Paula Nguyen > Recent Status Updates

Bliss Montage was so different from this … liking it so far though

pretty good so far, surprised I haven’t heard of Jonestown or Heavens Gate

I reallllly wanted to like this but unfortunately I just don’t care about the plot at all .. dnf but might come back?

LOL I had a really bad impression of this book because of tiktok but maybe Booktok doesn’t always recommend horrible books yknow; might be on a fantasy kick after this

turned out way better than expected; solidly a 4 star read, honestly comparable to cruel prince, had me more invested in the romance aspect because it didn’t feel as unrealistic (the true enemies to lovers didn’t really do it for me); I also loveee the boarding school / training arc of any show or book, since this was mostly that I really liked it; similar plotline to poppy war and cruel prince a little

I really would never have picked this up if it weren’t for a recommendation lol; first few chapters were actually the worst, giving sarah j mass tbh but I pushed through; “great betrayer” 😭; if I was just picking this up bc of tiktok or smth I probably would’ve dropped it in the beginning; gets a lot better later, really lost all respect for Dain in the end there :(( not the best fantasy I’ve read obv

the first chapter of this was so good but the rest of it is just mumbo jumbo stream of consciousness 😵‍💫 dnf @15%ish?? I wish I liked it but everything that one top hater review said was right she really just (seemingly) has nothing to say

impulsively read a sample of this not really expecting anything but the first chapter really reeled me in…strongest start to a book since ? tbh I can’t even remember the last book I read that had me so interested; second chapter was whatever, guess I’ll have to see where this goes

This book is such a 3.5 read for me, literally the definition of a 3.5; definitely above average but didn’t pull me in quite enough for a 4; will have to ponder on whether I round this up or down

I really did not see that ending coming
⚠️spoiler⚠️
the whole book is just about her waiting for Simon’s Labor Day party so she can win him back but the book ends right when Simon sees her? I could see how some would find this ending realllly unsatisfying but tbh I think I kind of liked it…the whole time I was just so anxious I don’t understand how she pretends like everything is ok all the time 😭

agree with this review I saw that said “G” was the strongest story and the first half is better than the second half; for reference G was about a Chinese girl moving away from her hometown but her childhood friend pressures her into taking drugs and it reminds her of their toxic (current and past) relationship; wish the writing was less straightforward, it’s not bad but not what I prefer; better than other ssc

the first story had me thinking this was going to be really difficult to get through but the farther I go the more interesting it gets; vibes are different from other sscs I’ve read for sure; depending on how I feel towards the end I might pick up severance soon (exciting ?!); side note wow I love the cover, 2024 is about to be the year where I read books solely based on how much I like the cover fr

tried this a while ago and it just did not seem like it was going anywhere so dnf around 5-10% in

dnf at 30% bc idgaf

better than I thought it would be considering my standards for romance have risen recently ..? Or maybe the last two (dnf) have just been esp shit; wasn’t expecting much bc I don’t remember unhoneymooners being all that but this was decent; past storyline was way better than the present, ‘now’ felt so unbelievable like move on omfg 😭 also leaving an ex of 5 yrs for hs gf crazy but wtv your call

I definitely cannot say I fully understood what all of these poems were trying to say but I enjoyed the sounds of the words nonetheless ✨ 3.5 stars, not sure whether I’ll round up or down

I kind of want to give this two stars because I just did not enjoy it; was waiting for it to be over for most of it and the plot was just ?? June sitting in her room having a panic attack bc of twitter, having writers block, writing like crazy because she got inspired by Athena or something else she read, beefing with her publisher, rinse and repeat; the concept was so interesting but it just did not give

Rf also talks about utilitarian novels vs art for the sake of art type novels and writing with diversity but not for diversity; genuinely EverythiNg she says in her lecture is somehow reflected in yellowface and I see so much of her personal beliefs reflected in the story I can’t even critique it off enjoyment anymore, I’m viewing it in a different lense now and the way it’s written makes so much sense ??

Happened to watch rfs tolkien lecture while reading and it clarifies a lot; just so I remember, in the lecture she criticizes the publishing industry for being hyper-fixated on identities and labels, so when people read these novels (cites Colton Whitehead and Toni Morrison) they see it as “diverse” books about racism rather than what she calls “the infinite ways that one can be human”

I assume this book would be my favorite of the year unless something else manages to surprise me; now I’m sad it’s over :(

the writing style feels really smart without being pretentious and certain parts I found funny enough to laugh out loud at; I really like how the tone changed as they got older and matured, just comparing their inner monologues from the beginning to the end it’s obvious that they’re changed; I have no idea how she managed to transition the tone like that but GZ is lowkey a genius; ngl Sadie and Sam are unlikable

One detail that I didn’t like was the fact that Sadie and Marx are barely even friends throughout 75% of the book ?? I don’t think the book would’ve been better if they had a stable relationship the whole way through but it just personally makes me sad; also ofc they had to kill off the most lovable character it made so much sense I wasn’t even particularly sad about it

I had a lot of thoughts throughout reading that I just don’t remember anymore because I read this over the period of like a week; I really like the book overall but I think the first 50% resonated with me more, last 25% really had me engaged though especially after ⚠️ spoiler ⚠️ Marx died; I get why people love this book so much, feel like it was the perfect amount of character + plot based

Thank god they never date 🙏🙏

This is probably gonna be the book of the year tbh

Why is it funny

Bro is 11 saying “This being the world, everyone’s dying”

I don’t like to say this but my expectations are very high