Misty (mistysbookspace)

I was impatiently waiting for this to be released and as soon as we had copies in hand Destiny and I started our buddy read. I've loved buddy reading this series with her.

My copy of this book didn't come in until the day after it released so I was trying really hard to avoid spoilers. I didn't get spoiled for anything thankfully but people were having thoughts about the ending. I didn't get spoiled for exactly what happened but I saw a lot of posts on Instagram where they were saying they weren't ready for that or they weren't ok after that ending. Because of all those posts my anxiety was through the roof. I'm not an anxious person except for when it comes to books. 

I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit though. First off After finishing Fourth Wing I was fully invested. I was loving the world and the characters and relationships and I needed more. This book picks up pretty much right after the ending of book one. I loved how the author didn't do a time jump here because I was really wanting to pick up where they left off because I was hoping to get some answers and that is exactly what we got. 

The pacing of this one was all over the place. It went from being action packed fast paced to slower paced. I know this is frustrating to some people but I was so invested in everything that was happening I didn't really care but I did notice it so I thought I would mention it. There's so much I could talk about but I'm trying to keep my spoilers as vague as possible. I'm still 1000% invested in the romance. And I'm loving the found family of shorts that Violet has and I'm loving seeing those relationships grow.

Something happens to one of the side characters toward the end that I'm really interested to see how Rebecca handles it in the next book. Now for the ending. Some people will consider this to be spoilery which is why I labeled my review as spoilery but its a very vague spoiler. So as I mentioned early on people had my anxiety through the roof with all their reactions to the ending. Once I read the ending I was like oh that's it? It wasn't what I was expecting at all. I'm not happy about what happened but I also think this is something they can come back from and that's all I will say on that. 

Overall another amazing book and I can't wait for the next book to be released. I really hope we don't have to wait to long and hopefully we will get another 2 books just like we did this  year.

I've read several of Hazelwoods contemporary books and enjoyed them so when I saw she was publishing a paranormal book I was very intrigued. This is an arranged marriage between a werewolf and a vampire. Two opposing species coming together to hopefully form an alliance of sorts. I'm all for books with vampires. They are my favorite but I loved the werewolves in this as well. I loved most of the characters and the romance. I loved the banter between several of the characters as well. I totally didn't see that reveal coming although thinking about it now I totally should have. This ends in a way that hints that maybe this may end up being part of a series and I really hope that's true because I would really love more of these characters. Buddy read with Destiny.

This is a DNF for me. I made it through 40% of this book and that was a struggle. I couldn't push myself anymore. I was so bored and just didn't care about anything that was happening.

DNFed @ 23% 75 pages

I was excited when Jonny suggested this book as our next buddy read. I've been wanting to read something by this author for a while now so I thought this was perfect. unfortunately this book did not work for me.

I first started reading it by listening to the audiobook. The one I found was a dramatized version. I had no idea what that meant when I started listening to it. I just thought it was going to be a normal audiobook. Boy was that no the case. I hated the dramatized version. It was to much so much so that I couldn't even understand what was being said sometimes. I love the idea of a dramatized version but it's just not for me. I then found the eBook on Libby and I tried listening to it while following along but that didn't work either because the audiobook was missing a lot of the text that was in the eBook. I got 13% into the audiobook when I finally decided I was just going to start over by just reading the eBook. I was hoping this would help me to get into it more but alas that didn't help either.

The author throws you into the story immediately which I usually enjoy but we are thrown in with no knowledge of the world and barely get any within the little bit I was able to read. It's definitely fast paced and the lack of world building just left me confused a lot of times not to mention all the different characters being thrown in I couldn't keep up with who was who and who was good or bad. It was just all to much to try to keep up with.

Because of all this I just found myself not caring about anything and every time I put the book down I had to force myself to pick it back up. I really wanted to like this book and I am sad that I didn't. maybe one day if I can find a normal audiobook of it I will give it another try but right now that's probably highly unlikely.

I've been buddy reading this trilogy with Erin and Regina. Destiny read the first book with us but DNFed Foxglove and I can't really blame her. I loved the first book, and I struggled to get through Foxglove and by the time I finished it I just thought it was ok. I started this one back in October and it took me forever to finish it but not because the book was bad or anything I was just in a weird reading mood for the last half of 2024 and just wasn't in the mood for this one. I went into this one a bit skeptical after the letdown that was Foxglove, but this one ended up being my favorite out of all of them. This was everything I wanted and more. I loved the growth from being enemies to friends to lovers. I laughed out loud and even got teary eyed toward the end. I'm so glad I stuck this one out because it ended with a banger although technically this isn't the end because there is a novella coming out toward the end of the year and I will be going into that one hopefully optimistic.

I've been buddy reading a lot of historical romance with Ashley and this was our first one of 2025. This was another just ok book for me and Ashely ended up feeling the same way. The romance was my favorite part of this book. It also had a bit of a mystery which I did like but I felt like it took over the story a little too much for my liking and it was solved way to easily. Also, while I did love the romance it took too long for things to start happening which is a personal preference thing. I can't write this review without talking about the thing that probably bugged me the most but it's a bit spoilery so if you haven't read this yet then I suggest skipping this next part. Throughout the whole book there's an underlying message of love who you love no matter their social status/how rich they are. I loved that and the fact that both sisters end up with who they wanted to be with despite the class differences. What I didn't like is how at the end both of the guys miraculously come into money anyways. That just annoyed me so much. Overall, this was a good start to a trilogy, and I will be reading the next book in February with Ashley.

REREAD January 2025

This was my 3rd read of this book, and I loved it just as much as I did the first time I read it. It never fails to suck me in and have me fully invested in all of the characters even though I know what is going to happen. I reread this one in anticipation of the release of Onyx Storm even though I really don't need a reread I just love it so much that I will seize the opportunity to read it again.

I was meant to read this in June as part of the Lost in Romance Book Club that I cohost with my friend Michelle. I ended up going out of town for the last half of the month so I didn't manage to get around to reading this one. I saw that Destiny had started this book but hadn't gotten very far so I asked her if she wanted to buddy read it with me and here we are.

I've been seeing this book making the rounds for a while now and everything I've seen about it has been high praise. I am here to tell you I totally get the hype surrounding this book. I'm always skeptical going into books that are this hyped because I'm afraid that I won't like them. Luckily that was not the case with this book. I loved this book so much. It is hands down my favorite book of the year so far and I honestly don't see it being dethroned.

I listened to the audiobook for this one because I never bought myself a physical copy but you better believe I will get me a copy eventually. I've actually already preordered the second book Iron Flame because I need it ASAP.

Anyways back to my thoughts on this book. I don't want to say to much because I think you should go in knowing as little as possible like I did. I was sucked in from the very beginning. We get the action from the very first chapter. I loved the chronic pain rep. I loved the romance so freaking much and the dragons actually had their own personalities. I actually laughed so much at several of the scenes involving certain riders and their dragons.

There is so much I could say about this book but it would spoil things. You will just have to trust me when I say run don't walk and get you a copy and read this book. It's utter perfection in my opinion.

I'm so glad that the Romcom Swoonathon got me to read this book because I loved it so much. We get the fake dating trope and it's a slow burn with a lot of angst. I loved the character growth for each of the characters and the banter was on point. There's so much representation in this book as well and I feel like the author did it all justice. Also, I can't forget to mention that we get some steamy scenes as well which we all know I love at this point.