Sarah
This book was a pretty good start of this new debut series, though I think there are definitely some points to work on for the author.
It started really slow, absolutely nothing interesting happens in the first 100 pages and nothing was explained. The MC kept saying “before Pompeii” or “after Pompeii” but if you don't know what happens in Pompeii (both in real life and in the book) it's hard to understand. Only after those initial 100 pages we got the explanation of what happend and how, which was honestly a little frustrating.
This book uses mandarin mythology, which was interesting, but again; confusing. Certain terms were not at all explained, leaving me to either Google it or just roll with it.
Those two points aside, I think it was a really enjoyable and short read. The writing style felt like reading a diary or journal, and helped connecting to the main character, and after the halfway mark it definitely got more interesting; things finally got explained or cleared up, and finally things started happening.
Overall, I enjoyed it, but wouldn't recommend if you're still dipping your toes into fantasy for the first time.
~3⭐️
Well. That was a wild ride.
I found this book in a video where someone said that the first person to recommend Fourth Wing had also recommended this book, so I quickly added it and went on. When I wanted to look for books to read this December, I remember being really exited to start it so put it on my list. When starting it I didn't feel that exited anymore, and especially after reading the first 9%. It left me confused and kinda bored, but that quickly changed.
I absolutely loved the twists, the relationships, the memories and everything that came after those first 9%. It felt like I flew through it. It felt like one chapter took 3 minutes, while in fact I had already been reading for more then an hour.
Keeping in mind that this is a slow burn and I usually HATE slow burns, this was absolutely amazing. It took 90% to get to the small section of romance in this book, but I didn't hate to wait for it. Usually I feel like the romance should not take that long to make an appearance, but I absolutely loved it in this book.
The only thing I didn't like here was the fact that, even after those initial first 9%, I still had a lot of moments where is was confused. Might be because I'm not natively English and was to stubborn to Google half of the words, but the some parts of the plot where slightly confusing sometimestoo.
My mind is all over the place right now, so this is a rant review for now, might change it later.
~4.5⭐️
Assassins, romance AND a murder mystery? Sign me up!
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Starting this book, I already had sky high expectations thanks to the hype on Booktok, which made me a little hesitant to pick it up. But OH BOY am I glad that I did!
The characters were well developed, with each their own flaws and motivations. Especially Lady Kaltain and Princess Nehemia were really interesting characters to me, as they both started of quit mysterious.
Celeana felt rather flat at first, but I feel like she quickly redeemed herself. I loved how, even though she is an assassin and ruthless and deadly and all, she still loved ‘girly' things like just dressing up in beautiful gowns and balls and parties. Celeana felt like the fun, reckless older sister I dreamed of as a child.
The murder mystery has me on the edge of my seat each chapter, overanalysing every word and action to figure it out. Ofcourse, I didn't, but that didn't take away the enjoyability of the book.
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My mind is all over the place right now, so I'll probably edit this review later on.
~ 4,75 ⭐️
I absolutely loved it but feel like it's the exact same plot as ACOTAR. (First two books included in this too.)
First, she gets taken away by a man, who keeps her locked up. She falls in love with the ‘bad guy' who turns out to be her mate. The kidnapper guy comes to take her back, but she comes back again and marry. Then there is war, they win.
I still absolutely loved this series though. Every book was short enough to read in a few days, and they were very easy to follow.
This third book was slightly boring, since in more then half of the book its the same every chapter, but the last few chapters did save it for me.
~3.5⭐️
I picked this one up because I needed a light, fun and overall short book to get me back into the reading spirit, and I need to say that this book did its job pretty good!
I have never read a book that focused solely on romance, since I'm more of a fantasy girl, but I still really enjoyed it! Lucas and Kate's romance was cute and funny, which occasionally had me giggling.
The writing style was from only Kate's POV, which I honestly really liked, but for anyone who would like to read the bonus chapter with Lukas's POV, that scene is available on the authors website.
The story was funny, showing all the favourite book tropes, such as the fake dating trope (I know, surprising) and the one bed trope.
Sometimes Kate really had the “I'm not like other girls” kind of energy, which annoyed me a little, but in my opinion that was quite easily forgotten.
Overal I really enjoyed the book, and will need to check out more romance books
~ 4 ⭐️
Idk I expected more I think. The ending wasn't surprising but ig it was a nice easy story
I absolutely hated this book the first time I picked it up (about 2/3 years ago I guess) but I'm glad that I have picked it up again.
The writing was a bit annoying at some points, since Juliette was constantly whining about anything, though this can be overlooked, because I really enjoyed the plot which got me hooked and made me want to keep reading.
Every time I started reading it was slightly hard to get in to, but after the first few chapters it became a lot better and much more interesting.
~ 3.5 ⭐️
The beginning was a bit slow and I completely forgot this was supposed to be a Christmas novella, but it was really cute so 3,75 stars
I cannot explain how much I enjoyed this book.
It may not be for everyone, especially the fact they're all constantly horny for each other which some people don't like, but it didn't bother me personally.
The book was never boring, thank the universe it wasn't. I wanted to try and finish as many of my in-the-middle-of-reading books, so I kinda needed to force myself and read most of this book in around 3/4 days, but it was still very much enjoyable!
I'll be impatiently waiting for the next book
Not a lot has changed since halfway through, the plot only got twice as boring. Still think it was fun in the first half though
~3⭐️
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Im halfway through right now, and honestly, I'm liking this book way more then I think I should. I mean, sure the writing is not extremely good, but it isn't extremely bad either? The banter and sarcastic answers from both the FMC and the MMC are funny and nice to read.
But where is the plot? It's just a whole lot of “I hate you but I'd still fuck you” energy and sometimes the MMC decides to be good and actually do something decent.
Also, what's with the MMC hating so hard on the FMC's food obsession? And why does she eat so much EVERY SINGLE DAY and still be ‘weighting next to nothing' which is quite literally said in the book. I mean I know it's possible for some people to be able to eat a lot and still not gain weight but this just sounds a bit weird?
Also, these authors are either Christians or REALLY old-fashioned. They keep acting as if being a mother is the literal sole purpose the the FMC's life, and it's stated so many times! I mean like, sure in the beginning of the book it's stated that her parent and the rest of her village are Christians, but why is it portrayed as her sole purpose in life? It's literally her only dream in her entire life, like what?
Also, what the fuck is this?
“When Romeo came in my mouth, I'd saved some of his semen under my tongue. I read somewhere that sperm could still survive in the mouth, provided it remained in its gel-like form. It did. When I dashed into my room to spit it into a mouthwash cup, I figured I could try to get pregnant. But leaning against my sink, observing the white thing swimming in the small cup, something prevented me from doing it. My morals, maybe.”
Thank god that she has morals. What the fuck.
Would rate it around 3.5 stars right now, since I do love reading it, but it's still weird.