Sarah
A strangely tedious tale. Finished only because I don't like to give up on books unless they're truly terrible, and I hoped the satire impression of the first few chapters would come back... but nope.
Inspiring, I have looked up native plants around me now and tbh I don't care about gardening other than wanting to make sure there's butterfly/bee attractors here, plus maybe some basic veggies. (I heard far too many rants about everything nature-related from MIL, who bragged about being as organic as possible, and her approach to all of life was “everyone but myself is an idiot” - it quickly became difficult to care about sharing her interests or trying to help her change her opinions, so this is not a book I was expecting to like.)
Didn't care about any characters. possibly the most misleading title ever. finished reading only because I kept thinking something interesting had to happen eventually, but no, that was a mistake.
Started out interesting but became hard to read after it swerved from the original premise of the dating-and-trying-to-be-ready-for-love memoir to lots about spiritual exploration that reminded me of listening to hazy drunken movie reviews. Finished reading but wished I hadn't - it's very tedious after the first third.
This wasn't creepy, just boring unless unsurprising plot twists shoehorned in please you. Began to suspect halfway through he was somehow getting paid by the word/short chapter. Would've given 0 stars if it was possible.
Cozy whodunnit that was a lot of fun. Seems hard to followup with another, but I'm eager for more set there.
This was better than I'd expected and surprisingly worked as a Shakespeare adaptation. (The “Montague” fake name touch was cute.) The main characters were fleshed out, I appreciate the differences in how Juliette and Roma were raised and how they'd rather be leading, if it seemed like there was much hope of achieving changes.
It's not really a gay retelling of Arthurian legend, it's just set in a world where that all truly happened. This was pretty funny and light-hearted and cute and mocking each other for flirting, with a hopeful ending. And I love friendships where there's shortcuts for schemes, like “diversion 1.5.”
I would like another book to update what happens next with these characters and trying to make their England a better place.
The injuries were described in more detail than was maybe necessary, that felt a little out of the blue, but otherwise, fun read.
Interesting at first, but became really repetitive and felt thinner and thinner on historical basis. Disappointing.
really interesting premise til about halfway through, then it became a little silly and felt too contrived for The Thrillzzzz label.
Really interesting setting and I loved the shifting POV to make sure each woman gets input and a voice way beyond their original stories. Now I just need time to get to the sequels...
This was surprisingly fascinating for a book with such a harsh, flawed main character who knows herself. It's dark and witty, and the Arcadia Project's reason for seeking out the mentally ill to recruit is super troubling, but I'll likely read the next book.
I hadn't dealt with anyone with BPD in rl until recently so the running internal explanations of how she reacts to something, and trying to remember and apply therapy, was pretty interesting. (Would have been nice if the rl acquaintances had tried even half as hard.) Millie isn't her illness, she's human, and the book makes that clear - which is tough to do well.
Probably this is more fun if you like romantasy more than I do.
I enjoy stories with two POV but there was no signal for who was the focus of each new chapter - which was fine while it was usually trading off with each new chapter, but then got a tad jarring when it switched to longer passages from each perspective.
I liked the snarkiness and enemies to lovers trope is fine, but the prince just seems dumb for not figuring out her identity sooner. The romance itself seemed slapped on because of course there had to be romance, not fleshed out so it'd be believable. It dragged by the middle, I nearly DNF'd.
Graphic but empowering, I'm looking forward to more from this author. I don't have much patience for the “guy goes on a rampage of revenge because a girl got harmed” storyline; girls managing to take care of their own revenge and taking care of each other is so much better.
I received an ARC for review and it was slow and painful to read, due to the medical horrors of the subject and because it is not chronologically organized. When I finally finished it, I read through the intro again - which had excited me in the first place, since Hallman said he was aiming to increase the amount known about Anarcha herself and not focusing on Sims... and in the ARC, at least, he failed at that goal. I could not tell if he forgot that plan or if he just did not have enough information about her and over-promised. He did not glorify Sims, he portrays Sims as a fairly terrible and arrogant man, but he did not focus on Anarcha even remotely as much as he'd said he would. I have no interest in reading the released version to see if it's better - or in reading anything more from Hallman.
If you want beautiful phrases about viscera and music and gore in your fairytale retellings, this is the book for you. (Which is not a sentence I'd expected to type.) I need to read a lot more from this author, and soon.
Bluebeard elements with twisted Adam & Eve? (Well, Adam before Eve, sorta.) Excellent. This was interesting and unsettling.
I really appreciated having both the retellings and the originals in the same volume - I wasn't familiar with all of the original stories, so reading through those afterwards was fun. The robber bridegroom update was my favorite.
Update after reading the sequel - went from 4 stars to 2.25 on this. I wish I'd skipped the duology. The writing itself was interesting enough I'll try another book later.
Interesting debut. I liked this enough to go straight into the sequel, but if I hadn't waited until the sequel was out and there was any delay, I don't think I would have gone on. I wasn't that interested in Ouyang - sympathetic and glad when he got revenge, but just wasn't interested in that storyline; I liked Zhu Chongba better before the sudden promotion to army commanding, though the decisions were still interesting. I know nothing about the history this is based on, but it was still interesting enough to keep me reading - though, again, I don't think I'd go on to the sequel if it wasn't already out, based on this.
I liked the setting of holidays as different cultures, but this couldn't decide if it wanted to be a rom-com or political/royal intrigue or musings on family trauma and support systems. It was fun, but the romance was serious really fast, kinda off-puttingly so, and it definitely is aiming at a sequel rather than feeling like matters are resolved even a little for Christmas.
Interesting magic premise though I'd hope for more description in the next book. Wasn't much of a surprise that the soul magic was tainted, considering that it's getting used to execute people in a rather twisted way. I enjoyed the adventure overall and the reveal of how much the king had been lying about wasn't a surprise but it was still handled well.
I liked the mermaid and pirate especially.
Spooky, atmospheric, mysterious. Read it on a cold, very windy night... hopefully without wolves near!
Oddly sweet though dark. I love the “sleeping villain is for everyone else's good” idea.
Still a fun read; first read it 3 years ago so I'm surprised it still kept my attention. The “let me write something close to what I'm accidentally involved in” storyline is extra silly, I'll have to read more and see if that keeps up.