avatarPagebound Royalty Badge

karigan

26. she/her. I work to afford my reading habit šŸ§ššŸ»šŸ¦„šŸ°šŸ‰

35959 points

0% overlap
Games & Trials
Pagebound RoyaltyEarly User
Top Contributor
Classics Starter Pack Vol I
Made for the Movies
My Taste
If We Were Villains
The Tortoise's Tale: A Novel
The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #2)
Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
The Rose Bargain
Reading...
Alchemy of Secrets

karigan commented on moss-mylk's review of The Rose Bargain

10h
  • The Rose Bargain
    moss-mylk
    Nov 28, 2025
    3.0
    Enjoyment: 3.5Quality: 3.0Characters: 3.0Plot: 3.0
    šŸ„€
    šŸŽ€
    🤓

    This was not a book I would call objectively good. I knew I was coming into this for a fun time over anything else. I really had to suspend my disbelief and just roll with it (or at least just roll my eyes).

    Things I did not like / I think were weak:

    • I was told things about the characters that I was never (or inadequately) shown and did not believe. I feel like the author had ideas/tropes in mind for these characters but did not execute them well.
    • I did not really believe the romantic relationships. Partly because the pacing felt off, I didn’t believe the build up, love felt v quick, etc.
    • The storyline and love triangle were very predictable (and sometimes illogical).
    • The last ~25% felt like information overload. (It did not help that I insisted on devouring it.)
    • The writing wasn’t bad…but it wasn’t great.

    However, this was clearly fun enough that I couldn’t stop reading at several points, and I am looking forward to the sequel. Things I loved or liked:

    • The girls’ relationships. This was the first bachelorette/marriage competition-esque story that really championed female friendship and solidarity, which I loved. So so necessary. Glad this stood out in this way.
    • On a similar note, we had POV chapters from each of the other girls, which gave them more depth (and quite lovely depth too sometimes) and gave us further insight into the characters and the plot.
    • The mystery regarding the MC’s sister was soooooo intriguing.
    • The Queen’s games were also very fun to read.
    • The ending, though many parts predictable, still shocked me and was so so so so fun. (The ending is the only reason Ive rated the plot 3 stars, was originally going to rate it maybe 2.5.)
    • Lastly, Lydia. That’s all I’ll say. Lydia.

    14
    comments 2
    Reply
  • karigan commented on a post

    10h
  • Finale (Caraval, #3)
    Thoughts from 17% (page 78)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    10
    comments 2
    Reply
  • karigan commented on a post

    10h
  • Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
    Thoughts from 78% (page 328, end of ch. 23, ebook)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    23
    comments 6
    Reply
  • karigan commented on robyn00's review of The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

    11h
  • The Spirit Bares Its Teeth
    robyn00
    Nov 28, 2025
    4.5
    Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.5Plot: 4.0
    šŸ‡
    šŸ‘ļø
    šŸ’œ

    Ah yes. The autistic urge to pop out one’s eyes with a spoon. Relatable?

    29
    comments 5
    Reply
  • Post from the Alchemy of Secrets forum

    20h
  • Alchemy of Secrets
    karigan
    Edited
    Thoughts from 9% (end ch3)

    I’m loving the switch between second and third person POV. It’s making for such an intriguing story, especially since Holland’s chapters seem to be one of Professor Kim’s myths told in Folklore 517. We’re both being told the story and a part of it at the same time.

    Also, as someone who works in banking, if I have to read ā€œsafety deposit boxā€ one more time I may put my eyeballs in a blender.

    9
    comments 0
    Reply
  • karigan made progress on...

    20h
    Alchemy of Secrets

    Alchemy of Secrets

    Stephanie Garber

    9%
    10
    0
    Reply

    karigan commented on caait's update

    caait made progress on...

    21h
    The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3)

    The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3)

    Olivie Blake

    43%
    16
    3
    Reply

    karigan commented on a post

    22h
  • Alchemy of Secrets
    Thoughts from 4% (page 12)

    peanut butter and bacon ice cream is criminal 😭

    12
    comments 3
    Reply
  • karigan commented on a post

    22h
  • Alchemy of Secrets
    Thoughts from 2% (page 8)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    3
    comments 1
    Reply
  • karigan commented on moss-mylk's update

    moss-mylk earned a badge

    1d
    Level 9

    Level 9

    12000 points

    168
    92
    Reply

    karigan commented on helli's update

    helli earned a badge

    1d
    Level 12

    Level 12

    27000 points

    216
    164
    Reply

    karigan commented on notbillnye's update

    karigan commented on karigan's update

    karigan commented on a feature request

    1d
  • 2
    comments 12

    Spoiler Designation for Progress Updates

    As we make a better distinction between book forum posts and personal progress update comments, could we add a spoiler tag to the progress update posts?

    Sometimes I want to document my reaction to something that happens in the book but I've been going to the book forum because that's the only place I can safely prevent spoiling it for others.

    Invalid/Duplicate
  • karigan wrote a review...

    1d
  • Needle Lake
    karigan
    Nov 27, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.5
    🧊
    🌲
    šŸš—

    Needle Lake follows two cousins during a tumultuous winter break in which a man ends up dead. Ida is a young, socially awkward teenager, enamored with her older cousin, Elna, who exudes the confidence Ida wishes she could have. Both girls will learn more about themselves than they ever wished to uncover as they start to create more and more secrets together.

    Both Elna and Ida are incredibly well written, perfectly capturing the range that younger and older adolescents reach while just trying to fit in. Told through Ida's POV, you feel every emotion she feels through Champine's beautiful prose.

    I loved the pace of this book until the last two chapters. While I think this was another purposeful element of the writing, the ending was very sudden and left me wanting more.

    Overall, the story was an intense, yet predictable ride from start to finish. Any adult knows exactly how this story goes. Two teenage girls; one impressionable, one a bad influence--how do you think that story is going to unfold? This is not a knock on the book, I actually quite enjoyed this aspect because this is a "journey over destination" type of book.

    Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

    5
    comments 0
    Reply
  • karigan finished a book

    1d
    Needle Lake

    Needle Lake

    Justine Champine

    9
    0
    Reply

    karigan made progress on...

    1d
    Needle Lake

    Needle Lake

    Justine Champine

    100%
    8
    0
    Reply

    karigan commented on a post

    1d
  • Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century
    Thoughts from 68%

    I read this part yesterday but I’ve been thinking about it ever since. It had to do with challenging the idea that creatives should suffer for their art. The author explains that keeping yourself sick for the sake of remaining creative is a harmful narrative we perpetuate both in the able bodied and disabled communities. Their specific perspective was regarding medication and how it takes their creativity away but that it is worth it to lose that part of themselves in order to be healthy.

    I’d love to hear what other disabled people think about this. Do you agree? If you agree, do you follow this principle for yourself or do you suffer for your art?

    15
    comments 7
    Reply