NJ
For the first 30% of the book, I absolutely hated the hero. He was a pretty, ambitionless, bully and I was hard-pressed to find reasons why I should root for the heroine to fall in love with him. Although the author did a relatively good job of rehabilitating him, I don't think I fully bought it; especially because after his rehabilitation, he was never seen interacting with his friends. After the first few pages, the hero's friends are conveniently out of the picture and instead he spends most of the time with the heroine and her friends, immersed in her life. While I think this served to show the hero in a better light, it was hardly realistic. He didn't move to a new place and therefore, he would definitely have had to encounter his old friends and reckon with what the “new him” would mean for those old relationships. Would he stand up to them and call out the ways in which they were and continue to be horrible to people like the heroine? Would he revert to who he used to be when he was around them? I think in order to really buy this change, it would have been good to see him in some of his old spaces, with his old friends. Or at the very least, making new friends who share his new interests (whether male or female).
Additionally, I found the heroine's business personally conflicting. I know that in that time period especially, her business and her products must have been empowering for women. However, I have always hade a mostly hate-sometimes love relationship with makeup and I think this largely bleeds into my reading of the book and curbs my enjoyment. I understand that for someone who was told from a young age that she wasn't beautiful, these products would have been an amazing confidence booster but I think in general I prefer narratives where the ugly duckling character evolves to place zero importance on looks as opposed to feeling beautiful in the end. Perhaps this comes from the privilege of being someone who while not considered attractive, has never been bullied for her looks. However, in general, I believe there's too much emphasis being placed on everyone feeling beautiful when I think as a society we should be moving away from the great premium we place on beauty.
Finally, I couldn't help thinking about the fact that cosmetic businesses like the heroine's, which may have started off as empowering, have contributed to the insane beauty standards that women today have to measure up to. I know it's unfair to retroactively place this burden on historical figures. However, these were the thoughts that were running through my mind as I was reading the book and they stopped me from having an enjoyable immersive experience.
I will probably read another Rodale book because I think my less-than-stellar reading experience had more to do with my own personal issues than with the book's quality
I was so bored. I'm not even a reader who needs a fast-moving plot, give me some good banter and great characters and I'm good. But I wasn't even particularly invested in the interactions between the 2 leads.
I've been searching for a really good marriage of convenience book but this one wasn't quite up to scratch.
I liked the characters but the ending felt a little rushed and anti-climactic. There were also times when I was a little confused because there was a lot going on in this book. The construction of the religions was really well done. The East and South had different belief systems centred on the same deities (this was reminiscent of the Abrahamic religions). I really enjoyed this book, I just wish it ended better.
It's really hard for me to decide which one I prefer, this book or [b:The King of Attolia 40159 The King of Attolia (The Queen's Thief, #3) Megan Whalen Turner https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1293505327l/40159.SY75.jpg 847545]. I loved everything about this book. I loved the characterisation of Eugenides, I hurt when he hurt and grinned when did. I enjoyed his relationships with Eddis, his father, Galen, the Magus and Attolia. I could go on listing all the things I enjoyed but at this point, I feel like my point is obvious, this is still without a doubt one of my favourite books.
I had previously only read positive reviews of this book so the narrator's fatphobia really caught me unawares. While he's in the body of the fourth host he spends a ridiculous amount of time describing the disgust he feels towards his host's body. Because I hadn't seen anyone on goodreads mention this, I googled other reviews of this book to ensure I wasn't being ridiculous and this review said it better than I could. I had no inclination to finish this book.
How is this a debut?!?! How am I lucky enough to have read both this and the Sword of Kaigen in the same year?!?!?
I have rarely inhabited a character's head the way I did Rin's. I just... I don't have coherent thoughts, I just really love this book and I don't know how the rest of the series could be any better
This had all the weird dark and twistiness I felt was lacking in Babel. The ending did not really feel completely but honestly the rest of the book more than made up for it.
In 2023 I definitely want to read more translated books.
It was lovely to read this story. Yes, some parts of it were convoluted and abstruse but I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway. I loved the characters, they all felt real and well-fleshed out. Although I didn't always agree with their choices, I understood them.
I loved reading a book with three female characters who were strong in different ways, who had been beaten down by life but refused to just accept what the world thought was their due. I loved all three characters but I must admit to liking Wanda the most. The power of her 'NO' is something of beauty. Also, I loved the idea that if you proclaimed something to be true and when challenged did it 3 times, then you would possess that power. And then also, it was interesting how none of the characters including the tsar, was truly free. I ended up appreciating his character a lot. He who had been sold to this horrible thing from birth in order to appease his mother's aims of advancement. And then yet still, we had to pause to consider, what may she also have been fleeing in her life to make the bargain that she did? I liked this book because after reading it I was left considering the power of bargaining and all the ways big and small that we betray other people and ourselves in order to gain an easier, simple life. But also, the ways in which sometimes, we can put our own needs aside and simply fight for what's right even when it imperils us greatly. I loved the book and by the end hated none of the characters. Not even the Staryk King. They were all flawed characters who were trying to eke out a little enjoyment from an otherwise bleak existence. .
