5 Mini Book Reviews

In an effort to talk more about the books I've been reading & loving, I thought I'd put a little spin on my usual book review style. I like to write long, in-depth reviews because I have a lot of thoughts and opinions on a lot of things but it steadily grew more daunting to write them - especially if they were for a book I've really loved. I try my best to think critically and logically about books when I review them as I'm a v emotional person and sometimes my emotions cloud my judgement, but that meant that I wasn't ever talking about the books that really moved me. Today I thought I'd challenge myself to write tiny reviews of the books I've read so far this year - using 100 words or less.


Bloom by Estee Lalonde.
249 pages | published: 2016
I love watching Estee's vlogs so I was v grateful to receive her lifestyle guide/autobiography Bloom for Christmas. She talks about a lot of different things including self-love, self-care and mental heath which are my favourite things to read about in terms of non-fiction! Estee writes so honestly and I found a lot of comfort in it. My favourite chapters are 'Life', 'Home' and 'Food' - 'Travel' and 'Beauty' don't really interest me - and although the photography is beautiful, I wish the photos were larger!

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.
481 pages | published: 2012
I only bought and read this book because of the ~hype~ which is usually a teller that a book is easy to read (in my experience, anyway.) I flew through it in a few hours and then watched the film right after which I didn't enjoy as much as the book despite Emilia Clarke playing the lead. I think this book opened my eyes a little in terms of ableism and day-to-day accessibility for wheelchair users but as someone who is able-bodied I don't feel I can comment on the pros and cons of the disabled storyline as a whole.

My Name is Girl by Nina Cosford.
128 pages | published: 2016
I'd seen this book a handful of times on Instagram but I didn't think to purchase it until I found it in a charity shop for £1. Packed full of beautiful illustrations, it's a kind of autobiography-slash-collection of observations of what it is to be a modern day woman shown through images and lists. I liked it - especially the illustration style - but I didn't relate to it that much.

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas.
626 pages | published: 2016
It isn't often that the middle book in a trilogy is my favourite but I loved ACOMAF so much that I read it twice over. Feyre's character development is beautiful to read and the balance between building tension & the explosive fall-out was perfect for me. I felt so many feels during this book  - happiness, on-the-edge-of-my-seat fear, sadness, surprise - that it's become one of my all-time favourites. It's one of the best books I've ever read.

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas.
699 pages | published: 2017
Reading this book made me think that maybe I don't connect with Sarah J Maas's writing as much as I want to because it really didn't make me feel anything at all (just like ACOTAR & TOG). Problems were solved so quickly after they arose that I didn't have time to care or fear and the first 300 pages were so packed full of information that it was tedious to read. Characters were introduced but not fleshed-out and... it was all just a little too happy for me. I wanted it to break me and it didn't. Great race & LGB diversity though!

Well this was more difficult than I thought it would be! Turns out that once I get started I find it really hard to shut up. (Story of my life.) Let's just pretend that all of these mini reviews are under 100 words, shall we? I'm off by 3 words on two of them but as I was waaay under for some of the others I think it all evens out okay.

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