Ivy

Hm. It's a very "what the actual f*ck am I reading right now" type of book & I couldn't tell whether I loved that or hated it... apparently both somehow.

Had really great things that I enjoyed immensely, but also very "meh" things that caused more annoyance/confusion than anything else.

It's kind of all over the place in many ways & again I mean that in equal parts good & bad. I really liked the art style the most, I think.

I can see why there's people who decide to never rate non-fiction books, this was difficult to rate. I've settled on a 3.75 & this rating is mainly based on the directly transcripted interview format, rather than on the overall content of the book itself. The book was indeed educational/informative for me as a white woman & I learned many things, I just wish the format was, not necessarily different, but perhaps edited in a better way?

Didn't know how to review it, decided to sleep on it, still not really sure, mainly just "holy shit"

I understand this might be a bit young for some people (I mean, it IS the drama & pining of teenagers, after all), but I dropped out of high school in my first year due to excessive bullying/struggling with my mental health. So I guess even at 31, I like to live vicariously through books about the school-day experiences that I never got to have. 🫠

It deals with a pretty long list of heavy/triggering subjects (bullying, grief, eating disorders, self-harm, anxiety, mental health, panic attacks, homophobia, etc.) & there's a lot of gore & body horror.

3.5 maybe

Idk

I'm really frustrated with this one

Loved the art style, and I liked the overall plot (especially about the Djinn), but Rami's character really killed it for me.

I absolutely could not stand her personality/behavior throughout the book. Maybe it's a personal issue, but it made me wanna quit reading it multiple times.

Went directly into my notes app to draft up this nonsense 😂

this is my review now idc 💁🏼‍♀️

I don't feel like tidying it up into something more public eyes friendly

My reviews are mainly for myself anyways 🥴

Rating: ???

Mixed feelings

Pros -

Fun "easy" read

Hashtag relatable

Hilarious sh*t happens

Gorey asfff

Sh*tty men die horrible deaths they definitely deserve

Vampires duh

✨️vibes✨️

Pro/con - lot of the dialogue was cheesy as hell

It's giving campy horror

Cons -

Some of the writing was irritating (overly descriptive like: "...it hurts like nothing I've ever felt before. What I imagine it would be like to have a tooth extracted without anesthetic, a bone hammered broken, a limb axed off. A removal. An unwelcome alteration." Like okay damn we get it geez moving on lmao)

The ending/epilogue was ??? kind of a mess? weird and didn't make much sense IMO

There's plot holes, so many plot holes

The vamp lore and overall world building didn't feel fully fleshed out

Insta love in the cringiest way possible like mf you are bein goofy rn pls shut the f* up 😂😭

Fmc b*tching and moaning like every other page about being "old" (36) and uGlY, and miserable

Annoying but honestly same gurl 💀

The toxic bestie situation, like are y'all okay? 🤔

Basically -

If I was rating for vibes and overall enjoyment of the absolute *ride* that was this book then it's a 4.5 but if I'm rating based on the writing and story, then it's more like a 3.5 and honestlyyy I think if I hadnt read this while I was hormonal it would've gotten a solid 3 stars ngl

I did actually like how the author made the reader get the distinct feeling that the ending would somehow involve the dream mall and it would likely be a tragedy (or is that just me? Surely not?)

I had the pleasure of being an ARC reader for this beautiful childrens book - it uses a kid friendly approach to explain the adoption process.

I think this book is an excellent way to teach your children (adopted & otherwise) about how adoptions work & helping them understand that being adopted is nothing to be ashamed of nor does it make you any less worthy of love.

So it makes me extremely sad to have to do this, but unfortunately this book is the very first one I have EVER decided to DNF (at 76% - page 213) & after skimming to the end, my rating would have to be about 2.75 out of 5 stars. Please understand that I do not believe this to be a "bad" book, there were a lot of interesting and thought provoking quotes and ideas, but overall I just (personally) found it to be incredibly boring! That being said one person's 2 star book could be 5 stars for another, and that's okay! The premise was promising, but sadly, for me, the execution was just not what I was hoping for.

2.75 ⭐️'s

Overall an interesting read, but there was plenty about it I wasn't a fan of.

