NJ
This book was generally sweet. Bailey and Porter were both cute characters. What I didn't like so much was that while his violence was mentioned, the characters never really addressed it. Bailey thought about how distressing his violence was but then never mentioned it again. Also another review mentioned that Bailey was the epitome of not like other girls, and while this could be true, I felt like she fell more into the category of not like other teens. She was a tiny bit pretentious but I don't mind so much.
I found myself skimming through some of the pages because while sweet, this book was not always engaging.
I enjoyed this but I don't feel any need to read the rest of the series. I still might though
3.5 stars This was cute.
In general this was a book I liked.
I loved the heroine's journey. However after reading two books of this author's books and skimming through the other books in this series, it seems her heroines seem to struggle with insecurities while her heroes lean towards emotional distance. I would like to read a book of hers where that formula is flipped. However, I understand that not writing an emotionally distant heroine maybe a business decision on the author's part. In most books I've read where the heroine is emotionally distant, she gets raked over the coals in GR reviews for being a bitch.
3.5 starsThis book reminds me a little of [b:The Thief 448873 The Thief (The Queen's Thief, #1) Megan Whalen Turner https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1427740839l/448873.SY75.jpg 1069505]. It's a bit simple for my tastes and the characters are wooden and one-note. However, there is an interesting world and a relatively interesting plot. Hopefully, just like [b:The Thief 448873 The Thief (The Queen's Thief, #1) Megan Whalen Turner https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1427740839l/448873.SY75.jpg 1069505], the subsequent books in the series are much better than the first one.As a side-note, I was not surprised to discover that the author is a park ranger. The novel was obviously written by someone with a lot of love for the environment.
I should have known better, I rarely enjoy romance books with revenge plotlines. I hate romance novels where one character (it's usually the hero, in cases like this) uses the heroine to enact some sort of revenge plot against her male family members. In this case, he didn't necessarily use her, but he engaged in a relationship with her knowing full well, that he planned on ruining her family and their business, which she was very strongly tied to. I don't care how valid his reasons for revenge were, his actions towards the heroine were murky at best and despicable at worst. Their relationship could perhaps have started in the aftermath of the takeover and could have been an enemies-to-lovers romance where both parties were fully aware of the score. But instead, we got this entire situation, whatever it was. Will probably not be reading anything else from this author.
Why on earth did I initially rate this 2 stars? What was I thinking?!?! I didn't even have the presence of mind to leave myself a review so at least I could know why I was so wrong.
This was unnecessarily dense and difficult to understand. While I enjoyed the political intrigue, I never really comprehended the world, I also feel like Cheris' character was never explored in the depth; instead she seemed to be a convenient conduit for Jedao. I enjoyed some parts of this book, but ultimately it was pretty meh for me.
This wasn't as good as [b:The Wicked King 26032887 The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2) Holly Black https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520620414l/26032887.SY75.jpg 45959180], but that's okay. It would have been very difficult to beat the standard set by that book. The ending felt a bit rushed and several plot points could have been better developed. Taryn deserved to have been slow-cooked in a vat of oil, barring that she needed to do some pretty serious grovelling/ character development but we didn't get that here. I kept expecting her to betray everybody
This was going to be a 5-star book but I wasn't excited about the ending.
I hated that Bethesda was left on the council. I think people always make a strong argument for keeping people from an old abusive regimen in place in order to ensure a smooth regime transition. However, I feel like rather than keeping the peace, all this does is leave remnants of abuse in the new system that is being created. It allows people who caused irreparable harm to stay in power and escape accountability. Additionally, I think even the in-universe explanation for keeping Bethesda is weak. I think other dragons are going to respect the Heartstrikers less if Bethesda occupies the council. With her continued presence, the others will see a diminished Bethesda and respect her less for "giving up her power" and then respect the family less for not taking out a tyrant like Bethesda when they had the chance. I appreciate and support Julius' no-murder principle. However, they didn't have to kill her. Amelia could have just left her on one of the kinder planes sealed. I just think there is no way to create a new more egalitarian regime without rooting out the old. All that including tyrants in new democratic governments seems to do, is allow them to keep positions of power.
I'm still going to continue the series because I'm trying to not just “burn” a book/series when I disagree with some aspects of it.
2.5 stars
It was ok. The characters were sweet, I just couldn't get invested in them.
[10/2020]
This has turned out to be one of my comfort reads of 2020. Anytime I'm not sure what to read, this is the book I reach for.
There's so much to love about this. Our emotionally distant heroine Evangeline is a refreshing subversion of the many reticent romance heroes that plague romance books. It seems that while romance readers love a good emotionally unavailable hero, the same grace is often not extended to heroines and I will forever love Sherry Thomas for giving us a complex, commitment-phobic heroine.
We are mostly in the dark about Bennet's motives since this book is told solely through Eva's POV. Rereading this book with the knowledge of his feelings for her adds so many layers to Bennet's smallest comments and actions. I think it is a book that improves greatly upon reread. I'm going to stop myself from rereading it again this year, just so it doesn't lose any of its magic.
[05/2020]
Reread this 3 weeks later, bumping it to 5 stars
[04/2020]
This was really good. Loved the main characters. Loved that they were both flawed people trying to do the best they could. Also, I feel cheated that there's no MoMA exhibit in reality. Reality sucks.
