Books Mentioned
- Happy Place by Emily Henry
- Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
- Honnou Switch by KUJIRA
- Loving Yamada-kun at Lv. 999 by Mashiro
- Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
- Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
- Tomorrow, & Tomorrow, & Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
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Happy Place by Emily Henry
I have never run to a bookstore so fast just to get my hands on this book. Since the minute I read the synopsis for this book, I was convinced I would fall in love with it. I did enjoy it immensely, given my 4.25 star rating, but there were a decent amount of things that kept this from being a 5 star.
First of all, there were a lot of things I liked. It had such an interesting premise. I love the idea of this friend group going on a routine vacation, and I love the stakes that were put into place—this one was the last one they'll go on, so they were determined to make this last trip memorable. I truthfully wasn't really expecting the very small-town vibe that I got in this story, but I think Emily Henry does the small-town vibe very well. I think every life aspect that Henry tried to touch on she did well, I liked watching the seams that held this friend group slowly fall apart. I liked seeing Harriet and Wyn's frustration with each other as they tried to navigate this façade while being so obviously still in love with each other. I think Henry does interpersonal relationships very well; I thought she depicted Wyn's grief, and Harriet's too, in a very raw and real manner. I also have found that I am not a miscommunications hater, since a lot of the miscommunication that I've read in books I found very understandable, and that was also the case here.
As much as I loved this book, I did have a few issues with it. I very often find myself having to get used to Henry's writing tone. It is not a tone that I am used to reading, and I'm gonna be honest I do have a hard time reading it sometimes. If I had to describe the tone, the best (but not exactly accurate) word I can think of is flippant. It does shift to a more somber tone when she switches to a heavier subject, but this flippantness even in the happier scenes feels a little too contrived at times. Something else that bothered me was the placement of sexual tension where sexual tension does not belong. I get that this is a romance book, but I really do not think I need to read about them being turned on in places people should not be getting turned on at. I think I visibly cringed every time I had to read about Harriet's "pinched nipples" because what does that even mean. I think I got so turned off by the descriptions of sexual tension that when the sex did happen, I kinda just skimmed over it. I'm also still trying to make up my mind over how I feel about the ending. Without giving away the ending, I wish the ending was left a little bit more open to possibility rather than shoving us a possibility at the latter end of the book.
Overall, Happy Place is a story that explores the growing pains of new adulthood, and asks the question that many people in their 20's tend to ask themselves: what does it mean to be truly happy in a life where happiness seems so elusive? A lot of the points that Henry brings up in Happy Place truly resonated with me as a new grad who has been questioning life's purpose as of late, and I truly enjoyed my experience of reading this book, even with all the flaws that I nitpicked earlier. I truly recommend this book for lovers of women's fiction. I hesitate to recommend this to romance readers since the romantic relationship here is a very important factor but not the main factor of this story; but nonetheless, Harriet and Wyn's story of coming together and falling apart was wonderful to read, and I highly recommend this book to readers who love a lot of angst in their romances.
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
Rating: ★★★ (3/5)
I'm truthfully a little stuck on what to say about this book, because I thought it was just fine. It was a very easy read, and I was able to get through it in a few days even with my inconsistent reading schedule. I didn't dislike it, but I also didn't feel much toward it.
Love and Other Words is a very highly lauded women's fiction romance book about two childhood friends who fall in love, have a huge falling out, and end up reconnecting 10 years later as very different people. Throughout the story, the authors hammer in the fact that these two are meant for each other. They're soulmates, for lack of a better word in my vocabulary. However, I was never convinced of it. I thought they were cute friends, but I struggled to feel any romantic chemistry between them. I also had an issue with a conflict towards the end of the story. I don't want to spoil anything, but something very serious happens towards the end of the story, and I was troubled by the fact that the issue was swept under the rug when I feel like it should have been addressed a lot more seriously. That alone was enough to put me off a bit from the story.
Overall, Love and Other Words is a story about giving friendship (and romance) a second chance. I personally thought it was just okay, but it is very loved by readers who enjoy childhood friends to lovers relationships.
