Janee

3 stars. I wasn't really blown away by the atmosphere or the romance. The plot was incredibly confusing with Mina forming and breaking a red string of fate several times throughout and it's not explained why until about 3 chapters before the ending. And even the explanation was clunky and left me with unanswered questions. At many points in the story I felt like we were kicking the narrative down the road instead of learning anything about what Mina is supposed to do to save her people. The romance was sweet and quiet but it's not given much time to breathe because we have so many other narrative elements and secrets to figure out. Also, Mina is 16 during the main events of the story and her love interest is immortal so it's a little gross and I feel bad for rooting for them. The book does have studio Ghibli vibes but I felt the execution of the plot was poor.

3 very sad stars. I love Holmberg's writing style and I've given 5 stars to every other book I've read from her but this one wasn't doing it for me. And they're sad stars because Star Mother has been on my TBR forever and I was really looking forward to it.

Part of my dislike was because this book has a strong theme of motherhood and what it feels like to yearn for your child. I am not a mother so I couldn't relate to Ceris' all consuming feelings about her star. She is constantly talking about her star, thinking about her star, singing to it, wanting to be near it and as someone who doesn't have a kid I got tired of hearing about her star after a while.

I also found Ceris herself to be a little boring. I thought that I liked her until I met Ristriel then I spent the rest of the novel wishing the book was about him instead. He was just so much more interesting than Ceris in my opinion.

Nothing that interesting happens in the book which is saying something because there is a literal war between gods happening IN THE BACKGROUND! The book is more of a character study so don't go into this book thinking that you're going to see some epic action scenes.

The love story was okay. I can believe that Ceris and Ris fall in love over their long journey together, but Sato loving Ceris was pointless. I also didn't understand why. The only thing Ceris did was ask questions so the reader can understand what's going on and survive the birth of her star and then Sato was in love?


Major plot spoilers below here!!!!


Deeply disliked the last 3-4 chapters. What is the point of setting up this love story if the main couple has to be separated for many years before they can be together? And I understand Ceris wanted to spare the other Star Mothers and she was living with Sato for a long time but why did they need to have more kids together? Again, why establish an OTP if you're going to have the other man live with/ be in love with/ have MORE kids with the woman before she goes off to be with her true love? I know their gods and they don't care but she was basically cheating on Ris for 348 years! THAT HOE DIDN'T EVEN MAKE IT A DECADE BEFORE SHE WENT CRAWLING TO SATO FOR AFFECTION!!! And then that bullshit at the end with Ceris saying she grew to love Sato but Ris was her true love so she had to go to him?! WHY ARE YOU EVEN IN LOVE WITH ANOTHER MAN IF YOU SUPPOSEDLY LOVE RIS?! That just doesn't make sense to me. It felt like Ceris was in love with Sato out of convenience because he was nice to her and she was stuck in his palace waiting for her real husband for 351 years. Just dumb.

It ended a little abruptly but I loved it. It was queer, light horror.

DNF @ 6%. Its got that immature writing style typical of YA that I cannot stand. The main character is “so clumsy, so loud (how unbecoming of a servant girl), just the most average girl in the whole village, and her mother ran off, and her poor father the inn keeper doesn't know what to do with her!” So she's the generic protagonist of every “average teenager goes on a magical adventure or is the chosen one” YA novel. The author was doing a lot of lore dumping and info dumping about spirits and legends in this book rather than gradual world building. I typically like a spunky main character who doesn't fit societies mold but this was just written so heavy handed that I found Miyuko more annoying than anything. This book is just not for me personally.

Once again, YA has done me dirty. You offer me a book with a great premise but instead I get mediocrity.

DNF @ 13%. I've tried to read this twice and as soon as I pick it up I just don't like it. So first DNF of 2023!

I'm giving it 4.5 stars and I loved this novel. It's atmospheric horror with sprinklings of gore in several chapters so be warned if you're not into that.

Some reviewers found the story slow, but the plot had my attention throughout so I would disagree with them. The author does a great job of having moments of levity in the novel even though strange, scary, and unsettling things are happening in the town in basically every chapter. I loved the romance between Whittaker and Elerie and I loved the twist within their side story. Overall, I think the novel had an appropriate amount of drama, romance, horror, and hopefulness for it to earn my 4.5 star rating.

