Elle

Mackay's world in Forget Me Knot kept me throughly entertained. I just wish the angst was left unresolved for longer. Don't get me wrong, there was so much drama compacted into this one book but I wanted it to stretch further.

The St. James pack was great, King was one of my favourites from the beginning and I really enjoyed how sweet his personality was. Ice was love at first sight for me also, I couldn't believe how much of a little brat he was. The first scene with him and Arsenal was actually hilarious if not a little mean. Unfortunately he did lose a bit of that personality once the pack was fully formed but that's because his behaviour was coming from a place of hurt and fear.

Onyx was such a great character, I liked that she was strong without being unhinged and mean. She was incredibly kind, intelligent, and looked after those around her, she didn't take flack from anyone either. I enjoyed her a lot.

I also really enjoyed the inclusion of Viper, I suspected from the very beginning that we were going to have him join the pack but there was a minute there where I thought there might be a twist. I liked him from the get go and loved his relationship with Ice.

One twist I didn't see coming though was that of Onyx's stalker, I literally didn't have a singular clue about that one and was quite shocked when the truth was revealed, even if I did find it a little far fetched.

I do have some minor complaints. Firstly, the writing was a little juvenile and there were some grammar mistakes, nothing too bad but noticeable. And secondly, I found the characters to be quite childish, especially Tallis. Ages weren't discussed if i'm remembering correctly, but it honestly felt like they were all 16.

Besides that though, I think Pierce has an interesting story on her hands, with a little more fine tuning I think it'd have great potential!

Getting proper insight from BTS themselves was both intriguing and heartbreaking. Hearing of how they were treated in the early days and their thoughts and feelings throughout their career was very eye opening. Looking back on moments in the past 10 years and now knowing their thoughts behind them has made me look at things with a fresh perspective.

I cannot even begin to express how disappointed I am that there hasn't been a second book in 15 years, I would've ate this series up! Thankfully I believe it ended on a decent ending that could be mistake for happy for now, so I'm at least somewhat satisfied.

Meyer created such an interesting world in The Host, I loved the concept of aliens taking over planets in order to make them “peaceful” and not seeing anything wrong in what they're doing.The difficulty of being two people in one body and having differences with that person created the most perfect angst. I felt so sad for Melanie and what had become of her, the way she mourned her life from before with Jared and Jamie. Every memory she flashbacked to made my eyes water and yet I didn't hate Wanda at all, which was polarising. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her also and how she was treated and what she had to endure. The way she felt so unsure of herself and how people really felt about her because they couldn't separate her from Melanie.

The tension between Melanie & Jared, and Ian & Wanda was so sad. It was hard to watch the way they all pushed and pulled against eachother. I thought Ian's love for Wanda was so sweet, when he told her that he held her in his hand and that she was so beautiful, I squealed a little. Now that is a man that would love you even if you were a worm! That being said though, I did find the romance to be a bit cheesy and sappy at times, also Mel being 17 and Jared 26 at the beginning of their relationship was a little off putting but that's a Meyer staple I guess.

Preferential Treatment is far from my usual taste but I gave it go for Heather Guerre and I was not in the least disappointed, in fact I enjoyed it immensely.

I loved Kate so much, her intelligence was easily my favourite aspect of her personality. Her upbringing, her family, her friendships, her morals, I loved reading it all and I found her to be very relatable. I also really liked that Kate and her sister rekindled their relationship.

Mikhail was such a sweet sweet man, even though he was a bit stupid at times, I liked him a lot and found his dry sense of humour to be genuinely funny. I appreciated that the third act break up between the two didn't run on for so long and things were resolved well. I thought that Mikhail's gestures to show Kate he loved her were very grand and sweet.

This whole book felt like one big argument stretching on and on, it was a little exhausting. I love angst but unfortunately I did not find this to be angsty at all, there were mean words spat back and forth between Ben and Lilah but they weren't dwelled on enough for me to feel any real emotion. They'd get into an argument about one thing and then immediately into another. Not to mention Ben was so hot and cold, it was incredibly frustrating.

At first I genuinely thought Lilah had no backbone at all. Ben trampled all over her and she let him even when she knew what he was doing. He made constant digs at her being a burden to her grandfather, immature, spoiled, selfish, having no work ethic, and being a disappointment, and Lilah never truly acknowledged his hurtful words, it was incredibly frustrating to witness. When the huge secret he'd be keeping was finally revealed, I thought Lilah's adamance of staying away from Ben and not giving into him was admirable but too little too late. By that point I had already been soured to their relationship.

In the end Ben did finally open his eyes and see that Lilah wasn't the spoiled brat that he had made her out to be and he suffered in trying to prove that he truly did love her and atone for what he did but I found it hard to find him redeemable considering my earlier distaste of how their arguments were handled.

