nigmatillium

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Pretty early on I caught on that the characters are from the same family as the ones in a different series by K.J. Charles, but from a different time period, which I found to be quite interesting.

I wasn't crazy about the main characters of this book (each book in the series focuses on a different pairing), although I did like them well enough. It was an okay read, but yeah, don't think it'll leave a lasting impression.

J: Out of interest, Cyprian, how much information do you have on me?

C: What would you like to know?

I genuinely can't remember the last time I read a Romanian book and that's a shame because we have such great authors. I'm ready to redeem myself, and I'm glad I picked up this book. To be completely honest, I picked it up because I liked the cover. I read the first few pages and thought Ilinca was hilarious so I went on and bought it.

To my dissapointment, Ilinca was not the main character, and while that bummed me out a bit, I thought, fine, let's see what's happening either way.

Diana was in no way as funny as Ilinca, but I found myself relating to her, which hardly comes as a surprise. At the same time, I believe Diana was too much of a child, too naive sometimes, but I understand her choices. She was confused, with no self esteem, desperately looking for a place of her own. But speaking of her choices, girl... What are you doing? Thoroughly enjoyed Ilinca's view, I like her a lot despite her not being the main character and hardly getting any page time.

I also thought the amount of people interested in Diana to be unrealistic, but considering Diana herself and the way the story was told, it's reasonable to believe that these things were not exactly accurate. She saw what she wanted to see.

Overall, I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would. I was genuinely curious to see what will happen to Diana.

It was a great deal easier to hold one's country sacred if you didn't have anywhere to compare it to.

Loved the conclusion to the series, and I actually would love to read about Stephen and Lucien's new adventures. Well, mostly Stephen, because as much as I liked them as a couple, individually I really love Stephen.

Well, this short story did not go at all in the direction I thought it would when reading the title, and that's kind of a shame. But I still enjoyed it.

There's also a hint to a spinoff, featuring Pastern, but as much as I enjoyed reading this series, and while I think I would enjoy Pastern's story too (I think there are only 2 books or so), I don't feel like reading it. Maybe at one point, but really not feeling it rn.

While reading this, I thought that Stephen and Lucien have really adult fights. I maybe could have done without it, but I couldn't help noticing that they are adults while fighting, and that's such a refreshing take. Yes, please!

The book overall was delightful, and while the second book can be read as a standalone if you are not too into the series, this third book ties up the events in the first book so nicely. Well, the second book is important too to understand how it gets to that point, but I'm just saying, it can be skipped without missing any major elements.

S: And furthermore-

M: I like the way he says "furthermore". Cos you can tell he means "wankers".

L: I like to think I've had an influence on him.

I was fully expecting this to be just Stephen and Lucien being in love with each other, but instead got extra mystery. I quite liked it in the sense that I got to see what Stephen does on a daily basis at work. By now it's fairly obvious that I love Stephen.

I was very interested in this short story, and as I was getting more settled into reading, I reached the last page. Very happy there's more of the series to read.

You're a fool and I'm another. Between us, we'd barely male a village idiot.

Seeing Stephen and Lucien's relationship continue to develop, and them having stronger and stronger feelings for each other, is great! Their relationship is definitely the focus of the series, but everything else happening around them is very entertaining too! I mean, the mystery and how Stephen does his job, I enjoyed it so much.

I'm also glad to meet Stephen's coworkers, I liked their introduction.

I mean, he likes blokes and he is sodding dangerous. Right up your alley, that is. In a manner of speaking.

Very nice interlude, got a glimpse at what troubles may reach Stephen and Lucien next. But also, love to see their relationship developing further! At this point, there's no way Lucien would be anywhere in the world than right next to Stephen and I love that for them.

This was a really good book, but that doesn't come as a surprise looking at the author. I just love K.J. Charles.

I really liked Stephen and his powers. I was impressed with him as a justiciar, but right from the start I thought Stephen is so cool and powerful.

I also enjoyed the relationship developing between Stephen and Lucien, although, addmittedly, there is once scene in particular that may turn readers away. Their relationship developed quite fast, but it did not feel rushed somehow.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. I loved the concept, I understood the character, it has all the elements of a great book, a thought provoking book, raw, unconfortable book even, but it is so bland. Nothing happens, I could probably find more entertainment on the back of cough drop medicine.

