  i love to read!! this section of my site is for me to write my thoughts on whatever i've been reading lately. =) i'm usually too shy to leave reviews on goodreads but i'm not shy here since you already decided to visit my site. ^_~ |
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read: july 2019 
★★★☆☆ |
i'm glad i read gone girl. i've heard a lot about it and i still ended up being pulled in wondering what would happen next. gone girl starts off slow and picks up a lot toward the end, which i guess is an effective way of pacing a thriller. the only thing i really didn't like about this book is that it's kind of tiring to read a story where everyone is a dickhead. would recommend if you like those 20/20 specials on tv or watch too many youtube videos about true crime stories lol~ |
read: june 2019 
★★☆☆☆ |
so my neocities visitors don't know this... but i'm a huge fan of valley of the dolls by jacqueline susann. i've been wanting to get in to jackie collins because i had a feeling her books might have things in common with valley. power makes me think i was correct in some ways... i enjoyed collins's direct way of writing and shameless leaning into the campy and "trashy" territories. power's story and characters didn't quite intrigue me enough to seek out the rest of the series but i'm definitely inspired to read one of jackie collins's better known series. |
read: june 2019 
★☆☆☆☆ |
i felt like reading something really fluffy after finishing sphere so i broke out a copy of confessions i grabbed at a thrift store for this occasion. i guuuueeeessss it matched my expectation for not having much substance but i was hoping for a more fun read. while it was easy to get through, it was a little too convinient and predictable all around. also, i read someone else say on goodreads that reading confessions as an american is weird because the brands mentioned don't awake the same consumerist lust as something like sex and the city. i kinda experienced the same thing. |
read: june 2019 
★★☆☆☆ |
meh... i read sphere by recommendation of my sci-fi loving boyfriend who knows i love aliens and suspenseful stories. i was very intrigued by the premise and pace of the book up to about the half-way point. michael crichton's writing style is awfully dry. also, there was a distracting amount of sexism and racism in this. two out of three main characters were minorities who had inferiority complexes based on their being minorities. and of course, the main character (white guy) represents reason and objectiveness... *EYE ROLL* i don't want to give anything away because sphere is definitely a page turner, but i'll say every twist was kinda like "oh... well ok." |
read: june 2019 
★★★☆☆ |
~this review is for the omnibus edition~ i came for what's expected for CLAMP and wish delivers!! the character design and art makes up for a kind of simplistic/meandering storyline. lots of stuff in this manga reminded me that my 2006 otaku geek heart is still alive... recommended for something light and cutesy. |
read: may 2019 
★★★★☆ |
enjoyable overall, but only if you're in the mood for chuck palahniuk. i've read this a few times and i think i enjoy it less the more i read it. i don't want to give anything away but i think with invisible monsters, there's a sweet spot with rereads. like this: first read: so many twists, etc. that it's hard to keep up to the point of missing some twists second/third read: going in with a good idea of the overall story, able to pick up nuances and foreshadowing fourth+ read: less thrilling. kinda just turns in to typical palahniuk edgelordery... also, i can't stop thinking about how someone on goodreads called invisible monsters "women by gay men for straight men" and it's basically... too true lol. |
read: may 2019 
★★★☆☆ |
~this review is for volumes 1-3~ i'm addicted to this story at art!!! full of juicy drama and over the top characters. volume 1 was intriguing but took a minute for me to get a handle on who was who. by the second volume, i was putting off chores to find out what happens!! would definitely recommend for someone who likes tv dramas and early 2000s nostalgia. although, be careful if you do check it out... i've looked in to getting the rest of the series (because i'm dying to find out what happens next) and it seems kind of rare and it looks like it was never finished. the last volume came out in 2009 and apparently it wasn't the final volume. i got too invested and now i have a feeling i'll never get to know a good ending of I.N.V.U. T_T |
read: may 2019 
★★★★☆ |
~this review is for the complete series~ i enjoyed chobits!! i'm not sure how much it has to do with my current phase of middle school nostalgia... but i think i'd have liked it in any case. it took until maybe volume 3 until i really got hooked. at times, the twists or plot reveals were a little predictable and i wasn't a fan of all of them. the art REALLY made chobits. i can't wait to read more CLAMP, i've heard their subject matter is very diverse so i'm really looking forward to reading more. i think angelic layer might be next. =) |
read: may 2019 
★☆☆☆☆ |
this book is a mess!! i read it because i knew it was super popular and i like the graphic design on the cover... it was a big disappointment. i found the characters inconsistent and poorly developed. it seems like jojo moyes couldn't figure out what kind of person the main character was supposed to be so there were a lot of conflicting descriptions of her/her actions never made sense. the pacing was no good. i was also offended by the message of the ending. overall, noooot goooood in my opinion. |
read: may 2019 
★★★☆☆ |
the bling ring was worth reading for me. the way this was written, it kind of goes in circles at times. i think it was originally an article in a magazine that got expanded to turn in to a book, so maybe that shows a little bit? very interesting tho!! |
read: april 2019 
★★★★★ |