While I primarily read romance, I would have thoroughly enjoyed the book without any of the little romance it contained. In fact, I was a bit troubled by one of the romantic pairings as I didn't believe that relationship was based on mutual respect and regard. I understand the Staryk King because he and his people did to the Lithvians what Irina was willing to do to them and I still loved her anyway. However, I am ambivalent about his relationship with Miryem. I felt that he was unfeeling and condescending in the beginning with little respect for her personal autonomy. While their relationship may have changed during their 6 months together, the readers didn't get to see much of it. Also, there were no proper reparations nor apologies made for all the harm the Staryk had done. But I guess I wasn't mad that Irina made no apologies for possible harming the winter people. So I guess, I don't really know. I have complex feelings about their relationship and I would have liked the book more easily if their relationship wasn't a part of it. Still, that was one tiny aspect of an otherwise great book. And ultimately I feel like that lack of black and white is why I liked the book. For better or worse, I can't stop thinking about it.
I'm leaving this unrated for now, because while I really enjoyed the world-building and the plot, I didn't really like how the book ended.
Most of my frustration with the book is rooted in one character, Elena. As readers, we are supposed to love her and cheer on her growth throughout the book but that's difficult to do when she largely ignores the abuse and unfair treatment heaped on her friends. That's a bit easier to understand in the beginning when she has little power but it makes little sense by the end when she is Master Warder. Sure she fights for their safety when they are in danger but she never calls out any of her colleagues' biases and prejudices. I didn't expect her to take on the entire social hierarchy of Charisat but it's interesting to see that despite the power she wields by the end, Elena doesn't even try . Is it because she is too self-interested to fight for better treatment for people she cares about? Does she think the prejudice is justified? What exactly is it that drives her inability to stand up for people who have consistently put their lives in danger to save hers? Her inaction would be an easier pill to swallow if the narrative called out her behaviour, but it absolutely doesn't. Despite this, she is arguably the character that has the best outcome by the end of the book.
Thus, in spite of the lengths Wells goes to portray the abysmal treatment of the kris and foreigners in Charisat, the narrative doesn't present a compelling argument for why they should be treated better. It almost seems to accept their inferiority. I feel like this point is further buttressed by Wells' treatment of Khat's rape at the hands of the Elector's heir. It's quickly glossed over and not discussed again, although it is suggested that such behaviour is commonplace among patricians and krismen. It was a horrifying scene and should absolutely have been treated as such.
It's such a shame because this was in most parts such an enjoyable read. However, it was Wells' second book and written more than 2 decades ago so I'm willing to give the rest of her books a chance.
I wholeheartedly believe that this series is canon and the Sherlock Holmes stories we think were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were actually written by Olivia Holmes.
After the Hating Game this was a big disappointment. I'm not really convinced the two main characters were really in love.They spend most of the book hurting each other and while this premise works for an enemies-to-lovers story like the Hating Game, it falls flat in what is supposed to be a friends-to-lovers book. Even in the Hating Game by about 50% of the book the main characters are being nice to each other but here, under the guise of friendship they hurt each other mercilessly.
This still gets 3 stars because Sally Thorne can write.
I'm going to have to read the Hating Game again just to reassure myself that I really did like it
I have to give up on Christina Lauren. I haven't enjoyed any of their last few releases and this was the final nail in the coffin. I loved the beginning of this book, I especially enjoyed the flashbacks to early Macy and Elliot but the ending truly sucked. Maybe other readers would have seen the reason for their break coming but I really didn't. The whole incident was handled poorly and the authors didn't treat it with the sensitivity it deserved.
3.5 stars
I really loved the development of their romance. Their conversations were so cute. But, the hero's immaturity (in the last 1/3rd) as well as a few other small irritants let this book down.
In the first quarter, I was sure that I was going to rate it 4 stars or above; halfway through, the book lagged and I was frustrated with Circe, I was sure then that I would only rate it 3 stars, 3.5 at best. By the end, I was back to 4.
This sort of wishy-washy rating is due primarily to Circe's inaction. For most of the book, she seems to chafe at her exile but does not even seem to be plotting to leave. Especially after Hermes points out that others can come to her island, I felt like more would be done to show how Circe bends the world to her will using that fact, instead, yet another thing is foisted upon her which she hates (the nymphs). As another review mentioned, I felt that as a feminist retelling, her relationship with the nymphs was squandered. In many ways, the structure of the book reminded me of the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, in that her life story seemed to be framed by the men she had had relationships with. However, unlike that book, there was no female-female relationship anchoring the story and I felt like that was something that was really lacking in this book. In addition, when Pasiphae mentions that Circe will never leave Aiaiaia and Circe comes home to spends time ruminating on that, I was sure I would see some fight in her. Yet she continues to languish on the island. Also, their connection is another female-female relationship which was squandered. Of course, that was salvaged in the end, by her relationship with Penelope, which explains the rating bump. It was also good to see Circe finally stand up for herself, even if it only happened after a 1000+ years.
One of the hero's major problems with his ex is that because of a purity ring she refused to have sex with him for 3.5 years. What!?! When he met her she had a purity ring, she didn't just switch-up on him, so it was not unreasonable of her to stick to her beliefs. In fact, his own comments were a bit creepy and entitled.