My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars I had prepared to come out of this experience yelling, “Leave ‘Dead Dove: Do Not Eat’ Dramione fanfiction on AO3, FF.net, and Wattpad where it belongs!”* But then I actually liked it, so I guess the joke is on me. 🥲 I was willing to forgive many issues here (e.g., infodumping galore, way too much telling instead of showing, dozens of pages worth of tedious repetition, etc.) because I was so into the complexities of the main characters. Their dynamic and the tragically doomed nature of their relationship compelled me, although the side characters and the misery circus surrounding them did not. It is extremely hard to get Helena and Kaine out of your head once you let them in. I can understand why some people adore Alchemised and why others can’t stand it. I’m more of a fence-sitter for this one. . . . *  Regarding leaving fanfiction where it “belongs”: I read the author chose to pursue traditional publishing due to unauthorized monetization by fans to ...

My rating: 5 of 5 stars #1 on the NYT’s 2024 List of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far) ༻❁༺ The brilliance of My Brilliant Friend is harped on excessively and exhaustively, and I have no original accolades to contribute. I’ve discovered that people are super annoying about how good this book is because it’s genuinely great. Going into it, I was rolling my eyes that this was so highly esteemed as a standalone novel despite being the inaugural entry of a four-part series. But after understanding the setup, I couldn’t even be mad about it anymore (though I still wouldn’t be opposed to the publication of all four together as one ginormous book). I agree with the masses that this is one of the most moving portrayals of female friendship I’ve ever read. Ferrante covered several controversial issues (classicism, socioeconomics, gender politics, etc.) without it ever feeling too in-your-face or disrupting the narrative flow. Reading this gave me the same vibes as listening...

My rating: 1 of 5 stars This doesn’t even qualify as trash. It’s the smelly trash juice at the bottom of a dumpster. I promise I do not pass out single-star ratings lightly. Even if I dislike something, I try to be conscientious of the fact that authors pour pieces of themselves into their writing. I am also an advocate of brain-off fluff. Sometimes life is hard, and we all need mindless entertainment to cope. However, I draw the line when a book doesn’t even pretend to have a story or somewhat believable characters. I expect even the silliest romance novels to make me root for something or someone, but Icebreaker didn’t do that. It wasn’t just a brain-off book; it consumed negative brain cells, and I feel stupider after reading it. I didn’t even know PWOP existed outside of fanfiction and online spaces. I thought you at least had to have the semblance of a plot to receive a publishing deal, but apparently not. I feel like an old man yelling at a cloud because I’m genuinely worried ...

My rating: 5 of 5 stars I first heard about Solzhenitsyn and this speech from my favorite podcast, The Christian History Almanac . Dan van Voorhis’s description intrigued me: “Expecting a condemnation of the USSR and embrace of the West, the crowd heard nothing of it. Instead, [Solzhenitsyn] critiqued his old empire but the Western one as well... A comfortable form of Christianity that embraced the same materialism and what he called “legalism” or the idea that if the law says it’s good, it must be—the same kind of lie that led to the tragedies of the USSR.” As someone with a distrust of all economic systems and political philosophies (“... the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable.” — William Golding), I greatly appreciated Solzhenitsyn’s approach and his unwillingness to cater to his audience’s expectations. How easy it is for us to notice the specks in our brothers’ eyes...

My Favorite First-Time Read: The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis My Least Favorite First-Time Read: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson ༻❁༺ What I (Re)Read and/or (Re)Listened to in 2025: Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Translated by Dwight Goddard and Sam Torode   * † [CO = CN] Party Princess by Meg Cabot   ** † [CO = US] Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 13 by Tomohito Oda   * † [CO = JP] Sweet Sixteen Princess by Meg Cabot   ** † [CO = US] Spy × Family, Vol. 13 by Tatsuya Endo   * † [CO = JP] Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin   * † [CO = US] Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 14 by Tomohito Oda   *...

