Dana
3.5 stars rounded down this time.
I was looking forward to this one for a few reasons; one, I was hoping that Val and Kosci would maybe have a romance? Two, I wanted to see Val delve into the dark side and become a villain, and three, I was curious to see how this ended.
While Val and Kosci didn't have a thing, there is a new player introduced to make a mild love triangle. And dang, I really liked him. Even more than Alik tbh... new guy supported Valeria through everything, he was devoted and loyal. I wish Alik had tried to explain more to Val when he “betrayed” her. I do like that Alik and Val were endgame though. Their love story was more believable in this one than the first one.
As for two, I was disappointed because Val was so wishy-washy. She would give in to her powers and got the dirty work done, but then double back and weakly claim she was a good girl. There's no reason a savior can't be a bad guy. I just wanted more darkness from her!
And three... well the ending wasn't bad. But holy heck did it wrap up FAST. I had like 15 pages left in the book and she still hadn't even seen Ladislaw on the battlefield???? Then BOOM, shit happens, it's over. It wasn't bad, but when I spent this whooooole book waiting for this confrontation, it was sad. Also, Yuri's part was just not well explained. Like I didn't get a good feeling as to why he'd Spoilerswitch sides aND TRY TO KILL HIS DAD???? Like I was shocked that YURI came out of no where to land a blow on his dad. That was the only indication I saw that he thought his dad was a bad guy. Not the fact that he would PUT PEOPLE IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS. Like he did this because his dad wouldn't try to save him. Boo freakin hoo dude. AND NOW HE'S THE RULER?. A lot of the plot seems to just be convenient for the characters. Also like Alik in the end Spoiler that he convinced Temujin to give Chinua up for exactly what Val offered him in the first place? Why did he change his mind now? He wasn't going to before, but now when it's most convenient, he lets her go and helps.... suuuuure.
It's worth the read, but wasn't worth the wait for me. If I read both of them back to back, I'm sure I'd have different opinions.
TW: cheating, drug use (by a minor), sex, underage sex, pet death and mourning, death, murder, violence, attempted rape
WOW.
If you had told me that this book would become one of my favorites of 2022, I'd laugh at you. Thrillers, murder mysteries, adult contemporary... none of that is really my jam but maybe it's because I need to push the envelope more.
‘Blood Sugar' follows Ruby Simon, a recently widowed woman who's been convicted of her husband's murder... but this is the one death that isn't on her hands. Ruby has kill three times before, all for fairly “good” reasons, but isn't a typical killer. She still feels deep emotions, she's kind to animals, she's fiercely loyal and takes care of those she loves. And I loved her. I absolutely loved this look into her head and following her around as she builds a loving and joyous life for herself and seeing her strength as it all comes crumbling down.
I felt chills, I sobbed, I cheered, and I was angry all along with her. The emotions that were pulled out of me for a literal killer was incredible and its a testament to the writing. I LOVED the short chapters and how things were framed. I love that we never knew what Ruby said EXACTLY about the Roman incident in college, but we know what happened due to the aftermath. I loved Roman too. I loved his attitude and he's a selfish asshole but he works??? I kinda wish we found out what happened with Hannah though. I was upset she turned on Ruby so quickly when Ruby had been nothing but kind and supportive to her and her dreams.
Overall, if you like kinda chill thrillers, murder mysteries of a sort, or just want to feel the magical vibes of Miami, this one is for you.
First of all, it wasn't BAD. It's similar to what [b:The Magician's Nephew 65610 The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #1) C.S. Lewis https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1170634449l/65610.SY75.jpg 1031537] is to Narnia; the prologue of sorts. It's slow but setting that foundation for the future books... whether I actually read them or not remains to be seen.I really liked Barney. He was a smart, funny kid. I liked everyone else well enough but it was more than nothing was happening very quickly or explained well that knocked a few stars off.I feel like if I was a kid in the midst of my Narnia/Harry Potter phased, I'd have LOVED it.
More accurately 3.5 stars rounded up.
This book is absolutely the Percy Jackson for Chinese myths. It's super fun and a book I think is really important for Asian kids to see growing up. I wish I had known more about the myths this book touched on for me to fully appreciate, but I know I am not the intended audience for this book.
The writing is really well suited for a middle grade adventure and I found myself absorbed into every page. I really liked Zach and I felt so bad that he was just pushed and pulled in every direction with literally every character lying and manipulating him. I liked that he stood up for himself and grew some courage and self-confidence by the end. I'm so proud of him too.
