death—completely different from his book fate (something that I believe from research, never happens in the books).
These changes make the climax feel rushed and overdramatic, removing much of the slow-building tension and character depth found in the novel.
Themes Shifted: From Beauty & Control to a Standard Dystopian Fight
Perhaps the biggest difference is the shift in themes. Uglies is about the perception of beauty, societal control, and self-acceptance. The movie minimises these ideas in favour of a more typical dystopian “fight against the system” narrative. Instead of Tally struggling with the morality of the Pretty operation, the movie frames the conflict around a fabricated weapons threat. The emotional depth of her choices is lost, making the ending feel hollow.
The Uglies movie gets some things right—the world’s aesthetics were pretty nice, Tally’s internal struggle, and key moments from the book—but ultimately, it rushes its storytelling and removes much of what made the novel so compelling. By shifting themes and altering major plot points, it loses the deeper message about beauty and individuality that made Uglies stand out in the first place.
Depending on my capacity to read, I sometimes get a lot of audiobooks done. This means, I hear a variety of people who read out those audiobooks. But how far is too far when you’re reading a book for others to listen to?
Do you treat an audiobook narration like an acting job with seventeen roles? Or do you treat it like a piece of legislation that should have been put in the back of the drawer forever? I’ve heard it both ways.
The narrators who give a monotone, impassioned reading are too dull. Let’s face it, if you’re reading a book about a kidnapping, a fantasy realm in the midst of turmoil, or a romance where passion abounds, and you are still reading it in one tone all the way through… something might be dead inside you.
On the flip side, there are the narrators who go SO HARD that it distracts from the story. These are the ones I have been hearing more and more recently. It seems as though they have something to prove. That their real dream is acting in front of a camera but this is just paying the bills. Or maybe that they think we want to hear them sigh, and then follow it up with literally saying “she sighed”. We don’t. The accents can be good, but if you’re doing it to the point of not understanding the words… it’s a bit much.
I might be a minority in this, but I actually prefer when a narrator gives a little bit of different inflections or tones for characters but mostly just reads the copy simply. I’m not saying monotone, but I’m certainly not in the camp of giving the acting performance of a lifetime. If the character is out of breath and breathing hard, I don’t need the narrator to do that. if the character is running, I don’t need the breath change.
This is not an award winning category. You aren’t being nominated for anything. We are really good. I promise.
There’s a good balance that we should have, but there’s more and more of these people who seem to be going just way harder than they have to. While it’s nice to be honouring to your craft, let’s all calm down a little shall we.
It is not everyone’s cup of tea to have spice scenes in a romance book, but with the recent uptick in books that have ALL the spice in them being popular, it can be hard to find ones that don’t have it.
So, instead of turning to the Colleen Hoover’s or Sara J Maas’ out there, I made a list of great recent romance books that don’t have spice scenes in them… and here they are:
Hi, my name is Bree Camden, and I’m hopelessly in love with my best friend and star quarterback Nathan Donelson (so is half of America, judging by the tabloids and how much the guy dates). The first step is admitting, right? Except, I can never admit it to him because he clearly doesn’t see me that way, and the last thing I want is for things to get weird between us.
Nothing but good old-fashioned, no-touching-the-sexiest-man-alive, platonic friendship for us! Everything is exactly how I like it! Yes. Good. (I’m not crying, I’m just peeling an onion.)
Our friendship is going swimmingly until I accidentally spill my beans to a reporter over too much tequila, and now the world seems to think me and Nathan belong together. Oh, and did I mention we have to date publicly for three weeks until after the Super Bowl because we signed a contract with…oops, forgot I can’t tell anyone about that!
Bottom line is, now my best friend is smudging all the lines and acting very un-platonic, and I’m just trying to keep my body from bursting into flames every time he touches me.
How am I going to make it through three weeks of fake dating Nathan without anything changing between us? Especially when it almost-sort-a-kinda seems like he’s fighting for a completely different outcome?
Savannah Cade’s dreams are coming true. The Claire Donovan, editor-in-chief of the most successful romance imprint in the country, has requested to see the manuscript Savannah’s been secretly writing while working as an editor herself—except at her publishing house, the philosophy is only highbrow works are worth printing and commercial fiction, particularly romance, should be reserved for the lowest level of Dante’s inferno. But when Savannah drops her manuscript during a staff meeting and nearly exposes herself to the whole company—including William Pennington, new publisher and son of the romance-despising CEO herself—she races to hide her manuscript in the secret turret room of the old Victorian office.
When she returns, she’s dismayed to discover that someone has not only been in her hidden nook but has written notes in the margins—quite critical ones. But when Claire’s own reaction turns out to be nearly identical to the scribbled remarks, and worse, Claire announces that Savannah has six weeks to resubmit before she retires, Savannah finds herself forced to seek the help of the shadowy editor after all.
As their notes back and forth start to fill up the pages, however, Savannah finds him not just becoming pivotal to her work but her life. There’s no doubt about it. She’s falling for her mystery editor. If she only knew who he was.
When McKenna Keaton walks into the boardroom of Wallis, Monroe, and Burkhead, she expects to be named senior partner. Instead, she learns she’s being investigated for embezzlement. To wait out her unpaid leave, McKenna sublets her Upper West Side apartment and goes home to Durham, North Carolina, to save money. Saving face is going to be another thing entirely, but she assumes her problems will blow over soon.
