Basic Plot: Silver gets redirected from her mission from the human city when vampire Shade crosses her path and changes her life.
These books are largeBasic Plot: Silver gets redirected from her mission from the human city when vampire Shade crosses her path and changes her life.
These books are largely fun, popcorn reads. They have all had an overarching plot that connects them (so this is actually book 6 of the series), though each book features a different couple. Some have been better than others, but for some reason, Shade and Silver's story really resonated with me. A little more resistance to the idea of fate, a little more attention to helping those who get ground up by the gears of war, and just generally paying attention to details the other books didn't. I liked it....more
Basic Plot: Violet and company find new allies and enemies as they fight to defeat the venin and their wyverns.
That one sentence BARELY covers the booBasic Plot: Violet and company find new allies and enemies as they fight to defeat the venin and their wyverns.
That one sentence BARELY covers the book. Holy crap that was a ride, and I now understand why the Fandom has been losing its collective shit since the book came out. Listening to the Graohic Audio adaptation only heightens the drama. I can barely mention details for fear of dropping spoilers. It was so good. Loved every minute....more
Basic plot: The Autumn King goes to find out who has been chosen for the hundred-year reaping.
This was more of a tease than a story. No conflict was rBasic plot: The Autumn King goes to find out who has been chosen for the hundred-year reaping.
This was more of a tease than a story. No conflict was resolved, it was all exposition and world-building. It was interesting, but literally nothing happened....more
Basic Plot: Taly's secrets start to unravel as the people closest to her discover she is a time mage, and she gets an unexpected, very unorthodox teacBasic Plot: Taly's secrets start to unravel as the people closest to her discover she is a time mage, and she gets an unexpected, very unorthodox teacher.
Overall, I mostly let this book just wash over me. It was a fun ride, and the characters are again all so distinct. This author really seems to know how to let the characters shine. Talk grows and learns a lot in this book, which did slow things a bit, but not as much as I usually see in books of this type. The romance is still the slowest of slow burns. I enjoyed the heck out of it.
This author seems to be working on book 3 via a Patreon site, which makes me both happy and sad. Happy there will be a book 3, sad that traditional publishing seems to have not brought her success. These books have been worthwhile and I hope to see book 3 soon....more
Basic Plot: Peaches, a woman out of her own time, escapes from blood-slavery to an unseelie queen and finds love.
After 5 books in this series, I'm useBasic Plot: Peaches, a woman out of her own time, escapes from blood-slavery to an unseelie queen and finds love.
After 5 books in this series, I'm used to the basic premise, the world, and how this author writes. It's popcorn fluff. The things that bug me are relatively minor and will probably never be addressed (how on Earth do they manage to work without metal of any sort?). The things I like (characters that have personalities, histories, and real motivations for what they do) are solid. The action is ok, the pacing is decent, the smut is spicy but doesn't overwhelm the plot. A fun listen....more
Basic plot: 6 years after Violet woke up in the future, she finds herself helping the vampires she has spent the past several years hunting.
A new trilBasic plot: 6 years after Violet woke up in the future, she finds herself helping the vampires she has spent the past several years hunting.
A new trilogy means a new batch of protagonists, and a new type of fae to deal with. This trilogy is apparently focusing on the vampires, which only passingly resemble vampires of modern myth. These guys have wings, and while they do drink blood, they are not undead, procreate through sex, and are not killed by sunlight. Take from that what you will.
Our FMC Violet is scarred not just physically, but mentally too. She's been through a lot in the time she has spent in the future, and punishes herself for that. I feel like her issues were too deep to do the relatively quick turnaround in feelings she did when it came to Indigo. He was a fun character when the author remembered to keep using his actual personality. I feel like she kept forgetting he had one and dropped it, only to remember a few chapters later. The effect was a bit jarring.
The plot moved pretty well, having the characters exist in the world for some time eliminated the need for a lot of the backstory explanation needed in the other books, but there still had to be training and acceptance of powers, which is getting a bit old this many books into the series. I was feeling a bit meh about continuing with the series, but the end introduced the next focus characters and left them on a cliffhanger, which is bugging me enough to make me stick the next book onto my hold list through Libby. So onward I forge....more
I got about an hour into the audiobook and found the main character too annoying to make it worthwhile to continue. The descriptions of the swordplay I got about an hour into the audiobook and found the main character too annoying to make it worthwhile to continue. The descriptions of the swordplay that seems very important to the story are severely lacking. Beg a man to train you and then whine about when it's going to happen? Ugh. Overall, I'm not impressed, and life is too short for a 19-hour audiobook that didn't grab me within the first hour....more
Basic Plot: Surviving year 2 of Basgiath War College brings new challenges to Violet and her squad.
