mayomalice

[mayomalice]

that being said i WILL have 2 new reviews coming in the next week ish? it depends how long i take to read them but they’re both for pretty controversial books so

im 5 books behind in terms of reviews on here, i’ve decided to just leave those reviews on goodreads since its been a hot minute since i’ve read those books & i just don’t have a good enough memory to write out whole seperate reviews for them here

[mayomalice]

im 5 books behind in terms of reviews on here, i’ve decided to just leave those reviews on goodreads since its been a hot minute since i’ve read those books & i just don’t have a good enough memory to write out whole seperate reviews for them here

[mayomalice]

I am already wayyyyy to hyped for the A Good Girls Guide to Murder TV show! So here you go Pip and Ravi my beloved <3 From my most favorite book series ever!!!

[mayomalice]

a good girls

guide to murder

10/10

if THAT portion of life is strange was in a book. if you know, you know.

before i begin i would like to clarify this is my 1st read-through of this book, & soon to be 1st read-through of this series. so if you, whoever out there is reading this have read it already; i would like to ask you to keep any & all spoilers at bay. now, let’s get into the review.

this book surprised me, in a good way. i’m usually quite hesitant of books that booktok recommends as for the most part to me they are gutter trash, but this book was definitely a diamond in the rough. i enjoyed the writing, the plot, the characters (more on that in a moment), & the pacing.

as we go through the course of this story through the lense of Pip & her investigations, getting to know who Andie was as well as Sal as Pip questions her suspects regarding the 2 of them.

early along the way were introduced to Ravi, Sal’s brother as well as my favorite character in the story. (Pip being the 2nd). Ravi & Pip have a very entertaining dynamic, while they can be serious when it’s necessary their playful back & forth banter was a pleasure to read. i think they made for a good investigative team.

otherwise a lot of the other characters were.. a little insufferable. or at least in the case of the majority of the suspects list. there were a few i did like though, the teacher for 1, Mr. Ward.

although once again im proven that im not very good at choosing the correct suspect.. because i chose all the wrong 1’s again, just like how i did with “What lies in the woods”. i won’t say who i suspected for the sake of keeping this spoiler free, if you’ve read the book or any reviews you’ll know what i mean by saying that.

overall i thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this book, and all its twists along the way. my vocabulary towards the end became a mishmash of “oh my god’s, what the fuck’s?, & what’s happening?”. i love that i was left in the dark just enough to get so many surprises, and such visceral reactions along the way. i also liked that i could kind of connect it back to life is strange. again, i wont say how, because id like to keep this spoiler free, but i appreciated that connection a lot.

in conclusion, i would definitely recommend this book.

[mayomalice]

afterlove

{i chose this gif because ashana & poppy are very marceline & bubblegum coded}

9.5/10

this book ripped my heart out of me & tore it to shreds. i knew it was coming, & yet somehow i was surprised when it did indeed do just that.

afterlove is a beautiful love story laced with pain, which was to be expected by the synopsis. yet somehow i was still surprised when they died, leaving me sobbing for 45 minutes straight.

Ashana is exactly what i wanted from a main character, and her family dynamics were so refreshing. especially seeing as it’s so rare to see POC sapphic characters getting representation at all. her black cat energy to Poppy’s golden retriever melted my heart on several occasions.

the intro portion of the book had me hooked, admittedly though it did fall off just a tad in the following chapters but i still thoroughly enjoyed my reading experience. the ending however, destroyed me.

**spoilers ahead**

when Poppy died, it wasn’t how i expected at all. i thought it would’ve been due to freezing in the cold water or something but i was lulled into a false sense of comfort when she told Ashana that they’d only swim for a few minutes. she then faked me out by going under the water before returning to the surface again completely fine. she does this twice.

however on the second time when she had went rigid that is when she had died. due to an annuerism. finding that out after believing she was fine until that boat showed up in the water hurt me on levels i didnt think were possible.

while i’m happy the book didn’t have a happy ending, because i just don’t think it would be as moving of a story if it did, im still heartbroken that we don’t get to see more of these characters. we didn’t get to find out if they were ever reunited.

that being said can’t exactly class the ending as completely sad, as it leaves off on a bit of a hopeful note. however, once again, i did indeed bawl my eyes out for 45 minutes. as someone who’s never cried over a book before, like REALLY cried, what a lovely first book to cry to.

