Tag: review

Reviews

Save the Date Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on Save the Date Review

81Ilto+efPLThis was good!

This book follows the story of Charlie Grant a 17 year old girl in the middle of a transitional period of her life. Her 4 siblings have all grown up and moved away and she is about to graduate and go off to college, she doesn’t know which one yet. For the first time in what feels like forever all of family are back in their home for their sister Linnie’s wedding.

This was a cute, fun very quick easy read for me and it was very engaging. I like the fact that the storyline happens over the course of just three days. It goes into the minute details of everyday life that sometimes gets overlooked in regular novels, but I actually really enjoyed it!

The book started off pretty simple in concept but as the plot progressed it started to get more convoluted and complicated. There was a lot happening behind the scenes in this family that from just face value you would never know.

I thought Charlie was very naïve and kind of refused to see the bad side of any of her family. I like that we see her kind of grow and come to accept that change is definitely going to be inevitable and she realized that maybe her family aren’t all that they are perceived from Grant Central Station. I’m definitely glad that Charlie could see how badly her family treated Brooke as well. She mentions it various times throughout the story that it was fine that they were leaving her out and not including her or disregarding her feelings. I also thought she was a little too judgmental about the whole situation with Mark. She really didn’t take his feelings into consideration at all and I thought she was pretty dismissive overall about him which when we found out about the actual situation I thought his actions were quite justified, just maybe not to the extent that he took it. 

I definitely enjoyed my reading experience and as the book progressed it delved a lot deeper into a lot of familial drama but overall it was a little too predictable and didn’t really blow me away at the end of the book. 

⭐️3/5 Entertaining, family drama!

Reviews

Red Sister Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on Red Sister Review

51oBuBFqgHLPerfection, I absolutely LOVED this book!!!!

Nona was saved by the High Priestess Glass just as she was about to be hanged. Falsely accused of murder Nona is sought after by some powerful enemies. The Priestess sweeps her away to the Convent of Sweet Mercy where all their novices are raised to become lethal killers.

The premise of this book is everything that I love about fantasy to be honest. The school setting was wonderful, all of the different classes that Nona has to attend surrounded by the other novices. Even the different bells and their meaning were interesting and utilised throughout the course of the book.

I really liked Nona; she is such an interesting character. Super loyal to all of her friends and isn’t afraid to speak up in their defense or even sacrifice herself to save them from any harm. She has a lot of secrets and I like that we aren’t made aware of some of the more significant ones til the end of the book. I like that her ignorance was kind of used as a way to be able to explain everything in a lot more detail letting the reader absorb all the knowledge slowly. Being that a majority of the characters are very young only 9-11 they are really discovering themselves as the plot progresses.

The story is incredibly rich with magical lore and also political machinations. The whole trial that the High Priestess Glass and Nona had to endure and the eventual reasoning’s behind it really took me by surprise. I was stunned that Glass put everything in place and saved Nona just on the off chance that this would occur, putting herself and Nona in danger. Her cunning and intellect really engaged me and I was deeply invested in the plot after that!

The way that the story shifts and the revelations really start to come out was so well done, multiple layers of plot lines with different characters with different intentions. Convoluted fantasy books with a multitude of characters and magical elements are my favourite books of all time and this really blew me away!

⭐️5/5 High stakes, magical, bad ass fighting nuns, I am IN!

Reviews

99 Percent Mine Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on 99 Percent Mine Review

36300625The Hating Game was my favourite book of last month and I knew I had to immediately pick up Sally Thorne’s latest release 99 Percent Mine and see how it compares. Granted I enjoyed the read immensely however it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

We follow the story of Darcy who has until recently been travelling the world. That is until her grandmother passed away and left Darcy and her twin brother Jamie her old run down cottage with the instructions to renovate and sell the property, dividing the profits between them. Darcy wants to keep the old charm of the house but her brother wants everything modern/up to date. World war 3 seems imminent until in walks Tom Valeska, their long-time friend and Darcy’s first crush that Jamie has contracted for the renovations.

The start of the book was a little jumbled and didn’t fully explain what was going on. The characters were kind of hazardly introduced and I didn’t know where the story was going. However, as the book progressed things became clear and more defined and I was easily able to follow along.

