Book Review - Blog Posts

Current read: Call of the Bone Ships by RJ Barker

Book 2 of the Tide Child trilogy

If you grew up reading Ranger’s Apprentice/Brotherband then I highly recommend this series— lots of nautical elements including ship lingo and long voyages. It’s a high fantasy series, so it has Pirates of the Caribbean-esque elements as well. The sea battles are incredibly well-written.

‼️‼️🗣️🗣️ SEA DRAGONS 🗣️🗣️‼️‼️

I’ve seen reviewers classify these books as grimdark, but I disagree with that mainly because of the main character Joron and his captain (shipwife), Lucky Meas. Though hardened by the circumstances of their lives and their tragic pasts, both of these characters, along with many of the side characters, have strong moral compasses and a conviction to do what’s right.

I’m enjoying this series a lot so far and I think it definitely deserves to more well-known. I would love to see the fandom grow too because I haven’t found anyone to talk about it with yet 🥲 (if you have read them pls interact bc I am desperate to scream about Joron with someone)

I am aware this is the first post on my new account, but. This is just a random post, I just finished the book. The sun is a star, and I have some things to say. I did like it but I feel like it wasn’t as good as it could’ve been you could tell two people wrote it, and while it was refreshing to have a different writing style inside of a rick riorden book with the same characters, I do feel like it was kind of not the best or at least what it could’ve been. The concept was good, but I feel like the storyline didn’t really flow all that well, although that is partly my fault because I read the first part of it in bulk a while ago, and recently have been reading every once in a while, and just a couple minutes ago, finish it but even with that I feel like it doesn’t flow that well. And yes, Will and Nico are very cute in the book. I feel like they should have expanded more on Nico’s past and maybe they could’ve had a big fight about it and it all comes out and it could’ve been way more dramatic, and way more convincing.  also, I feel like they could’ve done more with Hades and Nico’s, mom and sister in the book and at the very end where they rescue Bob from Nxy they felt very rushed. Overall, it is very good book and I did enjoy reading it but I feel like it could’ve done more.

What Boy Meets Maria Means to Me

SPOILERS AHEAD

CW: mentions of SA and pedophilia. These topics aren’t comfortable even with me most of the time. Please stay safe, okay?

So. I picked up this manga because I fell in love with the art style and heard it didn’t have the usual fetishization most MLM stories have in manga. It seemed sweet, if not exceedingly dorky. Two theater kids fall in love. A one-shot MLM grumpy x sunshine story.

I had no idea what I was getting into.

“There’s nothing worse than always being alone.”

Now, this story felt deeply personal for a number of reasons. Let’s start with the main character, Taiga. He wants to be the best actor in Japan. He’s loud, determined, and doesn’t seem to notice when people find him utterly annoying, nor does he seem to understand the social rules of the world around him. All in all, he reminds me a lot of my current boyfriend.

And then there’s Maria. Or rather, Arima.

I’ve never been so hurt by how close to home a character hit before.

Arima was raised by a mother who wanted a daughter. He was raised as a girl, and often felt enough like one to be okay with it. But it never felt quite right. On this alone, I could relate a lot to that as a more feminine trans man. Girly clothes felt fine, being referred to as a girl didn’t feel inherently wrong. But being a boy felt entirely right, and that was something to feel guilty about. But there’s more than that.

Now. This is hardly something I like to discuss, so I’ll keep it to a minimum. At a certain point, Arima’s insecurity with his gender got to a point where he was driven to ask his teacher how he’d feel if Arima really was a boy. And, as soon as that was said, that same teacher assaulted him.

Of course, reading this was beyond painful. It’s natural to read something like that and get the pit in your stomach that’s usual when hearing of other’s tragedies. But how the event changed Arima meant just as much. The event led Arima to view being seeing seen as a man as dangerous, as something scary and vulnerable. And he found safety in his femininity, as that was never subjected to the horrors his masculinity did.

