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Book Review: Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli by A.M. Molloy

Before I begin, is it just me, or did Leah gain weight since the first book, and I didn't notice? Like, maybe I missed it in Simon's book, but I had no idea she was a plus-size character. I love the body representation; I just must not have noticed that in her character description cause when I was reading this book, I was a bit thrown off by her being a bigger girl. But she owns it, and I love that.

Anyway, that aside, I loved this book. I love a good sapphic romance. Also, I love the bi representation. We need more of that in media, I think.

Leah did come off a bit too teen antsy for me, but that's her character, so Albertalli nailed that. I would have liked to see her do a bit of the nerdy stuff she's always telling us about than just, well, telling us she's into nerdy things. My inner nerd needs it. But still, I enjoyed reading her much more than Molly in book two. She felt more fleshed out as a character.

One nitpick I will say, however, is that Leah telling Abby she can't be a little bi and that she has to label herself properly irked me. It's Abby's choice on how she wants to be labelled. If Abby is only 5% into girls and 95% into guys, she's still bi. No one should tell you how you identify.

That being said, this was a cute read and a worthy sequel to Love, Simon. It was nice to see the OG cast again, and fun to read little cameo's to characters in the second book. This book was a much better fit for the Simonverse than book two. (Which, it being a sequel and featuring the main cast again, wasn't hard to do).

Book Review: When the Corn is Waist High by Jeremy Scott by A.M. Molloy

When the Corn is Waist High

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When the Corn is Waist High 〰️

When the Corn is Waist High by Jeremy Scott

Okay, so not going to lie; it took me a while to get into this book. It was an insta-buy for me because I love the author and his other works. But when I started the read, the pacing felt very slow. I kept reading because the MC was interesting enough to keep me engaged.

Then the plot twist happened.

When it was revealed that the MC (of which this story was told in first-person POV) was the killer behind everything, I was hooked. It was terrific how Scott managed to keep the information that the MC was a killer from us despite having it be in first-person. But if you look back, everything made sense, and if I were to re-read the book, I'm sure some clues pointed to it.

At first, I didn't like Solomon for his actions (cheating with a married woman), but he was such a well-written character that I overlooked that fact. And then when he shanked her after she discovered his murder stuff, well, my face dropped. But like I said, I was invested. Now I wanted to know how the bok would end with him trying to catch the killer, but the killer was himself!

And boy, did I not see the ending coming. Okay, so I predicted a bit that he would plant the evidence on someone else, and he did. I didn't think he'd get away with it, but he did, and it made sense. But what really blew my mind was the even bigger double twist of the story that happened right at the end. I did <i>not</i> see that coming. All I know is that I'll be thinking about that last chapter for days.

For the twists, I recommend it—you for sure need to see how the MC did everything and why. The pacing picked up once the first twist was revealed, so that was great. And the MC is really fun to read. Scott really knows how to write his characters.

Book Review: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern by A.M. Molloy

The Starless Sea

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The Starless Sea 〰️

The stories! Oh! The stories this book tells. Literally! So many stories and yet they somehow all fit together at the end.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

The easiest way to describe how good this book was, (especially after reading Morgenstern's debut novel, The Night Circus), is that now anything Morgenstern writes will be an automatic insta-buy for me. I absolutely LOVE her writing style. It's so unique I could pick up her books with no cover, start reading, and know it was her writing it.

The sheer amount of imagination to have like a bazillion different stories all being told at once and yet somehow all intertwine in the end is something I find incredible. The author essentially wrote like 50 novels in one yet none of it felt out of place.

Morgenstern's description of literally everything in this book is astounding. I could vividly smell all the books, see all the elaborate stories, and taste the honey on my tongue. Plus there were cats. Lots of cats. I love cats so that makes this book A-Okay in my books. Not to mention that the MC is gay makes my LGBT heart squeal for representation.

Honestly, I don't want to divulge too much of the book because I think people need to experience this for themselves. It's not just reading a book. It really is an experience. I just wish I could learn a little bit more about how the underworld library Starless Sea came to be, but that's just a small nitpick. The rest of the worldbuilding was great. Though now that I think of it, I would have liked to see what happens when <sspoiler>Kat opens her door and if Zachary and Dorian eventually make out to the top world. </spoiler> But it still had a great ending.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good story.

