“We’re all a bit bad. We all have things in our lives that bring us shame and regret. Things that have hurt our souls or hurt the people we love. But ‘re all a bit good too. i reckon we’re mostly good actually. And life is about trying to learn the balance, plot our place on the continuum… We’re not just made up of good and bad: we’re everything else too.” – 2.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: old stories, tattoos, ink, procedures, public markings, new jobs, secrets, crows, witches, public readings, best friends, funerals, skin books, family trees, and blank skin.

There are no secrets in Saintstone.

From the second you’re born, every achievement, every failing, every significant moment are all immortalized on your skin. There are honorable marks that let people know you’re trustworthy. And shameful tattoos that announce you as a traitor.

After her father dies, Leora finds solace in the fact that his skin tells a wonderful story. That is, until she glimpses a mark on the back of his neck…the symbol of the worst crime a person can commit in Saintstone. Leora knows it has to be a mistake, but before she can do anything about it, the horrifying secret gets out, jeopardizing her father’s legacy…and Leora’s life.

In her startlingly prescient debut, Alice Broadway shines a light on the dangerous lengths we go to make our world feel orderly–even when the truth refuses to stay within the lines. This rich, lyrical fantasy with echoes of Orwell is unlike anything you’ve ever read, a tale guaranteed to get under your skin…

I’ve had this for so many years on my TBR! As a dystopian fan, as soon as I read the synopsis for this book a few years ago I was convinced this story was something I would like to binge on.

I still think the concept behind this book is very unique and interesting. A society that makes you tattoo every important mark on your skin and when you die, the skin is saved as a life book? A society that sees non-tattooed people (or blanks, as they call them) as outsiders and rebels with souls that will be lost? Sounds like a cool story to me!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the amazing story I thought it would be. There were a lot of things that didn’t work out, but the most important one for me was the execution – it was not good. This plot was an absolute mess and the world-building is severely underdeveloped. It was such a slow-paced story to the point where it felt like it barely progressed. There are a lot of scenes that don’t make a lot of sense, and at the end of the day, it was difficult to find the reason why they hated/feared the blanks so much?

A big thing about this story is that the portrayed society created its foundation on old tales. They have these stories that they use to explain why things are a certain way. So a few chapters are dedicated to telling these stories to the reader. Even though I liked the fables and understood their role in the story, they stole the attention from the actual plot and story – and trust me, they really needed the spotlight more!

Now the characters! As a main character, Leora is very childish, annoying, and has a superiority complex that it’s difficult to read at times. It’s difficult for me to root for a character like that. But she wasn’t the only weird character! It was really weird to see the interactions between the characters because you couldn’t understand why they did the things they did. I’m not a writer or anything (obviously), but I think the story would have benefited from a simpler plotline with more… common sense.

In conclusion, this was a flop to me because there was barely any character development, the characters were bland and acted with unclear motivation, the story lacked structure and there was so much nonsense. It just felt… flat. Either way, I still have the intention of continuing the series. I hope the other two books will be a little better and the story picks up. We’ll see!

“Sometimes there is such beauty in awkwardness. There’s love and emotion trying to express itself, but at the time, it just ends up being awkward.” – 3.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: drawings, beets, scurvy, genocide starvation, Baltic countries, Stalin, deportation, and labor camps.

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they’ve known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin’s orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously—and at great risk—documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father’s prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

This book has been on the back of my mind for years! I followed a YouTuber a few years ago named Joana Ceddia – you may have heard of her -, and she mentioned this book in a video, saying this was her favorite book of all time. Since then this book has been on my TBR. I finally picked it up this month, and even though I didn’t love it as much as Joana did, I still liked it!

It’s a work of fiction based on what happened to the Baltic states after the Soviet Union annexed and occupied their countries. The people from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were deported and imprisoned, and many of them ended up in Siberia doing forced labor. This story in particular follows a teenage girl named Lina who was deported from Lithuania, along with her mother and brother. She was an artist, but her dreams were put on hold the moment the soviet soldiers broke into her home and forced them to leave with them. It’s a heartbreaking sad story, as you can imagine!

