kyarabereading's reviews
58 reviews

This is one of my favorite books of all time. No book has brought a tear to my eye quite like this one, even after having read it multiple times. The first few times I read it, I didn't have as full an understanding as I do now. I think it made this book hurt so much more this time around. The Book Thief tells a beautiful story that is as painful, tragic, and honest as it is heartwarming, inspiring, and at times, even funny. 

I love the attention to detail Zusak clearly put into this book. This is a book that seems like it took a lot of Zusak's time and research - and all that hard work truly paid off. Everything is so, so real. The characters, the location, the historical events - they all create a story that is so incredibly real. So, so honest. It makes you fall in love with the characters. It makes you feel their pain. It makes it hurt that much more when they're hurt, especially when you realize this story was a reality for many people in 1940s Germany. This book does not sugarcoat the effects of the Holocaust or everyone's participation in it - everyone from the Hitler fanatic to the complaisant supporter. It does not sugarcoat how WWII hurt so many people. It's tragic to see how all this built up, to see what people did because of fear and hatred. What they did for survival. 

I also love the creative choices Zusak makes in this book. For one, having Death as a narrator was a choice that really strengthened the book as a whole. Death as a narrator along with Zusak's way with words (along with his writing style and structure and loveable characters and etc., etc., etc.) is a combination that formed some of the most beautiful writing I have seen. Zusak also showed us how all the stories, all the moments in this book are intertwined with each other. I like how some stories remind us of things we have already seen or provide us with foreshadowing for what is coming up. It makes this book entertaining to read every single time. 

I think what I love the most about this book is what it teaches us. It is a study of humanity and human nature from a distant point of view. Death is amazed by, terrified by, interested in humans. To quote the book directly, Death is "haunted" by us. It makes me think about my own humanity and that of the people around me.  But it does not just make me think about the bad side of humanity, it makes me think about all the good too. The book reminds me of all the beautiful parts of other human beings - people's selflessness, kindness, trust, love, etc., etc., etc. The book also teaches the importance of words. They can be influential. They can be harmful. They can be helpful. They can be life-changing. They can be used as a weapon, but they can also be used for good. 

Markus Zusak wrote a book that is so beautifully written and impactful. May I never forget how it made me feel. May I never forget his words. 

When I first found this book, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I found myself liking it more than I thought I would. 

At first, I found the premise of the book interesting enough to keep me hooked, but I have to admit that I found Stella kind of annoying. It seemed like she suffered from the “not like the other girls” syndrome that 2015 me would have enjoyed but 2022 me kind of didn’t. She was also very judgmental of the people around her, and I wasn’t a huge fan of that. But over time, she grew on me and I came to realize that this story wasn’t just a love story or a crime story. It was a story of a girl growing, changing, and dealing with the traumas of her past the best ways she could. So yeah, she was a bit annoying at first, but she went through a lot of growth over the course of the story. I appreciated that Fitzpatrick didn’t make her this perfect protagonist - I think it makes the story more realistic.

My issues with the book are minuscule in comparison to what I liked about. I think if there’s one major thing I had an issue with was that I felt we never really got much closure about a bunch of things in the book. (For the sake of not spoiling anything, I’m leaving it at that) But I also felt like the book does fine without it, so it’s not a huge deal. If anything, maybe it helps make things more real - as if their lives would go on for them even after I reached the final page. I just don’t get to find out what happens. Maybe it would have been odder to wrap up every storyline perfectly at the end. Does that make sense?

Aside from that, I also had issue with how Juan, one of Chet’s best friends, was written in the one second he was in the book. I think white authors need to stop writing POC into their books if they’re going to do it stereotypically. The way his character was written was almost laughable. 

There’s also something very particular I had an issue with but it comes with spoilers so here it goes… 

Trigger sucked as a human being, we have established that. But I was not a huge fan of the fact that his relationship with his teacher was written as if he was the one in the wrong, and she was innocent. He was a teenager and she was a grown adult. Just not a fan of the narrative that it was fine because he was 18 or that because he was abusive (?) in the relationship, it somehow makes what she did alright. I know it was 2015 when this was written, and things were different then (as in, people didn’t know how wrong teacher-student relationships were written in media) but still. That’s all I gotta say on that!

