abbytait's reviews
286 reviews

This book gave me ALL the vibes of the 2000s-2010s sports dramas like Make It or Break It and Ice Princess, in the best way. It actually really reminded me of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books and writing style. Honestly, it was so entertaining and messy, it felt like binge-watching a TV show.  So much drama!!!

Really enjoyed the 3rd book, but not as much as the 2nd. The wordy, windy writing just somehow flows so naturally and these characters’ lives just keep getting more complicated! 


Officially a certified Nino hater. He’s literally a menace on the entirety of 1960-70s’ Italy.

4.5 stars- Should be reading mainly for its vast scope and underlying thesis that we need to know things before we change things. You cannot fix what you cannot measure or count- and that should not be a controversial or “woke” take. 

While sometimes verging on textbook level stat/data dumps, Invisible Women is a fascinating and engaging perspective about how truly ingrained the gender data gap has become, and the serious and dangerous outcomes that are a result of this gap. The author successfully, in my opinion, makes the compelling argument that almost all facets of our world and society have been defaulted to men and the male experience, and that women continue to be lost in the data, which ultimately and unsurprisingly lead to policy and decisions that perpetuate inequities for women.

I really respect the underpinning premise to her novel - most men don’t explicitly and consciously set out to make women’s lives harder or cause harm (noting that of course a lot definitely do!!), but rather, as a collective, men in power historically have and continue to shape the world to suit them- and when it doesn’t suit them, they don’t even realize because they can’t understand a women’s experience but more importantly, our systems and structures aren’t even capturing the data to demonstrate it. This makes it SO important that the men in our lives, homes, workplaces, hospitals, schools, governments, etc. LISTEN. 
Knowing is the first step- and once we have the numbers and stats, we must commit to attributing value to that data. We must see it as worthwhile enough to shape our policy, laws, regulations and governance, in order to see real and tangible change. 

I especially loved two sections for the opposite reasons: the chapter on transit and city planning (something I’ve never considered or thought about!), and then the chapter on workplace gaps such as pay, performance and promotions (something that I intimately related too). 

Lastly, the author does acknowledge racial intersections but it would’ve been strengthened by further exploration or acknowledgement in my opinion!

4.5 stars- I absolutely adored the second book of this quartet! I immediately enjoyed it more than the first book, and that was definitely helped by being much more familiar with the characters by now. Her writing still felt direct, but felt more lyrical and poetic. Here are a few of my thoughts: 

Now is this story an engaging and nuanced portrayal of female friendship? Yes. Is it relatable to me? Honestly, no. Sorry but may this kind of friendship NEVER FIND ME LOL.  That being said, I could see how it could be relatable for so many; the author really depicts the full spectrum of female friendships and all the jealousy, competition, admiration, insecurity, love and hate that can come with it. 

It has to be said that while most of this cast of characters are very real, human and messy- they’re almost all pretty horrible and I don’t like most of them. Most of the men are driven by insecurity, fear and ego which result in abuse and violence. The women are driven by jealousy, insecurity and desperation (but it always shocks me how cruel the women can be to one another). 

However, THAT is what makes this so engaging. It’s kind of like watching a multi-series tv show or soap opera where you go through a lot of ups and downs with the characters. As the characters change and grow, your feelings about them do too. They make bad decisions, they have redemptive moments, they cause pain in others. I’ve become so invested in the characters’ story arcs and their relationships, and can’t wait to keep reading!! 

(I HAVE to add this final thought… Lila knew how Elena felt. Elena, for all her toxic and jealous tendencies, did not deserve what Lila did to her. I’ll die on that hill lol.)

3.5 for the second book, but 4 stars for the duology as a whole!  This is how you do a duology and this is how you do romantasy!! 

The second book complemented the first one well, it really felt like the perfect split between two books. She expanded the world and magic system, but kept the plot moving quickly. I really enjoyed the shift to multi-POV and development of the story’s villain! 

The romance was great- it was not the most amazing romance I’ve seen in a book (I need even more yearning I fear), BUT it was much stronger than I’ve seen in other romantasy. Gillig really did an impressive job on the romance without sacrificing the writing or plot, and it made for such an enjoyable experience!

I am in two minds about this series so I’m going to try and string my thoughts, the positive and negative, into words.