Honnou Switch by KUJIRA
Honnou Switch is a mature manga which follows childhood friends Koyori and Hijiri, who decide to give a relationship a try after falling into bed together spontaneously after a night of sorrowful drinking. I'm personally not always the biggest fan of the popular trope of childhood friends to lovers, but I thought Koyori and Hijiri were really cute. Though the manga is very mature, its leads feel very youthful and breathe a lot of life into the storyline, though it is technically not anything groundbreaking or innovative. I don't think stories need to be groundbreaking or innovative; widely used storylines and tropes are popular for good reason. The thing that always sets particular stories apart from others will always be their characters, and Koyori and Hijiri are very lovable characters. I loved reading about how the care that had always existed in their years-long relationship developed into something more as they navigated this new relationship.
Overall, Honnou Switch is a very wholesome story about two childhood friends who give romance a chance, and their love for each other is enough to make even the most domestic of things interesting. I highly recommend this manga to childhood-friends-to-lovers enjoyers, as well as those who enjoy reading about adults navigating work and life alongside romance. I also must caution that this manga is a josei manga and does include mature scenes, so please tread carefully.
Loving Yamada-kun at Lv999 by Mashiro
I was truly starting to lose faith in online recommendations. These past few months, I picked up books/manga that were highly lauded in the online communities, and was left sorely disappointed. So honestly I picked this manga up not expecting much. I loved the art style of the anime and the few panels that have gone viral on TikTok, and thought to myself that at least the art is nice to look at, maybe that will tide me over when this ultimately disappoints me. I'm really glad to have been proven wrong, because this manga was absolutely delightful.
Akane was a wonderful character. She's so cute and bubbly, and all around extremely lovable. Yamada, too, was a very likable character. His seemingly cold attitude born from his awkwardness was just so adorable. I thought they complemented each other really well, and I like how the author developed their relationship. The side characters were also very lovable; I love Eita and Runa and Kamoda, and I love how the variety within their group very accurately represents the gaming community as a whole. I greatly appreciated Akane and Kamoda in particular, since they represent 2 subsets of gamers that are rarely spoken about. Akane is a busy student who likes to game in her free time, but it isn't something that is a big priority for her so she is very self-aware of how she isn't playing the most meta characters or weapons, but she's having fun playing anyway. Kamoda, on the other hand, is a middle-aged man with a full-time job who has fun gaming in his post-work hours, and I think that representation of gamers is very important since there seems to be some misunderstanding among younger people that adults stop having hobbies when they are older and working their adult jobs.
Overall, Loving Yamada-kun at Lv999 is a very lovely romance between two people who meet within a game and become friends in real life. It is one of the cutest shoujo manga I've read in a while, and I loved how the friend group in this story accurately represents the vast gaming community. I highly recommend this manga to shoujo lovers and those who appreciate lovely manga artwork.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Yellowface has been one of my most highly anticipated reads since it was announced last year, so I was extremely alarmed when I began seeing such turbulent reviews of this book. I look up to R.F. Kuang a lot; I loved her The Poppy War series, and I think she is an extremely eloquent and elegant writer. Even so, I couldn't ignore all the reviews I have seen and I went into this book with quite a bit of apprehension. I really am glad to say that the good faith I have placed in R.F. Kuang did not fail me, because I absolutely loved Yellowface. It was riveting and viscerally frustrating in the best of ways.
Kuang did a wonderful job of writing in the point of view of a very privileged and self-righteous white woman, without making her feel too much like a caricature. June Hayward is extremely unlikable, but she also feels human. I loved that even though Kuang wrote a character whose morals and judgment she completely disagrees with and aims to criticize, she doesn't write June to be some nefarious cartoon villain. I felt so much second-hand embarrassment while reading the book, and sometimes I was trying to multi-task while reading as if I was watching a trainwreck in slow-motion between the gaps of my fingers because of how suspenseful the entire book was. Kuang perfectly dangles imminent disaster above the reader's head as they read about June's indiscretions, making Yellowface an undeniably exhilarating read.