Darcy wasn’t a very likable character in my eyes. She was a little too crass and sure of herself and very blunt. It was entertaining the way she would just blurt out anything and everything that she was thinking but it I couldn’t really imagine anyone really speaking like that in real life so it kind of threw me off a bit. I did enjoy how we got a very in depth look into her life and why she acts the way she does and how she has this sort of false sense of confidence. I also found it strange that she never really acknowledged herself as being pretty, she describes herself as quite plain and boyish, but all of the workers can’t seem to keep their eyes off her and they all find her irresistible. Little things like that where I was like hmmm….

I did love how the sexual tension built up between Darcy and Tom though. She being so brazen and out there and Tom trying to keep things professional and proper. It was very entertaining and had me engaged throughout the course of the plot.

All in all still an enjoyable read. Didn’t quite enrapture me like the Hating Game did but I think it’s because I just love that hate to love trope so much!

⭐️4/5 Building site, old crush, sexual tension!

Reviews

Pride Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on Pride Review

35068632Pride is retelling of the classic tale Pride and Prejudice but with a modern twist. Zuri Benitez is a proud resident of her neighbourhood of Bushwick in Brooklyn. She has lived there her entire life and knows everyone on her block, but one day a new very wealthy family moves across the street and now it seems like change is inevitable.

Zuri kind of got on my nerves a little at the start of the book. She was a little too judgemental for my liking. She was just so passionate in her dislike for the Darcy’s that I almost found her to be a little juvenile and immature. She didn’t really come across as being seventeen in my eyes. However, as the plot progressed we did see her evolve as she grew closer to Darius and learnt more about his family and why we did see her let go of her preconceptions.

Darius at the start as well was a little too standoffish for my liking. He was almost too unlikeable for me to warm to him towards the end of the book when he did open up more and explain his situation. I get that the author wanted to stay true to the original concept but I feel the introductions happened too fast and they hated each other too quickly that it almost didn’t make sense to me.

Towards the end of the book I did come around and enjoyed the plot and how it progressed. I like that we see Zuri’s neighbourhood start to get gentrified and how she realises this throughout the course of the book and what her feelings are towards this. She really has to come around to the fact that change really is inevitable and there isn’t anything that you can do about it.  

It was a very fast paced book; I did eventually enjoy all the characters and their arcs. Zuri’s younger sisters especially were very entertaining and brought a source of amusement and light-heartedness to the novel. If the start of the book was a little more lengthened and had time to really establish the characters and why they didn’t like each other I may have been able to really engage with the story a lot more.  

⭐️3.5/5 Good book, just didn’t do enough for me personally.

Reviews

Never World Wake Review

by amyleighreads2 Comments on Never World Wake Review

91tzv+xgsslIt’s been a year since Bee has spoken to any of her friends since the mysterious death of her boyfriend. Now after a whirlwind night that leaves them all walking away from a near fatal car crash something strange has happened. They are stuck in a sort of time-lapse called the Never World Wake where they have to vote for only one person to make it out alive.

This book was super obscure and very interesting! I liked the slow build up of tension throughout the plot and how things started unraveling as the storyline progressed. I didn’t really know what to expect from the premise but I enjoyed the direction the book went with. The mystery surrounding Jim’s death and what happened that night, as well as trying to figure out what the Never World Wake is and how they are going to get out of it.

I was definitely intrigued by Bee. She comes across as so innocent and nice and the other characters even mention it about her. No one would ever suspect her of any wrong doing ever and she is always immediately dismissed as decent and pure. But I had a feeling throughout that she was not as guiltless as everyone perceived.

I thought the way that information was discovered through the use of the Wake was fascinating. Especially one Martha figured out how to jump to different Wakes and how that affected the times. I was very engaged and was eager to read on to figure out how it was all happened and what their connections to the Wake were. The twist at the end as well I thought was very well executed, the doubt that is plied consistently throughout the course of the book really helped to completely blind side me when we eventually find out what really happened and everyone’s motivations for what they have done.

I thoroughly enjoyed my read of this. Again I didn’t know what to expect and I was actually pleasantly surprised that I liked it as much as I did. For some reason I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to enjoy the book because it was so hyped but this was another instance that I feel like the hype was justified!

⭐️4/5 A wild ride from beginning to end!