Jordyn
This was absolutely lovely. I loved the exhaustingly real representation of chronic pain, I loved that each character had their own baggage, but both were equally lovely people outside it. I took a little bit to warm up to Chloe, but really loved Red right off the bat. Cute book, glad I finally read it. Will eventually read the other books in this series when I get around to them!
This was exceptionally cute (and quite hot), but dang I wish miscommunication wasn't such a plot point at the end. If Addie had just sat Logan down and explained what was going on I feel like the last third of the book wouldn't have happened. Didn't detract from my enjoyment TOO much, but definitely put a tiny damper on what would have otherwise been a perfect book. I love anything set in Scotland (Thanks~ Outlander) and this book was no exception.
Sorry for another tiny review – I only get like maybe 30 min a day to use my computer thanks to our 3 week old!
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Holy shit, did I love this or what? Viking/Norse mythology inspired romantasy. I should write a whole review, but I have a 3-week-old baby and don't have the mental capacity to do more than a few sentences. BASICALLY, Freya is an absolute badass in a realistic way, and Bjorn is ~dreamy.~ Seriously, what a man.
The reveal at the end of the book physically hurt me, bc I truly did not see it coming. I SHOULD HAVE, but I'm going to blame lack of sleep on why I didn't. Hoping we'll get redemption in the next book.
Loved the world building too, but I do wish we had learned more about other god-children. Maybe coming in the future? Will absolutely be waiting breathlessly for the next books, because I AM INTERESTED, okay? Pick this one up if you like romance, mythology, and some seriously badass ladies.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Books for providing an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Okay, so if you know me at all, you'll know that I absolutely adored Bannen's The Undertaking of Hart + Mercy when it came out. When I got the notification that Bannen had written a sequel to my beloved zombie-fantasy-romance, I about lost my cool. I think I screamed a little bit. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? All the reasons I loved Hart + Mercy are right here in Twyla + Frank. It's just as absolutely charming, odd, and absolutely original as the first book – but this one has the added bonus of being about older people. Twyla and Frank are both in their fifties and what a breath of fresh air that is. They have people-in-their-fifties-problems, not young-people problems. They've been friends for twenty plus years, but still can't admit their feelings for one another.
YOU KNOW, THE GOOD STUFF.
Plus there's suddenly dragons in Tanria or whatever.
Seriously, Megan Bannen, I don't know what I did to deserve your books but holy crap. Thank you? Thank you, thank you. Thank you for making Twyla badass, but still a middle-aged mom/grandmother. Thank you for making her finally realize she deserves to be unashamedly happy. Thank you for making Frank such a sweetheart, too.
GOD, I JUST REALLY ENJOYED THIS. The characters of the previous book are present in the background, but only Hart, Duckers and Zeddie really have speaking roles. It works in a really just wonderful way. I'm spewing feelings here, but honestly – please pick up The Undermining of Twyla and Frank. Especially if you loved Hart + Mercy.
I'll be over here waiting anxiously for anything that Megan Bannen decides to write.
Hell Bent is a phenomenal follow up to Bardugo's Ninth House. It takes all the lore of the first book, and absolutely sets off running with it. (Though I did miss seeing more rituals happen in Hell Bent!) We find out more about the secret societies and how they all began, which added weight to the world. We travel to Hell and back, which...ooooof. But the best part of the book was when the team finally dragged Darlington back into the real world.
Seeing him on page as an actual member of the team was so much fun – up until this point he'd only been in the books as a memory. Seeing Darlington contribute and be more ‘real' made the journey looking for him much more tolerable. Alex grows a lot in this book, but she also quite stubbornly remains who she is. She's learned how to manipulate the people around her into doing what she wants or what she thinks is right. It was...I don't want to say fun but at least interesting to see her dominate other people like that. She's taken so much shit in her life, to see her succeed in something was fantastic.
Speaking of Darlington and Alex, I sure hope we get some resolution to whatever romance we're dancing around in the last book. There's a tremendous amount of sexual tension between them, and I know I'D love to see them both get some happiness. There's been so little of it in either of their lives.