I enjoyed Konrad's character development, he was quite grisly in the beginning, he thought the worst of everyone and everything but he realised that he'd been keeping people at arms length and not allowing anyone in. That his competitors and rivals actually wanted to be his friends. He was terrible with Aimee at first, understandably so, and he had his less than favourable moments but I liked him and found him to be redeemable.

Aimee was so sweet and not as meek as I expected her to be, I loved the way she cared for those around her but was also able to stand up for herself against those people. She won over the hearts of those who judged her simply because she was so kind and genuine. I thought the relationship between her and Konrad was cute.

Things moved way too fast for my liking and I felt that kind of went against Rosie's personality. There was more of a focus on smut than plot so we don't really get to know any of the characters well enough for me to care about them. I like more plot in my books than just smut so unfortunately this didn't do it for me.

There might only be 300 pages but this book felt a lot bigger than that, there's a lot of influx of information and at times I did feel a little cross eyed from it all.

I thought it was nice that the FMC was the ‘wild' one for a change and I liked that she had to coach the MMC through life as a werewolf, unfortunately though I didn't see any real romantic chemistry between Ti and Sil, they felt more better suited as friends.

Also I expected Silver to be more angry with Ti over his betrayal, her reaction was quite mellow considering and I thought he could've worked a bit harder for forgiveness.

Unfortunately I did feel that it was a bit slow at times and as a non-American I had some trouble following the politics but I actually didn't mind how dense it was, one complaint I do have is that I wish the ‘enemies' portion of the book lasted longer.

I loved Alex and I enjoyed his personality, I loved the relationships he had with his family and those around him and I liked how true to himself he was. I also loved Henry and his tortured life as a prince, he was a little flighty when it came to Alex but that was completely understandable. I loved his relationship with his sister also. Alex and Henry were great together and the banter between them was natural, their love for each other was very sweet and I enjoyed witnessing their relationship flourish.

Surprisingly cute for something so filthy.

The pacing left much to be desired, I know it's only a short book so things couldn't be fleshed out better but I found the progression of Charlotte and Matthew's relationship to be a bit all over the place. Some of the dialogue was also bit cheesy and juvenile and at times I felt like their behaviour was very dramatic.

I was originally going to only rate 2 stars but that twist surprised me and I liked it, only problem I had with it is that it was a life altering thing and Charlotte got over it and way too quickly.

Zade had the whole ‘I am very bad ass' thing that made me cringe, the way he talked himself up was unattractive to me. I also detested the way he became obsessed with Addie, he saw a photo of her out front of her book signing and immediately stopped in his tracks and declared her as something special and not like anyone else. Really? I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I also found the double standards he set for himself laughable, he goes after paedophiles and men that hurt women, he finds them despicable and has no qualms getting rid of them but it's perfectly fine for him to torment Addie?

Addie was also an annoying character, she had absolutely no self preservation skills, and was definitely not as concerned about her psycho stalker as she should have been.

I feel like a lot of the character flaws could be chalked up to bad writing, the dialogue was so overly dramatic and formal at times, it was a little ridiculous.

I must admit that I did enjoy them together somewhat, regardless of their flaws, but I lost interest with Zade and Addie and was finding the book difficult to finish. Truthfully I found myself more invested in Gigi's story.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Richards is an incredibly talented writer. Her words flow so beautifully and she's extremely underrated. The conversations between Jenny and Sebastian was so natural, I really enjoyed watching them interact.

I loved the sherlock holmes-esque feel of Sebastian, he was probably the most intelligent MC I've ever come across. He also had a lot of ND traits and I loved reading that, he was very relatable and incredibly unique, not only was he inexperienced, but he was also younger than the FMC. I found him to be a very memorable character. He grovelled sufficiently and was easily redeemable.

I loved Jenny, I liked that she was intrigued and even amused by Sebastian and his antics from the get go. She was a very strong character with a strong back bone, she didn't bend to the whims of anyone, even Sebastian, I liked that she made him work for her forgiveness. I also enjoyed the setting of the ladies club and the way they opened their doors for all women who needed help, I found her kindness and compassion to be very admirable.

I can't tell what it was but I felt like there was something missing here, which is a shame because Aydra has become one of my favourite authors and I felt this book was underwhelming compared to her others I've read so far.

I didn't really see the chemistry between Gabriel and Claire until the groveling stage, so for half the book I didn't really care for their emotions. I was also beginning to get tired of Claire's antics, her insistence of leaving her son behind dragged for too long, and I was beginning to become annoyed with her.

That being said though, Aydra truly writes like no other author I have come across. Even though I found myself not connecting with the characters, not once did I find myself bored. Her writing is far to engrossing that it didn't matter to me.

I loved reading about all the new characters Viv interacted with, I loved how everyone had their own little quirks and that Viv was able to network with them and even befriend some, it was so sweet when everyone banded together to help her out. There were so many loveable characters, I couldn't possibly pick favourites, but Thimble and Amity have a special place in my heart.

