I ended up DNF'ing the book. No matter how hard I tried to get into the book I was unable to. I was hoping that this would be a fun book to read from the description. As for the star rating I wouldn't give it anything. But since I am unable to submit without a star rating.

Sometimes you just need something a bit different and "Magic Mutant Nightmare Girl" was certainly that!

Fun, unique and bursting at the seams with Lolita fashion, this story is as bright and bubbly as it's gorgeous front cover. The pacing was slightly squiffy sometimes (technical term) and I was a bit confused at the beginning but I'm so pleased I pushed through to join Holly and her new N.E.R.D friends on such an action-packed adventure. I was entertained until the very end and I am now waiting desperately for book two after that cliffhanger!

Thank you Netgalley and Xpresso Book Tours for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Magic Mutant Nightmare Girl! Who wouldn't want to read this as soon as they see the title?

I have been discussing with quite a few Booksta friends lately about how important trigger/content warnings are for media/material and before I move further I want to say how absolutely impressed I was with the warnings present at the beginning of this book. Additionally, I have a great appreciation for the author, who handled difficult situations and tough topics thoroughly, but with a more sensitive approach, which can be vital to some readers enjoying written works. The artwork in this story is breathtaking and the characters match up and are just as impressive. The characters are genuine and all have strengths and weaknesses, making me really find parts of them to relate to and form connections with.
I will say the writing style almost lost me because I found it to be descriptive to a fault and very long-winded/overdone, normally this does not bother me, but at certain points it felt like it was pulling me out of the story. I also really appreciated the glossary in the back, but found it draining to constantly be flipping back and forth between the story and glossary - in future this story would probably benefit more from footnotes than a full on glossary.

While I don't necessarily think this story is for everyone, I really enjoyed it and would recommend giving it a chance!

I had very high hopes for this novel because the concept seemed so original. However, a great concept cannot save melodramatic circumventive language and niche poorly explained references. Magic Mutant Nightmare Girl is a love letter to Japanese and campy sci fi subculture, but it is one better left unsent.
My largest complaint regarding this book is the excessive language. Everything was written in a style that was unnecessarily long-winded and overly descriptive. Even the word choice felt superfluous at times; like it was a conscious choice to pick an obscure or uncharacteristically complex synonym, when something simpler would have been more appropriate. Due to this, the pacing of the entire novel felt off, especially between character dialogue and in action sequences.
In addition to the language there was a lot of brand name and lingo dropping. The unnecessary slang terms and associated branding from the Japanese fashion and anime subcultures were just inserted into the narrative with no contextual explanation. Meaning, that unless you are familiar with these subcultures, these references come off as alienating and make no sense. Admittedly, there is a glossary in the back, but requiring a reader to break immersion to constantly flip to the back pages in order to understand one-time situational descriptors is not ideal. Nobody actually wants that kind of required reading material for their fun fiction book.
In my opinion this novel is for a very niche market, but even within the targeted demographic, I would not recommend it.

I am so sad that I’m DNFing this. I think this is yet another case of too hard to track digitally. I feel like I am in a sequel, which is never a good sign. The characters were all over the place with almost no exposition which was so frustrating.

The truth is that I expected a little more from this book.
I'm a mega fan of fantasy and fiction, it's one of the genres I love the most. And since I saw this book, it caught my attention and I wanted to read it.
But when I was reading it, the book didn't catch me. And I tried several times.
I'm not saying it's a bad book, it has a lot of potential, but personally it didn't catch me, it didn't meet my expectations.

Unfortunately, I no longer wish to review this book as the first few chapters did not reel me in. Thank you for the opportunity.

Originally this book's idea was fascinating, but the characters and writing changed my ming -in the wrong way.
I did not enjoy the writing style or the narrative; it was extremely confusing sometimes and had so many unnecessary descriptions or reactions. I genuinely couldn't connect to any character and the plot ... wasn't there. I think if revisited, it could get better.

Magic Mutant Nightmare Girl by Erin Grammer is so deliciously hurtful and accurate in it's social anxiety representation that I had to spend several hours after I finished this just thinking over everything I just read.

This book follows Holly Roads as she is transformed from an awkward, shy heiress to a somewhat self confident mutant with overwhelming emotions. Every turn this book took was unexpected and perfect that I spent a lot of time with my mouth agape.

I can NOT wait for the next book to come out.

