Beach Read by Emily Henry: a review

Title: Beach Read

Author: Emily Henry

Genre: Romance

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Hello! Today’s post is centred around my thoughts on Beach Read by Emily Henry! Firstly, I’d like to say that Emily is an amazing writer so anytime I review a book of hers, its bound to be five stars! Her books are always have deep and complex characters that feel so real, unlike some books where the characters are 2D.

Here’s a lil snippet:

“A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.”

I always like to start my reviews with my thoughts on the characters so here we go! First off, January was so well written and I loved her inside and out. She was so complex and I loved her insight on the world! You could say that I could be deemed a ‘fairy-princess’ like Gus said she was and I would perfectly be okay with that! I related so much to January, although I haven’t experienced grief like her, the rest of her personality describes me perfectly. Overthinker? Me. Romantic? Me.

On the other hand, Gus was everything I needed to be. He was so easy to fall in love with as his character was so real! Although he was cynical and hated love, it was much more realistic than other books where love is the centrepiece of the character. Plus, his moody-dark yet charismatic personality is something I would fall for in real life (whoops!). His depth was so beautiful!

Although the synopsis of this book pins it as a fast, light-hearted romance, its definitely far from that. January has just lost her father, broken up with her long-term boyfriend, has writers block and moved into the secret house her late-father had with his mistress. Enter Gus, a long-time college rival who is also struggling with writers block. They strike up a deal and offer to trade genres, January writes a cynical fiction novel and Gus has to write a rom-com and this story is so beautiful. AMAZING! I was so amazed with how to plot of this romance novel, wasn’t romance centred! The exploration of grief within Beach Read was so accurate and well-written and really pulled at my heartstrings through Gus’s past and present trauma and January’s struggle with coming to terms with untold secrets.

Beach Read is a captivating story from beginning to end! I couldn’t put down this book. I actually nearly devoured the pages (I might of even accidentally licked my book!), I couldn’t stop reading January and Gus’ growing attraction, their struggles to open up and their fear on getting hurt.

Overall, this is a romantic novel about acceptance, forgiveness and second chances and I am totally in love with it.

Please let me know your thoughts on Beach Read! Thank you for reading ❤

Advertisement

my thoughts on romance recs straight from booktok

Hello my loves ❤ I am finally back and posting on my blog, I know it’s been a hot minute, I’M SORRY!

Today’s post is going to be centred around my review/thoughts on some trending spicytok/booktok recommendations! Are they really worth all the hype??

I’m currently in a massive rom-com/spicy book phase and I can’t get out! I’ve been scrolling on booktok and I just keep getting recommended new books with catching synopsises that I just need to pick up! After reading a fair few, I have some thoughts, are they really worth the hype or are people just sucked in by it?

Booktok Trending Books + Thoughts

1. This Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover: ☆☆ 

This Ends with Us was 2/5 star read for me. I’m sorry but I can’t get behind the hype. I gave it a try since I’ve heard mixed reviews and wanted to decide on my own what I thought but it definitely was a flop for me! I loved Atlas but every other character was not it. Plus, it felt like I was reading a Wattpad book (which isn’t bad btw! but just not a fully published book vibe). I also felt as though Colleen kind of romanticised abuse and DV in a way? She tried to make the readers feel sympathy for the abuser and I just don’t condone that at all. I know it was based slightly on her own parents relationship but it was a no for me. It could have been done a lot better and could have raised awareness on DV within relationships instead of putting the rose-tinted glasses on and romanticising.

2. You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry: ☆☆☆☆

It’s also known as People We Meet on Vacation! It is definitely one of my favourites on this list (whoops!) and she’s also the author of Beach Read! You and Me on Vacation is about two college friends who go on vacation every summer together but then have a major falling out. The book is centred around their past summers and the trip after their falling out. I loved the characters, the plot and the romance was the slow-burn I needed! Definitely had me on edge!!! The hype is so worth it and I found a new favourite author!!

3. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

The Love Hypothesis is basically 1000% worth the hype. A fake-dating trope and slow-burn?? Exactly what I didn’t know I needed! The characters were so easy to fall in love with and the overall romance was *chefs kiss*. It is a Grumpy x Sunshine situation and oh my, I am in LOVE with it ❤ This book is also about women in STEM, office fake-dating and slow-burn, spicy scenes and tension. Definitely worth all the fuss on tiktok! (I’ve heard that this is based off of her REYLO fanfiction!)

4. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

The Kiss Quotient had me in a literal chokehold. Accurate autism representation, a positive outlook on sex work/workers and the inclusivity was so beautiful with the main character Stella being Asian-American and the love interest being Vietnamese and having his culture so beautifully written! This whole trilogy by Helen is so stunning with so much diversity and representation. This book deserves much more hype than it has and you bet I’ll be rereading it asap! It includes fake-dating, autism rep and diversity!

5. The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas: ☆☆☆☆

I just finished The Spanish Love Deception yesterday and my god was it great! It is definitely more chunky than most of the other books mentioned but still amazing! I did feel like it could have been shortened slightly and there was a bit of filler chapters that weren’t needed but overall I loved it! (I finished it in a day, whoops). I especially loved the inclusion of bilingualism everywhere! Sure, I didn’t understand the spanish references or Lina talking to both herself and family in spanish, but nevertheless, it was beautiful to read!! Loved that the author decided to include it without feeling the need to translate! This story is, once again, a fake-dating based plot, veryyyyy slow burn and so much fun! The only downside I could see was that once they’re together, its very love-bombing? Which is find super unrealistic but I guess that’s why its fiction!

I am yet to read all the spicytok recommendations I’ve been seeing BUT you bet I’ll make other post once I do. There is so much variety within booktok and without it, I don’t think I would have even started reading any romance books since I exclusively only read fantasy beforehand! It’s been so refreshing jumping it the modern world of love and lust without having to worry about remembering all the fantasy elements/lore!

I hope you enjoyed this lil blog post and please let me know your thoughts below! I am curious!

check out my insta @slothreading

10 Books I need to Read before 2021

Okay I KNOW it’s been months since I last posted, I’m sorry !! Life got in the way of reading and my book slump lasted FIVE WHOLE ASS MONTHS?! It was extremely excruciating 😤

Since it’s been months of reading nothing, my TBR is through the ROOF and I needed to weed out the ones I wanted to read asap, so why not tell you guys the top ten books I NEED to read before 2021? I originally got this idea from Paperfury’s latest blog post and thought it’d be fun to do, so be sure to check out her post out too!

If you have read any of these, please link your reviews or comment your thoughts below! I’d love to know what you think!

Let’s jump in!!

Top Ten Books I Need to Read

Firstly, From Blood and Ash: i’ve heard SO MANY GOOD THINGS and yet I can’t find it anywhere online for a reasonable price 😢 Last time I checked it was FORTY DOLLARS for a paperback?? BUT once I find it for cheap, i’ll be reading it straight away.

Kingdom of The Wicked: okay so this is currently in my book depository cart and i’m so so tempted. i’ve heard nothing but good things and I loved the first two books in the stalking jack the ripper series (i haven’t read the other two yet!) and I heard it’s like those BUT WITH FANTASY?? Yes please 😌

Queen of Nothing: I started this one ages ago when it first came out but for some reason (??) I just didn’t finish it. So i’m gonna need to finish that before I pick up my copy of the king of elfhame

An Ember in The Ashes: after getting back into booktube, i’ve heard SO many good things about the female empowerment in this series as well as the writing! Plus, the whole premise sounds so interesting! I have it sitting on my shelf, just gotta stop being lazy and pick it up 🙊

A Curse So Dark and Lonely: this series is another beauty and the beast retelling (like acotar!) and since I loved acotar with my whole heart, I thought it would be awesome to read this one too! I’ve heard mixed reviews about the series, but it sounds interesting so I really want to give it a go!

