Nichole
I really enjoy Jennifer's books and this one is no exception. However, this one was definitely my favorite. This is her first high fantasy book for me and I loved it. The characters are snarky, strong, and witty. I loved the banter between Hawke and Poppy. As always with JLA, you are left with a massive cliffhanger that makes you want to pick up the next book immediately. Luckily for me, the next one is out but after that, I will have to wait.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 10
Atmosphere: 9
Writing: 8
Plot: 8
Intrigue: 9
Logic: 9
Enjoyment: 10
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 9
Atmosphere: 7
Writing: 7
Plot: 8
Intrigue: 6
Logic: 6
Enjoyment: 7
This book definitely explored Syndey and Adrian's relationship more. The ending killed me but I loved how everyone could see how hard Adrian was trying to impress her and spend time with her but Sydney was oblivious. I also love the contrast between this series and VA. Here we have the guy willing to risk everything and not care about the consequences (like Rose) and the girl being the cautious careful one (like Dimitri).
I really wanted to love this book. It has great representation and the premise is amazing, but the story and writing fell flat for me. I also really appreciated that Stella was the nerdy math person and Michael was the escort. The role reversal was great to read. I loved the characters but did enjoy the plot as much as I thought I would and there were times I was cringing as I read scenes between the love interests.
The characters were witty and real. It was easy to connect with them and feel like you truly knew them. However, there were a lot of moments where I was uncomfortable reading the characters together. This may have been somewhat intentional by the author, but it didn't work for me. I can see why everyone loves this book, but it just was not for me. I want to love the characters and the story and not be uncomfortable reading about the characters together.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 9
Atmosphere: 3
Writing: 2
Plot: 6
Intrigue: 5
Logic: 3
Enjoyment: 4
Reread (09/2020): ACOBAF Readalong
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Writing: 5
Plot: 5
Intrigue: 4
Logic: 5
Enjoyment: 6
Original Reivew
Pros:
- Characters: I loved the characters in this one. Zafira was such a strong female character that did not let anyone take advantage of her. I loved how she constantly stood up for herself and defied people's expectations of her. Nasir was also a complex character who I at first thought was just your standard love interest in a YA novel, but he grew on me during the course of the book and I really appreciated how he was presented.
-Writing: I really loved Hafsah's writing style. I was able to easily place myself in the world and the characters shoes
Cons:
- Pacing: This book takes a while to get into. At first, I really did not care for the character's storylines. However, eventually, it picked up and I found it the plot to move along at a better speed. Hopefully, as Hafsah continues this series the pacing improves and there is less time dragging the story.
- I listened to the audiobook for this one and that really helped with the pronunciations and getting the true gist of the story and the characters. I know the author has a pronunciation guide on her website, but I really think there should be one in the book itself. It would help readers out, a lot of books would benefit from having pronunciation guides (one recent book I can think of is Wicked Saints).
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Writing: 6
Plot: 5
Intrigue: 7
Logic: 8
Enjoyment: 7
I find this book to be very predictable. I figured out two of the three big secrets early on. As a result, I did not enjoy this book as much as I was expecting to. I really loved these characters in Vampire Academy and was expecting to love this series just as much. I'm definitely going to continue but I'm disappointed in how this series has started so far.
This book was beyond enjoyable to read. I absolutely loved it from the start. It was a thrilling ride as Avery was thrust into this situation with a family who may or may not want to kill her. I loved watching the mystery unfold and see how the 4 brothers helped her along the way. Greyson is definitely my favorite and I hope we get to hear more about him in the next book.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 9
Plot: 10
Intrigue: 10
Logic: 9
Enjoyment: 10
This was a pretty big letdown. I really loved Serpent & Dove but this book suffered from second book syndrome. There was a lot of it that just dragged along and was filler. And everything would lead up to an event and then be anti-climatic. The ending is crazy as always and I will definitley read the next book but this one was just not at the same level as the first book.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 8
Atmosphere: 5
Writing: 7
Plot: 3
Intrigue: 4
Logic: 6
Enjoyment: 5
This book started off really well and I loved the premise but it went downhill once the story/romance started. It all seems so unrealistic. I enjoyed the banter between Simon and Emily but their relationship did not feel organic at all to me. I'm curious to see what happens in the companion novels. but was disappointed with how this relationship unfolded.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 7
Atmosphere: 9
Writing: 4
Plot: 3
Intrigue: 5
Logic: 5
Enjoyment: 5
This was a great quirky fun read. I really enjoyed the banter between the two main characters and loved seeing their relationship progress. The ending did seem a little rushed and there was this weird obsession with explaining that the characters fit together perfectly (their bodies not so much their personalities). It was just a weird description that I noticed over and over.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 7
Plot: 5
Intrigue: 8
Logic: 6
Enjoyment: 10
I love Mindy McGinnis and her books are normally great. I think this is a case where a normally contemporary author should not write fantasy. The biggest issue I had with this book is we follow 4 different characters but the chapters are all like 5 pages long which is not long enough to actually get the character's voice and to truly know them because it is constantly switching to another story line.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 3
Atmosphere: 2
Writing: 6
Plot: 3
Intrigue: 4
Logic: 3
Enjoyment: 4
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 7
Atmosphere: 9
Writing: 9
Plot: 5
Intrigue: 7
Logic: 5
Enjoyment: 8
I was honestly pleasantly surprised by this book. I had pretty low expectations and was worried about another one of those action-filled competitions that make no sense. But this one was art-based and played to each person's strengths. This book is definitely in that new category of contemporary fantasy. Other than being part star and traveling to where the stars live, this could be a contemporary book abotu someone learning who they truly are.