I liked what we saw of the Lethe team (Dawes, Turner, Mercy, Tripp, etc) in this book, and I loved that we got more backstory from everyone. I just wish maybe these characters were even more fleshed out, even more whole. Instead, they still remain something of stereotypes, which while it does work for this kind of book in this sort of setting, leaves you feeling less than full.
REGARDLESS, I enjoyed HELL BENT, and I can't wait for the next book.
If you're looking for a dark-academia-demonology-summoners-circle type of book, look no further than Evocation. If you liked Bardugo's Ninth House, you'd like Evocation. (Added bonus of Evocation being pretty dang gay, too.) Basically, if you want the feeling of an old dark dust-covered mansion with a chalk circle in the library...you've found the right book.
I was not the biggest fan of David, but I don't actually think you're supposed to like him all that much. He's a spoiled rich boy who gets everything he's ever wanted. (He does have a sad/tragic/awful backstory, but his personality doesn't change much over the course of the book.) I really liked Rhys and Moira, though. They were couple goals, really. Moira is a bright light in the darkness of this book. And it is fairly dark, though not a lot of violence takes place. It's just...demons.
Actually, there's not a whole lot that happens really, over the course of the book. David finds himself possessed, and then turns to Rhys and Moira for help figuring out what exactly is going on. They all fall in love. Ish. ALLLLSOOOOOO I was promised polyamory, but Moira and David don't really ~love~ each other in the romantic sense. OR at least that's how I read the book. It was more platonic between them, but definitely romantic between David and Rhys. IDK maybe I don't know what polyamory is exactly.
EITHER WAY – Evocation is a decent read, but it's not particularly plot heavy. It's more of a character study with a tiny splash of plot in the background. I'm going to give it three and a half stars, simply because I really wanted there to be a MMF relationship hidden in there somewhere.
As soon as the spy cats were introduced, I was completely hooked on this book. (I'm a sucker for talking cats, even if these could only type!!) This is only my second book by Scalzi, the first being The Kaiju Preservation Society. I loved that novel because it was just simple, good fun, and I can honestly say that Starter Villain fits that bill, too!
Look – this is not a deep novel. This is a popcorn-medium-budget-summer-blockbuster of a novel, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's fun, it's funny, and most importantly, it's easy to read. I read it in less than 24 hours, and probably could have downed it in even less if I didn't have obligations out the wazoo.
Charlie's uncle dies and leaves him a mysterious inheritance – his villain enterprise. Charlie is thrown into the world of ‘super villains' after this, and well, the fun starts there. Not going to say much about this one other than if you're in need of a palate cleanser, I can't recommend Starter Villain enough. Four and a half stars, for pure enjoyment's sake.
I picked this book up after seeing Hannah B's review of an ARC. I was a huge Teen Wolf fan back when it was on the air, and well, Business or Pleasure is 100% based on something similar to Teen Wolf. In fact, the main love interested, Finn, is almost certainly based on Dylan O'Brien. BASICALLY WHAT I'M SAYING IS, I was destined to pick this book up even without Hannah's excellent review.
Business or Pleasure is about a ghost writer named Chandler who has a one night stand with a washed up actor without realizing who he is. They have a truly awful hook up together, and then the next day, Chandler finds out said hook up is actually her next client. There are a lot of laughs in this book, but also a lot of really touching moments as well. It flows nicely together without feeling choppy or forced. Truly, I enjoyed every aspect of this book.
Chandler and Finn's relationship starts out on a rocky, unstable surface but as they get to know one another (and come to an ~agreement~) they really mesh well. Solomon did an absolutely fantastic job at making these two feel like real people. Neither one of them is good at everything, neither is a total failure. They're each likeable in their own way, and I just...YES.
The steamy scenes are excellent – especially the ones where Chandler is teaching Finn how to be good in bed. He's an awesome student – listening to what his teacher is saying and actually applying it and reaching for more. There's quite a few hot scenes in this book, but you won't see me complaining AT ALL. They all were different enough, and well written enough that it doesn't feel repetitive or like too much.
I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK, OK. And if you are a contemporary romance fan, a Teen Wolf fan, or even someone who just needs a genuinely nice, steamy book...please pick this one up. Four and a half stars.
Bride was a resounding MEH for me.