My only complaint is that I think there should be an epilogue. The story ends after so much chaos has passed in the last few chapters that it feels a little abrupt. I would have liked to see what happened to the group after things calmed down. However, all my important questions were answered in the end and I was very satisfied and a little surprised at how things ended.

Warning, there is tentacle sex in this book. So if you're not into weird anatomy and paranormal sex maybe stay clear of this one. I'm trash so I thought it made the book more interesting.

DNF @ 9%. I'm trying to be more committed to DNF-ing as soon as I know a book isn't for me and this one is just not for me. Even after her father's death and her discovering there is something going on with this map I still don't feel the mystery and tension building. I can't bring myself to care about the storyline and from what I've read of other reviewers I don't think that feeling will improve. The plot synopses sounded fun but I was completely bored the whole first 4 chapters and just decided to give up. I don't even care enough to skip to the last few chapters and find out what happens at the end. 1/5 stars for just being uninteresting.

I read this with friends a while ago for a joke and it was....something. I had a great time making fun of it but it's also clear it was written as a satire of typical erotic fiction so I don't want to be too harsh. It's still not good at all. Not even in a “so bad it's good” way. The main character is a sex crazed “scientist” who has some very disturbing inner dialogue and I hate her. I gave it 2 stars because it's very short, thank god, and I did laugh a handful of times. Would not recommend as it's written to make you uncomfortable.

It's a delightful story. A magical whodunnit that kept me intrigued. I love the way the magic system is built and I love the growth the couple go through.

I loved it. It's got queer representation so that's always a big plus for me. And I think it's a gentle and beautiful story about death, grieving, and doing the most with our lives while we have the chance.

I picked it up because I was intrigued by the exorcist aspect plus a possible romance. I DNF'd at only 8% which is sad. It's not that the book isn't good either. I'm giving it 3 stars more because I think other people will like it but it wasn't for me. The book was just a bit of a downer. I'm sure it gets better as you keep going but where I left off our protagonist has just escaped a rough life on the streets, and a former abusive mentor who kicked her out and now she is in a haunted mansion that has a mean staff and distant (possibly crazy) employer. It's written well and has a POC protagonist but it's just not what I was looking for.

DNF @ 9%. The description made it seem like it would be about whimsical adventures in a library but it's not. It's about a depressed women who is unsatisfied with her life and decides she's had enough of living. Then she goes into a mystical library to see if she would've been happier if her life panned out differently. If she had made different decisions would she finally be happy? Obviously not.

I had to DNF because oof this was just not for me. The main character is kind of unlikable because she's so mopey and dissatisfied with her life. And I simply cannot relate to her obsession with redoing her regrets in life. It was getting too preachy for me and I wasn't that interested in finishing. But I'm happy that this book resonated with some people or helped someone get through a tough time.

Loved it! I love a story that does a reimagining of history and this was so fun and interesting. It's got magic, it's got strong female leads (yes, multiple), it's got humor, it has a sapphic romance. So much here to love!

A perfectly fine werewolf/ warlock romance. At some points I felt that there was backstory we were missing but it didn't affect my understanding of the overall plot. And there was some miscommunication that I didn't love. 3 stars overall. Honestly, I picked this up because it said it had knotting as a trope. I'm preparing to buddy read Bride by Ali Hazelwood and I know that book has knotting as well. I wanted to get a feel for it and I've I gotta say...it's not my thing.

Beautifully written but overall a little bit boring. I almost DNF'd this one because the plot was really dragging so I decided to skip over a large section in the middle and go strait to end because I wanted to know what the wrap up was. Maybe that will disqualify my rating in some peoples eyes. However, even though I skipped over a lot I don't feel like I missed anything because everything is wrapped up and explained in the last chapters. And that made me think, if I can skip a large section of the middle and the story basically didn't change for me then what is the point of sitting through the whole book? I also found I couldn't relate to Addie and didn't feel sorry for her at all so that was why I skipped over a lot. Much of what I read is Addie having the same type of interactions with people who won't remember her and it drags because of that. Addie doesn't really do anything except pity her own situation and float aimlessly from one place to another and it got old quickly.

4.5 stars. I loved it but there were times I wanted to jump inside the book and slap Dani for being so obtuse to her own feelings. But this was a mostly light hearted and very cute read. Loved everything about Zafir as a love interest as well.

