[REVIEW] To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Summary: Lara Jean’s love life gets complicated in this New York Times bestselling “lovely, lighthearted romance” from the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer I Turned Pretty series.

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them… all at once?

Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control. 

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Rating: ★★★

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General Thoughts: The series is overall overhyped, but it's still a cute and fun read for a day when you have nothing else to do :)

Plot: I thought the concept was very original, but also some things were just too convenient for the plot to be a coincidence. I do like the fake dating trope but I feel that it was lacking here :/ I also got a ton of second-hand embarrassment from Lara Jean :')

Writing: Nothing extraordinary, nothing awful. Just average and unmemorable.

Characters and Romance: I really liked Lara Jean and related to her. Some people say she was too childish but I didn't really see that. I also liked her dynamic with her two sisters. In the first book, however, I'm not at all a fan of Peter. He's honestly just a mean person with almost no redeeming traits. I like the romance in the sequels, but in the first book it was kind of meh.

Diversity: Good! Lara Jean and her sisters are biracial, Korean American. Not much relationship diversity, though, except for one token gay guy.

Do I Recommend?: Yes, but not as priority. The sequels are better.

Explanation + Exams are Evil

Hey!! So, I haven't posted in just over a week. But I do have a reasonable excuse, since I'm taking exams rn and they're Evil Villains Who I'd Love To Kill. I'll be back in a few days hopefully :)

[REVIEW] Daughter of Smoke and Bone Series by Laini Taylor

Summary: Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

The books in order are: Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Days of Blood and Starlight, Dreams of Gods and Monsters.

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Rating: ★★★★½

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General Thoughts: Daughter of Smoke and Bone was truly amazing. It was the series that kickstarted me back into reading basically every day again and restarted my passion for YA. It's a very enjoyable series that will get you totally absorbed for days.

Plot: The plot was very wild and intriguing. The first book starts off in Prague but then we get transported all over the world and then mostly in whole other kingdoms in the later books. At a few points, it was difficult to follow and some things didn't seem to make sense but everything would then fit together and you would have many aha! moments. I loved all the twists and turns.

Writing: Laini Taylor's writing is AMAZING. Like, wow. I have no words to express how perfect it was. As well, the worldbuilding was so well done and intricate and compelling. In the third book, things dragged occasionally because it was so long, but not as much in the other books.

Characters and Romance: I love every single one of the characters, both main and supporting. Karou was so awesome and I want to be her, and I also adored Akiva, Zuzana, Mik, Liraz, Eliza,

 and everyone else. Except for that evil chief guy and Kaz (not from Six of Crows, lol). 

The romance was really well done as well. Akiva and Karou had a ton of chemistry, and I also loved Zuzana and Mik together. I grew to like Liraz and Ziri by the end, too.

Diversity: DoSaB actually had quite a lot of diversity, most notably Liraz being asexual which I haven't seen before in mainstream YA. Akiva and his whole family are POCs as well. Eliza in the third book is an amazing WOC.

Do I Recommend?: Yes, if you're into high fantasy! :)

[REVIEW] The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Summary: Perks follows observant “wallflower” Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

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Rating: ★★½

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General Thoughts: I have so many mixed thoughts about this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed it and I liked Charlie, but I also have beef with it, especially about how unrealistic it was.

Plot: The plot was an extreme mess. I guess it was supposed to be snapshots of time with Charlie's letters, but not much got resolved. There were so many important issues brought up and then gone again in three pages. Highlight to view spoilers: Charlie's sister got pregnant so they both just went to get an abortion and then they both forgot about it in three pages. Also, Charlie took LSD and there were no consequences afterwards, like with withdrawal? I'm a freshman in highschool myself and the events in this book were just extremely unrealistic and unlikely. Everyone knows that having senior friends is the worst decision you can have, especially if they're shady af. But the thing that most ticked me off was Charlie getting straight As even though he was never stressed, never did his work, and goofed around so much and got high all the time??? And the ending chapter was unnecessary and frustrating. Chbosky could have easily ended the book at the previous chapter, especially since this is a standalone.