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue: okay so, this isn’t my usual genre BUT the whole synopsis sounds SO COOL! There’s been quite a few mixed reviews about it since it was released but i’ve heard more good things than bad!

Red Rising: I received the fairyloot hardcover editions of these through a giveaway I won at the beginning of the year and they look so pretty AND one of my fave book tubers JocelynReads said it was her favourite series ever, so I thought I might as well give it a go? but I haven’t had the time yet this year 😠

Wicked Fox: BookswithChloe has RAVED about this book for so so long but I just haven’t had the money to buy the hardcover edition yet so i’ve been waiting for that but I lowkey can’t wait anymore and might just buy the paperback lmao

Shadow of The Fox: This is BooksWithChloes December Patreon read! I’ve wanted to read this since the around June but just haven’t had the time/picked it up but that’s not a good enough excuse. Now it’s THE TIME.

Crooked Kingdom: After taking a couple of goes to get into Six of Crows then LOVING it, I decided not to pick up CK straight away in case I had trouble getting into it like SoC but looking back, the SoC cliffhanger is so intense I might have to pick it up for my next read!

I doubt I’ll be able to get to all of these this year but writing them out kind of keeps me more accountable 😅 I’m so excited to dive into these and I’ll definitely post reviews for the ones I do end up getting too!

What are some books you NEED to read before 2020 ends? Let me know in the comments!

How I Annotate My Books

Hello and Welcome ✨ I have already made a youtube video about this on my channel, SlothReading but I figured I’d do a written post about it too.

I started annotating my books at the start of April as I saw that one of my favourite booktubers did it AND had a video on how they did it.

I thought it was just such a cool idea, I personally feel like it just connects me with the book more and allows me to remember more for my book reviews!

In my process, I use tabs, pens and sticky notes but you can honestly use whatever floats your boat!!

MY COLOUR CODING SYSTEM

So basically i’m just gonna bullet point what each colour on my tabs and underlining pens mean! When I find something to annotate in a book, i tab the page with the corresponding colour and underline the quote/words and sometimes write a little thought beside it.

PINK: things i love (moments/people/quotes)

ORANGE: important info that I want to remember/harry potter spells

GREEN: funny (moments/quotes/scenes)

BLUE: sad (moments)

YELLOW: shocking revelations and plot twists

DARK PURPLE: angry

LIGHT PURPLE: foreshadowing (little notes hinting at stuff that’s going to happen)

HOW I USE STICKY NOTES FOR REVIEWING

My other thing included in my annotation process is the use of square sticky notes. Every 50 or so pages I place a blank note (before i read the book) then when I read up to that note, I write about all my thoughts in the last 50 pages. This helps with writing detailed reviews and also is a way to see how close/far off your predications for the book were. (i’m mostly far off but it’s pretty fun to see after)

and that’s basically how i annotate my books !! i absolutely adore this method and it has helped me reviews be more detailed and descriptive in the recent months which i love!!

Do you annotate your books? What’s your process? Let me know in the comments below!!

My 2020 OWL’s Experience: I read TWELVE books!

Hello and Welcome ✨ I’m doing a kind of discussion type post today! I’ll be chatting about my thoughts and experience with BookRoast’s O.W.L’s challenge!

To start it off, I found out about this challenge while browsing my bookstagram after ages of being on a hiatus. I hadn’t read or finished a book in months and really wanted to get out of the slump! (it was really terrible!)

So when i found this challenge, it really motivated me to read! I watched G’s announcement video and was SUPER intrigued. I looked at the documents and ended up choosing the Seer career which only consisted of three prompts, so I only needed to read three books (which sounded like a perfect idea for me!) and guess what? IT GOT ME OUT OF A SLUMP AND I READ 12 BOOKS IN APRIL!!

Yes, you read that right, TWELVE BOOKS. After not reading for months it totally motivated me to read and I just couldn’t stop! Most of these books were four and five star reads which made me even happier to keep in reading!

