DB

Even if I didn't know beforehand I could've easily picked up that this was written by a man. It's the way he talks about everything, how he narrated through the main character's eye. Though I dnfed this it did help me to see what I like and don't like in adult thriller/horror novels. The fact that this had nearly nothing of what I like – says a lot, I think. I have this author's new arc as well so I hope it's better.

The main character was an edgy cop and I watch a lot of crime shows – I watched a lot of CSI as a kid, rewatch the older seasons of Criminal Minds because I love them. So I understand the whole ‘edgy cop' vibe that writers like to go for (even though it's much overdone and therefore very stereotypical). Markert didn't write it well. Tried too hard to make the Dectective Mills edgy. I just skim read when he spoke about something that I knew would make him more edgy – because I didn't care!

The other main character was a writer and I actually preferred when the chapter focused on Mills instead of the author. Nothing really wrong with how Ben Bookman was written, I just didn't like him at all.

The horror aspect was okay – I didn't understand any of it, unfortunately. The plot was very confusing and was another reason for me to dnf. Even when I skipped ahead and read around I still didn't understand anything. Actually, in my opinion, it read like it went on downhill in terms of quality. I was sad because in the beginning it felt a bit like Sinister and I love that movie so I wanted to see that type of thing here.

Just to clarify – what I mean by the ‘rep' portion in the description is that one characters has OCD, another depression, another chronic pain but no one believes him. But just forget about all of that, because they get powers! And then their “issues” vanish when they get their powers! Clearly my first big reason to dnf.

Either you have bad representation or you don‘t have any rep and this book... managed to have both in a really bad way. Plus in the bit that I read they had all the stereotypes of The Breakfast Club. I also really didn't like the dialogue.

I stopped reading before 20% – which is usually my standard ‘if I'm not interested by this point, I put it down' percentage. This looked interesting from the synopsis and it sadly went down from there.

Honestly, I just wasn't interested in anything that went in the little bit that I read. Not in the characters, the tiny bit of starting plot I got, not even the premise of thieves could get me interested. Like I can't even tell you anything about the characters because I couldn't get myself into wanting to know more about them.

I do get upset when I realise I'm not interested in a book but then again sometimes you don't click with a book. But also I'm glad that I realise when I'm truly not into a book and leave before I have to force myself to finish it.

not a full dnf but a soft dnf. will pick up later and do a hybrid read

It was a great read. It was great to see a book about ADD/ADHD that uses words and explanations that are on the same level as the teenagers who would read the novel - as they would be able to understand how their brain works and how to help it. Teenagers would definitely liked to write in the spaces provided about how they felt about themselves and their disorder.

I was like more than a hundred pages inti the story when I realised I wasn't interested anymore. Don't you hate it when that happens? I liked it, but it didn't feel quite like the middle grade fiction I'm used to. Freddie, the main character's best friend, was funny and I could see myself carrying on with the book just for him.

A copy of this book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is a paranormal romance that captured my heart from the beginning with its gorgeous style of writing. And then it went on and introduced its characters and adorable moments; and by then I was ready to perform outrageous dance moves to read more of the series.

Iona is a college freshman on an island that seems to be perfect, but is it? Iona is one of the best characters I've read-because she's someone I'll love to be

Then there's Ariston, a handsome neighbouring prince who sets his eyes on Iona. He captures Iona's (and mine-easily) with his just-glorious personality.

Yes, it is a slow book and there isn't a lot of action, but there will be more action in the 2nd book (I know this because I've already read most of the 2nd book's chapters-perks of being an editor/beta reader).

Would I recommend it: Yes, I would. I've known this novel for a while and would love to see it become famous. And you should definitely read My Deadly Prince Charming, because it is a beautifully written novel.

Loved this extremely short novella! I don't often read these type of stories and I quickly read this one. It's a short read, so you can't really say much of it, other than it's amazing.

I was reading by Chapter 12 and told myself that if, by Chapter 15, I'm still not interested, we're marking it as dnf. And so I reached Chapter 15, and I still wasn't interested.

I usually know early on if I'm not going to enjoy a book or possibly mark it as did-not-finish if the characters aren't working for me. Either I don't like the way they speak, the way they treat others. I also dnf early on if I don't like the narration or if the 1st POV just doesn't work for me. With this book it was the main character. Wren. I didn't like her character early. I couldn't get myself to care for what she cared for, get angry at what she was angry at. If she was interested in something, I could not get myself interested in it.

I also didn't like the way magic and the magic system/rules were written into the book. I don't know if there were any other magic other than healing and destructive magic. From what I read, healing magic was only to be used either in the military or in the clergy. I didn't like that they force you into one of two roles in order for you to use magic. What's the penalty if they catch you using magic and you're not in the army or a nun? They kill you? That's even more restrictive.

I liked Hal enough to try to reading (at least until 40%) but his personality didn't shine enough to intrigue me. The plot played a disappointing factor as well. I was sort of interested in carrying on to see what the plot would shape into and how the characters played a role in it, but ultimately, it couldn't give me the boost to carry on.

I didn't even reach the 5% mark. I tried hard with this one, but it was definitely not to be. It wasn't holding my attention at all. I got through the first chapter and realized I wouldn't be finishing the book, but tried a bit more. But ended up (like I knew I would) deciding to stop reading.

It was the case of the writer thinking they were capable of writing lengthy sentences and thinking it would work because they're writing a fantasy book – it's even more seen when it's a high/epic fantasy book. It's a very, very common thing to have long sentences for fantasy because I don't know, apparently fantasy = long sentences. Some authors do it well and I'm not too annoyed by it. Personally I think we could without long sentences in fantasy or anywhere else. Like learn where to end one sentence and begin another (of course, I'm including myself here). Smythe, unfortunately, is not an author who knows how to masterfully create long sentences.

That was mostly the reason for dnfing the book. I could tell I would have this issue the entire way through and I wasn't interested in having to slog through a near full paragraph and it just being one sentence. Plus, the characters didn't capture my interest from the beginning.