laur gluchie
Listen. I do not read Red Tower books expecting quality. It's just an unfortunate fact that the writing in this was just so poor and amateurish that I was in disbelief that this was an actual print book I was reading and not some random Kindle Unlimited fodder with a man's bare chest on the cover. However, what editing this book lacks, it makes up for an attempt in storytelling. Key words here being: an attempt.
Firstly, I can tolerate the comparison to A Darker Shade of Magic, but I have a bone to pick with everyone who compared this to Six of Crows. News flash: not every book that features a thief needs to be comped to Six of Crows just because it's the most hyped-up heist book out there. It set this book— and many others with this comp— at unrealistic expectations, and it affects my personal reading experience. So please, kindly, stop!
Okay so. The writing. Yikes. Reading this felt like reading a first draft, or an amateur fanfiction. You know the common writer saying, “show, don't tell”? Yeah, well this author does a fuck-ton of telling and not showing. “Kierse did this,” “Graves did this,” “Then, Kierse did this,” “Then this happened.” “Finally, Graves did this.” It was so hard to read at points that I just started skimming. There were these ✨ moments of brilliance ✨ though, scenes here and there that actually started to make this seem like a well-put together story, but it would quickly lose itself to that basic, boring telling again. To me, this felt like a lack of skill and creativity, with everything being made so obvious, like I was reading an informative textbook rather than a fictional story.
Beyond that, there were also a lot of inconsistencies in the writing. For example, the author reveals that Graves is a warlock in chapter 14 on page 92, a species Kierse was unaware of prior to their conversation. However, Kierse calls him a warlock in the previous chapter on page 88. There are so many instances like this, to the point where I literally doubt that this book had an editor at all during the publication process.
Another thing, the names of the people and places? I mean, come on. The main characters names are Kierse, Graves, Lorcan, all fine and dandy for a paranormal fantasy novel. But then the side characters names are all Ethan, George, Nate, Gregory, etc. Like, where did the creativity go? Pick a side, go with fantasy or modern names. It's upsetting when you can tell a character's importance in the story just based on their name alone. Also, the location names had no creativity at all. The Holly Library. The Five Points. The Third Floor. It's all so conventional and unrealistic, I was at the point of laughing because this is some of the most outrageous shit I've read all year.
My final writing complaint: the romance— and this one might get me side-eyed a bit. In my ever most humble opinion, Kierse and Graves had more of a found family-type, mentor/mentee or even parent/child connection, and their romance came completely out of left field. When I first started reading, I was wondering if maybe I had read the synopsis wrong and Kierse's love interest was actually supposed to be Lorcan? Because the relationship between her and Graves did not seem like it was steering in that direction at all until it very abruptly did, and I was a bit weirded out if I'm being honest.
As for the storytelling, I have to give Linde some credit. The story, at its base, had the potential to be something great— it's the execution that fails it. I would've loved this story had the planning, writing, and editing been up to par; a modern-day paranormal fantasy, with monsters and humans living in uneasy harmony, with a Beauty and the Beast-inspired romance? Sounds like my dream novel. I'm just so disappointed that it had been published like this.
Entangled Publishing (Red Tower's parent publisher), I'm begging you: the pretty covers are nice but PLEASE hire editors for your books. If this book had anything beyond beta readers or a line editor, this probably wouldn't be half as bad as it is. And the thing is, I'm not even mad, I'm just ironically amused. That's the main reason I didn't DNF this, as well as the receipt for this book saying that the return due date was literally the day before I started reading this so I was like “this must be fate” lmao. Lowkey I wanna read Sanctuary of the Shadow now for shits n giggles because if this one was that bad...
(Also, I don't think that this is entirely K.A. Linde's fault, and I'm still interested in giving her Ascension series and Royal Houses series a shot at some point, probably not anytime soon though. Her non-Red Tower books seemingly have more of a positive reception, so I'm hopeful that her next venture isn't as unsatisfactory as this one.)
TL;DR: Pretty cover syndrome strikes again, concept was cool but execution was shit, it's so bad it's funny and I want to give it a zero but I can't so I give it a one, and another one of my bookish rants is now over.
It's taken me almost a decade to finish The Lunar Chronicles, mainly because of this book. I had believed this to be a bridging novella between Cress and Winter, and I honestly did not care about Levana enough to read this when I first read books one through three. However, upon actually forcing myself to read this just now, I have discovered that it is a prequel and not required reading, to which I say: why did nobody tell me this before?? I could've saved like an hour of my time and finished this series years ago. Man.