But whatever I felt could have been better about this book, Fitzpatric made up for, honestly. She had me hooked. She writes with a simple yet beautiful writing style that made me feel like I could picture every single thing and feel every single emotion she was describing. This book has interesting characters - each with their own internal and external conflicts, relationships with one another, full personalities, and lives outside of the main character’s story. It has conflict and plot twists that even I didn’t see coming at times. And it had a very satisfying conclusion, with the pieces of this story coming together perfectly. It even has some good lessons to learn along the way about forgiveness (both forgiving yourself and those who hurt you), vulnerability, love, and healing. And of course, the main star of the show: Chet and Stella’s relationship was super cute. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book! I think fans of realistic YA would really enjoy this one. 

I’ve been a fan of the Walking Dead television series, and I thought it was finally time to read the comic book series it is based on.

This comic book follows Rick, a small town cop who has to become the leader of a small group of people doing what they can to survive through a zombie apocalypse. It shows us all the pain, all the gore, all the struggles that come with survival. But it also shows us how important community is during dark times. 

Though I’ve already see the television series, I found myself still surprised by the events that occurred in the comic book series. I never quite knew what was going to happen when I turned the page, and that - the not knowing - kept me hooked on this story until the very end.

The Walking Dead shows us how quickly people can lose their humanity and their minds when facing something like a zombie apocalypse. It shows us what people are willing to do to survive. Even the protagonists are morally gray at best, making questionable decisions just to survive. 

The television series itself is already pretty dark, and yet I found this comic book series to be so much darker. And the art style worked beautifully in capturing all that darkness, all that action, all that gore. 

I will admit that at times it was too much for me, and it made me grateful that so many changes were made when turning this comic book into a TV series. There are many moments in this that I think would be too much on screen, but work better in a comic book format. And without saying any spoilers, there were some parts I felt very uncomfortable with, and I think the TV show was honestly better off without them.

Despite all the painful moments, it also had a lot of happy, and even funny moments. Emotional moments. Moments that helped me connect more with the characters. Moments that helped me realize that no matter what was thrown their way, they were retaining their humanity. 

I enjoyed this read, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series. I can’t wait to see what happens next! 

O.G bad boy 
O.G slow burn 
O.G enemies to lovers 

This was my first time reading one of Jane Austen’s works, and I really, really enjoyed it! It’s a little slow-moving and hard to read at times, but the longer I read, the more accustomed I became to Austen’s writing style. I very quickly fell in love with the world and characters that make up the book, with every character coming to life on the page, often in ways I didn’t expect. People always talk about the romance aspect of this book, so I didn’t know what to expect from the book outside of that. For one, I didn’t know this book and its characters were going to be as funny as they were. I particularly loved seeing the playful banter between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, as well as the jokes shared among the Bennett family. 

This book teaches some truly timeless lessons, particularly about love. It shows us that love looks different for everyone. It shows us that nobody is perfect, and you can love someone despite their imperfections and faults. It shows us that if someone truly loved you, they will be willing to look within and change their faults, they will want to see you happy. Also, it’s interesting reading this book from a feminist lense, thinking about what marriage meant for women during this time. 

If I had to say one thing I wished from this book is that we could have seen more between Elizabeth and Darcy. They spend long sections of the book without even seeing each other, and I was often left longing for their next interaction, because I loved seeing how their relationship and the way they behaved around each other changed throughout the book. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more of Austen’s work! I also think I will have to give this book another read sometime in the future, so I can have a better understanding of it, considering it’s a bit of a tough read. Really, really loved it!

I can’t find the right words to describe this book, but if I had to describe it in a few words, I would use these: addicting, funny, and honest. This book does a good job of showing how the world would react to a situation like this, who/what they would try to blame, and how quickly things would spin out of control. The book is very dark and morbid, but I think Starmer does a pretty good job of balancing it out with the sense of humor displayed in the book.

