Review: Tokyo Ever After ~ Emiko Jean

 

 

Click on this image to learn more about this book on Goodreads

Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 336
Running Time: 9h:33m
My Rating: 5 stars
Publication Date: May 18, 2021

 

I actually really liked this book overall. It was Princess Diaries meets Crazy Rich Asians. It's a fast, fluffy read, but it does have some serious elements that are dealt with.

The cover is gorgeous, and I enjoyed watching Izumi grow and learn more about herself and her family.

Akio's name is pronounced and spelled so close to AKITO (someone from Fruits Basket) and I don't like Akito... so it took me a minute to get over that in my head.

I appreciate that Izumi's grandma and grandpa were more accepting of her than I thought they would be. I was thinking that I was going to spend the whole book hating them because they didn't like her because of her commoner upbringing/child out of wedlock

Also, props for my last name being in this one too. AND the narrator pronounced it correct, and not the Americanized way.

Did It Make Me Cry? No

Review: Red Wolf ~ Rachel Vincent

Format I Used: E-book
Pages: 368
Running Time: 10h:08m
My Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: July 27, 2021

Well hot dang. It's been a minute since I've read a Rachel Vincent book, and I've forgotten how much I enjoy her writing.

That ending too. 

And I don't know when there's going to be a sequel so now I'm left wondering what's going to happen. Especially since there's no news on Goodreads about a sequel at all... Hang on, lemme go check her website real quick.

*Final Jeopardy Music Plays*

Yeah, no, I still can't find any kind of information... BOOO HISSSS 

Le Sigh

I had theories about Tom that turned out to be correct, and I have a theory about Max too, but we didn't really get to learn a lot about him. So hopefully we'll get more background on him in book #2 

Bruh. I've given up hope of a second book.

Did It Make Me Cry? No

Review: Love From Scratch ~ Kaitlyn Hill

 

 

Image from Goodreads. Click on the image to learn more about this book.

Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 368
Running Time: 9h:59m
My Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: April 5, 2022
  

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It's what I would consider upper YA, but also I wouldn't have a problem letting younger teens read it.

There was a lot of stuff going on in this book. Our MC deals with a lot of misogynistic men (well, okay mostly just one who was the main problem, but other smaller incidents throughout) making stupid comments, and cyber bullying, etc.

Reese put up with A LOT. And I wish she would have reached out to someone sooner (I say that, but I would have reacted the same way... and by reacted, I mean I would have held it all in and not said a peep about it.) I was so glad to see her friends come together towards the end and kind of make things work to their advantage.

Benny was literally the best ever. Was he perfect? No, of course not. But he tried SO hard to be understanding and supportive and do whatever Reese needed him to do. I really wish she would have given him a break and been nicer to him. Yes he snapped at her after she kept pushing him to it. But you know what he did? apologized to her about a zillion times. I also think that she was out of line when the big miscommunication blow up happened. Yes she'd been hurt in the past, but she made a snap judgement about Benny based on a snippet of the END of a conversation that she just happened to come upon. Why not ask Benny what was happening? Why not let him explain instead of just assuming the worst. I don't really have any kind of complaints about Benny's personality, and think that people could take a lesson or two from him

Anyway...

10 out of 10 give this one a try if you're looking for perfectly imperfect characters in a culinary setting (that reminded me of From The Test Kitchen)

Did It Make Me Cry? No

 

Review: Maybe Now ~ Colleen Hoover

 

Click on the image to learn more about this book on Goodreads

Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 414
Running Time: 9h:11m
My Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: February 26, 2019

It has been YEARS since I read Maybe Someday. YEARS.

 And I didn't feel like re-reading it, so I went into this one only remembering about 25 percent of what actually happened. 

Also, it's the only CoHo book/series I've ever read, and probably the only one I ever will read.

Overall I did enjoy it, especially as I started remembering more about what took place in the previous book. Though I was also pretty annoyed at how things were such a hot mess as far as characters and their relationships with each other went.They were almost too codependent, and their priorities were all askew.

But at the same time, I appreciate that they made a conscious effort to work on their issues, and the fact that they even acknowledged that they had issues in the first place. That hardly ever happens. I also wish we could have learned more about Jake and had more interactions between him and Maggie.

Did It Make Me Cry? No

 

Review: By Any Other Name ~ Lauren Kate

 

Click on the image to learn more about this book on Goodreads

Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 304
Running Time: 7h:31m
My Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: March 1, 2022

So this was a romance light book. Yes there was romance between the MC and a certain someone, but it didn't feel like it was the main focus of the story to me.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting out of this story. It's definitely a long way away from The Fallen Series that I read forever ago.

One thing that had me so confused was her reaction to finding out who the author was. I felt like it was a little over the top. I never assume that the author I'm reading is male or female, because the fact of the matter is that A LOT of authors use pseudonym. It felt like a complete overreaction on her part.

Did It Make Me Cry? No

 

Review: Edgewood ~ Kristen Ciccarelli

 

Click on the image to learn more about this book on Goodreads

Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 400
Running Time: 13h:0m
My Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: March 1, 2022

I'll be honest, there were times in this book where I was super confused and felt like I missed a lot of information. Was I not paying close enough attention? I thought I was.... but maybe not? I don't know.

When the book first started, things were already in the middle of happening, and I think that's what left me so confused for the whole rest of the book. It felt like I was always a step or two behind what was happening and it was rather disorienting. And just when I thought I had a grasp on what was going on, something would happen and I'd be confused yet again.

Overall, it was fine. A standard upper YA fantasy book, and I think there are a lot of people who would absolutely adore it. I was getting Raven Boys-ish vibes from it.