I'm very particular about my paranormal romances, and this one just didn't hit the way I wanted to. I like my werewolves a very SPECIFIC way (I know, it's a problem) and while this book had some bits I liked...[insert shrug here.] Bride is my first Ali Hazelwood book, and after reading it, I'm not sure she's the author for me. If another book by her comes up as sounding maybe interesting, I'll give her another go but otherwise...meh.
I think my biggest problem is that Misery (the main character) is so distinctly unlikable for like....75% of the book. She comes across as having this giant stick up her butt with very little breathing room. She doesn't like anyone – she even admits this – and when we're supposed to be feeling the romance between her and Lowe...well...I didn't really see it until almost the end of the book. Lowe, on the other hand, I liked right away. Alpha werewolf with a huge protective streak who also came along with a side of tiny little sister.
The steamy scenes were...fine. Nothing mind blowing, but seeing a knotting scene in a ‘main stream' romance was interesting. Never really thought that would happen, but then again, I'm like 99% sure that Hazelwood started off in fanfic, so it makes sense! The romancey-falling-in-love-scenes weren't that believable. Again, because Misery just did not have emotions.
I wanted to like Bride, but just couldn't quite get there. 3.5 stars for me. Middle of the road, probably won't ever pick this one up again.
The Hemlock Queen was a wild ride. I wasn't sure how this book was going to go after finishing the first one – there were a few different roads Whitten could have taken – but DANG. She picked the most entertaining one, for sure. I really don't want to spoil the ‘reveal' that we get in this book, so you get a pretty darn vague review, sorry friends.
If you pick this up and spend the first half of the book totally annoyed with Bastian let me tell you there is a perfectly good explanation for why you feel that way. And once you figure it out, WOOF. You feel bad for feeling the way you did. My poor Sun prince.
The romance is still present here, but it's fraught. Shaky and nebulous and leaves you feeling maybe a little on the dirty side. (Not in a good way.) The triangle is still here, but it starts to feel less like a triangle, and more like a possible polycule WHICH WOULD BE SO REFRESHING AND INTERESTING if Whitten decides to go this route eventually. Lore loves both Bastian and Gabe, and I truly don't see a reason why she has to pick between the two - especially when they both care for each other, too.
Lore makes some interesting decisions in this book, ones that I hope she'll get to see pan out. At the end of the book, I am flat out terrified for her, but knowing her as a character I am sure that she'll figure out how to save herself.
WHAT AN INTERESTING PREMISE THIS SERIES HAS. I am fully on board with this, and I can't wait to see where Whitten goes, and what the end game is here. Four and a half stars. I cannot wait to read the next entry into this series.
I've read every novel that Alix E. Harrow has written, and I can honestly say that I've loved them all. Starling House is no exception. Harrow can write. I don't know the last time that I've had the honor of reading such atmospheric prose - even her sentences about a dingy old hotel room seem absolutely beautiful.
Starling House is a horror novel, except not really. It's a southern gothic novel, if we want to be particular about things. There's definitely a layer of horror here, though, but the book itself is not particularly scary. It's the horror of history, the horror of horrible things that happened every day in the not-so-distant past. The horror of slavery, of child-marriage, of murder, of being trapped in a place you have no power to leave from.
Our protagonist, Opal, lives a meager scrape of existence in tiny town called Eden. Horrible things have happened here, and they continue happening in the background of the novel. Eden feels like every minuscule town in the Southern US. We're introduced to the Starling House through Opal's dreams, and eventually through reality. At first, we're not sure if Starling House is haunted, sentient or both, but there's rumors upon rumors of the old place. Opal tracks them all down, and somewhere in the middle is the truth.
There's magic here. Magic, and dreams, and hopes, and longing. Starling House has it all.
I absolutely adored this novel. I think if obligations hadn't forced me to read this in chunks I could have read it all in one sitting. It is fantastic. I cannot recommend Harrow's work enough.
Okay, my rating will scare some people, but I promise that I DID enjoy this book. It just didn't live up to the hype of the first two for me, so I'm knocking it down to 3.5 stars in rating. I can see the makings of a fantastic book here, but this one just isn't quite there.
