xabbeylongx's reviews
168 reviews

Spoilers Ahead: 

Once again, Carroll has blown me away with her book. The illustrations, perfect, and the storyline, even more perfect! 

We follow Abby as she is with her new husband, a dentist, left widowed from his previous marriage, and his child from that marriage, Crystal. They all live together, and Sheila, the ex-wife, had supposedly died from cancer. However, when she starts being haunted by ‘Sheila’, and is told that she was actually murdered by him, she starts to feel a little weird, like everything is not as it seems. 

And when she lets someone into the house to look after Crystal, after an accident with her husband that leaves him dead, when she finds out that someone is not who they say they are, everything kicks off. 

Honestly, my explanation does not do the story justice at all. It’s one of the best, most intriguing and most chilling books I’ve ever read. 

The ending was so ambiguous. There were so many theories, and it’s one of the only books, thus far, that I’ve had to look up because I have no idea how it ends. One part of me thinks that it’s a bit of copout, the ending not being clear, but the other, more correct part of me loves the ambiguity. The reader is free to make up their own theories as to how the story ends. Personally, I don’t know what to think, and I like there not being a typically ‘correct’ ending to it, it makes it a very unique book, even though I know a lot of people didn’t like how it ended. I, having personally thought about it a bit more since I last read the book, think it’s insanely impressive to write and illustrate a novel like that. And it’s queer, which makes it all the better!
The only thing is I didn't bond with the characters too much, and I thought Abby was quite bland, but I think that also helps with the story, so I'm not too mad about it. And the less said about Abby's husband the better, because he is an awful man, and I think he deserved what happened to him. 

 

One of my favourite reviews ever: “Girls be like ‘I’m fighting demons’ and the demons be homosexuality”. 

Spoilers Ahead: 

Honestly, I wish I could write a really in-depth review about what’s going on this book, but I genuinely have no clue what was happening from start to finish. 

We follow the lives of multiple characters in this building, as each one of them has their own problems to deal with. I wish I could tell you their names and what happens to them, but I genuinely can’t. 

The artistic choices are gorgeous. The continuous use of one colour (blue) in varying different shades is so pleasing to me. Additionally, the transitions between characters is beautifully done, almost seamless, so that was very cool. Honestly, it was a very entertaining book, but the storyline were very confusing and I still don’t really know what happened throughout. Sometimes, it was even a little too dark to see what was going on, and I don’t know why everybody was naked. This is what I’d imagine stoners dream about daily. 

Spoilers Ahead: 
This book is a graphic novel memoir, and is talking about how Debbie started to overcome her anxiety and put herself first. As we go through her life, we can see that she suffers with crippling social anxiety. She’d prefer her own company, or that of a book, and hates going out and socialising. She has no qualms about plans being cancelled - that’s the best-case scenario for her (honestly, it sounds pretty good to me also). She graduates, and then finds an office job, but socialising never really gets easier. It always feels disingenuous, and her social battery runs out quickly. Eventually, she ends up quitting her job and starting a freelance job in the creative industry (just like she wanted from when she was a child). As people don’t make the time to make adjustments for her, she starts to put herself first and doesn’t force herself to do stuff for other people.
It’s a lovely book. The art is cute, simple but really effective. The panels are all neat, which sits very nicely in my brain. And Debbie is quite a relatable character, to me anyway, so it was nice to get some representation for people with anxiety. Sometimes, it’s nice to be heard. And sometimes, it’s nice to read about something affecting you that also affects one of the characters in the stories you read. It’s really refreshing, and relieving, to be honest.

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Another beautiful graphic novel by Alice Oseman. I’m becoming so enthralled by these character’s lives! 

We follow Nick and Charlie and all their friends as things start to become very serious for them at school. Charlie is sitting his GCSEs right now, and Nick is looking at colleges. He tries to pick somewhere close by, because he can’t bear to be away from Charlie, but in the end, Charlie is okay with him going. They also start becoming more intimate with each other, and it’s so cute to see their relationship blossom. 

Another fantastic book. The character development in both of them - but especially Charlie - is immense. The way he has health with his eating disorder and his anxiety, and Nick has been focusing on putting himself first, you can tell they’re both helping to work on themselves but with each other, which I think is so adorable. And, much to my delight, there will be a sixth graphic novel soon! I desperately hope it works out for Nick and Charlie, because them and their friends are steadfastly becoming some of my favourite characters ever. Exactly what kids of this generation needs today! 

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This is, so far, my most favourite Heartstopper book ever. The story is immaculate, as always, and so is the art style. 

We follow Charlie as his mental health is really really bad. He has to be hospitalised, and Nick has to find a way to help him, despite not really knowing how he can do that. Their relationship is still going strong, even when they have to do long distance due to Charlie being voluntarily hospitalised. 

The way Nick deals with eating disorders and Charlie having one is absolutely perfect. It’s exactly what people need to see, and I’m glad there’s an awareness being spread about it. I wish I could describe the absolute joy I feel from reading these books, but I genuinely can’t. They’re just beautiful stories, and I love how everyone has become friends and interlinked and the amazing development their characters have gone through. It’s a really beautiful love series. I’ll be disappointed when it ends. 

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Heartstopper, they could never make me hate you. I absolutely adore you so much. 

In this book, Nick and Charlie are going around France on a school trip with their school. They are battling with the decision to come out to people, who to tell, worrying about the backlash of it. The iconic teacher couple from the Netflix series are finally in the comic, and they made it so so so much better, and it follows Charlie’s struggles with mental health and eating disorders, and Nick tries to help him through it. 

