yas_sezer's reviews
205 reviews

3 stars.

this book was honestly mid - it definitely didn’t resonate with me the way i thought it might have

there was a lot of sex with miles and tate and while i could see glimpses of his secret burning desire for her and her struggle to act like she was happy with their arrangement, i felt like there wasn’t ENOUGH of their struggle. the good moments they had together were too solely sex focused (which i know was their agreement), but for me it wasn’t enough for me to really really want them to be together

the trauma miles went through with the loss of his son and close-call with rachel made it very understandable as to why he was so shut off for the longest time. but for some reason there was something about it that didn’t hit me as hard as i anticipated

i loved the writing style, i feel like colleens writing is very up my alley.

UPDATE: it’s been a long time, and i don’t like this book. 1 star. don’t ever think of it and when people mention it i have no urge to recommend it and rather recommend the opposite.

3.75 stars
ryle, i loved u but u broke all of our hearts. colleen wrote him in the most realistic and perfect way. he was beautiful and terrible and unforgivable all at once.

atlas, i cant wait to see more of him. his protection, his calm aura, his support, his love. i was so grateful on behalf of lily that she had him there.

lily, her mistakes were so realistic and hit close to home. so proud of her decisions and can’t imagine how hard it would have been.

my first ever colleen hoover book and i was not disappointed. my heart is aching. somehow the acknowledgements made me cry even more.

update: 3 stars. the more this sits with me the less i love it. definitely still like it though and recommend

update: IDC WHAT I RATED THE INDIVIDUAL STORIES THIS BOOK MAKES ME WANT TO CRY EVERYTIME I REMEMBER IT. NOT FUN

benjamin button: 2 stars
born old man, getting younger
the idea of this story is a lot better than the execution. the
abruptness of every time period made this feel more forgettable than it would have been had it been a longer story. also, why is the birth not explained at all?

head and shoulders: 3 stars
smart guy, athletic girl, swapping lives
fun to read. the writing style is a bit difficult to follow, but definitely still enjoyable. liked how it came full circle, even though it was a sad circle.

the cut glass bowl: 2 stars
forgotten love, faltering marriage, bowl, curse
found myself getting really confused at times because of the writing. had some nice themes in regards to beauty and time, and liked seeing the way her relationship with harold evolved over time and faltered along with her age. the concept of the bowl being a curse that follows her through every terrible event in her life is an interesting idea that had lots of potential. however, it wasn’t executed nicely as i found myself rereading constantly as so many things were occurring at once.

the four fists: 3 stars
punches influence life
was entertaining (relatively, compared to the other stories in this book). liked seeing how each fist influenced him in his life through the different ages and helped him better himself as a person. the writing once again kept my interest low and had to force myself through the story, but was somewhat enjoyable nonetheless.

may day: 3 stars
soldiers, after the war, protests
long, but found it quite creative the way multiple stories were meshed into one big story. the idea of alcohol being present during the lowest of the lows for various classes of people, and the effects it has on each of them was interesting. again however, found myself zoning out through many parts of the story and only getting the gist of what was happening.

o russet witch: 2 stars
bookstore, caroline, old age
a story about regret, temptation, and mundane life - felt very mediocre. didn’t really like the messages behind it, from how i interpreted it, and found merlin quite annoying. didn’t really enjoy reading this one either.

crazy sunday: 2 stars
joel, stella, and miles - acting
thought i’d like it, but did not. started off slow, picked up the pace a little throughout, but found it bland. the ideas were good, but just wasn’t for me.

4 stars, accounting for the story and illustrations.

this is a graphic novel so rating it is a little different to how i usually rate books, especially since condensed this book is essentially one chapter.

we get an insight into the darklings past, and as we know the darkling is my favourite character in the shadow and bone trilogy (besides nikolai who i still believe we were robbed of). i enjoyed reading this, especially after reading the prequel at the end of ruin and rising. having the illustrations made it entertaining to flick through and visualise the events as they happened.

it’s definitely nothing too crazy, but it sums up the way he grew up, the origin of his ambition, his fears, and his mistakes. i still don’t believe he was truly evil

4/5 - after sitting with this book for a few days, i realised the characters have really sunken into my heart and i’m starting to miss them? they have randomly popped into my head throughout the day as if i KNEW them, and it’s been one book.

before i get into my broad thoughts on each crow, i need to acknowledge the plot. this was so much fun, and despite it being long the pacing was perfect for me. it felt like i was learning the characters and the details of their lives alongside the story rather than just info dumps which i always love. compared to shadow and bone, this targets character depth and thought out relationships a lot better which i appreciate.

there were times when i was just rolling with the plot because there was a lot going on at once (how did inej somehow backflip slip into the tank room and then into a tank at the ice court? my brain couldn’t picture it but we accepted it anyway). but honestly, i don’t even care because it didn’t take away from the story or my enjoyment of it.