I believe the target audience for this book is young adults, but I have to warn you there is some violence in this book, so keep that in mind when you decide to read this. Still, for a YA historical book, this was a good book. 

And yet, I kept thinking about why this didn’t grab my attention like I thought it would. After some thought, I think I finally found out the reason why! The author did a great job creating a very atmospheric read, but I feel like the tragic events were toned down (a lot) because at the end of the day… it’s still a YA book. I just had this constant feeling that things were way worse than what the author was describing. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that – I just prefer a more realistic, true approach to historical themes. Again, this is a YA book and I’m not exactly in the targeted age, so that’s on me.

I wasn’t mind-blown by this book, but it was still an okay story for me. I personally didn’t know a lot about this situation, so it was nice to learn about the history behind the fiction. I ended up doing some research on the topic after reading this book – and that’s exactly what I consider a positive impact from a book!

It’s an informative book for youngsters, so I would still recommend this if you are in the age range and want to learn a little more about the topic through a work of fiction.

“For some reason, I always thought adults made decisions with purpose. That they knew what they were doing all the time. But maybe adults are just like teens, bumbling around aimlessly, unsure if they’ve gotten it right.” – 4.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: prom nights, time travel, new siblings, yoga studios, car hide-and-seek, wedding plans, dangerous ladders, that one move from “Dirty Dancing”, and mac and cheese.

Planning the perfect prom is one last “to do” on ultra-organized Charlotte Wu’s high school bucket list. So far, so good, if not for a decorating accident that sends Charlotte crash-landing off a ladder, face-first into her obnoxiously ripped archnemesis J. T. Renner. Worse? When Charlotte wakes up, she finds herself in an unfamiliar bed at thirty years old, with her bearded fiancé, Renner, by her side.

Either they’ve lost their minds or they’ve been drop-kicked into adulthood, forever trapped in the thirty-year-old bodies of their future selves. With each other as their only constant, Charlotte and Renner discover all that’s changed in the time they’ve missed. Charlotte also learns there’s more to Renner than irritating-jock charm, and that reaching the next milestone isn’t as important as what happens in between.

Navigating a series of adventures and a confounding new normal, Charlotte and Renner will do whatever it takes to find a way back to seventeen. But when―and if―they do, what then?

It has been a while since I’ve last picked up a contemporary YA that I actually loved. This was the one to break the curse because I had so much fun reading this! I wasn’t even planning on reading this anytime soon, but I just randomly grabbed it out of my TBR and I’m glad because I had a wonderful time.

Charlotte, the main character, is in school and she always plans for the future – she even has a bucket list! She has her future entirely planned out and she is focused on her goals and what she wants to achieve. But while she was decorating for prom, she fell over her nemesis, Renner, and woke up when she was 30. The surprising thing is that her life is not as she thought it would be – she’s married to the guy she hates, she doesn’t talk with her best friend anymore… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Let’s just say she learns the hard way things do not always happen the way we want them to! It was such a well-made, creative story. It reminded me a lot of the movie “13 Going on 30” with Jennifer Garner, with a few differences. The main difference is that she’s not the only one that time travels, but the guy is also trapped with her! So as you can probably tell, this is essentially a romance book and let me tell you: if you like the enemies-to-lovers trope, you are in for a treat. I loved the love/hate relationship between Charlotte and Renner! The characters were endearing and sweet, and I couldn’t get enough of them.

I wouldn’t say this is fully a contemporary book because there’s a fantasy element of time traveling. And yet, I just can’t call this fantasy. It always makes me nervous when the time travel element is added to books, but I have to say this was done perfectly here! Of course, you don’t know why it happened and there’s some mystery there, but I didn’t see any major plot holes so that was a plus.

I didn’t know how much I was missing a good quality YA romance book until I read this! It’s a very easy book to go through, and it’s a relaxing, cozy, fun read! I loved it and I’m curious to read more from this author.

Attention! This book contains: magic spells, maid cafés, new friends, sweet romances, surprises, cute outfits, and endangered species.

