in conclusion, adam kent is dirt under juliette’s shoes. (the .5 is for james ml <3)
some quotes :
“She’s not a soldier; she doesn’t know ho1.5 ☆
in conclusion, adam kent is dirt under juliette’s shoes. (the .5 is for james ml <3)
some quotes :
“She’s not a soldier; she doesn’t know how to fight; and she has no idea how to use her powers, not really, which makes things even worse. It’s basically like giving a toddler a stick of dynamite and telling him to walk into a fire.” ⤷ his confidence in juliette in inspiring! compare to warner encouraging juliette to take over the world <3
“She’s not Warner’s type at all. He’d probably eat her alive.” ⤷ just going to leave this here. the irony
“Let’s go get our girl back.” “My girl. She’s my girl.” ⤷ *whispers* your fragile masculinity is showing.
“I know I have a responsibility to Juliette. What would she do if I wasn’t there to help her? She needs me.” ⤷ she can crush a wall of bricks with her bare hands. In what world does she need you ...more
❝ all I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart. ❞
‧₊˚.➛who’s afraid of little o⤿ 2.5 ⋆⭒˚.⋆
❝ all I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart. ❞
‧₊˚.➛who’s afraid of little old me? by taylor swift you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me
what the heck did I just read.
I’m not sure what I was expecting tbh. I was prepared for deranged metaphors & writing, an annoying main character, a love triangle, and a hot morally gray villain. and I got all those things, I guess. but this was still not what I was expecting at all and it was one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read.
the things that happened in this book just felt so… random?? spoiler! like, she’s in an asylum, meets a guy from her past, then she’s at this fancy military center, then she’s making out with this guy, then she’s running for her life, then she’s living at this guy’s house, then she’s running for her life again, then she’s making out with a different guy, then she’s at a cliché rebellion hideout and discovers that ✨it’s all a lie✨ end of spoiler!
like, what?? mafi really took “never let them know your next move” seriously ...more
❝ I will stay by your side until the fire in the sun grows cold and the light of the moon is no more. until time blots out the star˚₊‧ 3.25 ☆ ˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚
❝ I will stay by your side until the fire in the sun grows cold and the light of the moon is no more. until time blots out the stars. ❞
fantasy. adventure. coming-of-age. perseverance. war. magic. loss. hope. light.
above all, this is a story of love. of maia's love for her family, and the love she shares with edan, and the depths and heights she is willing to go for them. was this the best book I ever read? no. was it a little bland at times? yes. there were times when I didn't really want to read it, but I did anyway— and I'm glad I did. because in the end, this was a lovely conclusion.
₊⊹⁀➴ maia: I've never really adored maia as a protagonist. I just couldn't connect with her a whole lot. but she had some wonderful character development, and I liked seeing her struggle against the demon trying to devour her; it rounded out her character quite a bit. she's still a little bland, but in the end, I did like her!
࿔࿐.⋆★❝ No matter who I was or what I was, I would have been yours. ❞ ★⋆. ࿐࿔
✮⋆˙ this is arguably the best book in the series. The writing has im2.5 ⭐️
࿔࿐.⋆★❝ No matter who I was or what I was, I would have been yours. ❞ ★⋆. ࿐࿔
✮⋆˙ this is arguably the best book in the series. The writing has improved a ton and the plot was quite enjoyable in parts, especially the action scenes!
✮⋆˙ I really liked the direction leigh took with the darkling’s character. She fleshed him out a lot more and managed to make me feel a lot for him, and how under his facade he was just a scared man with too much power. He was honestly one of the best characters in the whole series.
➸ paedyn “huffs out a laugh,” “huffs in response,” just “huffs,” etc. ➸ a character’s “lips twitch into a smile” ➸ a character “snorts” ➸ the characters start laughing for no reason ➸ it mentions the color of paedyn, kai, or kitt’s eyes ➸ it mentions the color of paedyn’s hair ➸ kai randomly touches paedyn even though they’re not a couple yet ➸ paedyn thinks about how the king killed her father ➸ kai inwardly calls himself a “murderer,” “killing machine,” “beast,” etc. ➸ kai and paedyn have excessive inner monologues about how they “can’t be near each other” then proceed to, in fact, be near each other and hang out ➸ the characters, plot, or even dialogue seems to be copy/pasted from another dystopian or fantasy series
congratulations! You now have alcohol poisoning <3
‧₊˚❀ the tropes ༉‧₊˚.
