Jelena

This book is exactly as advertised, hitting on all of the mainstream tropes in this type of story and a lot of loose threads left at the end.
It was great for my reading streak since I kinda get overwhelmed when I start a big book and feel like I'm moving really slowly through it, so picking up something fast-paced and quick that I can read in 1 or 2 sittings works great to fend off a reading slump. 

Dead Winter follows Crista going on to the Rocky Mountain retreat with her boyfriend, while they get stranded in the middle of a snowstorm with the other passengers on the bus. 

I loved the atmosphere, you could not help feeling the cold described and the endless white of the snow. The horror elements were really good and kinda unexpected with some of the gorry descriptions since I had the impression that Darcy writes cozy horror.  While I really enjoyed this book, something that bothered me enough to keep it to 4 stars was that it took me about halfway point to get invested in the story. I think it didn't need to be this long also since the kills became kinda repetitive at one point.  That said, the mystery was interesting. I predicted some stuff and was shocked by other staff. I think the ending was great and thrilling until the end. 

If you want a horror with an isolated winter setting where you suspect every character in the story then this one could be great for you. 

Sadly, this book did not work for me. And if I'm completely honest, I'm not sure I can pinpoint a specific thing that bothered me, it was just average overall. 

I feel like the focus of the book was all over the place. It was trying to straddle the line of serious discussion on trauma while still having a happy unserious tone and it just didn't work for me. I felt like the magic was under-explained, the whole family situation was a mess and so awful that I have no words. The friends were there as plot devices when the FMC needed them to show up in the story. Arguments were happening so often, and it would all resolve in the next chapter despite them saying some awful stuff to each other or other side characters. 
Also, the whole conversation where she admitted who MMC was to one of her bff but let the other one believe an assumption without correcting her (for absolutely no reason) is just wild. Also, I can't be the only one who finds it weird when her friend makes her sleepover at her house to keep her from going home with MMC while drunk, but not even once tries to shield her from the abuse her mother is having on her every single day. All of the parent-child relationships in this book were pretty poorly handled tbh.

And despite all of this, I wouldn't say it was badly written or that nobody would be able to enjoy this, but I just don't think it handled any aspect of the story very well. If you are looking for a quick story for when you are in a specific mood with the right expectations, I could see people liking this more than I did. 

 Holiday slasher about a family deciding to go to a remote cabin for a Christmas getaway after a rough couple of months as a way to reconnect. This book showed up on my StoryGraph feed, so I tagged it as a possible read for those winter months and it definitely did not disappoint.

The first chapter set the tone for the rest of the book and it just got better from there. I really loved the introductions to our characters and how we got a POV from every member of the family. All of the character relationships were so realistic. We saw from each perspective how the characters feel about the current family situation and how their actions can be viewed as selfish on the outside.
Also, there was disability and LGBT representation so a plus for that.

The main issues I had with this book came in the last part of it. I really loved all of the build-up to the slashing part but I feel like the ending suffered a bit from the length because the ending felt rushed. Several emotional moments fell flat for me at the end because I didn't have time to process them. But that is usually how I feel with novella-length stories so I was willing to give it a pas until that last scene. I really didn't like it. That said, I loved all of the reveals and twists. The slashing was also done in a way that I hadn't read so far in my limited slasher experience, so I really enjoyed reading this book.

If you are looking for a wintery read with Christmas themes pick this up. It really packs a punch in such a short amount of pages. I'm definitely gonna try something else from this author in the future.

        I loved this book so much. This is my second attempt at reading it. The last time I tried it I got so bogged down with the magic using explanations. I just wasn't gripped by the characters as I expected so when I was confused by all of the explanations of how the magic works I just gave up.  But, this time around it was such a different experience. I'm much more familiar with Brandon's work and writing tendencies because I read more of the Cosmere since then. I was so overwhelmed on where to start the Cosmere and since I didn't vibe with Mistborn the first time around and it was the number 1 recommended place to start. So, I just chucked the reading order recommendations out the window and picked the books that called to me. So far my Cosmere journey is all over the place and honestly, I'm not mad about it. I'll probably have to reread to catch all of the minor crossovers but there are so many guides online that I'm not too bothered by it. It seems like it got to teh point in the Cosmere where you are required to have read more and more to read the new books so I decided to go back and read Mistborn. 


