afi_whatafireads's reviews
589 reviews

Will need time to properly write my thoughts out for this, but one thing's for sure, this is effed up as it is depressing and melancholic.

My brain literally in shambles after reading this. Definitely impactful and I'll be thinking about this book... for a very very very long time.

Personal Ratings : 4.5🌟

Vile. Shocking. Just ... wow.

An interconnecting stories, told from different characters interwoven with one another.

Writing----> Amazing, just love how she wrote everything here. The scenery, the feels, the musings of each character, and the interconnection of each character in here.

Characters ----> The fact that they're so messed up and yet you still feel sorry for them . The most sorry I had for was for Takumi and I hated the adults had ruined everything for him, and the fact he's still so very young, just shows the effects of underage exposure to indecent intercourse.

Themes

Sexuality
The overall theme of this book consists of the topics of sexuality, how taboo it is, and how vile the darkest parts that humans can go.

An older woman having cosplay sex with an underage boy?
A genius who got into a sex cult?
A pedophilia who wants to teach but has urges?

This book for me really showed how indecent exposure to sex can often come more harmful than not, especially if you're exposing it to children that are younger than you. Whats sad about this book is that, every single character has their own baggage they had to carry and its the product of society that led them to have a life as that.

This book really really really boggled my mind as to how vile and disgusting these acts are and that they exist in the real world. The fact that it's more common makes it scarier. Being that the idea of love and lust was distorted to a point that it will mess you up as a person, and lowkey, as a reader, it really leaves you unsettled after reading this.

The author had done a splendid job in exploring this theme and the fact it can make you very uncomfortable showed how wrong the acts are morally but once going into the psyche of the person, you can't help feel sorry for them. Its messed up. Really. And I hate that the actions of a person affects a young person's mental-state-of-mind to a point it will make them unable to live their lives as a normal person.

Womenhood
Another main theme that the author highlighted are on womenhood, and highlights more in fertilization and how society views a woman's role in marriage. From Satomi's pressure from her mother-in-law to have children, to the number of tryouts that she had to try, to the constant criticism in her inability to have children, and also we get a glimpse of the world of childbirth and how women had to limit their options to a point that they feel the need to have a "normal" birth as to deem to become a good mother.

As we get a POV of midwife in charge of giving birth, I feel that the author did a splendid job in bringing this topic to life. In the hardships of women being objectified, they also don't have their own say for their bodies, up to the obsession of society to have normal births just to deem you as a succesful mother. I felt so much whilst reading this and truly, most women STILL STRUGGLES with this belief all over the world. The pressure from families, in laws, your marriage and also society viewing you for your purpose rather than you as a person.

How The Internet can Ruin A Person's Life
Its scary how something so far fetched can really ruin someone's life. While this theme is somewhat subtle, I feel that the author had done a wonderful job in showing how the web and its mass connection had been able to help to connect dots on certain things, but, when used wrongly, it can lead to disturbing places that will ruin a person's livelihood.

The author was really smart in showing how humans are somewhat interwoven in a tight net that leads us to be in the know, even with the things that we didn't want to know.

This part was so effed up to me, to a point that it just blew my mind.

There are other themes such as bullying, after-effects of bullying and some topics that I feel that it will be draining for me to elaborate on. However, this book does show the affects of either being too exposed to something that can come more harm than it doesn't. The writing reminds me a lot of Murata's writing in Convenience Store Woman, where the characters are odd and often deemed as 'weird' in society. Whilst this book's theme carries a heavier theme, being that the very act that the characters did can literally put them in jail, its also a reflection of life and our society now; in which the need to feel wanted and loved to a point they find it in places they aren't supposed too.

The melancholy in the passages and the musings of life in each character has led me to believe Kubo is an amazing author and Polly Barton translated this wonderfully. Definitely a masterpiece and whilst it fucked me in the head so bad, its also a read that I will remember for very long time.

This one got me close to tears, and gosh, this story is realistic to a point that it gives you a sort of pain that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, if you get what I mean.

