loesaatruijens's reviews
80 reviews

The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The pumpkin spice cafe is the first book of the dream harbor series. It follows Jeanie as she wants to escape her old city life and live a calm life as the new cafe owner, which she inherited from her aunt. She quickly meets the cute farmer who delivers her cute little pumpkins one day. They quickly fall in love but they’re hesitant l, will they ever confess their love?

I did really enjoy this book, it’s the perfect book to start autumn with. But, there isn’t really anything happening in most of the book. both MC’s suffer from a serious case of no communication and it’s really frustrating at times. this is also a insta-love story, I don’t really mind if it’s done well. The book spans out over a month which is quite short. like I said, I did really enjoy this book so it’s got 4 stars on GoodReads and 3,5 on StoryGraph 
The Iliad by Homer

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adventurous tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

DNF 
Cursed Crowns by Katherine Webber, Catherine Doyle

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adventurous tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Cursed crowns is the second book of the twin crowns series. It’s co. Written by Cathrine Doyle and Kathrine Webber. Cursed crowns takes almost directly place after the first book. Wren goes to Gevra to retrieve her grandmother while Rose is left behind to deal with the uprising against the witches. Will they succeed in what they needed to do?  

I didn’t care about most of the book. Rose was left behind while Wren just ran off into unknown danger while knowing about what Rose had to face alone. Wren makes stupid rash decisions and seems toforget that she’s a queen and has resources to her disposal. In the last 100 pages or so of the book I really enjoyed and made this 2 into 3 star book. I really liked Wren’s new love interest aswell 😏
My Happy Marriage, Volume 1 by Akumi Agitogi, Rito Kohsaka

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dark emotional inspiring sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

My happy marriage is a Cinderella retelling it’s a historical romance with supernatural elements. It follows Miyo who is from a noble family but is neglected and abused by them. She marries off to the Kudo house hold. The head of the house is rumoured to be cruel and that his fiancés flee and don’t even last 3 days. when we get to know Kiyoka Kudo, it turns out that he’s kind and does everything he can to help his new fiancé. 

I picked this manga up because I’m in love with the anime. This book is so good and so easy to get through. the relationship between Kiyoka and Miyo is so sweet and lovely to watch. I love that we get more information from the characters than we do in the anime. In the first volume we get to see them from the very beginning when they’re just trying to understand each other. I definitely recommend you read this manga, there’s also a light novel if that’s what you like. 5/5 stars and I can’t wait to read the rest of the book 
Wet Hot Allosaurus Summer by Lola Faust

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adventurous dark funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I don’t like the writing style, it reminds me of weird fan fiction. The part where he drinks her period is disgusting and I lost threw up. It was funny at some parts. 
Nimona by ND Stevenson

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Honestly, I found this book quite boring and even though some themes in this book are quite serious, the art style really distracts from that. I liked the movie better tbh 😬
I did enjoy the silliness but that’s about it. It’s advertised as a book for teens from 13 to 17 years old but I imagine it can be a bit younger than that. 

To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn

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funny hopeful sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

To sir Philip, with love is the 5th book of the Bridgerton series and follows Eloise and Philips love story. Philip was once married to Eloise’s 4th cousin Marina (in the series she’s Penelope‘s) Eloise writes a condolence letter and Philip decides to respond,causing them to be penpals for over a year when Philip proposes over a letter and asks Eloise to visit him. Eloise does come but in announced and did she without telling anyone. 

To sir Philip, with love is the 5th book of the Bridgerton series and follows Eloise and Philips love story. Philip was once married to Eloise’s 4th cousin Marina (in the series she’s Penelope‘s) Eloise writes a condolence letter and Philip decides to respond,causing them to be penpals for over a year when Philip proposes over a letter and asks Eloise to visit him. Eloise does come but in announced and did she without telling anyone. 
Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle, Katherine Webber

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adventurous funny lighthearted tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really did enjoy this book, it’s really funny at times, it was kind of addicting and I loved Shen as a character.
however, I didn’t like Wren at all. I understand why she did the things she did but I don’t like how she’s ruining Rose’s life. She goes around destroying her engagement, reputation and even her friendship. Wren doesn’t know that Rose doesn’t live the prince, she could’ve handled that with more grace and honesty. Rose should’ve stayed mad for longer, she was kidnapped and lied to her entire life. because of this I’m giving Twin crowns 4 out of 5 stars
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

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emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No
DNF it just doesn’t pull me..
You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao

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emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

You’ve reached Sam is about Julie who lost her boyfriend due to a car crash. She has a hard time moving on and ignores everyone in her life, including her boyfriends funeral. one day she decides to call her boyfriends phone and he picks up and tells her that these calls are so that they could have the goodbye that they never got. 

This book was a true tearjerker. The beginning was sad, sure a few tears here and there. The end was what really got to me, it had me sobbing until a bit after I closed the book. 
the story it self was meaningful and talked about grief in a way I don’t read about often. I really enjoyed this book but, I don’t see myself reading this again soon. I’m giving this book 4/5 stars.