Book Review: You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes by A.M. Molloy

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Kepnes has done it again. Somehow she made Joe even more likable if that's the right word. Somehow she made it so that we wanted Joe to have that happy ending, that he really was "a good guy", because in this book he kinda is, for the most part.

Sure he did some stalking, as in previous books, but nowhere near to the level he was at before. He kept his promise to himself that he would win MK over the old fashion. (Well, again, for the most part). But while there were deaths, surprisingly none were from Joe himself! He's racked up quite the body count over the last two books but he actually didn't harm or kill anyone. (Even though he did mean to kill Phil, but he didn't follow through so, good guy? haha. How Kepnes makes me rout for Joe makes me question my morality).

You Love Me Cover

I like how this book "returned to form", so to speak. In the first book, he would narrate using the pronoun "you" all the time for Beck, but in the second book when he met Love, it was written (still in Joe's voice so props for that), like any other first-person POV. "Love did this." "Love said that." As opposed to something like "You looked at me like this." or "You did this thing." I liked that it was focused on "You" again. The series is called, "You" after all.

I didn't like how some events were glossed over so fast. Mostly stuff at the beginning and the end.

The last book ended with Joe madly in love with Love and him being in jail and this book starts out with him in a completely different city, out of jail, and in love with a new character. Sure we get some explanation but not gonna lie, when I started this book I thought I missed a book in between. (We do learn more about what happened later but I was just so shocked at the contrast of the last book ending compared to the start of the third one). Also, Kepnes brings to light some heavy stuff in regards to Nomi right in the last few chapters and it happens so fast and suddenly it's the epilogue. SOmehow Kepnes did end the series nicely (assuming it's a trilogy), but I would have liked to see it extended just a bit more.

All in all, great series. The narration was unique and truly welcomed. Loved this book (and the other two), from start to finish.

For anyone looking for a good read, I recommend this series.

Now to see if the Netflix version lives up to the books haha.

You Love Me Cover 2

You Love Me

by Caroline Kepnes

Book Review: Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes by A.M. Molloy

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Unclear how Kepnes does it, but like her first novel, YOU, she's done it again. She makes you empathize with Joe. Somehow she makes you see things from his perspective (besides the obvious first-person POV). By this I mean somehow we see Joe's horrible actions as justified and we feel for him as a character. We somehow don't want him to be caught for or all his murders, we want him to be with the girl of his dreams and we want the best for him. How Kepnes makes me like a serial killer/stalker is beyond me.

Hidden Bodies cover

Again, like the previous book, this one was very well written, giving our MC Joe plenty of personality. It was, however, written (in my opinion), slightly different than the first. He wasn't "talking" to anyone this time. (Like saying "YOU did this thing and YOU did this other thing"). It was just Joe narrating his life. I expected this book to follow the writing style of the first one, with a new "you", being other Amy or Love. But it didn't. I'm not mad. It works. It still sounds just like Joe would sound.

I'm happy to know that there is a third book, because the way this one ended, though perfect for Joe's behavior, does leave me wanting to read more. Although I can't possibly imagine how Joe is getting out of trouble this time, or even how the third book will end. My guess is another jail for good or death haha. But I won't know until I read it.

All in all, this series so far is hella enjoyable and to anyone who likes a good thriller out there, I highly. recommend this series.

Now. onto the third book!

Book Review

Book Review: The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa by A.M. Molloy

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This was for sure an interesting book to read. The concept, the unique storytelling, was gripping from start to finish. Apologies if this review is all over the place. I have many thoughts on the book haha.

In this book, we have an unknown narrator, of which I named "Megui" after a friend of mine. We don't get much description of her other than she's a female, occasionally wears makeup, and has longish hair. But that doesn't take away from the story. In this way, it helps us become "Megui" and puts us in her shoes.

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

The whole idea that things "disappear" is very interesting. When the Memory Police make something "disappeared" (of which we never find out why they do this other than to be dicks I guess because some of the things they deem useless are not), things aren't actually gone. The objects still exist. People just simply lose all memory associated with them and then get rid of the physical objects. what's interesting, however, is how some people don't forget. They live remembering everything that was "disappeared". It's never explained why some people are like this but it all adds to the mystery.