This book brought me no joy. I read about 7 chapters before dropping it, and dropped it because:

• it was obvious from the start the kind of injustice that took place and it just made me angry;
• there's no mystery, everything is laid out from the start, what am I supposed to be curious about;
• too much naration, I need some balance.

I enjoyed the second book of the series more than the first one. I notice that most people enjoyed the first one more, but for me, the use of folklore from my home country, made the story all the more scarier (although I should know better, I guess). Regardless, the book was scarier and funnier at the same time. I especially liked the expressiveness of Angus's moustache.

The ending made it all the much better, it gripped me really tight. If I would have watched a horror film, I would have been half hidden by a blanket.

Tomorrow, in my experience, is only worth worrying about when there's something you can do about it.

How I enjoyed this book! Got the first and second books in the series as a gift and I was so ready to dive into it once my reading appetite decided to get back to me.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is so masterfully written that even though it's in 1st POV, I genuinely worried about Easton. I liked them a lot from the first few pages. Them sharing some of the same oppinions as me sealed the deal, Easton fan all the way!

The title is quite literal, and that took me by surprise for some reason. It also took me an embarassingly long while to realise it.

Look, if you don't make a fool out of yourself over animals, at least in private, you aren't to be trusted.

Along the series, there's been a common plot, something that keeps popping up, so while this is the last book in the series for now, there for sure are other books coming.

But focusing on this one, I enjoyed it just as much as the first two. Charlie and Declan's relationships keeps getting better and I just love those two together. They make it work and it seems effortless while there is quite some effort going on. They understand each other and, most importantly, trust each other. They take their time, are both level headed (well, for the most part), and work together (in more ways than one).

The mystery, again, loved it, a bit more predictable than in the first two books, but still had great elements that made me enjoy it so much.

While reading this second book of the series, I thought I figured out the mystery several times. And that's the most I will say about it because this must be read.

When it comes to the MCs, I loved how their relationship developed. The trust they show each other, how they slowly (slowly, slowly) gravitated towards each other, the understanding between them, it was beatiful. I love Declan and Charlie together, they make a great couple and maybe even a greater team.

C: What If I miss something?

D: Then you miss it.

Right from the start of this book I knew I would enjoy it, and oof, did I enjoy it!

First of all, the chemistry between the MCs was so good. I had some worry about the relationship at first, seeing how and who caught one of the MC's interest, but I wasn't mad about it. I have to be honest, they would have made a great couple. But well, they weren't meant to be.

Second, the mystery was so good! It took me a very long while to even suspect someone, let alone figure out the why. Sure, there were bits that made me go, hmm, that's odd, but not as much as to figure out what was going on immediately. Thoroughly enjoyed that. And if I were to take a pick, I enjoyed the mystery the most.

"Declan wants me to pick him up because he's too drunk to find his own way home. If he thinks he can just call me at any hour, just because he needs my help..."

"You're going to get him, arent't you?"

"Of course I am! He needs me."

This book was... interesting. I quite liked Dex, he's a fun character, so although I would not normally pick up this genre, I kept reading for him. At some points in the book I laughed so hard, I made a note on chapter 6, that was the funniest.

That being said, I clocked in the bad guy waaay too early in the book. I obviously didn't figure out everything from the start, but yeah, a bit too soon for me.

Another thing I would have like was for the other characters to be more present. There are a lot of characters, and I felt a bit lost at one point. I got most of them eventually, but there was still a lot and none of them was actually involved. Since I read the book, I mostly remember Dex and that's about it. I might have not even remembered his name if I didn't take notes while reading.

On that note, I especially would have like to be shown Dex's relationship with this family rather than be told. It would have made for a much more entertaining read.

I read the sysnopsis to the other books in the series to figure out if I really want to keep reading or not, and that was exhausting to me, so needless to say I won't be completing this series.

And finally, I liked this:

Sometimes the amount of stupid in this world confounds me. I swear some of these citizend are evolving backwards.