My one-sentence summary barely scratches the surfacBasic Plot: Surviving year 2 of Basgiath War College brings new challenges to Violet and her squad.
My one-sentence summary barely scratches the surface of the sheer amount of amazing that I just listened to. The stakes are higher, the lessons harder, and the author is determined to give her readers a heart attack by the end of this book, I swear. This is only actually the first half of the story, so it isn't the complete novel (yet- once part 2 drops, I am so there). The pacing is amazing, the characters are developing and growing, and the plot twists just keep coming. I am loving this series! Especially in Graphic Audio!...more
Basic plot: Several novellas showcasing Celaena's life pre- Throne of Glass.
Obviously, SJM plays the long game in her books, so each character has bacBasic plot: Several novellas showcasing Celaena's life pre- Throne of Glass.
Obviously, SJM plays the long game in her books, so each character has backstory and motivations for the many things they do. Celaena is no different. I'm honestly just impressed that SJM managed to not spoil the biggest of the spoilers in this prequel, while simultaneously making it so FREAKING obvious to anyone who has read the first few books of the series.
I'm getting ready for a re-read of the books I read a few years ago (before the series was finished!) so I can finally finish the series, so I decided to do the prequel first. I remember just enough from the first books to understand what is happening in these interconnected stories. They really do explain a lot for the series....more
Basic Plot: Talya spent 21 years of life believing she was a mortal with no magic, and then that changed.
This was a really well-crafted book, and consBasic Plot: Talya spent 21 years of life believing she was a mortal with no magic, and then that changed.
This was a really well-crafted book, and considering that book 3 isn't out yet, I'm mildly terrified to go on to book 2.
Time magic is wild. We start the book knowing Taly's origins and background, even though she herself doesn't know it. The whole book is spent giving her tiny crumbs of knowledge about her abilities and background, until the end when all heck breaks loose.
The scale of the book is pretty epic- we have a fantasy fae realm, that knows of the human realm, implied to be our own modern world, but it does its own magical thing regardless of humanity. The world is intriguing, and gives the author a lot of room to play with modern touches here and there while still preserving a high fantasy setting. The magic and politics are also interesting. And as I said, time magic gets involved, which means things get really wild at the end of the book.
The characters all have agendas and personalities of their own. The allies and villains, and the not-entirely-clears are all interesting. For romance lovers, it is there and we have the sloooooooooowest of slow burns going. It's killing me. I like the dynamic Sky and Taly have of friends to lovers. It is super sweet.
I'm definitely going to read book 2. I hope the author is still out there working on book 3, because it's going to kill me if it isn't coming....more
Basic plot: Ada awakens to discover she's been kidnapped by a cursed fae prince who needs her help.
These books are more than a little ridiculous, but Basic plot: Ada awakens to discover she's been kidnapped by a cursed fae prince who needs her help.
These books are more than a little ridiculous, but aren't bad. This one was far better than the previous one. The pacing was decent, and I liked the personalities/backstories of the two leads. There were real stakes in this final book of the trilogy, and in such an otherwise relatively fluffy series I wasn't expecting the author to go as hard as she did. So she gets props for that.
The next trilogy in the ongoing series features vampires instead of wolf-shifters, so I'll give that a try after I take a short break from this series....more
Basic Plot: Arwen and friends work to fulfill the prophecy that says she will destroy the fae king.
A lot happened in this book. Like, a LOT. It's realBasic Plot: Arwen and friends work to fulfill the prophecy that says she will destroy the fae king.
A lot happened in this book. Like, a LOT. It's really hard to distill down, and for some reason, this one just isn't sticking in my head the way other audiobooks have. There was a lot of angst between our ML and FL, and I wanted to bang their heads together for a bit, but they are just characters in a book, so it is impossible.
We got to see a bit more of the world created here. We got to see part of the prophecy fulfilled, and we are working towards the end of the prophecy. I continue to think I am correct about 2 fundamental things regarding said prophecy. There are a *lot* of hints in this book that make me know I am right about 1 of those pieces. The other is pure speculation on my part, but I am confident that this author doesn't really do surprises, so I'm likely right.
At the beginning of the epilogue, I was convinced for a bit that the author was unaware of how cliffhangers were supposed to work. I suppose the author just decided to give us a different cliffhanger than expected.