Writing: I actually did like the writing, and Charlie's voice was unique and enjoyable. He's so brutally honest about things without realizing it. The formatting as a letter to an unknown friend was cool.

Characters and Romance: I liked Charlie but he kept making really stupid decisions. I also liked Patrick but his arc was barely resolved. I honestly couldn't stand most anybody else. The romance was also weird, since there was that big age gap, and the characters never had any chemistry, in my opinion.

Diversity: The diversity was meh with this one. It was published in the previous century, so I wasn't really expecting it to be super diverse. Everyone was white, but Patrick was gay. He dealt with a lot of homophobia and there was the trope of him dating a guy who would bully him in front of others. So, meh.

Do I Recommend?: I guess if you're one for reading classics, you shouldn't miss this one. But it's not really one for everyone. Pick it up if you want but it's not a priority read.

[REVIEW] I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Summary: Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

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Rating: ★★★½

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General Thoughts: This book was very beautiful, and the writing was my favorite part. In general, I preferred Noah to Jude.

Plot: It was certainly an original plot. Jude's story was very uninteresting for me, compared to Noah's, and her point of view was a bit too spiritual and Christian for me, especially with the grandmother's ghost. I also thought it connected together in very cool ways. The sideplot with the Sweetwine parents was interesting and also sad. One particular scene I loved was when Noah and his dad went out to dinner together, and the scene that came right after that.

That being said, I thought that the pacing was a bit off. We got the first week of Noah and Brian when they first met, but then the rest was told in about two pages plus that last party scene, and so we didn't get to see the relationship develop. I think that it could have been improved by switching POVs more often between Jude and Noah.

Writing: As I said before, the writing was my favorite part. There were many beautiful and quotable lines. The voices of Noah and Jude were very distinct and unique.

Characters and Romance: I really loved and related to Noah, more than I did to Jude. As I mentioned before, it would have been nice if Noah and Brian had had more time for development, but it was still a very good pairing. I also felt really uncomfortable with the romance between Jude and Oscar, because of the age gap. The book started to go on a path of "okay, you're too young, let's wait a few years and meet again" but it then went on a path of "I don't care, we can make this work now because I love you" which I didn't like.

Diversity: It was nice to see the diversity relationship-wise, but also, everyone was white. There wasn't even a token POC in the story. Also, there was some slut-shaming in Noah's POV towards 14 y/o girls. They were, in fact, mean binches, but Noah wasn't shaming them for that; he was shaming them for having relationships and dressing how they wanted to.

Do I Recommend?: Yes, if you don't mind metaphors.

[REVIEW] Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J Maas

Summary: Throne of Glass is a young adult high fantasy novel series by American author Sarah J. Maas, beginning with the inaugural entry of the same name. The story follows the journey of Celaena Sardothien, a teenage assassin in a corrupted kingdom with a tyrannical ruler.

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Rating: ★

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General Thoughts: I don't feel like rating every single one of the books individually, because there would be a lot of repetition. A few years ago, I was actually really into this series for some reason, but then my eyes were opened when Empire of Storms was released.

The only reason I gave the series one star at all was because the first book wasn't awful, and I actually did like some parts of Heir of Fire.

Plot: The plot is extremely messy. It has diverged so far from the first book and seems to be just running around in random directions without a clue about how it will end. The worldbuilding is weak, too.

Writing: The writing is bad, to say the least. There are countless ellipses and em-dashes and semi-colons used correctly. I believe someone counted the number of em-dashes in QoS and came up with around 1000 of them (credit: throne-of-no on tumblr). As well, the sex scenes are cringe-worthy. Like, velvet-wrapped steel? Bursting into flames? It's all just badly-written fae porn.