So technically, the OWLS saved me from my book slump and I am so grateful 💗

I ended up reading Six of Crows, Heartstopper Vol 1 and 2 and Kingdom of Ash for my OWL reads and they were 4 and 5 star reads which made the experience even better!!

What did you guys read for your OWLS?

Through this challenge I also made so many new friends on bookstagram and it made me love the community all over again!

Anyway, the basic jist of this post is that BookRoast and her challenge saved me and I can’t wait for the NEWTS. By doing this challenge, I also had the motivation to finally start my own booktube channel and focus on more book reviews for this blog!!

So basically, if you’re in a slump, keep going!! participate in challenges!! be active in the community!! You’ll end up reading and can’t stop soon enough 🙊

Let me know your own OWLS experiences below in the comments!

Aurora Burning by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman: a spoilery arc review

Title: Aurora Burning

Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Genre: Young Adult Sci-fi

Format: eARC

Hello and Welcome ✨ Today’s review is of Aurora Burning by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman!! First of all, I’d like to thank you Knopf Books for sending me an eARC!! I also just purchased a signed copy off of booktopia so i am SO EXCITED for that to come!! Kal honestly looks AMAZING on the cover!!

Basically, Aurora Burning is the second book in the Aurora Rising series, a sci-fi novel series featuring love, loss and found families! It is a young adult novel but is great for all readers!!

This review is kind of long, so bare with me!

Here is a snippet of Aurora Rising’s synopsis:

First, the bad news: an ancient evil—you know, your standard consume-all-life-in-the-galaxy deal—is about to be unleashed. The good news? Squad 312 is standing by to save the day. They’ve just got to take care of a few small distractions first.

Like the clan of gremps who’d like to rearrange their favorite faces.

And the cadre of illegit GIA agents with creepy flowers where their eyes used to be, who’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on Auri.

Then there’s Kal’s long-lost sister, who’s not exactly happy to see her baby brother, and has a Syldrathi army at her back. With half the known galaxy on their tails, Squad 312 has never felt so wanted.

As always, let’s start with my thoughts on the characters! There is quite a few characters centred in this story so of course i’ll be talking about all of them cuties!!

Firstly, Aurora, The Trigger. Her personal growth is amazing in this novel. Her strong personality and thoughtfulness within this series is honestly so amazing. She is such a great friend to the squad and tries to do anything in her power (literally) to save them!! (which of course is an awesome friend to have)

Kal, oh my GOD, my baby. I love him so damn much. His character develops so beautifully and his love for Aurora is so inspiring and so pure. Although things drop to the deep end at the end of the novel, Kal is my absolute favourite character and i’m so glad his beautiful face is the cover for this book *cue the heart eyes*

Zila and Finian didn’t have much of the spotlight in the first novel but i feel as though they really got the attention they deserved in the second book. Zola’s own personal growth is so admirable and makes us really feel for her when her backstory is discovered and told to us. I wasn’t particularly connected with Zila at the start but by the end, I ended up being in love with her and her attempts at jokes. Finian, he deserves so much. His cultural influences really gripped him in this book, making the squad his family/clan and it was so beautiful to read. His feelings were also more in depth in this book, allowing us to see past his ‘top shit’ attitude and showed more of the boy who would do anything for those he loved.

Tyler lowkey annoys me at some points but I love him all the same. Scarlett was a badass chick, so of course I loved her too. This Twin duo was incredible and I can’t wait to see more of them in book 3.

OKAY BUT WHAT WAS THAT CLIFFHANGER??? IT TOTALLY KILLED ME, WHYYYY AMIE? WHYYY JAY??

Other than the ending, i loved the whole plot. It kept me on my toes and always had me guessing what was going to happen next. Most often then not, I was wrong lmao.

I absolutely loved the advance in Kal’s and Audi’s relationship. They are honestly so freaking adorable together and I love that he calls her be’shmai !! So freaking cute.

There were two characters in particular that I wished for together but hopefully that’ll happen in book 3 if everything ends up okay!