I’d like to take a moment to thank the publishers and netgalley for an arc in exchange of an honest review.

Unfortunately for me things didn’t start well for this novel and it didn’t improve. Almost every single sentence is worded in the most difficult and confusing way possible. Sometimes you won’t know what’s happening until the end of the paragraph. As such I didn’t see anything that redeemable about the novel. It wasn’t for me, it needs stronger editing. Maybe two of three revisions, as right now it’s a bit of a mess from a cool idea.

3.5/5 stars

🐻 Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-arc!


✨It was only fine. Not that good of a ya novel but i wouldn't mind reading more from the author

First off I love that the book starts with a content warning so readers can more easily decide if this is good read for them. I also thought the author handled the sensitive topics and violence in the book well everything felt important to the plot and not overdone. I loved the cast of characters in the book; I’m always down for a cast of misfits having to learn to work together. The way the author brought the characters together and highlighted their strengths was so well done. It really made them all feel real and likeable. I want to hang out with these characters and eat dumplings in the nail shop with them.

I am so excited to see where the series goes and felt like this was a great first book. The way the story unfolded was well done and felt like a complete story while also setting up the next book. I also feel very much invested in what is going to happen to all the characters and just all around really want more of their story.

A very fun book and very enjoyable but it was a bit confusing at time and not very well paced. It was exciting at times but other times it just felt boring

This book is my new everything. You know how every bookworm has at least one book that they just deeply relate to for no truly discernable reason, well I've finally found mine. I loved just about everything in this book but I have a hard time imagining that anyone I could possibly speak to would as well. This book was just so me, I need more books like it. This book was just nonstop action mixed with amazing characters. Thinking back over it I can definitely see some elements that make this book meld with me so well, and they go as follows. Lolita, magical girl, bisexual, badass, and social anxiety. That's it that's the book, what more could you desire. I wish I could do a better job explaining to you how much I related to and loved this book but it just feels too intangible. Just read it.

just wasn't able to get through this one. but the cover is STUNNING. just not the best writing, characters or plot it was lacking in many areas.

I liked this book a lot: Holly is an interesting protagonist, who's flawed, but likable. The other characters are overall interesting too, especially Kyle, who's a secondary character, but certainly one I'm invested in. I also enjoyed how normalized the LGBTQ+ representation is in this book: Holly is bisexual and she talks about her interest and type, regarding all genders. There are mentions of nonbinary people, mentions of girls Holly was attracted to, the introduction of some characters' pronouns, all that, and it was truly heartwarming to read (as a nonbinary person).

But, however... it didn't reach my expectation. Unfortunately, it was way too high for what the book actually was, as I didn't find the plot all that... good. I definitely appreciated the work with LGBTQ+ representation and lessons on Lolita fashion, which is something that interests me, but I've never stopped to read about, for some reason. While I did like the characters a lot, I also didn't get to feel deeply connected to them. It's something I can't quite put my finger on: I did care about them, but it didn't make me breathless or anything. It was good, but not a favorite. It's worth a read, but do not commit the mistake I did of setting the bar too high.

Thank you NetGalley for providing a digital arc in exchange from an honest review.
First off, I was immediately attracted to the plot and synopsis of the book, having been inside a lot of anime and Japanese forums growing up and considering the Lolita fashion as something quite eye catching. And for the main girl to suddenly turn into a mutant and fight crime? That sounds amazing.
Nonetheless, I felt like the characters, and especially the protagonist Holly, were simply too flat. Very 2 dimensional in which someone sketched out their goals and aspirations and shoved it down the reader's throat without really considering the development of these views. More than that, I was happy to find out the main character was bisexual, yet even with being part of the lgbtq+ community she tried to force labels onto her supposed love interest to which she had no chemistry with.
I was very very uncomfortable and just wished that she stopped assuming other's people's identities and pushing her agenda on others.
In a way, it was a cute idea, but one that should've been reconsidered due to it's narrow narration and harming stereotypes.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

TW: Body horror, mild gore, PTSD, drug use.

Let's start by saying this was one of my anticipated reads of the year and was really excited. Sadly it let me down.
The concept was so original, I mean, a girl obsessed with Harajuku fashion who fights mutants and gets into an organization to fight them.