House of Flame and Shadow deserved to be two books instead of one massive one. (House of Many Waters AND House of Flame and Shadow, anyone???) There is so much going on in this novel that should have been dragged out and foreshadowed on and done in DETAIL. There are like six or seven MAJOR plot things that happen and instead of taking our time with them we're just onto the next without really pausing to process what just happened. It feels like a bullet point list of a novel.
Character development really takes a back burner, and it SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE. I wanted to see Bryce COPE with what happens to her. What she's forced to do, what Ruhn and Hunt are forced to go through. Instead, we deal with it for what feels like a paragraph and move on. Some of these things are EXTREMELY TRAUMATIZING. We should have been dealing with them for the whole book. Nope. A paragraph here and a paragraph there, and ONTO THE NEXT THING.
Romantic and platonic relationships that we should have seen grown and shift over time just sort of bloom what feels like overnight. Other relationships needed to have the room to breathe, to have the chance to grow into a SOLID ROCK FOUNDATION. Instead, we have characters questioning legitimately questionable things and it barely feels discussed. Or, alternatively, it feels contrived and forced. Oh, and don't get me started on the weird timing of sex scenes. Maybe don't get a boner in a dangerous cave while trying to find your definitely-in-danger-friends.
I'm not going to post spoilers about specific things, but if anyone wants to come talk to me about this book my DMs on Twitter are open. I'll happily hash out my feelings to you, because I ADORED this world. I'm just disappointed about how our time here has ended. And yes, I still love Maas's writing and her Fae universe she's got going on, I just think making this one book really hurt the series as a whole.
An excellent end to an excellent paranormal romance series. The overarching plot finally comes to a head here, with a truly well-done reveal. You could guess where it was going, but when you do finally find out, it feels like a light bulb turning on! I'll miss Cambio Springs, and I hope that one day Elizabeth Hunter peeks her head back into this world and gives me more stories!
Unfortunately, this romance was my least favorite of the series simply bc up until the previous book, we'd only HEARD of Sean, and not seen him. There wasn't enough background development there for you to really fall in love with him. Same with Juni – she wasn't even MENTIONED in the other books. This romance felt like an afterthought compared to the other three books in this series where we knew both characters (minus Caleb) quite a bit before romance started up.
But despite not being the biggest fan of the romance in Dust Born, the rest of the story does make up for it. The story is finished out in a very nicely rounded way, and leaves no loose threads or plot holes. All in all, I highly recommend picking up this series, especially if you're a fan of paranormal romance. Four stars out of five for Dust Born!
Ooo Waking Hearts is EASILY my favorite book of the Cambio Springs series. I knew I loved Ollie from the second he first appeared in the series, and well, my love for him has only grown with each passing book. Finally, this is his and Allie's turn in the spotlight and they did not let me down.
Y'know how bears have a reputation for protecting their young? Yeah, well, that comes into play here and WOOOOO man. I love seeing Ollie get protective of those he loves. Absolutely 100% awesome. I actually dragged reading this book out because I didn't want it to end. I loved seeing Allie realize just how much Ollie adored her, and vice versa. The woman had no idea he was in love with her! Somehow!
There's a lot of grief and parental worry in this book, if those are trigger for you, but Elizabeth Hunter does a great job of navigating it. I did tear up a couple times while reading. No regrets though, because Waking Hearts was worth the tears. Easily a 4.5 star for me.
Just as good as the first one, though the risks felt higher in this one. The overarching plot was easy enough to guess, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of the book. No one's reading these for the plot – it's all about the relationships.
Desert Bound's love interests are the town doctor, Ted, and the wolf alpha, Alex. They butt heads constantly, and seem to take fighting as some sort of flirtation. It's a volatile relationship, but somehow Elizabeth Hunter makes you believe in them. I loved Ted's stubbornness, and Alex's never ending quest to get her to bend to his will. They fit together wonderfully.
Totally worth the read, can't wait to dive into the next book. Especially because the next one seems to be about Ollie the bear shifter and Allie! Ollie has been a background favorite for me. Here's hoping his book lives up to my mental hype.
Oh man, this hit so many of my paranormal romance buttons. I am so happy. I've read one of Elizabeth Hunter's other series and really really enjoyed it, so I threw myself into this one on a whim. It's completely available on KU, so I recommend you grab the first one and see what you think. What do you have to lose, right?