Sometimes it got a little confusing about what they were planning to do and where they were going. It kinda got lost in all the stuff they were explaining and I was like what?? So I definitely recommend reading Aurora Rising straight before jumping into Aurora Burning so you know what’s happening.

I absolutely loved having all the different POV’s as it lets me connect with each character and see their backstories!! It’s funny to see the characters talk to you (the reader) and Scarlett’s sass with the reader is amazing!

Definitely a five star read!! I loved this book SO MUCH but I hated that ending!! *cries*.

Let me know your own thoughts and opinions on Aurora Burning in the comments below!!

GIRLS OF PAPER AND FIRE BY NATASHA NGAN: a review

Title: Girls of Paper and Fire

Author: Natasha Ngan

Genre: YA Fantasy

Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It’s the highest honor they could hope for…and the most demeaning. This year, there’s a ninth. And instead of paper, she’s made of fire.

Hello and Welcome!! It’s review time! Today’s book review is on Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan, a young adult fantasy with a unique twist!! Three castes divided, Paper, Steel and Moon. Paper being human, Steel being half-human and half-demon and Moon being fully demon with humanoid features. The concept of the story was so awesome so I knew I definitely needed to recommend and review this book!! (fan art by Pink tofu-art)

As always, lets start off with the novel’s characters!! aka my favourite part of every book. Obviously, the main character is Lei, a paper caste girl taken from her home. It follows her being turned in a Paper Girl and her story of love and rebellion. She is AMAZING. She is lost and yet stands her ground. Falls in love and doesn’t fear the consequences, she is an amazing role model.

Wren, another Paper Girl who ends up falling in love is SO BADASS. She was my favourite character in the book and although she starts out hard and rough she ends up turning into such a lovey-gooey mess and I adore her. I wish we had some more backstory information from her so hopefully that is in book two!

Lei’s best friend Aoki warms my heart but also makes me SO SAD. She was the sweetest character in the whole book and sadly she isn’t as open to the truth as Lei and Wren which was very sad to read!

Okay now the one character I HATED THE MOST was The King. Disgusting. He is honestly so vile and I low-key despise him.

This story is VERY heavy in some topics such as r*pe and abuse so please be wary of that when reading as it is VERY prevalent within this book. I wouldn’t recommend for those who are triggered about that topics!! The writing style isn’t to complex so these issues aren’t talked about in detail! (I honestly liked the simplicity of Natasha’s writing, especially with these hard topics!)

Now that the disclaimer is over, I am going to move on and say that I LOVED the whole entire plot and uniqueness of the world. The whole concept of this novel was so well thought of and was amazingly written!! The world building was awesome and I didn’t feel as though Natasha was info-dumping like a lot of fantasy authors do!

The twists and turns in this book were hidden perfectly and strategically clued at without being to obvious which I personally really loved. I love when books takes unexpected turns or change directions within the plot!

Plus, the cliff-hanger, open-endness has made me really want to read the second book asap but sadly don’t have a copy yet! (im way to poor rn)

The romance was both expected and unexpected I knew it was a LGBTQ+ romance but I didn’t expect it to be with the person it ended up being! (shocked m tbh!)

Overall, this was a 4 star read and I LOVED it!! I would recommend for those who are interested in reading an asian inspired fantasy story of love and loss!

Please let me know your thoughts on this book in the comments!!

My May To-Be-Read: aka books I will hopefully read in May

Hello and Welcome ✨ I don’t think I have done a TBR blog post before, but since I have been reading so much lately and I have so many books on my TBR I thought, why not make a list so I can be kept accountable AND so you guys can know what I plan to read!!

Okay, so the first four books on this TBR were picked by my boyfriend! I sent him a list of books from my TBR and told him to pick four and (thankfully) he chose ones I was in the reading mood for. I was scared he’d choose ones I couldn’t be bothered to read yet (lmao) and I am hopefully doing a YouTube version of this soon, so stay tuned!

Anywhooo, lets jump into the To-Be-Read list!!