Its funny that I'm neither married, nor I have a partner at the time I'm reading this, but TJR managed to make me feel so so much whilst reading this. Its often hard to see relationships falter when they're so much in love, especially after marriage. And even if I'm single at this time, I'm such a pessimist that I knew that marriage is not just all fun and games; its about compromises and responsibilities, and how often than not, you sacrifice part of yourself willingly to be with this other person.

TJR wrote this beautifully. Whilst its not perfect, I feel that the rawness and the imperfections of the book made the story more relatable. Her stories always feel so very real. Its real to a point that you feel that the characters are people that live close to you, or a sort of friend that is going through this painful experience.

Honestly, what Lauren and Ryan is doing for their marriage (they took a one year off each other), is very brave of them. Like I said, if it were me, I'd have given up (but this is coming from someone who is in a relationship), and yet, I understood . I understood by looking at my surroundings, and my parents and the ones that their marriage can't be saved. I understood that relationships need work and no humans are perfect, and it takes US vs THE WORLD rather than YOU and I VS WORLD . I feel that marriage is a team pact, where you are your own person but at the same time you work together to be against the problem. No marriage is perfect, and TJR wrote that in a way that these problems DO exist in real life; in which makes the stories that she wrote more meaningful.

And honestly, from the few books that I've read from her, TJR knows how to write stories on families. I love a family saga, and Lauren's family are one that I just have the most heart in. Goes to show at the end of the day, when nothing is working out for you, the people that love you most will always have your back. I love that Lauren went on a journey on finding herself again through the people that she loves, and through the people that loves her as well.

This book isn't a story of a woman mourning her marriage. Its a story of a woman who is brave enough to save her marriage, to find herself amidst being broken and above all, being able to love again when its right. This story shows that, even if two people who are loyal to one another and loves each other so much, this can happen to them . It can happen to anyone. And for what's worth, fight for what you think is the right thing for you. Fight for your happiness. And most of all, be happy doing it. Because at the end of the day, that's only what matters.

4.5🌟 for this one!

Biggest thank you to @definitelybooks for this copy!

Its sad how badly I would like to give a higher rating for this book cause, even reading it with the perception of YA/Middle Grade, I do feel this one was a huge missed potential of a story.

Guardian of the Realm tells the story of Kyle who had to move away because of his mother's duties as a Guardian in the Animal Sanctuary. There, he found that the sanctuary is not like a zoo but is more than that. An incident had made him learnt of the world beyond the sanctuary and what means to be the Guardian of the Realm . A fun story on friendship, sacrifice, believing in yourself and best of all the love for animals.

Let's start what I do like about the book first:

1) Illustration
I feel that the illustrator had done a wonderful job with the book. The fact that the colours and drawings were vivid and I loved the small details in the book that made the story come to life. The attention to the colour schemes- and how they play with the overall setting of the book with colour scheme makes it very interesting and plus points to that. It definitely gave a huge stark and impact on the story and it made the world seemed livelier at certain settings of the story.

2) Message from the Creators
I love the message that the creators of the are putting out in which having the faith to try something new as well as the love of animals and its importance in the ecosystem. Whilst it was delivered subtly, I liked how they incorporated the animals with the humans and the friendship bonded over it. It makes a book that I would definitely let my younger sisters and cousins read it.

Now for what I felt made it a Missed Potential .

1) Overall Plot
Honestly, overall, the whole plot of the book was just messy. From the very start to finish. Sad that I had SUCH HIGH HOPES for the book and I was left a tad disappointed. Please remember that every book I read , I will set my perception as the intended audience, and for someone who LOVES graphic novels and mangas, the storyline is over the place in this one. There were parts that suddenly came into focus, without a good backup story to pick it up.

2) Characters
Characters in here just feel so ......... bland and unmemorable . There was nothing I can remember about Kyle and the rest of the friends? They didn't leave a huge impact as well. Again, I've read standalone graphic novels with stellar characterization and honestly, there's loads that the creators could do but didn't manage to do it.

