This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab – 4 stars
I really really enjoyed this! This was my first Victoria Schwab book and I am definitely looking forward to picking up her other works.
Schwab does a fantastic job of world building. It was so easy to keep track of the different kinds of monsters and to know who was on what team. I thought the concept of acts of violence creating monsters was just pure genius.
And I really appreciate that Schwab didn’t include a romance between Kate and August. I loved watching them grow to respect each other as the story progressed. And I liked seeing each of them when they were on their own, as well. The idea of the human girl who wants to be a monster and the monster who wants to be human could have been a little cliche, but I thought that Schwab handled it excellently.
And I really really adore the character, Ilsa. She was probably my favorite.
I thought that this was a really strong beginning to the duology and look forward to picking up Our Dark Duet!
Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab – 4.5 stars
This is everything I wanted in a finale. There was a war that was built up and major characters actually died. Victoria Schwab was not afraid to actually kill her characters and I truly appreciate that.
The main reason I took a half a star off was the pacing. The beginning was a little slow for me and then verses 3 and 4 just exploded. I wish the beginning had been a little bit more succinct. I also wish that we got a little bit more closure with some of the characters from Kate’s time in Prosperity.
But overall this was just wonderful. I still love the characters. And I really enjoyed the two new characters, the Malchai Alice and the Sunai Soro. Alice was just downright blood-thirsty crazy and exactly how I want a monster to be written. And I really appreciate that Schwab made Soro genderless. The explanation made perfect sense and in my opinion, was handled really well. Schwab just writes fantastic characters in my opinion.
I cannot wait to read more by Victoria/V.E. Schwab.
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee – 4.5 stars
Check out my Friday Spotlight for more in-depth thoughts.
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia – 4 stars
Probably unpopular opinion: I wasn’t really wowed by this until the last 100 pages or so, to be honest. I had put it down for a couple of weeks and picked it back up last night and was just completely sucked in.
I thought that Zappia did a great job capturing the feeling of panic attacks and how it is when you feel pressure to complete something for other people rather than yourself. I also highly appreciate that Zappia had Eliza go to a therapist and go on medication. I know I’ve said it before, but we really need more representation of getting help in young adult literature. There were times that I completely identified with Eliza and other times that I didn’t. I liked Wallace well enough. I appreciated that Eliza’s brothers were really supportive of her after all. I wish that the friends got a little bit more development, but it wasn’t like they got none.
The pictures throughout the book were great and I would definitely read Monstrous Sea should it ever become a real comic. I did appreciate the discussion of fandom, online negativity, and online friendships. It was a fun read and did feel like it was written by someone who is a part of fandom.
The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson – 3.5 stars
This was really cute, and I appreciate how all of the different types of relationships were portrayed.
I actually really liked that Andie’s plans were completely messed up. I know that sounds mean, but just hear me out. I think that it’s great that high schoolers are getting involved over the summers, but this idea that you have to go to the best internship during your high school summers is just a little ridiculous to me. I know that when I was in high school, a lot of my fellow students would take dual credit classes just so that they could raise their GPAs, and therefore their rank. I personally chose to do ballet summer intensives because it was something that I love and honestly I thought it was more beneficial. As someone who ended up having to do summer courses throughout college, I can tell you that taking a break is really important for your sanity. But I digress and will get off of my soapbox.
But I really did like that she was able to see that there was something else that she is passionate about. Another one of my pet peeves is this idea that we’re supposed to know at the age of 17/18 what we want to do with our lives. I sure as hell didn’t. I went in to college as a biochem pre-med major and graduated as a human development and family sciences: early childhood/pre-nursing major. Again, I digress. I just really liked that a YA novel showed that it’s okay to change your mind on what you want to do. It’s okay to explore options.
I was honestly really worried at the beginning that this was going to be another YA novel with an absent parent. And while for a good chunk of the book it was, I was really pleased with the relationship that developed between Andie and her father. And I absolutely adored how involved with the scavenger hunt her father was. By the end of the novel, I was happy with where Andie and her father ended up.
And I liked that Andie and Clark’s relationship developed over time. And that it wasn’t a picture perfect romance. There was an awkward beginning and it was a complex relationship. I loved reading about them walking Bertie and working on their story together.
The main friend group of Andie, Toby, Palmer, and Bri was cute. And again, I appreciate that it was a picture perfect friendship. There are times that you have to take a break to figure out who you are on your own. However, I didn’t like how predictable the cause of the conflict was. SPOILER: I predicted from before even the scavenger hunt that Bri and Wyatt were hooking up. And I really thought that Andie’s solution was really really stupid. It was messy and that’s where the majority of where my “eh” rating is coming from.
Toby was really annoying to me. Bri was just eh. Palmer was pretty cool. Andie wasn’t my favorite at times, but I did see where she was coming from in certain instances, like when she still wasn’t ready to open about her mother. Clark was a precious cinnamon roll and I loved him to death. Tom was also pretty adorable. I didn’t really have any feelings toward Wyatt and Topher was just kinda “eh” to me like Bri.
Overall, it was a cute read and made me want to pick up other books by Morgan Matson.
NerdyNurseDaria 