#overbearingreader

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A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Book Review)

Summary

In a world divided by Faeries and Humans, Feyre is taken from the Human realm to Faerie territory after she killed one of their own. In this world with creatures she’s only heard terrible things about, she has to live the rest of her life away from her family. While there, the worst thing isn’t her punishment for killing a Faerie, but a blight threatening to destroy the Faerie land of her captor, Tamlin, and the Human realm. Is it possible for Feyre to save both? With love and determination, she’s going to try.

Expectation

I imagined myself loving this series and I was worried about that because I heard a lot of backlash. Yet I still wanted to read it for myself. Plenty of people swear by this book, promising an amazing read, but because I heard that this is a problematic series, I was scared of being on the side that ignored the issues. Scared that I would like the problematic stuff or be completely oblivious to it. Regardless, I expected to rave over this book and give 5 stars.

Reality

I’m not raving over this book. I feel it was great to read, but possibly for me, it was overhyped. I think the fantasy, the world, the possibilities are 5 stars, but in the beginning, even though the book wasn’t boring, I was struggling to read multiple pages which could be from a book slump or lack of enthusiasm for reading a fantasy at the time, but I managed to finish. I heard the sex scenes are graphic and thrilling, so I counted down the chapters for those. I’ve heard non-spoiler critiques of this book and I honestly didn’t see much wrong with it in the sense of it being a problematic book. I was bracing myself for rape and racism, which I now feel is the reason I would put this book down for long periods of times. I was putting holding off the possibilities of having to read these things. There was a sprinkle of  rape culture, but it was never shown positively. The reader would know its negative impact on the main character right away. There was sex in this book and intimate moments, but I saw the consent. As for race, I noticed the descriptions of people of color. One character was described like bark wood or something another and I got offended because Feyre said that character wasn't beautiful and this was pretty much the first description of someone who wasn’t just pale or tan. But I moved on from it. Feyre is in no way a feminist icon, which is another critique I heard from people. Apparently Feyre does things that are unlike a true feminist. I read this book and saw a strong woman who is capable of holding her own based on no one else’s values but her own. Feyre is sexual, she’s a protector, she’s caring, smart, determined, stubborn, and knows what she wants and what she wants to do. I saw nothing incriminating of this book, which makes me believe I stressed over it for nothing and could have enjoyed the book more. Now that I think about it, I think all the bad critique was possibly for the 2nd book. I’m going to continue the series, but for the first book, I feel very comfortable giving ACOTAR 3 stars.

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How to be a BAWSE (A Book Review)

Description

This book is by YouTuber, Lilly Singh. She has over 10 million subscribers and if you watch her videos and read this book, it’s like she was born to write self-help. How to be a Bawse is all about how Lilly created her success. It tells readers how to be a person who is confident, who is happy, who does everything they can to reach their goals and conquer them. You don’t want to be a “Boss”, you want to be a “BAWSE”.

The Point

Lilly suffered from depression during a time where a lot of us start questioning what we want to truly do with the rest of our lives and she makes it evident that she was at her lowest point. She was beating herself up, figuratively, and she was lost. She uses this book to show her readers that they don’t have to remain in the same unhappy situation they are in right now. It truly gets better, and she wants to show you how she made her life amazing.

Level of Inspiration

I found this book 100% inspiring and cute. Too many self-help books are kind of depressing. This book is vibrant with a purpose. You’re supposed to just look at it and feel better in someway. She talks about how colors can cause different emotions and I think a reader will see that in these pages. Besides the cover and layout being well designed, I feel the chapters are well thought out. Each chapter starts with some story that seems unrelated to the chapter title, but then it all comes full circle by the end of the chapter. A lot of the advice she gives will leave you nodding your head in agreement, taking a minute to process the information, taking notes, and coming back to re-read certain parts.