One thing I wish there was more of was the almost supernatural, ghostly presence of Athena Liu, June's self-proclaimed friend and fellow author. I wish she was more heavy-handed with her ghost throughout the story; I would have liked for her presence to build as the story went on.
Overall, Yellowface is a captivatingly thrilling story that explores the faults of the publishing industry and asks the question of who has the right to tell certain stories? Kuang was abundantly clear in her stance throughout the book, and she brings up many more interesting nuances about authorship and ownership of narratives that are often overlooked in traditional publishing. This is most definitely a story that inspires you to think beyond the boundaries of the book, and for that I highly recommend Yellowface to everyone who is looking for an exciting and thoughtful read.
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
A beautiful title to a truly beautiful book. I've been pondering on picking this up for a very long time, since I personally don't share the same enthusiasm as everyone else does when it comes to her arguably most well-renowned novel Normal People. However, Beautiful World, Where Are You is a more mature and deeply contemplative work that I was able to resonate with on a more personal level.
Rooney does a wonderful job on exploring the psyche of her characters. None of them are perfect and all of them make mistakes and say hurtful things, even though they deeply care for each other. I think the most beautiful thing about Rooney's storytelling is the way she writes how people come together and grow to understand and accept each other, all their differences aside. Through this story, she stresses the importance of stories about the mundane, stories that are just about relationships. Because in the end, the people we meet and grow to love are what make the world beautiful to each and every one of us.
Overall, Beautiful People, Where Are You is a touching story about the beauty of interpersonal relationships. Though I will never get used to Rooney's omission of quotation marks, she truly knows how to write a story to remind us how important the people in our lives are to each other, especially during a time where people struggled with isolation.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
I've been sticking to light, easy reads these days to get me back in the habit of reading, but I think it's finally time for me to return to the denser literary fiction reads. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow has been highly lauded across the internet for being a soul-crushing story about two friends and their ever-changing relationship throughout the decades. I, for one, love a story that takes my heart in the palm of its hand and completely crushes it, so I had to pick this novel up.
The novel is beautiful written; Zevin is amazing at crafting sentences that flow naturally and keep you clinging to every word and turn of phrase. I found her narrative style extremely bold. The way she flipped from present to past with little to no warning was a very daring move, but it was executed skillfully. I'm also very impressed with the way she is able to make the reader feel as if they've lived out these decades alongside these characters. I feel like I watched Sadie and Sam grow up, and I feel like I've aged 30 years alongside them. However, reading this novel never felt tedious and it didn't feel like a very long read; the feeling of having lived a lifetime with these characters is a testament to how deeply Zevin is a able to immerse the reader within this world.
Though I feel like this novel was skillfully written, I don't believe any novel is without its flaws. Though the entire story is about the turbulent relationship between Sadie and Sam, there were times when I found it hard to believe in the strength of their relationship. Though I was eventually able to believe in their bond, initially I truly doubted it. Their times together in the hospital just weren't enough to solidify the bond the author was trying to sell. I think something that could've fixed this would be Sam's point of view during the early days, because I just couldn't feel anything special when reading the scenes from Sadie's point of view. And to keep things vague, there were developments that happened towards the end of the novel that I just wish hadn't happened, because I thought the story was going for a certain point but it pivoted and went in a direction I wish it hadn't gone.
Overall, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a wonderful decades-spanning novel about videogames, the changes and losses of life, and most importantly: friendships. Sadie and Sam's relationship was full of ups and downs as business-slash-friendship relationships are often cautioned to be, and their never-ending journey of adapting to and learning to understand each other is reflective of how people constantly change ver time, and how relationships adjust and/or break because of it. I highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for a fulfilling read about friendships that fracture and mend in cycles, and I also really recommend this book to lovers of video games. It was really fun to see the names of some of my favorite games pop up throughout the story, such as Persona, Harvest Moon, and more!
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