Scan barcode
mcaliz's reviews
475 reviews
Cursed by Marissa Meyer
3.0
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
…I honestly don’t know how I feel about this book. But overall I am feeling VERY disappointed. I think the plot was all over the place, the sequence of events could have been better paced out and done DIFFERENTLY than what we were given and this EASILY could have been a shorter novel than what it was. Yes, there were some really sweet moments with the little kids and the yearning moments we get between Gild and Serilda, but it was not enough to counteract the problems that I was ultimately having with this book. I’m gonna sit on my thoughts for a little bit and come back to write out more of my thoughts, but I am just disappointed with how the story was told and the turn of events that we followed.
(P.S. We finally learn Gild’s real name and it was SO underwhelming that it honestly kind of ticked me off
Neutral thoughts:
…I honestly don’t know how I feel about this book. But overall I am feeling VERY disappointed. I think the plot was all over the place, the sequence of events could have been better paced out and done DIFFERENTLY than what we were given and this EASILY could have been a shorter novel than what it was. Yes, there were some really sweet moments with the little kids and the yearning moments we get between Gild and Serilda, but it was not enough to counteract the problems that I was ultimately having with this book. I’m gonna sit on my thoughts for a little bit and come back to write out more of my thoughts, but I am just disappointed with how the story was told and the turn of events that we followed.
(P.S. We finally learn Gild’s real name and it was SO underwhelming that it honestly kind of ticked me off
The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman
I'm DNFing this for the time being: page 50
I did like where the story is going, but I put it down after I started reading it & I literally haven't thought about it since & have no inkling to pick it back up right now.
I did like where the story is going, but I put it down after I started reading it & I literally haven't thought about it since & have no inkling to pick it back up right now.
Misrule by Heather Walter
Overall: Special thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content warning; self mutilation, gore, blood, torture, enslavement
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I LOVE Malice & how Walter began the story & the events that happened in book 1. But as I got further & further into the book I felt like I didn't know what I was reading. Alice as a character felt like a complete stranger & I had absolutely no idea where the plot was going even though there was a "clear" plot happening. I will come back to this story one day, but today is not the day.
Content warning; self mutilation, gore, blood, torture, enslavement
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I LOVE Malice & how Walter began the story & the events that happened in book 1. But as I got further & further into the book I felt like I didn't know what I was reading. Alice as a character felt like a complete stranger & I had absolutely no idea where the plot was going even though there was a "clear" plot happening. I will come back to this story one day, but today is not the day.
This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi
I'm gonna put this down on page 115
I'm gonna hit pause on this one for now. I honestly can't tell if I'm not in the mood for this book or if there's something that's just meshing well for me with this; so I'm going to come back to this
I'm gonna hit pause on this one for now. I honestly can't tell if I'm not in the mood for this book or if there's something that's just meshing well for me with this; so I'm going to come back to this
The Lady or the Lion by Aamna Qureshi
Overall: Special thanks to NetGalley, Aamna Qureshi and ComCat Books for providing me with an audiobok-arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Rep: forbidden romance
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
I thought that the story was interesting! I've never hear of the story that this book is based off of, but I liked it! I will be honest, this story just kind of went over my head. While I liked the story, I honestly can't remember much of it after I finished it. Will I go to the next book? MAYBE. But for now, I will just re-listen to the book and think about my feelings for this book once more.
Rep: forbidden romance
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
I thought that the story was interesting! I've never hear of the story that this book is based off of, but I liked it! I will be honest, this story just kind of went over my head. While I liked the story, I honestly can't remember much of it after I finished it. Will I go to the next book? MAYBE. But for now, I will just re-listen to the book and think about my feelings for this book once more.
The Endless Song by Joshua Phillip Johnson
4.0
Overall: Special thanks to NetGalley and DAW for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content warnings:
Rep: sapphic relationship, queer relationship family bonds
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
I thought that this was a good continuation from the first book! Some questions were answered but there is still a lot going on in this world that we dont know about and or getting hints at. I will say that the descriptions were a little over whelming at some points, making the book feel a little dense, but you can tell that the author has put a lot of time and effort into creating this world and the environmental issues going on.
I also like the character development that we got to see between Kindred and the people that she interacted with, as well and Flitch (someone who we barely saw in the first one).
And just like the first one, this one had quite the cliffhanger so we shall see what goes on in the final book!
Content warnings:
Rep: sapphic relationship, queer relationship family bonds
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
I thought that this was a good continuation from the first book! Some questions were answered but there is still a lot going on in this world that we dont know about and or getting hints at. I will say that the descriptions were a little over whelming at some points, making the book feel a little dense, but you can tell that the author has put a lot of time and effort into creating this world and the environmental issues going on.
I also like the character development that we got to see between Kindred and the people that she interacted with, as well and Flitch (someone who we barely saw in the first one).
And just like the first one, this one had quite the cliffhanger so we shall see what goes on in the final book!
The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores
Overall: Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content warnings: blood, physical violence
Rep: sapphic relationship, old friends to lovers/enemies to lovers
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
This was really dense. While I thought that the overall plot was interesting and what was going on the world, I just felt kind of overwhelmed? The sharing of information was not paced very well and it would be too much at once. And because I felt overwhelmed reading this, I feel like I missed some things that were happening and I honestly feel like I need to reread this book in order to give this a proper rating.