This final installment was a big letdown for me after how much I enjoyed the rest of the series. I felt like this book had a lot of filler at the beginning and wasted time on things that were not important than rushed the ending to the point that we don't even know what happened to a bunch of the characters we came to know and love throughout the series. I know there is Bloodlines that has some of the same characters but I feel like the ending of this book could have been improved.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 8
Atmosphere: 6
Writing: 6
Plot: 3
Intrigue: 4
Logic: 4
Enjoyment: 6
I was a little bit worried about second book syndrome but was not at all disappointed in this installment. Jennifer L. Armentrout does a really good job of keeping her characters relatable even if it is a fantasy/paranormal world. That ending killed me though, especially knowing we have a whole year until we find out what is happening.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Writing: 8
Plot: 8
Intrigue: 6
Logic: 5
Enjoyment: 9
This conclusion was a bit of a letdown. I really enjoyed this series as a whole, but this installment just wasn't as enjoyable for me. There were a lot of times where I was just confused about what was going on and didn't feel like everything was explained well enough.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Writing: 8
Plot: 7
Intrigue: 5
Logic: 6
Enjoyment: 7
Full disclosure: I only read this book to fulfill a prompt of reading your best friend's favorite book. We have very different tastes when it comes to the books we enjoy and I had low expectations. Those were even too high. This book was a dumpster fire. I found it completely unrealistic and nothing happened. There were way too many characters who I couldn't keep track of and I all were described exactly the same. And for a group of misfits, the team was a bunch of jerks to everyone for no apparent reason. This book suffered a lot from lack of explanation and just telling me what was happening rather than giving any backstory to the characters. I will no be continuing with this series.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 1
Atmosphere: 4
Writing: 4
Plot: 3
Intrigue: 2
Logic: 1
Enjoyment: 1
This was a very interesting topic but I found it very dense and hard to read at times. I'm someone who likes to read large chunks of a book at a time and I found myself only reading this for an hour or so before I was bored and wanted to read something else. I rarely if ever read non-fiction books so I'm sure that had something to do with it.
I really enjoyed this installment and it is probably one of my favorites so far. I think it is the book that really expands the entire Luxen/human world and we see the true nature of what the gang are up against. I also appreciated that JLA did such a good job of showing the horrors of what was happening to the characters but also their love for each other keeping them grounded as they plotted to get away. She also kept it real by not having everyone make it out alive which is important in terms of believability. I'm super curious to see how this series wraps up in the final installment.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 7
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 10
Plot: 9
Intrigue: 9
Logic: 6
Enjoyment: 10
This was an interesting book. I loved how when Andra woke up the language was different for her and we got to see that as well. I found it harder to understand at first (especially because I did audio and couldn't see the words), but like Andra, by the end of the book, I could easily understand.
In terms of the plot, it was an interesting premise and by about two-thirds into the book, I was annoyed with some of the cliche aspects that came into what I had thought to be a unique plot. But then I got to the end and I was not at all expecting that so overall I enjoyed this book. I did not connect with the characters and would have liked more world-building but overall it was a solid read.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 6
Atmosphere: 6
Writing: 9
Plot: 7
Intrigue: 8
Logic: 6
Enjoyment: 8
2020 Update:
I totally forogt how this one ends and I'm glad I decided to reread the first 3 books before continuing on and finishing the series. This one has so many ups and downs.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 7
Atmosphere: 5
Writing: 8
Plot: 9
Intrigue: 8
Logic: 6
Enjoyment: 9
I don't know why it took me so long to read this book. I've read the first two in the series in the beginning of the summer and really enjoyed them. But I finally got to this one and it did not disappoint. The majority of this book was the preparation for the showdown and the saving of Beth and Chris. Katy, Daemon, and the other Luxen were all preparing for breaking the others out.
First off let me just say how much I hate both Will and Blake. I know they are the antagonists and part of the DOD problem. But they are just horrible individuals who ruin everyone's happiness. And throughout this whole book, I wanted my gut feeling about Blake to be wrong. It bothered me that they had this sort of truce with him about breaking into the DOD facility.
Daemon and Katy are so perfect with each other. I absolutely love their interactions. I love that Katy is still a strong, independent character. She does not need Daemon to save her. While he is overly protective of her, he still respects her wishes and still lets her make her own decisions about helping them. I really appreciate how they respect and work with each other, it is refreshing to other novels.
Overall, I really enjoyed this 3rd book and with that ending, I really cannot wait to read Origin. I must know what happens to Katy and how everyone deals with the aftermath of this book.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 8
Atmosphere: 5
Writing: 8
Plot: 3
Intrigue: 4
Logic: 7
Enjoyment: 4
I loved this series, but this conclusion is a major letdown. The series was always Jamie's story and I liked that is mirrored the Sherlock Holmes books in that we saw the story through Watson's eyes rather than Holmes's eyes. Book 3 was a mix of Charlotte and Jamie and I enjoyed that, but this book was all Charlotte and I did not like not seeing Jamie's perspective of everything happening. I also found the mystery less exciting than in previous installments.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 8
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 7
Plot: 9
Intrigue: 9
Logic: 6
Enjoyment: 10
My favorite of the series so far. All the characters had a lot of growth and the story exploded beyond just what happens at St. Vladimir's. Rose spent a lot of time in Russia and took the journey she needed to get closure after what happened in Shadow Kiss.