Something about it didn't vibe though for me. Maybe it was the younger writing or the way I knew just as much, or even less at times, than Zach but I'm fully aware that I am not the intended audience for this book. I still HIGHLY recommend it for middle schoolers looking for something different.
I can't wait for book 2!!
I think it was a 3.5 rounded up. This is a hard book to rate.
This was read in the DTReadAlong book club! Feel free to join us for the discussion in June!!
There's a LOT going on here. We have POVs of all three sisters in their separate countries all filled with their own courts, friends, and enemies. It's A LOT to remember for characters, places, and families. Luckily there's a map and an ancestry map in the beginning. That helped me a lot.
This book is just full of court politics and betrayal that's on par with Game of Thrones. Thankfully without the incest and violence. It's hard for us to trust anyone the girls meet, and towards the end, the girls themselves. That last chapter turned the whole thing on its head and I'm eagerly awaiting book 2!
But it was a lot to juggle. There's too many people, too many plots, too much. I'm hoping things will come together in book 2 and be easier to follow.
This review will be for the whole series; read at your own risk!
Read 2 volumes
The last thing I need is another enemies to lovers older lady romance. BUT I LOVE IT. Grumpy and sunshine, doctor and nurse, it's some of my favorite tropes. The plot is decent and the end of volume 2 makes me desperate for volume 3! I'm looking forward to more of their cute interactions!
After reading [b:The Red Palace 56978115 The Red Palace June Hur https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1616437004l/56978115.SY75.jpg 84477339] and learning it was inspired by a real prince of Korea, I spent a good two or three days researching Prince Sado and his actions. This led me to this book.According to Wikipedia, Lady Hyegyong's memoirs are some of the only pre-modern autobiographies written by a woman in East Asia. I found her interesting and decided to get my hands on this book and read it.It's very well written for this time period and it was a wonderful look into Lady Hyegyong's life and the precarious role she had to play in Prince Sado's life. I am of the opinion that Prince Sado had a severe mental illness and I believe his father also suffered from a slightly less severe mental illness too. From what she says, King Yongjo also had uncontrollable fits of rage, you can tell by the way he treats Sado, and his rituals seem to also lend to the idea he also suffered from a mental illness. He was blow small mistakes out of proportion with cruel and harsh punishments while large transgressions (like Sado literally killing hundreds of people) got more sympathy and smaller punishments. It is fascinating to see an educated woman's impartial view of the whole incident. Well, mostly impartial. She clearly has devotion to her husband, her king, and her country. I think she did the best she could in the terrible situation she was in. A single misstep could have resulted in her death; from her husband or even the king. But she seemed to handle it gracefully, jotting down her innermost thoughts and wishes. Overall, a great read for those interested in this time period and more specifically Prince Sado himself.
4.5 stars rounded down. This was read for prompt 2 of the Tiktok Read Your Own Adventure readathon. Mages Prompt 2: Read a book with a weapon on the cover.
This was a lot of fun! It's a great twisted retelling of sorts. It's definitely that Indiana Jones x genderbent Sleeping Beauty story we were promised. The writing was well done for a debut and it will only get better from here. The plot was simple to follow and learning about Fi and Shane's histories was well done and fun.
My only complaint is that it's a little predictable, the ex was truly heinous, and I wanted to know more about Red. I'm curious to see if this is going to be neatly wrapped up in two volumes or if it will be dragged into three.
Overall, a quick fun read for treasure hunting fairytale fans!
Ugh fine, I take back everything I said about the book before I started it.
I loved it.
I was mostly worried that Anna would be an insufferable dolt (think Bella from Twilight) and while she's super dramatic, she's doing her best. And I admired her for it. She's in some pretty rough situations with moving across the world to a new country where they don't speak English as a first language, boys are dumb, and she has no friends. She did her best.
I hate cheating so I was always leery through this book but it wasn't entirely Anna's fault that St. Clair leads her (and Mer) on and is just kinda a dumbass through the whole book. I was convinced of their chemistry, but he was not my favorite character. I wanted to know what was up with Ellie too. What was her deal for ditching her SOAP friends?
I didn't care for how overly dramatic everyone and everything was. I really hated Amanda and her bullying (I hate girl-on-girl hate but this was published in 2010 so it surprisingly wasn't as bad as I expected).
