Rapid Fire Book Reviews #1

What are rapid fire reviews?: My rapid fire reviews blogs consist of short book reviews where I do not go into much detail about the book itself. They are usually spoiler free and super quick and short. Mostly stating whether I liked or disliked the books and why. Enjoy!

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18498558-bird-box

My rating: 3 stars

This book was too overhyped when I started reading it. With the movie on Netflix, everyone was talking about it. This overhype definitely did not work for me.

However, the hype was not the only thing that did not allow me to enjoy this book that much. I actually went into the book knowing nothing about it. So, I was obviously surprised by all the intriguing moments of tension in the book. I wasn't terrified but really surprised by the type of life they had to live, and with kids!

The whole concept was very interesting, I actually loved the idea but I think there could have been so much more…going on. In terms of TV, I see this being a series and working pretty well. There could have been much more happening in that world. I actually would have loved to see more interaction with the people still alive in the world. How were they living? What are their next steps going to be? What is going to happen in 10 years? Maybe more development on the monster out there. It did seem a bit vague at times, I wish I had a bit more description about how could the enemy possibly look like.

Someone researching a 'cure'? A solution? I saw so much potential in the core idea of this book and wished there could have been more.

I may have been too harsh on my rating but I just don't think it was good enough to reach a 4 star.

Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18090061-big-girl-panties?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=8BasuEO3Ss&rank=1

My rating: 3 stars

The one thing I liked about this book was the attempt of introducing a plus size character, which is not often done in romance books. How it was done and how the author decided to deal with some situations regarding a plus size women's experiences, it can be criticized.

The writing was cliched, for instance, the perfect guy who is bad but charming, had a perfect body and was super handsome. The language used was also cliched, nothing threw me off.

In general, it was an enjoyable easy read if I remove myself from the critical eye.

I was liking the beginning because it seemed real, especially the emotions of the main character. Topics of eating disorders were well managed and the whole implication, it seemed at first. It's not just the binge eating, but it is also about mental health, an this was well represented in the book. Then it had some aspects that were cliched, as I had pointed out before. However, it still kept coming back to more realistic situations. Not everything was vanilla and easy and lovely. Both characters had to go through a psychological journey, of acceptance and love and that was truly beautiful. What I didn't like, is this idea of always trying to do things to satisfy the man. The main character seem to have fallen into this mentality of wanting to change because of the guy and not necessarily because she wants to be happier for herself. I think there was too much focus on wanting to change for a man and I did not like that.

Also, as a side note, I honestly didn't really love the friend, she was low key toxic and not supportive.

Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40189670-josh-and-hazel-s-guide-to-not-dating?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=IlOHpqC6TZ&rank=1

My rating: 3 stars

I am half Korean and when I saw the name Josh Im, I started getting a bit worried. I must admit I was very nervous going into this. Representation is great, but when not done well it might end very badly. Especially when the writer might not be that familiar with the culture and only rely on media based knowledge of it. In this book, there were definitely some parts that made me cringe. The use of words such as ‘Umma’, ‘Appa’, ‘Oppa, ‘-ah’ (when calling people), those little things were just a bit cringe in my opinion. Second cringe “He’s Jimin” “That might be the hottest name I’ve ever heard”. Right away I thought ‘Oh no, please let it not be that’. No offense to all fans out there, but I swear, if I find out that they got the name from BTS, I am going to flip out. Jimin IS a common Korean name but there are so many other names they could have chose. Although I do not know where they got the name from, I guess it’s a very ‘Korean’ name and therefore easily recognizable.

I do like the representation and the fact that they made Josh a more masculine character. Many male Asian characters are presented as less masculine than other male characters and that had been an issue in some other cases. In this case, Josh is presented as the strong charming Asian American male character. So, this was nicely done.

The story itself was very entertaining. The characters worked so well together because they are complete opposites and yet that is what makes them so uniquely likable. Like most romance novels, it was a fluffy cute story.

Another side note… WE DON’T HAVE TO KNOW Hazel’s exact height and weight… “all five foot four of her, a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet”. I never like when characters are described with their weight. Putting exact numbers like this can be extremely damaging and triggering for some readers and I really hope writers would stop doing this!

So, basically, as soon as I started reading the book, I mean, the first two or three chapter, I was already judging it so hard. Regardless of this, I tried to enjoy the rest of the story and I did! Hence, the rating.