sum it up mini book reviews with sumedha

Sum It Up || Where I Try To Catch Up On Book Reviews

Posted on by Sumedha

Ever since I stopped doing weekly reading updates, my reviewing frequency has reduced drastically.

I know that I don’t have to review all the books I read, but I want to share my thoughts on most of them. Individual reviews for books are hard to do because I need to have enough to share about every book to warrant an entire post.

So, mini reviews are going my way of sharing my opinions. I’m thinking of making this bi-monthly series to regularly share mini book reviews and updates. Let me know what you think about that. A regular series is the only way I’ll keep up with reviewing haha.

Anyway, onto the books!

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Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Tweet Cute book cover

I buddy read this book with Joss @ maybe I’ve read it way back in September. Actually I finished it in a couple days and I believe she’s still reading it. I suck at buddy reading because I always finish the books too fast.

While the book was easy enough to read fast, it was not cute and breezy. The Twitter war between the two main characters representing their family restaurants was super fun. I really liked that. But the “cute” part ended there.

Both the main characters have difficult relationships with their family and that dragged down my mood completely. Because I really related to the struggle, especially with Jack who struggles with his parents’ expectations, the book hit me hard.

I think we underestimate how much relationship troubles between parents and kids can affect readers—it does NOT make for a light book.

The plot was had many interwoven threads which lead to multiple blow ups. Again, that does not make for a light book. I feel disappointed in all the people who reviewed and said that this is a cute & light contemporary. That was barely 10% of it.

The ending wasn’t satisfactory as well. The last scene felt very forced. What that scene represents wasn’t even the point of the book. It was as if the authors saw these perfect friend groups with different kinds of people in other books and wanted it for herself too. So they cobbled something up.

I don’t recommend this book.

Rating: 2 out of 5.
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Skyhunter by Marie Lu

Skyhunter by Marie Lu book cover

Marie Lu is one of my favourite authors and hence I was super excited for this book. It’s also another dytopia like the Legend trilogy, which is one of my all-time favourite books. But this book really disappointed me.

Firstly, I had an advance review copy through Netgalley. I read it to realize that it was only an excerpt. The publisher put it up on Netgalley without mentioning anywhere that it is not the complete book. That made a bad first impression.

After that, I had access to an audio copy through Libro.fm. Since I already read a bit of the book, and I wanted to give Marie Lu’s new work another chance, I listened to the book ASAP. And I just could not like it.

The overall concept and world-building of the book was great. The history, the conflicts, the set-up to a showdown—all of that was good. The main character was fine too (there’s disability rep through her, by the way).

My main problem was that I just couldn’t connect with the book. I didn’t specifically like the writing or the characters. There were some parts of the plot which felt unbelievable and that caused me to dislike the plot later.

One thing I noticed was how some bits of the book felt recycled from Legend. There, I said it. It felt recycled and done badly. I also got the feeling that the author tried to show how the characters of the book are kind of powerless but it never felt that way because they were quite privileged. Some challenges also felt too easy for them.

Overall, I didn’t particularly like the book. A ton of others loved it, though. *shrug*

Rating: 2 out of 5.
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Harmony’s Embrace by Amber Daulton

Harmony's Embrace by Amber Daulton book cover

Note: I received a free copy of this book in return for a review. All opinions are my own.

I’m a sucker for second-chance romances done well, and this was one of them.

Harmony and Birley were high school sweethearts who went separate ways after school due to different life choices. Now after several years, as a divorced dad and widow, they get the chance to rekindle their relationship.

This book has a smooth plot which felt rushed only in a couple areas. The relationship growth was slow and purposeful, and done well. It also has a danger element in the plot, which spices things up.

I couldn’t really connect with any of the characters but this is a book that you can enjoy even without connecting to it. In fact, I read the book in one sitting because it was easy to read and quickly caught me into the story.

Overall, I didn’t like it a lot but it was a good read. If you’re looking for a holiday romance to read during these upcoming holidays, this is a good pick. I would say it’s perfect for reading while snuggled up in blankets with a hot drink.

