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freethefrican's reviews
254 reviews
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.0
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
Did not finish book. Stopped at 43%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 43%.
I don't think I'm in the right headspace to read this. I may come back to it though.
Scandalized by Ivy Owens
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I really enjoyed this. My goodness, something about it just worked well for me. There was such an ease to their attraction and forthrightness to their romance that their instalove didn't feel like instalove. It was in no way the most exciting story because if we look at it as a whole, nothing particularly great happened but they made me believe they could make their relationship work and that was enough for me.
The subplot was a little meh but it tied in well enough with their story that I didn’t mind it too much.
Asides from the MC (a journalist) not knowing some information that was just plain ridiculous for her not to know, one other thing I didn't like was how everything in the third act got resolved like someone waved a magic wand. Also, the little HEA reel at the end was not needed.
I saw a review that criticised this having a Korean male love interest when the author is a white woman and I felt that criticism was uncalled for. The story was one POV and it was a white woman’s. Her love interest just happened to be Korean. I don't think there was any misrepresentation of culture or any perpetuation of stereotypes. We need more representation among POC authors but we also call out writers for not having enough representation in their books. Would you have preferred to have another story where the POC is a side character with 2 lines total? I see nothing wrong with a white person writing a POC character if they do the work and portray them correctly.
The subplot was a little meh but it tied in well enough with their story that I didn’t mind it too much.
Asides from the MC (a journalist) not knowing some information that was just plain ridiculous for her not to know, one other thing I didn't like was how everything in the third act got resolved like someone waved a magic wand. Also, the little HEA reel at the end was not needed.
I saw a review that criticised this having a Korean male love interest when the author is a white woman and I felt that criticism was uncalled for. The story was one POV and it was a white woman’s. Her love interest just happened to be Korean. I don't think there was any misrepresentation of culture or any perpetuation of stereotypes. We need more representation among POC authors but we also call out writers for not having enough representation in their books. Would you have preferred to have another story where the POC is a side character with 2 lines total? I see nothing wrong with a white person writing a POC character if they do the work and portray them correctly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
The Passengers by John Marrs
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was quite a ride and pretty scary because it wouldn’t be far-fetched to see the things that happened in this book happen in real life. I enjoyed the social commentary because it tried to hold a mirror up to society—humans will be entertained by anything and generally prefer to be performative rather than make effort to effect real change.
The POCs got the short end of the stick in this and it was intentional and served its purpose. My major problem with this was how we found out who caused the problems and why. It was quite a letdown. The weird romance thrown in also felt very silly and unnecessary.
The POCs got the short end of the stick in this and it was intentional and served its purpose. My major problem with this was how we found out who caused the problems and why. It was quite a letdown. The weird romance thrown in also felt very silly and unnecessary.
Grip by Kennedy Ryan
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Again, her third act swung a little too wide and became a little hard to take serious. Still enjoyed it though.
Flow by Kennedy Ryan
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
Going to stop reading this for now and maybe pick it back up later. I’m not enjoying it anymore but I do want to see it through.
Full Tilt by Emma Scott
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Can’t say I liked this more or less than book 1 but I can definitely say Piper and Brendan from the first book had better characterisation. However, I liked the main conflict of this book and the difficult push and pull before the resolution. It felt pretty realistic and I liked that the pacing was a lot less manic. The love scenes did not get better and I found myself just skipping them entirely. 😂