Overall

Lilly is a great role model for people. She wrote this book. I watched all the vlogs of her making goals and promises to herself to finish multiple chapters before doing anything else. I saw her complain about writing instead of being able to take a nap. I saw when she was pass a deadline and had to apologize to her editor and such multiple times. But reading this book, I know that Lilly is a woman who practices what she preaches. That’s a great quality. And her success shows that this advice is the utmost helpful. 4.5 stars

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Happy Friday the 13th!

I’m doing something very new and that is a readathon! I’ve tried to attempt one before and barely did any reading within the 24 hours, but I’m dedicated to this one because I’m actually posting about it!

If you are unfamiliar with readathons, I first heard of them on YouTube. Booktubers usually create a theme or it can just be a goal of reading whatever list of books you want. But you have to read books, graphic novels, or poetry, etc. throughout the time allotted. Sometimes they’ll say, “Read for 24 hours in 2 days” and you can time yourself to countdown how much you’ve actually read, but in this case...the idea is you will continuously read for 24 hours straight. You don’t really have to read for a the whole 24 hours because we need our sleep, but spend the majority of the day reading. It’s a good way to push yourself to read.

This readathon was created by Aza from DreamingOfBooks on YouTube (click here for her channel!). She wants to read the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series within 24 hours for July 14th. This means you start at 12:00am on July 14th and finish at 12:00am July 15th. If you watch her video announcing this readathon, she says she doesn’t think she can do it (it’s 3 books! That is a lot.), but she’ll be trying to get through the 1st book at least. I’m going to do the same and then hopefully continue the series and finish in time for the Netflix movie release on August 17. I know this is last minute, but if you have the books, you can try to do it too or another time. I think I’ll be vlogging the experience as well. I’ve been on and off about posting videos on my YouTube channel, so if I like the footage I create, I will edit it and post it for anyone who wants to watch it and try the challenge on their own. A link to my channel will be posted on my blog if I do it, but I also will have a thorough blog post about my readathon experience, with timestamps, after I complete the challenge.

If you’ll be doing the challenge, let me know by leaving a comment below this post. I enabled comments via DISQUS so all you have to do is login with one of your social media accounts to be able to comment. There’s also my Bookstagram page @/remindmetoread where my Direct Messages are open. I’ll be posting about this over there as well so you can leave a comment under the pic.

TGIF. I’m ready.

[remindmetoread]

The Hate U Give (A Book Review)

Summary

Starr is a witness to police brutality that left her friend shot dead. As the only person, besides the cop, who knows what happened, she finds herself in the middle of a crime that has gone viral. In this book, Starr battles with the publicity, family, friends, and the loss of her friend, Khalil.

Overall

One thing I had a major issue with is that this book cover, the character described in the book, and the lead for the movie were super inconsistent. I read this book over a year ago and I just remember being annoyed by the inconsistency. Angie Thomas explained that things were put together in different orders. I don’t remember exactly, I would have to do some deep diving on her Twitter. That’s not happening since it was so long ago. But she pretty much said she had no control over casting or the cover. The cover was done separate from the movie. One of them came before the other, but obviously there was no communication between the two. But from my perspective, the girl on the cover is completely irrelevant to the actual story and Amanda Seyfried is technically a good Starr.

I was really proud of this book. 15 months later, it is still on the NYT Bestsellers List. At #1 actually. Every now and again it’s bumped down to #2, but it finds its way back to the top spot. The movie is coming out this summer and I will be seeing it. People are passing this book around, but sadly it’s being banned from school reading lists. I’m going to tell you my rating of the book and we will go from there. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. Around the internet I see a lot of 5 stars. The Goodreads general rating is one of the highest I’ve ever seen on a book, but why did I deduct a whole star? First of all, I have very high standards now for what is considered a 5 star book and I couldn’t give it to T.H.U.G simply because I wasn’t blown away. This is a book with a topic I’ve never read before, but it was still just a reiteration of everything I see on Twitter, just with a little more insight. It’s a YA novel, so I can’t expect this book to dive into the corruption of the police department and court documents, etc. but even with low expectations, the book still settled. I think the book lives up to its hype. I think EVERYONE should read it. It’s a bummer to see it banned from schools because I think so many kids can learn from it and see themselves in it. I know I did. It was definitely a good story, which is why it makes a good movie, but even if I read it again someday, I’m not exactly dying of anticipation. Maybe it’s just not that type of story to ensue excitement, but Starr’s journey through the media coverage and courts made a compelling story and I couldn’t wait to see what happened.