The characters, their relationships and the choices they make seem pretty realistic (all things considered) and it made me feel very immersed into the world Starmer created. Starmer captures the reality of being a teenager in modern times pretty well. (At times, it can be cringy, but what book about teenagers isn’t?) The characters aren’t perfect - they make mistakes, they say and do dumb shit, they do drugs, they drink, they have sex, they do whatever it is teenagers do. And I appreciated seeing that sort of honesty and reality represented on paper. 

I will say that the narrating style isn’t for everybody, but over time I grew to love it. It felt like Mara is telling me all the juicy details of the happenings of her hometown, taking me along for the ride. It’s very conversational, which is not something I’m used to, but I liked how Mara described people and her surroundings. It was cool seeing the world through her eyes, and I couldn’t imagine the book being written any other way.

Spontaneous is fun. It’s imperfect. It’s tragic. It’s real - in a way that I didn’t expect, might I add. I dont think it will be everyone’s cup of tea, but I enjoyed reading it! 

Like all the other books in the Maze Runner series, The Kill Order is a real page-turner. Chapter after chapter gets you sucked into all the action and madness that you can’t quite put the book down. Every gory detail, every action-packed scene, every mystery unlocked, every heart-wrenching moment - they all bring the reader into the tragic world Dashner created. This book was a great addition to the series, helping the reader better understand the events that led the Maze being created in the first place, all the pain the world went through during that time. It almost makes me wish this book came with its own series, so we can learn more about the characters, what the world was like before the flare, etc. 

The book is a prequel to the events of the Maze Runner, and it follows the lives of Mark and his friends - people who were all alive when the sun flares first started. For fans of the Maze Runner, it may be odd to read a book with a whole new set of characters. But for me, it was actually sort of refreshing to get to meet a whole new group of people, and Dashner did an incredible job helping us get to know them. I loved seeing their dynamics within the group - the way they care about each other and the way they work together. Most of the book focuses on two characters (Mark and Alec) so if I had any criticism, it would be that I wish we could see more of the other characters that are important to the protagonist (Mark).

The events of this book hit you rather quickly, with the reader being sucked into this world Dashner created almost immediately. That can sometimes be a book’s downfall, but Dashner’s world- building and imagery are so incredible, they help introduce the reader to this world without confusing them. The book is very action-packed and Dashner does a good job of describing all that action. I will say that I do wish the book had more moments where it slowed down a bit so that the reader can have more time to get to know the characters in a less stressful situation/environment. While reading, I often got tired of the fight sequences and wished we could see the characters simply exist without another problem arising. 

Finally, I’d like to say that this book is also incredibly emotional. Rarely, do I have a book that makes my heart feel as heavy as this one did. It reminds me why I love these types of dystopian books. They show communities coming together not just to survive, but to live. They show how important love and compassion are. And they show us how when people truly care, they are willing to do just about anything, sacrifice just about anything for one another. 

I read this book series twice in my life: Once as a One-Direction-obsessed preteen and then again when the After movie came out and I wanted to remember what the original book series was like. I read them on Wattpad, so I'm talking ORIGINAL original (mainly because I would not spend my money on this trash). I have a million and one reasons why I don't like this book series, but I don't want to go through them all right now or this would be a very long review. 

I reread this series purely for the nostalgia, and I did not enjoy most of it. Yes, at times the characters were loveable and the storylines were interesting. But the series is riddled with bad writing, odd pacing, plot holes, repetitive storylines, etc. It's really not worth reading. 

This is a book that I heard was really sad before I read it, and though I wasn’t as emotionally invested in it as I thought I would be, I still found it to be an enjoyable read that helped me see life in a different perspective. Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a book made up of 4 different (and very long) chapters with characters going through various different issues in the same little café. Their stories teach us to hold those we love close. They teach us that there is so much power in love and in family (whether it be the one you choose or the one you are born into). I loved the way all the stories wrapped up/connected in the end, emphasizing the connections all the characters (and their stories) had. 