Overall, this book has just so much potential but it just didn't work out as I thought it would. Quite sad because I was looking forward to read this one , but do still give it a go if you're wanting to look for the illustrations as this part of the book is just stellar. Biggest thank you to Times Reads for this copy!

At this point, Keigo is a full-proof author that I will never ever ever doubt of his works. This one was as good and lord, it gave me FEELS at the end that almost made me teared up finishing it.

Who wouldn't fell in love head over heels with Kaga after reading this, cause I surely did :')
(But since I met Yukawa from Gallileo series first, Kaga is my second next to Yukawa lol)

Right back to my thoughts. Honestly, with mystery books, I prefer if you guys go in blind. Don't even read the synopsis, if its written by Keigo freaking Higashino? Its BOUND to be good. That I can promise and assure you. With this book what I like is that you can never expect what goes in Kaga's head to be honest, and half the time, you're going.... is he for real :') But eccentric characters like him are the most just and sharp even if they look sloppy. Kaga reminds me a lot of Kindaichi from The Honjin Murders and both had set to become some of my favourite character in Japanese Crime Thrillers that I follow.

Honestly, this book is more than just a crime mystery. That goes without saying to all Keigo's books. Each of his works are more than the crime itself. Yes, solving a crime is a good, but, Keigo has also shown how important it is to have compassion in doing and solving the work. Whilst the victim had died, the people around them can be affected as badly as they are living and the dead had passed to the other world. Whilst the title made sense (again Keigo is always clever in naming his books), I love that this one reads like a slice-of-life; with episodes from different families and a whole community of characters which made the stories more heartwarming in a sense. Its also smart how it all came together at the end.

At this point, you'll get tired of me telling to pick up Keigo's works; but really, please do so. Its an amazing story, with an amazing cast, and with values that we seem to forget sometimes after living in the world for quite some time. Recommended and one that can quickly take you out of a reading slump if you are in one :)

How does a book make me feel so much and feel SO. MANY. THINGS

Yall, the SPICY LEVEL IN THIS ONE IS LOWKEY AT 4.5/5 LIKE BEHEED THIS BEFORE READING THIS OKAY.

Anyways, this book served a good ratio of spicy and plot and I FREAKING LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH LIKE PLEASE.

✅ Age-gap
✅ Found-Family
✅ Grumpy - Sunshine

THIS BOOK. LITERALLY. HAS. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. I LIKED. IN. A BOOK.

And that's on periodt.

Although there is an insta-trope in here, IM LOWKEY NOT MAD AT IT!!!!!!!
Like, the Willa and Cade, just MADE SENSE? and I freaking love how ADULT THEY WERE IN THIS RELATIONSHIP. LIKE PLEASE MY HEART JUST BE SQUIRMINGGGGG CAUSE THIS ONE IS BLOODY GOOD :')

Please read this. Just read this. I can't my heart.

AND WHO KNEW COWBOYS WOULD BE A THING FOR ME CAUSE BLOODY HELL I FREAKING LOVE THIS BOOK HAHAHAA.

4.75🌟 AND I CANT WAIT FOR THE THIRD BOOK TO COME OUT.

There's something eccentric and yet captivating of Miyazawa's writing and this collection of short stories is definitely one that I will remember for a very long time.

A classic and an inspiration from the creators of Studio Ghibli, Night Train to The Stars holds a collection of 25 short stories of talking animals, forests that whispers your secrets and well, humans that are often odd than most. Stories that seemed ordinary on the surface but has a deeper meaning once you get to look through the lenses of the author.

Personal Thoughts

Although there were some hits and miss's for the stories in the book, I mostly loved it and I definitely liked the slow and almost-melancholic vibe that I had whilst reading this. Go in the mindset of this book reading it as a children's book as it is a collection of classic fairytales and folklores for children in Japan. The foreword written by Kaori Nagai had instilled so much depth and showed that certain stories had a deeper message than the Miyazawa perceived the story during the first time reading it.