Cambio Springs is a town that's almost entirely made up of shifters. There's seven different clans, but I can't remember all of them. But basically there's cats, wolves/canines/birds/reptiles, etc. Everyone who lives in the town is in on the secret....until a new police chief is hired. The plot kicks off from there. A lot of really interesting characters populate the town, and well, the romance is very sweet. It's almost-sort-of insta-love – not a lot of time is taken showing Jena and Caleb FALLING in love, but I didn't mind because they were so cute. Caleb basically pesters her into a relationship – not in a bad way, at all, though. Jena had some perfectly acceptable reservations, but she was absolutely interested in him from the start.
Sidenote – I loved that Jena's kids were cute and ACCURATELY written for their ages.
Anyway, I'm jumping right into the next book because I loved this one so much. Hopefully that continues!
What Feasts at Night was written by my all-time favorite author, T. Kingfisher. I adore her work. I've never read a bad book written by her, really. But despite saying that, What Feasts at Night fell a little short for me. While I adored the first book, What Moves the Dead, the sequel just didn't feel quite as horrifying or shoot pure terror down my spine. I don't think I had a proper scare the whole novella. It felt removed from reality – I didn't believe any of the things that were happening. Not the same way I did while reading What Moves the Dead.
What Feasts at Night feels rather more like a regular old ghost story. Two dimensional. The ghost at the center of the book was original (as far as I know) but the threat she posed never felt particularly lethal. And don't mistake me - there was Kingfisher's usual wit and humor in the text, of course, but this book just felt like it was missing something for me. I'm not even sure what it IS missing, but there's a distinct lack of something.
So, while I still enjoyed it, I think I'm going to give this one 3.5 stars. Not up to Kingfisher's usual work for me.
Just plain fun. The whole concept of going through a portal to another earth reminded me vaguely of The Long Earth, a great series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. But the kaiju were entirely original to Scalzi's work. This was light-hearted and fun, and like the author describes it at the end, a pop song. Highly recommended, especially if you need a break from anything dark and too depressing.
The Fake Mate is a really cute contemporary-romance-werewolf book. Like take your typical contemporary romance and throw in werewolves, and bam, you get this book! Which is great because I love both of those things, and turns out when you mush them together you get something PRETTY DANG AWESOME.
Basically, The Fake Mate was right up my alley and if the author chose to write a million more books in this particular universe, I would be sidling right up to read ALL OF THEM. Fingers crossed for more.
My one ONE beef is that the whole blackmail thing could have been solved so much sooner if Noah like...cared to let Mackenzie make her own decisions. Instead, he makes them all for her without consulting her even once. Oh well. The rest of the book was cute (and DAMN HOT) enough for me to look past that.
And yes, this book is hot. Explicitly so. Woof.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Thank you to Netgalley and Del Ray Books for providing an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely adored the first novel in this series, Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries, and I was extremely hopeful that Heather Fawcett would be able to keep up the quality for the sequel. I'm more than happy to announce that – she totally did. Map of the Otherlands is just as fascinating, entertaining, and easy to read as Encyclopedia of Faeries. We see familiar beloved faces, and of course, meet some brand new ones. While I think I enjoyed Encyclopedia of Faeries a little bit more, I still really, thoroughly enjoyed Map of the Otherlands.
We see Emily and Wendell's relationship evolve – though there really isn't that much romance in this book, either. Neither of these books qualify for a fantasy-romance genre, and that's TOTALLY fine. These work so well for what they are, no one should be upset at the lack of on-page romance. Emily herself carries these books entirely on her own – Wendell is fascinating and rather funny, but he doesn't move the plot the same way that Emily does.
Plus Emily's just infinitely cooler. She's still no nonsense, eager to further her education and research on faeries as a whole. She does, however, admit that she has a huge soft spot for Wendell. (Which....obviously.) ANYWAY, sheesh this review is rambly. The plot of Map of the Otherlands is Emily and Wendell looking for the door to his kingdom. I won't go further into detail than that, because it's worth discovering as you read the book!