Solid 3 stars. I really enjoyed it but there were two 11th hour conflicts that really annoyed me. I would've preferred if everything went to shit at about the 70% mark and then we get a slower buildup of the couple reconciling and then living happily ever after. Instead we get a massive conflict bomb that drops 4 chapters before the book ends and then everything is hastily tidied up and there's no epilogue. I wanted to see more of Jamie and Laurie living their happily ever after! Their relationship throughout the novel was 95% pinning (which was great) but that left no room for me to see them just being happy together. And we didn't even get a sex scene! I wasn't looking for smut or anything graphic but if the whole book everyone is talking about what a stud Jamie is supposed to be then I would've liked one scene where we actually get to see the bedroom chemistry between Jamie and Laurie! Also, the book has a lot of very British humor and as an American I found a lot of the banter and references were going over my head.

3.5 stars. It was a very enjoyable book; however, parts of it felt like a we were along on a wild goose chase with the main characters. And someone marries their first cousin by the end which is a little gross, but it was written in the 1920s so I'm not totally surprised.

I don't know what to think about this one. It was confusing as hell.

Edit after thinking on it some more

So the book starts off pretty good because there's a lot of mystery around Augustine's house and body horror. But once we find out what secrets Augustine had been hiding from Jane the book takes a weird turn into magic and the story kind of fizzles out. There are long sections of the book where Jane is basically just torturing herself doing this “research” and she's turning into an awful person all while doing it. And that plot twist with the ghosts that came at the end really threw me for a loop. I still don't understand if the spooky things in the house were real ghosts or were they demons or maybe something else? I'm still confused but I was also skimming chapters towards the end. 3/5 for a strong start, good enough middle, and an okay ending.

This was not as much of a slam dunk as Switch Hitter was for me but I still enjoyed it. Overall, the main issue I have with this book is that it's the first novel in a series and it feels like it's being weighed down by the other stories the author wants to tell. Derek and Basil are the couple for this novel but there is significant focus on what will become Sam and Niko's story in a future installment. We were also getting a bit too much of Sage's backstory in my opinion. Very slow burn romance between Derek and Basil with them not actually getting together until about 60% in. I rate is 3/5 stars and I don't know if I'll continue with the series at this time.

I'd give this book 3.5 stars. I found Hannah to be a little irritating in this installment to be honest. It's fine that she has grand fantasies about what she wants her life to be like, but we all know the truth. She's in her 20's and has no suitors, her mother is un-dead, and her father is devoted to finding a cure to this disease. She's not exactly an eligible young lady but she acts as if marrying Wycliff is a fate worse than death. I don't see anyone else lining up to court you honey. Like girl, get off your high horse. You've lived with this man for several months now and he treats you and your family with respect but you're acting like he's some scoundrel whose after your family's land and money. She was just acting a bit childishly in my opinion for someone who could literally end up on the streets if her father died and she wasn't married.

Another problem I have is the pacing of these novels. I noticed that in the first novel and this novel the mystery was hastily unfolded and wrapped up in the last 20%. while the first 80% was a slow introduction of characters and some of the facts. Both times I reached a point where I thought “why is everything suddenly happening now when I only have about 14% of the book left?” I will continue reading the series for now because I want to learn more about Wycliff's condition and hopefully things get a little better in the next book.

Giving this three stars because it was enjoyable enough. The first half of the book is really cute but the second half devolves into petty family/ relationship drama mixed in with Malcom and Vivian having sex. I started to get uninterested at around the 66% mark. Vivian is great and at first her interactions with Malcolm are also great but something changes in the second half. Once she starts staying with him in London for those few days he's turns into an asshole on more than one occasion and it's frustrating. The language started to get repetitive towards the second half as well. I wish I had the kindle edition so I could highlight every time she writes “They looked at each other and laughed” or “She couldn't remember the last time she had ...”

Also, for two people who are both in their 60s they are so indecisive and secretive about their feelings. Surely once you've reached that age you care less about being polite and are more willing to just go for things you want right? Yet, there are several frustrating instances where neither person will admit to what they actually want so both parties just end up being mad at each other. Overall, I think this would've worked better as a novella. Cut out all the stuff about Malcom's nephew going to art college (also what's so bad about wanting to be artist Malcom!? Why do you have such disdain for artists?) and just have cute dates around London where the main conflict is that Vivian has to go back to California in one week.

Loved every second of this book and I did get misty eyed at some of the parts with the children and Linus.

The ending felt a little bit rushed to me but overall very enjoyable and I will continue with the series.