User blog comment:Man Mountain/The Unofficial Choices Awards/@comment-35059467-20190305144907/@comment-3452092-20190305171848

For me The Crown & The Flame is one of the few series that does hold up on a reread (and I have read the series through three times and the first book at least eight times . . . I was trying to get some diamond choices in books 2 and 3, which I now how, so now I'm playing the full series). Endless Summer was a very good book. Sadly, however, it was not a very good series with books 2 and 3 not holding up to the standard set in the first one.

Books that didn't hold up on a reread: The Haunting of Braidwood Manor. It's okay, but not as good as I thought. The Freshman, Book 2. I never thought it was good, but I did think it was better than Book 3 which I hate. It's not.

Book that is better than I thought: #LoveHacks, Book 1. Don't get me wrong. I still think it's bad, but it is better than I thought it was. . . and it's worlds better than certain other things.

Books that are as bad as I thought: The Sophomore, Book 1. The cringe is real. I originally hated this for what they did to Abby, but honestly, it's worse than that, because there is more cringe going on and the Abby stuff is more the second half of the book and into the next.

I should state that I really hate large chunks of The Freshman, et al series and the parts I do like are contraversal at best. For example, I think the best book in the franchise was. . . actually, I've changed my mind on that. I now think the best book in the franchise is The Freshman: Love Bites, the one book in the franchise that actually does not fit into the timeline. My previous favorite is in second place. That is The Freshman, Book 4. Then you have the other three short stories in the following order: The Sophomore: Hartfeld Horror Story, The Freshman: Game of Love, and The Freshman: Snowed In. Next is The Sophomore, Book 2 followed by The Junior, Book 1. The Senior is in last place as a lukewarm finale and the rest of it is just bad (obviously, personal opinion). No placement on the one chapter books as I have only watched two of them on YouTube and have not played them. I think James: Masquerade Ball was okay from what I recall and Kaitlyn: The Perfect Date was so-so.

On a more positive note both The Elementalists and both It Lives books have lived up to multiple rereads. Perfect Match, Book 1 has been pretty good the second time around (still in book 1 for my replay, so can't comment on Book 2 which I didn't like as much anyway . . . although Keegan was interesting). Both Most Wanted and Hero, especially Most Wanted have more than lived up to literally dozens of rereads. Across the Void is more fun every time I read it.

I wouldn't say it's better, but I can survive High School Story, Book 2 much more knowing how it ends. Isa is not the worst thing to happen to the franchise, but she sure is close. On a side note. . . Charles (second MC) would like to be a hall monitor. His girlfriend (unofficial since it's book 2), Maria, does not approve, but he would like to do this anyway. Isa does not allow for this, but she really, really should. If she did, she might stand a chance. Arielle (first MC) thinks he's nuts and besides, Isa put her (unoffical) boyfriend, Aiden, on suspension. Natti (third MC) is down for some spy work preferably with (unofficial) boyfriend, Michael. Jameson (fourth MC) just wants to keep his nose clean and out of trouble with (unofficial) girlfriend, Emma. Etta Leanne (fifth MC) is still too new for me to know how she reacts to these things. Also I'm still in book 1 with her (and in case you missed the pattern . . . Caleb's her love interest).