Content warnings: blood, physical violence
Rep: sapphic relationship, old friends to lovers/enemies to lovers
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
This was really dense. While I thought that the overall plot was interesting and what was going on the world, I just felt kind of overwhelmed? The sharing of information was not paced very well and it would be too much at once. And because I felt overwhelmed reading this, I feel like I missed some things that were happening and I honestly feel like I need to reread this book in order to give this a proper rating.
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
2.0
Overall: 6.7/10
Rep: animal companions, female friendships
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
...I didn't hate this. There’s a lot of sex jokes on here that I wasn’t expecting. I think the world building and the lore in this world is really interesting and I thought that over-arching plot that we got to see little bits and pieces of thought out the book was interesting and it made me keep going in the book. So I will be going on to the next book. I do think that Celaena is your typical 18 year old who thinks they’re running the place with their big ego, so I just kind of rolled my eyes at her for the majority of the book., but I can see why people like her and I am just more excited to see her grow and mature as the books go on.
And I will say that I liked Chaol from the very beginning and is easily my favorite character from the book, as well as Fleetfoot.
Gripes:
The only thing that I really had an issue with as I listened along with the audiobook was that I wished the switch in perspective had been better? Some times we would switch mid chapter or midpage and if I hadn't been properly paying attention then I would be lost as to whose head we were in all of the sudden.
The romance(s):
I’m just waiting for to come in. I rolled my eyes at anything that “happened” between Calaena & Dorian or Calaena & Chaol. But if I wasn’t aware of a certain someone, I would be team CalaenaxChaol
Rep: animal companions, female friendships
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
...I didn't hate this. There’s a lot of sex jokes on here that I wasn’t expecting. I think the world building and the lore in this world is really interesting and I thought that over-arching plot that we got to see little bits and pieces of thought out the book was interesting and it made me keep going in the book. So I will be going on to the next book. I do think that Celaena is your typical 18 year old who thinks they’re running the place with their big ego, so I just kind of rolled my eyes at her for the majority of the book., but I can see why people like her and I am just more excited to see her grow and mature as the books go on.
And I will say that I liked Chaol from the very beginning and is easily my favorite character from the book, as well as Fleetfoot.
Gripes:
The only thing that I really had an issue with as I listened along with the audiobook was that I wished the switch in perspective had been better? Some times we would switch mid chapter or midpage and if I hadn't been properly paying attention then I would be lost as to whose head we were in all of the sudden.
The romance(s):
I’m just waiting for
Spoiler
Rowan
The Forest Grimm by Kathryn Purdie
3.0
Overall: Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content warnings: gore
Rep: chronic pain MC, slow burn romance/friends to lovers
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
So this was interesting! Ive never read a Kathryn Purdie book before so I just went in hoping that I liked this. And I did, for the most part. This has a really strong start to the story and I found the magic in this world to be very interesting. But I did have some issues as I continued on in the story (but nothing problematic). I just kind of felt a little underwhelmed by the plot? While things were definitely going on and there really ISN'T a dull moment in this book, I just kind of wanted the story to go in a different direction or had certain things happen in different ways or incorporated different Grimm Fairytales than the ones that are most prominent in this first book.
The only real gripe I have with this story is how it ended. Something happens at the end of this that gives us a reason for there to be a second book, and I really think that this should just be a standalone. I don't think there NEEDS to be a second book. Will it be interesting? I don't doubt it and I'm curious to see what Grimm tales that Purdie will use, but the issue that Clara is trying to solve in this book, I think, could have been completely resolved and everyone could be living their "happily ever after".
So do I recommend this book? I do. If you like a fast paced story that has action & adventure, is based off of fairytale retellings with a nice romantic subplot (and Clara & Axel were pretty cute... and I was rooting for them), then I totally recommend you check this one out! Our MC has scoliosis and I liked seeing that rep.
Content warnings: gore
Rep: chronic pain MC, slow burn romance/friends to lovers
Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
So this was interesting! Ive never read a Kathryn Purdie book before so I just went in hoping that I liked this. And I did, for the most part. This has a really strong start to the story and I found the magic in this world to be very interesting. But I did have some issues as I continued on in the story (but nothing problematic). I just kind of felt a little underwhelmed by the plot? While things were definitely going on and there really ISN'T a dull moment in this book, I just kind of wanted the story to go in a different direction or had certain things happen in different ways or incorporated different Grimm Fairytales than the ones that are most prominent in this first book.
The only real gripe I have with this story is how it ended. Something happens at the end of this that gives us a reason for there to be a second book, and I really think that this should just be a standalone. I don't think there NEEDS to be a second book. Will it be interesting? I don't doubt it and I'm curious to see what Grimm tales that Purdie will use, but the issue that Clara is trying to solve in this book, I think, could have been completely resolved and everyone could be living their "happily ever after".
So do I recommend this book? I do. If you like a fast paced story that has action & adventure, is based off of fairytale retellings with a nice romantic subplot (and Clara & Axel were pretty cute... and I was rooting for them), then I totally recommend you check this one out! Our MC has scoliosis and I liked seeing that rep.