Moxie | MOVIE REVIEW

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Non-spoiler

As soon as I finished the book, I watched the movie and it was super faithful! Pretty much everything that happens in the book happens in the movie and the characters stayed true to themselves. Because it was so accurate to the book, it still lacked depth for me and the characters sometimes felt two-dimensional. But, overall, it was a great adaptation.

Just like the book, I really liked the premise and how women’s issues were raised and discussed. Again, I think if I had seen this movie and read the book in my early teens, I would’ve absolutely loved it and obsessed over the message. But, as I’m older and have a healthy passion for all things feminism, nothing about this movie was particularly ground-breaking or mind-blowing to me. I do hope it speaks to a lot of younger people though and introduces and inspires them to educate themselves on women’s rights- especially intersectionality which was one thing that really shone in this movie for me. Don’t get me wrong, I thought a couple of things felt tokenistic and on-the-nose but the topic of race was brilliantly raised hand-in-hand with feminism.

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu | BOOK REVIEW

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This book was always going to be my cuppa tea. Feminism and calling out the patriarchy? Count me in.

I liked Moxie. It was fun and raised a lot of important points when it comes to female empowerment and misogyny. The concept was cool and I would’ve loved a female revolution or club when I was at school.

The characters in Moxie were okay but they’re never going to be my favourite characters ever. They were a little two-dimensional at times. However, I will say that I loved the female friendships that blossomed throughout the story. The love interest, Seth, was alright but I thought that he often got praised and celebrated for doing the bare minimum. He doesn’t objectify women and he believes they should be equal? Congrats. So should everyone.

I thought the plot was fun but often predictable and the ‘twists’ and ‘turns’ weren’t exactly mind-blowing. But, overall, it was a fun read and if I had read it in my early teens, I know I would have loved and appreciated it back then a lot more.

I’m also super excited to see the movie adaptation on Netflix. I’ve heard really great things and I hope that the adaptation brings a bit more maturity and depth to the story.

Unchained by Jennifer L. Armentrout | BOOK REVIEW

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Non-spoiler

Fantasy romance is my all-time favourite genre and this was a solid read of Nephilim and Fallen Angels. It will never be my favourite JLA book. It kind of felt like The Dark Elements series was a re-imagined and better executed version of Unchained. Julian walked so Roth could run.

I really liked Lily and Julian and they were my favourite plotline to follow. I wasn’t a huge fan of the other random POVs we got throughout the book and I skim-read most of Michael’s chapters. It was pretty obvious what Michael was going to end up being and I understand that this story was supposed to be a series so we would have had a lot more time to explore how his character learned to accept and thrive on his powers (he’s the equivalent of Trinity in the Dark Elements but Trinity is 100 times cooler).

Lily’s journey to realising that not all Fallen are evil really reminded me of Layla’s epiphany that not all demons are evil in the Dark Elements. Honestly, the only thing that Unchained did better was the steamy scenes. In any other way, the Dark Elements is superior.

Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout | BOOK REVIEW

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Non-spoiler

I am gradually making my way through Jen’s backlog of books which is so much fun. While JLA is my all-time favourite author, this was not my all-time favourite book of hers. You can easily tell that it’s early-days Jen just from the writing style and how much she has grown as an author. I didn’t mind this book but it will never be a fave of mine.

This book had an interesting plot. I liked the Shatter-Me-esque concept and the characters were entertaining enough. I thought Ember was a strong character and her dedication to her sister was admirable. I also liked Hayden and his blossoming relationship with Ember- though, I will admit that Hayden’s feelings for her were very insta-lovey. He saw her once, didn’t even speak to her, and then couldn’t stay away? Sure...

The story was interesting and I loved how it had a thriller/mystery type feel. However, I think the villain reveal was very obvious and I predicted it from the second the character came onto the scene. Nevertheless, the final scenes were climactic and well done. I would’ve liked a little more closure and loose ends to be tied up at the very end but, overall, it was an enjoyable read.

I don’t think this will ever be my favourite JLA book because it didn’t fill me with the obsessive, giddy feeling that I usually have with her books but it was nice to see how her writing has evolved.