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REVIEW: Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
DATE STARTED: 23 February 2022
DATE FINISHED: 23 February 2022
RATING: 5 / 5
Camila looked at me for a moment and then she said something that changed my life. She said, “Don’t count yourself out this early, Daisy. You’re all sorts of things you don’t even know yet.”
So, my introduction to TJR’s writing was through Evelyn Hugo (July 2021). After that, the next book of hers I picked up was Malibu (February 2022). And now, this. Let me just tell you that none of those three were undeserving of a 5-star rating.
I devoured this book—I listened to the audiobook!—in a day, and I am devastated. I would compare this to the other two books of hers I read, but that would be impossible because all three were different. The same in some regards (i.e. historical fiction genre), but different nonetheless.
I just love every single thing in this book.
I love TJR’s storytelling. I love how captivating the epistolary approach was—which totally makes sense when you listen to the audiobook itself. I love how this book tackled various issues—from alcohol & drug abuse, depression, anxiety, abortion, and eating disorders, among others—and not lightly. TJR’s writing shows the facets of them often seen in real life, and it was simply well-done.
But I guess what I love most about this was the character writing and development. I love everyone in the band and those who contributed to their story. I love Daisy, Billy, Graham, Karen, Eddie, Pete, Warren, Rod, Teddy, Artie, Camila, Julia, and Simone. I love how Daisy & Billy’s story played together but not alone. I love how each character played an important role in the story of the others—negative or positive, or both—and I love how well-realized they were.
My favorite would definitely be Camila. I simply adore her so much. I adore her character and individual personas—as a girlfriend, wife, mother, friend… and as whatever she was to Daisy. I adore her intelligence and strength, bravery and wisdom, and of course her simplicity. I love the importance of her character in this story, and I just… ahh I adore her!
But of course, it goes without saying that TJR’s writing really shone through Daisy & Billy’s characterization. Both people who had gone through so many similar things in life, but both dealt with them differently. I love their parallels and their character arcs, and I think they are one of the most well-written TJR characters, along with the Queen Evelyn Hugo herself.
And I know this review is all over the place—which simply reflects my emotions after reading—but I want to mention how the depth of human emotions (and how they were dealt with) was amazingly written here. TJR’s approach to the story was as realistic as possible, and so it’s just right that the way she directed the characters’ dealing with their emotions was as realistic as possible, too.
Reality was just impressively realized in this story, and it is one of the many reasons why this book truly is remarkable. I am in awe.
5 burning stars for this book. 🌟
#maiahiraya favorites#maiahiraya 2022 reads#maiahiraya reviews#taylor jenkins reid#daisy jones and the six#book review
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REVIEW: Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
DATE STARTED: 29 April 2022
DATE FINISHED: 10 May 2022
RATING: 5 / 5
Before you read this, know that the most gratifying thing I have ever experienced in my life as a reader is to have my first ever review for a book that means the world to me was first read by the author herself. When Olivie Blake posted in her Instagram stories the good news that this book will be traditionally published (I'll share a screenshot of them later!), it reminded me of the days I read the book and immediately got emotional to the point that I knew I had to tell her how much this book means to me. Luckily, I have already been conversing with her a good couple of times and so I was sure that if I tell her anything, she will read it. And so I did, and she did. Below is the edited version of my message for her—and probably the most beautiful review I have ever written, something well-deserved by the most beautiful book I have ever read.
I got Alone With You in the Ether for Kindle (together with One For My Enemy & The Atlas Six) back in December 2021, but it did not call to me back then. The reason I bought them is that I really loved Olivie's writing in Atlas, which I read in October, and knew that I would love to read more of her works someday. When I fell down a depressive hole a few weeks ago (last week of April to be exact), my first instinct to help myself out is to read a book. And as I opened my Kindle, the one that had immediately piqued my attention was Ether—and that's because of its cover. By that time, I have already forgotten what the blurb had said and so I went into it blindly (which, later on, while reading the book, I will realize was majorly stupid given the weight of the story). Immediately, it was Regan's character I was drawn into, and Olivie's writing just made it harder for me to put the book down. Thus, I continued. My love for Regan extended towards Aldo, and then to his concept of time, and then hexagons, museums, then bees. The bees completely won me over.
