Whisper Of Reviews // sprinkling the salt, disappointments, but some rare gems.

So honestly I have a lot of books I need to review SO LET’S GO AND DO IT AND JUST REVIEW THEM OKAY.

there’s not much to say except there are no themes for these books, they are just?? books i want to review and talk to you about!!

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The Epic Crush Of Genie Lo by F.C YeeThe Epic Crush of Genie Lo (The Epic Crush of Genie Lo #1)

  1. well, that was the most freaking boring and confusing crap I’ve read in a while.
  2. i was SOOO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK BC CHINESE MYTHOLOGY!! IN A FANTASY NOVEL!!!
  3. this book is horribly downright boring
  4. i mean, how does anyone enjoy this? like, i couldn’t care less about the mythology stories and monkies. i don’t know, the stories were kind of dumped on me and i just skimmed them because they just didn’t grab my attention…
  5. genie is so annoying. she literally gets pissed of for nothing. her first reaction to everything is to punch someone in the face OR she screams “shut up! shut up! shut up!” genie = ANNOYING WHINY KID
  6. OH AND QUENTIN. i know 0 about apart from that HE IS  SOOOOOOO GOOD LOOKING. OH MY GOSH GOT GET YOURSELF PERSONALITY!
  7. the writing is so awkward guys. soooo awkward i can’t even. the author tries to pull some realistic crap by putting “ughhhhh” in there and it just made everything seem tacky.
  8. i actually don’t give one crap about the plot. they have to fight daemons? cool, can you give me something more?
  9. every character was just a name to me
  10. scenes felt so random, chapters felt unfinished, eh. TACKY. overall didn’t enjoy.

🌟

thank you to Abraham books for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest. 

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A Taxonomy of Love by Rachel Allen

Read my full review here.

A Taxonomy of Love

  • Can you hear those vague squeals from the other end of the world? THAT ME
  • I actually liked…a CUTE CONTEMPORARY WHO AM I??
  • This is about a boy with Tourettes called Spencer who loves insects and animals and helping everyone out and is so dorky and smol and ruins so much yet you still love him.
  • I LOVE HOPE SHE’S SO FREAKING BAD-ASS AND DOESN’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER. (Did I mention she reads Laini Taylor’s books?)
  • ALSO SISTERS!! IN BOOKS!! Jamie and Hope have such a realistic sibling relationship, I LOVE!! They do everything together and squeal and talk and have sibling fights and tell each other everything and just #GOALS.
  • That cover which is just darn gorgeous. this is important okay. AESTHETIC IS LIFE.
  • the way it handled grief so well and at the same time funny and swoony. Perfect balance.
  • And I want friends like Spencer’s because they watch movies together and watch the stars and I am jealous okay?
  • basically, it’s not ‘ASDFGHJKL’ it’s ‘asdfghjkl’ my feelings right now are just hey can i coddle this book?
  • SO CUTE. READ IT. CUTE. NESS.

thank you to Abraham books for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest. 

 

🌟🌟🌟🌟

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saints and misfits

Saints and Misfits by S.K Ali

Read my review here

  • I didn’t like it. (even tho the author personally sent me a signed copy)Saints and Misfits
  • THE BOOK HAS NO ACTUAL LITERAL POINT. Most of it is Janna going COMPLETELY crazy over forehead boy (Jeremy). Anyways, that is the only thing our character thinks about and WOW, it’s SO boring listening to her ramble about him and his forehead!! AND THE ROMANCE HAS NO CONCLUSION.
  • Things happen and are never mentioned again! I don’t even know who half the characters are and where they came from. I don’t understand the point of literally anything in this book WHAT IM SO CONFUSED.
  • I had problems with the whole sexual assault thing too. Janna stands up to Faruq, who has sexually assaulted her, and calls him an “oozing slime fest”. HONESTLY?  This whole scene seemed so ridiculous and crazy and it seemed like sexual assault was being made fun of. :/  Everything about this scene was eye-roll worthy and unrealistic.
  • Janna was A N N O Y I N G. In fact, I don’t think I liked ONE CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK.
  • Janna also judges a friend when she finds out the friend has only just started wearing the hijab.  LIKE YOU HATE PEOPLE FOR HAVING EXPECTATIONS FOR YOU AS A MUSLIM GIRL AND YET YOU HAVE SO MANY YOURSELF!! hypocrite or what.
  • BORING
  • but i love the cover!! muslim hijab teen!! pretty!!

