Ness

I suffered so you don't have to. There was so much potential in this book - the synopsis sounded so good, and it intrigued me so much.

It felt like a self-insert into a John Wick-styled with a neon Tokyo setting. There's an overuse of ‘quoting feelings' and ‘trying to emphasize a point' when it's not needed. The trigger warnings are located at the back of the book as well; so if you want to read, please look at the triggers in the back before reading.

Personally, I would not recommend this novella. It felt too rough to recommend to anyone. The concept is fascinating, just not well executed.

I struggled to get into the book. I'm someone who enjoys world-building, and who enjoys the why's and how's with the who's.

I couldn't tell you if this book is set in a different type of realm, I couldn't tell you if the book was set in a smaller town versus a big city. I could tell you about the characters (kind of).

The writing at times seems immature. I cringed every second to third chapter.

IN SAYING THAT - it was decent when the writing wasn't juvenile. For me, it just wasn't captivating enough to hold my attention.

I think I would have liked this book if I was younger; early twenties.

DNFed @ 20%

I loved how different this book is, and I regret not reading it sooner. I'm a huge myth - culture lore - legends person, and this book is unique. I love how the author took the concept of kitsune, yet made it their own. The character development is great - the fact that the two main kitsune we meet are polar opposites and that they drive that home is fantastic.

There's uncertainty, willingness, and betrayal (through lying and believing in someone that's not true), but there's also hope, curiosity, and the want for something new. It's a great read if you want something to mull over and think about how others exist.

It's a fairly quick read, so you could binge it in a day if you so wish.

I'm super excited for book two later in the year.

Absolutely fantastic! Once I started this book I did not want to put it down. It can hold the reader captive and give a need and want to solve the mystery with the FMC.

I have never seen or heard of a genealogy mystery before, and it far from disappointed me. I really hope this becomes a series!

The only reason I didn't give it a five-star rating was because of the plot with the FBI - I think the book didn't need this plot point or twist to be good.

The title lives up to the state of the book. It's extremely chaotic, and I didn't mind it in the slightest. Most of the stories contained more of a shock factor and not horror in my opinion - though I'm sure the person beside me who was trying to read over my shoulder was a bit horrified about what I was reading in public.

The writing was decent enough that I was never bored, but I feel like it was missing a bit of oomph. In saying that, I thoroughly enjoyed every second of the book.

I finished this book a couple of days ago, and I still am not sure what to say about it.

It's a good book. I don't dislike it in the slightly. I just... don't know what to say.

As someone who has always been interested in crime thrillers, I really liked that this book is from the perspective of a PI (and former police officer). It allowed a more in-depth knowledge to shine through, and it didn't feel like the author was talking down to people that maybe don't understand or have previous knowledge of the area. It had a beautiful balance of knowledge, information, and description.

As the mystery unfolds, I'm not overly keen on the new founded friendship. I don't really think that that type of bond would form that fast, even with trauma bonding.

Overall, like I mentioned earlier it's a good book. It's also not a bad book either. I think of this as a neutral book, and I'm content with saying that. I will most definitely look up other books by the author and give them a shot!

For some reason this book scratched an itch I didn't know I had.

I -love- slow burns, and enemies to lovers, and this book delivered both those tropes with a heated passion.

This is a more realistic retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, with kings, betrayals, lies, and hopes. It's dark and gritty, and there is a lot of passion behind the words. The battle sequences were well written, and character development for both the MMC and FMC was well done.

The only reason I gave this a 4/5 and not a 5/5 were the chapter sizes. The chapters were broken into smaller manageable POVs, but overall the chapters were long. Personally, I'm an in-between chapter-size person (y'know, not too big, not to small) so it was a struggle for me to finish a full chapter, though the POV changes gave me the opportunity to stop early.

Would I read another Rachel L. Demeter book? 100%.
Would I recommend this book? Yes- to those who want a darker retelling, and those who love a slow burn, force proximity, and enemies-to-lovers tropes.

I swear this plot twists get better and better.

One, Freida McFadden hands down is my new favorite thriller author. She knows how to weave words like a sorceress. Two, I need to stop guessing so early in the book - this time I did guess a couple of things, but not the -big- one.

There were a couple of times I went, “Yeah, that doesn't make sense,” purely because if it was my friend group and I, that scenario wouldn't have happened. That's just the battle of perspectives though.

Overall enjoyed the book. Once I read more of her work I feel like this would be a top ten.

The cover is pleasing, and the description made me want to read this. I almost longed to read it.

The inside is... not good. There is little to no pace in this novel - there's two speeds of go and go faster. There's no worldbuilding, no character building or design (and what we have is one dimensional), and there's little to no context for the story to happen. It almost felt like a Choose your Own Adventure gone wrong. It was extremely hard to follow at times because it seemed like the author wanted to throw everything into this. Characters just randomly and unnaturally spring up; the action scenes literally just -poof- oh it's here and then -poof- gone.

