ARC Review: Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong // I Think I’m Just Heartless

Nothing humbles you like a disappointing anticipated release!

And nothing humbles you like a disappointing sequel specifically, one that follows a book you enjoyed!

While These Violent Delights took the book community by storm and had me and many other readers falling in love with it, I was sad to find myself experiencing nothing like that with its sequel. So, today I’m here to review Our Violent Ends and give my (unpopular) opinions on why I felt nothing over a book that was very much written to make me feel a lot!! 

*Contains spoilers for book 1, These Violent Delights.

ARC Review: It All Comes Back to You by Farah Naz Rishi // A Messy Story about Family and Growth

I’ve been reading less YA contemporary these days.

But I’ve had It All Comes Back to You on my radar, especially ever since the gorgeous cover by Zahra Fatima was dropped, and I was so excited to read it. While it’s marketed as a romcom and that’s not usually what I reach for, I knew that it would also deal with heavier topics as well and was interested to see those explored.

What I didn’t expect was that it would be a lot less focused on romance and more so on family and individual character growth, which was honestly a better outcome than I could have expected. And today I’m here to review It All Comes Back to You in all its messy (in a good way) glory!

Blog Tour Review (+ INTL Giveaway): These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong // A Beautiful Romeo & Juliet Retelling ft. Colonialism

There are times when you finish a book and all you can do is sit in silence.

Today, I’m here to review (and convince you all to read) These Violent Delights, a highly anticipated book I’m sure all of you have heard of and have been counting down the days until. When I reached the end of it, I lay on my couch in silence with a feeling in my chest akin to the release of a held breath, a sense of awe washing over me as the full weight of the book and everything in it sunk in. And I can’t wait for you all to feel the same way about it too.

Also, I’m mentioning this for absolutely no reason at all, but… tomorrow (Nov 17) is my birthday, aka this book’s release date, so maybe you could buy this book and get a 21-year-old Asian author on the NYT bestselling list as a cool birthday gift to me!!!

Thank you so much to Shealea and Caffeine Book Tours for making it possible for me to have received an ARC of this and to be a part of this blog tour!

Blog Tour Review: Iron Heart by Nina Varela // Beautiful Prose and Yearning

Another day, another sapphic book!

Last year, I fell in love with the YA fantasy Crier’s War. It had everything I wanted in a book: slowburn enemies to lovers f/f, compelling characters, and absolutely stunning writing. I’m so excited to have been able to read the sequel Iron Heart and be reviewing it today! If you’re eagerly awaiting this book after having read the first one, or interested in this series (especially with their gorgeous covers), I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Thank you so much to Shealea for making it possible for me to have received an ARC of this book and be a part of this blog tour!

There are no spoilers for Iron Heart in this review, and though I tried my best to keep every reference I made to the events of Crier’s War vague, they may be viewed as spoilers, so take care!

The 5 Most Disappointing Books I’ve Read So Far in 2020: Happy National Book Lover Day!

For some reason, I was scrolling through my old posts the other day.

I don’t know what overcame me, since my old posts are horrendous and I hate looking at them. But when I stumbled upon last year’s post where I did this same post, I immediately thought, “I hate myself. I am so insufferable. I am absolutely doing this again.”

So here I am, carrying on the tradition of naming most disappointing books of the year for National Book Lover day, apparently! I’m chaotic and also a mess so why not. I know some people don’t like to be negative towards books, but I personally need some way to get out my frustration about not liking these books, and that’s by complaining <33

Also, I know things are completely different in the blogging world where people are very respectful of others’ opinions, but god, please do not take these as an attack on your person if you love these books!! [insert that “that’s my OPINION” vine]

During the period of time between this post and my last post, there was a fatal explosion in Beirut. If you have the means to, please consider donating to the Lebanese Red Cross and/or share the link with others!