It’s often speculated that trans men are the way they are because of some bad memory they have with their born gender, rather than it being a part of their identity. I face the blunt of this rather often, as a trans man that also happens to be an SA survivor. Seeing this told from an AMAB perspective made it feel less belittling, somehow. My struggle with my identity since that point feels more real. My assault followed the same pattern as Arima’s. I disclosed with someone I trusted that I might really be a boy. And then I was assaulted by that person the same day. And like Arima, I still find safety in being perceived as feminine. I still often hide behind it, as being seen as the man I am seems more vulnerable. I’ve never seen my exact feelings written out the way I feel them.

Now, back to Taiga. I mentioned that he reminds me a lot of my boyfriend. Taiga, throughout the book, seems to look up to Arima for his talents. Arima however, is jealous of Taiga for his ability to be so open and outspoken about who he is and what he wants for himself. Neither understand how the other could want to be more like them. This was something me and my partner struggled a lot with as well, for a lot of the same reasons. It felt so silly and cliche at the time, for us to be jealous of each other like that. And yet, there it was. Not laughed at. Not mocked. It was seen as a real struggle. The reason we grew was the reason they did. It was real growth, and growth I can be proud of.

“I couldn’t help looking up to you. I didn’t want you to see my weaknesses. But it didn’t matter what I showed you. With you, I could be masculine. I could be myself. That’s how I felt. It was refreshing. And now, I really can’t let you see how pathetic I am.”

I’m happy I can say that I was able to make the same progress Arima’s character did. Healing is painful. PTSD is painful. And seeing my own painful view of the world put into words hurt. But I needed it. And I thank the author for giving this to me. I will treasure it forever, even if it was only one small book in a sea of other wonderful works. This one is mine.

For those who read all this but never read the manga, thank you, I guess, for being interested in what I have to say. If you decide you want to pick it up, please check the content warnings beforehand. And if it grows to be too much, drop it. Nothing is worth risking your mental health for, let alone a single book. What means so much to me does not need to mean as much to you.

I love you all dearly.

[casper has logged off]

I'm going to post the books I read again on here so here is my most recent read!

Forget Me Not by Julie Soto

I loved this book. It was such a cute romance and a fast read. This is a second chance romance about a wedding planner and a florist and maybe it's because my wedding it coming up but I was hooked lol definitely recommend

I haven't done a book update on here in a minute so here's everything I've read since the last update 🥰 my favorites? Fourth Wing and Love Hypothesis lol

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

At first while reading this all I could think was what happened to Snow? He seemed so compassionate. But as things progressed his thought process just bothered me. I felt like the story didn't do Lucy Gray justice and that this didn't provide much of a necessary back story to the original books other than offering a few things you recognized in the originals.

Okay I loved this one. There was so much emotion and heart break in this book, you feel sorry for everyone involved. The story of her trying to get her daughter back is more of the focus than the romance but I think she did a great job balancing the 2.

Kingdom of the wicked series by Kerri Maniscalco

This series could have been written a bit better BUT it as still enjoyable and an easy read. And I do feel she did a good job wrapping the ending up

The Fear by Natasha Preston

I enjoy her books because it's like watching a cheesy thriller movie. The entire book I thought I was right about the killer, got so excited that I was right, and then the last sentence ended with me my mouth falling open 😂

Regretting you by Colleen Hoover

Her books are always either a hit or miss for me. This one was enjoyable but definitely not her best. I enjoyed the mother daughter relationship repair more than I did the romantic interests lol

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas

I can't belive the series is over 😭 I love this world and these characters so much. The ending was what I was hoping for 🥺❤️ I feel like she did a great job wrapping everything up and giving everyone the ending they deserved. The loss though were so sad. This book was an emotional roller coaster lol

Tower Of Dawn by Sarah J Maas

I will say I was not excited to read this one since it was Chaols point of view and with the cliff hanger of the last book I only wanted to read Aelins story. But I enjoyed the book! I enjoyed Chaols redemption and finally having Yrene in the story 🥰

I'm excited to start the last book but sad that the story is coming to an end 😭 the last book is nearly 1000 pages though so it will probably take me a minute to read lol

Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas

This book was a constant go go go. I was so excited when all the point of views met and for the love connections that were made. But typical Sarah had to rip my heart out at the end 😭

