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wends_nblw's reviews
100 reviews
The Sprite and the Gardener by Rii Abrego, Joe Whitt
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Very, very cute graphic novel.
I'm incredibly sleep deprived so that might have hindered my enjoyment of the book, as sometimes the art felt overstimulating but yk !
There's not much to note other than the art is gorgeous and I found the concept to be interesting. :3c
I'm incredibly sleep deprived so that might have hindered my enjoyment of the book, as sometimes the art felt overstimulating but yk !
There's not much to note other than the art is gorgeous and I found the concept to be interesting. :3c
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-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
3.0
I will say. I went into this blind, and was expecting something a lot more compelling.
This book is okay; it's fine. Nothing I would rave about, but something I would casually recommend.
I'm not sure if it's just me, but this felt like a middle school read rather than young adult? I don't know why, but I keep imagining the MC as like.. 12-14 years old. (Actually, I think this book could've been better if it had been a MG haha!)
I was a huge fan of the concept, but not the plot. I don't care about vampires or cults or anything else. I wanted so bad to read more about Elatsoe's gift and the Lipan Apaches. I found it so much more interesting than the murder mystery that was happening in the foreground.
However, I'm always rooting for representation as an asexual native myself LOL !
Would def recommend to a younger audience. Nice little murder mystery with fantasy elements.
This book is okay; it's fine. Nothing I would rave about, but something I would casually recommend.
I'm not sure if it's just me, but this felt like a middle school read rather than young adult? I don't know why, but I keep imagining the MC as like.. 12-14 years old. (Actually, I think this book could've been better if it had been a MG haha!)
I was a huge fan of the concept, but not the plot. I don't care about vampires or cults or anything else. I wanted so bad to read more about Elatsoe's gift and the Lipan Apaches. I found it so much more interesting than the murder mystery that was happening in the foreground.
However, I'm always rooting for representation as an asexual native myself LOL !
Would def recommend to a younger audience. Nice little murder mystery with fantasy elements.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Gun violence, Racism, and Colonisation
Minor: Genocide and Kidnapping
The Girl in 6E by A.R. Torre
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This was definitely not what I expected going in. I'm not sure what exactly I was imagining, but the writing style totally took me off guard. It's just.. so casual.
Despite that, I enjoyed this book for what it was. A nice thriller erotica.
I enjoyed what others seem to not. I thought the descriptive writing of Deanna's sex work was intriguing and fun to read. As well, my favorite part of the story was the romance. (Though, what that says about the book... the fact my favorite part of this thriller was its romance... eh...)
I'm considering continuing the series just to see the romance between her and Jeremy develop more. We'll see.
Despite that, I enjoyed this book for what it was. A nice thriller erotica.
I enjoyed what others seem to not. I thought the descriptive writing of Deanna's sex work was intriguing and fun to read. As well, my favorite part of the story was the romance. (Though, what that says about the book... the fact my favorite part of this thriller was its romance... eh...)
I'm considering continuing the series just to see the romance between her and Jeremy develop more. We'll see.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Grief, and Sexual harassment
I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
Hrmmmmnghhhh.... I'm disappointed.
Once again, I've read a highly recommended book that unfortunately didn't live up to expectations. However, I will pat myself on the back for semi-guessing the twist about 3/4 into the book.i initially thought jake was the fake one, not lucy
I didn't find the writing style to be quite appealing. I've seen others complain about the choppiness, but I found that to be the only thing appealing about it. Towards the end, it really lost me though. I feel like the twist could've been written better, but maybe it was intended to be that way.
Otherwise, I didn't find the story to be all that interesting, nor all that unsettling. But if you enjoy piecing a challenging mystery together and being utterly confused on where to place each piece, I'd say to give this book a try.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Mini Disclaimer : I am both reading and reviewing this while under the influence of marijuana so maybe take my review with a grain of salt?
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Hrmmmmnghhhh.... I'm disappointed.
