Was These Books Five Stars? (Predictions Update)

I made a post in June with five star predictions. It started with me believing I would love “Never let me go” by Kazuo Ishiguro because a lot of people compared it to other books I’d loved, and then it being a let-down. And now I’ve finally read all the books!

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Heartstopper vol. 1 by Alice Oseman: review! This graphic novel with m/m romance was so precious and I loved it as much as I’ve loved Radio Silence and I Was Born for This by Oseman. The second volume is also definitely a five/five stars. 5/5 stars!!

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson: review! The previous book, Truly Devious, was one of my favourites last year. It’s a good enough sequel, following the same type of mystery boarding-school vibe as the first one. You certainly get further in the story, especially about the old mystery at the school the main character is trying to solve. But it was also lacking the freshness and felt a bit repetitive. 4/5 stars!

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These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling: review! So many queer witches and a lovely YA mystery witchy book. But it wasn’t without its problems plotwise and not interesting enough to get above four/five stars. Still would recommend! I’m so happy it delivered! 4/5 stars!

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner: review! This post was a lot of fun until I had this single book left for months. After the second real try, I DNF’ed it. There’s just something about the writing that didn’t click with me, which is the one thing that makes it nearly impossible for me to care about a book. There was nothing luring me in. So I’m giving up on this, even though it has such good ratings and I can remember nothing from it already. not giving this a rating because I DNF’ed.

Fence vol. 1 by C. S. Pacat: review! I went into this expecting “The Foxhole Court” (by Nora Sakavic) vibes with the sport-focus and gay characters. But it definitely became the biggest let-down on this list, as this graphic novel just never developed its story enough. Far far below a full score. like 1/5, maybe 2/5 stars.

So this wasn’t a great result, but I really liked to do it and especially picking out the books I thought I would love and reading through reviews. Worst part was honestly having that one book left for months, ruining finishing this post. I would’ve just DNF’ed it on the first try if I did it again.

While I gave The Vanishing Stair and These Witches Don’t Burn 4/5 stars I see them as great successes along with Heartstopper.