Regan & Aldo's love story is the most beautiful one I have ever read. Their relationship was far from perfect, but it was also the rawest and therefore most real I have ever read in a book.
But the thing is, that's really not what won me over. It's the way I saw how my current mental disposition (at the time I read it) was reflected in the book. It's the way how I understood that during the time I was reading it, I was Regan. For a fleeting moment, I understood Aldo's concept of alternate realities because I was reading what could've been one of mine—and one of the author's, as well as one of the people's reading the book who had also been in the same mental state. When I opened the book, I was clinging to the hope that it could help me out of that little hole I fell into. And it did.
I understood Regan, and as I read her, I realized that she understood me, too. I understood the role Aldo had played in her life during the time the story took place, and Alone With You in the Ether was my Aldo during the time I read it.
The story of Alone With You in the Ether had come to me at the most perfect of times, and Olivie Blake's writing had reached me at the most perfect time. And I just want to thank her for writing it and sharing it with the world.
It's a never-ending 5-star for me. It's a book everyone must read at least once in their lifetimes.
#maiahiraya reviews#maiahiraya 2022 reads#maiahiraya favorites#alone with you in the ether#olivie blake#book reviews
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MINI REVIEW: Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco
DATE STARTED: 3 February 2022
DATE FINISHED: 11 February 2022
RATING: 3.5 / 5
This book disappointed me. ):
I loved the first book! I enjoyed it very much and so I looked forward to this. The first few chapters were okay, but the rest of the book was boring 😭
Don’t take it the wrong way, though. I wanted to love this book! I really did! But I just didn’t like how slow the pacing was and how Thomas’ & Audrey Rose’s character development… declined (for lack of a better term).
I enjoyed the general premise and I would’ve loved the plot, too, but the pacing made it dragging and I just… 😭
Nevertheless, Kerri’s writing was still good, too. This book just didn’t do it for me.
A 3.5. Would still read the next books… just not immediately.
#maiahiraya 2022 reads#maiahiraya reviews#book review#stalking jack the ripper#kerri maniscalco#hunting prince dracula
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MINI REVIEW: The Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid
DATE STARTED: 9 March 2022
DATE FINISHED: 9 March 2022
RATING: 4 / 5
The ending had me gasping!
Anyways, my 4th TJR book and aaaa, I swear that woman never fails to amaze me.
I enjoyed the epistolary approach to this story, and as always, her writing has brought me great delight.
It was a 4-star read because the whole plot revolved around cheating and it just didn’t sit well with me (coming from my own experience with my parents).
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REVIEW: Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
DATE STARTED: 16 January 2022
DATE FINISHED: 23 January 2022
RATING: 5 / 5
There was not a dull moment in this book. Butterflies in your stomach? ✓ Agonizing fear? ✓ Scream-inducing badass moments? ✓ Mind-shattering plot-twists? ✓ And of course, heart-shattering soul-wrecking pain? ✓
I don't know what to say, after all that pain I just endured. But gods, I love everything about this book. I love Elide and Lorcan's chemistry, Manon and Dorian's relationship, DORIAN AND ROWAN's FRIENDSHIP (!!!). I loved how everything unraveled, how Aelin's plans from the very beginning were set in motion.
This was a very exhausting book to read. I cried so many times I lost count. The pain and horror this book made me endure were enraging but I could just not keep reading. This was traumatizing, but I just—gods, I'm at loss for words. This is also the same reason why I dragged on reading this for a week when I know I could've finished on the third day haha
I have so many things to say but I'll continue this review as my brain and heart have calmed down.
Still, I could not give this book anything less than 5-stars.
#sarah j maas#throne of glass#maiahiraya 2022 reads#maiahiraya reviews#maiahiraya favorites#book review#empire of storms#throne of glass review
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MINI REVIEW: Dark Hours by Conchitina Cruz
DATE STARTED: 30 January 2022
DATE FINISHED: 30 January 2022
RATINGS: 4 / 5
Had to read this as a school requirement and wow??? (Also I just love how my major really urges me to discover and read works written by local authors!)
Cruz’s writing is so so good! If you’re going to read this, don’t expect a casual read for two reasons:
It tackles topics that are a little too serious to grasp in one reading; and
The writing was heavily literary (proses and poems) that it requires analysis.
