Mini Reviews: Cinder, Blue is the Warmest Color and Unfiltered // I read so many good books recently!!

I have recently read and enjoyed various books and I loved them so much that I feel the need to share them with you!

But instead of writing the longest reviews (usually like 500 1k 2k words) that end up being rambly and all over the place, I decided I’d write some cute and short mini reviews to share my thoughts (and love) for these books!

The other reason may be that I’m too lazy/busy/exhausted to write said long and extensive reviews hehe and I didn’t take notes while reading (which I only ever do for books that I HAVE to review aka ARCs) so I don’t really have that many thoughts on these anyway.

And I have the worst memory lol. So no notes = short reviews because Jackie’s brain isn’t capable of remebering things long-term.

I am the real-life Dory

I won’t be providing a synopsis for the books but there will be links to Goodreads and a quick summary of each book except for Cinder because everyone and their mothers have probably read that one.

CINDER by Marissa Meyer

// January 3rd 2012 by Feiwel and Friends //

Before I get into my review, I’d just like to thank my dear friends Mandy and Nadwa for convincing me to read this book! The both of them kept talking fangirling about it on their respective blogs and on Twitter and I just couldn’t NOT pick this up!

We planned a buddy read for July and even created a new Goodreads group called YA Book Bloggers *insert shameless self-promo* specifically for buddy reads and other bookish things which is really fun! Go check it out and join us. We’re really cool. I promise. Also, shoutout to Laura who’s the 4th moderator of our group ❤

OMG THIS IS ALREADY GETTING LONG AND I HAVEN’T EVEN TALKED ABOUT THE ACTUAL BOOK YET.

So, Cinder:

When I first read the synopsis, I didn’t think I’d be into the whole cyborg thing—I thought it would be too cyborgy (YES I AM MAKING UP WORDS. GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT????) so I was very wary getting into it. But I was HOOKED after reading like three paragraphs because the whole thing sounded so unique!

I immediately took a liking to Cinder—she really wasn’t who I expected her to be! I expected more cyborg and and less… human, I guess!

But I love that she was this intelligent and kickass mechanic (idk why but the mechanic thing was REALLY cool in my opinion) and I felt sooo sorry for her because so many shitty things kept happening to her 😦 My sweet child 😦 But she made me laugh a lot and I can’t wait to see where the next books take her!

I did think the plot was very predictable especially all the things we find out about Cinder. But I didn’t mind it because I still felt entertained throughout the whole book!

OMG and Iko was so adorable! She was such a fun side character and a great friend to Cinder. I don’t want to spoil anything but I hope we’ll get to see her in the next book somehow! And I loved Prince Kai because he was so charming and adorable and FUN—I swear I fell in love with him when he first slammed that android onto Cinder’s table lol.

It was also incredibly easy to get through the book! I literally binge-read the entire first half in one sitting (because I had to make it in time for the group discussion) and then 2 weeks later I did the same thing (again, because I had to make the discussion lol). If I wasn’t so busy I would have devoured the entire thing in one sitting!

Overall: I haven’t read many retellings in my life but Cinder was one I thoroughly enjoyed!

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 OUT OF 5 STARS)

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR by Julie Maroh

// September 3rd 2013 by Arsenal Pulp Press //

Blue is the Warmest Color is a wonderful graphic novel and coming of age story about falling in love and finding yourself. Clementine is taken to a gay bar by her best friend where she meets Emma—the girl who turns her whole world upside down.

It takes place in the 90’s so the LGBTQ+ community and coming out was generally frowned upon. It is best if you go into the story blind but I will say that it is incredibly moving, angsty and heart-breaking but also SO beautiful. I was even brought to tears at one point.

“We do not choose the one we fall in love with, and our perception of happiness is our own and is determined by what we experience…”

In addition to that, the artwork and illustrations in this graphic novel are absolutely gorgeous. I would recommend this one to anyone even if you don’t usually enjoy graphic novels!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 OUT OF 5 STARS)

Please be aware that this graphic novel is indeed very graphic in terms of sexy times!

UNFILTERED by Lily Collins

// March 7th 2017 by HarperCollins //

Unfiltered is Lily Collins’ autobiography in which she very honestly and openly shares her own experiences about things like family, dating, body image and so much more. She wants women to see that they are not alone in their situation and inspire them to be who they are.

Lily Collins is one of my favourite actresses and I’ve been wanting to get my hands on her book ever since it was announced! It consists of short essays as chapters and I really enjoyed reading them!

Lily shares some very private experiences which weren’t always so light and happy ie. what it’s like to have a father who is a (former) alcoholic or being in a mentally and physically abusive relationship. Some of these things were very shocking to read because I never expected her to have gone through these rough things!

On the other hand, it was really nice to get to know her better as a person and to see who she really is up close and personal! Some of the stories she shared were very funny and inspiring to me and some thoughts really stuck with me.

Overall: Unfiltered is a book all about embracing yourself for who you are and it’s a perfect read for fans of Lily Collins!

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 OUT OF 5 STARS)

I’m not sure if people who aren’t fans of Lily would enjoy the book all that much but to me, it was very inspiring.

Phew, would you look at that! I was scared after writing that Cinder review because it turned out to be longer than I wanted it to but I did a lot better with the last two reviews!

And this post barely passed the 1k word mark *claps self on the back*

I hope you enjoyed these mini reviews! They were quite fun to write BC THEY DIDN’T TAKE ME 6 HOURS TO WRITE THE WAY NORMAL REVIEWS WOULD.

Thanks for reading!

---

Do you prefer long or short reviews? Should I make my “normal” reviews shorter in general or would you like to see more of these mini reviews? Have you read any of these books and what did you think of them? Let’s chat in the comments!

---

I am currently on holidays so sorry if it takes me ages to reply to comments. And I only have reviews scheduled for the time I’m away because I GOTTA catch up. I’ll be back with more fun, quality (I promise it’ll be hilarious) content in September!!! Love you guys ❤