Short AF Book Review | Toxic Daughter: Chi - Chan | ARC Received By Netgalley

Hi friends! So today I'm going to be doing a review on "Toxic Daughter: Chi - Chan" by Shuzo Oshimi. This review is going to be short and sweet (like the title suggests) and spoiler free (however there will be the Netgalley synopsis in this and sometimes it can contain spoilers to please keep that in mind!) 

"You can't hide your darkness from Chi

It's been years since Chi, a mysterious outcast and borderline dropout, and her childhood friend Yua last spoke. One day, Chi shows up to school with a handful of dead bugs and starts a commotion that gives Yua's classmate, golden boy Kodai, an idea: he's going to bring Chi back into the fold, and he needs Yua's help to do it. But good intentions can lead to bad places, and the darkness in Chi may be more dangerous than they ever imagined."

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley, however all opinions are my own.

So the reason I applied for this book is because believe it or not I used to really be into manga and wanted to start getting into it again so when I saw this I jumped at the chance. This could've honestly gone either way and honestly friends, I'm kind of in the middle about it. Firstly, what I loved about the manga is that it gave off that cute/creepy feel that I genuinely adore in a lot of horror manga. It was eerie in the perfect way whilst still maintaining that it seems to start off like a slice of life. The art was cute, the story was well executed, and I did enjoy most of the manga. However, the key word there is most. Unfortunately, this manga does take a twist that I did not expect it to take and there were absolutely no trigger warnings for it at all. Please note, I expected the horror, I expected the gruesomeness and goriness that could have happened. I did not expect what happened to happen and it really threw me for a loop as this is something I tend to avoid in manga if I'm able to. I do like that there's also a movie tie in to this manga however I'm unsure as to whether I'll be watching it or not after the manga's ending. If you want a good horror manga, I would possibly recommend this one, but only if you can read up the trigger warnings and only if you're willing to watch the movie.

I gave this book a 3/5 star rating on Goodreads!

This book comes out on the 22nd April 2025!

What did you think of this book? Who were your favourite or least favourite characters? Do you have any books you'd recommend for me to read and do a review on? Please let me know down in the comments below!

Have a wonderful day!

Love, Doe!

Short AF Book Review | The Girl Who Sold Time | ARC Received By Netgalley

Hi friends! So today I'm going to be doing a review on "The Girl Who Sold Time" by V.S. Nelson. This review is going to be short and sweet (like the title suggests) and spoiler free (however there will be the Goodreads synopsis in this and sometimes it can contain spoilers to please keep that in mind!) 

"A forest of rusting giants.

A girl who trades time itself.

A discovery that changes everything.

The space elevator was meant to be humanity's salvation, but now it stands abandoned, surrounded by a forest that is mutating into something deadly.

Trading the mysterious time marbles to survive, Violet and her robotic companion, Jackdaw, seek to find a cure to their dying home.

When she discovers a marble that can freeze time for an entire year, Violet embarks on a journey to unlock its secrets and save the forest. But some truths are buried for a reason - and Violet is about to find out why..."

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley, however all opinions are my own.

So the reason I wanted to read this book was genuinely because the synopsis sounded super cool so I applied for an ARC. Friends, I'm really happy I got to read this one. I'm not going to lie, Sci Fi is not usually a genre I typically pick up so this could've gone either way for me. The start of this story is a little slow because of the world building and explaining the time marbles and how everything works as well as Violet's relationships with other people. However, the moment this book picked up it picked up. This book was so much fun and my favourite thing about it is it had one of my favourite tropes which is found family. Not only were the characters caring towards each other but they truly treat each other with the respect and love that I expect from these types of friendships. I loved how much this book highlighted good female friendships especially with such a badass main character such as Violet. I LOVED Jackdaw so much and I found it really hard to remember that he wasn't human (literally every time he was referenced to as a robot it was a little shock to the system). I really appreciated how much detail the author went into on how the time marbles worked and how they were used throughout the story. I feel like we got a very clear and concise vision of what the author was trying to portray. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone and everyone and think it's a perfect beginner book for getting into sci fi (for me personally anyway). I will 100% be reading more of V.S. Nelson's books.

I gave this book a 4/5 star rating on Goodreads!

This book is already out!

What did you think of this book? Who were your favourite or least favourite characters? Do you have any books you'd recommend for me to read and do a review on? Please let me know down in the comments below!

Have a wonderful day!

Love, Doe!