Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
This is the first contemporary fiction novel I’ve read since 2018! I thought this was good, I probably won’t ever reread it, but I am looking forward to the TV adaptation.
Things I like
- complex, feminist female characters
- examines complex, tough issues (abortion, drug addiction, alcoholism)
- realistic, messy relationships
- oral history format
but…
- cliche ‘band breakup’ story, but my connection with the characters kept me involved
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
Raybearer is a West-African inspired fantasy novel, and I cannot believe it’s a debut. I’m so impressed by the writing, world-building, mythology, and magic system. If I read this a few months earlier I would have loved it even more, but in the last month I’ve started transitioning to the adult genre and YA hasn’t really grabbed me. However, I did enjoy this. I look forward to reading the next book(s), and I highly recommend this!
Things I like
- the writing is phenomenal
- world-building, mythology, magic
- asexual and bisexual rep
- dynamic in the counsel is fascinating
- the cover is gorgeous, and I saw somewhere that it features fabrics/patterns from the different nations in the book, which is so cool!
but…
- didn’t feel very connected to the characters- the internal narration was mostly dedicated to the plot, and I would have liked to hear more about the characters’ feelings
- I got major polyamorous vibes from the council, and I wanted to see more of it, but hopefully in the next book it will be explored more when the characters are older
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
DNFed at 21%
I wasn’t going to read Midnight Sun, but the hype totally drew me in. I mostly blame it on Twilight Tik Tok. So I tried, and it was just so bad. If it was a shorter book I might have been able to soldier through, but it’s over 650 pages and I just couldn’t do it. We’ve just moved beyond the need for the ‘girl is so beautiful but doesn’t know it’ and ‘she’s not like other girls’ tropes. It would be interesting if this was modernized a little bit, with some old tropes thrown out, but I get that’s not really possible when you’re just telling the same story from years ago from a different POV.
The 13 by M.M. Perry
DNFed at 11%
I was drawn to this because it reminded me of Unearthed by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner, which I loved. Unfortunately, the beginning didn’t grab my attention. I read some reviews that said it got better, but I just didn’t want to put in the time to see if that was true. The main reason why I DNFed this is because of the dialogue. There are sentences like, “we’re max compat, yeah” and it just pulled me straight out of the story. There was so much lingo thrown around that wasn’t explained, so I had no idea what was going on.
Maeve Reads 