I don’t read many books with Black lead characters or an abundance of Black culture, so this was a nice read for anyone seeking that. It was relatable at times. And even when it was funny or heartbreaking, it was just nice to see it from someone with the same skin color as me. So, 4 stars does not mean this book needs to be taken back to the drawing board. I’m simply saying, it was a fantastic read, it met my expectations, I plan to share that with others, but don’t go into it expecting extraordinary. It was a good read, enlightening. It deserves all the momentum it has and you need to read it or else you are left out and missing out. That is all.

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A Torch Against the Night (A Book Review)

“Family is worth dying for, killing for. Fighting for them is all that keeps us going when everything else is gone.”

Spoilers ahead if you haven’t read Book 1: An Ember in the Ashes, but no spoilers if you have.

Summary

Laia and Elias escaped after the results of the fourth trial and are now on the run from the Empire. On their way to Kauf prison to save Laia’s brother and hopefully create a better world for Scholar survivors, they come across obstacles and risk their lives to complete these tasks. Will it be worth it?

Overall

First, I want to thank Sabaa Tahir for creating a series with “curse words” that I can literally apply to everyday life. “Skies” and “Ten Bleeding Hells” are really fun to say and it makes me feel like a wise old man cursing to himself. I think this helps build the world that we follow Elias, Laia, and Helene around in.

Last time I reviewed this book, I talked about how I preferred reading Elias’ point of view and that’s still very true. I also enjoyed Helene a lot too for this book. Laia definitely grew on me, but honestly it wasn’t until the very last chapter that I wanted more from her. She started in Book 1 being very timid and afraid to unleash her fire. There’s still a lack of confidence, but she’s getting so close to her goal and she wants nothing more than to rescue her brother, and that takes courage. Her character is definitely building.

I also had said that An Ember in the Ashes was a good book for leading up to what’s to come in the series, not great as a stand alone, and I think I was right. The continuation of this series is building and building and it got a lot more exciting and things were coming together in this book. I know there’s going to be a Book 3, so I did see where Sabaa will possibly be able to pick up the pieces and make another thrilling story for these characters.

If you’re a huge fan of the series and you haven’t got your hand on Book 2 yet, be prepared to have not 1, but 2 to 3 plot twists knock you off your feet. Two of the plot twists really took me by surprise, seriously I was in shock and wanted to put down the book, but I needed to finish. Then the last one, I was begging for it to happen just so I didn’t feel like the story would end abruptly.

I’m giving this book 5 stars for really going there and making me feel desperate for Book 3.

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Everything Everything (A Book Review)

Summary

A young girl, sick her whole life, and unable to go outside. Maddie was complacent with her life and where it wasn’t going...until Olly moved in next door. This guy opens Maddie’s heart and brain to possibilities outside of her house and the filtered air. But how can you have a relationship on opposite sides of glass?

Overall

This is the first book by Nicola Yoon I’ve finished. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book by a Black woman and I’m so ashamed of that seeing as I’m a Black woman and I know those Black female authors are out there. I just never made the effort to go past the Best Sellers bookcase. But here comes Nicola Yoon. Popular on BookTube, Bookstagram, Twitter, and most importantly the NYT Best Sellers List. It got me excited and I felt a need to read her books. First and foremost, I was surprised by the writing style. Her books include very short “chapters” . Sometimes only containing one sentence and other times just displaying a very creatively drawn picture that is related to the book. I liked it. I found it new and exciting and made the book easier and quicker to read; which I always like.