🌟🌟

thank you to the author for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest.

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Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Blake

Read my review here

  • I WAS SO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK BC EVERYONE RATED IT FIVE STARSGirl Made of Stars
  • i just don’t get how i didn’t like this?? and i am so sad and disappointed. 😦
  • i’m not taking away from the rawness and empowering and important messages of this book. in fact, i appreciated this book tackled rape and feminism. but i finished this book just feeling very…hollow. the book had no impact on me. at. all.
  • i think the problem with girl made of stars is that it had too much emotion for me that i just became numb.  every scene is hard-hitting, powerful, despairing, full of anguish and pain. i need some sort of balance. if everything is so emotional and heartbreaking, i’m not going to feel anything.
  • i’m NOT saying there’s anything wrong with the book being really heavy. personally, though, i couldn’t attach myself to the story. everyone and everything felt broken and sad and drab to the point where there was no point??
  • the writing was wonderful, it was raw and beautiful and it didn’t shy away from the truth.
  • gmos
  • i didn’t really enjoy this book. i felt nothing. i felt the book was just one big message and there was nothing behind it. i was kind of just reading, waiting for something to hit me, waiting for something to happen but nothing ever…GOT me.
  • lots of good discussions about music and feminism and consent and rape and sexual assault, amazing!!

🌟🌟

thank you to HMH teen for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest. 

 

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the hazel woods1

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

  • I really enjoyed this book and hardly found myself bored. I heard this book was The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood, #1)about fairytales and so that was exciting!!
  • I loved learning about The Hazel Wood, SO MUCH FUN!! however, I think I enjoyed the normal-real-life scenes better. I feel like we got SO SUCKED into the Hinterland, when we came out of it, I just felt so muddled
  • So the idea of the Hinterland was good but we were thrust into it and I felt so overwhelmed. It was dark and creepy and good but I’m just so not sure about a lot of things.
  • Really good, but I left the book feeling SO DRAINED HONESTLY.
  • There’s no romance but small hints at one to be honest? Like the author sets one up but nothing ever happens. The ending was SAAAAAD for me, I was so sad dude.
  • The plot twist was…meh I guessed it. Wish it was a LITTLE LESS PREDICTABLE
  • Also, a messy scene where Alice is arguing with the police and then Finch tries to tell her that’s she so privileged as a white person because if it was him, he would be screwed but she ignores him :///

🌟🌟🌟.5

thank you to penguin random house for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest. 

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To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christio

read my review here

  • This book has 1) a pretty cover 2) hate-to-love romance and 3) evil sirens who seduce boys and kill them with their voices.To Kill a Kingdom
  • We have Lira, a siren, daughter of the Sea Queen, who disobeys her mother and as a punishment, she is turned into a human!! She can only turn BACK into a siren if she steals Prince Elian’s heart.
  • This is where Prince Elian of Midas comes in. He rescues Lira from the bottom of the ocean and takes her on board the ship. But he’s a siren hunter.
  • Elian is a sweet cinnamon roll, he wants to appear all brave and such but he’s really just soft and polite on the inside. SOFT. PIRATES. Ahhhhhhh. Elian also has amazing friends. I mean, TORIK WAS HILARIOUS I’M HOWLING!!
  • Lira was a very cut-throat and kick-ass and I LIKED THAT. She kind of reminded me of Lila Bard from A Darker Shade of Magic and as you can tell, I LOVE GIRL PIRATES SERIOUSLY GIMME ALL OF THEM PLEASE AND THANKS.
  • Ohhh it was a good romance BECAUSE hate-to-love WHICH IS ONE OF MY FAVE TROPES EVER!!! I really Liked Lira and Elian as friends and then I wasn’t really shipping the romance?!! Also it took over so much towards the end.
  • OKAY BUT EVIL SIRENS AND HATE TO LOVE ROMANCE AND BLOOD AND MURDER AND GORE AND THE OCEAN AND PIRATES AND HEARTS AND BETRAYAL?!?! Of course, I loved it. 1000% my type of book!!!

thank you to hot key books for providing me with a review copy. my review remains honest. 

 

🌟🌟🌟🌟

the hazel wood
also yes i do have two copies because i accidentally got sent two which is strange but whatever, im not complaining. 