        Back to the Final Empire. If I were to pitch this book to anyone right now, all I would say is ‘found family'. While yes, Sanderson's elaborate and complex magic system is still his most unique skill as an author, I would say that the found family aspect of this book will stay with me the most. I don't usually highlight sections in my books, and I'm too scared to write or draw in my books so I hopped when I got my Kindle the process of highlighting would be so much easier and less nerve-racking but I still wasn't using it. This book changed that. I marked many lines and conversations that felt so real and touching. I loved Vin's development and constant struggles to move past her trauma. It was shoving up even on the last page of the book despite all of the development she went through. 
     I will say that even this time around I found that it still took me about 40% to get fully invested. It's understandable considering all of the things that had to be set up at the beginning but it all paid off in the end. The ending was a bit underwhelming but by that point of the book all I cared about was that they get out of there alive since I got so attached to the characters. 

       While there were definitely more things that I had issues with right after reading the book, I put it through Cassidy's rating scale it ended up as a 5-star read. And at the time, it didn't feel like it because all of the minor issues I had with it were so fresh in my mind. But, writing this review a couple of days later I can say that it definitely feels like a 5-star read. I was so stingy with my 5 star last year to the point where I wasn't even able to make a top 10. So this year, I still wanna be critical with my reads but I'm gonna try to convey that more in my reviews and use Cassidey's rating system that ways enjoyment a lot more which just works far better for me as a long-term scaling system. 

I won't be rating this book. If I were to describe it in 1 word it would be challenging. This is my 3rd or 4th try reading it, and it took me about 4 months to actually read it this time. I'm glad I persevered through it and did it. I hope Janny Wurts gets recognized for her amazing work as a writer because I recognize how good this book is without even managing to grasp it to its fullest. I look forward to coming back to this series and trying it again.

(maybe I'll come back to this and actually try to write some sort of a review since I really did appreciate the reading experience this book gave me.)

I would just like to warn people going into this that it's a cozy mystery, it's not.
This book is a small-town contemporary romance. If you like more drama and tension in your books, this one is not for you. If you are here for the fall vibes though, this book delivers it. Loved the grumpy-sunshine trope, but I did find it weird how they started saying how they started loving the other person the moment they met them by the 70% mark. It was definitely a bit on the insta-love side, but considering the length of this book it was expected.

If you were to actually think about this book a bit deeper after finishing it the whole plot would fall apart. 
It was a fun ride nonetheless. The rating is on pure enjoyment and not really on the quality of the plot and character development. The spooky scenes were good though.

Did I guess the killer by the middle of the book? Yes.
Did the ending go a bit wild and kinda unbelievable? Yes.

But boy did I have fun. I absolutely loved the tone differences between the written book vs the real story. I found the character believable and I understood her actions which is half the battle in thriller books for me. If you don't mind your triller going a bit on the campy side you are gonna love this fast paces thrill of a book.

I think this book is a great bridge book for those coming from YA genre into more adult fantasy. 

I personally wanted a bit more depth and a little less hand-holding in this book. While a lot happened in this book, I found that a lot of scenes in the middle part of the book could have been cut or replaced and the ending still would have been the same so it left me feeling like a lot of it was filler. There were scenes that furthered character bonds without actually furthering the plot and vice versa.
I still really like the world and some side characters in this to pick up the next book in this series as soon as it's released.

This is the book that probably told me why I might not be the right reader for slashers. I can't even list all of the things I found wrong with this book. From some absolutely glaring plot holes to some bizarre shit going on(and I mean it literally). I guess this wasn't supposed to be taken that seriously but more on the campy side of horror but I just could not vibe with it.

My immediate thought after finishing this book is - does the ending make my reading experience worth it? I'm not sure hence it doesn't quite get up to the 4 stars. 

I really struggled with Maeve's rambling internal thoughts. It went on so many flashbacks and random rambling thoughts about LA and its history at absolutely random points that it just took me out of the story. I'm not saying the flashbacks weren't interesting or important to the story and relationship in it, but I just found that there were moments I wished we stayed in the moment rather than the side tangents it went on. I also see the importance of that information about the city and how it ties to who Maeve is, but I just didn't care about it every time so it brought my enjoyment down.

The whole stalker plotline was so obvious that I was surprised at the reveal because I was so sure it had to be some sort of misdirection. Also, I really wanted more tension and denial by both of MCs parts. I just wanted more resistance to the relationship. Also, I didn't like how the whole part of him still acting as her bodyguard while in a relationship worked since he was kind of holding back things from her as well as being maybe a bit overprotective.

I really enjoyed this one a lot more than I expected. I've been trying to get more into horror books this year and this one seemed like a pretty popular slasher so I decided to give it a try and see if I'd enjoy it. Since writing this review I've read a few more slashers and I can confidently say that it's definitely not gonna be on a short list of my favorite horror sub-genres. 
I didn't really care for all of the characters that were getting killed, which probably isn't the point since all of the reviews mainly mention the way the kills were happening but I just don't think I'm ever gonna be able to give a book in this genre more than a 4 star because of it.

