aamna_theinkslinger's reviews
628 reviews

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

A little disappointing, but it had its good moments. Full review to come.

They Hate Each Other by Amanda Woody

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It's so adorable!
We follow around two main characters, Jonah and Dylan, who really dislike each other.

The author made the characters feel so really with so many layers and complexity to them. They're not as one-dimensional as others perceive them to be, and for a time, they look at each very superficially. But that's what it's about.

Both of them are under the burden of their own personal burdens and traumas and responsibilities but somehow despite making mistakes and hurting each other, they are able to get past all that and fall in love.
Both of them are going through very tough situations caused by absent parents and bad financial situations, forced to take on responsibilities that they are not meant for, such as earning and full time caring for 3 younger siblings.

Jonah has nobody to depend on, and that has conditioned him to never even ask for help or rely on someone in the first place. He's not comfortable with somebody lending him a hand, and gets defensive. And this is one of the dysfunctional habits that he learns to overcome throughout the journey of the book.

Dylan often struggles with anxiety and panic attacks because of an estranged relationship and a violent attack he witnessed when he was a child.

The true impact of the book lied in their individual character development journeys.
I also loved seeing the interactions between their families and their daily life.
The Spanish endearments, the banter, the DENIAL uff… absolute perfection.

I always say make sure to point it out when I find it in romance books- YA or adult- are that the best kind of Romance books are stories where the characters are just as compelling as individuals as their relationship.
I think the author created two amazing characters whom we got to look deeply into their vulnerabilities, flaws and personalities. I got so attached to them by the end of it.

It was fun, engaging that also makes you feel. It is also one of those books that along the line, teaches you empathy.

The writing is also perfect because it matches the tone of the story. I find that I'm losing my preference for books where the tone of the dialogue or descriptions is a little young? If you see my blog or Instagram, you'd notice that I mostly read fantasy, and the last few months I have been mainly adult fantasy. So I've gotten more comfortable reading more description-heavy stories.

“Jonah’s hanging on by a thread,” Dylan says, speaking over me. “He spends his week working to provide for his sisters. His dad is an alcoholic
and isn’t around to help manage anything, so he’s basically raising his sisters by himself.”

“I can do it!” I half yell, half sob. My shirt sags and my body itches from rainwater, but I don’t care. The things I’m feeling within me are far worse, far more painful. “I have the resolve! It’s all I’ve ever had! I have me! I take care of them! I protect them! It’s my job to stay in control, and nobody can take that away from me!”

It’s a great balance between these highly emotional, and impactful moments vs moments like these:

“Piss,” he says. “Shit. Balls. Fuck.”
With that heartfelt message, he swivels and stomps back down to the snow-slicked driveway.

And in this story the writing felt very age appropriate. More in the upper YA range. It matches the seriousness of some of the themes it deals with.

And one of my favorite kinds of descriptions in the story were the food descriptions. Dylan’s Brazilian culture is an important part of his personality.

To conclude: I highly, highly recommend picking this one up.

Darker by Four by June CL Tan

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

After a long, long time of on-and-off reading slumps, I read a YA Fantasy book that gripped me. That made me turn page after page in anticipation. The pacing was propulsive and packed with action and tension.

As I start to tell you my thoughts about the book, I want to start talking about the characters first, since that element of the book left the most lasting impression on me.

We follow the story through the POVs of our two main characters, Rui and Yiran.

Rui

I was apprehensive at first because “MC who loves to avenge their parents/take revenge from someone” has become so common of a trope and I thought I’d be bored by it. But unexpectedly there were more dimensions to her character than purely revenge. That had to take a back seat due to certain events that happened in the book.

I ended up rooting for her quite quickly in the book, along with another character who is her love interest, But I won’t name him as it would be a spoiler.

Yiran initially seems like a spoiled and aimless rich boy. But as we get to know him throughout the story, his character gains more depth who we empathize with. He hungers for approval from his grandfather, the only living authority figure in his life apart from his half-brother.

SPOILERS-

As mentioned in the synopsis itself, through some strange circumstances Yiran comes into possession of Rui’s powers, and the way he dealt with the situation took me aback a bit.

Normally I would expect some character who would feel bad about it, would feel uncomfortable with that power, and would be earnest in wanting to give it back, but Yuvraj is just a teenage boy who has been passed over all his life, be it affection or power. He only has superficial things to keep him company.

So when he gets a taste of Rui’s immensely strong magic, he is ready to do anything to hold on to it, even if it means lying through his teeth and trying to get close to Rui.

Even as he is seeming to build a true friendship with Rui and come to find a true friend in her, he can’t help but want to keep that power for himself. That, despite seeming selfish, seemed so right for his character. Because of course, a person who has gone through what he has would act this way. Why would he want to give up something that has finally put him in the spotlight, and gotten him the life and the friends he wanted?

Rui sank her head into her hands. “All this time I was so sure that Hybrids existed. But now that I know it’s true, why do I feel worse?” Seurin had crouched beside her. Her warm brown eyes were frank and kind. “Because this is how it feels when your elders turn their backs, when institutions fall from grace, when the world moves on even as you’re standing still, when something you believe in turns out to be a lie. Because you’re no longer a child, and you’re realizing the world you live in operates in shades of gray. Sometimes, there isn’t a right or a wrong—there’s only doing the best you can in spite of the odds stacked up against you and forgiving yourself when you fall short.

Ash was another side character that I didn’t expect to become pivotal to the plot of the story. If you haven’t read the book, Ash Song is the elder brother of Yiran and the grandson of the owner of a very powerful individual. Despite not getting any chapters from his perspective, he’s an incredibly well-fleshed-out character. He’s not just the perfect “golden boy” character that Yiran’s POV makes it seem. The author makes his every appearance of matter.

“It’s been a difficult day,” Ash finally said. Both of his hands were gripping the steering wheel, knuckles white. He sighed, the sigh of someone who had seen too much but who was forced to keep his eyes open. How many people had died in front of him? How many people had he failed to save? Yiran didn’t know the ghosts that haunted his half brother.

overall tone and atmosphere

Most importantly, the high stakes and life-and-death moments of the plot match the writing style. It’s an immaculate balance. The writing is taut, compulsively readable, and tense.

One of the things that stood out to me the most is, as I mentioned previously, the elements of slightly older kinds of YA books.

It is pretty dark and gruesome, with a lingering sense of dread and urgency with the writing conveyed through the tone of the writing and violent fight scenes. The descriptions of the Underworld, the role of the reapers, and the magic and fantasy events inspired by Chinese mythology were fascinating and quite well done.

I think fans of Fourth Wing who are okay with no explicit smut or central romance in their books will like this story a lot because of the similarities it has with it. There’s a magic school in both of them (but the one in Darker by Four is a lot more believable and sensible in my opinion, while still keeping the high stakes).

I probably am not sounding as excited as I wanted to, because I loved this book. However, I couldn’t review it immediately afterward like I prefer to, so just know that I highly recommend trying this out, as well as other books by June CL. Tan.

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced