Anne

In short: A bit unpolished, but very fun.

I enjoyed reading this book and am currently flying through the sequels. I think the characters and relationships are very good, they are very lovable and especially the relationship between Hadrian and Royce is great. I also like the side characters, especially Myron, he's so sweet. The plot is interesting enough to keep me invested, but there's some info-dumping and in some chapters I started skimming a bit, because I didn't care as much about the current characters we were with or they were a bit long-winded (mostly not when we're with Hadrian and Royce, but in some of the other chapters).

I liked it in theory, but it just didn't grip me. I love a good friends-to-lovers story, but I didn't feel the romantic tension between these two, the flashbacks also often took me out of the story and didn't add enough to be interesting.

For me this was less of a romcom and too much angst. I don't mind a nice slow-burn romance, but I was way too stressed throughout the book for the main character and her love interest to talk and make up, because to me as the reader the problem was really obvious (and fixable) and I just wanted them to have an actual conversation. While I definitely get why they didn't at first, they both seemed to realise at some point that they clearly had different views on their breakup, but still ignored it for no reason or because they were more interested in using their brief alone time having sex.

There were too much (realistic) problems and stressors in the book for this to be the relaxing read for me, but if you don't mind that, I'd still definitely recommend it.

I liked both the story and the romance, but not the happy romcom I was expecting. Both of the main characters went through some shit (slight spoiler if you want to know before reading: the main characters father died relatively recently and she discovered he cheated on her mom while she had cancer, the love interest was abused as a child) and them dealing with that was a big part of the story.

Fun romcom, likable main and side characters, nice pacing of the romance, with some background "drama" that added nicely to the story.

Was worried about the sisters happiness for a while, I do prefer romcoms that are just happy overall but luckily it all worked out :)

Good balance between the plot and the relationship. I liked the characters and enjoyed seeing them and their relationship develop and the tournament was an interesting backdrop. I also really liked Mische, she's so sweet and fun. I thought the relationship between Oraya and her father was also very interesting, with their conflicting sides/feelings.

I've been hearing about his book for a while and I was a bit disappointed to be honest. I was missing some depth in the book, while the worldbuilding was very interesting, the characters fell flat to me. The concept of Antari was interesting, but the actual magic was not that exciting. I was excited about Kell at first, but then it turned out he's quite the dumbass and not actually as powerful as I expected. I did not particularly care for Lila or their relationship, orphan thief who wants power/to be free is one I've seen often and she did not have a lot of other interesting traits. The relationship that seemed to be blossoming between Kell and Lila felt a bit forced. I did like Rhy, I liked his connection to Kell and struggle with being the crown prince.

Not sure yet if I'll continue with book 2, I've heard it gets better and I'm still somewhat curious, but his book did not draw me in as much as I'd hoped.

Just as cozy and adventurous as the first one! Was hoping for a bit more Wendell, but there were still a lot of cute and funny moments between him and Emily. I love how spoiled he is and insists on making himself as comfortable as possible, while Emily tries so hard to resist and tease him until she begrudgingly admits his cleaning and decorating is actually making their accommodation much more cozy. I thought Ariadne was a fun side character, I did not particularly care for Rose, but he served his purpose well.

Happy to see Poe again, being all helpful and cute He gave her his key!. I thought the foxlike(?) faerie was also kinda cute (when not being a vicious, human-eating being), being so excited to be on a quest. The ending did feel a bit quick, I would have liked a bit more aftermath I think, but it's not a huge problem, I mostly just can't get enough of these vibes and characters!

Looking forward to the next book! Very excited about seeing Wendell in his homeland and more of Orga the "cat"

Loved it, very cozy, but also an interesting plot. Emily is great, her social awkwardness is very relatable (Is she autistic-coded? Doesn't get people/social cues, obsessed with one topic/special interest, very logical. Saying that as an autistic person myself, I got those vibes) and I like that she is very capable in her field. Also loved Wendell, he's just very charming and funny and their banter together is great. Not to mention all the villagers and Poe of course! Just really enjoyed this book, perfect if you want to read something fun and lighthearted, but still exciting.

Also I love Shadow, big dogs that are sweet and loyal but protective are the best.

This book seemed really cute and fun, but is not for me sadly. I really like the concept, but the writing made it hard for me to enjoy, I'd love to read this book after an editor has gone to town on it. The writing style feels quite juvenile to me for an adult book, everything is spelled out to the extreme. The lack of subtlety by both the writing and the characters themselves is why I stopped reading at this point (22%).

This book was not really what I expected, I expected dark academia, but it was more of a dark mystery or something, so that might have influenced my experience a bit.. A lot of people seem to love this book, so maybe I was just not in the right headspace or expecting something too different, but it just wasn't for me. I didn't dislike the book, but it was just not quite there for me. I feel like there were a lot of unnecessary elements (the rivalry between the 2 countries and the north and south, also the drowning was mentioned a decent amount, but it didn't really feel like part of the story for me) that kind of distracted from the main themes that I was really interested in. I also did not love the romantic relationship, I did not feel like they had a lot of chemistry and it seemed to move quite quick and sudden, especially considering Effy's traumatic past. I thought the sex scene was kind of out of place as well, like they had been worrying about the storm (and the second drowning?) and having only a small amount of time to get out and then just decided that that was the right time for a quicky and a nap? Really?

The story was pretty fun, but the writing style and pacing were not great for me, especially the ending was paced quite quickly and could have used some more time. Overall it's a lighthearted regency story and I would recommend it if that's what you're looking for, but not a new favorite.

Perfect cute christmas romcom story, exactly what I was looking for. I thought the main characters were very lovable, their friendship/relationship is very cute and the side characters were great. I really like the relationship progression, they were clearly great friends and and we got to see both the growing of (their realisation of) their feelings and some time of them as a couple (I'm always a little disappointed when a story cuts of right as the characters get together), wouldn't have minded more, but I'm just a sucker for these kinds of stories

It was fine. I read this with my book club, to be honest I probably would have DNF'd it otherwise. The main problem was that it just did not really capture my attention. The first part meanders a lot and does not have a clear storyline or compelling characters. The second part gets slightly better both the storylines with Clytaimnestra and the one about the raiders picked up a bit, but still there was not enough there to be really invested. I feel like the story would have been more interesting if we had Penelope's POV instead of Hera. It feels like the writer really wanted an all-knowing narrator, but Hera was just complaining about basically everyone else most of the time, which was at times entertaining, but other times too much and trying a bit too hard to be funny. I don't think there were a lot of storylines we could not have had with Penelope being the main character instead of Hera, possibly with some other character POV's sprinkled throughout. And the presence of the gods could instead be shown by characters catching glimpses of them or feeling their presence or something like that.

For me the interesting part of the story was how Penelope was pretending to be a "weak grieving wife" while secretly working behind the scenes with other women to save the island. I would have liked to have seen more of the sceming of Penelope and the women around her. My favorite bit was (not super spoilery):

"Ah," mutters Penelope. "I see. Medon, forgive me. I find myself overcome with womanly weakness and must retire." -"I have always admired the exquisite timing of your weaknesses my lady"

Still a good time, but liked it a bit less than the first two (which I liked very much), mostly because the pacing felt a bit off. More time was spend on things I cared about less and less time was spend on things I cared about more. Also I kinda missed the school setting, because I love a magic school setting ;)

Overall I quite liked the book, the story and the characters were very interesting and I liked the concept of the house. I especially love the idea of the library and Eloura seems so sweet and interesting am I the only one who thought she was the cat? Is it just a normal cat? I mean that'd be fine I love cats, I just really got the impression something special was going on with it. And that garden, I would love to spend time there and Ben seems like a lovely person to spend time with as well.

However I am left feeling just a bit unsatisfied, I feel like some things could have been fleshed out more, or we could have spend more time with some situations/characters/relationshis. Some more of those stories from the library would have been interesting, for some reason I was expecting more like that, more stories and more guests. I also would have liked more time to get to know the Keymaker/Raphaelle and see his relationship with Liddy grow, because it seemed a bit sudden? They touched, she had a vision of them together in a bath (did he see that too?) and now they're in love? Also how old is he exactly, my feelings about this relationship are kind of dependent on that. Immediately followed by how long was Liddy at the house, it felt like days, but that's seems to short for everything that happens and all the relationship development.

I also wonder if Liddy misses her family and if she's planning on seeing them again. She seemed to at least have a decent relationship with her father and she was close to her cousin, but this never really gets mentioned... I might have liked to see her write them a letter at least or mention something about visiting them or inviting them.

This was a lovely cozy book, I read most of it in one sitting and am only disappointed there is not more of it.

Loved it, so sad this is the last of the secret projects, it's been so much fun to look forward to and read these books this year!

Nomad was a really interesting character to follow very cool to see Sigzil again and learn what happened to him since the events of the stormlight archive and Auxiliary is great when he first mentioned the thing about giving his final bit of soul to Nomad to power him up I was already like 'oh no'... It was an epic moment in the end, but also a very sad one... And now Nomad has lost his only companion :(.

The story was fun, some great side characters, and it was interesting to see Nomad trying to figure out the way the planet and it's magic worked and I loved the ingenious ways he used Aux. I love a good story about someone discovering their powers, but it's also so much fun to see a smart character who knows exactly what he's capable of in action. And as always a very satisfying but painful ending.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have already ordered book 2, but damn if I'm not also very overwhelmed and confused by it.

It immediately throws you in the deep end, because a lot of things are talked about (places, people, things), but never explained until you start figuring (some) things out by context clues later. I also think I got whiplash from the amount of things happening in part 2. Everything happened so quick I felt like I barely got the chance to process any part of it before the next big thing happened. Which, while probably realistic for the situation, does take away some of the emotional impact for me.

Kihrin dying, being in the realm of the demons(or something? Everything that happened there was super confusing), remembering all his past lives, being alive again, going to stop Dead man, killing him, the whole geashes being gone, immediately leaving, leaving Tereath and other person behind, I'm still kinda confused why he had to leave, not to mention all the other perspectives in between. I'm also sad about Galen's dead, especially because he died thinking Kihrin didn't care for him, but who knows maybe he'll come back. I also don't quite get where his shift in character came from or why he thinks Kihrin just left him).

I quite liked the characters, all of them were very interesting. I especially liked Kihrin and Tereath, I really liked their interactions, would have loved more scenes with them together (also totally shipping them).

The pacing was a bit off for me, I thought the way the story was told in part one, with the switching perspectives and timelines was nice, both were intriguing and while I was sometimes annoyed with the switch, the other storyline usually pulled me in again quickly enough. But overall the pacing was a bit too fast for my liking, I would have liked some more moments to sit with the characters, get their thoughts on current events, before the next big thing swept them away. I hope this changes in the rest of the series, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment too much.

Overall I very much enjoyed reading this book and am looking forward to reading the next one soon!

A very interesting book, a different kind of story than I expected, but definitely not in a bad way. I enjoyed following the characters in a chapter of their lives. The ending was done in a very different way than I am used to, but I liked it a lot, it gives closure. It was interesting to see where each of their paths took them and why they made the decisions they did.

---------Spoiler-----------

I also very much liked Marin and Danica finding each other again at the end, I really like their dynamic. I am curious about the secong meeting of Danica and Neven, too bad we didn't get that, but I suppose I can probably infer what happened and spelling it out might not have added anything.

A fun intriguing short story that gives some extra context to the conflict in the main cytoverse story

I liked this book, but I think this duology might have been better staying a standalone. This one went into to many directions at once I think, it seems like the writer had a lot of ideas to explore, but didn't know which to include/exclude, (very light spoilers) like the part in the dragon realm, which was barely relevant to the overall plot and when she was back on the mainland there was a lot of jumping around to/between different plotpoints. Too bad because I really enjoyed the first book and this one had some interesting ideas.

Loved this book, really liked the cozy, kinda fairy tale vibe. Great characters, loved them all, especially the main character, she was so relatable and fun to read about. I also really enjoyed the narrator I didn't know what I was getting into, so discovering Hoid is telling the story was so much fun!. Really excited to get the hardcover soon and reread it!

Loved it! Such a nice cozy story with great, very lovable, characters

Fun, interesting story and characters, definitely recommend.

Can be read as a standalone if you don't mind a somewhat open ending.(I'm saying because I didn't enjoy book 2 as much)