Sandra
The narrator of this audiobook was amazing!! The book had great worldbuilding and I became engulfed in the world. However, the characters needed more development and depth. I liked the magic system it was on the fun side and meshed well with the plot. The plot... Hmm, not sure how to explain it interesting but hard to follow at times.
Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with a copy of The Phoenix King by Aparna Verma.
The phoenix king is an enjoyable read, with multi-POVs. The plot line is enjoyable but takes a little bit to get into. Once you do get into this book it opens up. The book is slightly flawed and fell short in some areas. Overall, it is a decent/good book. My biggest issues are, I wanted more from the characters and less world-building but for me, it sits at 4 stars.
I believe that the future books are going to make the series even better and I can not wait.
I would first like to say, thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Shebly Mahurin's book The Scarlet Veil in exchange for a review.
I did not read Shelby Mahurin's other book series Serpent and Dove. So, I went into this book blind and I do not regret that decision. The Scarlet Veil took me a total of 20 hours to completely read because I was that engulfed in the story and characters.
Scarlet Veil follows Celie Trembly, who is engaged to Jean-Luc the Captian of the Chasseurs (Hunters). We start with the background of Celie and why she wanted to be the first woman Chasseur. However, we also learn that Jean-Luc treats her differently from the rest of the Chasseurs. He treats Celie as a fragile doll that needs to be protected and safeguarded at all times. This behavior does not feel right with Celie. Celie also learns that Jean-Luc has been keeping something from her. It is not until her friend is murdered that everything for Celie starts to change. From Michal kidnapping her and taking her to a hidden island, to trying to solve murder investigations that might be connected. This is where the story truly starts for our characters.
I do not want to give away more of the story but I truly enjoyed this book. However, there are some aspects that I did not like. For most of Part 1 of the book, the dialogue was “cheesy” almost too cheesy. I do believe that this was a part of the premise of the book to show how (almost) everyone treats Celie. It was not until the final act that Celie finally has this moment of “I am worthy, I am more than a doll”. I do wish it was sooner. In my opinion, Celie's “crybaby/victim” mentality was the biggest pitfall of this book. I truly wanted her to have great character development before the book ended. It is okay though.
When it came to Celie and Michal. I wanted more. Like... A whole lot more. This makes me excited for Book 2. As for the cliffhanger. It was predictable but it will still leave one wanting more from Scarlet Veil. If all of Shelby's books are written like this then Shelby will become my favorite author of all time.
Alright with all that being said here are some twigger warnings/content warnings because “It is better to prevent than to heal” (Shelby Mahurin).
Violence
kidnapping
Slight Depictions of blood/gore
Strong language (I know some find issues with books containing cussing but I would like to let you all know there was a total of 4 times).
Death
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for providing me with an audiobook copy of Stars of Mount Quixx.
The Stars of Mount Quixx reminds me of another book titled Alice in Wonderland.
Celina Sinden was the narrator and she did a wonderful job of keeping me engaged with the plot. She brought this story to life. If it was not for the wonderful narration I do not think I would have finished this book.
The Stars of Mount Quixx has a magical and whimsical feeling about it. However, there is something missing from the story. For me, it was not the characters. I enjoyed them.
The plot was more juvenile than I was expecting it to be.
Overall, not a bad book and not badly written. I did enjoy it but I do not believe that this is a young-adult book. I would allow children of that age range to read this book.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of the audiobook!! I am sorry this took me so long to review.
I DNF'ed this around 70% because I found it to be slow and with little character development. The plot of the book is the saving grace. However, it was not enough for me to complete this read. I did love the first book but I struggled with this one.
A wonderful fantasy horror book. Everyone needs to take medications to stop dreaming. If one dreams you will become your own worst nightmare. The protagonist Ness has a fear of Nightmares, ever since someone she loved turned into a spider and ate her father. The plot is wonderful and fascinating. City of Nightmares is very well executed. .
Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of The Last Saxon King by Andrew Varga. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was short and to the point. The plot was good and not a complex YA read. I did find Dan and his male gaze to be relatively “cringy”. The characters are somewhat lacking but it does not hinder the overall story.