My rating: 3 of 5 stars As the child of a Lifetime-addicted mother, pretty much nothing here came as a surprise to me. I’m more intrigued by the phenomenon of how some books can gain a firm cultural foothold regardless of their quality or originality.  For instance, this story could have easily gotten lost in the vast sea of made-for-TV films of similar ilk; instead, it spawned a major movie deal with two A-list actresses. And honestly, good for Freida. Make that bank, girl! I, for one, can’t wait to watch this silliness in a theater with my mom. ༻❁༺ 𝓟.𝓢. This review was crossposted from Goodreads because it contains actual thoughts rather than a typically facetious single-sentence remark. View all my book ratings and pointless takes on Goodreads or The StoryGraph .

My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was obsessed with Stargirl in elementary and middle school. Looking back, I think this book was probably my first exposure to a “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” (a phrase I wish could be eradicated along with “Mary Sue,” but alas, it’s the ubiquitous way of expressing the concept in the vernacular). I like how Monika Bartyzel introduces the trope in her article criticizing the use of the term MPDG : “As long as men have written female characters, entertainment has been packed with girls whose individuality is just a means for some tiresome hero to work out his own ennui.” Bartyzel’s description of the stock character is my adult criticism of Spinelli’s novel. Nathan Rabin originally coined MPDG to address the widespread occurrence of quirky fictional females who seem to exist solely to teach male protagonists essential life lessons while receiving nothing in return. If that isn’t an apt description of Stargirl and Leo’s relationship, I don’t know what is. However, ...

My rating: 3 of 5 stars BBC’s Big Read #43 ༻❁༺ “It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment.” An episode of NYT’s The Daily inspired me to reread this for the first time since being required to in high school. Back in the yesteryear of compulsory reading lists, The Great Gatsby was my second most fervently despised book in the lineup—trumped only by the drudging bore of The Good Earth . The only things I appreciated about Gatsby were its brevity and readability. (Incidentally, these were also the only reasons I found The Great Gatsby to be a slight improvement over The Good Earth .) In part, my contempt came from my literature teacher’s overzealous praise. It seemed he could hardly go five minutes without reminding us that it was his favorite novel, and he constantly lauded Fitzgerald as the greatest writer to grace humanity with his existence. Maybe I was bound to form an adverse opinion of what I f...

My rating: 3 of 5 stars This series is my version of trash reality TV. Look, I’m beyond invested at this point, but UUUUGH... 😩 My problem with these books is that the good things (the overall premise, the characters, the romance) are way too thin a veneer to cover up all the bad (crude writing, juvenile dialogue, insane pacing, and nonsensical logistics). It’s such a great concept with a depressingly poor execution. My feelings keep getting more complicated with each installment, and this has become a love-hate relationship for me. Consider everything below the spoiler tag as an attempt to sort out my convoluted thoughts regarding all three currently published books rather than a dedicated review of Onyx Storm . Inexplicable logistics continues to be my biggest beef with the Empyrean series. I know some readers can look past practical matters when it comes to fantasy and romance, but I hyperfixate and get taken out of a story when things don’t make sense or follow priorly est...

My rating: 4 of 5 stars I highly recommend listening to the audiobook narrated by the author. I loved this book’s approach to critiquing Christianity’s impact on Black Americans. I appreciate authors offering valid criticisms of religion without discrediting faith and religious experiences altogether. Especially when it comes to Harriet Tubman, I feel it’s far too common for writers and historians to retrospectively question and disparage her devout faith despite it being so integral to her personhood and decisions. (I will say that atheism and/or the complete dismissal of mystical experiences seems strange in a universe where historical figures are literally coming back from the dead , but I digress.) This book has so much to say about pride in heritage and pride in self and how both are prerequisites for true freedom. 2025 has been a dumpster fire so far, but we should all count our blessings that we were given Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners in the sam...

