MINI REVIEWS: March & April

HERE WITH ANOTHER MINI REVIEW POST (also thank you to everyone who supported the last set of these) ((double thank you to everyone for pretending that these are not just monthly wrap ups))

Again, for those who don’t know what mini reviews are, I do not like writing full length reviews for every book I read but do like sharing my thoughts on some of them. But, apparently for these months we are doing all the books (unless I forgot one cries)

Books I read these months that DID get full reviews:
Water Runs Red
Again, but Better
Daisy Jones & The Six
The Blood Spell
If I’m Being Honest (coming soon)

Please prepare yourself for a very very very long post. If you’re not happy about this blame people who voted in my Twitter poll! I am angry at them too!! jk they are great, but like 20+ mini reviews coming your way.

The mermaids voice returns in this one by Amanda lovelace
I am a huge fan of amanda’s work and credit her poetry for getting me into modern poetry. Despite loving the overarching narrative of the mermaid finding her voice and becoming strong, the individual poems were not as strong as some of her previous work. However, since this is a collection about healing it is hard to make critiques about it. Who am I to say she didn’t present her healing the right way? But I will say that despite feeling her pain in certain poems, I could not connect to this collection in the way I connected to her previous works.

I also was not a fan of intermixing the other poet’s poems in the last section. I liked their poems but going into this I thought they would be in a separate section. It was jarring to keep switching from amanda’s narrative to another. I do like the idea of so many poet’s showing different ways of healing and overcoming one’s demons but intermixing them lost some of the value of both their words and amanda’s. 3.5/5 stars

*Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an eARC*

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
I reread this one because the movie is being released in May and I wanted to reread it beforehand, but not right before I saw movie. This is such a cute and diverse love story that deals with immigration issues and parental expectations. I love Natasha and Daniel so much. It is a bit insta lovey, but is STILL SUPER CUTE OKAY. 4/5 stars

Springtime at Hope Cottage by Annie Rains
Unfortunately, I was not a fan of this one. The small-town vibes were super cute and I enjoyed the characters at first, but after the first 50 or so pages it became very generic. I did finish it, but basically skimmed the last 100 pages. The cover is super cute though and I want to live in that cottage tbh. 2/5 stars

*Thanks to Forever publishing for gifting me a copy*

Passion on Park Avenue by Lauren Layne
This was a fun romance. I loved the characters. The main character is a CEO of a jewelry company and is super successful. She was poor as a child and is struggling with being in the elite of New York society now. The best part of this was the female friendships and I think this series will continue to improve with their stories. I was not the biggest fan of the relationship and thought they lacked chemistry. 3/5 stars

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC*

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
This is a book told in verse and it is beautiful. The author reads the audiobook, if you are into audiobooks at all, this is the way to experience the story because you get to hear the poems performed the way she intended them to be. 4/5 stars

Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson
TBH I forgot how many books I have read in my life about “going west” and “covered wagons” and “gold rushes”. I’ve of missed them. Carson writes her female main characters to be real and authentic. Lee gets her period and it affects her journey west (which since most books ignore that factor makes it feel real). This is such a fun story with adventure and high stakes. I am hoping the two characters I ship get together in the sequels. Also, my library does not have the sequel so I am sad. 3.5/5 stars

Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo
I loved the diversity of the characters and the fact that this takes place in Hong Kong, but unfortunately this one wasn’t for me. I don’t think this is by any means a bad book and I wanted to like this so badly. I think this book has a target audience, but sadly that was not me.

There are some parts of this that are funny, but it feels very ~insta lovey~. I am one of those people who can get behind a one-day romance, Just One Day & The Sun is Also a Star are some of my favorites. But, despite having a few cute moments, I was not shipping the main characters and did not care about their journeys. Honestly, I feel like all they do is eat (which makes me want to go to Hong Kong and eat) and talk. 3/5 stars

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC

Talking as Fast as I can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls by Lauren Graham
Okay I love Gilmore Girls and Lauren Graham and this one was so much fun to read. I listened to the audiobook which Lauren narrates which was awesome. She has such a distinct voice and I loved learning more about her. She also includes some life lessons that I needed to here. 5/5 stars

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
This was cute and fluffy and exactly what I wanted. This is the first in a series so there is some build up for the next books which was fine, but kind of took away from the main couple. My favorite thing about this was how funny this was and the banter between the characters. I got a little bored with the ~drama~ at the end so I just sort of sped read through it. Overall, this was a fun romance novel that I flew through, but isn’t going to be one of my all time faves. Also, heads up this is very steamy (which I was not expecting) so keeping that in mind if that is not your thing. 3/5 stars