 

Let's Whisper

Have you read any of these books and what did you think of them? What’s a recent read that was disappointing? Do you like fluffy contemporaries? AND THE UK HAZELWOOD COVER IS UGLY, right? tell me what you’ve been reading

Ilsa - Edited

62 thoughts on “Whisper Of Reviews // sprinkling the salt, disappointments, but some rare gems.”

  1. OMGG I have never heard of A Taxonomy of Love before and I WANT TO READ IT SO MUCH!!! I also want to give The Hazel Wood a go too 🙂 Also your sass when it comes to boring books is my favourite thing?? Is that bad? THANK YOU FOR THIS!

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      1. I LOVEEEE IT!!!! OMGGG ILSA I HAVE MISSED YOU!!!!! I haven’t been on WP in SO long but I love to read your blog ❤

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  2. Okay, now I need to pick up A Taxonomy of Love! So, thank you for that! Haha! But I hope the next book you pick up is five star worthy, love! Happy reading! 💗xx

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  3. To Kill A Kingdom was amaaaazing! I’m sorry that you didn’t like Girl Made of Stars though — I was pretty excited to read it. Maybe I will, though, because I like it when authors rip my heart out. Great post!

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  4. ahh I’m so excited to read To Kill a Kingdom!! (still haven’t gotten a copy yet sighh what am I doing with my life )): )
    also I’m sad to see that you didn’t enjoy Girl Made of Stars, I’ve heard such wonderful things about it. I have that problem with certain books too—if everything is **oozing** emotion and angst to the point where the entire book becomes one huge crying sesh, I just don’t feel as touched by the book as I would like? or maybe my soul is too dead and cold to appreciate emotional books idK :”)
    and omg!! The Hazel Wood!! I was also left a little disappointed by the ending. it would have been nice to see Alice hold onto a lasting friendship with someone of her own age ;_;

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    1. I think you’ll like TKAK!! Well, at least I hope you do. Some people found it boring but I think most people adored it (me included). YESSS, that’s exactly what GMOS IS *oozing* emotion I don’t feel anything?! Haha, maybe we are just heartless tho lmao.

      YESSSS, that ending!! The Hazel wood was good!!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I think I’ll love it too!!! most of the reviews I’ve read so far are pretty positive and like… a killer siren and dashing prince?? hype hype hype

        also I’m so excited for The Hazel Woods sequel ❤

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  5. Hahahaha, your reviews are the best, Ilsa 😂. Most of these books are still on my TBR 🙈. A Taxonomy of Love and To Kill a Kingdom are definitely being bumped up though! Fluffy contemporaries are very dear to my heart and the enemies to lovers trope has been growing on me 😏.

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  6. Oh I’m so sorry there are so many disappointing reads here, makes me sooooo sad 😦 I’m really glad you enjoyed A Taxonomy of Love though, you know me and my contemporaries haha, I can’t wait to read that one, it sounds lovely. AND YES I AM SO VERY HAPPY YOU LOVED TO KILL A KINGDOM, this book was FANTASTIC I LOVED IT SO MUCH! ❤
    Lovely reviews! ❤ ❤

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  7. I hadn’t heard of A Taxonomy of Love, but I love fluffy contemporaries so I guess I’ll have to give it a go 😛 To Kill a Kingdom sounds AMAZING and you completely convinced me that I need this ASAP. Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy so many of these though! Hopefully all of your next reads will be amazing 🙂 Great reviews!

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  8. I’m so sad to see you were disappointed by Girl Made of Stars! I’ve seen everyone gush about it so much, which is why I’ve made it my next read, but I guess I’ll lower my expectations for it now. But ahhh, I’m super excited that you enjoyed To Kill a Kingdom, and YES TO LOVING THE HATE-TO-LOVE TROPE (even though you didn’t ship them as much as a couple, rip).

    Lovely reviews, Ilsa! ❤

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    1. I know, everyone LOVES GMOS and im just here like…HUM. I reread it yesterday tho to see if my thoughts would change and THEY DID but not dramatically?! I think you’ll love it tho bc everyone else did and I’m just the odd one out. YESSSS TKAK IS GOOD READ IT. Thank you Lily!!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I’m halfway through GMOS, and I’m enjoying it, but it hasn’t blown me away so far? But a friend of mine (who doesn’t usually cry) said that the second part made her sob, so we’ll see. I’m glad you enjoyed it more the second time around, though! 🙂

        And ahh I liked TKAK a lot, which is a surprise, bc I hardly ever like hyped books? SO YES, I AGREE, IT’S VERY GOOD.