My rating: 3 of 5 stars “It’s not a question of worth, or cost... I have always done the best that I can for the people that I loved. There’s nothing else that anyone can do.” I spent the entire time reading this debating whether I found it four- or three-star worthy (admittedly, not a healthy way to read a book). On one hand, I loved the story’s originality, and I thought the writing was delicious. On the other hand, I had several idiosyncratic issues with parts of the worldbuilding and fixated on minor things I disliked. (I’ve recently decided this is a recurring personal problem while reading fantasy. It’s honestly just a me issue.) Ultimately, I decided to give this book three stars for the stupidest reason which has nothing to do with the narrative or the writing. There is a misattributed quote at the beginning of one of the chapters claiming to be from Frankenstein . Quote misattribution is neither uncommon nor surprising, and I think every quote-lover alive has been guilty of ...

My rating: 4 of 5 stars “And what is love, in the end? Except the irrational desire to put evolutionary competitiveness aside in order to ease someone else’s journey through life?” I’ve seen this book recommended all over the place. It was a pick for multiple book clubs I follow and ranked as one of the 100 best books of the 21st century (so far) by the New York Times . I don’t feel it lives up to that level of acclaim, but it is a good novel. The writing was unnecessarily pretentious at some points, and one of my favorite aspects of the book went down the drain about halfway through (see spoiler below). However, the storytelling was beautiful, and I cried at several points. I do recommend reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ; I don’t recommend going into it assuming it will be as brilliant as some claim it to be. I was so happy to see such a close, platonic male/female relationship and a seemingly asexual male character. But then said male character was revealed—in my o...

My rating: 5 of 5 stars “This is a story about cats and war and people. But most of all, it is a story about love… Remember: both people and animals suffer pain, and all of them deserve compassion. Together we can make the world a better place!” — Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel This felt like the perfect book to wrap up 2024, considering collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime earlier this month (though the Syrian conflict is ongoing). This story deals with an extremely serious and continuous topic, and several reviews are critical of the lack of particulars and historical context. But this is a children’s picture book, and I don’t think the format leaves much room for nuance. The point of the story is that beauty and hope can be found in the ugliest and most hopeless situations, and in my opinion, The Cat Man of Aleppo illustrates that point charmingly. I have four main reasons to love this book: The aforementioned celebration of hope and beauty in otherwise terrible circumstances. It’s a ...

My Favorite First-Time Read: Silence by Shūsaku Endō, Translated by William Johnston My Least Favorite First-Time Read: In Other Worlds by Sherrilyn Kenyon ༻❁༺ What I (Re)Read and/or (Re)Listened to in 2024: The Woman in Me by Britney Spears, Narrated by Michelle Williams Under the Oak Tree: Season 2 -4- by Suji Kim Fruits Basket, Vol. 9 by Natsuki Takaya Fruits Basket, Vol. 10 by Natsuki Takaya Fruits Basket, Vol. 11 by Natsuki Takaya Fruits Basket, Vol. 12 by Natsuki Takaya Fruits Basket, Vol. 13 by Natsuki Takaya Fruits Basket, Vol. 14 by Natsuki Takaya Fruits Basket, Vol. 15 by Natsuki Takaya Fruits Basket, Vol. 16 by Natsuki Takaya Fruits Basket, Vol. 17 by Natsuki Takaya Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier Fruits Basket, Vol. 18 by Natsuki Takaya A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot Princess in the Spotlight by Meg Cabot Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Narrated by Kate ...

My rating: 4 of 5 stars BBC’s Big Read #25 ༻❁༺ The Hobbit was a bucket list read for me. My dad read parts aloud during my childhood, but this was my first time reading it to completion. I read my physical edition while listening along to Rob Inglis’s narration . I plan on doing the same with The Lord of the Rings . If I had only been reading the physical copy, or if I had only been listening to the audiobook, I think I would have taken forever to finish it—if I had managed to finish at all. It was a wonderful novel, but I found it incredibly difficult to get through. The only way I can think to explain it is this: In the 1987 film adaptation of The Princess Bride (another bucket list read I haven’t gotten to yet), there’s a scene where the grandson asks in disgust whether or not his grandfather is trying to trick him into listening to a “kissing book.”* While reading The Hobbit , the little girl inside me wanted to say to Tolkien, “Hold up. This is exciting and all, but where...