ritangomes's reviews
119 reviews

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Lore Olympus: Volume Two by Rachel Smythe

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

4.25

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Beach Read by Emily Henry

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Damn, do I love this series of books. The Brown sisters, their beaus, friends and family continue to creep up into my heart and making me an emotional, babbling mess. 
Danika is an emotionally distant queen with amazing character development. 
Zafir is, like Redford before him but in his own unique way, at fault for having me set unrealistic expectations for men. 
His family is the sweetest too, I would love a spin-off series a out then for sure. 
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

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

3.0

This is the book that got me thinking that maybe I'm getting too old for YA. But then I realized it was actually the premise of the book which didn't work well with the genre. It needed more depth, more nuance. I'm a raging feminist, but 90% of the time I was thinking "I really dislike this girl". I'm sad because the ideas behind the book are quite original and would be fun to read about if the characters were more nuanced. 
At some point the MC verbally and psychologically abuses one of the romantic interests. By the end of the book, upon his death and after learning about the atrocious abuse he suffered, she seems to express remorse... Just so that, two sentences after, she shrugs it off as "he wouldn't want me to feel like this". 
There seems to be an intention of introducing nuance in the MC's relationship with her female relatives, but it also falls through the cracks very quickly and at the end she ends up killing them without regret. 
The weirder thing is that through it all we are supposed to believe this woman is right all the time. And sure, she's right a lot - her anger towards the patriarchal society is totally justified, even if the oppressive system feels, again, heavy handed -, but her complete lack of empathy should not be something to root for. The author uses the two love interests as contrapoints to this, but to barely any character growth from the MC.

The 3* rating is mostly due to the premise of the book being super interesting. And it's not a bad book, it just could be much, much better. 
Normal People by Sally Rooney

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe

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dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

4.5

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0