Interesting read. There are several sections of interest for me. For example, the section titled Ethical Issues in Experimental Research.
Social science experiments often raise difficult ethical issues. You have already read in Chapter 3 that Philip Zimbardo (2004) ended his Stanford Prison Experiment after only six days, rather than after the planned two weeks, because of the psychological harm that seemed to result from the unexpectedly sadistic behavior of some of the “guards.” Although Zimbardo's follow-up research convinced him that there had been no lasting harm to subjects, concern about the potential for harm would preclude many such experiments today...
I find sections like this informative that contain valuable information about important ethical issues that have been conducted during experiments throughout history. This information is something that we should be aware of to prevent future ethical violations.
There are several other sections that I would put into this review but I do not believe people want to read that type of review.
Overall, I do believe that others should read this. It is a “simple” read, a rather long - simple read but it is worth it.
I would rate it 5 stars but since it is an educational/textbook. I have to rate it at 3 stars because of the neutrality.
This is a policy I have to keep implicit and explicit biases to a minimum
Hmm, I am not sure how I feel about Tender is the Flesh. I did enjoy the idea of this book. However, the “meat” of the book was... I do not want to say boring but I was bored. The execution of the plot was maybe average for such a good concept for a book.
I... I don't know. I wish it was better because I enjoy books of this nature.
It is not the worst book I read of the year but for me, it was not perfect, impactful, or emotional.
I don't “hate” the book nor did I truly enjoy it. So, that is the reason for the 3 stars.
*Edit 2024:
I guess not having a star rating on a book means that others send aggressive DMs.
So my overall rating is 1.5/2 stars.
Initial review from 2023:
Let me first start with this:
1) I will not leave a star rating mark on Goodreads. But... If I were to give this book a rating it would be a low rating, but since it is a debut novel/indie published. The highest and lowest rating I will give is 3 stars.
2) I was recommended this book by a mutual friend in the book community because she saw it on TikTok and wanted my thoughts about it. Now, I do have to say that I have a thing about reading TikTok books because 90% of the time they are over-promoted and horrible in some way, shape, or form. Then there is that 10% chance that a TikTok book is a hidden gem.
However, with this book, This was not one of those hidden gems, but... It was not the worst TikTok book I have picked up.
3) If one is easily offended by negative reviews or low ratings then ignore this review. This is not for those people.
Let us finally begin the review.
The Vivian Priestess by Katrina Calandra
Worldbuilding:
sigh
When it comes to books with 350–400 pages, I do expect the said book to have a good amount of quality world-building. In my opinion, the world-building for The Vivian Priestess is lacking immensely. We have three worlds. Three... Yet, all the information we have about these three worlds is surface-level
I do understand that this is a debut book, and a second book is on its way. But... the lack of world-building almost made me DNF this book before 20%.
The pacing of the book/characters:
This is 100% a slow burn. It was so slow that it took me months to finish this book. However, when it came to the pacing of the characters and the relationships between them, it was rushed. This was confusing and almost gave me whiplash.
I also hate to say this, but every character was... forgettable. For me, I need my characters to have depth. And these characters didn't have much of that.
I could not connect to any of the characters on an emotional level. At times, I even found myself skimming an area of pointless monologue or speaking out loud for Ferren to shut up. However, the overall interactions between characters were okay.
As for growth and development, it was almost nonexistent, but I also did not expect this book to have it because, well... TikTok “romance” books. That is why I mentioned something about TikTok books earlier.
Writing:
I don't like criticizing this area because... Well. I stink in the grammar, spelling, and sentence structure areas. However, the writing reminded me of a rough draft before you send it to an editor. However, this is not the worst writing I have seen. The worst writing I have seen comes from a traditionally published book.
Smut:
sigh
Stuff starts to happen sometime around the 62%–70% mark for like 6–10 pages. It was very vanilla and boring. However, this could be a personal issue because I come from a place that reads dark romance.
There is an audience for this book, but I am not that audience.
