kays_reading_journal's reviews
326 reviews

I love these characters SO MUCH

I finished the series and I just want more!

The only reason it's not a five star for me is there are a lot of very abrupt mood changes, to the point where I thought I had missed pages multiple times. 

Other than that, no notes. I immediately picked up the sequel and have already finished it lol

This audio book hooked my attention and was fun to listen to. It wasn't too scary either(I Def need to keep my horror reading in the middle grade age range lol)

I would have loved if it got a bit more into the world building, but I know there's a sequel so hopefully it's developed more there. 

I might change the star review over time. I know I really enjoyed this book. I liked the setting, plot, characters etc. I wish there had been a bit more romance developed in certain places. 

But I wasn't a fan of where the story was heading at the end of the book, so I don't think I'll be picking up the sequel anytime soon. Maybe in the future if my reading habits change. 

Might change the star review. 

I enjoyed this, and I understand why so many of my friends have rated it five stars. 

Told mostly through letters, big on the grief content warning. 

I really enjoyed this when I first started it. I think the pace might have been a bit slow for me tho. I listed to it at the same speed I normally do but it felt like it took really long to get through despite it being a pretty short audio book. 

I think I'm just not big on figurative stuff and metaphors, when this book feels like one big metaphor, so it just wasn't fully my jam. Still incredible writing, characters, and vibes tho. 

I don't really think I'd recommend this to anyone. I picked it up because I'd heard it has Sapphic and disability rep. The Sapphic romance is not the main romance of the book. 

The best way I can describe this, is it wasn't horrible, but I read 400 pages of this book and could tell you barely anything about the characters, the world building, or the science behind the tech. There's a SC whose in almost every scene after the 50% mark but I could not tell you a single thing about him aside from his name. 

I wanted to dnf but after I got 100 pages in, it was reading fast enough that I figured I'd just push through and finish it. I won't be reading the sequel. 

Only one character had a semi backstory (only for the previous year tho). I guess we're meant to assume that most of the characters are orphans but practically nothing is shown to us about how they got where they are. 

The plot twist (and all the rest of the plot) was super predictable). I feel bad rating is so low because the writing itself was fine and it wasn't problematic, but there's nothing redeeming about it in my mind. 

What I liked: the vibes of the setting (small town farm during Christmas), the romance, the plot, and some of the side characters. 

What I didn't like: the pacing/pov change. The book is 1st person switching between Quincy and Tia. Every time the pov changes, a new chapter begins. There is on scene where the pov changes five times. So five different chapters make up one scene that lasted maybe 20 minutes. It killed the pacing, and it happened often. I don't need to switch to the other person to hear one thought and then switch back. It just felt like this would've worked better as third person. 

The ending was also incredibly abrupt. There absolutely should've been an epilouge. Now I'm not own of the readers who needs to know if the characters are still together in five years, but the end of this truly felt like the book was unfinished. 

5/5 ripped my chest in two and sewed it back together. 

Truly I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. I wasn't sure I was ready for something that covers such heavy topics but they were handled with so much care. But truly PLEASE check the content warnings, this is a very heavy book. While the suicide occurs off page (and the method is never mentioned) the grief that is discussed is strong. 

Content warnings that wasn't an option below: misgendering 

Content warnings: full warnings listed in the section below but there are multiple instances of on page sexual assault. 

I can't believe I let this book sit on my shelf for over a year before I picked it up, it's incredible!! 

The romance, the plot, the world building, the aesthetics oh my god. All incredible. 

It was a bit slow at the beginning as the story was setting itself up, but once our two main characters started fully interacting I was hooked. 

I also think some of the side characters could have had a bit more development, but it's looking like we'll see that in the sequel!

Really enjoyed this but also don’t remember much. Loved the narrator tho! How dare you make me cry so much?

I really enjoyed this! Especially the narrator. However there were Harry Potter references in the version I listened to :( it looks like it was an earlier 2020 edition tho, so hopefully they are removed in new editions!!