Ichigo is out on a hot date with her ‘crush’ when suddenly she’s involved in an odd incident in which her DNA is merged with the DNA of an almost extinct wildcat. When four other girls’ DNA is merged with the DNA of four other almost extinct animals, it’s apparent that they’re part of a much bigger plan. Ichigo and her friends have been chosen to become a part of a secret project called the “Mew Project.” Their mission: To protect the planet from aliens who are using the planet’s animals to attack humans.

*Review of the original 7 volumes*

This was a cute series!

When I was younger, the anime version was on TV, but I never watched it. I was curious about it and regret not watching it at the time because it was really popular! I just got to know the story and what it was about now, by reading the manga.

It’s a little difficult for me to rate this series since I’m not in the appropriate age range, but I still have my opinion! 

I think this is a very fun series to read and just pass the time, but I feel like it was a little too shallow for me. In reality, I believe this story is inspired by Nature and how important it is to protect the environment and raise awareness to protect endangered species. And even though this is a great thing to inspire a series, I feel like the story itself was too hollow and had little to do with the topic.

The good thing for me is that there was a lot of romance! In the beginning, you wonder who she’ll end up with because there are so many possible love interests (way more than usual) – but at some point the love interest becomes clear. If you swoon over cute manga characters like yours truly, this series is pure heaven! There are many cute boys here.

But I have to be honest with you, the last few volumes lost me a little. I thought this would be a 4-star read (for the entire series), but it started to decrease slowly to a 3-star read. I know this is fantasy and a younger type of manga, but it started to get a little too nonsensical to me – but when the very young school kids get married at the end… Well, that was the nail in the coffin. To be fair, I believe it’s usual in Japanese shojo that the MCs get married at the end… but I still think it was pretty weird.

I did still liked this though. I would describe this as your typical fantasy shoujo: full of magic, cute costumes, and fun! Good to get your mind off the real world.

“Haven’t you ever wanted to be swept away somewhere – anywhere – as long as it’s someplace else?” – 4/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: ruins, killing sprees, cleared games, mysterious creators, dealers, questions without answers and a lot of sadistic games.

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future feels like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

The first game starts with a bang, but Ryohei manages to beat the clock and save his friends. It’s a short-lived victory, however, as they discover that winning only earns them a few days’ grace period. If they want to get home, they’re going to have to start playing a lot harder.

*Review of the original 18 volumes*

Oh how excited I was to read this one! I first fell in love with this series when I first watched the live action on Netflix… so I thought I’d give the manga a try!

I’m very surprised to say that the Netflix show is mostly true to the original story – that almost never happens! They did a great job with the adaptation because even though it was true to the original work by Haro Aso, they added a lot of action and cut out the slower scenes!

If you don’t know, this series is an “Alice in Wonderland” retelling! Well, of course you probably saw that coming when you read the name, but the actual retelling is very subtle. Our main character, Arisu (Alice), enters a new world called “the Borderlands” with his friends and quickly discovers his life is at risk. He needs to play deadly games to keep himself alive! At some point he meets a girl named Usagi (white rabbit in Japanese), and together they explore the Borderlands and try to find a meaning for what is happening and who created this reality. 

This manga series consists of 18 volumes, so I’m going to give you my thoughts on the series as a whole! I personally am a little conflicted about the way I feel about the manga. I’m a huge fan of the story like I mentioned before, so I expected a lot from this series. And the truth is that I was loving it until the last few volumes. The pacing slows down considerably and (without wanting to give you information on what happens) Arisu’s attitude changes a little. I had some trouble finding motivation to read the last volumes for this reason!

Still, I had fun reading this series for the most part. The games are perverse and deadly, but they have to keep fighting to try to uncover what is going on and who created the games! I liked the characters and the thought put behind the games. Also the art was very good and easy to follow. It was all nicely put together!

So, would I recommend this one? I personally liked both the manga and the Netflix show, but if I were to recommend a friend to one of them, I would definitely recommend the Netflix version. It’s very well made, true to the original work, and they slightly changed the last volumes to add more action and a faster pace!

At the end of the day it’s a very exciting and engaging series, and I highly recommend it if you like horror/mystery manga! Also… I recently found out there’s an anime version as well. I’m curious about it, should I give it a go?