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halfdraft

17 | she | aspiring author, journalist, and voracious reader | either writing, reading, running, or caring too much about everything | find my reviews at halfdraft.substack.com :)

878 points

0% overlap
Level 4
Made for the Movies
Winter 2026 Readalong
My Taste
The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)
The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
Loner
Daisy Jones & The Six
Forbidden City
Reading...
Unfinished BusinessThe Regency SwitchPride and PrejudiceBecoming Marlow FinThe Break-Up PactThe Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural WorldA Wizard’s Guide to Defensive BakingHaunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse, #1)Hamlet

halfdraft made progress on...

1h
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

Robin Wall Kimmerer

71%
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halfdraft commented on carthi's review of Unfinished Business

1h
  • Unfinished Business
    carthi
    Oct 07, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    ⋆˙⟡ — 18/07/2025: ˙⊹

    new clare osongco book!!!!! and its her adult debut?! AKDJDBJDCSJDCJDC I WONDER HOW MUCH I'LL BE CRYING THIS TIME AROUND hahaha... who am i kidding i'll be crying bucket loads lol. whatever it is, my heart is yours to break miss clare

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  • halfdraft finished reading and wrote a review...

    1h
  • Return to Sender: an irresistibly romantic, witty and moving love story
    halfdraft
    Dec 16, 2025
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 4.5Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0
    🚙
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    💌

    First off, thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me an ARC of this novel! All opinions are my own.

    Something I’ve often seen in adult romance lately is authors foregoing plot for spice- because that’s what readers want, right? Well... no. Most readers, myself included, do enjoy spice when it exists and adds to the plot. It shouldn’t BE the plot. I’m glad Stephanie Parente didn’t fall into this trap as a debut author. Does Return to Sender have some spice? Yes, but it adds depth to an already meaningful story. There’s sadness, there’s character development, there's laughs and tears...

    Everything that makes a novel stand out, Stephanie delivers. Violet is stubborn but cares deeply for her little sister, Dex is closed off but caring., and Phoebe is, well, your average fourteen-year-old girl. And it works beautifully together in this story.

    I’ve never read a road-trip romance trope novel before, and honestly, I don’t know if I could ever read another, because I don’t think anyone could match what Stephanie has done here. I’m excited to see what she'll write in the future.

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  • A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
    📚 Thoughts from 43% (page 110)
    spoilers

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    11
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  • halfdraft made progress on...

    8h
    A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

    A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

    T. Kingfisher

    51%
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    halfdraft commented on a post

    8h
  • The Song of Achilles
    wordplay
    Edited
    Thoughts from 67% (page 249)

    i hope its alright that im using this to write my annotations!! I have the little page markers but i want to get clear post its so my pen doesn't bleed through the page and i kind of dont have them yet so :( im sorry!! I've made my own advent book in hopes i finish this before christmas which i am starting late so i have 11 page long sections marked lol don't judge me i know it's small but baby steps yk

    238- charybdis hah i know that (epic the musical)
    "I closed them with gritty, trembling fingers" the contrast between the boys will never not break me 239- "all i saw was his beauty, his singing limbs, the quick flickering of his feet." he sees beauty in achilles doing this but not himself. not sure what there is there but yeah! 240- "this, at last, is what i can really do" 241- "From time to time he would... beg me to join him." and he had to. not only due to obligation but. how could he say no? "She hissed like a snake, and vanished" woah man okay 242- "no wonder he was aphrodites favorite: he seemed as vain as she" OH CLOCK HIM 247- "Hector hasn't done anything to you" REPETITION. FEAR. DOOM.

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  • halfdraft commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

    8h
  • What’s your favourite book you have read this year?

    As it says in the title

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  • halfdraft commented on a post

    19h
  • Three Holidays and a Wedding
    Thoughts from 52%

    I’m not loving this book so far 🥲 I want to like it I really do, I just don’t think it’s my cup of tea. It’s almost too predictable? And the characters seem very one note so far.

    Anyone else feeling this way? Can anyone provide insight into if it gets better?

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  • halfdraft commented on a post

    23h
  • Three Holidays and a Wedding
    Thoughts from 17%
    spoilers

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    16
    comments 2
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  • halfdraft commented on a post

    23h
  • Little White Lies (Debutantes, #1)
    Thoughts from 73% (page 284)

    I’m like near the end of the book and just now getting invested in the story 😅 the stuff before this wasnt bad, but nothing really made me want to binge read this

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  • halfdraft commented on a post

    1d
  • The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
    halfdraft
    Edited
    Thoughts from 59%

    I like what she's getting at, but I feel like at this point, she's saying the same thing in twenty different ways. This might be because I'm not used to reading extended essays like this - I've read a decent amount of memoirs and other nonfiction, but this is different for me. I do find her writing beautiful however.

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    comments 9
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  • The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
    halfdraft
    Edited
    Thoughts from 59%

    I like what she's getting at, but I feel like at this point, she's saying the same thing in twenty different ways. This might be because I'm not used to reading extended essays like this - I've read a decent amount of memoirs and other nonfiction, but this is different for me. I do find her writing beautiful however.

    16
    comments 9
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  • halfdraft commented on a post

    1d
  • Gone Girl
    Thoughts from 45%| pg 263| eBook Ed.
    spoilers

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    7
    comments 3
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  • halfdraft commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

    1d
  • anyone have a boox ereader? if so what are your thoughts?

    hi everyone! i've been looking into getting an ereader for a while but have not found one that seems to suit my needs until now. i read & review ARCs (has to be Kindle app- kobo is not supported for most) and would also like to be able to get libby/overdrive/hoopla for my personal readings.

    after looking into boox, it seems it is integrated with Google so i could download everything i need via play store. the price is a little steep but i will be in college next year so i can see myself using it for college readings as well!

    so i have to ask: for those of you who own a boox, which one do you recommend? do you like it? has it lasted you a while? is it able to do almost anything you'd need? any feedback is greatly appreciated!!

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  • halfdraft TBR'd a book

    1d
    You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

    You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

    Akwaeke Emezi

    0
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    halfdraft TBR'd a book

    1d
    The Yellow House

    The Yellow House

    Sarah M. Broom

    0
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