Nikki
This is just as relevant now as it was when it came out and that is unfortunate but not surprising.
This book is an overview of the intersectionality of causes, and why it matters. I had hoped it would have even more details about Palestine but, nonetheless I do think this book's messaging is important.
‘nobody is free until we're all free'
Listened to the audiobook and it was a fun listen for a couple walks. The ending lost me a bit, just felt kinda meh compared to the rest of the story but was an interesting take on angels and demons.
- does have a ‘mated pairs' type trope, if that's not for you then maybe skip; I will say I think it was done well and wasn't rushed, it stayed enemies to lovers right up until the last few chapters which I can appreciate in a fated mates book
ah, I don't know what to say about this book other than I was just kinda bored by the end. It's written well enough (better than I expected), and it has everything I usually enjoy in a romance but, it just wasn't captivating to me. I didn't feel emotional for the characters and their plights. I give this more of a 2.5 star but I don't think it was poorly done beyond just not being gripping, and that honestly might be on me.
So would I recommend? If you like mild sci-fi, and arranged marriage trope, and don't mind lost of a loved one (several times over) then I guess give it a go.
I won't say I didn't find some enjoyment in it, however, I will say everything felt rushed in this book. It's insta-love, insta-sex, insta-convenient miscommunication trope, insta-solve the problem. It is what it is, but it would've been better if it had been what it was trying to be which was a full length novel or if it had accepted that it was basically a novella and focused on telling a more narrow scoped story.
I think it's one of my favorite Actually YA books I've read in a while. I still have things I didn't like but they're very minor and I can over look them. I lean more to a 4.5 star but I'll up it to 5 since I can't do halves and this book really does deserve a higher rating.
When I say actually YA, I mean it's appropriate for that age range, 12-17. There's romance but no spice (keep in mind I like, and usually prefer spice in books), and it felt like the characters were teenagers, not adults with their shit together.
The characters were good at what they do but not at everything which was refreshing in the YA genre (especially YA Fantasy) that tends to lead towards the narrative that the protagonist has to be a god at everything; they're only bad, or mildly sucky, at one thing to humanize and humble them to the reader, but even that is just something they'll master in time. They also aren't trying to run a kingdom or be married off to a prince, both of which I can appreciate. I won't speak on if the representation of anxiety/social anxiety is good or not, because even though I have it, it isn't to this extreme. so it's hard to know if this is what it's like for people with a much more severe case or if it's too exaggerated.
So pick it up if you like: YA Fantasy with romance (but don't want to read smut, or are okay with no smut), some blacksmithing, a soft magic system, a found family vibe, and traveling from place to place.
overall it was good but I had quite a few things that kind of got on my nerves after a while. One of which being how long it was, there wasn't any plot (not a huge deal for me normally) so the book felt so much longer that it needed to be. You can only read about them having sex so much before you want there to be some real conflict and not just some poorly done “villains” in Cara and Clint. There were a few other things but it didn't bother me so much that I feel like I need to harp on all the bad things.
If you like ‘wild' man meets modern woman, a bit of misogyny, and lots of sex, you'll probably like this.
Took me a chapter or two to get into it but it was a fun, fast read after that. The slow burn to the relationship was done really well, I feel like I just wanted either a chapter or two from Konstantin's perspective or at least a bit more dialog about his thoughts and feelings of the events. I didn't quite feel like it was fully fleshed out but I loved how the story played out and the side characters were top tier enjoyable. Definitely a 4 1/2 star read for me.
I'm DNFing at the 42% mark. I just don't care about what's going on, I gave it a bit but it never grabbed me and at this point I would rather try to find a book I'll enjoy than push through a book that I'm not interested in.
It felt like it was trying to be a new ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses' to me, and I enjoyed that way more, right from the start. Not for me; not terrible but I did find it a bit boring. Maybe I'll give it another try in the future.
Characters felt underdeveloped, their entire relationship felt unsatisfying. The whole book felt surface level, it seemed like the writing of an inexperienced author who really needs a good editor (I don't know how experienced this author really is). However, I will say there was some life to the writing and I could see there being a book by this author that I'd like, so I gave it one and a half stars instead of the one I would usually for a book like this.
I dnf'd shortly into this book because the characters felt so immature. Perhaps I'm just not in the mood to read a “funny” contemporary romance, I use quotes because obviously I didn't enjoy the comedy. Maybe I'll try again in the future when I'm in a better mood for a overly fluffy rom-com-esque novel, or maybe not.