Anyway, I loved this so much, but the thing that holds me back from giving this complete 5-stars is because it’s not something you’ll take for casual reading. It was a little challenging to read (but very satisfying once you understand it!)
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REVIEW: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
DATE STARTED: 4 January 2022 (2nd Reread)
DATE FINISHED: 6 January 2022
RATING: 4.5 / 5
The first time I read this book, I was a big fan of Dorian & Celaena’s friendship and Chaol & Celaena’s relationship. I loved them.
The second time I read this, I loved Dorian & Celaena’s platonic relationship more than I did before and loved Chaol & Celaena’s less.
Now, the third time, I adored Dorian & Celaena’s friendship. I hurt when they fell apart, and even came to a point where I hated Celaena for leaving Dorian alone.
”But even as he walked out of the dining room, part of him realized that his magic—that he—was the least of their concerns. Because even from that first day in Endovier, this had always been about them.”
And I disrelished Chaol & Celaena’s relationship.
On this reread, I found myself finally seeing the parallels of how Dorian & Chaol see Celaena.
”But there was nothing of the assassin in her face. Not a trace of aggression or bloodlust lay across her features. He knew her somehow. And he knew she wouldn’t harm him. It made little sense. When they talked, as sharp as her words usually were, he felt at ease, as if he could say anything. And she must have felt the same, after she’d told him about Sam, whoever he’d been. So here he was, in the middle of the night.” (Dorian’s POV, Throne of Glass)
”She was still in her clothes, and while she looked beautiful, that did nothing to mask the killing potential that lay beneath. It was present in her strong jaw, in the slope of her eyebrows, in the perfect stillness of her form. She was a honed blade made by the King of Assassins for his own profit. She was a sleeping animal—a mountain cat or a dragon—and her markings of power were everywhere.” (Chaol’s POV, Throne of Glass)
Where Doian sees her as someone more than the façade she kept up for so long, Chaol only saw her as a monster to fear. Sure, he did love her, but as we will see in the 4th book, he feared her more than he loved her.
I am bringing this into light in this review because this factor weighs a ton on why I’m rating this book a 4.5.
I loved the story. So much. In this book, we witnessed Celaena’s development from the last book. Here, we witnessed how her mental & emotional capacity (due to lack of a better word) develop and devolve. She was in a strong state of denial, of cowardice, all of which led her to the obliterating pain she experienced losing Nehemia.
But as the story progressed, so did her will. Her courage. Although it does need an intricate work on it—which I’m so excited to read in the next book!—the story here prepped her so well for how she’ll take on the next part.
I also loved how everything unfolded (and all the foreshadowing & hints SJM dropped here in reference to the future books!) in this book, from the exposition up to the peak, and how things settled up there as it artfully paved towards the conclusion and the denouement!
“Celaena was Aelin Galathynius, the greatest living threat to Adarlan, the one person who could raise an army capable of standing against the king. Now, she was also the one person who knew the secret source of the king’s power—and who sought a way to destroy it.”
Anyway, this book has so many good things about it that I found inclining to a 5-star rating. The only thing keeping it from doing so was how it became Chaol over Dorian when it was the latter who truly saw her.
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REVIEW: Below Zero by Ali Hazelwood
DATE STARTED: 6 April 2022
DATE FINISHED: 6 April 2022
RATING: 3 / 5
The first time Ali Hazelwood posted about these novellas and the tropes within them, I knew then that this particular book would be my favorite. Naturally, it was the book I was anticipated about.
God knew how much I wanted to cry as 50% in and I still wasn’t enjoying the book. I am so disappointed 😔
I was so excited to finally hear Hannah’s story, and to be disappointed at how nonchalant it was is heartbreaking.
I was promised enemies-to-lovers and I was given a miscommunication trope. And that’s only one of the many thwarting things I found in this book. ):
As I now heard all three novellas, I would rank them on the ff. order, with my ratings:
1 - Under One Roof (5)
2 - Stuck With You (4.5)
3 - Below Zero (3)
Nevertheless, I am still interested in reading this book (as well as the first two). Who knows, maybe the written format would win me over. (Also: the narrator in this is my favorite!)
3 ⭐️.
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I just finished Jade City and I am utterly wrecked. 🥺
Will post my review sometime soon!!
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