Tiff said that she would have loved this in high school, and I agree. But I also did love it now. What can I say, I really am a sucker for romances.
This review will be for the whole series; read at your own risk!
Read 4 volumes
Argh I loved it! I love age difference romance but even I am a little wary of the 10 year difference here. But they have the chemistry and I'm excited to keep reading on! I can't wait for more!
Edit: I think they're well matched in terms of maturity. And I like that they are aware of the age difference and are taking it slowly. I'm curious to see if the new teacher is Jun's ex.
“The girl who, by saving herself, saves the world.”
Finally finished! I don't know what it was about this book, but I struggled to get through it! I think it was partially that I didn't want it to end.
This is a retelling of sorts of the Sea Gods Bride. We follow Mina, an ordinary village girl who adores her brother to the point of saving his true love from being sacrificed to the Sea God. Mina enters the Spirit Realm and discovers a curse on the Sea God and finds a love that saves the world.
I really liked Mina. She was strong and capable and an amazing lead. I loved Shin and how we think as Mina does; that he's the villain at first until we uncover the soft and sweet parts of him and we fall for him too. I love the cast of characters and even though we don't have the page space to answer all our questions, they had decent arcs and feel rounded.
I did think it moved quite quickly and leaves us with a lot of unanswered questions. I wasn't convinced of Shin and Mina's love. What happened to Lord Crane and Tiger for their assassination attempts? What happens with Namgi's family? What IS Kirin? We never know. But in a way, that's fine. It's a quick adventurous read and that's enough for me.
Overall, worth it as a quick read if you don't mind unanswered questions at the end for minor characters. Beautifully told Asian fairytale.
Honestly, one of the best fantasy stories I've read period.
I love slice of life manga/anime so when you combine D&D, slice of life, and coffee shops, it's an auto 5 stars book.
No but really. The writing is so well done and gosh darn charming, the characters are heartfelt and endearing, and the plot is subtle but fun and still adventurous for really never leaving the shop.
This is a phenomenal somewhat “intro” to fantasy and I would honestly read about 200 more books about the Legends and Lattes crew. Travis Baldree is probably going on my insta-buy list!
This review will be for the whole series; read at your own risk!
Read 2 volumes
Wow this was really f*ckin good. It's hilarious first of all but I love the idea of an “old man” 32 year old protagonist chasing his dreams. Feels like a mix of Attack on Titan and Pacific Rim. I'm really looking forward to volume 2!
Edit 5/28/22: FUCK THIS SERIES IS SO GOOD.
This review will be for the whole series; read at your own risk!
Read 2 volumes
I picked this up on a whim and I actually really liked it! I was not expecting slaves and I hope she does something about that but the plot was solid, I like the characters, and I look forward to more!
Edit 5/29/22: this is getting better. I like that she set up a shop and is thinking about her future in this time. I love Sieg. Good boy.
When I chose this for book club (DTReadAlong; come join us!), I did not expect this. All I knew was that it was a Korean historical fiction which is something I thought Tiffany would like.
I didn't expect a dark and gritty medical murder mystery. I actually really liked it.
‘The Red Palace' is about a young Palace nurse, Baek-hyeon, mostly known as Hyeon, as she finds herself uncovering the truth behind the brutal murders of several nurses and a court lady. Her mentor is the main suspect because of a stubborn and corrupt police chief who has a personal vendetta against her. A young police inspector shows up and demonstrates her devotion to finding the truth and Hyeon slowly begins to trust him and together they discover the truth.
This book is loosely based on a real Korean Crown Prince and I did some digging to him as I read too. His life is fascinating because it is the opinion of many that he suffered from mental illness which gave him psychotic fits of rage during which he would kill his servants and others. But this book doesn't play into that. It doesn't paint him to be a mentally ill dangerous person, and I found it interesting how the author handled that so well. I think it also helps if you don't necessarily know his story going into it. Then you don't have preconceived notions of who was the murderer and what was going on with the prince.
I really liked the murder mystery and the unveiling of the murderer. It took me by surprise! I loved figuring it out along with Hyeon and Eojin. I do think their romance was not entirely necessary. Especially since there were all these rules and protocols that they appeared to have no issue breaking. It was cute of course, but I'm still left unsure at the end of their future.
Overall, a great dark murder mystery set in Korean history!