Tuesday

A missed opportunity

Revisado: 07-17-21

There were some interesting bits (like the first story from when she was 4 or the process of getting her service dog) but over all it didn't live up to what it could have been. She spent very little talking about her actual struggles, and way more of it flexing her supportive family, universal Healthcare, good looks, and how lucky she was to get her dream job by the time she was 18 (with some pinterest positivity quotes sprinkled in). Most people seeking inspiration aren't looking to listen to a girl complain about missing her show with Selena Gomez or how annoying it was to be stuck at 60k YouTube subscribers. There's so many interesting aspects of her life and struggle that she could have shared and she just chose to name drop ad nauseum, seemingly unaware that most people struggle and are bullied, and pretty much none of them get to be famous and wealthy for it. She seems lovely, but this was short sighted and uninspired.

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I LOVED it but...

Revisado: 10-15-20

So, this book is great in my humble opinion, but while it was definitely a new flavor for Maas, it did bring out a few aspects of her style that are a bit hard to swallow.

If you've read any of her other books you know she's a big fan of extensive details and world building, which I enjoy. But wow was this book unnecessarily LONG. And the world is cool, but I feel like it could have been a bit vaguer. There's a lot details regarding the world that are hard to keep track of on top of taking in the story. And some important details get lost and make the twists a bit confusing.

I didnt personally mind the sex, drugs, and rocknroll vibe, but the book isn't shy about it if that bothers you. I thought it was interesting to have a character who wasn't ashamed about the way she liked to live her life, regardless of what people thought. And I thought the romance was nice and well paced. I've seen some reviews call it instalove, but I think people sometimes get instalove confused with preemptively knowing the characters are going to end up together. Because I would personally call this a slow burn.

But if you love Maas's style and might be interested in a more adult/modern/urban twist to her writing you'll love this story!

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Basic plot with interesting characters

Revisado: 04-10-20

*SPOILER FREE*
Don't be fooled, I didn't give this 4 stars because it's an immaculate work of literature. But in the scope of this type of book (2000s paranormal teen romance etc) it's actually a pretty good choice. It's comfortably predictable if you're craving some good old fashioned YA magic creature shenanigans. But if you're at all familiar with this genre you know that the characters tend to be painfully generic. These characters are at least a bit different, there's still that classic dynamic of the cute new girl/mean blond popular girl/quirky instant friends etc but, like I said, it is predictable. But I love that the author threw in a bit of flavor into the characters, especially the MC (since they tend to be the most boring of all). They have interests and hobbies and opinions, which makes this book stand out amongst the litany of these books.

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Good, but written for a very young audience

Revisado: 04-03-20

*SPOILER FREE*
This book is great, if not written a little younger than what I assumed it's intended audience is. I'd say this book would be a bit better for pre/early teens, even though the protagonist is 16 or 17. I'm not sure if it's just a side effect of the subject matter or just Kagawas writing style. This is the second book I've read of hers and I have noticed she prefers to keep things pretty tame, even for YA. I don't have any issue with this, and I know many people prefer it, but if you're more into books that lean more towards the A in YA this might bore you a bit. But over all, it's fast paced, colorful, and a creative take on the fairy genre.

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This book has a boy for every need! It's weird!

Revisado: 03-30-20

*SPOILER FREE*
For starters, the plot is kind of weak, and the book could have been a solid 5 hours shorter easy. This book spends a lot of time trying to develop the most unrealistic character dynamics ever. You have Lexie, your average "not like other girls" (yes that exact phrase is used multiple times in this book) who's hot and likes guy stuff. Then you have the boys, who, are all essentially the same person in 5 disguises. They can be easily broken down as Hot Band Guy/Hot Nerd Guy/Hot Jock Guy/Hot Biker Guy/Hot Alternative Guy. Aside from those basic traits they are indistinguishable. Which I get it, it will appeal to more girls if they can all have their preferred flavor, but it makes it near impossible to get a decent mental image of what's going on. They act as a legionized version of your average tall/hot/overly protective male love interest. But when it's divided up so much it's near impossible to develop any kind of attachment to any of them. It's cute as a fluff read but in a notably bland way.

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Amusing but... Strange

Revisado: 03-26-20

*SPOILER FREE*
This book was an odd one. It was decent in the way that if you were craving that YA-Paranormal-Romance formula, this will hit the spot. But there were just a lot of details in this book that were just off. I'm pretty sure the author didn't even Google what anemia is before writing this book. She describes driving incorrectly. They do sex-ED in biology for some reason, and on top of it part of the curriculum is dedicated to students describing what turns them on. Every customer service person she encounters is very openly rude for no reason, as if they wouldn't get fired instantly for talking to anyone that way? And all the characters do things that don't make any sense, like the decision process of everyone, especially the MC, is just WEIRD. No offense to the author but it feels like it was written by an alien.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

An interested take on post apocalyptic

Revisado: 03-25-20

*SPOILER FREE*
If you enjoy a good dystopian/apocalyptic story, but are bored of zombies, you'll love this book. I was afraid the idea was going to get too strange and deluded to be readable, but it's actually handled pretty well. And it keeps you guessing while you follow the characters through the world, along with a sprinkling of humor and creepiness.

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I really couldn't give it less than 5 stars

Revisado: 03-25-20

*SPOILER FREE*
Fair warning, I'm not really one of those people whos stingy about giving 5 star reviews. The book isn't perfect, for instance if you're familiar with Maas as an author you probably already know she tends to drag things out for a long time, but you can't go wrong with her world building and characters. It took me FOREVER to get through this book the first time, almost to the point of madness. But I also found I've listened to it like 4 more times since then? If you're an escapism reader, especially one who likes high fantasy worlds, this will definitely hit the spot!

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Didn't go where I thought, but in a good way

Revisado: 03-25-20

*SPOILER FREE*
I was shocked by how much I enjoyed this book, especially with how different it ended up being to what I had anticipated. It keeps a good pace, is decently creepy, and has some really interesting world building. It follows a couple tropes, but if you're generally a fan of vampire/dystopian with a romance subplot these tropes shouldn't bother you. Really, my only beef is that I was far more interested in the setting that the story started out with, and got a bit annoyed when it was abandon to a slightly more formulaic story line. But in the end I believe the author did a good job of keeping it interesting!

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Dolan twin fan fiction?

Revisado: 05-13-19

This reads as wattpad fan fiction, the story isn't terrible for what it is, but it's pretty bland. The characters are brutally stereotypical, generic pretty bookish girl who is picked on, but captures the attention of sexy twins- one who is fun but temperamental and one who is smart but stoical. They all fall in love in a week despite their only "chemistry" being that the hot boys are inexplicably obsessed with her instantly and buy her things.
It would have been better if it had been longer, with more time dedicated to fleshing out the characters and make it convincing that they would have any reason to like one another. It might also benefit from a more enthusiastic narrator.
Good for someone wanting a backdrop to base a preexisting sexy twin fantasy (plus a very tiny sprinkling of super natural something or other)

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