Glitter Never Gold

The first thing I noticed about this book was a case of Special Snowflake Syndrome. Does the main character, Ilona, HAVE to be jaw-droppingly gorgeous without even knowing it (cough, cough, Bella, cough, cough Twillight)? And, on top of that, the author HAD to make her Not Like Other Girls.  I mean, seriously. Apparently, every single one of the other girls are completely shallow mean girls. And, of course, every single male has the hots for Ilona, which makes all the girls into jealous bitches. Can you get even more anti-feminist? This book is basically saying that girls are either gorgeous Special Snowflakes who catch male attention without even trying, or they are jealous, shallow bitches who don't matter. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being a physically attractive female. I'm just saying that other girls shouldn't be shamed if they aren't. One of the first scenes in this book is where a girl is portrayed as a shallow bitch and then shamed for no...

Me before reading this: Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Me after reading this: That ending!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, so, here's a little context. A Deadly Education was one of the funniest books I've ever read. It was just so addictive, with its witty banter, sarcasm galore, and stream-of-consciousness narration. I was so hooked that every few days, I would compulsively check NetGalley for an arc of The Last Graduate (I know this makes me sound like an obsessive fangirl, but sorry not sorry). So when I went into this book, I had sky-high expectations. And oh, did it deliver! I loved Orion's character development, mostly centered in the last, action-filled chapters of the book. I really got to learn what made him tick. But as much as he was a hero and saved all those lives, I couldn't help but get Anakin-Skywalker-just-about-to-turn-Darth-Vader vibes. I mean, seriously. Orion wa...

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.