➸ enemies to lovers (to enemies) ➸ instant attraction ➸ knife to the throat ➸ who did this to you ➸ touch her and I’ll kill you ➸ cleaning each others wounds ➸ she comforts him after his nightmare ➸ simp (so.much.simping.)
‧₊˚❀ the characters ༉‧₊˚.
➸ paedyn gray: I could not with this kid. bestie really thought she was katniss ...more
❝ We're all good. We're all bad. The hero in our own story. The villain in someone else's. ❞
The one time I bought a book without reading it firs2.75 ⭐
❝ We're all good. We're all bad. The hero in our own story. The villain in someone else's. ❞
The one time I bought a book without reading it first. *loud tsk-ing*
This was not a bad book by any means; Mrs. White is a very talented author. But the plot was very sparse and slow-paced. Aside from mini villain pov, there wasn't even really a plot for the main characters until the climax. It's mainly a romance. Which would have been fine, since I adore character-driven stories, if the romance hadn't been blander than unsalted mashed potatoes and if the main character wasn't the most infuriating character since Alina Starkov.
Let me introduce Margot De Wilde's character to you. Margot is almost eighteen, but she has the mind of an extremely intelligent elderly gentleman. She sees the world as an equation to be solved. She's so dang smart that she literally thinks and prays in numbers. She works as a codebreaker in a secretive Room 40 with a bunch of ✨men✨, creatures likeminded to her just not as smart, obviously. Margot eats lunch alone, because everyone expects her to eat with the fellow young woman who work as secretaries, but she despises them because they're all brainless gossips with only room in their head for fluff and fashion and she's the first female to ever exist who every had any common sense.
Then Drake Elton comes along. Drake is very hot, and he asks very good questions, and he can't resist any challenge. He immediately is smitten with the very quick-witted and sarcastic and hilarious Margot De Wilde. Everything she does becomes even more annoying from his pov because he is obsessed with her and thinks she's ✨really great✨.
As you might have guessed, after lots of flirtation and Margot being too good for Drake, they fall in love.
Now people, I really wanted to like Margot. She had her moments, such as this one:
"wait just a blighted moment. Do you mean to tell me-" "Shut up, Camden. My feeble feminine intelligence requires a bit of quiet for such tasks."
But overall, she made me want to punch her in her super-smart face. Which made her romance, while still cute, overall very meh for me, and I thought Drake deserved a lot better than he was getting with her.
I expected a bit more from Roseanna, especially after just previously reading The Reluctant Duchess (which was beautiful and gripping), but the next book in the series (about different characters thank goodness) looks good so I'll probably still pick that one up.
❝ I love to watch you and try to imagine the thoughts pouring through your mind... I picture them like a whirlwind, each thought a bejeweled raindrop. Beautiful storms of brilliance. ❞
happy reading my loves <33 remember to stay safe and drink enough water!! ...more
eadlyn sounds like the name of a beetle. try to name one actual personality trait of the love interest. haha, you can'teadlyn sounds like the name of a beetle. try to name one actual personality trait of the love interest. haha, you can't...more
ಇ ~ this book was cheesy, but not really the good kind.
I enjoyed it moderately, but the romance was quite lacking, and I honestly liked the side coupಇ ~ this book was cheesy, but not really the good kind.
I enjoyed it moderately, but the romance was quite lacking, and I honestly liked the side couple much more than the main couple. I just could not get into the writing style and was cringing every five seconds. it was quick, though, and pretty fun at parts if you can get past the stilted narrative. all the delulu girlies out there who fantasize about meeting their celebrity crushes and having a whirlwind romance... this one's for you. hopefully you'll enjoy it more than I did!
p.s. taking off half another half of a star because the ending made me cringe so hard I was transported into another dimension inside my head where this book does not exist <3...more
There was much less drama and girl hate than in the first book, thank gosh. It was still there, but the courtly politics, while a bit dry, overs2.5 ⭐️
There was much less drama and girl hate than in the first book, thank gosh. It was still there, but the courtly politics, while a bit dry, overshadowed it most of the time. There were times when I would start to enjoy it… but they wouldn’t last long, because then Alina would open her mouth and shatter the illusion.
Why oh why did Bardugo create the immature and pick-me protagonist that we have to deal with for 437 pages???