First up, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S Lewis. I absolutely ADORE the three Narnia movies so I was so happy that Chris chose this for my TBR. It really small as well, not even 200 pages for this book! So I am super excited!

Then, Chris chose Assassin’s Blade by THE QUEEN Sarah J Maas. She is literally everything and this is literally the ONLY book I haven’t read from her. It’s so crazy to think that once I finish this book, the Throne of Glass series is finally done for me *picture me sobbing hysterically*

But basically, I am so happy that I will finally be finishing my second favourite series but it is also sad because now, it’s finished *AAHHHHHHH* and I can’t go back an unread them to have a fresh face for a re-read (sad days for me)

Okay next, A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E Schwab is the third book chosen by my boyfriend. I am SO excited to read this beauty. I have heard so many glowing reviews on this series and I’ve wanted to start it for the longest time! So I guess here’s my chance!

The last book my boyfriend chose was The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan. It is apart of the Trials of Apollo series and damn I freaking LOVE anything to do with Greek mythology, especially Apollo. He is literally the best thing ever and so I am pumped to be reading a book about him in the mortal world!! Plus, Rick’s work is amazing and one of my first loves was the Percy Jackson series! *cue mental breakdown* Maybe I should reread Percy Jackson??

Now onto the books I have chosen for May!!

So I am going to do TWO re-reads this month (hopefully) and I am hoping to find a buddy read for both of them!! Firstly, I am re-reading the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J Maas (did you here the Nesta book is coming next January OMFG) and I am re-reading it because it is literally the rock keeping me together and I felt like I haven’t read it in a while! so yeah, someone should buddy read it with me!

My other re-read for May is possibly The Cruel Prince trilogy by Holly Black. I never got around to finishing Queen of Nothing (I think I got half way through and got into a slump so stopped) so I am just going to re-read the whole series!!

Lastly, I am going to read Skyward by Brandon Sanderson for bookswithchloe‘s patreon book of the month read along thing!! I am super hyped for this book because 1) the cover is AMAZING and so beautifully done and 2) I have so many great reviews surrounding this book! I have heard the author can be a bit controversial but I am not to sure about what has happened (if you know what happened, let me know!).

Well, there you go!! Thats the books I am reading next month! There is SEVEN (holy smokes) books I am planning to read, not counting the other books in the series for ACOTAR and TCP!!

Please let me know what your reading for May is going to look like!!

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas: a review

Title: House of Earth and Blood: Crescent City

Author: Sarah J Maas

Genre: Adult Fantasy

Bound by blood.
Tempted by desire.
Unleashed by destiny.

Hey guys! Today I am reviewing House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas. I finished this yesterday and literally cried my eyes out so many times, so yes, it was an amazing book! I am a major fan of Sarah J Maas and literally love every single one of her books, so it was a GIVEN that I was going to like this. Initially, it was on my May TBR but I couldn’t help myself!

Okay so, I basically connected with ALL the characters which is something I personally love in a book! I just feel like a connection with the characters makes the reading experience so much better! Firstly, Bryce was awesome. So badass and such an inspiration. Her dedication and passion for helping her friends was just so amazing and inspiring, especially for new adult aged readers! Her character building was really well done. She transformed from someone having not motivation to someone willing to trade her place for those who needed it most. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

(fan art below is from @a_touch_of_magic_designs on instagram!)

Now, lets just say that Hunt was DEFINITELY one of Sarah J Maas’ stereotypical male love interests. It was kind of predictable but I low-key loved it anyway! But, I do wish there was a little more originality with his character, he reminded me A LOT of Rowan from Throne of Glass which isn’t a bad thing but Rowan will be my number one compared to Hunt (sorry!).

Ruhn, UH YES I LOVED HIM. Protective? Lovable? FAE? YES I am living for this familial relationship with Bryce.

He was so kind and caring, never judged her and was ALWAYS thinking of her safety above everything else. My fave little duo.