Queen Of Shadows by Sarah J Maas

I think this is my favorite in the series so far. Everything played out so nicely and I hope 🥺 I absolutely love Rowan and Aelins relationship, Chaol finally isn't annoying, and Dorian is free! I can't wait to see Manons and Elides characters transform 🥰

Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas

This book was heart warming and heart wrenching at the same time lol I was so happy with what happened with Rowan because i love him so much. And then all that other crap happened with everyone else! 😂 if I didn't have a test tomorrow I'd start the next book now lol

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

Oh Nehemia 😭 that made me so sad. Archer can got to hell. I need Celaena and Chaol to be back to normal. I'm glad she told him everything and I predicted that ending half way through lol

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

I definitely am going to fly through this series. This book was very good, I loved the character development and meeting the new characters. I can tell she used this book to lay the ground work for what's to come!

The Assassins Blade by Sarah J Maas

I'm glad I read this book of novellas first to give me back stories before jumping into the series. I loved the stories but ma'am why did you have to rip my heart out at the end like that 😭 Celaena better find love again.

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

I had a more difficult time getting into this book at first but the ending was worth it! The whole time I thought it was a different person that died and suspected a different murderer until the last few chapters. Overall I do like some of her other books better

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas

For what the goal of this book was I don't think it needed to be as long as it was lol I loved seeing my favorite characters finally together and thay ENDING. I'm so excited for her to combine this with ACOTAR!

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Mass

I enjoyed this book although at times it was very information heavy. The way the story played out and the twists/turns kept me reading as well as waiting for the main characters to finally get together lol I think I enjoy thr court of thorns and roses world better but I am excited to start book 2! But my eyes need a break because out of the 800 pages in this book I read about 400 today 😂

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher

This entire book has you believe one thing, then another, then another, and you just never know what's going to happen. I did not expect that ending at all. It was a confusing, mind-bending, suspense lol

Confess by Colleen Hoover

I honestly loved it. It gave me the same good feelings I got when i read November 9 🥺 I read the whole thing within 24 hours lol I like that she used real people's confessions in this although some were quite sad

Book review! (No spoilers)

Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell

This was a very quick and easy read for me. Although I had theories I never knew how it was really going to end. I did feel the ending was a bit anticlimactic for the build up we got of the story lines. Although I will always enjoy a happy ending in a book!

Charm by Tracy Wolff (book 5 in crave)

Finished this last night and it was so nice to see the time frame missing between Grace and Hudson 😭 I feel so bad for what he went through when they came back and Grace couldn't remember now. The final book comes out in May and I hope it wraps everything up nicely!

Fedeltà

Now what truly makes me curious is what’s behind those beautiful brown eyes…

It is really hard for me to understand his intentions. Sometimes he’s cold and crude with me but there are also times when he is calm, soft and he even initiates affection towards me. Because of this, exactly I am dubious of his actions.

As in, do you love me or do you not love me?

I don’t want to continue living like this anymore; loving you while I’m trying to understand what’s worth doing and what not. I’m in a conflicting position with insecurities that I never had before but finally you had the urge to make me have them. It’s outrageous to think that I love you but at the same time I hate you. And I’m not particularly talking about that kind of hate that engulfs your very being and claims your soul, plaguing it with negative faith. No, I’m talking about that moment where one’s behaviour is so beautifully wrong, making you infatuated to it in a way that brings you to respectfully hate that person. But make no mistake, dear readers, hating that person doesn’t mean that I’m not burning with a raging fire within my heart and mind, roasting those little rational thoughts that have been remaining in my tiny skull, instead I am suffering in misery while stopping this hate towards this person, because it’s paradoxically sweet of him to have that demeanour with me.

I’m the one to blame. Because I never ceased to live without him in my routine. As in I dived into his lifestyles and matched my own rhythms to his, sacrificing my freedom and empowerment. Isn’t this such a cruel world?

Perfect cruel rational world. That seeks to confine us into narrow roles and expectations, and we defy those limitations. At least that’s what a normal person seeks to proceeding.

