Paula Nguyen > Recent Status Updates

the writing style was weirdly .. pretentious for a ya romance; better than most ya romances because of the asian flavor ✨; the love triangle was alright, didn’t hate it; the main ship was cute but nothing to scream about; the plot wasn’t as messy as Anna K and it was definitely engaging although needlessly intricate; I guess 3.5/5

love triangle done pretty well, I must say; very asian story, pretty entertaining even though the characters are a little shallow

Maybe I’ll read the sequel but I doubt it would be as good (not like the standard is THAT high anyway) this book is clearly some rich kid fantasy the author really wanted to indulge in because it’s fun to write about; I guess the execution was ok, so was the writing; in a way the plot was everywhere but also predictable; more could’ve been done

I can not believe Vronsky died; the whole last 15-20% was a wild ride with the sex tape and the LSD I’m just so confused even though I understood everything that happened; it all just passed in a blur and escalated wayyy too fast; roller coaster of emotions with this one, it started bad then got really good then got kind of boring then just WTF

Kimmie’s transformation doeee also Anna is gonna get caught for sure and I’m kind of sad about it; she seemed like the most reasonable character but she still ends up hardcore cheating on her boyfriend; I know she doesn’t love him anymore but break up before you hook up with someone else, you know? also she can’t blame Alex for this p it’s her fault she’s not boring

another rate the 𝓼𝓶𝓪𝓼𝓱: 3/5, nothing special,njust a page of intense makeout then like two ᵀʰʳᵘˢᵗˢ which were honestly a little bit weird; I guess it was nice to see their relationship ... consolidated? I mean Anna is still with Alexander but seems like cheating is fine for SOME REASON; we’re leaving ethics out of the 𝓼𝓶𝓪𝓼𝓱 rating though

Steven makes me really sad I have the worst older brother ever; honestly I feel like I’m the older sibling most of the time; Steven and Anna have a really good relationship and do those even exist? also kinda trippy because Steven is kind of a bad person but he’s still a really good brother? so ... wya M**?

ooo

also another thought, I kind of ship Anna and Vronsky but I also don’t like what their relationship would add to his character; he ALWAYS gets what he wants, and in this case he would get the hot girl too? when Kennie said I hope Anna is his first to say no I mean ME TOO but she literally likes him already...this man’s personality ain’t all that either :/

the authors idea of edgy elite rich teens is cheating, coke, and incest; not saying that’s NOT what it is but combined with the lingo I would say it’s kind of unrealistic but what would I know :/

I still like it but damn can it get moving?? all of a sudden it slowed down, I need Anna to break up with Alex already also I like her chemistry with Vronsky but his persistence isn’t really ‘hot’ in this situation, she literally has a boyfriend; I think this book has a sequel but it better not drag out; it has to be a separate story or imma lose my sh*t

dialogue is extremely cringe idk bout this

wait no I don't want Kimmie to like Vronsky :((

wait a minute WAIT A MINUTE this book is SO trashy but it’s lowkey my thing?? stories of elite 1% children are usually pretty hit or miss for me and this one is definitely getting interesting 🤭 usually I like these stories with a murder plot but even without I think the romance is kind of gooddd

I got one sentence in and mentally sighed; what is happening? if I dnf I’ll get to least 20%

gotta admit I’m not very excited about this but I’ll read it anyway; why you ask? because I’m still romance trash, even after I discovered my affinity for new adult with illustrated covers :) this doesn’t check any of the boxes but I’m reading it anyway so yeah

lots of plot twists, some predictable and some not; got a little boring around 75%, the parts about Miranda and Brad were more interesting than the Detective; the writing is average, overall I think it was a fun light read, definitely a casual thriller I guess good for summer? 3.5/5 stars even though it was a little better than a good girls guide to murder

Did I mention it’s currently 4:30am

the writing wasn’t exactly exquisite; if the writing was better I think I would have enjoyed the climax a lot more I just wasn’t AS engaged as I could have been; following the investigation was actually pretty interesting though, it really picked up around 20%; the romance was kind of good I wish more was shown though; overall ‘good’ in my opinion, 3.5/5 stars

I told a certain person that I wouldn’t mind reading this book really slowly and I wouldn’t have but I decided to finish it now anyway because I’m a sneaky bastard 😏; the dialogue was a little awkward and there were definitely a lot of plot holes like the fact that the murderer would just confess due to “raw emotional state” after confrontation

suspecting Ravi or Cara

I think it might take me two weeks to read this book but I don’t even mind :))

middle aged white man struggles with his extremely quirky family and identity as a ‘pocket gay’ who sounds like a woman; not bad

Ok maybe I’m just impatient because the last book was so good but this already seems kind of boring; truly devious type beat for sure but seems a little worse at this point; I’ll get to 20% before I dnf hopefully it gets better

ok In my heart this is a 4.9/5 but do I just round up? I take 5 star ratings very seriously; alright the writing was subpar but the plot really reeled me in I need to think about this

UGHHH ok im just gonna say that if I had a more accurate rating system this would be a 5 but since I reserve it for my favorites I’m so conflicted; did I like this more than all the bright places? I don’t even remember .. definitely the best romance I’ve read this year though; I always thought I had to just KNOW in my <3 if it was a 5 but I don’t KNOW

I didn’t realize how much more enjoyable a romance could be when there’s a legit engaging plot behind all the LovE; I usually don’t notice themes very often but the forgiveness really hit different; I teared up 2-3 times and laughed out loud, what more could I ask for :)) I feel like objectively it wasn’t the most amazing book but it really had me engaged ... gotta ponder on the rating for a bit idk