This is incredibly beautiful - what a love story! Shane and Eva had insane chemistry and I just felt so much emotion whenever they were on page togethThis is incredibly beautiful - what a love story! Shane and Eva had insane chemistry and I just felt so much emotion whenever they were on page together? They come together fifteen years after first meeting, and they’re both in a much better place and it just goes to show how a person can truly be “right person, wrong time”, and I was just rooting for them the whole time. Both characters go through so much growth, even in just the seven days in present day, let alone the fifteen years that this book spans. This was full of emotion and hope and heartbreak and I loved it so so much.
The only reason this isn’t quite a 5 star read for me, was the character of Audre - she kept breaking me out of being immersed in the world, because I had to keep checking what age she was. Why was this 12-year-old acting 17 years old? It was just really jarring to me, because yeah you can have wise kids etc etc, but that is not how a 12-year-old behaves, I’m sorry :((
Other than that, absolutely gorgeous, stunning, I’m constantly thinking about it <3 ...more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
This was very beautifully written and fastThank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
This was very beautifully written and fast-paced, connecting ancestral magic and historical fiction, but I really struggled to connect with the main character Jane. Despite being in her twenties, Jane read a lot younger, which was quite frustrating. I really liked the historical parts of the book, but the magical realism aspect wasn't really working for me. The research done on the historical fiction was really well done and clever, and I think the book would have worked much better for me without the fantasy aspect. I also struggled quite a bit to follow how the timeline was jumping around, but that might have just been me!...more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Unfortunately I didn't like this as much aThank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Unfortunately I didn't like this as much as the first book - it just felt pretty average. The historical backdrop is fun and adds a deeper element to the story, but I didn't feel the connection between Isabel and Sirius - and the spicy scenes were honestly making me cringe, why was he talking like that ew. I also just found myself not caring about the plot that much either - but it might just be a me thing! There seems to be a lot of people who really liked this!...more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
I wish I had loved this more - I think I jThank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
I wish I had loved this more - I think I just had different expectations of it to what it turned out to be. I think I wanted a bit more spookiness? It was a lot lighter than I was expecting, but I just wanted a bit more of the "Haunted Places" that we're promised in the title. I think I really struggled to connect with the main character Lucky - I just couldn't bring myself to care all that much about her, and the romance fell completely flat for me - I didn't feel any chemistry between Lucky and Maverick, and I think it would've made for a far more interesting romance if Xander had been the love interest. Everything about this book just felt very surface-level and lackluster, although I did appreciate the conversations in here about asexuality, which isn't often depicted in romance books....more
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
A powerful story, following a neurodivergent, selecThank you to the publisher for sending me a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
A powerful story, following a neurodivergent, selective mute teen girl who was raped at a party - this story really focuses on the importance of consent, and I think this is one that every teenager should read. You can tell how much care the author has put into writing about this topic, and into the main character Ariana; I think the author did a fantastic job of representing neurodiversity within this novel, including neurodivergent side characters as well.
I adored the author’s debut - unfortunately, this book didn’t quite live up to my expectations from that; I felt like the writing was stilted, and a lot of the dialogue felt quite cringeworthy and shallow, considering the heavy topics that we’re discussing. And really, aside from the main character and the love interest (and the antagonist), the side characters kept blurring together in my mind.