TO SUM UP – Map of the Otherlands is absolutely worth the read. If you loved Encyclopedia of Faeries, you'll adore the sequel, no questions asked.
Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for providing an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
This was astoundingly entertaining in ways that I was not expecting. I requested a copy of this book simply because I adored the first two books in Bennett's last series. (I was disappointed by the last book, but that's neither here nor there.) ANYWAY, I was excited to see what he could do with a murder mystery, and I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED.
Bennett is a master of world building, and boy does that shine through here in The Tainted Cup. This is a beaten-down world hanging on by its fingernails. Every wet season, there are leviathans that breach the world's walls and threaten to end life as everyone knows it. It's not a world I'd want to live in, but despite that, Bennett makes you want to keep reading to see what else he's layered in! Among other things present in the novel – people use the leviathan's blood to alter themselves into superhumans. Our main character, Din, has been altered to have a perfect memory. Other characters have been altered to be geniuses at math, have super strength, can see in the dark, etc. This was SO cool, and really made for interesting twists as the book went on as sometimes these alterations have no visual hints.
The murder mystery itself is just phenomenal, and I'm not going to spoil it for you. You do find out ALL the answers by the end of the book, so don't be worried about cliffhangers. I really hope that Bennett writes more in this world, because it is just plain fascinating. Not to mention the characters themselves are just endlessly entertaining. I loved Din being confused, but willing to help, and I loved Ana for being just batshit insane and three steps ahead of everyone else most of the time.
Fantastic. If you're looking for a wildly original book to grasp your attention, look no further than THE TAINTED CUP.
This was so much fun! It reminded me a lot of Stormlight Archives and Shadow of the Gods just because there were several POV characters placed in different parts of the world. Very visibly influenced by the Dane/Viking lifestyle and other cultures. Soft magic system – there's definitely some sort of magic in the world, but we don't see it in any concrete way. There's dragons, Gods, and all sorts of vastly interesting things happening in one book. Definitely will keep reading this series.
This was bad.
Like, laughably bad.
I'm honestly shocked Compass and Blade is getting rated higher than 3 stars by anyone. The plot of the book itself makes almost no sense. Our main character, Mira, lives on an island where the majority of people make money by wrecking boats. They lure a ship into the rocks, then go out and strip it bare. Then they sell what they find and voila. Not only is this illegal, it's highly dangerous. We find out this is how Mira's mother died very quickly. So with wrecking being illegal, of course someone gets caught doing it and imprisoned. Mira's father, naturally.
SO SHE DECIDES SHE NEEDS TO RESCUE HIM. But instead of making any like...normal, sensible plan she decides she needs to open the super secret chest that her father has kept of her mother's things. When she does so, she finds some coordinates on a journal her mother kept. NOW WHY ON EARTH WOULD THESE COORDINATES HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH HER FATHER BEING IMPRISONED?
IT. MAKES. NO. SENSE.
Of course, the crew she hires to go out to the coordinates is full of secrets. They only have eight days before her father is hanged. Eight. Days. Over the course of these eight days, of course, OF COURSE Mira falls in love with the most mysterious crew member. Because why wouldn't she???? Even though she knows nothing about him, and what he does tell her is quite obviously lies.
This book made me angry. The reveals towards the end are so laughably obvious that it didn't even feel like a reveal. It just felt like WELL, OF COURSE THAT'S WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW. I'm not even going to go into the other mysterious guy with shadow powers that bargains with Mira to rescue her. He's so obviously the true love interest in this series that the author might as well have named him Rhysand.
I regret not DNFing this. I really do.
I'm not sure how you'd fix this other than going back to completely rewrite the book and make it make some sort of sense. Two stars.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to read this due to having a toddler, Christmas work parties, and being pregnant but uh.............T KINGFISHER, you never let me down. Not once. I know when I pick up one of your books that I'm gonna have the time of my life, laugh at least twice, and be disgusted at least once.
Was PALADIN'S FAITH my favorite of the Saint of Steel books? Nope, not even close, (Paladin's Strength will have my heart forever.) but damn if it wasn't a fun entertaining ride nonetheless. I absolutely recommend these books, and usually shove them down someone's throat at earliest opportunity. So basically...why are you still reading this review? GO PICK THIS BOOK UP.