While living in her childhood hometown, McKenna learns about a family curse that—if real rather than imagined—could suggest she has less than a year to live. This information is troubling (of course!), but it’s the reunion with former classmate Henry—Durham’s favorite son—that flips her world upside down. Henry is now a celebrated documentarian, back in town to premiere his latest masterpiece. Vulnerable to (and desperately needing) a distraction as her life falls apart, McKenna begins seeing the shy nerd from high school in a whole new light.
As she waits out the results of the investigation and wonders if her literal life is hanging in the balance, McKenna debates her future and questions her past. She might survive it all in one piece—but a new love and a newly-examined life might be the only things that can save her.
Becoming a Christian is the best and worst thing that has ever happened to Sarah Hollenbeck. Best because, well, that’s obvious. Worst because, up to this point, she’s made her very comfortable living as a well-known, bestselling author of steamy romance novels that would leave the members of her new church blushing. Now Sarah is trying to reconcile her past with the future she’s chosen. She’s still under contract with her publisher and on the hook with her enormous fan base for the kind of book she’s not sure she can write anymore. She’s beginning to think that the church might frown on her tithing on royalties from a “scandalous” book. And the fact that she’s falling in love with her pastor doesn’t make things any easier.
With a powerful voice, penetrating insight, and plenty of wit, Bethany Turner explodes onto the scene with a debut that isn’t afraid to deal with the thorny realities of living the Christian life.
*note: while this doesn’t have spice in it, sexual references are discussed throughout.
Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar – and maybe snag him as a prom date – even befriend Wes Bennet.
The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic-comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in.
But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love – and rethink her own ideas of what happily ever after should look like.
Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it’s her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage’s collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it’s picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne’er-do-well husband Nora’s life will never be the same.
The morning after shooting wraps and the crew leaves, Nora finds Leo on her porch with a half-empty bottle of tequila and a proposition. He’ll pay a thousand dollars a day to stay for a week. The extra seven grand would give Nora breathing room, but it’s the need in his eyes that makes her say yes. Seven days: it’s the blink of an eye or an eternity depending on how you look at it. Enough time to fall in love. Enough time to break your heart.
Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story–the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen.
Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming ― mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.
Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.
All’s fair in love and cheese ― that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life ― on an anonymous chat app Jack built.
As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate ― people on the internet are shipping them?? ― their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.
Izumi Tanaka has never really felt like she fit in—it isn’t easy being Japanese American in her small, mostly white, northern California town. Raised by a single mother, it’s always been Izumi—or Izzy, because “It’s easier this way”—and her mom against the world. But then Izzy discovers a clue to her previously unknown father’s identity… and he’s none other than the Crown Prince of Japan. Which means outspoken, irreverent Izzy is literally a princess.
In a whirlwind, Izzy travels to Japan to meet the father she never knew and discover the country she always dreamed of. But being a princess isn’t all ball gowns and tiaras. There are conniving cousins, a hungry press, a scowling but handsome bodyguard who just might be her soulmate, and thousands of years of tradition and customs to learn practically overnight.
Izzy soon finds herself caught between worlds, and between versions of herself—back home, she was never “American” enough, and in Japan, she must prove she’s “Japanese” enough. Will Izumi crumble under the weight of the crown, or will she live out her fairytale, happily ever after?
There are books that come up every so often that make it onto the list simply because somebody else (quite often in another country) has filmed themselves talking about it. This is that list.
I have recently gone through some books that I found only because of the internet, and what I thought of them:
This story was so cute! It was short without being too short, moving without being unrealistic and romantic without being over the top. Loved the romance and characters and I loved the story. The only thing for me that I didn’t like, was too much descriptive text about the surroundings from time to time (though I do understand the meaning of it for the story)
Content warning: one mild love scene; constant references to that
Love this book! So cute, so funny, so moving – just adored the romance hahah.
Wit and Mer were so fun, and had such a beautiful romance in the midst of the family game. The game itself unfolded so hilariously – I LOVED Wit’s commitment to spraying people with water guns 😂 Touching moments of grieving and moving on with life. Forgiveness and healing. The final showdown….. the best! A wedding thrown in the midst of all the chaos and alliances was just cherry on top.
Loved this one – it was funny, entertaining, and somehow made you forget the Groundhog Day trope being so overdone. I didn’t mind one bit, and instead got to thoroughly enjoy myself as we followed Em throughout. Funny, entertaining and relatable. I thought some of it became predictable and I could see the direction, but I enjoyed it in spite of that. The characters had a natural feeling progression and sometimes surprised you. This one was beautifully executed and I loved listening to the audiobook!
I didn’t care that this book was somewhat predictable, because I had so much fun reading it. The characters had great chemistry, they were flawed but willing to do something when they had a chance, and there was all the drama! I love books about readers and writers, so this was IT for me. Editors meeting in the margins over the course of a month and working on a book? Yes! There was a lot of really funny but genuine moments, and the BANTER was just so great. Melissa wrote this book with a great flow and it was easy to speed through and stay up way too late just to finish it!
I was surprised at how much I actually loved this book. The entire plot centres around the elemental trials and life in this crazy dangerous prison. Our main characters are engaging, interesting and encircled by such an interesting world. The ending……. I went out and got the next two books on almost that alone. I GOTSTA know what happens next! Careful of content/trigger warnings (I will list below) but the author didn’t go tooooo far with those so just be aware.
Content warnings: violence (graphic), gore (moderate), self harm (moderate), sexual assault/harassment (moderate), Child abuse (moderate), torture (graphic), confinement (graphic)
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