But that being said, I really appreciated all of the setup of the characters and their motivations at the start of this book. It definitely had me creeped out at certain points and guessing who the killer was the whole time. Also, I really enjoyed how fast-paced it was and the length was perfect IMO.
I had a fun time and I'm happy I gave it a chance.

I really didn't think I would care about this story as much as I did. Is it the best thing I've ever read? No. Do I wish it had been adult? Yes. But I still found some scenes to be really disturbing and kinda surprised by how dark they were for a YA novel. I loved the main couple in the story but I just wish it had a bit more scenes with them.
Also, the plot got kinda rushed at the end IMO, so it brought my rating down but I really enjoyed this book and it's probably gonna end up on my top 10 reads of the year.

I really struggled with all of the changing POVs. The fact that all of them cross paths as one point made me question everyone like ‘has this person already been introduced or not?' and it made it so challenging to keep track of their current locations as well.

Corban was probably the only character I cared deeply about. Some other POVs grew on me, but others like Veradis felt like it was just telling me the story of Nathair through Vradis' POV since he literally had no agency in any of his actions past the first few chapters.

I liked the direction of where the story is heading enough to pick up the next book.

Probably the best so far in the series. I still feel like it feels a bit too long but really good character dynamics as well as character development.

I will preface this review with that I didn't read the novella before picking this book up.
I didn't really get why Tristan was suddenly so interested. I just didn't feel like all of the scenes after the first one in the club, when he was so offput by it, got me to believe that he will get to a point when he is begging Mark for it.
I also needed more development in the second half of the book with Tristan's and Isolde's relationship.  It felt just like when you pick up a book that is advertised as hate-to-love but the hate is only there for the first 10 pages. I just needed more angst and development from it than what was there on the page.

When they say Abercrombie wrote these books without a strong plot, they really mean it.
I love all of the characters in this series despite how frustrating it was to read from their POVs. I just really need a stronger plot for it to be a full 5 star. I felt like the book went on a bit too long after the biggest climax. Yes, there were still reveals but I could not say that all of them were satisfying. There are some loose threads left for other books in the series I presume.  Also, the whole magic system is so minuscule and underexplained, and as a reader that loves having it all laid out, it left me frustrated in some moments. 
All in all, I was engaged the whole time enjoying the ride but it just didn't quite hit all of the marks for my taste.

As someone who read this Wattpad story many years ago, at night, under my blanket to hide the light(probably the reason why I wear prescription lenses now), I'm really happy to see this story published.

But, my taste has changed a bit since then. I found the dialog very cheesy and so different in tone from the rest of the story. The whole situation with her best friend frustrated me to no end. I really hated that part. I found that I had a bit of a hard time separating Death from David and as a result when Faith and Death started getting a bit heated at the end, I felt like it was very sudden since we spent the whole first part of the book setting up a romance with another character that behaved totally different to Death. I really liked the worldbuilding but I just felt like a lot of the plot points felt very sudden instead of having any buildup to them.
I'll probably still try the next book hoping to see some improvements in writing.

I can't say that I loved it as much as the Riyria Revelations series. The biggest difference was that it took me so much time to get connected to the characters in this one. Maybe it's the fact that the other series started with just 2 main characters and expanded from there. I felt like there was a bit too much focus on too many characters from the start and it took a while for me to care about all of them.
But the worldbuilding and plot are definitely an upgrade on Revelations IMO. I really love the way his endings come together. 
Sullivan has become such a comfort author for me. I might not give his books 5 stars, but the enjoyment and comfort factor I get from his books really works for me.

This was really bad. 

The main problem I had with this book is that considering that it's in YA. I felt like all of the themes and character development were very shallowly done. I really liked the world and the whole polyamory relationship and how it developed but I found the dialogue very cheesy and the themes very on the nose and shoved in your face.
I would describe this book as angry feminism to the point that every chapter describes how men are oppressing women in this world or how FMC was angry that a male can do some things that she wants but can't do. While I did enjoy how unapologetic this book was in its messaging, it definitely wore on me as the book went on so it just became annoying by the end.

This book just wasn't for me. I didn't really connect with the characters so it made it hard to care about the story. The magic system was too unexplained for my taste, so at the end there was really anything that I cared about by the end. I think this book just reaffirmed why I've been reading less YA.

But objectively, I really don't think there is something wrong with the book, I just didn't connect with it. If you are interested after reading the synopsis, and if you don't mind YA on a younger side - give it a try.


Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. 

While I really liked all of the main and side characters, the writing was the biggest weakness for me. I think it needed a lot of polishing. And I do think it could have been cut down by at least 100 pages.