i thoroughly enjoyed i have a bed made of buttermilk pancakes. it's a hard book to describe and is very unique. i'm a big fan of jaclyn moriarty's ashbury/brookfield series and was looking forward to finding out what her adult fiction is like. it still has the quirky feeling and signature plot style but wove in more sophisticated issues smoothly. moriarty's words and characters just feel like a mental massage. recommended!! |
read: april 2019 
★★★☆☆ |
pretty decent overall ^_^ it's kind of slow getting started and it took me until about 2/3 to stop thinking about harry potter while reading. i liked the magic system rowell invented and for such a short book, i thought the plot was interesting and well developed. |
read: march 2019 
★★☆☆☆ |
**mild spoilers** i was looking forward to reading aristotle and dante because people on goodreads generally seemed to love it. i thought it was pretty meh all around. there was a distracting dissonance between how the narrator/main character was supposedly an unfeeling/indifferent person but he was constantly saying such melodramatic things. also, soooo much of the dialogue was like: character: *says thing* main character: *repeats it* character: *repeats it again to confirm* and i feel like all the characters spoke in single sentences (or even single words) like 100% of the time. also includes a plot point about a gay character being hate crimed which i'm tired of reading about. i would recommend this for someone who likes slow burns or character studies. |
read: march 2019  ★★★★★ |
this was the best book i've read in a long time! i was very intrigued by big little lies because it seems like such a phenomenon. i'd seen the cover in bookstores a million times and i knew about the tv series. i figured something this popular would be worth reading, whether it was my cup of tea or not. but wow, it was definitely worth reading. liane moriarty's writing was very easy to read. it had a great flow and i enjoyed the dialogue between all these fabulously fleshed-out characters. the pacing was good, it was suspenseful without leaving me in suspense long enough to lose interest. my only complaint is that i figured out some of the twists before they happened so maybe they were a bit obvious. |
read: march 2019  ★★★☆☆ |
sellevision was fun to read. i'm kiiiiind of a fan of augusten burroughs, though i think his voice can be a little negative in an unlikeable way. i think this book would be excellent to read on a vacation of some kind. it's very short and easy to get through. pretty much like an absurd episode of a soap opera that takes place around a home shopping network. not life changing but fun. |
read: march 2019  ★☆☆☆☆ |
the worst book i've ever read |
read: march 2019  ★★☆☆☆ |
to all the boys i've loved before is pretty cute! i'm not a big fan of when people say "wholesome," but this book has that overall energy. i found it pretty unrealistic how immature and young the main character's voice is, especially considering that it takes place in the present. in my mind, all high schoolers in 2019 are probably quite jaded about the world but i guess that's part of her charm? it's obvious going in to reading this that the fun of it is that it's kind of a mindless read and it measures up to that expectation for me. the characters and story are cute enough that i've found myself thinking about them since finishing the book. maybe i'll read the sequels. =) ~*P.S. for the people who may have read this*~ i hate margot tbh. i hated how important she was to lara jean, it just made me feel embarrassed for LJ because she looks up to such a jerk. |
read: march 2019  ★☆☆☆☆ |
i saw many call kept boy a fun, empty-calorie book but it wasn't nearly as juicy as they say. the characters are all irredeemably bad people and it was overall BORING and has an ultra predictable ending, which is the #1 sin of a trashy book. |
read: february 2019  ★★★☆☆ |
this was a pleasant read. it was paced nicely and very short. the story was a liiiittle bit corny for me at times but definitely a recommend-able gay romance story. i haven't actually read any nicholas sparks or seen movie adaptations of his stuff but i kind of imagine that they're similar to this. feels like it's meant to pull on your heartstrings with romance and drama. (side note: my major complaint about this one is the ridiculous amount of references to trees... i get that provenzano was trying to put across a theme but it was over the top lol) the main character's voice in every time i think of you reminds me of the narrator in sugarless by jeremy magruder, one of my favorite books. their way of telling stories feels authentic to teen boy mentality and something about it is really nostalgic and atmospheric. |
read: february 2019  ★★★★★ |
i've been a huge fan of jaclyn moriarty's ashbury/brookfield series for years and finally got around to reading dreaming of amelia after rereading the other three countless times. this did not disappoint. perfectly captures that time right before high school graduation where you experience melancholy, glee, reverie, etc. all at once. moriarty is a GENIUS with the epistolary format, writing from different characters' perspectives, and her signature unexpected twists toward the end of each story. i would strongly recommend this series to anyone, regardless of age. tbh i want to reread all of the ashbury/brookfield books and make a fan page for them here with an index of when different characters show up throughout the series. that's how much i love these stories. =) |
read: january 2019  ★★☆☆☆ |
in my experience, edgelordy tendencies are unavoidable with palahniuk. when he does it well, like invisible monsters, you kind of don't care that enjoying the story makes you an edgelord too. then, there are books like snuff and haunted that reach that tryhard level of trying to be excessively grotesque and edgy that just totally puts me off. this was really somewhere in the middle. it was gross at times, certain details were pretty intriguing but didn't keep my interest. meh. i'm happy i read it i guess. |