I was finally able to get around to reading the ARC that I was provided with.
Overview:
We encounter an 18-year-old girl named Dylan that wakes up in an apartment that is unrecognizable to her. She is greeted by other people. However, she has no idea who they are. Dylan can get her hands on a phone to call home. This is when she learns that she has been missing for a few days. On top of that, Dylan has no recollection. Eventually, she is diagnosed with DID.
Throughout the book. She learns more about herself, how to stand up to her abuser, and how to work together with her system.
Be mindful when you read this. This is marketed towards YA but it is on the border between adults and YA. There is some material within this book that is not suitable for everyone. Pieces of Me contains mature content that relates to the following:
Sexual Assult
Self-harm
Substance abuse
Trauma/Mental health
This is the first book by Kate McLaughlin that I have read and I can say that it was enjoyable. Since I am no expert on DID I can not tell you if Dylan's experience is true or not. However, Kate McLaughlin researched this topic (I appreciate seeing all the material she looked at to create this story). She did a great job with how she handed DID within this story. It did not feel rushed, stereotypical, or demonized. However, I do wish there was more about the disorder within the book.
I have recommended this book with caution to several of my friends who have Dissociative identity disorder to see their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and perspectives. This is a fascinating book that is worth reading.
The pace in the book had little to no consistency. There were parts in the book that are fast-paced and then long periods where the scenes just went on and on. Then suddenly pick up. The plot was okay but felt generic. The lack of character growth throughout the book was dishearting for me. It took me forever to finish this book because it was just not my cup of tea.
Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.
Thank you for providing me with an arc for Throne of Slumber. This is a “plus-sized gender bender retelling of sleeping beauty”. It is a wonderfully fast-paced, action-packed retelling that will immediately suck the reader in. It did take me a while to read but not because of the book. That is my fault and life was chaotic. The average reader could finish this within a day. However, I am glad that it took me so long to read. Throne of slumber was my book to relax in those early hours of the morning.
I would like to thank everyone that allowed me to read this book in exchange for a review.
It is very and I mean very well organized and it makes it easy to understand what is being discussed in the book. I had no prior knowledge and noticed that it was detailed. Many will be able to comprehend Emerging Global Cities. I enjoyed this and the contents of the book.
Okay. I sat on this for a few days to try to figure out how I would review this.
Star rating:
It doesn't deserve any stars. One star is gracious.
Review:
While reading this I felt as though I am in a cornfield being chased by Aliens only to figure out I was never in a cornfield being chased by Aliens.
Instead, I was sitting on my front porch, cracking open a cold one, while pondering where my blue sock went that I had on my right foot at one point. Then realizing I am wearing two neon yellow socks and do not own any blue socks.
Does that make sense?
No, good
This is that book
Update:
Now, y'all do not get me wrong I am no perfect person when it comes to spelling and grammatical errors and I rarely care about that stuff. Plus, that was never the issue. One issue is that this book is blatantly fatphobic before you even start.
For example:
“Before I get into this I have a question. Just how many of these fing books are there? How many fing ways can a person tell write same fing thing. Jesus tap dancing Christ losing weight isn't that fing hard. Sure it's not the easiest thing in the world but it's still not that hard. Look I'll break it down for you.
Stop eating like a hippo. Cut out all the fatty food, while delicious are f***ing terrible for you. Then move around a little bit. THAT'S IT!”.
FILLER. MORE FILLER, AND MORE FILLER.
Then we have
“There is no plan at the moment that will allow you to lose weight and still sit on your ass eating cheese balls. Outside of moving around and eating less there isn't one other way to do it. No matter what a goddamn book promises they just can't carry it out if the person reading it isn't ready to do the work. If the person is ready then anyone's fucking book will work. Doesn't matter if it's wrote by the potato headed Dr. Phil or me it'll work all the same”.
This is just the first chapter y'all. The grief chapter is just as bad. Chapter three is bad and so forth.
Granted, I have read some horrendous books but this one takes the cake.
I refuse to even mention the grammatical errors and spelling issues because that is not my area of expertise but so you are aware it is bad.