oceanwriter's reviews
705 reviews

One Piece, Vol. 5: For Whom the Bell Tolls by Eiichiro Oda

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Usopp might be my favorite character...

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One Piece, Vol. 4: The Black Cat Pirates by Eiichiro Oda

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm still finding my footing getting used to reading manga I almost feel flustered.

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A Very Bad Thing by J.T. Ellison

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The opening line of this book had me on the edge of my seat but my interest sadly lost momentum as the book went on. I found it difficult to follow, and it dragged on for about 100 pages more than it needed to. Solid premise, though, albeit not all too reasonable. 

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Complete Short Stories by Graham Greene

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challenging reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I saw this in the bookstore shortly after I finished reading The End of the Affair. I was entranced with Graham Greene's writing. This book has a variety of different stories.

I can't say I liked a lot of them. Most I found extremely dated, regional, and frankly, boring with no plot or character development even for a short story. The ones I liked I loved intensely. The length of the stories ranges from a few pages to a couple dozen pages.

Despite it not being an all-around five-star read for me, I feel like I came away with a lot of insight and even some inspiration. My favorite stories were The Hint of an Explanation, The Last Word, A Visit to Morin, and An Old Man's Memory.

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Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lita Judge

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dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Reading about Mary Shelley's life disturbed me more than Frankenstein did. The illustrations were so beautiful and haunting. 

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The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Romy Silvers is the sole survivor aboard the Infinity. Its mission had been to establish a colony on a new planet, but a terrible accident killed the other astronauts, including Romy's parents, leaving the ship's command to the only child ever born in space. Her only companion is her therapist based on Earth and her favorite TV show Loch & Ness, but soon, a new ship, the Eternity, will join the Infinity on its mission. 

Romy develops a rapport with the Eternity's captain, 'J' and she begins to excitedly envision the future with him and building a new civilization together. However, things aren't completely looking up. Romy also gets news from Earth that there is a new world power that's taken over NASA. Changes are implemented on the ship to conserve resources. This wouldn't be as terrible if having the lights out didn't make Romy remember what happened to the other astronauts. 

I didn't know what to expect from this book when I picked it up and I ended up absolutely loving it! Admittedly, it's extremely predictable so it never had my jaw dropping but that didn't matter. Romy was such a darling character and my teenage self would have related to her so much. Just a fun, almost cozy read for me. 

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The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

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adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I have been meaning to read this book for so long! I liked how the book maintained a somewhat modern voice without disregarding its historical setting. A good friend of mine gifted me a signed copy of this book along with another of the author's books so the reading experience was even more special.

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One Piece, Vol. 3: Don't Get Fooled Again by Eiichiro Oda

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Seriously, I did not expect to be this invested in this storyline. 

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One Piece, Vol. 2: Buggy the Clown by Eiichiro Oda

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Oof, it didn't take long for me to get hooked. 

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Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre

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adventurous dark informative inspiring medium-paced

3.0

Another good book by Ben Macintyre. This was more of an 'ensemble' piece compared to the couple of other books I've read. Informative, although I did find my attention waning frequently. 

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