What I can sense most whilst reading the book was the Appreciation Towards the Environment . Miyazawa has a background of greeneries and delved in the farming industry and his love for it shone within the collection. Reading this made you somewhat transported to the world that he written, albeit its a scenery in Japan but a more, whimsical one at most. His stories carry voices of people that has been looked down all their life, of forests and animals that had been hurt by humans and of the heart and soul of the ones that are left behind.

I honestly adored the metaphors that Miyazawa brought and his stories are intended to put moral values in the real world, but he used animals instead. Almost all of his stories have talking animals and woods that can communicate with people and in one way, it served a good medium as these stories are mostly written for children.

Some of the memorable stories for me are Restaurants of Many Orders, Kenju's Woods and of course, the Night Train To The Stars. Its definitely a collection that I would like for everyone to read at least once in their life. Enchanting, a bit odd at some, but definitely will let you sail through the stories in the world that Miyazawa had set.

4.25🌟 for this collection! . Biggest thank you to @definitelybooks for this copy!

RTC.

This gave me everything and more and I cried and laughed.
I'm biased with this series and its basically everything **sighs**

My love for these characters are immense 🥺

Edited : 19/1/2023

This novella gave me everything I needed to have some sort of closure with The Daevabad Trilogy.

Since I'll be rooting everyone to be reading this series, here's a few takes before you go in this novella blind.

1. You CANNOT read this first . Don't. Never do that. You'll just spoil yourself through the entirety of the whole series. Read this AFTER you've finished the last book in the series, The Empire of Gold. I'm warning you. DON'T ATTEMPT TO READ THIS FIRST.

2. I suggest to read this book RIGHT AFTER finishing the series? Why you may ask?
Well... There are a few chapters that gives you an.... Alternate ending and possibly what happens after the epilogue of the story... so.. lookout for that hehe.

3. DONT SKIP THROUGH THE CHAPTERS Don't. Yes the chapters are written through different characters but best to enjoy it through accordingly. HOWEVER TEMPTED YOU WANT TO SKIP TO YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTERS Don't.

Okay that's about it.

Honestly, I can't write my thoughts about this book without spoiling my entirety of the whole series, but here's a few non-spoilery takes:

Writing
I feel that Shannon , like the authors that I loved, really does her homework and research in writing and it shows in her writing. In the novella, I loved that we get more of a backstory of each characters, and I'm kinda thankful that its written on Nahri's time rather thna Ghassan's time cause I will be bawling my eyes out throughout the series I feel :') Chakraborty writes really good adventure stories, and her scenes on the nature, the environment and how she describes each movement and history doesn't feel forced and boring, it felt you're sucked into the world and just enjoying your ride there. It's an amazing feeling.

Characters
You can't hate anyone in this book (except for me, I hate this one Djinn) , but the rest? You can't hate them. That's how morally gray they are and I love the characters in this series with my whole heart. The novella gave me more insight of the series, of their sacrifices and mostly, it gave me a closure to some scenes in the series. I devoured every chapter and every page.

Themes
I feel that no one really talks about this particular theme in the series, but one of the most prominent ones is Motherhood. I swear the women in this book are something and Shannon writes SUCH GOOD WOMEN CHARACTERS. I'm absolutely in love .

Please pick up this trilogy AND read this novella right after. I am still quite hungover and I freaking love this novella. For those who have read the series a while back, here's a chance to dive back into the world of Daevabad, that will take you to places and characters that you're already familiar. To those who are new, welcome and I hope you enjoy the ride and adventure of the series.

Biggest thank you to Times Reads for this particular copy!

t finally came to an end.

I had a very long journey with this series. I finished the first two in 2021, started this one right after, only to leave it during one of the breaking points that made me just... weep.

Fast forward in 2023, she picked this up again, so that I can FINALLY give a shout to the whole world ; HELLO PEOPLE I LOVE THESE SERIES. I can't not give this book a 5 stars, but if in terms of the whole series, my ranking would be these:
1- The Kingdom of Copper
2- Empire of Gold
3 - The City of Brass

Kingdom of Copper will still remain superior to me, as I just loved the themes that were in the book. Empire of Gold is the repercussions and in answering so many unanswered questions following from the first two; and we get a whirlwhind of adventures with Empire of Gold and it made my heart soar reading this.

