Emma Goto
A story about four sisters who are raised in a close knit, loving family in Chicago, alongside the story of William, a boy who grows up knowing no love at all.
I didn't realise until after I finished this that I had also really enjoyed the author's previous book “Dear Edward” as well! The author is really good at writing stories with tragedy that verges on bittersweet more than anything else.
I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It's a book about two people who have broken up due to a huge lack of communication and misunderstandings (which is actually very realistic?) but makes it frustrating to read. There's a side plot with the friendship which I actually enjoy a bit more. Didn't want to give it a 3 because it has more depth than your average romance novel, but more of a 3.5 rounded up.
Had low expectations for this one considering the author's recent novellas were pretty bad. But this one was alright! It was a bit tropey at times but decentish plotline for a romance novel.
This is definitely very YA complete with the chosen one/underdog/love triangle tropes but it has DRAGONS so I let it slide a little bit. Honestly the romance is the worst part about this whole thing too which sucks.
A cute story about an ex-warrior orc that turns into a barista and coffee shop owner. Fairly short!
3.5 stars. A romance novel about a codependent couple, one with bipolar disorder, who decides to go off her medication with some success. The author partially based the character off her own experiences with bipolar disorder, which is is cool that it's realistic, but at the same time the character is very flawed, selfish and pretty unlikeable so it's not a very flattering portrayal of it.
Somehow Tchaikovsky continues to get better and better with these books. But it's impossible to give a plot summary without major spoilers (honestly I feel like it's better to go in blind with all the books in this series).
YA fantasy book about two rival journalists in a wartime setting. Honestly not bad, ends on a huge cliffhanger though!
Another epic fantasy masterpiece!! A lot of fun to read with the women-centric plot focusing on warriors, a dragon rider and a queen.
This is a prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree, and I had completely forgotten what happens in it, but still found this book easy to follow nonetheless. I probably should have refreshed my memory and it might have made the plot line a bit more impactful.
When I saw there was a new Brandon Sanderson book I had to read it! The quirky tone at the beginning was offputting, but it either got toned down or I got used to it, after which it became a fairly pleasant (if straightforward) read.
A book about 3 witches across different time periods who have some form of magical abilities. Touches on abuse themes as well. I didn't really vibe with this one, it's not really quite fantasy-themed (more like regular-life but with magic on the side) and the plot felt pretty simplistic.
This one's about a tennis star (seems very heavily inspired by Serena Williams) who comes out of retirement for one last attempt at a grand slam.
Even though Carrie Soto as a character shouldn't be likeable, Taylor Jenkins Reid just writes really good characters!!
A memoir about actress Jeanette McCurdy and the abuse she suffered by her mother - it's not a happy, fun read but definitely well written and interesting!
It's good but it's also about the opioid epidemic in rural America so pretty depressing at the same time.
Science fiction with a romance subplot is by far my favourite genre, and there sadly isn't enough of it so for that reason I'm biased into giving this book a 5, but would probably dock half a star or more otherwise. I binged this one in one sitting on the plane so I definitely enjoyed it!
Basically the plot revolves around people with the ability to influence minds (architects) as well as those with the ability to read them (readers). For some reason architects are accepted in society and it's the readers that have to keep their powers a secret. And I struggled a bit to wrap my head around that one since manipulating thoughts seems a lot more dangerous than just reading them. And then they smash in that romance subplot by forcing an architect to mind-bond with a reader (yes sounds cheesy but it's good I promise).
Originally posted at www.emgoto.com.
My favourite book in the series yet! A good combination of romance but enough action to keep the story moving.
DNF at 40%. The book goes for a very feminist, anti-men vibe (there are still good male characters though) and centres around some women who come into their powers at middle age. However it felt a bit too cringey for me to enjoy.
Everyone wakes up one morning to find a box with a length of string inside of it, which shows how much life they have left. Besides the immediate implications of knowing how many years of life you have left, the book dives into how society would change - if you only had a year left to live, why would someone want to employ you, for example? - plus people would want to approach relationships knowing their own or their partner's lifespan.
A coming-of-age story about creating video games. You'd think something about video games would be right up my alley, but for some reason I found this book didn't grip me as much as it could have?
This was an interesting one. It's about women having the ability to turn into dragons en masse and leaving behind the patriarchy of the 1960s. Where it gets weird is it's not really straight fantasy (which would have been fun to read!) but more so some sort of menstruation allegory (almost? Or something similar anyway) in that the fact that women are capable of turning into dragons is considered embarrassing to talk about and people turn a complete blind eye to. Which it's dragons! Hello! Can you really ignore that?
Originally posted at www.emgoto.com.
A new book by Alistair Reynolds, yay! I quite like some of his sci-fi books but I found this one to be a little bit boring in comparison. I think because it lacks some of the epic or space opera-ness as it's more of a self-contained story? But nevertheless it touches on some interesting concepts as the main character finds himself reliving events across different eras.
The book breaks the cliche of “city girl moves to a small town and meets a country boy” in a really nice way.
Yet again, another one of those books with seemingly unrelated storylines - a 1912 immigrant to Canada, people living on a moon colony in 2300 - but it all comes together for a satisfying finish. Does this subgenre have a name?? I love it.