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One Last Stop

by Casey McQuinston

This was another one of my re-reads of the year, yes I love rereading books, it's who I am.

The plot was very intriguing to me, but you could serve me any book with queer girls and magical realism and I would eat it up. That being said, I have seen criticism about this book being not realistic enough and to those remarks I say - they're bringing a not-dead-not alive girl back to their timeline I'm not really looking for heavy realism in this book. Also I love groups of people making little schemes, so basically this plot is right up my alley.

The characters are fairly likeable (I actually found August to be the least likeable, but as the main character we do see her flaws more) and I really am interested in more in-depth backstories for August's flatmates cause they seem really interesting.

Overall, I would read it again (I am once more proclaiming my love for magical realism and queer women) and as a lover of cheesy romance books think it's solid.

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Dash and Lily (TV Show)

Honestly, not as bad as I expected. There were some changes that I didn't really like or understand, but there were others that I actually thought made it better.

I really liked how they were both (mostly Dash) actually called out for their actions in the series. Like Dash acting as an asshole to his friends (mainly Boomer) - glad he actually learned something about that.

Was it a cinematic masterpiece - no, but it was genuinely enjoyable to watch and there were some scenes that made me laugh. By far the best scene in my opinion was Dash interacting with Nick Jonas for absolutely no reason. Hilarious, was absolutely pointless but I loved it all the same.

Overall - would I watch it again? No (except for the Nick Jonas scene), but it was cute to watch once.

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Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World

by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

(Spoilers ahead) God I love these characters. I feel like I'm too biased to give any sort of proper review for this book. Love the characters, love the writing style, love it all.

There really isn't much to expand on from that, lol. These characters are so personal to me and their journeys make me laugh and cry and remind me so much of me, both now and when I was younger. I know these books don't really have a proper plot and are more character-driven but I love books like that when they are as beautifully written as this one is. And there are moments that are so heartbreaking, especially with the recognitions of the AIDS pandemic in this book. The character growth from the first book is amazing and I love watching them grow.

My one complaint is the week long break up but I guess it was the realistic thing to happen. I just hate to see my favourite characters upset.

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Dash and Lily (TV Show)

My thoughts while watching (under the cut cause it got long whoops)

Episode 1:

not the budget Timothee Chalamet - that tracks actually with Dash LMAO

Lily is totally tinsel gal

i know changes are necessary, but the change of the message bugged me for absolutely no specific reason

BOOMER MY FAVE - why is he cutting the pizza when it's already in the box though? what kind of pizza shop is this? adsgfs

oh his dad's RICH RICH with that apartment in NYC

he's so pretentious, god that was me as a teenager, which may explain why sometimes I hate him

bro Lily is so much more suave so far, i hope this is just how he's reading it and it changes when it switches to her POV cause that'd be sick storytelling

can't believe they wouldn't show Santa being groped by a teenager, were they afraid they would need to up the rating then? asfsdfssdf

I KNEW SHE WAS TINSEL GAL

Episode 2:

we love Lily rambling at The Strand

all these apartments are so nice for New York

Langston rolling into her room wrapped in a blanket is a MOOD

ah it was her brother

Boomer's speech about Dash >>>

DID HE JUST SKIP THE LINE

that Santa scene was pure chaos i loved it

Episode 3:

the backstory of Lily I CAN'T SHE DESERVED BETTER (although i do miss the Shrilly story)

Langston and Benny my loves <333

the note on the mirror is so cute I'm dead

LILY'S DANCING - it's so aggressive i love it

Episode 4:

LILY'S AUNT MY QUEEN (did they change her name? i thought her name was Ida... either way i'm obsessed)

this episode is very similar to the book

the characters seem so much less pretentious when acted instead of read LOL

gingerbread house already! i wanted to see Snarly! hope we still get to see the disaster muppet

okay the believe scene was cute, i'll admit it

Episode 5:

i love him telling all of his problems to the mochi group

NOT THE GRANNY THROWING IT IN THE TRASH LOOOOL

NOT THE APPLAUSE - the mochi scene is too funny

SNARLY THE MUPPET MY BELOVED - i won't allow for his destruction - oh thank god he's still intact

fucking Edgar - i don't trust that he's kept that bracelet

god Dash's dad is insufferable

and so Sofia makes an appearance

NOT THE SNOWMAN SLAUGHTER - AMAZING ABSOLUTELY AMAZING

if i saw this girl at a slam poetry fest i'd be living for the drama - but also she's kinda killing it, go Lily!

ooh plot twist of Sofia moving back - also i absolutely love exes being friends and not getting back together

Priya my QUEEN

Episode 6:

absolutely love the dress - wore something similar this christmas myself (except it had a black base because the christmas tree look was too much for me lol)

yikes this party's gonna go bad

okay they're actually kinda cute talking to each other

DASH NO (but this song slaps) (also you're telling me this is gonna go down at a museum...SURE)

Episode 7:

i may have a preconceived vendetta against edgar but him kissing a clearly drunk girl is... YIKES

ok but how long did they kiss for before he came to this revelation

the cab scene is the worst scene for secondhand embarrassment they're both acting like fools (i guess they are teenagers in a tv show... but still)

