Glitter Never Gold

This series was such a guilty pleasure. Urban fantasy usually doesn't have that much depth, and the romances are usually horrible. And when I say horrible, I mean cringe-worthy romances with extremely violent, nauseatingly attractive, possessive, and controlling Alpha males (who may or may not also be complete assholes, violators of consent, or male chauvinists). And of course, all those qualities would be considered attractive to the female protagonist (perhaps not initially, as many such romances begin with the protagonist resisting, and then falling victim to the charms of the Alpha Male). So what I really loved about this series was that FINALLY the female protagonist DID NOT end up with the Alpha Male. Yes, Grier was infatuated with Boaz (the sexually promiscuous, bad-boy type Alpha male in question) for the first three books, but eventually, the truth came out and Boaz was exposed as a lying, two-faced asshole. And then she ended up with the guy who actually cared about her a...

This book is... it's... honestly, it's hard to even find the words to describe it. Funny how that often happens with the books I really love. When you look at the synopsis, you immediately dismiss it as just another apocalyptic novel. Wrong. Yes, it does involve a plague. Yes, it does involve survival. But this... it takes those elements and combines them into true art. I don't think I've ever seen what it means to be human summed up so completely. Yes, I know the whole "what it means to be human" thing is overused as a description, but this book does not disappoint. Last One At The Party is beautiful and gorgeous and heart-breaking. It's a tale of love and loss and finding yourself, of what it means to truly be happy. It doesn't gloss over the harsh details or dark realities of life; it artfully weaves them into words and story. When you're reading it, you don't even realize what you're feeling until it just hits you at the end with all th...

Me before reading this: I can't believe I actually got an ARC! *jumping up and down and screaming* Chinese mythology + female Asian protagonist + defying gender roles + aliens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Me after reading this: What the hell does that cliffhanger mean????????????????????????????????? I loved the themes of feminism and rebellion against societal expectations, especially in the backdrop of Chinese mythology and magic. One thing that was really interesting was the name for the weird alien monsters, the Hunduns. Just a little context: I'm half Chinese, and I grew up speaking the language. My Chinese grandparents like to make these soup dumplings called Hunduns (disclaimer: this is not pinyin and therefore does not reflect the authentic Chinese pronunciation of the word). So whenever I saw the word Hundun in this book, it was really funny and added to my appreciation of this book. However much I enjoyed Zetian's rise to power in a male-dominated world, it wasn...

I recently re-read this. It was (the plot and characters, at least) better than I remembered, and would've gotten four stars except for one gigantic issue that's deeply personal for me. Most people probably wouldn't care, but it really angers me to see authors misrepresent this. And it's even worse when no reviews talk about or even notice this issue at all. Apparently, Nasir's abusive dad, the Sultan, was possessed all along by the Big Bad (whose name I will not mention to avoid spoilers). The evil/abusive dad who happens to be a king is a trope I've seen several times in YA fantasy, the most prominent example of which is Dorian's dad, the king of Adarlan (from Throne of Glass). In addition, our heroes arrived at the conclusion of possession by Big Bad because the Sultan had occasional moments of humanity. So, by this reasoning, all abusers are pure cartoonish evil and if they do show some kind of humanity it's because they managed to temporarily break ...

Disclaimer: this is from a reader who has no prior experience with the Rabbits podcast. Rabbits. I don't even have the words to describe it. But I'm going to try. Reading Rabbits is like going down a deep, dark rabbit hole (pun intended) of mysteries, where there is truth in lies and lies in truth. The questions pull you deeper and deeper. What happened to Scarpio? What is Rabbits, truly? What is its real purpose? And what does this all have to do with K? The real world begins to fade away. You can't bring yourself to put it down, to stop reading. You need answers. You need to know how it all ends. And when you're done, when your dive into the world of Rabbits is at an end, you smile and say, "that was some novel". Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This book was just... incredible.  I decided to read Year of the Witching because of the glowing reviews from my friends on Goodreads, and I was not disappointed. Henderson's gorgeous writing and beautiful setting exceeded all expectations. The dark yet hopeful tone was a great complement to the heavy themes and social commentary that I loved in this book.  Immanuelle was such an amazing MC. She had always been an outsider in Bethel, because of both her mother's sins and her father's heritage. She was shunned and ridiculed for it, but she didn't hold it against the people of Bethel. But she could've. She could've given in to vengeance, to the darkness in her heart and the anger of the witches. She, filled with righteous fury, could've let everyone succumb to the plagues, and know that they got what was coming to them. But she didn't. Instead, she saved them. She began a new age of mercy, not vengeance.  Through this skillfully crafted medieval(ish), dyst...

WARNING. RANT AHEAD.   This was one of the worst novels I've ever read in my life. Filled with numerous tropes and cliches, this book was a compilation of every single cringey thing ever written in the YA genre. The only reason I even read this book in the first place was that several of my friends liked it. And now I have to live with the consequences. My brain feels like a rotten, mushy pool of secondhand embarrassment, and I can't make a sound that isn't a groan.   First of all, there was literally no diversity. For some reason, everyone (and I do mean every single person) was white, straight, able-bodied, and wealthy. The MC was the freaking Mayor's daughter and lived in a giant five-acre mansion in the middle of the city. I mean, seriously. And the author didn't even address the MC's privileged life, just acted like it was normal and no big deal. I'd get it if the author made Abby the mayor's daughter as a parody or to make a point about her bei...