miyaosamu's reviews
312 reviews

“But the truth is, also, simply this: love is indomitable.”

4.5☆ — alex claremont-diaz my newest forever boy and alexhenry, or firstprince, just captured my entire heart with their story. this is very much a subjective rating because wow i enjoyed this one a lot more than i expected. there's not much to say but it made me laugh out loud especially a lot of alex's one-liners, gave me butterflies rooting for alex and henry, and had me feeling for alex and henry with the weight they have on their shoulders for the person they believed they should be. that last 20% of the book is was truly got me though, nearly had me in tears with how beautifully it was done with it's meaningful conversations with families and putting their happiness first. from how cute alexhenry was to the core six friendship, alex's family, and the sibling dynamics this book really had me so smiley then go through a rollercoaster of emotions that last quarter of the story. rwrb lived up to the hype for me personally, sure it's a bit slow moving in the first half but i thought it was completely worth it in the long run seeing alexhenry's relationship develop and was still such a wholesome read that i can definitely see myself rereading! 

not a single coherent thought in my mind right now because those last 100 pages took away the bit of sanity i had left. foul lady fortune was an absolute joy to read while also having readers at the edge of their seats and drawing conclusions at every given turn. something about gong's characters gets me so instantly attached, one will come to empathize and love rosalind lang a lot for the most part in understanding how her guilt affects her and motives especially after the events of our violent ends and with being endeared by orion hong, as he is a fellow spy playing fake husband to rosalind, his persona being so charming. particular scenes between rosalind and orion make me lose my mind with their fake marriage dynamic, the amount of hilarious banter they have and the way orion comes to care so much. i honestly adored the entire cast of characters with two familiar faces from the these violent delights duology... oh how i’ve missed celia and alisa so much they are everything to me. there’s also newer faces of orion’s siblings oliver and phoebe and their friend silas, providing insight for the different factions. multi-perspective books are much satisfying to me getting to see situations through different sets of eyes every few pages! i agree with other reviews that this was more entertaining and had certain strong points where tvd duology lacked, despite ove still being a huge favorite of mine from my memory of reading that one. though with this one, as much i said i love enjoyed the multi-pov one thing was the plotline at times being hard to follow with the different perspectives with the fantasy mystery and spy mission adventures atmosphere. but nevertheless i was hooked completely with the characters and the time period atmosphere based off real history of china’s civil war of nationals and communists.

refraining from speaking more for the sake of spoilers, but chloe gong has done it again i fear with this novel being a delight yet thrilling and mysterious keeping readers gripping to its pages. i can’t believe i have to wait for the sequel after that mind-blowing ending, need answers immediately to the amount of questions i have...

buddy read with kez, nat and sara (:

4/30/22 —   Huge thanks to Riveted by Simon Teen (Simon & Schuster) for providing me with a physical advanced review copy through the Yallwest Book Festival !! 

07/01/22 -  i have so many thoughts i don't even know where to start to place them on this one and given that this was a very early advanced copy so rating may change. the themes kuang was able to highlight were so exacting, one being with the treatment asian americans, bipoc, and minorities get from the publishing industry on the expectations to pander to the 'american' audience and to sell their trauma stories. this being said, kuang is able to put into words how wrong it is for white authors to write bipoc history and culture especially the fact that they make profit from the history and trauma that is not their own or have a personal connection to. another general one in particular being how so many individuals, not just in the publishing industry, but in this workforce society have to give up something of who they are to cater to their job to put food on their table.

june hayward made me angry like i've never been before when it comes to a character on paper, her entire existence summed up the white privilege in the industry which made it more horrible to see the things she did to sell her book on real traumatic history of chinese during the wars. her self-victimizing and absorbed behavior made it all the more seething with all her woe is me. athena liu, it was intriguing how kuang characterized her with other characters' thoughts on her flaws too that's all i can say for now. the entire dynamic and june and athena's character arcs had me hooked in honestly, turning the page needing to know what was to happen.

when it comes to this story, the writing seems too familiar for readers who know rfk's own stories and her social media voice that we can see similarities with her own stories lining up with some characters and how aapi are treated in the industry. like you can see the muddy thoughts at points through the story it feels like its rfk's personal voice projected onto characters. another thing, in my own personal feelings i think not all may be able to get the satire completely. i mean yes it easy to comprehend but there's something about if one is either in publishing or deeply involved in online book spaces where there's constant reader and author discourse, then one will be able understand to another extent the overall inside joke of topics this book covers. i do have to say being a reader who avidly loves the poppy war trilogy and recently read babel, the writing in this work was a huge contrast to those fantasy works, something i never expected or was used to from kuang.
i still feel like i have some things to cover so more thoughts to come when its closer to release date possibly.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an copy in advance in exchange for an honest review.

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10/16/21 -  serotonin levels shot up when i saw this announcement. as always, will be reading anything rfk writes and babel hasn't even come out yet! just already know this will be a masterpiece with how its going to be a callout to racism and so called diversity in the publishing industry and as said in the description, the erasure of Asian American voices and history. 

“And if the person you feel like you have to be in this town doesn’t feel right to you, you’re allowed to leave. You’re allowed to exist. Even if it means existing somewhere else.”

this story was a welcome quick read with its tone of coming of age, teens realizing their true selves at the end of their high school careers and its obvious plot format similarities to paper towns. the main characters at the forefront, chloe green and shara wheeler were fine just a bit unbearable to me with how dramatic and entitled both were but i can definitely see how they both work together as a couple. i did have empathy for them with what they had to go through and the person they felt they had to be especially in their small conservative town particularly with shara and her family's image. but characters i absolutely adored were rory and smith both were so endearing in their own ways with casey really knowing how to write particular moments of realizations of sexuality and gender. i enjoyed this story but wasn't truly invested the entire way, though i honestly loved the last few chapters with some of the twists and coming of age feel to it as the seniors all bond together in their last few days and make a stand.

