sara_berlin's reviews
274 reviews

5.0

This is what a fantasy series should be. Rick Riordan just hits different. The characters, the world (despite being borrowed), the wonderful balance of action, humor and peace, the relationships, the plot, everything is so close to perfection, you could think the author himself was a son of Apollo ;)

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

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5.0

dude the amount of nostalgia I get from rereading this series

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Neal Shusterman has a remarkable ability to display complex topics in a way pretty much anyone can understand, as I learned while reading his Skinjacker Trilogy, and as is demonstrated again in Scythe. I will say, it struggled to keep my attention sometimes, which is why it tooks me a while. It seemed like every time I put the book down, it was harder for me to pick it up, possibly because it’s a difficult and exhausting topic to think and read about, despite the book being as digestible as something on the topic of systematized death could be.
also I think Chidi Anagonye would very much enjoy this book

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

I love how Alice Oseman really understands the culture of fandom (probably because she has participated in and been the subject of it) and how teenagers behave, all of which really shines here. I was obsessed with the characters and related so hard with what both Angel and Jimmy were going through (even though I’m not a worldwide celebrity), and I was really touched. Also I didn’t feel like there were any explicit references to a specific boy band, even though they did remind me a little of One Direction.
It’s like If This Gets Out by Cale Dietrich and Sophie Gonzales but focused more on the fans, which I think is both more realistic and more relatable to most readers of this book.

Serendipity: Ten Romantic Tropes, Transformed by Marissa Meyer

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Bye Bye, Piper Berry (The Fake Relationship) by Julie Murphy - 3.75/5

Anyone Else But You (Stranded Together) by Leah Johnson - 4.5/5

The Idiom Algorithm (Class Warfare) by Abigail Hing Wen - 4/5

Auld Acquaintance (The Best Friend Love Epiphany) by Caleb Roehrig - 5/5

Shooting Stars (One Bed) by Marissa Meyer - 4/5

Keagan’s Heaven On Earth (The Secret Admirer) by Sarah Winifred Searle - 4.5/5

Zora In The Spotlight (The Grand Romantic Gesture) by Elise Bryant - 5/5

In A Blink Of The Eye (Trapped in a Confined Space) by Elizabeth Eulberg - 5/5

Liberty (The Makeover) by Anna-Marie McLemore - 5/5

The Surprise Match (The Matchmaker) by Sandhya Menon - 5/5

Total Average Rating: 4.75/5

I think this collection really demonstrated to me that writers of young adult books are better suited to writing engaging stories when they have time to flesh out the characters and all the fun dialogue and side plots, and that really helps make the story what it is, unlike here where it all seemed a little rushed and there just wasn’t enough build up for me. However, for what it is, I think they did a pretty good job, and there’s really no good way to fit all those elements I mentioned into a short story.

Also, maybe this is silly, but I wish it was a less romance-focused romance short story collection, and more about the casual kinds of love that pop up in unexpected, yet mundane, places instead of crazy situations or years-long feuds or grand gestures. There were a few of those but I guess the other style just isn’t for me, especially for a short story format like I said. If it’s going to be dramatic, I need it to drag on for a whole book, or else what’s the fun in that. I do appreciate that each author seems to have been given the opportunity to have a prompt and fly with it.

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Bi the Way: The Bisexual Guide to Life by Lois Shearing

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 28%.

I mostly picked this up just because of the title. I think it’s a little too beginner level for where I am, at least as far as I read, and combined with the writing style/formatting it just wasn’t for me. It was a little interesting to see what kind of actual research has been done, so I might pick it up again, but it’s unlikely.

Gemina by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

I’ll be honest, the second and third books kinda bled together in my mind so I don’t have much to say. It wasn’t as existential as Illuminae, but I did like the commentary on people not being all good or bad or just generally one thing.

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sara_berlin's reviews 274 reviews

sara_berlin's reviews
274 reviews