*Thanks to NetGalley & the Publisher for an eARC*

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire’s writing is some of the most beautiful I have ever read and the diversity in this was beautiful. However, I had a hard time getting into the story. I am not sure if that is because by the time I finally knew what was going on the book was basically over or if because I was not the biggest fan of the characters. This is such a short book that all the of the character info is sort of flung at you and it is hard to get attached to them. This is a definitely a case of this book was not for me, rather than this being a bad book. 3/5 star

Vicious by V.E. Schwab
This is one of my favorite books of the year so far. Schwab writes the best anti hero in Victor Vale. I honestly don’t know what else to say about this except it was great. It is amazing how she tells this story; V.E. Schwab is truly talented. I read Vengeful recently too, but did not enjoy it nearly as much. 5/5 stars

Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E Smith
Okay this one is super cute and might be my new favorite Jen Smith book. I loved the two characters and their individual journeys and loved the train trip. Warning: this book will make you want to get on a train and see the U.S.A. I ended up crying at the end, which I did not expect. The only reason I knocked off a star is because I was not the biggest fan of the relationship. 4/5 stars

Dear Me at Fifteen by Jennae Cecelia
This is a half poetry collection, half self-reflection journal. I did not write in the journal part, but the poetry was great. It is very motivational and even though I am over 15 years old, I still needed to be told some of the things in the poems. 5/5 stars

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole
OKAY. I loved this one! I thought A Princess in Theory was good but overhyped and as a result almost did not read this when I checked it out from the library. I started it on a whim and read 50% in one night. This is super diverse (like one character is half white and everyone else is a POC). I loved that the guy was half Scottish and half Chilean. I have family from both places, and it was nice unexpected representation. I won’t say much else about this, but it features hate (more like dislike) to love, Scotland, swords, and old castles. 5/5 stars

New Orleans Rush by Kelly Siskind
This was a cute romance, but it did not stand on its own in anyway. It was also too dramatic for my taste. I loved the magic element and the brother’s relationship, but other than that it was not my favorite. While editing this post I literally forgot I had read this. 3/5 stars

*Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an eARC*

My Lady Jane by the Lady Janies
This was my third time reading this, but my first time listening to the audiobook. I was not the biggest fan of the audiobook narrator, but I love these characters and the humor of this so much. 5/5 stars

Tikka Chance on Me by Suleikha Snyder
I saw on Twitter that some authors loved this novella, so in a moment of weakness I bought it. It has some GREAT lines and some swoony moment, but since it was so short, I had a hard time connecting to the characters. Also, I loved seeing an Indian food restaurant be integral to the story! It’s also very smutty so be aware. 4/5 stars.

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn
I saw this on Sara Without an H’s Best of 2018 video (I think) and randomly picked it up at the Ripped Bodice. I loved this one! I have missed Historical Fiction (it used to be my favorite genre). This is a fun mystery taking place in Victorian England. Also, it is very sex positive towards women. I can’t wait to read the other books in the series. 5/5 stars

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella
Every main character in Sophie Kinsella’s books starts out as an actual mess, but then they grow and are able to get their lives together (+pick up a nice man on the way). I honestly was recluctant to pick up this book, but it was so much fun and made me realize how much I have missed Sophie’s books. This book is funny and Fixie, despite being very naïve in the beginning, becomes aware of this. It was very frustrating seeing everyone walk all over her, but that made the ending that much better. 4/5 stars

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC

Naturally Tan by Tan France
When this showed up in the mail; I almost passed out. I loved learning more about Tan and the casting process for Queer Eye. I loved the anecdotes about his family and his husband. I wish he would have talked more about behind the scenes for the show, but I understand that this is a book about him. My only critique is that his writing and voice is a little off in the beginning, but by the end it was great. 4/5 stars

*Thank you to St. Martin’s press for a review copy*

Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno
This is a special book. I thought it was just going to be a romance with a Cuban main character (which I was still super hyped for). But, this is a story about a girl trying to relate to her heritage and trying to feel more Cuban while not living there and having a grandmother who won’t talk about Cuba. She is also trying to figure out where to go to college and what her future is going to look like. I loved the small town dynamic (think Gilmore Girls, but Latinx) and how everyone is a gossip. The love interest is swoony and Rosa calls him “a Ravenclaw” so many times. Seriously, he reads, bakes, owns a boat, AND has tattoos. I loved the familial relationships. Seeing Rosa’s relationship with her grandma was really special. I loved the non translated intermittent Spanish words sprinkled throughout. This book was so much fun to read. I laughed and I cried. Even though my grandparents did not come to America from Cuban (they came from South America), I still could relate to many of Rosa’s thoughts and experiences related to being Latinx. 4.5/5 stars

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC*

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith
Another book where this was my third time reading this, but my first time listening to the audiobook. The audio for this is SO GOOD. If you like mysteries, you definitely need to read this one. I will say as the series goes on, I read it more for the characters and their dynamics rather than the mystery. I heavily ship two of the characters and love seeing their relationship find its ground in this one. 5/5 stars