KAZ - i honestly really liked him, but cannot picture him to be 17. to me he’s 25+ and it’s because of the way he carries himself. hes tough, smart, strong, mysterious, and underneath the hard exterior there is a soft young boy. i’m looking forward to seeing his character develop in crooked kingdom, and i want to see more of his quick plans and hopefully relationship with inej. i liked seeing his childhood and his grief from his brother (swimming with your brothers corpse as your floatie is tough, especially after he’s indirectly killed by some scam artist). i hope he gets his revenge.

INEJ - diversity, good to see. i liked her and want to see her do MORE (i know she’s kinda kidnapped rn but i’m sure she will be back). her skill of being a ghost/shadow gave me shadow and bone vibes which i welcome with open arms. i hope she has an arc where she can open up more and i am praying for burning tension with her and kaz. she’s badass, great fighter, and a girls girl with nina. just need to see more from her. her past is sad, i didn’t expect sex work in brothels to be such a common theme in this series, but getting an insight into how that industry can potentially operate irl too was sad.

MATTHIAS - you complicated man. a grisha hunter in love with a heartrender. tbh idk if i believe they are endgame, but knowing that she gave him up broke my heart especially since he was working to protect her, which is completely against his core values. i understand she thought it would be a better outcome and didn’t know he would be imprisoned but damn. i find him interesting, seeing his inner conflict kept me intrigued with his character who is so set in his country’s values and traditions. i’d also like to see more from him in terms of fighting and brains. i enjoyed his little betrayal moment with his old boss (i knew he wouldn’t do us dirty like that, man can’t help but be whipped for nina atp).

NINA - grishaaaaaa. bringing shadow and bone back. i liked that she is a heartrender because we didn’t see too much of it in the trilogy and i find her power interesting. she is essentially the hot one, and rightfully so. keep seducing men and then destroying their lives bbg. i don’t have any too many negative things to say about her, not even in terms of how she treated/treats matthias because they’re essentially in the same position but opposite ends. her people are BURNT at the stake, to a black crisp with red flesh cracking through, left to die slowly, while his are brutally murdered in camps. i feel for both of them, and want to see more of them both individually and together. similar to inej, ninas brothel work made me feel really bad for her

JESPER - LETS GO ANOTHER GRISHA. cheeky lil fabrikator. i’m ngl jesper is a uk light skin man in my mind, i can’t get rid of the accent. i like his character and especially his dynamic with wylan (first i saw it as a sibling bond, but then he kinda flirted with him so maybe not…?). i like his personality, he’s more out there and open, but i do want to see more with him and kaz. he did accidentally leak info that got them fully ambushed, BUT it was stupidity so hopefully kaz and him can heal and strengthen their friendship.

WYLAN - he feels super young to me while everyone else feels old. everyone else i see to be 22-24, but wylan feels 14. somehow in reality wylan is 16 and everyone else is 17 (not matthias who is 18). i like his character and knew he wouldn’t really be effective bait in the long run especially when he basically confirmed it by telling us his daddy didn’t really care. his dads an ass, writing letters to his son who CANT READ nah that’s cold. i want to see more from wylan and hope his character gets a huge development and arc.