So, sadly not what I would consider to be this author’s best work, but such an incredibly important novel, and still one that I think that every teen should pick up, because it discusses the issue of consent in so many ways, so incredibly well. ...more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
I really wanted to like this, but it just Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
I really wanted to like this, but it just didn't work for me. I really didn't like any of the characters - the main character, Mara, is very annoying and just completely obsessed with Nico, and yet Nico was completely awful to her! I couldn't understand why Mara would like Nico so much, nor was it ever really explained why Nico was so awful. All of the side characters as well felt like the EXACT same person, I genuinely could not tell a single one of them apart. The timeline would also kind of jump around without any explanation, and it just felt like the story never really led anywhere in the end....more
Such a stunning book - utterly heartwrenching and compulsively readable. I absolutely flew through this and would highly recommend it. This s4.5 stars
Such a stunning book - utterly heartwrenching and compulsively readable. I absolutely flew through this and would highly recommend it. This story is a love letter to Syria, and it was both beautiful to read about Salama’s deep love and affection for her country and people, and devastating to read about the atrocities of the war. I didn’t cry as much as I thought I would, but I still felt so emotional over this story, and you could so clearly feel the fear and grief that these characters felt. Salama felt like a genuinely real person, almost as if I was reading a memoir, and I think it is so important that this story exists and people, especially young people, can read this and understand more about what is going on in real life. Despite the desperation and devastation, this is also a story full of hope, and I cannot wait to see what comes next for this author....more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
The art was very beautiful, and I really lThank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
The art was very beautiful, and I really liked the colour choices throughout the book and how they represented the emotions of Kai. I also really enjoyed the inclusion of Korean mythology with the Gumiho. However, I never felt connected to the characters, and while the first three quarters of the book felt like they dragged on, the ending felt very rushed. In fact, the last chapter or two felt completely disconnected from the rest of the story as a whole - it was very jarring. I think if we'd just had some more development on that ending, I would've enjoyed this more!...more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
I really enjoyed this! It was very cosy anThank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
I really enjoyed this! It was very cosy and comforting, and I really love the concept of being able to control and choose our dreams. The characters I think felt a little underdeveloped - even the main character, Penny, we know barely anything about her or her background, and it made it difficult to connect to her; I felt more connected to the side characters such as those who we meet as they come into the store looking for the perfect dream. In particular, there were a couple of dreams in the last chapter that were very emotional and touching, and had me tearing up. I hope that in the next book we get to learn more about Penny, and also about DallerGut himself, and that we get to see some more world expansion!...more
So cute, so lovely! Very gentle, and charming, it offers a beautiful outlook on grief, but also on the power of reading, and the power of the people ySo cute, so lovely! Very gentle, and charming, it offers a beautiful outlook on grief, but also on the power of reading, and the power of the people you love. This is truly a book about books, and honestly if you love books, you will get something out of this. It was just utterly delightful, and I desperately need more books with talking cats!...more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
While I usually enjoy books written in verThank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
While I usually enjoy books written in verse, and usually can get through them very quickly, this one I struggled with and found myself not wanting to pick up. It's also not so much an "Orpheus and Eurydice" retelling as it is inspired by that myth - I actually think if this had been more of a retelling, it would have been far more compelling. The story didn't flow particularly well, and I struggled to connect to the characters. I did like the polyamorous love story at the heart of the story, and the author's take on the underworld was certainly unique, which I appreciated! This book will work for some people, unfortunately it just wasn't what I was wanting from it....more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Unfortunately, this just didn't e2.5 stars
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Unfortunately, this just didn't engage me. I didn't understand the magic system, and I struggled to understand whether this was YA or Adult, because it read very young at times, but at other times it was very much an Adult book, and it was very jarring. I liked the foundations of the book, set in Filipino-inspired mythology and with themes of colonialism, I quite liked the two main characters and the kind of marriage of convenience they're involved in, but I didn't feel invested in the relationship or the plot....more
Thank you to Black Crow PR for providing me with a copy of this book!
I…. don’t quite know how I feel about this? When I look at the amazing reviews ofThank you to Black Crow PR for providing me with a copy of this book!
I…. don’t quite know how I feel about this? When I look at the amazing reviews of this book, I feel like I’m missing something because I kind of just feel indifferent? I didn’t love it, but I also didn’t hate it - it just wasn’t quite for me. Olivie Blake’s writing is, as always, beautiful, but I just felt baffled a lot of the time. So much of the dialogue and even inner dialogue was written in a way that didn’t really make sense to me, so I felt like a lot of the time I was reading and just going along with what was happening rather than properly understanding it. I couldn’t wrap my head around all of the characters, the side characters in particular where figments of existence such as Time, or fictional characters such as Count Dracula, were popping up, and I was beyond confused for most of the book. Especially when the “game” came into the plot - at that point I had given up understanding, it all just felt so chaotic. I didn’t understand how anybody won a game, how the games were played - I needed a good old-fashioned explanation and you just don’t get given that at all.
I did like the main characters - Viola and Fox in particular, were very interesting and I loved the bond between Fox and Death, I would have really enjoyed seeing more of that compared to Death being off-page for much of the book. I also really liked the mystery surrounding Tom Parker IV, I was very invested in finding out how he died and unravelling the curse on his family.