Alina’s life is so hard. She finds out she’s the most powerful magic-person to, like, ever exist. Her hot childhood bestie/crush likes her back. A hot evil dude with magic powers like hers, but different, likes her too, in his own way, and wants her to join him in ruling the world forevah. People worship her and call her a saint. An actually hot privateer also likes her and also wants to rule the world with her, just minus the bloodshed that guy #2 is planning on.
Oh, and did I mention that she is sooo tiny and pale and petite and clumsy? And, like, super ugly.
Leigh Bardugo tries to write a character slowly consumed by hunger for power and magic until she slowly turns to the dark side but is hindered by the character outline that she’s already created for herself. A self-pitying and shallow girl who cares more about her relationship problems and her next meal than the important problems people try to involve her in because she’s the only one who can solve them, for goodness' sake. The evilest she ever gets is when she sends away people trying to ask her about orders she just gave because she hasn’t eaten breakfast yet and she’s ✨grumpy✨.
I don't know how she got THREE guys pining over her, especially the hot prince-turned-privateer. You all were not kidding with him. He's perfect and amazing and hilarious and selfless and ahhhhh ...more
This book started out mind-numbingly slow. The first nearly half was Klassen developing the characters and atmosphere ”I forgive you, and I love you.”
This book started out mind-numbingly slow. The first nearly half was Klassen developing the characters and atmosphere and setting everything up for the plot, but it was really boring and could’ve been done in half the time it took, or she could’ve continued developing while the plot was already going on.
Alas, she thought it necessary to neglect everything other than the atmosphere and character dynamics and foreshadowing for nearly 200 pages. The blurb wasn’t fulfilled and the plot wasn’t started until halfway through.
It took every ounce of my self-control to stick to my no-DNF rule. Unfortunately, nothing amazing happened to make it better like I hoped for.
Things did get a bit better once the plot got off its feet though. The historical jury system was quite intriguing and fun to read about. The murder mystery in and of itself was well done, not terribly surprising, but the twists were nicely foreshadowed (thank goodness, at least the first half of the book wasn’t completely boring fluff but actually had a purpose) and executed.
It just felt… very anticlimactic. The way the mysteries, investigations, and discoveries were told was very straight-to-the face and, well, dull.
The characters were fine; they had a kind of cardboard feel to them most of the time, but there was nothing terrible about them. The romance was mediocre and there wasn’t much chemistry, unfortunately.
I feel really bad about such a negative review. Trust me, I much prefer writing positive reviews (I’m terrible at writing negative ones). But this book, despite its amazing premise and gold pile of potential, was mediocre at best. Julie Klassen just missed the mark with this one.
well, I guess... *clears throat loudly* this just... *shifts in seat* wasn't really... *lip bite* my... cup.... of.... *looks at cameraman* dnf at 48%
well, I guess... *clears throat loudly* this just... *shifts in seat* wasn't really... *lip bite* my... cup.... of.... *looks at cameraman* ✨tea✨
*MIC DROP*
⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
I normally don't dnf books, especially since this one definitely wasn't horrible! It was cliche and trope-y and the writing and dialogues felt very stilted and there were plot holes and I didn't really care about the characters too much and the romance was insta-lovey and bland and there was people-hate and it was predictable and, um, where was I going with this? I had a point, maybe??
anyway, uh, I might come back to this, but I say dnf for now! *runs*...more
I've been thinking about this book a lot and I'm changing my rating from 3 to 3.5, but still rounding down to 3. This was defi3.5 stars
~edit~ 04/14/23
I've been thinking about this book a lot and I'm changing my rating from 3 to 3.5, but still rounding down to 3. This was definitely a super interesting book, but a lot of things in it weren't my proverbial cup of tea (i.e. the writing, overall plot, tropes, and some of the characters). Again, there were great themes and messages and if the premise interests you I definitely recommend checking it out! And I recommend reading Nadine's fantasy novels over this one because I enjoyed them sm more!
~Lydia has officially decided that she is not a dystopian kind of gal.~
happy reading m'dears (and don't mind how dramatic and emotional my original review is, I was in a mood).
~original review~ 04/10/23
Pain. Death. Sadness.
This book is made up of these things. It’s a horrifying, knife-wielding story. It’s a broken Clock ticking furiously even though every number is a bloody red zero.
Broken shalom.
The world is full of it. Since the Garden, when Adam and Eve defied their God, the perfect shalom He created broke.
This book paints that in a terrifyingly bright color.