Fury and Juniper were eh alright. I liked Juniper the most out of the two, but they weren’t the best friends to Bryce and she needed someone who would ALWAYS be there for her, which is why I am so glad Hunt came in to the picture!

Loved the overall plot for this story. It was done super well and the plot twists were AMAZING and so perfectly done. Every single twist, I did NOT expect which is something I love in a book. But, the plot was a little confusing at times and sometimes I had to back-track a couple pages to see what was really going on. But other than that minor issue, this book was so good. The plot shuttered my heart multiple times and I sobbed at least twice (whoops) and I don’t usually cry when I read books so that says something!

The world building in this was breathtaking. I just KNEW what the world was like after a couple pages and it was so easy to keep track of each place and just the world in general. Although, it took a bit of effort to know which each creature was and if it was bad or not.

The POV switches was a really good way to see each character’s point of view and get everyones perspective. But sometimes I was kind of like ‘wait, which character is talking now?’ because the POV’s weren’t announced for each chapter/change.

The only other downfall of this book, was that some words were really repetitive. It wasn’t a major issue and I didn’t mind when I was reading it but looking back, it would have been better if she changed it up a bit.

Overall, I just freaking loved the way she wrote this book. It was different compared to her other novels and I loved the urban fantasy vibe, it felt like a breathe of fresh air!

Obviously, this is definitely a 5 star read, I LOVED IT.

Let me know how you felt about it! Comment your own reviews on this book and I’ll check them out!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: a review

Title: Six of Crows

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Genre: YA Fantasy

Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Welcome back to another review! Today’s book is Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. This one was one of my O.W.L reads for the Divination prompt! (if you don’t know what this is, check out my OWL tbr post here). I have been meaning to pick up this book for SO LONG. I have previously tried to read it beforehand but couldn’t get into it (definitely feel different about that now!).

Anyway, lets get into my review!! (fan art by @la-di-doodles on tumblr!)

Basically, the character development was awesome! The characters learnt from mistakes, learned about their own views and adapted and grew!! I absolutely adored Inej with a passion. Her characters was very mysterious and badass-y, which is something I love to see in YA fiction. Her use of hiding in shadows and being sneaky makes me feel like there’s more to her story!

Okay, I am gonna fan girl here but like, Jesper and Wylan?? Their characters are so cute and I can’t WAIT to read more about them in Crooked Kingdom.

Matthias, god I couldn’t STAND him to begin with. His faith was corrupted and blocked him from acting on his clear love for Nina. But as he eased up, I loved the thought of him and Nina, the change from his unwavering faith to open-mindedness was great!!

and the character who truly holds my heart is Kaz. oh LORD kaz. He suffered so damn much both before the events that took place and during the story. The way a young scared boy was changed into a ruthless gang leader was terrible but I can’t WAIT for Crooked Kingdom so show his true colours!

Okay, now lets talk about the plot and writing! Leigh Bardujo’s writing is AMAZING. The plot lines and story structure is mastered so beautifully and doesn’t lead into any foreshadowing, making the plot twists so awesome and shocking!

The whole Pekka Rolling fiasco? AMAZINGLY WRITTEN, I honestly have no words

and honestly, Kaz gives me MAJOR Aelin Galanthysis (don’t know if that’s spelled right) vibes !! The way his plans aren’t told and play out is EXACTLY what I would’ve expected from Aelin!

And JEEZ the ending got me SHOOK. Honestly, major cliffhanger alert!!! and I don’t even have Crooked Kingdom to read so I am low-key dying!!

The romance is this book was crafted perfectly, the plot wasn’t centred on the romances but they were still so prominent and fun to read about. The slow burn between Kaz and Inej, YES I was living for it! I just want Kaz to let himself be happy for once.

Although, I still don’t see why the hype for the book was so intense! I loved it but it wasn’t as striking or devastating as other books I have read, but I guess that’s just personal opinion!

Overall, definitely a 4 star read!! Something I’d recommend to people who love YA morally grey characters!

Thank you for reading and please tell me your own thoughts in the comments!!