Frances Cha's unhappy, stunning debut is a real, engrossing look into the lives of Korea's young women you won't want to put down. Instantly invested, my heart broke for each of these characters as I turned the pages. If I Had Your Face will stick in the back of my mind for a long time to come.
Book Review | To Kill a Kingdom
The Little Mermaid source material is taken to stunning, fresh heights in this expertly-crafted YA fantasy. This novel's high quality writing and immensely intriguing concept carry it to four stars—brought down only by a satisfactory plot structured almost entirely around a big ol' mcguffin to search for and a very predictable ending.
Book Review | Kingdom of the Cursed
Kingdom of the Cursed feels like a bridge. A flat bridge, beautiful but slightly unimpressive, that soars above all the interesting stuff really going on below. The reader can see the general outline of what it's going to look like, way down there below the bridge, but is not allowed to see it in full.
Book Review | Shatter Me
The beginning of Shatter Me was an exquisite mix of beautiful, unique prose, complex character, and expert soft worldbuilding. But after that big bang beginning, it gets...soggier. I think if anything, I'm more disappointed by the lost potential than by the actual product. Because I really did enjoy myself in the reading...
Book Review | Zodiac Academy
Brooding inner turmoil and big muscles do not excuse stripping someone naked in public, biting them when they beg you not to, or general assault.
Book Review | The House in the Cerulean Sea
I have long been skeptical of cozy reads. If they're so cozy, so feel good, what are the stakes? What's going to make me care? Especially when it comes to a book like Cerulean, which is written with an almost childlike whimsicality and which absolutely bashes you over the head with character development. But Cerulean … Continue reading Book Review | The House in the Cerulean Sea
The Dark Academia Post.
Aesthetically, what makes Dark Academia dark are the muted colors, rainy weather, and dim libraries full of dark wood. But in literature, the "dark" of Dark Academia is much more than just color. Books like The Secret History, The Atlas Six, Legendborn, and Ninth House try to reveal more sinister darknesses in academia: insularity, elitism, … Continue reading The Dark Academia Post.
Book Review | The Atlas Six
CONFIRMED: The Atlas Six has a firm place in the cannon of dark academia. This book's strengths lie in its characters, meticulously and thoroughly written and spinning themselves into complex webs of relationships. I knew little going in, so one thing surprised me most: it's an adult-feeling book about adults. It's most interested in people … Continue reading Book Review | The Atlas Six
Book Review | An Ember in the Ashes
Butterflies and big, dumb boys. Enemies to lovers and moral greyness for days. I bought into every character and conceit. I cringed and I cried. I’ve been on a serious YA binge this year, but An Ember in The Ashes still felt like a palate cleanser. The cheesiness is the delicious kind, trickling through the story like some kind of delicious cheese fountain.
Book Review | A Little Life
A Little Life is painful, beautiful, and long. It’s the satisfying, engrossing kind of long, the kind where your mind tricks you into believing these people are real, that their lives are really happening, that you can really see their thoughts and their apartments and their laughter and their failure. This phenomenon is my favorite … Continue reading Book Review | A Little Life
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