Some other things I enjoyed while reading were the character work and the use of magical realism. As for the character work, the characters are loveable, and it was great getting to know them and the bond they all share. As for the magical realism, I found the premise of the book (and the rules that came along with it) very interesting. The rules of time travel were tricky to understand at times, but I didn’t think about it too hard, since I think the true point of the book is the lesson you learn from it. 

I did enjoy this read, but unfortunately, I did not enjoy it as much as I hoped. Though the premise of the book was great, the execution could have been better. For one, I found the writing to be pretty uninteresting/unimaginative and, oftentimes, repetitive. There were many times when the author wrote that “x character behaved x way because of x reason” rather than letting their personalities and mannerisms tell us what we need to know. Also, there were times when the author would repeat the same information over and over again, like the rules of time travel or what the café looked like, and I found that repetition unnecessary. These kinds of issues I had with the writing made it hard to connect with the characters on a deeper level, which was disappointing.

Overall, I did find this to be a touching book, mainly because I could relate those situations and issues back to my life, helping me better understand the lessons being taught here. I would recommend it for fans of magical realism who enjoy a quick and easy read. 

I’ll be honest and say that this isn’t the type of book I would typically choose to read. I actually got it from the library in my college town when they had one of those “Blind Date With A Book” things. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, especially since I have never read Don Quixote, but I decided to read it anyway and I’m genuinely glad I did. It got me out of my comfort zone as a reader, and I’m very happy about that. 

It was a very enjoyable read that was at times oddly deep, at times hilarious, and always full of surprises. I, for one, did not expect a book set in the 16th century to throw in random little references to things that exist in the present! And as random as that may sound, it felt, to me, like it had a purpose. I love how kooky and weird and silly the book is, and how the art style seems to match that kooky-ness so well. It was also, at times, very educational, and it was cool learning a little history through it. 

This book genuinely makes me want to read Don Quixote, so I can compare and contrast it with this interpretation of it. As much as I enjoyed it, I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I knew more about the original book. We’ll see if that ends up in my TBR list lol! Also, I would like to say that I don’t particularly think I will ever read this book again, since it’s not the type of book I’m into, but it doesn’t mean I’m not glad I read it. It was still a fun read!

I am a big DCEU and MCU fan, so I have been wanting to read comic books for a while, but I never really knew where to start. I decided to start with one of my favorite superheroes to come out of the MCU, Miles Morales, and I came across this specific comic book. And I am so so glad that I ended up choosing this one!

For fans of the MCU, a lot of the characters, scenes, plot points, and even some lines will seem very familiar. Without getting into anything specific, it was interesting reading a comic book that references things that I have seen in other Marvel series, movies, and even video games. And I think that's a really good thing - I felt like Bendis did a good job staying true to the characters that are so beloved and storylines that are so well-known. But it isn't totally 100% like the other Spider-Man media I've mentioned. It also has its own unique elements and it lets me know things about these characters' lives that I didn't know before. Also I thought it was cool to engage with Marvel media that wasn't afraid to be a bit gory and dark at times. These types of stories involve a lot of death, pain, fear, etc. and I think it did a good job addressing that part of being a superhero without being overwhelmingly dark. 

Because this was my first time reading a graphic novel, I was worried that it would be pretty inaccessible to me. I thought I would have a hard time knowing where I'm supposed to read next or following the plot in general. I would say that this comic book is very easy to follow, and I did not struggle as much as I thought I would. I will say, however, that it felt like it was going in a very fast pace, and I think I'm just not used to that in books. I felt like I was meeting a lot of new characters at once, and it was a bit overwhelming. I imagine that that would be very difficult to handle as somebody who is very new to Marvel and doesn't know all those characters from other media. But maybe it is very common in comic books, and I just wouldn't know! 

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read, and I'm very excited to read more comic books in the future! I would definitely love reading more of Bendis' work as well.