DASH THIS IS A NO BOOMER SLANDER HOUSEHOLD

ok but giving her a week to move was kind of a dick move on the parents side

i thought this was the last episode for a minute and was like "THEY ENDED IT LIKE THAT" which i was so ready for but shocked about, but then the next episode started LOL

Episode 8:

THEY GOT THE JONAS BROTHERS FOR THIS

"you came to a jonas brothers concert for me 🥺" boomer my love <3

are they just in the jb's trailer????

this scene with dash and nick is the funniest thing "thank you nick jonas" I'M SCREAMING

Lily continually calling out people in front of a crowd is so fucking funny

the brother not even reading the notebook...couldn't be me i'm too nosey (nevermind it took him 2 minutes to do it)

not the montage for a 4 hour series

my mother would literally be running after me what is this LOL

the themed tree is actually cute

this kiss looks so damn awkward asgfdsgds

THAT LAUGH DASH WHAT WAS THAT

aww the love actually ended is cute... and Thibauld was alone, love that for him

they just jave no chemistry with their kisses i'm sorry

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The Inevitable Collision of Birdie & Bash

by Candace Ganger

The only thing stopping me from truly enjoying this book were the characters. The book started off with Bash being an accessory to a hit-and-run and nothing that happened redeemed him in my eyes. I get he was going through a lot of shit in his life, but it didn't excuse his actions. And the fact that Birdie and her entire family was just ready to forgive him afterwards? Unrealistic and a little weird. If that was me I would never want to speak to him again. Additionally their relationship did not make sense to get to that point. Everyone's talking about how it's love, but they barely had a relationship. They briefly met at a party, had short interactions at work, and went on one date, yet everyone can see their love - plus I just found they didn't have that much chemistry.

Besides the characters, the book had so much potential. The plot was really intriguing, always wondering if the brother would get better, if Bash and Kyle would get found out - if the plot wasn't so interesting I honestly would've stopped reading it. I did wish that there was a bit more of the plot focused on Birdie and her sister, but I think the progress made was way more realistic than anything else, especially for the timeframe of the book. Also, (I know a lot of people wouldn't like this but I am a fan of open endings) I think I would've enjoyed it more had it ended two chapters earlier after she went to the mother's funeral.

Also the writing really made you feel and envision for all of the tragedies taking place, and I liked the concept of the chemistry analogies that were weaved in throughout.

In the end I struggled to get through this book because of my dislike for the characters, but stayed for the good plot and writing. Wouldn't read again, but a lot of people seemed to like it more than me so maybe you'll like the characters better than I did.

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

This isn't really a review, but more just me gushing about this book as it was my 8th time reading it.

There's some books that you start reading and you just feel at home, or like you're being wrapped in a big hug, and that's how I feel about this book. I read this book for the first time in 2014 and it's really grown up with me as I've read it every year. It's weird to think that the first time I read it the characters were younger than me, but now I'm almost done university and they haven't even finished high school. As such, watching my relationship with the characters change as well as I look back, when I'd read it and just have a love-hate relationship with Ari because he reminded me too much of me for me to truly love him like I loved Dante. Now I read it and feel so fond towards both of them, just kids not knowing any better, not knowing it gets better.

The writing, the plot, the character development, all of it just adds up to a masterpiece really.

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Dash and Lily's Book of Dares

by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

I used to love reading this book around Christmas, so when I found it on my bookshelf this year I thought I'd read it again.

Rereading this book I can see why I liked the characters as a teenager, however I have a love-hate relationship with them now. They are suuuper pretentious, but hey, so was I at that age lmao. Also Dash it a bit of an asshole, but it's acknowledged a lot to be fair, and he always happens to do something lovable just when you don't know if you can take it anymore. Lily is also so passive sometimes, but again brings it back around right when you can't take it any longer.

The plot was cute and a great casual read for Christmas. Had a lot of wtf-this-would-never-happen moments that made for a wild and kinda hilarious read. Although there was a bit of a lull in the middle, the book was so fast paced you moved past it quickly.

I really liked how each point-of-view was written by a different author, it made each character feel more distinct than most books with multiple POVs. Maybe it's just nostalgia, or that I just like the authors writing styles normally, but overall would recommend reading if you want an easy Christmas read... as long as you can stand teenagers with individuality complexes of course.

[taysarray]

Benefit BADgal BANG! Mascara

When I first saw this product the brush seemed to be similar to ones I have liked in the past, so I decided to try it.

At first, it worked fine. The brush picked up the right amount of mascara and it wasn't clumpy or anything. However, the more I used it the more it seemed to clump together. Even when I tried to get the excess formulation off the brush against the side of the container, it seemed to just move to another part of the brush. The only way to get the formulation off the brush was to use a paper towel, which felt like a waste as I had to do this increasingly more as I continued to use it.

Overall, I would not buy it again.

[taysarray]

Notes has been updated!

This isn’t a revamp. It’s just an update to fix some issues with the theme.

However, there are some major changes. For easier reading, the container and posts are bigger. The scrollbar is also more obvious now, which was a mistake I didn’t intend on it being that small and just never got around to changing it. 