3.5 stars
I enjoyed this book less than I thought I would. I think it's because, in the beginning, I couldn't stand Raven's condescension. While I had warmed up to him by the end, I was never fully immersed in the story.
His behavior in the beginning bordered on sexual harassment. Couldn't bring myself to read any further.
2.5 stars
Least favorite of her books yet. The pregnancies and the conniving baby mama were a bit much for me. I hate it when romance novels set the heroine competing with the hero's ex, not a fan.
I greatly enjoyed most aspects of this book. The only thing that irritated me about this was the subtle anti-Indian sentiment I picked up on. Often when describing certain aspects of Indian culture the term barbaric was thrown around. India was referred to as a dangerous place not safe for a child, with little consideration that perhaps decades of British colonisation had made it so. I understand that the book is set in a time period when the characters may have had even worse feelings about India and Indians. However, Putney does not shy away from unconventional heroes and heroines who don't agree with the popular sentiments of their era, so it is not unimaginable that her characters would have had anti-racist and anti-colonialist views if she so desired. I also understand that the book was written about 20 years ago, and certain sentiments concerning the terms ‘barbaric and savage' have changed greatly, so I am inclined to be less harsh in my assessment. However, it was something that diminished my enjoyment of this book.
In some ways this book was unabashedly feminist. The heroine's comments on ageing and on society's relationship with female sexuality were a joy to read. The characters were two flawed but sweet individuals who made some mistakes but who were also ultimately trying their best. I'm sad that Victoria Dahl is no longer writing romance.
I don't know how I feel about this book. Mostly because I have more questions than answers and this review is me trying to work through those questions.Uprooted is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast with a beauty that is neither so beautiful nor helpless and a beast that's not really a beast ( at least that's what Novik would like us to believe). There's no denying that Novik writes beautifully, Uprooted was as much a joy to read as [b:Spinning Silver 36896898 Spinning Silver Naomi Novik https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1513872748l/36896898.SX50.jpg 58657620] was (still one of my favourite books this year). However, in my opinion, Uprooted lacked the strong world-building and tight plotting of Spinning Silver. Agnieszka's magic is largely imprecise and instinctive while the magic of the wizards is exact and almost scientific in its application. The only other person who apparently had Agnieszka's kind of magic was the witch Jaga, who died 500 years ago and whose spells have mainly been rubbished as nonsense. This made me wonder:1. In the past 500 years had there been no one who had that same brand of magic?2. Had no one been alive during Jaga's own time whom she trained to carry on her legacy? It is mentioned that the other wizards needed to be apprentices for 7 years before taking the test yet during Jaga's time she had not trained any witches?3. Also, it is said that Ballo didn't realise he was a wizard until he hit 40 and it became obvious that he wasn't ageing. Wouldn't the same have been true of anybody with either Agnieszka or Jaga's brand of magic? Wouldn't they have stopped ageing too?It just doesn't seem clear to me why all knowledge of that magic died with Jaga when she had been alive for 100+ years.Additionally, the reason for the differences in magic wasn't really explained. Initially, I thought it might be gendered because only Agnieszka and Jaga were recorded to have practised the intuitive kind of magic; however, the presence of Alosha (the female wizard) led me to believe that might not be the case. And to be honest, I was relieved to realise the magic wasn't necessarily gendered. The idea of a system where men practice precise magic while women cast instinctive spellls has such misogynistic implications that I was glad Novik hadn't stooped to that. As a black woman in STEM, I still encounter people who believe that women just aren't good at sciences and I would have been absolutely revolted to read a version of that belief in this book. However, that still led me to ask why Agnieska and Jaga were different from the rest and what made their magic so rare??????????Finally, I hated the romance and I hated Sarkan. There was no redeeming decades of kidnapping. I also couldn't get over both the power imbalance and the 100+ age difference. There was too much I had to ignore to enjoy this romance and I couldn't do it. I don't really enjoy bully romances, I prefer reading about two sweet people being kind to each other.
CW: sexual assault
Lavinia and William start a ‘relationship' because William overhears a conversation between Lavina and her brother which indicates they need to produce 10 pounds or face imprisonment. Thus, William coerces Lavinia into sex by buying up her brother's debt and insisting she pay with her body.
For me, there was no redeeming William or the book after that. Unless he became a true champion of female rights who helped ensure fewer women had to be in Lavinia's position, I was always going to hate him. Additionally, I feel like Milan doesn't address the rape as she should. The resolution is too pat and fails to really contend with how awful his actions were. Apparently, he doesn't really coerce her because her brother was a minor and thus she didn't really need to pay the 10 pounds. But he didn't know that, and that's the important bit here. He selfishly exploits her vulnerability with no regard for her personhood and instead of being the villain of this story, he is the hero. In fact, by the end, he has both a better job and the woman he has always fantasised about (I won't insult love by suggesting that he loves her). At one point, he tells her he's not the man for her and she replies with: I knew that the minute you tried to coerce me into bed. This should have been the end. Honestly, this would have been a 5-star novella if the book had ended here and they never got together.
I believe that this book should never have been a novella. In order to truly rehabilitate a character as despicable as William, Milan needed at least 320 pages. This is Milan's first effort and it obviously lacks the nuance that she now brings to most of her stories (even the novellas).
I really liked the hero in the first book but absolutely hated him in this one. This is probably my least favorite CCJ to date.