Was there an editor? Or was it a put up for ARC reading and pushed to publish?

I think there was a disconnect between the concept and the writing. I would advise to delay the novel and flesh out the novel, and bring it back to Alpha and Beta readers until this reads like a book verses a first draft.

Author - if you do end up fleshing this out way more, I would try it again and re-rate. Until then, 1 star / 5 stars, DNF @ 18%.

The book was okay for a sci-fi book. It has sci-fi elements, but it felt more like a drama with a touch of sci-fi. The writing is sometimes choppy and to the point (think like I have a dog. The dog is brown. The dog's name is Beau.), and other times it can be super dry and hard to digest.

The POV changes were nice to have, and clearly marked; it was sometimes hard to keep the book straight as you get every third chapter as someone's story. I had to do a lot of rereading to understand sections and back tracking to ensure I didn't miss anything. This is definitely a book you can NOT stop reading and set down for days - this is a book you need to read back to back days until you're finished. I made the mistake of setting it down for four days and I had to reread most of it to catch up with the comprehension of the book.

Overall it's good; I would recommend the book to others. I will be rereading this later (maybe next year or something?) to see if my rating changes. Part of the reason I only gave it three stars was because of how much I needed to reread to finish the book.

This should be on your October TBR list - it has witches, magic, mystery and evolves around Halloween time.

The book itself gives you a cozy feeling to start with. It lures you into the chaos of a coven, with unique magic (hello, a BOOK WITCH?!) and keeps you there until you realize you're in too deep to look back - and ironically just like the main character herself.

There's a lot of emotion in the later part of the book, and I can see where the Persephone and Hades story takes place; and though I am glad it's not another retelling, I do wish to see a short story of their time together after the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed the ride this book was. This 100% will be a reread for me next fall, and I strong recommend others to read it.

Enjoy the little things in life, y'know?

It's interesting. It's enticing. It hits a niche spot that I didn't know I needed scratching.

I absolutely love this book. It's refreshing and different - and don't be surprised when I reread this book later in the year.

The only thing that may deter you is how confusing the book is. It jumbles around with the characters, but it's smoothly written once we overlap.

I'm so excited to see what comes next! I need a new series to fan over!

It's quite different from what I normally read, and honestly, this cover is what drew me to the book.

It's a sad read in my opinion; if you have siblings that you're close to it will hit home.

For a quick read, it was nice with an even-paced and beautiful flow.

It took me a while to get into the book - by chapters 5 and 6 it started to pick up for me. There is a lot of emotion, action, and a sense of mystery throughout the novel.

I thoroughly enjoy flashback scenes - this book has them clearly marked with clean cuts to them, so thank you, author!

As a historical fiction novel about Rome, I'll admit the names threw me off for a second, which I think is the reason it took me a bit to get into the book.

Overall, it's a solid choice - I've already recommended it to some people who enjoy tales of Rome and Greece to get their opinions on the book!

Personally, I found the book slow. The prologue was enticing enough to capture my interest, but once we got into the book itself I found it hard to capture my attention long enough to do a full read-through.
I've tried many times to push through and have forced myself to sit and read.

I think its general idea is great, and with a bit of a rework and editing of how the structure layout is (which I know they are working on!), it would be a good three-star read.

Overall, I didn't find it “gothic horror” like it was marketed - it definitely fit the gothic part, but not the horror part. And despite being a “gothic romance” I don't think we needed the romance - I think it would have worked without the two vague scenes and the wishywashy shadow love interest.

I read fiction for a reason, but I would like my fiction to make sense. I understand plot wise WHY the author did what she did; just because it makes sense plot wise doesn't mean it's always the best idea.

The book hooked me at first, and I was super involved with wanting to know more; as the story hit about 50% of the way through, I think there was too much of... everything and it diluted the story. I think the author put a little too much supernatural aspects in this book. If it was straight family legacy, haunted/cursed castle and magic, I believe the story would have flown better, but once you threw in additional supernatural beings that really don't make sense in the setting, I lost me.

I personally didn't care for the twist at the end, or the ending per say; just wasn't my cup of tea. Despite it's flaws it was an easy read and I did really like the fact we did learn Spanish with the character!

First off, thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book! It is in my top five reads of 2023.

If you enjoy dystopic-based books and learning with the main character, this book is for you. When you first meet Oneirotheria you get a sense of newness, curiosity, and vulnerability; as the book progresses you grow with her as she learns about Osylum. The unique take on witch speak is one of my favorite parts of the book!

Once you're hooked into the book you'll struggle to put it down.

