genre: young adult – Page 3 – Pixel Reads Books

author: Adam Silvera

my rating: ⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): YA, Contemporary, Romance, Lgbtqa+

my thoughts: under the cut for possible spoilers

After reading this book and They Both Die at the End by the same author, I’ve decided this is not the author for me. The characters were not fleshed out enough for me, I didn’t care about them. Yeah the book was sad and I shed a couple tears towards the beginning for their grief but then I just kept getting annoyed. The constant back and forth was confusing at times. The author tried to make this mental health character but it was half assed. There wasn’t enough time to flesh that storyline out and deal with it. There’s nothing in the book that suggests the main, Griffin, is delusional. Then during the last chapter, the last fucking page he mentions off hand oh yeah my therapist diagnosed me with DD. It was out of left field and terribly done in my opinion. If this author wanted to include mental health, it should have been addressed better and given more attention instead it felt like something tacked on at the end.

Finish date: 06/26/18

28. A book with song lyrics in the title – Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Finished 06/25/18

I was having a hard time with this prompt for a while and after the third time I went through my TBR list this jumped out at me. Duh! Carry On by Fun or even Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas. Anyway I was happy to find a book from my TBR list that fit this prompt.

Now this book first caught my eye from the cover when I was at Barnes & Noble browsing. It was really pretty, yes sorry book covers are the first thing I see. I try hard not to let covers deter me but they do snag my attention first if I think they’re aesthetically pleasing. When I read the summary I thought yes, I want to read this. I’ve read other reviews that stress this is not Harry Potter fan fiction. But honestly that’s all I could think. Now I don’t mean that in a negative way. I love fanfiction and I think some fanfiction is just as great as a published novel. There were many similarities that I felt like I was reading a Harry Potter AU. Again this isn’t a criticism, just something that I felt during my read of this book.

This read was medium paced for me, it wasn’t until the middle of the book around 45% that it picked up pace. I really did try to read it as a standalone but I just could not get Harry Potter out of my head. There were some chapters that stood out in a negative way for me. The constant back and forth between POVs in the same chapter was annoying. One example: Simon: what was he thinking right now? Baz: I didn’t know what I was thinking. I as a reader didn’t need to know that. It wasn’t enough to not read or enjoy the book but I really didn’t think it was necessary.

title: Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1)

author: Leigh Bardugo

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): YA, Fantasy

my thoughts: under the cut for possible spoilers.

I loved it! It didn’t hook me in right away. The first couple chapters went through the six main characters point of view first to set up their background and the world. It was a little slow going and I was nervous the whole book was going to be like that. I was wrong and glad that I was. It picked up pace and I became invested in the story. I fell in love with these characters; Bardugo made me care for all of them! I’m so excited to continue on with this series. Jesper & Wylan are OTP!

Finish date: 06/22/18

title: Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them (Hogwarts Library)

author: Newt Scamander

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): Fantasy, YA, Middle Grade

my thoughts: What a fun book! Very easy read, only took one day to finish. I love that the book is authored by Newt Scamander. There were a lot of fun facts and information about the magical creatures from the Harry Potter series. Recommended for Harry Potter series lovers.

Finish date: 06/15/18

title: A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR #1)

author: Sarah J. Maas

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): YA, Fantasy, Romance

my thoughts: under the cut for spoilers

Finish date: 05/25/2018

I love fairies. Anything fairies I will give a chance. I really enjoyed this book and I loved the whole fae aspect. The romance was eh, I liked Tamlin a lot but then they introduced another High Fae. When Rhysand was introduced my first thought, oh here we go again with a love triangle. It wasn’t prominent in this book and I’m hoping it doesn’t go there. I’ve seen the ship on tumblr so I am wary but I’ll read and see for myself.

It’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling and I thought that was really cool. Although that did make some parts predictable; that didn’t bother me too much in this book. I also liked that it was a fast paced book, very easy read. I will be continuing on with the series.

note: Depending on how I manage the rest of my time, I may end up including this book for my pop sugar reading challenge.

title: They Both Die at the End

author: Adam Silvera

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): YA, Contemporary, Lgbtqa+

my thoughts: under the cut for spoilers

Finish date: 05/12/2018

I liked reading this book. It wasn’t amazing and out of this world, just okay. I really did like the plot but I think some things could have been done better. I’m just a reader though, not a writer and it’s always hard for me to really describe what it is that was lacking, just that something was missing.

The characters could be very one dimensional at times and I felt no connection to them, I wasn’t sad when they did die or that they were scared about dying, I just didn’t care that much. I did like how all the different characters lives intersected with each others without them knowing. To them it was just another person passing them by on the street, to the reader you could see just how their lives connected. The world building seemed almost incomplete or like it could have been more fleshed out.

I read the book as well as listened to the audio book. I gave up on the audio book not even half way into the story because it was bad. The voices changed with some of the characters, one female was being done by the guy but then later in a different chapter she had her own female voice actor. I couldn’t follow along with the recording.

title: Zodiac (Zodiac #1)

author: Romina Russell

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
genre(s): YA, Fantasy, Science Fiction

my thoughts: under the cut for spoilers

Finish date: 05/11/2018

Okay so I rounded up to 3 stars instead of the 2.5 to be generous. I love the cover and that went towards the .5, as well as me wanting to find out how the rest of the series plays out. The love triangle was seriously off putting, I don’t know why I judged this book so harshly. Maybe because I was hoping for more, the plot was intriguing and the side characters interesting but the ending and overall story just fell short of my expectation. The main character could be annoying at times, she went back and forth many times and seemed to be constantly throwing herself a pity party. The book was also a little predictable, of course nobody was going to believe her and of course she wouldn’t triumph at the end, that’s just how it goes.

The plot and setting were interesting. I liked the different take on the Zodiac. I recommend to those who like books with love triangles or don’t mind them.