quick summary: oceans 11 but fantasy. everyone has their own motives for needing 4 million bucks from the heist to go get this man from the ice court and deliver him to the merchant council. this man is the one who develops jurda panem which is a drug that makes grisha super addicted instantly most of the time, and also makes their power extremely enhanced. we don’t want this bc it is likely to cause a war and crash the economy, plus we want the 30 million bucks total offered so we go on this heist. the ice court is the most difficult protected place to get into, but w information from matthias and wylan, we draw up a map and make plans. there’s lots of complications and improv along the way, but we manage to get the guy. turns out the guy is actually dead and his kid is here, so we steal the kid. everyone gets back with no money really coz the merchant council betrays us and inej gets kidnapped

i’ve let this duology sit with me for a bit now, and i miss it. i miss the characters, i miss the plot, i miss the vibes. i will say this book definitely felt a lot more chaotic, but i enjoyed following along to rescue inej, destroy van ecks empire to bring him down but also steal his $$$, and pekka rollins being an asshat. the plot line wasn’t difficult to understand and follow at the time, but now in my mind i cannot remember specific details but i’m not even bothered because i was there for the ride and it was so fun. getting everyone’s back story was interesting to me since i’m a sucker for them.

i grew very attached to all the characters particularly in this book because of their development. i will say kaz is definitely my favourite - the scene with inej cleaning her wound

4/5 romance stars.

ive come to the realisation that abby jimenez is great for romances, and is becoming one of my go to authors for this genre. her books thus far have been funny, full of banter and dialogue, fun side characters, and important side plots/issues. i loved jacob, golden retriever, and i liked the representation of anxiety through his character, not only because of the mental health issue itself, but also since he is a guy and usually it’s ignored in them the most. i related to him for a lot of it, and found comfort in brianas understanding and acceptance of him, particularly compared to amy (however, the quote of them just not speaking each others languages was very sweet. nothing is wrong with her, they just weren’t meant to be). bennys kidney condition was a great part of the story (especially since it’s based off the author???? how sad. and she wrote part of your world while living through that?? lord) and i appreciated the exploration of people going through that hopeless, depressed, and lonely feeling of having a health condition. i liked seeing alexis and daniel again, they felt like comfort characters and brought back the memories of the last book with wakan and the grant house, i missed that.

i didn’t have too many negatives with this HOWEVER i am not a miscommunication girly. i’ve repeated this in a few of my reviews now (specifically romances), i do not enjoy miscommunication as the conflict in romances because the stakes are just not that high. it’s not impactful enough for me personally. if the problems can all disappear with one conversation because they just happened to misunderstand each other, or they refused to communicate with each other honestly throughout the book, i get bored. i prefer when the conflict is not as easy to resolve as that (for example in part of your world, it was a more enjoyable conflict plotline for me because one conversation can’t resolve the issue of distance and priorities). also, personal ick, but jacob repeatedly compared briana to his mum and mentioned that she reminds him of her? i just no. don’t like that.

besides that, this was a really enjoyable romance, great palette cleanser in between my grishaverse series binge. i’m hoping to get through all of abby’s books in the near future, since they’re a really fun time.

don’t know WHAT it was but this book made me laugh, cry - everything all out loud. hit so close to home and i will treasure these characters for as long as i can.

oh my goodness i could not put this book down.

the politics, the betrayals, the tensions, the romance.

everything kept me on my toes, and even when i could see something coming, i was begging it wasn’t.

cardan - so imperfect but i love him. i cant even word my thoughts about this man, but his growth as a character is so intense, whether it’s for better or worse. but the same can be said about everyone.

this world has me in the palm of its hand

giving this book 4 stars because i’m hoping mockingjay gives me the 5 i need (if it doesn’t, this book is a 5. this series is still a 5)

this book had me stressed and screaming and sobbing and making predictions that were all wrong.

chapter 4 and finnick saying “where did they get those screams, katniss?” got me in the heart. i had to shut the book from the intense emotions

the whole serious political turn the series took i really enjoyed - the presidents games, the new head gamemaker - i loved it (weirdly i don’t hate president snow… he’s a great villain?)

finnick, i love you. end of story.

i loved the dynamic between nuts and bolts, johanna, peeta and katniss, and finnick and mags because it brought some diversity to the group we have gotten so used to seeing. loved the old people to be honest, old people make me soft.

katniss destroying the force field was so satisfying and i was hoping she would do this in some way. didn’t know how it would happen but i had hopes for it and it delivered!

the whole clock concept of the arena was so fun to me. the jabberjays gave me chills. i do not like them.

i can’t remember the movies for mockingjay so i don’t even know what to expect in the next book. everything is so messed up now i’m stressed to continue.