[mayomalice]

what lies in the woods

10/10

the day i get a pearl necklace i will reread this book. mark my words, and hold me to that.

what lies in the woods had me in a chokehold from start to finish. i did not want to put this book down for a second, and only did so i could wake up with enough to finish reading it before working an opening shift at my job. i don’t regret it for a second. this book overwhelmed my senses on multiple occasions. i was literally brought to tears out of frustration? anxiety? overstimulation? due to the contents feeling like a constant battering ram to my brain.

Kate Alice Marshall plays a sort of tug-a-war game in this book, luring you in getting you excited for an answer to the burning question- what really happened that night?. the game i previously mentioned ensues when with the flip of a page she lulls you back into completely seperate topic and still leaves you with that question unanswered and in return adding other questions to it as well. this method is repeated throughout the book, so if you’re not into that sort of writing style this probably isn’t the book for you.

me personally though, i adore that writing style with a heavy love-hate relationship. i hate that i don’t know what’s happening yet at the same time, i love it.

throughout the book i attempted to compile a suspect list on who the killer was. who killed persephone? and who tried to kill naomi? well, turns out i was completely wrong. my list of suspects didn’t even list the true identity of the killer as a suspect. when i found out the identity, for a lack of better words, i was gagged.

with all that being said, it was such a pleasure to read this book. Kate had me engrossed the entire time, and her writing gave me such visceral feelings. (in a good way). it’s truly so incredible to have a book make me feel that way again, and like i said before the day i get a pearl necklace i will reread this book. there were so many times i wanted to clutch at my pearls but seeing as i didn’t have any, that wasn’t possible. all the more reason to get some, me thinks.

[mayomalice]

midnight sun • twilight

6/10

I'd like to start this review by saying this: i am not a knuckle cracker. but if i was, i would be cracking them before i begin my review.

lets get into it starting with the pros of this book before i rip into it with the cons.

for the most part i actually thoroughly enjoyed this book, there were several moments that made me giddy having been able to see it through Edward's perspective, such as being able to get brief glances into other peoples heads and know what they were thinking in that moment, because.. that's literally his power. it brought forth several short almost witty moments- some of them i believe to be unintentional, such as a descriptor for jasper in a moment to be 'and jasper was... suffering.'.

while i am aware of Edward and Bella's relationship being not all that healthy, that doesn't prevent me from loving them together. (because to be frank there are far worse pairings out there). For a lack of better words and words that make me cringe just at the thought of typing, once again, the movies really fail to show how much rizz Edward has. like he was seducing me to be honest, and i'm not even remotely attracted to men.

other than those pros that will conclude the positive section of this review, as i've listed in other book reviews for the series a lot of the same positives apply to this one. that being said, i don't wish to retype all of that once again.

lets move on to the negatives this book had for me.

firstly, Edward is extremely broody. to an eye rolling extent. while yes, i have been aware of that from reading the entire original series, and having watched the movies hundreds of times.. it still doesn't make it any less irritating when he's constantly saying things like 'Bella deserves someone better than me' 'Bella shouldn't be with someone who's killed people (COUGH, rapists).. etc.

secondly, from roughly page 568 until the final page, 658, i hated almost everything i was reading.

the entire scene where they're trying to get Bella out of danger is truly a frustrating read. Edward is a moron who refuses to listen to Alice who's trying to diffuse both him and the situation at hand, which in turn worries Bella further.. Emmet is unsure of what to do as he's sat in the backseat with a now even more stressed Bella.. Edward being no help at all like i said previously as he refuses to pull over so Alice can tell him what they should do for way longer than what should've been touched on within that chapter.

furthermore the car chase scene was torturous to read. why is it that with only a single apart am i being told that the car is driving at 150 m/ph? twice? why is it that you continue to tell me the car is going '160' '170' '180.'... that detail is entirely unnecessary when all that truly needed to be said was something like 'the car was continuing to increase in speed rapidly'.

my next massive complaint has to do with Carlisle and licence losing medical malpractice on his part. now, i love Carlisle. it's not so much about HIM, but mores about stephanie's idiocy regarding topics that she clearly did NOT research before including them in her novel. (something which is not new for her and her writing at all).

the complaints are as follows:

1. the 'she's lost some blood' comment. no shit. both you and Edward are actively kneeling in the pool of her blood which she's actively laying in. she's lost more than 'some blood'.

2. WHYYYY are you doing sutures outside of a hospital?? and how?? and where the fuck do you have to supplies- let alone sterile supplies to do so?? i understand that Carlisle is a doctor but that's not just something you have just chilling in your back pocket or in your car. so once again.. WHAT?

