books, travel, nursing, and all of life's in-betweens
B+ | It is well-paced and a well-plotted mystery YA novel. The characters are compelling. The historical setting is wonderfully researched and it shows in the writing because Hur brought Joseon Korea to life through her characters and descriptions of the setting. Hur does a fantastic job with its plot as it explores loyalty and family.
Read moreA-/B+ | This book is another perfect example of how villain origin stories should be done. While the worldbuilding is pretty damn cool, what really makes this book work for me are the characters themselves, specifically Xifeng. However, the pacing can be far too slow at times, making it a drag to read when it does. Still, I think that Dao comes out strong in this debut novel.
Read moreA | A marvelous end to this outstanding trilogy that stayed consistently strong throughout the whole trilogy, Ember Queen is a great example of how to write the last book in a series. The book’s strength lies in Sebastian’s writing and her ability to make me care about all the characters — even those that I found annoying and even those who I should feel no sympathy for — as well as the relationships between them.
There will be spoilers below.
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February was a blur and I still can’t believe it’s already March! The new semester has already started up for me which means this is probably one of the last posts you’ll see from me aside from my blog tour book review posts for Ember Queen by Laura Sebastian and for The Silence of Bones by June Hur.
I read 8 books in February — well, 9 if we count the Darth Vader comic I read. Doesn’t feel that way which is absolutely strange, but oh well. I’m just glad I got to read.
As I mentioned above, the new semester has started up for me. I have two courses, both of which have clinical days that require me to be at the hospital from 8am until 3pm until the end of the semester. I won’t be posting as often on my social media accounts because I won’t be reading as much. Furthermore, I am closing my review requests until summer.
Onto the recap!
Enjoy March everyone!
C-/D+ | While this book has a great premise, its execution was choppy and poor. The book’s saving grace is the writing. However, beautiful diction can’t hide the fact that there was no structure to this book, that the pacing was all over the place, and that the characters and their relationship didn’t feel genuine.
This review will contain some spoilers.
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A-/B+ | Despite the fact that Talyien was one of the most frustrating characters I have read this year, I truly enjoyed this magnificent, character-driven novel with its lush Filipino-coded world. Talyien is surely one of the most interesting characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading about. The worldbuilding is woven into the story in such a superb way that I could vividly see, smell, feel, hear, and taste the universe. This adult fantasy novel is unapologetically Filipino and it reflects so much of both the good and bad aspects of Filipino society. It is a thrill ride full of heartbreak, betrayal, love, family, duty, and politics.
Read moreWow! I can’t believe January is over already. I know for some people, this month felt like a long one, but for me?
It flew by too quickly and I’m sad that it did.
For those who don’t know, I was traveling this month. I went to Tokyo for a few days before moving onto Manila to spend time with my family in the homeland. I had so much fun in both cities and I’m glad I got this opportunity to visit both cities and spend much needed time with my family.
But aside from my much-needed vacation, I got to read a lot and to no one’s surprise, I ended up buying books while I was in Manila. Oops? Look! I couldn’t help it. Besides, the books I bought are books that aren’t available in paperback yet and I didn’t wanna wait until later this year to get them on my bookshelf.
There’s also the fact that I lost my copies of Sword of Destiny and Blood of Elves. Okay, not really lost LOST, but they may as well be lost because the box they were sent in never arrived in Manila sO yeah I’m probably going to have to reorder those books if they don’t arrive before my aunt comes back here, too. Plus, I don’t wanna ask her to bring them back because I know she’ll have a ton of stuff to bring home anyway.
Anyway! Onto the recap!
I’m proud of myself, honestly. I haven’t read this many books since — for a long, long, LONG time. The fact that I was able to get through 9 books (would have been 10+ had it not been for the fact that I either got bored of the books or just wanted to read them rather than listen to them) is a miracle.
NINE BOOKS !!
I’m super proud of myself.
But I also started a few books, but ended up dropping those like a hot potato for one reason or another.
My birthday month was such a good month for me. I’m kinda sad it’s over, but hey, keep moving forward, right?
Onwards to February!
— Veronica 🥥
C-/D+ | This is such a disappointing book. I actually threw this into my DNF shelf but after drinking iced coffee, I decided to just finish the rest of the book because I was so close to finishing it. I’m only writing this right after I finished reading the book cuz it’s like almost 9pm here in Manila and I’m still on the coffee high. Will this review make sense??? Idk !!
You know what the saddest thing is? I was REALLY enjoying this book. I was in love. But then NOTHING was happening plot wise. Yes, I am all for character driven stories, but if I’m at 40% or something into the book, I should already see ACTION. Instead, about 55% of the book is introductory stuff with nothing major happening. Then when the plot does occur, it just is so ridiculously rushed?
Both Mina (the Queen/Stepmother) and Lynet (Snow White) are interesting characters who did feel alive (Mina more so than Lynet which is lmao), but at the same time, they weren’t fully fleshed out enough. Mina did feel more fleshed out, but wow Lynet just felt bland.
The character motivations thus felt super — idk, subpar. I didn’t and couldn’t believe them, especially Lynet. I didn’t feel like Lynet was in danger at any moment because she had such quick control over her magic which is just ridiculous to me.
Overall, Mina was a better written character but even she suffered at the half way point. The jump between past!Mina POV and present!Mina POV was just a whiplash. It helped because at least it was easier to understand her motivations, but lord after the halfway point when the action happened, I just cringed. Her emotions just didn’t feel REAL and it’s such a shame because I did enjoy Mina’s backstory.
The worldbuilding was also lacking.
The entire thing just felt rushed and wow I’m honestly sad that I didn’t like this book.
B- | Simply put? This book is a fun, immersive, and easy read. Kira is a believable teenage protagonist who struggles with school, bullies, and family drama along with the supernatural drama she’s entangled in. The plot is interesting, but predictable. There is romance, but it doesn’t overpower the plot or Kira’s struggles which I am absolutely thankful to see. Still, while I enjoyed this book, I don’t believe it reached its fullest potential which was disappointing. I would definitely give this book a shot, especially if you were once super into manga/anime, too.
Make sure to read about the giveway!
Read moreC+ | Enjoyable as this novel is with characters that will both annoy you and endear themselves to you and set in an interesting time period, it is hampered down by historical inaccuracies and wasted opportunities all for the sake of drama. Aside from Lada, there are no major other female characters. The other female characters that are present are either presented as nothing more than one-dimensional beings. Mehmed’s characterization is, unfortunately, another thing that pulls this story down as it completely erases the more ruthless side of him. I can’t speak about the Muslim representation here because I am not Muslim myself, so for any thoughts on how Islam was presented here, please seek out #ownvoices bloggers to get more.
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