My favorite character was Carla. She is Maddie’s nurse. I like her because she gave some very meaningful quotes in the book that I took the time to write down. “Life is a gift. Don’t forget to live it”. Which I interpreted to mean that we should take our one opportunity to live as a chance to do everything we want to do. I wish I had someone in my life who randomly told me quotes that related to my situation. Also, “You’re not living if you’re not regretting”. There’s also regret of not doing anything, but I think this quote resonates with the reader. Life has choices. If you truly want to live, you’ll pick the choice that you feel will make you happy. What could have been if I chose the other option? Regrets. The path not taken is just a path not taken at the end of the day.

I haven’t finished reading, “The Sun is Also a Star” by Nicola Yoon (her 2nd book) but I noticed immediately that when it comes to the teenage relationships in her book so far, Maddie and Olly’s love seems a lot more realistic. As their relationship took a lot more time to bloom and I like that. A lot of books are guilty of insta-love and I need to be able to see some growth if you’re going to make a couple fall in love. A couple hours is not enough time to make me feel like you’re making a safe decision to give someone your heart.

This book focuses on a lot of existential stuff. A lot of searching for meaning and whether or not these things are valuable or worthy of experiencing. This book gives you an incredible perspective. What would life be like if you were allergic of everything? Your favorite things? The simple things?  I give this book 4 stars. If you liked the movie trailer, I suggest reading the book before seeing the movie.

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Forever, Interrupted (A Book Review)

“You won’t realize just how young you are until you aren’t that young anymore”.

Summary

After being married for a week, tragedy strikes a couple. Ben dies and leaves Elsie in disarray. It all happened so quickly, she now has to figure out her life without him. Leaving behind his mother, Elsie has to deal with the mother-in-law who didn’t know about her and what’s next after a relationship that had only started 5 months ago.

Writing

I am a huge fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books. I think they’re realistic and eye-opening. Not only that, but she writes what I like to call, “easy”. She doesn’t write overly complicated words, she doesn’t go into too much detail of descriptions and feelings. Which I love a lot, because I think those things can lag a book. It’s quick to read pleasantly enjoyable.

Characters

Elise is not the most likable character, which I think TJR is good at creating. You don’t hate her main characters, they just make decisions and act in a way you think you wouldn’t do. And they’re also very selfish. I’ve only read 2 of her books but I just feel this is a theme.

Ben died. God bless his soul. He probably would have been a major issue in this book had his character lived, but in death, you just feel sorry for what could have been.

Plot

I enjoyed the plot because I don’t get to read many books that include death of a main character very often. Especially not a book outside of fantasy. More realistic fiction books should focus on tough issues that we have to deal with in life and not gloss over it. It should really show the details and the feelings of having this experience. It’s not easy and it’s leaves a hole in you.

Overall

If Taylor Jenkins wrote it, give it a read. I don’t have anything negative to say about the book besides how the story is a tad average. Nothing spectacular, but that’s what you expect from realistic fiction. It’s simply that. Realistic.

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Future Book Reviews

I think I’m letting go of my book review structure. 

I separate my review of a book by the summary, writing, plot, characters, and overall opinion of the book. But that kind of stresses me out and is the reason why I haven’t been posting any reviews of the books I’ve read so far this year. Though I have been posting reviews for them on my Goodreads. I just want to be able to write freely without any restrictions, except avoid spoilers for you guys. Then, maybe, I’ll post a review that does contain spoilers. Also, sometimes I link my Goodreads review in my Book Blog Review because the Goodreads Review will definitely contain spoilers. Not sure how I want to handle spoilers yet, but I do know that I will be getting rid of the structure of my reviews indefinitely. I want to review the relevant things of a book without being stifled by these categories. I don’t care to talk about the writing of a book or all the main characters if it’s not what I was paying attention to. I’m a terrible reviewer; but sometimes that stuff is irrelevant to a story to me. 

Hope you guys stick around and enjoy the books and information I share.

:)