The book had great potential, but overall all felt clunky and flat. The first 20% of the book felt strong - but then it seemed to lose what to book was actually about after that.

It didn't get me invested, it didn't motivate me to first the book to see whodunnit, and it felt like the author thought if they threw in as many curveballs and crazy plot points, the book would be great.

I personally think the book needed more time in the Beta stage to look at the flow and the pacing of the novel. A lot of the time, it was one giant paragraph that could have been split into three or four smaller ones.

The sex scene that was shown was flat, and choppy with the wording. I gave it a .25 spice rating as a warning for a semi-explicit attempt.

By the time I was 50% through the book, I wanted to just finish the book for the sake of finishing.

I was genuinely lost for words with this novella. I thought I was getting into pure horror and gore, and I got feelings instead.

Don't get me wrong, there are still aspects of horror, and aspects of gore (in the sense of digging into your skin and pulling out bones spurs, and feathers). I loved how detailed the minor things were.

I loved how there are no names mentioned for the main characters. They are simply the boy and the girl. And I love how.. simple that was. It took a couple of pages to get used to.

By the end, I was rooting for them. I hoped there was a happy ending; I guess in a way it was their happy ending.

I would reread this down the road; it's quick and easy to read.

I was extremely interested in this book, and the synopsis drew me in. I love a modern 1800s setting and a unique magic system.

In this tale, the magic system is set within jewels - Talents of a variety of kinds are passed down, inherited, or stolen. The main character did not receive a Talent of her own; and early into the book was given one.

Here's where the book started to lose me. The chapter transitions - we can end a chapter mid-fight, mid-plot point, mid-story, and the start of the next chapter is a time JUMP. It pulled me out of the book because I thought I was MISSING pages.

The main character has massive character development issues beyond the obvious red flags. She's whiny and selfish and her dialogue doesn't affect me like a main character should. She's unable to from a full decision and throws fits when things don't go her way. The other characters are just as bland with bland dialogue and banter; the only thing they have going for them is their shiny jewelry.

I pushed through to 68% of the book before I DNFed. I definitely have been put into a slump with this one.

It's a cute read for a contemporary romance; I did enjoy most of the book!

For the first part of the book, I liked the characters, and I enjoyed how they interacted with each other. However, it seems that once the characters got together physically the book went downhill. It felt like reading about how felt wanted to screw versus an actual story. The characters felt flat during the second part of the book.

I personally would have preferred this novel to have been a closed-door romance - I believe I would have rated it higher if it was.

I really was looking forward to this book and overall I feel like I over-hyped it for myself and it didn't meet my expectations.

First and foremost, I genuinely love how the series reads. You don't have to read the previous to understand the next book, though it will offer some extra insight into how the characters are and why they do or say certain things.

I love the small and manageable story; it got to the point with little effort and kept you wanting to read until you were finished. And I was a little sad when the book ended! I love how you think there's something paranormal happening, but there's actually a scientific reason behind it.

I didn't like that the copy I received had a bad format. It seems that for every set of 10-15 pages, the format would change from a regular paragraph to a sentence on a line, then two to three words the next, and then back to a full sentence. It really pulled me out of the story itself because I had to keep trying to reread to understand what was happening. Once and a while there were random 0s and 1s as well which threw me out of the atmosphere of the novella too. I hope by the time the novella is published that this is cleared up.

Because of this issue, I found that the novella is less engaging than its predecessor. I would definitely like to the final version before I make the call officially on how engaging.

It's good for a spooky read, and it's good if you need to pad your reading challenge! I would recommend it!

It's a shame that this novella had to push back its publication date - I personally think everyone needs to read this and read this now.

It has everything that makes an action/adventure book. It has a fantastic setting, fantastic storytelling, and great plot twists. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five was at the end when you are reading through a thick accent - it took a couple reads of the sentences to make out what was being said. In saying that, I wouldn't change it - I'll be the first to admit that sometimes things go over my head, and this was no different. Please let me struggle because then when I reread the book, I will have a better understanding and we be used to the way things are presented.

I would love (in a fevered dream obviously) if this became a series about different people you meet in the books; it is a fantastic standalone as well, I'm just greedy for more!

Jokes on you if you thought I learned my lesson with book 1 about finishing these books at work. This one is more emotional, and I finished it at work

I think I set myself up for failure with this book. The cover and concept drew me in, and I was excited to explore this world.

I enjoyed that it's a clear chapter-by-chapter POV, and it's clearly marked, but there is a lot of rereading and doubling back to fully understand what was happening. Some of the book also contains flashbacks, to give context and build the story. The magic simple is interesting but complex.

I was strangely confused for a good portion of the book. It's definitely one of those books you need to sit down and commit it, and not read anything else. The writing style is engaging, which is what kept me going.

It's definitely unique - I do recommend giving it a go if you want something out of your box.