Many unnecessary details that I assume were an attempt to make the characters feel more "real" but I felt myself getting annoyed while reading through some of the chapters.

Biggest "ick" for me, is the lack of warning about the book containing scenes depicting the violent assault of a child (age 6) & d**th of a child (age 4)

I think I would actually read a book by this author again, given the chance, as I didn't completely hate it - the way the details of the story were slowly woven together actually worked quite well.

Also, I think detective Rita Myers was probably the most interesting character in the book. I didn't care much for most of the other characters though & there were a LOT to keep track of.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

♡This was going forward. This was what it was to take your heart back from the past. ♡

I am legit awful at writing reviews (I find it hard to articulate my thoughts without turning the review into an ADHD word vomit) so I hardly ever write them, but this book was so, so, SO amazing.

I was lowkey super worried about reading through some of the very heavy topics discussed in this book, but it definitely deserved every single one of the 5 stars I decided to rate it.

I hope as more people purchase, read, rate, and review The Isa Project, it will continue to garner attention & reach all those who have ever experienced the trauma and grief of "loss" - whether it be a loved one, an animal, a relationship, or a stolen innocence, etc.

This was at times heartbreaking to read, yes, but also incredibly therapeutic because it sends a strong message that it is not your fault, you are not alone, and you are stronger than you think you are. ❤️‍🩹

"Hard doesn't mean bad"

🪽 Fly little bird 🪽

3.5 stars

I feel like this is one of those books that depends heavily on who the reader is and whether their interpretation of the stories is literal or metaphorical. Some of the stories "worked" for me (made sense) while others... didn't. Mothers Tongue was just very confusing to me. However, My Better Half was incredibly well done, as was Smaller. I absolutely loathed The Lord Above though, it was just plain disgusting honestly

Decided to DNF at 46%

I'm just completely uninterested.

The MC is annoying, and the writing is driving me insane tbh 🫠

I don't think I would've made it this far into the book if I'd been reading it vs listening to the audio book [the narrator is great].

7 hours left in the audio book and I just can't listen to it anymore sorry 💀

This book is a masterpiece

5 million stars

Pls write a sequel lmfao

But real talk what an incredible debut, Sarah Adler will absolutely be an insta-buy author for me in the future.

Queer rep? check.

Beautiful prose? check.

SPICE?! CHEEECK lmao

Also major props to the author for making me love a book with the miscommunication trope in it, because it was actually written/handled super well. It usually makes me wanna rip my hair out

I was sitting heavy on a 3.5 rating, but tbh the saving Grace (literally, pun intended) that bumped it up to 4 stars, was Grace Cavanaugh 😂🤌🏻

What happened to Slick kinda gave me the ick (lol) bc it felt kinda idk, unnecessary? Maybe that's just me. But yeah, overall, I did enjoy this book!

It was super creepy/disturbing at times, but great at keeping my attention throughout the entire 14 hour audiobook (PS highly recommend the audio bc the narrator had the perfect accent & really brought this story to life)

It was my first Grady Hendrix read & I will definitely be reading more in the future~

3.75 rounded up

Okay it was SO cute & I was smiling like a dang fool through a lot of it but I think I'm lowkey such a romance hater overall lmao I have to be very specifically in the ~mood~ to read romance & I *was* when I first started the book, but it took me a while to get through thanks to my varied disability issues (exhaustion + pain, mainly) so by the 70% point I was kind of like, pushing myself through to the ending bc the 'mood' had passed 😂😭

Still really liked it, though! Most of the baseball stuff flew right over my head cause I'm not really a baseball girlie, but it wasn't really over the top and was still enjoyable for someone who doesn't know anything about sports.

It had pretty good ADHD/mental health rep, fun friendships, realistic conflict between characters, cute gays doin cute gay things & plenty of Trans joy ofc

(Was also a tad spicier than I was expecting lol not a bad thing, it just surprised me) 🥴

One thing that was kind of odd to me (and I'm just nitpicking here) was how dodger was just casually allowed to go everywhere with Luis. Only mentioning this because he is described as his emotional support dog - which is, legally speaking, different than a service dog.