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Intricate, complex and beautifully written

It’s really slow so far.

I’m honestly not liking the fragmented, stream of consciousness writing style in Peter’s chapters. It feels like Rooney is trying a little too hard with the experimentation and it just doesn’t flow smoothly as a narrative.

So slow, which is unusual for a Kiersten White novel.

It’s starting to improve for me. Eliot’s writing works for me when she explores complex emotions felt by her characters. I still think the intellectualism in her works is pretentious and forced though and I think Henry James does it better and with more subtlety.

The characters and the dialogue continue to be wonderful, but the plot isn’t moving so much.

A bit low on plot for me, but as an exploration of complex characters, this is really good. Henry James has a gift for writing well-drawn and fully realized Victorian characters.

There’s always so much wit and amusing dialogue in Henry James’s works. This is a very good start.

There’s always so much wit and amusing dialogue in Henry James’s works. This is a very good start.

So unnecessarily wordy and long! Oliver Twist wasn’t like this. I have to read this all the way though for my research lol.

This is quite well-written and multi-layered for YA. The 19th century London setting is also well-portrayed.

The writing is so beautiful — poetic, but never crosses into purple territory.

Super adorable so far and slightly more polished in terms of writing compared to The Heart Principle.

Really boring and had none of the fun of the two previous books so far.

I really enjoy how subversive and meta this romance novel is. Henry takes the bare bones of a Kinsella novel and does something completely different. She challenges the anti-feminist assumptions of this particular rom-com narrative (city girl goes to small town, becomes mellowed by the experience and meets a lumberjack/farmer for a love interest).

Sigh. This book is making me feel inexplicable sadness. Well-written stories about first love always hit hard I guess.

Interesting topics being dealt with here, but a little slow so far. I feel like a story like this featuring destructive female friendships should have been told in first-person like in Haas’ Dangerous Girls. The use of third person here feels a little bland.

Very intriguing. This is probs the first YA book that directly addresses gaslighting and emotional abuse.

The narrative voice is a little immature though? Perhaps it’s because Downham chose to narrate the story from a 15 year old’s perspective. My preference in YA leans towards mature voices that are almost adult at this point.

Quan and Anna are very nice and sweet together, but I think this is a little unrealistic? Like I don’t know anyone who had this much tender kissing, hugging and heart to heart conversations from a casual hookup/one-night stand. The progression of the romance happened a little too fast in my opinion.

Oh gosh, this may be the best romance novel I have read for this year so far. Both characters are complex and likable. I love how supportive they are of each other as roommates and the sexual tension is through the roof. Fascinating look too on the porn industry.

I’m very curious how the HEA will play out (Will Josh leave the porn industry to be with her?)

Might be too early to say this, but I like it so far!

Oh gosh, the suspense is becoming more and more unbearable. The plot has finally picked up.

Abbott’s writing style is so effortless. The story is emotionally a little low-energy though thus far — still waiting for the drama and craziness to kick in.

I’m hoping this is the book that would reinvigorate my love for the mystery/thriller genre!

I am surprisingly enjoying this even more than Damsel. There’s deeper characterization and introspection here and less purple prose.

Super fun so far, but for science fiction, the world-building is almost non-existent.

Very weird and different from the usual YA fantasy so far. One issue though: there's a lot of weird tense shifts happening. The story is told in the past tense, but Maresi jarringly shifts to present tense when discussing her surroundings or particular people within the scene. I've always found abrupt tense shifts like this to be a writing flaw and I find myself correcting the verb tenses in my mind while reading.

Ok I feel sorry for Doran now even when he was initially a douchebag.