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art_books_chemistry's reviews
532 reviews

Indestructibles: My Neighborhood: Chew Proof - Rip Proof - Nontoxic - 100% Washable (Book for Babies, Newborn Books, Safe to Chew) by

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informative fast-paced

4.5

A Rivalry of Hearts by Tessonja Odette

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funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

Who knew I could enjoy cozy romantasy as much as my normal epic high fantasy? If you've never read anything "cozy" you'd be delighted to find there is no big bad in A Rivalry of Hearts, not even a third act break-up. In fact, the third act is when things start to get quite spiiicy between our pair of author MCs. The dialogue was teasing, witty, and sarcastic in turns, the latter allowing me to resonate with the characters a lot. They all felt real and genuine within their portions of the story, and I cannot wait for Monty's story, he's definitely a ball of fun. There were definitely some emotional twists I didn't see coming at all and I appreciated the many layers of Will. While there is a driving plot (where the "rivalry" comes in), it's used as the building block of their relationship, instead of being the other way around.

This made me actually L-O-L multiple times plus want to strangle the characters a time or two, so for that it gets all the stars. I'm not usually a fan of pure romance but this was just pure fun. If you're a fan of things like Legends & Lattes, where you can just relax your brain and enjoy the ride but you want some spice involved; I highly recommend this.

Content Warnings

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I'll be honest, I did not go into this book with a lot of optimism. I don't do well with (sort of) contemporary to begin with and secondarily it was hyped by people who's tastes don't generally cross with my own. But I always try and do my best to read the books chosen by my bookclub, because I've found some surprising favorites over the years.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a love story, but not. It is also a historical fiction novel (though I'm sure that statement is inflammatory to the rest of my generation that is short-circuiting as I call the 90s "historical") but also not because although it's mainly 90s-early 00s, with some 80s, it covers things within the last decade as well. I'm still not entirely sure what the main point of the book was. I suppose the point is to show how two lives can become so interconnected with one enough because of a series of coincidences over the course of a lifetime and yet be so disconnected from each other at the same time. In the end, it became a bit depressing and in some ways it felt a little too real, as in "is this really what all our lives boil down to in the end?" This specific point is how I felt about the NPC chapter, honestly oof. But kind of a good "oof", because that character felt the most real and relatable against the rest. The two mains were by turns insufferable for different reasons.

I know this review is a bit all over the place. That's somewhat how the book felt at times, but overall it was a good thing. I was surprised that I enjoyed this by the end, though some points did drag. You definitely have to understand or enjoying gaming at least a little bit to understand the motivations of the characters and some of the technical bits. Overall solid, most likely won't re-read it, so I also don't understand the complete craze this had on the public last year.

Content Warnings