3.5 Stars
I'm really sad, because I really wanted to enjoy this considering it's my first Ann Liang book (an author I've heard nothing but great things about). Unfortunately, this didn't start clicking with me until around the 70-80% mark, and I believe the reasoning to be in part the writing style, and in part that this felt more like contemporary fiction than contemporary romance— which I was not expecting. I still want to give Liang's other books a try though, as their synopses all sound very intriguing.
ok, this was no literary masterpiece, but it was a helluva lot of fun.
i know how to go into a Red Tower book: by completely reducing my expectations to zero, or simply just expecting a mediocre but fun story... and that's exactly what Assistant To The Villain is. it's a cringey office rom-com but set in a medieval world that you can very much tell was written by a millennial. i loved every second of it, so much so that i read it in just two sittings. i need the sequel now tho. like right now. <3
4.5 Stars
Unpopular opinion, maybe: I did not like Celia, and I feel like she tried really hard to ruin this book for me. Her expectations of and for Evelyn were unrealistic and toxic, and it soured what was supposed to be this beautiful queer romance in a time before true acceptance. It's the reason why I gave this book four-point-five stars instead of five.
I did like most everything else though, especially the lifelong friendship between Evelyn and Harry, and the twist at the end was unexpectedly brilliant. I'm excited to read more of TJR's works!
Compared to Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series, this was extremely disappointing. I felt like this would've worked better as a middle grade novel. The story was bland and too fast-paced, the characters were not characterized well, and the writing was more juvenile than expected, especially compared to the Gallagher Girls books.
I'll be honest, when I first tried Choosing Theo earlier this year, I did not like it. I couldn't get into the author's writing style, and I ended up DNF-ing it early on. However, I decided to give it a second chance today, and I'm really glad I did. Once I got used to the author's writing style, somewhere around the 25% mark, I found myself enjoying this greatly. Very reminiscent of the Ice Planet Barbarians series.
Ember of Night was good in the way that Tracy Wolff's Crave was good; in that trashy, borderline chick-lit kinda way. Though I will say, I enjoyed Crave much more.
This book had a slower build-up and was a bit harder to get into, it had some of your basic paranormal tropes including the “super special chosen one.” The way some of the characters and aspects were described wasn't all that vivid. Also, the way Draven (his name is a whole issue in itself) kept calling Harley “honey badger” was such an ick, sorry. However, it was an enjoyable read overall... even though the epilogue revealing that Harley is the antichrist gives me icky vibes and now I don't really want to read the next book anymore lol.
[Listened to the audiobook narrated by Lola Tung.]
i hope belly and conrad get divorced <3
ok but deadass i have to applaud jenny han for writing the most unrealistic ya contemporary romance of all time. i loved her “to all the boys” series, but the fact that she was capable of something like this... damn. like she fully went balls-to-the-wall with this last one, from the jeremiah 180 with his everlasting yearning n' pining in book 2 to him cheating outta no-fuckin-where, to the sudden marriage plot (and everyone thinking belly is pregnant- no pun intended), to belly still having the mentality of a 5 year old. love it (ironically).
[Listened to the audiobook narrated by Lola Tung.]
2.5 Stars
all of these children need therapy good god.
lowkey i think belly reminds me of that lovesick bitch panini and conrad is just chowder screaming “I'M NOT YOUR BOYFRIEND” over and over and over and over and
u get my point.
been binge-watching chowder recently and it's a bit concerning that the only way i've been able to comprehend these books are in chowder references.
Listen, I love Ali Hazelwood. Reading one of her books is always a pleasure. But with Check & Mate being her first foray into the young adult genre, this definitely has a different tone than the rest of her novels. It has more of a focus on the teen “coming-of-age” plot than the romance, which I'd argue that her adult works have it the other way around. Also, I personally prefer her STEM stories over this, or Bride. Overall, though, an enjoyable read.
As Good As Dead is the best and darkest book of the series, fight me.
Pip has become a completely different girl from the first book, and I both loved and hated that, especially when it came to her drug usage. Ravi is at his peak in this book (I love him sm), and the suspense is better than ever. I genuinely can't believe the direction this story went in, and even more that they got away with it. There were times where I worried that Pip or Ravi would be found out and arrested, but Pip is just so smart I love her so much oh my goddd. It literally took me six hours to read this, it was so good.
And oh my god, that ending?? Holly Jackson, I need an epilogue novella where Pip and Ravi reunite, please GIVE IT TO ME NOW!!!
A fun, kinda silly and dramatic novella, and Pip's origin story, that essentially explains why she picked the Andie Bell case in the first book. It also has a bit of foreshadowing for the first two books as well (more the first than the second). It's a nice little palate cleanser between the dark book two and what I assume will be the even darker book three.
