Tag: Young Adult

Review: These Violent Delights (These Violent Delights #1) by Chloe Gong

~ Laurie ~ Leave a comment

Back in 2020, the debut novel by Chloe Gong, These Violent Delights got published. Also, this was the first book in a duology. Even before publication, the hype and buzz for this book on social media was huge and real. With my previous experiences when it comes to hypes, I wanted to avoid this one at all costs. However, my curiosity got the better of me as always and I bought myself a copy. Unfortunately, I had a tough time getting through this. I even put it aside to pick it back up later. I finished it, but had a feeling I missed something. I just didn’t know what. Now the Dutch translation got published and that was a good time for me to find out what I might have missed. Spoiler alert: A lot. I’ve increased my rating from 3 stars to….. Well, you’ll see.

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Review: Tithe (Modern Faerie Tales #1) by Holly Black

~ Laurie ~ 2 Comments

Back in 2018, I introduced myself to Holly Black by reading The Cruel Prince, the first book in the “Folk of the Air” series. At the time, I disliked it. However, I decided to give it a second chance after a few months and the rest is history. I’ve loved all books in this series ever since, the one more than the other. The Dutch publisher decided to translate this series as well. However, I’ve read them all in English. It was fall 2021 when they published a much older series by this author in Dutch, “Modern Faerie Tales”. This series has originally been rleased in the early 2000s. So, a Dutch translation was 21 years late. However, I wanted to support the Dutch publisher and therefore got myself the Dutch version of Tithe. I have to admit that I really was hesitant to pick it up, it turnt out that was not without reason.

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Review: This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kacen Callender

~ Laurie ~ Leave a comment

It was during the pandemic and during the Black Lives Matter protests that the books by Kacen Callender got loads of attention. I’ve checked them all out and they one by one sounded interesting to me. However, it only took me a few more years to finally pick one up. This book happened to be This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story, one of Callender’s older books. Was I still as intrigued as I was back then?

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Review: Huntress (Ash #0.5) by Malinda Lo

~ Laurie ~ 1 Comment

A few years ago, I introduced myself to Malinda Lo’s work. I’ve read Last Night at the Telegraph Club, a LGBTQIA+ historical fiction set in San Francisco during the Red Scare in the 1950s. I really enjoyed this read, so when the Dutch translation of Huntress was announced, I was really excited. It’s a fantasy based on Chinese folklore and mythology, with LGBTQIA+ characters as well. Did it meet my high expectations?

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Review: Cursed by Marissa Meyer

~ Laurie ~ 1 Comment

Hello and welcome to my first book review of 2023! In fact, this review is long overdue since it’s of a book I finished back in December 2022. Anyway, it’s a review of one of my autobuy Authors Marissa Meyer, so better late than never is the motto. Just a little warning beforehand: since Cursed is the second and final book in the Gilded duology, there are Gilded spoilers in this post. Haven’t you read said book yet? Then scroll to the bottom where I highlight the important points of my review.

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Review: As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

~ Laurie ~ 1 Comment

Each year, there is a YA event in Utrecht, as part of a bigger festival. The past 2 years, due to well-known reasons, the event has been held in a different way. This year, it was back to normal and people could actually get in the audience again. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it this year. One of the present authors was Zoulfa Katouh. Her debut novel As Long As The lemon Trees grow immediately got my attention. This novel tells the story of the civvil war in Syria, a war we’ve seen on television daily just a few short years ago. These images say a lot, but ot everything. Thankfully, books can help us out here and stories of this civil war get told and published slowly now.

*TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains many triggers such as PTSD, grief, death, losing loved ones and graphic descriptions of battle injuries, amputations et cetera. Please consider whether to continue reading this review. If so, please take care.*

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Review: The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

~ Laurie ~ Leave a comment

A few years ago, The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes got published. This book immediately got lots and lots of hype and praise. Unfortunately, it wasn’r really my cup of tea. However, I was still curious of the further developments in the game, so I’ve read The Hawthorne Legacy. This series was supposed to contain two books, but a third one was announced. Although I disliked The Hawthorne Legacy even more than The Inheritance Games, I still couldn’t resist and read The Final Gambit. It’s FOMO I guess? Anyway, I was curious how this all would end.

*beware for spoilers of the first books off this series

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Review: You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao

~ Laurie ~ 1 Comment

You’ve Reached Sam is a book that receives a lot of hype on TikTok. Whereas I’m not using that platform, I wasn’t aware of that untill this book started popping up frequently in my Goodreads feed. Actually I first heard about it when the Dutch translation was announced. I’ve read the synopsis which intrigued me. However, I decided to read the English version because it was cheaper. Was this book worth the hype for me?

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Review: Bright by Jessica Jung

~ Laurie ~ Leave a comment

Back in 2020, I’ve read Shine by Jessica Jung, the first book in the “Shine” duology. Jessica Jung is a former member of the very successful KPop group Girls’ Generation and used her experiences with being a trainee and idol in these books. I have to admit that I couldn’t get to Shine back then, I ended up rating it 2 stars. However, I loved several novels set in Korea and surrounding KPop in the past few months that I decided to give it another chance. Guess what? I flew through it in one day. The sequel Bright sparked my curiosity and I bought it upon release. However, it took me a little while to pick it up. Untill the first part of my summer leave actually. This review contains spoilers for Shine.

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