I just read a review (from a parent) saying that this book is “100% grooming”, because it’s about kids having sex? First of all, that doesn’t actually happen (to my knowledge) in this book, and second of all, it’s so unrealistic thinking that all children don’t have sex at that age. Prohibiting reading about it is only going to increase the likelihood that they have sex in a safe way, not stop them from doing it. As it is, in other books, Oseman touches really taboo subjects that kids need to be exposed to, like sex, and protection, and mental illnesses. The problem with this review is I’m 90% sure it’s nothing to do with the ‘sexual content’, and everything to do with the fact that it’s two boys doing it. SMH! 

Anyway, rant over, I thought this book was too cute, just like the others. It’s not my favourite, I’m not really sure what it’s not doing for me, however I never really liked the Paris scene in the Netflix, series, either. However, still a lovely book, and I can’t wait to complete the series! 

- Removed from my membership on Audible 
- Lots of sexist language and it was very distasteful 
- Pace was too fast 

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Juliet and Monroe are on a podcast together. Monroe is her brother’s (Sawyer’s) best friend, and they spent a week of passion together ages ago, but they never talk about it. Juliet is trying to date but never finds the right guy, and Monroe is out of a divorce, and thinks he shouldn’t be in a relationship with anyone. All is fine, until they’re gifted a house from one of the viewers that they set up with in the beginning, who’s now getting married. They decide they want to sell up the house, and decide to take a vacation together to fix it up and sell it, with the intention that the extra money will be used to spruce up and market their podcast. 

They get there, and it’s obvious that they both start falling for each other. Monroe offers to be Juliet’s dating coach, to try and help her work out her troubles with picking the worst choice men when online dating. They quickly bounce over the blurred line between dating and something more. But when Monroe isn’t ready to commit, after everything that happened with Juliet (when he looked after her when she was sick, when he pretended to be her dates to help her find someone who’s ‘worthy’ of her), she has to move on. Part of her has been saving herself for him, all this time, and she decides to throw a break-up party to try and help her move on from him. However, before she can, he quickly wins her back, after he reconciles with his dad that hasn’t been present or uplifting since Monroe’s mum died. 

I thought it was quite a sweet story, but nothing special. I’m not a big fan of the romances which start solely off of lust, just because I prefer a slow burn of building a beautiful connection, so some of it wasn’t my cup of tea. I tell you, I’ve never listened to sex scene on audiobook before, and I wasn’t expecting. The language was very vulgar, but at least the sex, for me, felt quite connected. For me, I can see that Monroe loves her by his actions, but Juliet just wants to rip his clothes off - just my opinion. 

So yeah, my opinion is just that it’s a meh book, with good sex scenes. I do like the idea of the podcast and the house-gifting though, that is something that I wasn’t expecting at all. 

Spoilers Ahead: 
I’ve never read an adult fiction book about a magician before, so I was really excited to read this book. However, unfortunately, I felt I was let down a little bit throughout. Honestly, I can’t tell you much about what happened in the book, only that Delvin was being blackmailed into helping a few princesses, one of them turns out to be an imposter, there’s a magic crystal that can change people’s thoughts and they are trying to stop a war. I can’t tell you much other than that, lol. 

In the nicest way possible, it felt a little bit like it had just been rushed to just hand in and submit, done and dusted. There were a ton of spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes, and these only got worse towards the end, reiterating the idea that it had been rushed. There were commas missing, and often these commas were crucial in making sure the sentences flowed properly. It felt very blocky, and I had to keep stopping and starting to reread sentences that I didn't understand. Commas were left out of dialogue, making it sometimes impossible to work out what the author meant, and it took some of the enjoyment out of it. There was not enough scene setting in the beginning, and then too much by the end. There was no medium. The pacing was very off, in my opinion. One craft a writer must have learnt is the art of 'showing, not telling'. There was a lot of telling, and with everyone put in black and white for the reader, there wasn't really much room for imagination. There was so much going on in the plot, and the whole book was very confusing. There wasn't a lot of detail, and it was just one event followed by another followed by another with no breaks. I was confused half the time, and I had quite a lot of trouble picturing what was happening in the scene, because there needed to be a clearer picture painted. The characters themselves were really unlikeable, honestly. I couldn't bond with a single one of them. I think with a good book, there has to be at least one character that makes you continue reading, even better if they're a main character. Unfortunately, I just didn't like any of them. I thought Delvin had no backbone, and no qualities a main character should have. And the others were just downright nasty. Also, there were a few parts that came across as misoginistic, which wasn't great to read about either. Some of the events were heavily unrealistic as well. Having royalty at the fair is something that you wouldn't really expect, unless, maybe, for a PR event. And then royalty mixing with the public? It was all very confusing, very unrealistic, and I'm surprised I finished it. The plot itself was so good, if only the time had been taken to edit it before publishing! 

Spoilers Ahead: 
I thought this was a very interesting book. As someone who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, I wanted to read about what it felt like to not be the gender you was assigned at birth. 

This is an autographical piece, and it was so intriguing. We follow Maia as ey (I think these are the right pronouns, I’m so sorry if they’re not correct) are learning to find themselves. Assigned female at birth, but feeling like ey’re genderless and not really wanting to be identified as male or female, it’s really cool to see em become more happy with eir body, and find out which pronouns work out best for em. 

Honestly, I learnt quite a lot more than I thought I would from this comic. Such as how their is actually a hormonal reason as to why some people feel like they are not connected with the body they were born in. Secondly, I thought this comic was so raw, so brave and so beautiful, and showing the struggles that ey faced. Even with family, who are supposed to love you unconditionally, aren’t perfect, and it’s nice to see it from all angles. 

I’m definitely very interested in learning a lot more about being non-binary and gender-queer, as I think it’s becoming a more prevalent part of life, and I want to make sure I’m being respectful of everyone’s gender. Also, it’s insanely fucking cool.