4.5 Stars
Compared to the first book, this was dark. And I think I liked it?
While I loved both, I definitely prefer the first book. The twists in this one were slightly more predictable and I caught on a little bit earlier than intended. Still, Holly Jackson has this very suspenseful, cinematic writing style that makes me just love the story no matter what. I can only wonder how dark As Good As Dead will be... I can't wait. For now though, I'm going to read the novella since it was released between books two and three.
[Listened to the audiobook narrated by Tituss Burgess.]
When I was a little girl, I was obsessed with The Wizard of Oz. It was one of the only films I would watch, along with Shrek, the 1991 Alice In Wonderland, Annie, and the live-action Cat In The Hat... for some reason. Anyways, this has been a long time coming.
Despite its discrepancies with the 1939 film, I loved this. It felt so nostalgic to me, even though I'd never read it before. It was a short, simple, and sweet story that has lived with me for a long time and still will. Definitely worth the many years of dressing up as Dorothy for Halloween.
4.5 Stars
Wow. Okay. That was awesome.
Some of you may had seen my update at about the 20% mark, in which I said, “ten chapters in and I don't think this is really clicking for me :(( gonna keep reading a little longer and see if it gets any better.” Well, I think the universe has a very funny sense of humor, because in the following two chapters after I posted that update is when Pip finds her first ominous, threatening note. It was very hard to put this book down after that.
I haven't read many mysteries in my lifetime, especially ones in the young adult genre, but in my experience with the only one I can think of at the moment— E. Lockhart's We Were Liars— I had made myself believe that all YA mysteries were predictable and boring. I think I went into this book with those expectations, and it's safe to say that I've been left mind-blown. While I had suspected pretty much everyone, even Ravi, the culprit being Mr. Ward was the perfect, very well-thought-out case. And then the twist of Andie's real murderer being her sister was not what I was expecting at all.
I talked with my co-worker, who is currently watching the show, and she's planning to pick up the book now. I'm going to be watching the show as well as reading the sequels soon— I already have Good Girl, Bad Blood on my Kindle... so I'm gonna go take a peek at that now and try not to read it all in one night.
4.5 Stars
The only reason that this isn't a full 5 stars is a) the unnecessary length of these books and b) the first 15-20% of the book, or the part before Hudson showed up. Otherwise, this was miles better than the first book. I'd go as far to say that the first book was almost entirely unnecessary, with the exception of introducing Grace to the paranormal world.
This was so hard to put down, and the twists in the last 100 or so pages had my heart racing. Yes, it was somewhat predictable and had some classic tropes such as the mating bond breaking and love interest switch-up, but it was still such an entertaining, “guilty pleasure” level read. Definitely one of my favorite reads of the year so far. ...I need more Hudson now k bye.
[Listened to the audiobook narrated by Lola Tung.]
a co-worker of mine recommended this to me, both the show and the books, as very mindless entertainment with little to no plot to play in the background. and i have to admit, she was right— this book has no plot at all.
honestly i hated Belly (stupid ass name), Conrad, Jeremiah, and Taylor, i found them all to be unbearable. Steven was just kind of there, but you might as well throw him into the unbearable category by association too. the only characters i liked were Cam and Susannah, and i'm still mad at how Belly ended up just using Cam in the end.
i only wish i had a bit of warning for Susannah's cancer storyline, as my mother was recently diagnosed with cancer and i found it a bit triggering. i almost coundn't finish this book because of it. the way Susannah was described as frail, her arms bone-thin, wearing loose dresses to cover it up was too real and almost made me cry haha. though the moment between her and Belly as they made muffins was beautiful and reminded me of my experiences with my own mom, probably the only scene in the book that i actually liked. also, they call their grandmother the same uncommon name i call my grandmother (“granna”), which is triggering in a whole other way lmao.
aside from all of that i enjoyed Jenny Han's gorgeously descriptive writing and Lola Tung's audiobook narration, and i think that might be what saved this book from a worse rating.
helluva book to get through.
so JLA is back at it again with her self-insert Vampire Academy fanfiction, and i gotta say, Alex is even more annoying in this one than how she was in Half-Blood. i honestly cannot stand her childish attitude and decisions, and she's definitely moved way up in my personal rankings for worst protagonist of all time. as for aiden, he is a literal piece of cardboard (as are most other characters in this book tbh).
the only saving grace this book had for me was the dark romance perfection that is Seth. every scene he was not it was skimmed by the time i was halfway through the book, and his POV bonus chapter was the best part. he would be perfect with Alex if she wasn't such an overgrown toddler.
not sure if i'll read the next one or not, considering i know that seth and alex aren't endgame. i guess we'll have to wait and see.