While Onyx Storm is better than Iron Flame in my opinion, similar to Iron flame, onyx storm is 80% of things happening and words being said, but nothing really ~happens~ until the last 20%.  I find part of this is Rebecca Yarros being unable to move out of her romance author approach and habits; she has attempted to make a high, epic fantasy but it doesn’t fully get there because she’s not yet moved out of a romance writing style. This is really clear from the complete lack of true world building - you can definitely have a plot where characters are changing location and new characters are introduced, but you HAVE to locate the reader in the story. You need to show readers the who and the where *at the right time*, otherwise readers just end up confused.  She hasn’t yet figured out the pacing that keeps a high fantasy engaging; for the entire first 3/4 you have the same cycle: mini-mission, spicy scene, big battle, return to Basgiath, Xaden and violet brute for some reason (mainly bc he doesn’t wanna hurt her but just can’t stay away!!), and quite literally a rinse and repeat. 

On the positive side- There are characters you root for (we do love Xaden in this house) and Andarna’s story in this installment was truly the primary arc for me. This book was much more edited than iron flame (though I still think there was a lot of filler). And thank god Xaden and Violet stopped having the same argument about keeping secrets in this book lol.  The ending was good and leaves readers with lots of space for questions, theories and unknowns which is always fun (and frustrating).

I totally get why this is a popular romantasy series. It’s digestible, accessible and has a romance you can root for - and also there’s dragons that become their own characters.  At the same time, this is a series that is full of potential but never quite executes.  So, while I went in with low expectations and it was better than I expected- I hesitate to give this more than 3 stars overall.

Firstly, my heart goes out to Daniella for surviving what she has. This book has a lot of trigger warnings and early passages of her experience in the Children of God cult made me genuinely feel sick.  I applaud Daniella for sharing her story; she is clearly strong, resilient and extremely brave. Give the really difficult nature of the first half, I wouldn’t say I “enjoyed it” or would recommend it, but it’s no doubt a worthwhile and important story.

Memoirs are quite difficult to rate because it’s someone’s story, life and truth. My rating does not reflect anything to do with her story- and only do to with the experience of reading it. I don’t really think it should be compared to Educated or The Glass Castle - I actually find it quite different from both. 

I knew that this author went into the US military upon leaving the cult she grew up in, but I didn’t expect her to spend most of the book talking about her life in the military. And while that’s fine, I don’t think the book is marketed that way and didn’t really enjoy so many chapters being about day to day life in the military. 

The chapters detailing her experiences in the cult were eye-opening and shocking; but I would’ve been interested in learning more about the cult itself, how her illusion of the cult changed overtime and how she better understood her experiences. There’s something almost distant about the way she discusses her experiences.  I was most interested in hearing more about the formative years of her after escaping the cult, but she glossed over that part of her life really quickly. Also, I found that the book felt really long, even on audio, which is not usual for my experience with memoirs. From a strictly writing perspective, I sometimes found it clunky and wordy.

This book started off quite slow and didn’t really hit its stride until about halfway for me- that being said, once it did, I was hooked. It’s not the smoothest or most lyrical prose, but I definitely think that is a product of translation! 

I totally understand why this is a beloved story. The setting Ferrante has set of a post-war Naples in 1950, and of a neighbourhood rife with poverty, violence and inequality is effective and vivid. It’s a very slow paced novel, and to be honest, the first 1/3 I was having to check the index of characters every other page because there were simply too many people lol. I think I would’ve liked a smaller cast that were more fully fleshed out.  This book really leans into the cast of deeply flawed characters; i hated almost* all of the men, and all of the women’s interpersonal relationships are grounded in envy/jealous more than anything. But there’s a beautiful and messy honesty about female friendship that is really beginning to be explored here. 

A few things convinced me to pick up the second book-  Lila’s character arc; I want to see how their friendship progresses further, and also the last page left me shook!!

The romantasy curse has been broken!! 🤯
Finally a romantasy that I really enjoyed! 

A unique and interesting magic system, a gothic setting and a fun, fast-paced plot. I usually struggle with romantasy because the focus on romance means that magic, plot and setting are sacrificed and it’s just filled with smut, but I feel like the author integrated the plot so well and the romance is beginning to feel EARNED. I am intrigued to see how the second book solidifies the couple for me- I’m definitely rooting for our protagonist and primary couple. It was also the perfect level of spice for me personally.  Excited to jump into the second one as I’ve been told that it’s best to read this dualogy back to back, and the ending definitely makes me feel like that’s the case!

Andy Weir is a genius, and narrator Ray Porter is also a genius. Everyone who has read this book told me I had to try and give the audiobook a go- I don’t generally read fiction on audio (love it for nonfiction), but this has to be one of the best audiobooks out there. 

I was SO engaged in this story. The pacing and dual timeline structure was super effective. The narrative was gripping and the stakes felt so high. There were technical and scientific passages that I really enjoy in science fiction, but the moments of levity and humour made it even more enjoyable. 

Definitely recommend, even for readers who generally aren’t science fiction readers! I think the physical book would be good, but the audiobook is definitely special.