Jazzy

No other book had me crying as fast as Blood Over Bright Haven and no other book had me crying for a longer period. God, these last 50 pages destroyed me.

I loved the scholarly setting, I loved Sciona's defiance, her need for greater achievements and the truth. And I love that, above all, Highmage Sciona Freynan was a good person.

There were so many important topics in this book; feminism, racism, political/state oppression and so much more.

I expected the end of this story but gods, it ripped my heart out.

I loved Sciona's development, I loved Thomil's quiet rebellion by arguing and discussing with a Highmage, I'm so impressed with M.L. Wang that I cried for so many people in this story even if they weren't always "good" (or good to Sciona). Aunt Winny, Alba, Carra... I cried for all of them.

This book was a 5🌟 read for the first 60-70% of the book for me. Not because it was flawless but because it really ensnared me - I love the authors writing style and the included tropes and that definitely made me overlook some flaws (just some scenes that didn't feel quite plausible/loopholes). Adored it. The scenery change just didn't quite hit my sweet spot so, in the end, I rated this book a great 4.5.

Some tropes: bodyguard, touch her and you die, one bed

Definitely has one or two spicy scenes.

If you want to read a book qith an extraordinary and intruiging magic system then red 👏 this 👏 book👏.

Seriously, I love the reality altering magic system and the characters and their backstories are so interesting as well.

I also loved how the stark contrast between poor and "rich" was depicted, experiencing it through Sancia and Gregor's different PoVs was really well done.

Also, speaking of PoVs, all of them were so interesting. I can't wait to see where this journey is going to take us in books 2 and 3!

Definitely a highlight of this year

I adore Rebecca Ross' work! Divine Rivals was a definite 5 star read for me and Ruthless Vows is no less amazing - the only reason I have to downgrade to 4 stars is.. well, simply put, it was too tense for my liking, too oppressive. I was hoping for a it to get just a tad more hopeful but with Roman under Dacres clutches I felt this constant oppression. And on one hand I think it's great that the author can make me feel so much for these characters but on the other hand.. because the situation pervailed throughout the entire book,it was too much for my liking. I don't want to critique the plot, because, again, I think it's absolutely well written, but it just wasn't for me. Still, another great R.Ross book that I enjoyed and I'm looking forward to dive into her other books.

I was positively surprised by this book. I absolutely loved the writing, the humor, the characters - I didn't want to stop reading and almost read the whole thing in one go.

I think this was my first 5 star read this year, it was absolutely perfect for me.