I plan to read (listen to) the final book when it comes out. Just gotta wait with everyone else now....more
Basic Plot: Keeper trainee Jasmine is assigned to Starvein trainee Asher after his entire family is killed. Together, they seek to survive and find ouBasic Plot: Keeper trainee Jasmine is assigned to Starvein trainee Asher after his entire family is killed. Together, they seek to survive and find out what is going on.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. My opinions are my own.
Side note: ever notice how the books in these giveaways are either great or terrible with very little in-between? Just me? Ah, well.
This book had a few moments, but it was also downright painful to read. There were so many spelling and grammar errors that I truly believe no editor of any sort actually read through this manuscript before publishing it. Word salad would happen as phrases were left incomplete or somehow semi-repeated. The main character's name was misspelled at least once. It was ridiculous and juvenile. I know, I teach a high school creative writing course.
The pacing of the story was very spotty. Sometimes, things moved incredibly fast, and sometimes so fast I could hardly follow events. Battle scenes were not described well. Then there were periods of downtime that made no sense.
Characters came and went willy-nilly, with no consistency or reason. The MCs themselves were actually semi-interesting in concept, but they were not well developed. They were stereotypes and that was pretty much it.
The plot itself was largely transparent, but there were giant plot holes that left me questioning what I had just read. The King himself chose Jasmine to be a Keeper. Why? When/how did she meet him? How do the damned Starveins eat if the Keepers are supposed to cook for them? Is there no cafeteria in this school? How inefficient! Why is a bleeping bodyguard expected to cook in the first place? Why are there so few Keepers compared to Starveins? What the heck is their magic supposed to do, anyway? If these kids? Young adults? Are at school, why do they only spend about an hour a day in class? And what the heck are they actually doing the rest of the time? I have more questions, but no more patience. This is not a series I will continue. Moreover, this author needs to either hire a proofreader or get acquainted with an old-school grammar/writing textbook....more
Basic Plot: Selina encounters a cursed merman who needs her help.
The pacing of this short was atrocious. Fast when it should have gone slow, and slow Basic Plot: Selina encounters a cursed merman who needs her help.
The pacing of this short was atrocious. Fast when it should have gone slow, and slow when it should have gone faster. For a romance, the relationship just developed oddly. The smut was also paced oddly for this style of novella.
The villain was sufficient, but I wanted more from him. The author set him up for real darkness, and I feel like she backed off before he could reach his potential. My biggest complaints are the typos and general spottiness of the writing. It felt juvenile and overly modern at times, while at other times reinforcing the high-fantasy-medieval setting hard-core. It needed more consistency.
Complaints aside, the story did start to grab me as it developed. Even as I got frustrated, the story was decent. I just don't think it met its full potential....more
Basic Plot: Retired adventurer Viv opens a coffee shop and starts a new life.
I have played a lot of RPGs, and I have read a lot of books, many of themBasic Plot: Retired adventurer Viv opens a coffee shop and starts a new life.
I have played a lot of RPGs, and I have read a lot of books, many of them fantasy. A mere fraction are actually logged here because I read so very many when I was much younger, before a site like Goodreads was even a possibility. This book is like nothing I've ever encountered before. It sits in the heart like a hot cup of coffee on a cold morning. It wakes up the senses and warms the heart. I barely have words for how wonderful I found this book to be.
What happens when an adventurer gets sick of adventuring? When they want to get away from the violence and high stakes? Viv opens a coffee shop. I truly adored how the author blended the idea of a modern coffee shop into a medieval-esque fantasy world and made it actually make sense. The characters were all wonderful, and they came together in the best ways. I absolutely love Thimble and his baking. Viv's desire to not go back to her old life. Tandri's determination to make a new life. Cal's persistence and problem-solving. All of them were just perfect.
Before even finishing, I have been pestering all of the kids in my gaming club (I teach high school and sponsor the gaming club) to read this book, and all my friends, and everyone at this point. It was well worth the time. I know I'm going to revisit this one when I need a cozy moment, it was that good....more
Basic Plot: Laurel awakens in the future, finds her well-blessed mate, and works to thwart an evil king working with evil humans from her past.
I dunnoBasic Plot: Laurel awakens in the future, finds her well-blessed mate, and works to thwart an evil king working with evil humans from her past.