Holly is the main character and it was cool that she liked a different kind of fashion but it seemed like everything she thought about was related to that. I was attacked and have to hide but I don't want my clothes to be donated or to lose them tho. She is kind of obsessed with the " Love Interest" even though there was no chemistry between them whatsoever. Let's not forget she is assuming his sexuality all the time and his relationship with his friend, Nuñez. Nuñez could have been a really fun character.

All the time I felt like the plot was created to be a comic. There was no explanation of anything, I am not sure what N.E.R.Ds is, to be honest. The Plot was both slow and fast and it was really weird cause nothing was happening but at the same time that nothingness was so fast. The characters were all so flat, I couldn't understand any of them.

This idea was really original but the execution was a total letdown. This could have worked so well as a comic and it feels like it was written as a comic. So if anyone loves comics then maybe they would enjoy it more than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley, Erin Grammer,
and Midnight Tide Publishing for an ARC digital copy in exchange for an honest review

If I were going to just look at this book from a technical literary standpoint I would have given it a rating of 2.5 or 3, but why did I give it a 4-star rating then? It was so much fun!! I read it over the last few days and enjoyed it so much, as a middle schooler I would have been obsessed with this book at the lead Holly.

Start positive with what I really liked
1. Holly our leading lady, was enjoyable and real, I felt her joy and awkward moments and all in-between
2. How honest her joy for fashion was, it wasn't just surface level (which I feared it would be) but seemed like the author cared about this culture and try to show it in a light that showed why Holly got so much joy from it
3. The story was just a fun starting point to an obviously bigger story

What I didn't really love
1. Pacing, it could be slow at some moments and then rush over others I thought needed more time
2. The ending while not bad felt less like an end and more like a stop and I get it is leading into a next book, but I felt I was missing the last chapter to really finish the book
3. Some of the writing was..clucky at times and showed how new to this they are, but even then it was never terrible and something that got better as the story went forward, and I could see just getting better and better with in the next books in the series

So I enjoyed this book and I am sad to have to wait for the next one!!! Oh one last thing I loved the authors note at the start was used as a trigger warning section and I think that is something that would be good in more novels bee they Teen or otherwise

Quick thanks to NetGalley for the free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review ✨

As someone who admires and would love to someday indulge in Lolita fashion (someday when my wallet can take it) I was very interested in the pitch this series was giving me. Just the sheer mention of Sailor Moon and I was hooked in to give it a try. My hopes might've been a bit too high.

Key points I'd like to make:
» I appreciated the author's efforts of trying to create a diverse cast of characters but I don't believe it worked out 100 percent. First off, our Hispanic character of the book has their hidden backstory dealing with the realm of drugs, which I gotta say I did sigh a little on. Also, Holly is part of the LGBTQ+ but she ends up assuming some of the characters' sexualities based on stereotypes and truly believes she's correct. That is until she ends up embarrassing herself when she assumes out-loud and gets corrected. It was just a bit yikes for me.

» Holly's relationship with the cast fell a bit short for me. I didn't really feel like some of them were very fleshed out yet to really even see a relationship with the main character. In fact, the odd N.E.R.D (yes that's their group acronym in the book..) group had a much stronger sense of chemistry/connection than Holly did with her main love interest.

» Grammar's writing was interesting. I felt a bit conflicted for sure because at first I seemed to really enjoy it. I was definitely intrigued with her use of metaphors/similes throughout the book. It's the first time I really noticed metaphors and such while reading but it wasn't a bad thing; I was quite entertained by her comparisons. Otherwise I have to admit the book was a bit difficult for me to get through. I'm not sure what was giving me such a hard time but I kept taking breaks. It was just taking me longer to finish than what I expected.

» Holly's explanation on Lolita and her fashion sense, to me, was spot on. I didn't expect to feel so validated about being into this fashion style until Holly. Her explanation and anger to the judgement she faces unexpectedly resonated with me. I felt her character's passion in that sense and could really tell that the author was well versed in the community Holly was interested in. It was the reason I picked up this book and it did not disappoint me in that regard.

Overall I can't say that I didn't enjoy this book. I did first consider giving it 3 stars but I couldn't ignore the fact that I did end up struggling to get through it. The story itself sometimes had me a bit confused which unfortunately made it a bit harder to focus on. Holly is definitely a flawed character but I haven't lost hope on her, I'm anticipating her character development in the next books. I'm curious to see where the story will go from here and how the author will grow as a writer.