So this was a bit of a miss for me, but clearly not for other people, so maybe it’s just a me thing! Either way I will of course be reading whatever comes next from Olivie Blake! ...more
I will always read whatever Saara El-Arifi writes. I loved the worldbuilding, with the fae and the elves and the history behind the current storyline.I will always read whatever Saara El-Arifi writes. I loved the worldbuilding, with the fae and the elves and the history behind the current storyline. I think there’s definitely room for the author to expand into the past of this world, which I would love to see a book about. The characters were genuine and well-crafted; it was really easy to distinguish between our two main characters Yeeran and Lettle, and I loved seeing their relationship as sisters grow and change throughout the book, and I even loved the side characters too. I don’t think this is as strong a book as her The Final Strife, as I wasn’t totally sold on the magic system - I would’ve liked to have seen more of how the drum magic worked. However, I did still have a great time, I loved the animals in here, and I cannot wait for the sequel....more
This is very beautifully written, and I loved that I was able to learn so much about a deity whom I previously knew so little about. I think that I3.5
This is very beautifully written, and I loved that I was able to learn so much about a deity whom I previously knew so little about. I think that I mainly struggled in the middle portion of the novel, where the timeline becomes a bit non-linear and we have a new POV - I definitely preferred the book when it was solely Ganga's POV. There are a LOT of complicated family relationships in here, which I found myself confused with at times but for the most part was able to muddle along and follow. War is a large focus point of this novel, which I wasn't expecting but didn't hate, I quite enjoyed the various politics it brought into the story. This is incredibly well-written and thought out, and while I definitely prefer Kaikeyi to this one, I can't wait to see what comes next from this author....more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
I love Faridah and Adiba's books as indiviThank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
I love Faridah and Adiba's books as individual authors, so I was very excited to see them writing a book together, and this was very cute! I loved going back to see previous Eids in the characters' lives, navigating the topic of grief for Said and Tiwa. I really appreciated getting to see other religions and celebrations depicted in YA other than those of Christian/Jewish traditions - while I can't speak on how the Muslim representation is depicted in here, both the authors are Muslim, and I really liked seeing Eid celebrated in YA. I didn't like that the whole argument was basically just a big misunderstanding, but otherwise, this was cute and sweet, and I loved seeing the various familial, romantic and platonic love stories in here....more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
3.5 stars
I really liked the magic system aThank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
3.5 stars
I really liked the magic system and world in this one, first of all - I would DIE to visit that magical university and try all of the magical foods mentioned in here, it sounded incredible! Yes, the worldbuilding could have been stronger in a lot of places, especially considering magic is the underlying basis of the entire plot, but I did still think it had a great foundation.
Friends-to-lovers is usually one of my favourite tropes, if not my absolute favourite. So I was very excited going into this, to feel the pining and the angst that comes with a friends-to-lovers romance. However, I never really felt the emotion behind it all. I also felt like they could have communicated a lot better, if they were such supposed best friends, they just needed to have a proper conversation!...more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
This author is definitely one to watch, wiThank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
This author is definitely one to watch, with this promising debut! I really loved this Egyptian-inspired world, and I loved the main character Sylvia - she was fierce and funny, and I think a fantastic main character for this series. I also enjoyed the romance and the love interest; while the romance wasn't my favourite part of the story, I did love the tension and the angst between the two characters and there was a great buildup to the romance as well. My favourite part was definitely the court politics - there's a whole lot going on, in a very corrupt world where everyone is only looking out for themselves, I liked how the author explored all of these intricacies throughout the book and I'm excited to see how they will continue to play out in the next book.
There were some aspects that I felt could be improved upon; there are a series of trials within this novel, which felt rushed and not exactly necessary to the plot - there was never any tension or worry that the main character wouldn't win, so I struggled to care during these chapters.
I am excited to see where this series will go however, and I hope this brings on more Egyptian-inspired fantasy books to the world!...more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
This had all the components to be2.5 stars
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
This had all the components to be a beautiful book - but it just fell flat.
Honestly, to me this just felt meh? I don't know if it's a problem with me and this author, because while I remember enjoying A Magic Steeped in Poison, I was not a fan of it's sequel, A Venom Dark and Sweet.
There is a hell of a lot of worldbuilding going on in here, which is not a bad thing - but for a standalone fantasy that isn't particularly long, I think it was just too much. This level of worldbuilding would more suit a series, because it just felt overwhelming for this book. The characters as a result fell by the wayside and I struggled to feel connected to any of them, even Xue, our main character, because they weren't fleshed out enough or had any kind of strong dynamics.
The writing is certainly very beautiful and lyrical, and the vibes are gorgeous as well - but it wasn't for me sadly....more
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
This was a highly anticipated release for Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
This was a highly anticipated release for me, that sadly did not hit the mark. This book had such great potential, with such a fascinating concept, but unfortunately it just fell flat. The worldbuilding was really lacking I felt, but not so much as the characters - we have quite a number of POVs in here, with three main characters, and they all just felt like the exact same personality. There was also just SO much going on in such a short space of time that I never felt fully invested in any storyline or character, because we were jumping from one thing to the next. This was truly one of the few books I've considered DNFing in my life, because I just did not care about the story at all. Such a shame given the stunning cover, and the amazing potential that this had....more