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  9. Ah-hahahahah! Someone has a lot of feelings regarding those books. 😂 I have to admit besides Hazelwood and To Kill a Kingdom I hadn’t heard of any of those books. It’s sad that you didn’t like The epic crush of Genie Lo because Chinese mythology sounds soooo good. I wish there were more books like that.
    Lovely and funny short reviews! 😀
    M

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  10. HAHA I got so angry when I was reading your Genie Lo thoughts but then you raved over A Taxonomy of Love and I quickly forgave you. I just adore that book so much ❤

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  11. I REALLY WANT TO READ THE HAZEL WOOD!!!! And ooh A Taxonomy of Love sounds so good! I read To kill a kingdom and I really like it!

    I haven’t read/ heard of any of the other books but I really want to try Girl Made of Stars!! Thanks for posting this! I loved your reviews! They were just🤯 (AMAZING AGGGHH). Loved how you wrote them! So funny and unique!

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  12. I sometimes like fluffy contemporaries, but they have to be REALLY good. And the most disappointing book I’ve read recently was The Sound by Sarah Alderson. I was expecting it to be a really good murder mystery, but all it ended up being was the trashiest romance teen drama ever. D: UGH. It was so annoying. 😦
    But I also just finished A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro which is a retelling of Sherlock Holmes but the min characters are his and Watson’s teenage descendants and it was pretty good. I loved the characters. 🙂

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    1. Fluffy contemporaries usually don’t work for me but if they ARE really good, I do enjoy them!! ahh I’m sorry that The Sound was disappointing. I haven’t heard of it but it always sucks when you think you’ll enjoy a book and then…you don’t. OMG I WANNA READ A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE SO BAD!!! Ahhh, i’ve heard AMAZING things.

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  13. I’m so sad you didn’t like The Epic Crush of Genie Lo and Saints and Misfits! Both are on my TBR, and I even have a review copy of Genie. I’ve heard lovely things about both, but I’m definitely NOT into boring books or problematic ones. :/ I’m torn! On the other hand, I’m so glad you enjoyed To Kill a Kingdom!!! I ADORED Elian so much!! ♥

    – Aimee @ Aimee, Always

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    1. i don’t think genie lo or saints and misfits are “problematic” but they definitely didn’t work for me (Also the fact that no one noticed anything odd with saints and misfits?!) I hope you enjoy them, maybe!? I found Genie Lo super boring but a lot of people enjoyed it!! ELIAN IS SUCH A SOFT PIRATE AHH.

      Like

  14. You’re mini reviews are just so entertaining! I’m sad to see you were bored in Genie Lo, I loved that book because of entertainment value 😂 Can’t win them all.

    I haven’t read most of these but I still had tonnes of fun with this post!

    Like

  15. Aw, I loved these reviews!!! I’ve fallen behind on writing reviews for all the books I’ve been reading lately, so it’s cool to see how other bloggers consolidate all their reviews in one post but still keep it detailed and useful. If you were interested in reading a book with a Muslim MC, I highly suggest That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim! I really enjoyed reading it because I think the author tackled friendships, first loves, and family roots really well and gave the MC so much space to grow!!!

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    1. THank you so much! I love doing mini reviews because I can talk about so many books in one post and it makes the comment section super exciting!! THANK YOU FOR THE REC, i am super happy and will check it out!!!

      Like

  16. Oh oh agreed about Taxonomy of Love! IT WAS SO CUTE. I thought I wouldn’t particularly like it because of the sport aspect (i hate sports 😂I am so bad at them) but it was adorable and wholesome and I loved it so much. The bit in the middle when Spencer’s stepmom is just THERE for him when he’s in the manic depression episode with his meds. ❤️💔That’s the kind of parents I wish we saw more !!!

    And I’m glad you liked the Hazelwood because I need to read that (shh I needed to read it like yesterday😂I am slack). And LOVED To Kill A Kingdom!! Highlight of my year! 😍Lira was so unapologetically stabby and I am here for this.

    Like

  17. HI I JUST FOUND YOUR BLOG AND UH. I. AM. OBSESSED??? YOUR BLOG IS SO PRETTY AND I LOVE THE WAY YOU WRITE AND I HOPE IM NOT SOUNDING CREEPY BUT I JUST REALLY LIKE YOUR BLOG AND YOUR CONTENT!!!

    Liked by 1 person

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