I dunno. I feel very meh about this book. It had all the right components, but they just didn't grab me. There is a certain amount of eye-rolling I have to do in how the characters keep getting pulled to the future, keep getting mated, relatively easily accept their new lives, etc. It's cheesy. I'm not opposed to a certain amount of cheesiness, but these books push it. I didn't terribly connect to either of the leads, and the audio readers also didn't do it for me, so finishing was a bit of a chore.
I'll try the next one, and if the pattern continues, I won't be continuing....more
Basic Plot: Clarke wakes up in a post-apocalyptic Earth filled with magic, shifters, fae, and more, and then is dragged into the struggle to save a cuBasic Plot: Clarke wakes up in a post-apocalyptic Earth filled with magic, shifters, fae, and more, and then is dragged into the struggle to save a cursed shifter and stop a rogue faction from destroying the peace.
There is just a lot going on here. It was managed pretty well, but this author seemed to be trying to shoehorn in *all* of the tropes she possibly could before the end of the book. We have a post-apocalyptic medieval-ish world, complete with magic. There are strange rules and customs, lending it a bit of a dystopian feel. We have a Chosen One (tm) who has to learn the ropes and how to use her precog powers. We have a shifter mate who claims her without asking. BTW, he is cursed and *that* has to be dealt with. There are evil baddies from our time, back in the world, who apparently caused said apocalypse. This isn't really a spoiler because it is mentioned fairly early in the book.
As I said, a lot.
On top of this, there are some really tragic backstories all around for the characters. The really emotional, heart-tugger scenes are sufficiently heart-tuggy, but I wasn't buying the very obvious emotional manipulation today.
It wasn't bad, and I plan to read the next one, but the writing was only ok. The pacing was only ok. Overall, it didn't knock my socks off, but I didn't hate it. Popcorn reading....more
Basic Plot: After Leaf wakes up in a slave market with no memories, she is bought by a king in disguise. She has to bide her time until she can escapeBasic Plot: After Leaf wakes up in a slave market with no memories, she is bought by a king in disguise. She has to bide her time until she can escape and discover who she really is.
There's a whole lot to unpack in this one and I have no idea where to start.
It was compelling in a very train-wreck sort of way. I felt like mentally I was just watching the train barrel down a predictable path, and it was just a matter of how the train would wreck and how much havoc it would cause. We have fae, but some have wings and they hide them. Because reasons (?). And some have fangs and drink blood. Also because reasons (?). The different courts didn't entirely make sense to me.
The whole gold thing was just overdone. They swear to gold. They cover everything with gold. They apparently eat gold, and it's also a drug. And they make jewelry out of it. They mine it but also somehow create it, and trade it, but use it to pay for things... The words gold or golden were used so often that I sort of just imagined a demented drag queen rolling through every scene throwing glitter in everyone's eyes. It was ridiculous. At first, English teacher brain thought it was some kind of metaphor for greed, but then it just kept showing up in all sorts of incongruous ways and it didn't make sense anymore.
Then there are the characters. Hoo boy. I've seen so many reviews call Leaf a "strong, female character" and I call bullshit. She spent most of the book as a slave. Quite a bit of that time enjoying it. Never using the supposed skills she had. Arrow was just a dick. Through the whole book. No redeeming qualities. I could tell at the big climax of the book that readers are supposed to like him, but his list of utter douchebag moments had tallied too many marks for me to see him as anything other than a slaver and there was no saving him. Then the very end of the book happened and I write the whole thing off. Who knows what motivated the side characters to do a damn thing they did, because I sure as hell don't. And they made some damned strange decisions.
I won't be reading more. I'm giving this 2 stars instead of 1 for the fact that I kept listening to see what would happen with this train wreck, but train wreck entertainment only goes so far.
As a side note, the reader for the audiobook mispronounced many words. Weird ones, too, where I had to think for a moment about what she had just said because the words came out so strangely....more
Basic plot: Felix the werewolf gets doused in a love potion, so Brie thinks he isn't really in love with her. Meanwhile, a cult is kidnapping women anBasic plot: Felix the werewolf gets doused in a love potion, so Brie thinks he isn't really in love with her. Meanwhile, a cult is kidnapping women and someone has to stop them.
I wasn't sure if the author could actually pull off a compelling sequel to the previous book, but she sure managed it. In her sights this time are romance novels and incels, and a lot of other foibles of the world. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Felix manages to be pretty unique, but Brie reads really close to Cinnamon, despite their very different backgrounds. I don't know if that's the author or just me. Either way, the book was still tremendous fun....more
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