kait_sixcrowsbooks's reviews
221 reviews

I’m sure this book has merit, but it’s more of a “it’s not you, it’s me” situation — I thought it was something else instead of what it actually is. Ah well, it was just a random book I saw at the library anyway, lol.

If there’s something I really love in a romance story, it’s fake dating. And this book really hit the spot.

I enjoyed seeing Luc’s development as a character as he goes from being a self-centered asshole that has a lot of self-worth issues to realizing that, oh hey, he has people who live him and maybe he shouldn’t take that for granted. And while the reader isn’t in Oliver’s head, I liked seeing the bit of character development he has that we see through Luc’s perspective, too.

All in all, it’s a very cute story, and I’m definitely looking forward to Husband Material coming out later this year.

ALRIGHT a week after the fact, but here we are, lol. And even then…I don’t really know what to say? I just really, really enjoyed this book.

Between Perfect and Real is a book I wish I could’ve had when I was in high school. Granted, I didn’t know I was genderqueer until I was 21 and starting grad school, but I think it may have helped me to at least explore that part of myself a little earlier. The way Dean relates to his transness isn’t the same as mine, but we have some similarities, and frankly it felt a bit validating to see a character in high school share that bit of myself.

And on top of that, I like how Dean was never framed as a perfect character. He’s a high schooler realizing he’s trans and wanting to transition, but not knowing how. He has a girlfriend, he’s trying to get into college, and he’s living with a parent who is trying to shove him into a pre-approved box regardless if that’s what he wants to do. He makes mistakes, but he tries to make the best out of everything. I dunno if I’m framing this well, I just think he’s a well-written character.

But…yeah, this was a wonderful book. I loved the characters, the plot, the themes. It was all great, and I can see a lot of trans kids relating to Dean.

More thoughts once I can actually formulate them, but oh my GOD that was a good book.

I wish I could rate this higher, I really do. The thing is, Horseman had the potential to be good. There was some really good passages, some pretty interesting pieces. But in the end, while I still enjoyed it as a quick read, it fell a bit flat for me.

Part of it was because of the first person POV. This is entirely a personal preference, I’m just not a huge fan of it. There are very few 1st person POV books that I love or even actively enjoy. Especially because, in the case of Horseman, it seemed like it made assumptions that shouldn’t’ve been made, that there was a lot of telling that just seemed annoying.

The writing kinda melded into that, where it just seemed choppy and sometimes just…not well thought out? Not to say that the author just slapped this together real quick, but some of it did seem sloppy. There were plot points that, when the reader is given the reasoning for them, I wasn’t able to suspend my disbelief and they fell flat. And that ending just seemed…rushed? Like the author wasn't sure how to end the story.

Tied to that, there was also two or three monologues throughout the book given by various characters, and while one of them was actually pretty interesting regarding the woods and what lived there, the other two? I was completely bored out of my noggin. I ended up just skimming them till the plot started to pick back up again, tbh.

Along with that, the characters were…meh. Brim seemed like this larger than life character that could do wrong, and I know part of that was because we’re looking at everything through Ben’s eyes, but damn, even when he’s an adult, I feel like the reader is still being fed with “Brom did no wrong!” when that’s…questionable. It just got to be annoying and tedious when you go to the twentieth “Brom is so amazing!” passage in a book that truly isn’t that long.

And when it came to Ben? Ugh. His personality aggravated me, even though I know it’s supposed to (at least somewhat) because he’s a kid for most of the book. But yeesh, the self-righteousness was annoying — and even as an adult he still tried to explain it away! Like nah dude, you were a dick, the least you could do is own up to that, lol.

Katrina was just there as a “men fought to have her >:(“ plot point and as an antagonist for Ben until ope, nvm not anymore, which was also frustrating. She was just incredibly flat and the reader literally only knows her through the relationships she has with the men around her.

All the other characters? Flat, no personality outside of drab descriptions we’re given through Ben’s 14-year-old perception. The only character that was actually interesting was the Horseman, and he had the least amount of screen (page?) time! The passages about him were written so well (relatively, yes, but still), and I’m so sad we didn’t get to see more of him for a book named after him. Literally the only reason I’m rating this a 3⭐️ and not 2 or 2.5⭐️ is because of him. Out of everything else and everyone in this book, his character was the most intriguing.

But yeah, I…wasn’t a huge fan of this. Which is disappointing because there is some wonderful potential with this! It just fell flat for me, sadly.

This was super cute! I loved seeing Nick work through his identity and how supportive Charlie’s friends were (even if Tao had the wrong idea, his heart was in the right place and I can’t entirely get behind that).

Can’t wait to read the next volume! :)

I think a good portion of it was me just taking so long with it (I started it?? Back in December???), but the story just seemed…choppy. And how the three MC’s suddenly all got together seemed super abrupt to me, and the story as a whole just did not flow well for me. Maybe I’ll try it again later, but for now, it’s going on my “donate to little library” pile 🤷🏻

I had to return it to the library before I finished, but I do want to pick it back up again eventually !!

While I thought the idea of the overdependence the MC had with her friend was interesting and could make for an intriguing dynamic in the book, I just could not get over the ✨ exotification ✨ of global south countries these two white women were doing. It was getting real annoying real quick.

This was such an emotional ride — I really felt for Win and her friends. It seemed to drag a bit at times, but overall, it was a nice story about adolescence, friendship, mental health, and how messy it can all be.

I read this book over two months ago and I still can’t write a review, lol. Lemme stew on it for a few more days, and hopefully I can come up with something! (Just know that I really really loved it !!)