Thanks to an anon that suggested it, I also included a search bar by the sidebar! 

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if you save, please, give your like ♡

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aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe

like or reblog if u save

please don’t steal and post as your own

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Heathers (Movie)

My past experience with Heathers is limited to the play and the videos I've watched online, so I knew very little about the movie when I watched it. All I knew was that I would like the eighties feel of it, but I probably wouldn't like the movie itself, as the musical didn't fully immerse me into the story (although it has some jammin' songs and the acting is 👍👍). However, I ended up liking it way more than I thought I would.

The characters had so much more depth in the movie and a half hour into it I already felt myself liking Veronica more than I did in the musical. They didn't provide her with as much backstory as the musical (being friends with Martha and such) but I felt like her character arc flowed so much smoother. Additionally, as she hadn't previously abandoned Martha from what we saw, the ending of her was more character development and a redemption arc, where in the musical I felt she didn't deserve to reconnect with Martha.

JD was also given more character depth. I feel like we see his descent into madness and we see how conniving he truly is. We also see how he loved Veronica, but his psychoticness won as he went over to kill her himself when before he thought she killed herself.

I also really liked seeing how Veronica faked her suicide as it was always an unexplained factor in the musical.

I also felt like the plot flowed so much nicer and everything made a bit more sense in the movie. Also, Veronica's character progression was so fluid and natural as she went from following the Heathers to following JD and finally to following herself.

I still love the fact that JD blows himself up in both versions, somehow conveying so much weight and emotion that I dont know how to deal with it.

Also both Christian Slater and Winona Ryder are really pretty in this movie.

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found a bookstore in the middle of rome.

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To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Although I read this book about 3 or 4 years ago and wasn't thrilled about it I still decided to reread it. This was mainly due to the fact that the movie just came out and I wanted to watch it while comparing it to the book. I was pleasantly surprised when I finished reading it.

Although Lara Jean is a bit annoying, she's still quite enjoyable as a character. She makes her choices and although she does (figuratively and literally) run away from her problems sometimes, she'll end up facing her problems in the end. Peter was the soft jock bro that used to be really popular but now you don't see a lot of so it wasn't too cliche (but still was a bit). The rest of the characters were enjoyable too, although I did think that they all got very worked up over the smallest things, which was the most annoying part.

I really liked Jenny Han's writing of the book though, it was easy to follow and smooth to read and I would definitely read other books by her. She made an interesting plot which the blurb hooked me in 3 years ago and would still hook me in today. It also seemed mostly realistic (although does anybody actually fake date in real life??), especially since the majority of the characters are around 16 and haven't quite matured yet, hence the overreacting lol.

The ending, which I know bugged a lot of people, didn't really bug me for 2 reasons. 1) I know there's a sequel and that's probably why it was left so openly, and 2) I really like open endings cause I like to think about the endless possibilities if what could happen.

So, despite that I hated it 3 years ago, I actually quite liked it this time around. Whether this is because I've changed or I've read a lot of bad books lately, who knows. However if recommend it for any teen who's into the romance books and I think I will actually read the rest of the series this time.

[taysarray]

me: wants to write clever, pithy, funny book reviews that people will enjoy reading

my reviews: it was pretty good? stuff happened and i liked it. screamed twice while reading ???????? could have been gayer. 4 out of 5 stars

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“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

[taysarray]

The Infinite Moment of Us

By Lauren Myracle

This book started off pretty intriguing to me. The main character Wren is an only child who feels she is not living up to her own standards and instead is following her parents path for her, a very reliable issue. So she starts to try and go out of her normal comfort zone, despite being terrified of her parents reaction...and then Charlie (and consequently the love side of the story) starts the downfall of the book.

Even though Wren starts the book finally becoming independent from her controlling parents, she quickly replaces them as the puppeteers of her life with Charlie. After getting involved with him she immediately starts to put aside anything she actually wants to do for the fear that their relationship won't make it past the issues her choices will bring. However, as this is her first relationship and she's a high school graduate, the relationship probably won't last past the summer regardless of the decision she makes, so she might as well actually make her own.

Meanwhile every other character is a cliche. Especially Charlie's ex-girlfriend, who's clearly the "bitch character" and all of her actions throughout the novel seem to be placed there for shock value.

Additionally, I didn't really feel like the novel had a set *feel* that it was going for. Honestly I think I was getting whiplash from how fast the atmosphere changed from one chapter to another, which may have had to do with the writing style. Lauren Myracle had a great idea at the beginning by writing one chapter in Wren's point of view before switching to Charlie's. However as the story continued I often got confused who's POV I was reading through, and I think the author may have too. The two characters thoughts mixed together too much and it got more confusing as the book went on.

The plot itself really had nothing to do with Wren finding herself as she floats through decision making, letting others do it for her, and expecting everyone else to be happy with the decision. Eventually leading to most of the story being about Wren and Charlie's sex lives. This led to me getting stuck about 2/3 of the way through as I became disinterested and bored.

Despite the few enjoyable moments and the partial realism, I would not recommend this book unless you're looking for smut disguised as young adult fiction, but there are plenty fanfictions that are ten thousand times better than this novel.