There's no denying that these whole series as a whole; its the perfect introduction to
1- Fantasy World Settings ; and yes this setting makes me happy reading it due to good references from historical worlds
2 - The pacing of the story ; best if you're just transitioning from YA and moving to Big Adult Fantasy Books
3 - Characters ; just love love love the myriad of characters in here. You can't go wrong with this.

And in the case of Empire of Gold, this chunky 700+ pages of book gives us
- The proper closure we needed for each character
- Gives somewhat a new hope and setting possible for a new world (in which The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is set in the same world yeay)
- Showed how Chakraborty really EXCELS in adventure-isque stories and I honestly can't wait to read the pirate book, cause even in Empire of Gold, it was already so good to a point it got me crying.

This book is everything . It brought me pain. It brought me joy.
And most importantly, it gave me the best sense of closure for a series that I can finally announce to people: HEY I LOVE THESE SERIES and not just THE BOOKS :')

Yeay to me.

In this house, we honour : Good men that are not scared to be vulnerable, have good communication skills with your partner AND at least TRY to work out your inner-demons.

And yes, Rhett Eaton is basically all that and more and I LOVE THIS BOOK to a point it made me just giddy just thinking about it.

Personal Ratings : 4.25🌟
Spicy Level (18+): 4/5🌶 (Damn)

A cowboy bull-rider who looks tough on the outside but is very soft at heart and a PR who is very much a people pleaser and has been a caretaker her whole life....... Come together and BOOM they molded to become one of a whole.

Firstly, lets just say how much of a softie I am when in comes to
✨Smalltown-romance
✨A male character whose not afraid to show that he's vulnerable
✨A VERY likeable female character
✨Very family-oriented
and well..... Cowboys? Damn I didn't even know it will be a thing for me till I read this book HAHHAAHHAAHAH. ( The Eaton brothers tho... damn)

Anyways..
This book for me has a good mash of buildup, with the problem at hand for both of them didn't feel "convenient", like its there just for the sake of being there, so I have to give kudos to that for the author cause I will be pissed to read another "problem" that popped out SEEMINGLY out of nowhere. It just pisses me off. I liked that the book has a Dual POV , so we get to know BOTH of their thoughts which made me love the book even more. What's more, I love the Tension that they have for each other, and how they came together, for me was natural and cute and VERY HOT .

There were some parts that I teared up a bit because I can relate to Summer so so much. She's such a positive woman that tries to be optimistic in life, and having a personality like Rhett with her just... well.. suits and I love them for it. I also liked how the author showed how someone who had been heavily gaslighted and groomed her whole life can actually mess up a person to make them feel unworthy of love; which to me is something that needs to be addressed and I applaud the author for that. Honestly, I can't wait to read her other books... cause.... damn I CANT WAIT FOR CADE's AND WILLA's book cause that ticks off all of my boxes.

What didn't make it a 5 star was I think just the overall... feel? I don't know how to pinpoint it, but I felt that there were some parts of the book that just.. didn't really come together? Its mostly me I think, but there was a part of the story that made me felt... I think..is more on it being an Enemies to Lovers, but for me..... it wasn't really that? I don't know how to word this well but I feel that they're more just irked at each other and not really enemies so I think its mostly on how it was marketed that ticked me off a bit.

But overall, I REALLY enjoyed this and I can't wait to read more of the series! Definitely would love to read the rest of the author's works because I love finding underrated authors to stan hehe.

Highly recommended!

STILL CUTE AF <3

Also I love all the characters progression in here. In a way, they each of them has somewhat a progression of their own and I liked that there are no misunderstanding tropes in this manga.

I liked the friendship that was built from the first misunderstanding and now we have them venturing into a new stage of their relationship for both couples :') Just a feel good manga that I just agh CUTE