Like, 90% of the characters don't have names, for example, our MC. I had a theory that at one point the Memory Police decided names were useless so they make them disappear. However, that can't be the case as there are like 3 people who do have names, one being the MC's editor, R. (A letter still counts as a name haha).

I also enjoyed the story within a story. It paralleled with the main story so perfectly. "Megui" is a novelist, and we get to see snippets of her work throughout the book. It's unfortunate for her that novels "disappear" at some point, but somehow at the end, she manages to finish her story, and it was every bit as sad as the actual ending for the book.

The ending itself was so sad. No real conclusion. It was abrupt, like the loss of memory of things that disappeared. She just kinda... died. I thought maybe "Megui" would figure out a way to remember things, or figure why/how the Memory Police make people forget things, but she didn't. She just lived her life until she forgot about her entire self.

Yoko Ogawa

Yoko Ogawa

As a side note, I did notice a few inconsistencies. One of them being on things that had already disappeared. Like, photos disappear at one point, but there is a time when "Megui" and the old man are being ID checked by the Memory Police. "Megui" mentions that the police are checking the identification that has photographs on them, but how does that work if they had disappeared in an earlier scene? Like, they burn everything that has an association to do with the thing that disappeared.

That being said, while I didn't particularly like how it ended, I'm not mad at the book. I actually really enjoyed it. It was an easy and fast read and I highly recommend it.

Memory

Book Review: The Guardian by A.T. Duguay by A.M. Molloy

The Guardian Title
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A.T. Duguay

A.T. Duguay

I have the pleasure of actually knowing the author personally. Duguay and I go way back to high school, and though we haven't really spoken to each other for nearly 15 years (wow that makes me feel old haha), we recently re-connected through our love of writing.

Now, onto his novel. For a first-time author, this book was very well written and the formatting was gorgeous. (He did the formatting and cover design himself and it turned out dope!) Duguay was able to do excellent world-building without making it a big info dump. I was constantly excited to learn more about Gauthak's world (and the world around him). It's obvious there is still plenty to learn, but knowing this is the first in the series definitely helps. As it stands, the story itself is a good stand-alone in terms of world-building and character development.

The Guardian Original Cover

Before I gush about all the good things about this book, there were only a few "negative" things I should mention. I wouldn't even call them negatives. More like nitpicking based on my own personal preference.

For starters, I loved all the names of the main characters, Gauthak, Lauranna, and the names of the Northmen. But it seemed as though if the character didn't have a big role to play, their names were taken from our world and "made to look fantasy". Names like Samanda, Josiph, Sorcha, for example. Nothing wrong with that. Again, it's me being nitpicky.

Second, I found it odd that after each part, (the book is divided into three parts), the chapter titles would reset back to one. This may be a common fantasy practice that I'm unaware of, but from the books I've read that were divided into parts (my unpublished one included), the chapters never reset to one.

The story did drag--only a little!!--a bit at the start of part three, but did pick up again. But, can't have action all the time!

Last, sometimes the character's voices sounded more modern than I feel they should. (I just imaged in the setting they're in to sound all Game of Thrones like, and they totally don't have to, but yeah). Sometimes they sounded like they were in the fantasy setting they were in while other times a few modern sounded phrases seemed to pop through. At least, that's how it felt to me.

Anywho, as I said, nitpicky stuff. All very minor.

Now, onto the good stuff.

First off, LOVE Gauthak. He's a well-written character and has a great history (albeit sad) and a very interesting culture to learn about. I love how it isn't insta-love between him and Lauranna and it was sweet to Gauthak slowly get smitten with her.

I loved all the Northman, but I'm sad about how some of their stories had ended. They are a strong group of characters and the camaraderie between them and the rest of the cast felt very realistic.

Faron is easily one of my favourite characters aside from Guathak. He's the magic user in this world and I love his sarcastic yet hard truth-telling attitude. Plus the way Duguay wrote how Faron performed magic was pretty cool. Can't wait to learn more about him and the magic system of this series.

All in all, a solid good book. Great read. For a first-time author, Duguay should be proud of what he's accomplished. Here's hoping book two comes out soon!

The Guardian New Cover

The

Guardian by A.T. Duguay

New revised cover for the first book.

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