Once again, I've read a highly recommended book that unfortunately didn't live up to expectations. However, I will pat myself on the back for semi-guessing the twist about 3/4 into the book.
I didn't find the writing style to be quite appealing. I've seen others complain about the choppiness, but I found that to be the only thing appealing about it. Towards the end, it really lost me though. I feel like the twist could've been written better, but maybe it was intended to be that way.
Otherwise, I didn't find the story to be all that interesting, nor all that unsettling. But if you enjoy piecing a challenging mystery together and being utterly confused on where to place each piece, I'd say to give this book a try.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Animal death and Stalking
Minor: Sexual content
The Immeasurable Depth of You by Maria Ingrande Mora
Did not finish book. Stopped at 22%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 22%.
I ended up DNFing around the ~26% mark.
Listen, I picked this up because of the premise. Despite how specific Brynn's situation was; I had a similar experience. After a suicide attempt, I was shipped off to Florida for the Summer for a "change of scenery" when I was 14. So Brynn was incredibly relatable to me in weirdly specific ways, and I adored her as a character. I was surprised that a book in 2023 would reference Tumblr of all social platforms. I still use it, so it was fun to read and some of the writing definitely felt Tumblr-esque with maybe some Homestuck influences.
Despite this, I Cannot get over Skylar. From her being slightly ableist during their second meeting to her being 17. I'm sorry, but at 17, a 15 year old was a baby to me. I know it's only two years, but those two years go a long way for me. And I just found her to be incredibly obnoxious. :P
If it weren't for the romance subplot, I would've finished it. I wish this had been completely focused on Brynn's mental health coming-of-age story, rather than having a romance and mystery subplot.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!!
Listen, I picked this up because of the premise. Despite how specific Brynn's situation was; I had a similar experience. After a suicide attempt, I was shipped off to Florida for the Summer for a "change of scenery" when I was 14. So Brynn was incredibly relatable to me in weirdly specific ways, and I adored her as a character. I was surprised that a book in 2023 would reference Tumblr of all social platforms. I still use it, so it was fun to read and some of the writing definitely felt Tumblr-esque with maybe some Homestuck influences.
Despite this, I Cannot get over Skylar. From her being slightly ableist during their second meeting to her being 17. I'm sorry, but at 17, a 15 year old was a baby to me. I know it's only two years, but those two years go a long way for me. And I just found her to be incredibly obnoxious. :P
If it weren't for the romance subplot, I would've finished it. I wish this had been completely focused on Brynn's mental health coming-of-age story, rather than having a romance and mystery subplot.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Ableism and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Blood and Outing
The Color of Pain by E.G. Rose
I will say, I found some of the commentary to be weird. Like when Ray mentions that the new girl is black, but then corrects himself by saying "person of color" and then goes on a weird tangent about how he thinks everyone is a person of color?
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC <33
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I'm so excited since this is my first ever ARC, and I will say : I'm not disappointed!
Although there are quite a bit of spelling, grammar, and sentence structure mistakes, I didn't really mind it. The writing at the beginning was hard to get into, but the way E.G. Rose describes scenes is so beautiful. It really helps with imagining the scenarios. As well, I found the characters to actually be quite compelling. Raymond as a main character is extremely sympathetic and I became attached to his character very quickly. Even some of the side characters became amusing in certain scenes. I even found the ending to be satisfying, which isn't very common in my case.
Aside from the editing it needs, I'm not quite sure I would consider this horror. One review (on Netgalley LOL) mentioned it's all shock value from the idea of the characters being orphaned children, but I found it to be much more of a maybe.. mystery thriller? But I might not be super qualified, as I usually read extreme horror so take that with a grain of salt. All in all, I'm a happy reader and hope to see this author improve with time!
Although there are quite a bit of spelling, grammar, and sentence structure mistakes, I didn't really mind it. The writing at the beginning was hard to get into, but the way E.G. Rose describes scenes is so beautiful. It really helps with imagining the scenarios. As well, I found the characters to actually be quite compelling. Raymond as a main character is extremely sympathetic and I became attached to his character very quickly. Even some of the side characters became amusing in certain scenes. I even found the ending to be satisfying, which isn't very common in my case.