Characters and Romance: The only two characters I liked the most in the beginning were Dorian and Chaol, and then later on Sorscha, as well. But Chaol was kind of butchered in Queen of Shadows and then was written off once he became disabled. Dorian wasn't himself in QoS for obvious reasons, but then he was nothing at all like himself in EoS. And Sorscha died to further the white plot, of course. Celaena and Aelin are completely different people. It's not character development, it's a whole new character. The narrative tries to paint Aelin as a better person than Celaena, but she's way worse. I somewhat liked our sassy assassin with a softer side, but now she's just a rude queen who thinks she's entitled to everything. I hate the new characters introduced in HoF and QoS, for the most part. They all just worship Aelin for no reason and aren't as cool characters as the original gang, Chaol and Dorian and Celaena. Most of all, though, I hate Rowan Whitethorn, or as my friends call him: Rowboat Whiteporn (credit: amanda on goodreads).

The romances are all as terrible as the characters, if not even worse. Every single one is forced hetero bs. It places unrealistic standards on younger girls that every guy that Aelin meets falls in love with her and she in love with them. The only Celaena/Aelin relationships I liked were her and Sam and briefly her and Chaol. Rowaelin was fine when they were just friends but their relationship is really toxic now that they're together. Everything is made out to be about the two of them. However, I hate Manorian even more. Both of their personalities had to change for it to work, and in QoS, Dorian was flirting with her because he wanted to die, ffs. I can't believe SJM actually made it a thing. Elide and Lorcan are forced, Lysandra and Aedion are forced, everyone is forced af. The only nonforced het couple in this entire series was Dorian and Sorscha, but they got less than a book. The books get very centered around romance as the series goes on, for some reason, so @ SJM if you're gonna do that can you at least write good romances, please?

Diversity: Not only is there just the bare minimum of diversity, it's all problematic and harmful rep. All the main characters are straight except for Aedion, who's bi but is known as the Whore of Adarlan. All the main characters are white, but if they are poc, they killed off to further the white plot (Nehemiah and Sorscha) or get written out of the largest book in the series so far (Nesryn). I could go on for a while about the lack of diversity in this series.

Do I Recommend?: No, please save yourself and don't waste your time with any SJM books, Instead, read some ownvoices books, please.

[REVIEW] The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Summary: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. 

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.

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Rating: ★★★★★

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General Thoughts: If there's one word I could use to describe The Night Circus for me, it would be ethereal. This book was so magical, and it pulled me into its world and still hasn't really let me go.

Plot: This isn't a book about plot. If you're looking for an action-packed book, or a book like the way that TNC is described in the summary, then this isn't really the book for you. Instead, TNC relies on snapshots of moments and its vivid imagery to tell a story. It was confusing at first, but once you looked back on the book, everything fits together.

Writing: The writing in this book is amazing. It blew me away with every single page. Morgenstern describes everything in such beautiful detail that you feel as if you are truly in the world of the book. The descriptions of the circus were especially vivid and amazing, and made me wish desperately to be able to go to a Cirque des Rêves in real life.

Characters and Romance: I loved every single one of them. Each character was so multilayered and complex and I especially fell in love with Celia and Marco. Their story took a lot of time but it was worth it. I also really liked Tsukiko.

Diversity: Admittedly, this wasn't a book with much diversity, except for Tsukiko. But it wasn't problematic in any aspect, which is the most important.

Do I Recommend?: Yes! If you're looking for a book to spend a whole day reading and aren't too fussed about plot, then I 100000% recommend The Night Circus.

Deleted Old Blog & Introduction

So, I accidentally deleted my old blog of a few months. I've decided that I want a fresh start, however, and I'll be slowly transferring my best old reviews over, since I luckily still have my Goodreads account.

This blog is still a work in progress, but you can expect to see a posting schedule of every other day, at first, and then once or twice a week once my old reviews are done being posted.

For those who don't know me, hi! I'm Miriam, and I'm a complete nerd who reads way too much. My favorite genre is Young Adult Fantasy, and I'll occasionally read Young Adult Contemporary as well. I prefer diverse books, especially #ownvoices ones.

I'm in high school currently and my life is full of Stress but books are my escape from the world.

Tell me about yourself in the comments!