“... It shapes how we see the world when we enter it. We carry the hurt with us, the confirmed fears, the insecurities people used against us. But we also carry the moment when someone gave us a chance, even though they didn't have to. The moment we watched a friend make a choice we didn't understand at first because they're brave in a different way. The moment a teacher told us they believed in us. The moment we told someone who we are and they accepted us without question. The moment we felt in love. Most of the things we are feeling right now are things we're feeling for the first time. We're learning what it means to feel them. What we mean to one another. Of course that matters.” 

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing an e-arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

from fake dating to dynamics between a cupcake baking football player and former reality star, this romance was a refreshing summer read that will keep you entertained! what i love is when the characters are truly multi-faceted and backstories that show readers their development and have us empathize with them which is exactly what wesley providing with jada and donovan. jada coming back home after going on a reality dating show on a whim for it to end in disaster as she becomes most hated for turning down the proposal, it's surprising to see how much more there is to her background and family connections in the beginning. i truly sympathized with jada on her decisions in life figuring things out, even though she has familial provided financial backup plans, but the way she grew up with many expectations and her family only wanting a specific path for her. donovan is truly an admirable man with his pro-football career as well as opening a cupcake business with two of his best friends and teammates and used to needing stability in his life as he grew up in a household of financial instability due to his gambling dad.

the romance itself seemed a bit quick-paced at times but i still definitely enjoyed it a lot. with the banter between both characters along with both their headstrong personalities clashing at times though they had a high regard of one another's successes. the way social media was intertwined with the fake dating proposal along with how it provided business to the cupcake shop was really clever with the appearances they made contributing to the development of truly falling for one another. the messiness of people coming back into jada's life as she tries to shed that reality show past behind was fun as we got to see jada really come to be secure in herself in addition to finding out what she is best at and the confidence she gains with donovan at her side supporting her. i really hope the author continues this romance's world as donovan's friend, august's story is implied next and there seemed to be a romance hinted at with him and another character. 

forever miserable... hyyh i love you always

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

i surprisingly enjoyed this one a lot more than expected as it's definitely not your typical grumpy x sunshine dynamic trope and was glad to see characters in this fast paced romcom having much more dimension to them! mia sparks, a young hardworking divorcée years separated from her high school sweetheart, is the sweet girl everyone in shell grove knows and can rely on. she's now a guest relations manager at The Sapphire, a brand-new resort hotel that all the small townspeople have been accepting in the change in town. aiden beaumont, the ceo of the resort chain, is not the evil corporate man that they've all painted to be in the minds. he's absolutely obsessed with mia at their first awkward meeting as he sees her doing duties below her position and sees her growth potential. mia's not exactly a people pleaser type, more like making people happy is what fulfills her in life and that comes into play when she pitches aiden a successful idea of having the hotel have a romantic night/getaway package (discount for the people of shell cove for a short amount of time to help ease their perspective on the resort) and mia is in her element managing those as she is able to curate it to couple's wants.

the romance itself was a bit quick paced whirlwind for me personally, but i still liked that we got to see them connect emotionally at parts as we see them talk about both of their economic hardships growing up but also differences with mia in a loving household versus aiden with an emotionally detached single dad. i wish we didn't have to see mia's ex, rainer try to come back into her life but i understand it was naturally for the sake of a conflict plot device. there's definitely a lot more sexual tension and eventual smut that takes majority of the story rather than plot, nevertheless i still had fun with the small town setting and characters themselves particularly mia's friend group. mia's best friend and cousin, maggie with her penchant for dangerous situations then maggie's best friend finn who she has an interesting dynamic with and others as its intriguing to see all of them who grew up together in shell cove still, different jobs scattered around town. all things considered, i'm actually looking forward to seeing more of shell cove in mia's friends stories with olivia and ben's next, and hopefully maggie and finn's story as well! 

Thank you to Random House/Delacorte Press for an e-arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

it's been quite a while since i've read a kasie west work, so evidently i was intrigued to see how her new one would go and if things had changed from her stories my younger self consumed. flew through this story within give or take two hours and i can say i was left wishing there was more written to the simons and hutton families' story. norah and skyler were the perfect set up to the childhood friends to lovers along with the plus of their families being close with their mothers being best friends since college yet didn't get to live up to their potential. it's definitely a personal preference but i would have preferred things to be more drawn out between those two estranged best friends with a bit more angst, but how things were resolved between them made sense on skyler's side. i do wish the characters weren't so two-dimensional, skyler was the only one not really lacking for me and even so, we didn't really get more information on how he worked past his issues on his dad. the side plot of norah being nosy into what the moms were hiding i feel like was just there to add some intrigue, and again even when that was revealed not more of the story came together with it.

that being said i was honestly let down by the ending, just felt not just abrupt but lacking on that depth was needed with the bonds between the families and seeing how norah and skyler worked through things after that last chapter. like west tried tying it all together too fast for my liking. apart from all this, some aspects i did enjoy was seeing both kids of the families bond, norah and skyler's love for art, and particularly a trope between two side characters that i suspected in the beginning and was pleased to see that my suspicions were correct. so sadly this was not my favorite kasie west work, disappointing since i remember enjoying some of her other works just a few years back.