Instead, I am doing the opposite. Aren’t I ashamed of my own actions and ambitions? I seek to have a love life and I search for it in every single corner of the streets I walk through. But, I’m absolutely not embarrassed of my intentions, I am exhausted of all the limitations imposed upon me by an outdated script of delusional MEN of an old fashioned world. Now, I come from a quite antique century too, but I never seek to follow these outdated “laws”…

But he is the man of his times, the one that lives in danger and commands his inferiors, putting them to submission and protecting his dear ones.

I am one of his dear ones. His first priority. He has proven it to me. Several times. And I’m not talking about something that happened some years ago… No, I’m talking about two days ago;

We were seated in the back seats of our car, the driver could not particularly listen to our conversation, but we were having a small quarrel about something that had no means to whatsoever… But he was getting angry, not at me but he had been bothered by several affairs that day and he had no patience whatsoever to deal with tiny little stupid issues that I created in the moment just because I wanted a bit of his attention…

He raised his voice at me. He had never done it before.

And at that moment, I turned my head and looked out of the window. He stopped his sentence. And stopped talking.

When we arrived home, I waited for him to open my door and I got out the car. With my head raised, I was headed to the door. He followed behind me. Stayed behind me. Never dared to say something to me.

Once inside our room, I closed the door and only said one word “Out”.

The next morning I woke up, did my usual routine and headed to my kitchen to have breakfast. I saw that he had already prepared breakfast for me. And then, he had went to meet his men.

After that I had gone out for a stroll in my garden.

I had thought I had been all alone. But there was a presence behind me. That person put their hand to my mouth and blocked my arms, locking them behind my back. I didn’t fight.

My husband came. Out of nowhere. He was there. And he shot that other man in the middle of his forehead.

Unbothered, I turned around and got back to clean my hands in the bathroom. He comes behind me too. He cleans his hands after me and he dries them.

I feel his hard and big arms gripping my waist and hugging me to himself. And I melted in his sculpted body. I turned my head to his head and softly pecked him to his lips…

You see? How could I ever hate him? He is my sweet, perfect, dangerous Salvatore.

My only boss and my husband.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

☆☆☆☆☆

An absolute must read.

"Long before she was the terror of wonderland, the infamous Queen of Hearts, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love."

This novel brings readers excitement and illicit romance between two star crossed lovers.

The protagonist, Katherine, is the daughter of a noble and only wants to open a bakery to share her love of pastries with the folks of wonderland. But fate has other plans when she is suddenly told of the foolish King's desire to marry her.

I found this novel to be painfully beautiful because as the reader we already know that she is going to marry the king. We know how the story ends. We know and yet we hope stubbornly that she will succeed in her quest to follow her dreams by opening a bakery and be with the one she loves. And when she ultimately fails we can't be surprised; we knew this was coming.

I give this book 5 stars because I will be crying over this book 'till the end of time.

“Some of us, in our daily depressions and rages, were apt to stray, to become corrupted, irreparably so, and then our lives would be forever in disorder.”

- Schoolgirl, Osamu Dazai

“Good night. I'm Cinderella without her prince. Do you know where to find me in Tokyo? You won't see me again.”

- Schoolgirl, Osamu Dazai

This book is sad, but I like its honesty and expansion on the thoughts and emotions of the girl. I think it also gives a glimpse into the mind and feelings of the author himself. I don’t understand the ending paragraph, but I hope to one day.

ᯓᡣ𐭩

"someone will remember us, I say, even in another time"

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

call me a lesbian but i JUMPED for this book when I saw it at my local bookstore. ive already read it twice, and im in love

her poems are enrapturing, attention grasping, and overall beautiful. i'm not even kidding when i say these fragments top any other completed poem ive read

will never not suggest this book to people, it is 100% worth the read. my copies already heavily annotated

ᝰ.ᐟ

𐙚

"I think I’d been looking for it all my life, a storm in my body to match the one in my head."

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

To say this book was NOTHING like i expected would be a massive understatement.

sapphic horror has got to be one of my new favourite genres, and this book did i great job in playing into it. the gore was detailed, the mysteries nerve wracking, and i was constantly worrying about our main characters.

make sure to check the trigger warnings before getting into this one<3

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5⭑