Rating: 3 out of 5.
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Soft on Soft by Mina Waheed

soft on soft

This book has been on my TBR for a while now and I finally picked it up because of The Ace Race readathon which focuses on reading books with characters in the asexual spectrum. Thankfully, it was available on Kindle Unlimited so I could read it immediately.

I absolutely loved this book. The title is perfect. The story is completely about soft sapphic love. There is no drama or extravagant plot. It’s simply about these two soft women and their super cute love story.

Some quick points:

  • love story between a demisexual plus-sized influencer and a shy pansexual make-up artist.
  • good anxiety rep with one of the main characters.
  • a diverse cast in identity, sexuality and ethnicity.
  • is NOT about hard queer lives. just pure joy in queer lives.
  • too cute to handle at times.

My only complaint is that it should go through another round of editing and proofreading.

I highly recommend this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.
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That’s all for today! I do have more books to review but this post will become too long haha. I’ll make another mini review round up soon with a few more books.

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What have you been reading recently? Have you read any of the books I mentioned?

Published by Sumedha

Sumedha spends her days reading books, bingeing Kdramas, drawing (amateur) art, and blogging while listening to Lo-Fi music.

43 thoughts on “Sum It Up || Where I Try To Catch Up On Book Reviews”

  1. I love these mini book reviews & I agree it can be hard to dedicate an entire post to a single book!
    Based on the name, Tweet Cute sounds like it would be a lighthearted book, but it’s a shame it wasn’t & the ending wasn’t that good either.
    It’s a shame you didn’t like Skyhunter either & felt it was recycled.
    Harmony’s Embrace sounds like a sweet read & I want to add Soft on Soft to my TBR now!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. You should! It’s also not too big or a book that requires any brain use. Perfect as a comfort read to make you happy.

      Thank you! I’m glad you like the format 🙂

      Like

  5. These are such great reviews! I generally don’t review books I’m not a fan of, I end up writing mini review for them or just leaving one line reviews of goodreads 😅
    I’m definitely gonna get myself a copy of soft on soft, it sounds wonderful

    Have a great day and happy reading 📖

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thank you! I somehow never end up reviewing on Goodreads if I don’t review on the blog haha, so I need to do this.

      Do get Soft on Soft! It was available on KU (last I checked).

      Thank you ❤ Hope you have a good day too.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I love this mini reviews! It’s kind of like reading Monthly Wrap-ups and those are myy favorite posts to read. I’ve read Soft on Soft and I agree it was the cutest. Also, you totally sold me on Harmony’s Embrace

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I haven’t read YA in a while, so this made for an interesting read for me 🙂 Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I love how honest you are too–I always struggled with being honest when I reviewed books in that I didn’t want to sound mean, but you have managed to be honest beautifully.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. I haven’t read any of these but it’s a shame that the majority wasn’t so good! Soft on soft does sound like a very cute book though. I like the idea of writing mini reviews too of a collection of books you have read. 🙂 xx

    Liked by 1 person

  11. I’m sorry to hear you had some disappointing reads recently – but at least there were some you loved, too! I feel like the last couple weeks I’ve been consistently two books behind on reviews. I like being able to dedicate whole posts to a book review but sometimes they’re hard to put together!

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Love these reviews! Tweet Cute and Skyhunter were on my list definitely only because of the hype surrounding them in the bookish community. such a shame you didn’t enjoy them 😥

    Liked by 1 person

  17. I finished Wings of Ebony last night and it’s so good!!!! It was my first physical 2021 ARC which was very exciting. I cannot wait to write my review of it because I feel like contemporary fantasy is becoming more popular in YA, or it seems like it is becoming more popular. I am also reading A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, and I really like it because rom-coms are slowly becoming my favorite genre.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Aah so glad you liked it!! I haven’t heard of it before but I’ll definitely check it out.
      I’ve been really looking forward to A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow as well. I wanted a physical copy but the price for it here is off the charts so I think I’ll stick to ebook or audiobook 😅

      Liked by 1 person

  19. Oh noooo I’m now unsure whether I want to read Tweet Cute, everyone kept saying how cute, fluffy and light it was but like…what you just shared is not cute light or fluffy :/ Ooooo I think I’m going to shove Soft on Soft onto my TBR hehe, it sounds like something I’d enjoy ❤

    Liked by 1 person

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