This books testifies to how, in this sinful world of broken shalom, Christians are Radicals, transformed by God, fighting to the end of their invisible Numbers to bring the perfect shalom back, to bring everything to the way God meant it to be.
Invisible Numbers.
We don’t know the days we die. We don’t know how long we have. But in this book, we do. Before Jesus returns, we might.
If we lived in the USE, in the world this book brings to life, and we knew exactly when we’d die, would our lives be different then they are now? Would we be more motivated, more God-fearing, and more prepared?
The answer is probably yes.
It should be no.
We should be living like there’s no tomorrow and be spending every waking minute of our lives radically transforming others through the Giver of shalom.
This book shows that, and so much more.
It was not a perfect book (see my 3-star rating) but underneath its flaws it's a powerful story of fear, pain, absence of hope, and broken shalom.
It really touched me in a far corner of my heart! I hope it would do the same for you.<3
❝ Sometimes, only through a story can a truth be told. ❞
I lowkey forgot to/was pushing off writing a review for this for longer than I usually d2.75 ⭐
❝ Sometimes, only through a story can a truth be told. ❞
I lowkey forgot to/was pushing off writing a review for this for longer than I usually do, which is the first bad sign lol... anyway! I was a bit apprehensive to read this at first because I have read another by Axie Oh, XOXO, and while it was cute, the writing wasn't quite strong enough to write a fantasy novel in my opinion. But the cover was so beautiful and there were so many glowing reviews for it that I decided to take my chances. Unfortunately, my concerns were valid. I wouldn't go so far as to call this a bad book, but it had some pretty obvious flaws.
₊˚.༄ the pros: ༄.˚₊
╰⪼ The writing could be lovely at parts and there were quite a few quotable lines. Oh clearly has talent, and the epilogue was absolutely beautifully written. Oh also did a great job with the scenery and setting descriptions.
╰⪼ speaking of the setting! The Spirit Realm was so gorgeous, and arguably my favorite part of the book was going to the different parts of the city and meeting different gods. I'm whiter than a whitewashed wall, so I have no idea how accurate any of it was to actual Asian mythology, but I loved the different aspects Oh included nonetheless ...more
Avery: *hides literally everything she does from literally everyone with ease*
Her paren”Music is a love language, isn't it?”
Avery: I'm a terrible liar
Avery: *hides literally everything she does from literally everyone with ease*
Her parents: *only find out about her lying when her jealous sister tattles bc they didn't suspect a single thing*
Avery:
Avery: yeah I'm a really crappy liar
Anyway the amount of lying in this book stunk but besides that it was kind of good.
I found Avery almost painfully relatable (except for the lying part of course....) I forget the love interest's name (really says a lot about his character) but he fell quite a bit flat for me. He was the typical cliche boy with the daddy issues and the music skills and the way-too-long hair and honestly there was nothing original about him. The romance was cute and fluffy and giggle-y, though, per usual for Kasie West, so that's good.
I will say that I prefer Kasie's older books. I've read what I think is her latest book, Places We've Never Been, and it was also not as good as some of her older ones. Some of my favorites are among her first ones. She still writes fluffy romances but her newer ones are less sweet and adorable and are becoming more repetitive and bleak.
Anyhoo, it was still a cute summery read but not my favorite from Kasie and I recommend her older books over this one.
”Initial impressions are stupid. Superficial. If people really cared, they'd want to know more than their first thoughts about a person.”
”Village life is like an ivy vine climbing a great oak. You cut off the vine at the root, and all the way up the tree, the leaves wither. We’re a2.5 ⭐
”Village life is like an ivy vine climbing a great oak. You cut off the vine at the root, and all the way up the tree, the leaves wither. We’re all connected.”
This book was very nice.
I’ve been trying to find a better way to describe it, but really, it was just very nice. The setting was nice, the characters were nice, the plot was nice, the romance was nice, the writing was nice.
❝Show me debauched nightmares or sunniest daydreams. Come not as you are but as you wish to be seen.❞
This book does what it wants to do so well.
Hauntin❝Show me debauched nightmares or sunniest daydreams. Come not as you are but as you wish to be seen.❞
This book does what it wants to do so well.
Haunting, spellbinding, atmospheric, and eerily confusing, this is one of the scariest books I've ever read. I don't read many scary things because I know I'll regret it, lying in bed that night, but this was delightfully creepy. I must just have to look into more fantasy horrors.
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