Aside from the editing it needs, I'm not quite sure I would consider this horror. One review (on Netgalley LOL) mentioned it's all shock value from the idea of the characters being orphaned children, but I found it to be much more of a maybe.. mystery thriller? But I might not be super qualified, as I usually read extreme horror so take that with a grain of salt. All in all, I'm a happy reader and hope to see this author improve with time!
I will say, I found some of the commentary to be weird. Like when Ray mentions that the new girl is black, but then corrects himself by saying "person of color" and then goes on a weird tangent about how he thinks everyone is a person of color?
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC <33
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Vomit, and Stalking
the homophobia itself isn't really i guess?? it's the use of the f slur .
光が死んだ夏 by Mokumokuren
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It's okay. I think my main problem my last few reads have been expectations. I was expecting a great horror mlm manga. And it might be making its way there, but right now, it's just not.
I love the art style, of course. It's so good. And I'm not sure how they were able to make a monstrous eldritch creature so lovable, but they did. I'm even loving the side characters.
However, I've found that eldritch horror just isn't my genre. (Which is a shame.) And plot wise, I'm just not keeping up. There's a whole mystery and I'm just not into it. Despite that, I'd still recommend this to casual horror enjoyers that like some body horror.
I love the art style, of course. It's so good. And I'm not sure how they were able to make a monstrous eldritch creature so lovable, but they did. I'm even loving the side characters.
However, I've found that eldritch horror just isn't my genre. (Which is a shame.) And plot wise, I'm just not keeping up. There's a whole mystery and I'm just not into it. Despite that, I'd still recommend this to casual horror enjoyers that like some body horror.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Homophobia and Injury/Injury detail
Children Vol. 1 by Miura Miu
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
2.75
I'm so disappointed!! Admittedly, I went into this manga blind. All I knew was : it had it good art style, there were creepy kids, and they're murderers.
The kids were my favorite thing about this manga. They were cute and so fun to read. Aside from that and the gore, there isn't much else though. It's weird that our 18 y/o MC blushes around the 14 y/o caretaker, and the ending / plot twist wasn't all that.
If you're easing into horror manga, this is a good start. The gore isn't too extreme and it's a easy, quick read.
The kids were my favorite thing about this manga. They were cute and so fun to read. Aside from that and the gore, there isn't much else though. It's weird that our 18 y/o MC blushes around the 14 y/o caretaker, and the ending / plot twist wasn't all that.
If you're easing into horror manga, this is a good start. The gore isn't too extreme and it's a easy, quick read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag
hopeful
lighthearted
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
3.25
Super, super cute!! I loved Keltie; she's so funny and sweet. Definitely the best character alongside the brother (I'm not sure why I like him so much, but I do!!)
I didnt quite like the endingi wanted their "true love" happily ever after, dammit!!
I wasn't a fan of Morgan's friends (I really dislike Serena LMAO) and I wish we got to see more of her familial issues, but otherwise this is a cute, cozy sapphic read!!
I didnt quite like the ending
I wasn't a fan of Morgan's friends (I really dislike Serena LMAO) and I wish we got to see more of her familial issues, but otherwise this is a cute, cozy sapphic read!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Outing
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
Box of Light, Vol. 1 by Seiko Erisawa
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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? No
3.25
Super, super cute!! It wasn't what I thought it was going to be at all, but I ended up really enjoying it anyways.
Since it's so short, you're unable to really become attached to characters, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment at all. It's more like getting tiny glimpses into their lives and it's very endearing.
I especially liked the relationship between Kokura and Tahini!! (And, of course, darkness cat.)
Since it's so short, you're unable to really become attached to characters, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment at all. It's more like getting tiny glimpses into their lives and it's very endearing.
I especially liked the relationship between Kokura and Tahini!! (And, of course, darkness cat.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse