libraryalissa's reviews
1420 reviews

tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Not all of this worked and I debated on a rating for a bit, but ultimately it kept my interest and was very smart. Some aspects of it gave me the ick but I don’t think that was necessarily unintentional so 4 stars

A Game of Noctis by Deva Fagan

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O'Donoghue

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-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

4.0

I devoured this in a couple days. I mostly really enjoyed it but was put off by a couple things:

1) the toxicity of the romance. I didn’t mind Roe and Maeve as characters themselves. I love a flawed character. And I loved how much Maeve supported and was delighted by Roe’s gender expression and how Roe defied even nonbinary stereotypes and was just himself. But together they just seemed to mistreat each other and have a lot of problems that went unaddressed. 2) I felt the themes of suicide/self-harm toward the end were not dealt with responsibly in a YA book. The thing that eventually brought Lily back was Maeve (and Roe’s) self harm and willingness to kill themselves? No m’am. We can do better in books for teens.

All that being said I loved the witchy vibes, the tarot, the writing style, the feminist and queer themes, and the Irish setting. Will probably still attempt book two but on audio bc accents.

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

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medium-paced