I didn't appreciate the overly abrupt ending though.

Did It Make Me Cry? No

Review: Meet Me In The Margins ~ Melissa Ferguson

 

 

Image from Goodreads. Click on the image to learn more about this book.

  

Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 320
Running Time: 7h:50m
My Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: February 15, 2022

This was a fast, fun read. I wasn't sure about it at first, because things were happening that made me cringe (and there were random things throughout the book that gave me second hand embarrassment) but that's probably just because I'm a pretty sensitive person...

I was confused by how oblivious Savannah was to who the mystery editor was. It seemed painfully obvious to me. (I say that, but if I were in the same position as Savannah would I be the same way? hmmm)

Did It Make Me Cry? No

 

Review: The Evil Queen ~ Gena Showalter

Image from Goodreads. Click on the image to learn more about this book.


Format I Used: Hardback
Pages: 544
Running Time: 20h:30m
My Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: June 25, 2019

So this was a whirlwind book, that gave me lots of feels. I was worried at first, because I thought it was an Evil Queen Origin story, and I didn't know how they could possibly make me want to read something that would end so sadly.

As I was reading it though, I realized that it was an origin story...but also, it wasn't LOL, that's a reference you'll understand if you read the book.

It shows us how our choices determine whether we are the good or bad.

I was so angry and upset for Everly for a good majority of the book, because she was treated so unfairly.

I can't wait to see what happens next.

Review: Boys Over Flowers Season 2 ~ Yoko Kamio

 

Image from Goodreads. Click on the image to learn more about this book.

Format I Used:E-book
Pages: 208
My Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: December 22, 2015

 

Hello, it's me!

I haven't actually read the original BOF (nor watched the OG show)... And I'm not sure if I will or not. Because everytime I try, I'm just like.... eh..... ehhhhhh.... maybe not for me.

 

HOWEVER, I binged Meteor Garden (the Chinese adaptation of Boys Over Flowers, and I am obsessed SWOOOOOON), and I have started F4 Thailand... And now here I am reading this.

It's promising start

Haruto is annoying and spoiled at times and I want to smack some sense into him. He's also VERY into himself (and not in the adorable way that Tamaki Suoh My little cinnamon roll who is annoying and spoiled, but not in a mean way, just an oblivious way) But he's... learning?...hopefully...to be more aware of others and their feelings. We'll see. It took Si like 40 episodes to take other peoples' feelings into consideration and it was still pretty hit or miss.

I'm curious so see how things progress with everyone. And how bad the drama is going to get. Because you know there's going to be drama

 

Did It Make Me Cry? No.

 

Review: War ~ Laura Thalassa

Image from Goodreads. Click on the image to learn more about this book.

 

Format I Used:E-book
Pages: 502
Running Time: 15h:1m
My Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: July 10, 2019

 

Holy moly.

Jason Momoa is my War, thankyouverymuch.

Also, I found that this book, much like Pestilence, was one that was hard to read at times. It's very dark and gritty... But I also couldn't stop reading it. (obviously. Because I started reading it at like 8 pm and finished reading it at 1:47 am. Who needs sleep? Not this girl.) It deals with some serious stuff, and Laura doesn't shy away from tough subjects.

But it also shows that people aren't always as bad (or good) as they seem, and everyone has layers, and people CAN change for the better.

This is book two in the series, but it can be read as a standalone

This was so good, and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.

Did It Make Me Cry? It's been so long, that I don't recall...

Review: My Summer in Seoul ~ Rachel Van Dyken

Image from Goodreads. Click on the image to learn more about this book.


Format I Used: E-book
Pages: 480
My Rating: 4.75 stars
Publication Date: December 14, 2021

As always, spoilers ahead, so please read on with caution.

Okay, it took me far too long to actually start and finish this book. But that's because I literally only have been reading manga and LISTENING to audiobooks, and this is neither of those things. Alas...

Did I enjoy this and am going to give it an absolute favorite stamp of approval, based on how this book made me feel overall? Yes.

Were there some things that made me a little bit annoyed? Also yes.

Reading this felt like reading one of my cute fluffy shojo reverse harem mangas (you know the ones that feel like a reverse harem, but the MC is so wholly into and ends up with only ONE of the guys, so it's not ACTUALLY a RH) So that gets it bonus points

One thing that I didn't really care for was the fact that Lucas was the love interest. Mostly because he was so hostile to her, and pretended that he couldn't speak/understand English so he didn't have any conversations with her until we were already halfway through the book. (but that's also probably because I am always somehow falling for the second "love interest" which is always the wrong choice.) It just felt weird to me.

And I was so confused for a while too, because the person on the cover is clearly Lucas, but then the only one who was having anything to do with her was Rae

I liked the friendships that Grace ended up having with all of the guys. It was so sweet. Especially Jay/Kai/Sookie. There were so many times that those three specifically (and extra specifically Sookie) were there for Grace when she was having a breakdown (after they got over their distrust/initial dislike)

Although there were so many times I was facepalming because of something she did. After the first time I found out ONE of them could speak English perfectly after pretending not to be able to, I would have been suspicious of every single one of them and watched my mouth.

Sookie was probably my favorite. He was so sweet! Like, I want a friend like him.

This literally felt like I was watching a K-Drama. It was over the top at times, and there was tragedy and drama, but that's okay because it all worked out in the end.

Also, Grace cried/tears filled her eyes SO. MANY. TIMES. Like seriously. I don't know anyone who cries that much.

 

Did It Make Me Cry? No