3. WHY do you have morphine on your person to treat Bella with.. morphine is an opioid, and there are legal restrictions that come with that.. as far as i'm aware you would not just have morphine on you, let alone a high enough dosage to treat Bella who has; 4 broken ribs, a broken leg, 2 open wounds on her head (which directly goes back to #2 of my complaints), and a body almost coated in bruising from head to toe. there is NO way.

4. Taping Bella's ribs. first of all, this is no longer a practice that is used as it makes it hard to take deep breaths, which bella was doing, because on top of everything she was also actively turning into a vampire.

5. i understand that they 'couldn't go to the hospital' because of the vampire turning on their hands, but they should've. if they truly had to keep Bella human, Edward should've sucked the venom out on the way to the hospital. in my opinion though, Bella should've just turned then and there. it would've saved everyone a world of trouble as well as once again, saving them the trip to the hospital entirely.

that's all for my medical malpractice complaints, now onto some more general complaints, i'll try to keep this short.

1. how did nobody in the small town of Forks notice the ballet studio having been lit on fire and burned to the ground? it's a small town, people are nosy, people would notice and come to see what's going on.

2. Bella was only kept in the hospital for 9 days despite her condition.

3. no obvious timeskip in the writing to show that Bella had recovered enough to be walking around and able to go to her school dance.

4. a lacklustre, disappointing ending. the final sentence literally being; 'as the night finally overcame the end of the day, i leaned forward again and kissed the warm skin of her throat.

with all that being said, up until the climax i did enjoy reading the book. it's not the best in the series at all, but at least it's not new moon.

[mayomalice]

i’ve finished reading. all i can say is: what the fuck?

if my tumblr stops acting up i’ll write the review for it in the next couple days. my initial review is on goodreads in the meantime

currently reading ‘what lies in the woods’ & it has my head reeling because there’s so much going on & i still don’t know the answer to my biggest question

[mayomalice]

currently reading ‘what lies in the woods’ & it has my head reeling because there’s so much going on & i still don’t know the answer to my biggest question

[mayomalice]

in light of better news, 2 books i ordered which were delayed due to snow & ice rain 3 times are FINALLY arriving tmrw

[mayomalice]

finished reading midnight sun.. review coming soon

[mayomalice]

twilight • breaking dawn

5.5/10

stephanie meyer is a trick ass bitch. let’s get into it.

gonna switch things up & start with complaints and close off with the things i liked sooo yes;

1. the nightmare scene (gif above) did not have the pile of bodies but is rather about a baby.. foreshadowing hm

2. bella & edward have sex 3 times and she gets pregnant. now we’re all still confused about the logistics of how that happened at all but like.. even in the afterlife you should know to wrap it before you tap it edward.

3. jacob’s POV. for 200 pages. for actual fucks sake.

4. edward out of desperation asking jacob to have a baby with bella so that ratatouille wouldn’t be born?? bitch what the fuck why are you prostituting your WIFE to her best friend who’s in love with her & was in love with him??

4.5 jacob being tempted by the offer.. fuck you, nasty bitch

5. stephanie’s prolife views being adamantly shown throughout the book (mostly with bella and rosalie).. ALSO

5.5 why are you trying to make rosalie seem like such a cunt?? like you can’t make me hate her but it’s a bit much

6. jacob coming off as extremely sexist when he gets desperate and tries to find a mate, picking the fuck out of women’s appearances

7. the pregnancy as a whole, not only for being inaccurate but so fucking gross. like i hate bd pt1 (except for the wedding scene & a couple others) but someone the movie form was more tolerable than the books & that’s saying something

8. much like most pregnancy tropes & in actuality, OBVIOUSLY not emetophobia safe. i knew that from the film but it’s definitely much worse in the book form.

9. jacob saying he ‘dreamt of seeing bella naked, but not like this’ when she’s stripped down & dying after delivering recluse. ew. EWWWUH

10. look i get rancid has accelerated growth and all but a newborn baby does not have their eyes open, stephanie.

10.5 speaking of ranch sauce, jacob imprinting on her. and saying we can share?? no bitch that’s a baby, you can share a jail cell with someone though!

11. stephanie referring to POC vampires as ‘uncivilized..’ oh! that’s not..

12 stephanie saying ‘ghetto address’

13. the ICONIQUE fight scene is not in the books. i knew that going into it but was still extremely disappointed by it

~ end of complaint segment ~

well. that was a lot. how about we move onto the positives now?

1. the wedding scene. even in book format it’s beautiful.

2. charlie is so endearing when alice hypes him up in his little suit. that’s babygirl sorry.