I liked Andrew. I found him to be redeemable and actually quite sweet. I loved his use of letters to open up to Victoria in hopes she'd open back up to him, especially because letters were so important to her. I understood why he was angry at her, thinking she and her family had schemed to marry him for his title, and because of that I found it easier to let go of his mistreatment towards her. I also think he worked very hard to make it up to her.

Even though I thought she could've been a little angrier with Andrew, I loved Victoria. She had a good head on her shoulders from the get go and the way she was able to take charge in times of uncertainty and look after the estate she was abandoned at was very admirable. She even took in and loved Andrew sisters like her own even though she wasn't on good terms with her husband.

This was a sweet, fast, and easy read. I liked Evan and I found him to be redeemable, not only did he apologise several times, he also made grand gestures that showed how he had matured from before. Running away for ten years was little crazy though, I felt that time frame was a little too long.

Elaine was sweet also, she was brave considering what she put up with and I like that she didn't forgive Evan right away and he truly had to work for it. I absolutely loved Elaine's mother and how protective she was of her. Lady Stockhurst was an absolute genius, but she was also very whimsical and had the ravings of a mad scientist. I thought she was a fun character.

I understand, because of the short length, that the angst couldn't have been dragged out for too long but I do wish it had been. What Rayne did to her in such little time was bad, but I found Emma's reaction to be just slightly dramatic and because of that it was hard to take the story seriously. Rayne worked hard to redeem himself and I actually quite liked him, he was very sweet when he wasn't being vengeful.

I'm not a fan of chapters alternating between the present and past, I should've expected a book such as this would have that. I wish we got to experience things at the same time as Poppy and Alex instead of seeing through the flashbacks, that way I feel like the falling out between them would've been more impactful.

At first I thought Poppy and Alex were great but as the book dragged on, their antics were starting to get old. There was a lot of back and forth and unnecessary inability to communicate between the two. I did really like Poppy but she could be a bit much at times and all Alex seemed to do was take it which left me feeling that he lacked a real personality. But maybe that's because we only see from Poppy's point of view.

One thing I do really enjoy about the way Henry writes is that I find genuine humour in her books, I love how great the two MC's bounce off each other and I think that's shown really well here with Poppy and Alex being so different and yet so hilarious with one another.

I've seen a few reviews critiquing the ‘flowery writing' and I unfortunately have to agree, a lot of big words strung together and it became tedious to read after awhile. I also had a really hard time understanding what was going on.

I wanted to like this one much more than I did. It did get better as time went on and I enjoyed the ending, but that doesn't undo my confusion for more than half the story nor the way it was written.

I've been in a really bad reading slump the past 2 months or so but Book Lovers yanked me out of that within the first chapter, I can't remember the last time I consumed a book within one sitting because I simply couldn't put it down.

I found both of the main characters to be hilarious with great one liners, I think they both bounced off each other really well. It's very rare for me that I find humour in books genuinely funny but Henry did a great job.

The chemistry between Nora and Charlie enveloped me from very early on, I was blushing almost every time they interacted, Charlie was very smooth with his words and actions. I absolutely adored him, I loved the way he treated Nora, he was so incredibly observant with her and knew how to handle her, and not once did he disappoint me!

I really liked Nora also, I think she's probably one of my favourite characters ever. I really appreciated the way she resolved issues with Charlie like an adult instead of beating around the bush. I loved the way she spoke about her mother and her childhood, and I loved her relationship with her sister.

I was dreading finishing the book only because I didn't want it to end, I do wish we got to see a little more of Nora and Charlie's relationship, I would've loved to have seen them being all domestic.

The dialogue was unrealistically formal and I found the writing to be a little juvenile, it was hard to immerse myself when that was all I could focus on. There was also a moment when Amalia said, “women are often petty and stupid” and that really rubbed the wrong way. Nothing I hate more than a FMC with internalised misogyny.

Rurik's feelings towards his own son was another thing for me, in the epilogue he spoke about how he loved him but could barely tolerate him and “he often wanted to throw him across the room for trying to be more dominant than him.” He also said that he didn't find his own son cute because he is a male. I just found that to be a little weird and off putting.

One thing I did really like was the action, the book starts out relatively slow but the action was fast paced and exciting, I enjoyed it. I do think the story was a just a tad long and could've been 100 pages shorter, but I did appreciate the slow burn.

Resisting the urge to shelve as feminism.

Szaro did his best to accommodate Serena while she did her best to acclimate to the Ordosian's and their culture, I loved that there was no dragged on animosity between the Ordosian's and Serena and that she was mostly welcomed with open arms.

Szaro was so sweet, from the very beginning he treated Serena incredibly and not once did that change. He was very committed to her and making her life comfortable with him. I liked Serena's character a lot, she was very respectful, smart, brave, and kind. I liked her back story and the way she used her past experiences to help her on this strange planet.

All in all it was a quick, easy, entertaining read!