3. seth is so cute, such a sweetheart. like that’s my little brother you guys! (i adopted him)

4. rosalie making a diy doggy bowl for jacob is so cunty, she’s such a bitch i love her

5. while the fight scene wasn’t in the books i still got the good brain tingle reading through the confrontation scene. i still enjoyed it for what it was, but the fight scene would’ve carried.

5.5 the respective couples celebrating their ‘win’? against the volturi. cute.

6. the ending scene with bella letting her guard down and letting edward see her memories. yes i almost cried

6.5 edward being really excited about it? so fucking cute

7. the book having a happy ending is so relieving. like yess they deserved it (NOT you jacob, don’t get it twisted)

& that concludes this breaking dawn review. while i had a lot of complaints & had a hard time reading a lot of the boon because it was painfully long & so much of it was insufferable, there was still a lot of good ass parts.

also, eclipse is still that bitch. she was not uncrowned. stan her for that

[mayomalice]

did i binge read breaking dawn in 3 days? yes. yes i did.

review will be coming out tomorrow, it’s gonna be a doozy.

(in the meantime my general review is on goodreads.)

[mayomalice]

Divine rivals

by rebbeca ross

rating 10/10

↧

i have made a playlist for DR because i’m sad

↥

presently i do not have the emotional capacity, will, or stability to write another separate review for booklr. i’ll say here that i adored the book and it has easily made its way into my top 5. besides that the copy of my good reads review is below the cut.

a thousand words cannot describe how good this book is… the enemy’s to lovers trope in the beginning to the falling in love with a “stranger” it was everything i needed. the romance was unexpected (mainly because i neglected to read the synopsis) though it was the best, most entrancing build of desire that i have read. i cried so much as i read. as the ending grew nigh the events that fell from the pages grew more than devastating. soul crushing perhaps? that’s and understatement. i won’t reveal too much, however there is one thing i will say…

forest, i hate you.

[mayomalice]

i currently want to launch myself off the highest cliff in can find, i fucking hate everything rn i hate having to read from jacob’s pov, i hate the fucking pregnancy arc, i hate the imprinting i hate this stupid fucking book rn

[mayomalice]

edward is so fucking dramatic about the bruising like girl.. that’s part of the appeal

[mayomalice]

twilight • eclipse

10/10

i adored eclipse, what a massive step up from flop moon.

we had action, more character backstories, more bella & edward content victorias long awaited death.. like let me get into it;

1. rosalie is so dommy mommy, the entire sequence of her telling bella her backstory, as well as the fact that she CARRIED emmett after he got mauled by an ACTUAL bear?? that’s fucking crazy. like the bitch is strong as fuck and that’s so hot. (rosalie top me challenge: very easy actually)

2. bella punching jacob (despite breaking her hand as result) she girlbossed very hard with that, as well as edward being willing to beat the shit out of jacob but not doing it because he wouldn’t hurt bella like that (im swooning)

3. the training sequence. i love me some jasper x alice moments, and i live a good training sequence so i was eating good with that

3.5 the werewolves & the cullens teaming up

4. the final battle between victoria and that 1 random dude she recruited and their army of newborns. i lived for it, the action tickled my neurodivergent brain just right.

5. bella being the bigger person. despite being a jacob hater i will admit here; she did see a life with him, a future as well as telling him she does love him (somehow) but was mature enough to be like ‘hey dude, i do love you, but im choosing edward & i always will.’ (clearly not what she said in those exact words)

6. bella accepting edward’s proposal, as well as letting alice both plan the wedding (with hesitation but still) and choosing her to be her bridesmaid. (i was a little more than giddy for all of this happening)

now my complaints, i’m keeping it short this time because i really don’t have much to say negatively about this book;

1. stephanie referring to jacob with a whole indigenous slur (i was gagged)

2. the pedophilic nature of imprinting, we all know about this, i can’t be asked to delve further into it (see you in my breaking dawn review later)

3. jacob assaulting bella & later manipulating her into kissing him again when she didn’t want to, threatening his life to do so. i truly mourn for the sweet character jacob was before he turned, if only stephanie didn’t make him such a cunt (derogatory)

4. charlie being team jacob, that’s his 1 and only red flag

5. jasper being a confederate soldier is crazy

~ end of complaints segment ~

eclipse is that bitch, i fear. not even the complaints i have about it could change my rating. so far its definitely my favorite of the books in the series, and that will be a very hard crown to take (if it can be taken)

obligatory ‘fuck stephanie meyer’

& lastly, a mildly irrelevant closing statement: i need a gf who loves me the way edward loves bella