Amolika

This was a straightforward, short read that I enjoyed in one sitting. The book fulfils its promises of helping the reader discover plants, herbs, crystals and more with well-structured chapters. The tone of this book is welcoming and casual, but not at its detriment. My favourite part of this book is the consistent formatting in delivering information throughout, but especially in the plants section and I went Kindle highlight-heavy there. I really appreciate that the author uses the noun itself in explanations, so the formatting therefore feels intentional and it's easy to refer to. I believe the popular/collective highlighted quotes is a good representation of this book when it is not offering information. I rated this book 4/5 stars because the content is useful, knowledgeable, considerate and accommodating of different readers. Lastly, this book is good for a beginner and definitely worth it on Kindle Unlimited but I would have liked to see more illustrations (used effectively too).

I am unsure why people think there are too many POVs. I recall like 5 characters at most, which pales in comparison to high fantasy books.

I liked every single POV and how some people's story overlapped.

Every character is awful in their own way and the ending was delicious. I rooted for some characters.

I read the entire book in one sitting.

My only question is WTF happened with Jackson Crane when Jess “killed” him?

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this e-ARC.

I liked this book and it has a lot of potential. The author does a really good at making the reader angry at most of the characters because they're so unlikable and terrible people; you just wish the worst for them. This is a positive thing and keeps your heart pumping because you aren't supposed to like these characters. I really liked and appreciated the inclusion of Jamie having cerebral palsy, but I thought he was a bit pathetic and passive. Though it is nice to see him become his own person in the end.

The plot summary is that Victoria and Jamie are expecting. They stay at a guest house and then are trapped when Victoria is in labour; the owners of the guest house nowhere to be found.

The beginning of the story was really boring to me and took too long to pique my interest. It took me like 3 days to get through the first quarter of the book and I'm not a slow reader. I think part of that is not understanding why the couple felt so trapped. This story is told in a dual timelines and (dual) perspectives, which is fine but I thought the whole contractions sections were just repetitive and did the opposite of upping the tension. However the ending and unravelling of everything was the best part of this book. The ending utilizes letters and I'm a complete sucker for them because well-done letters allow the reader to understand a character's voice and thought process. I was hooked and cared about the consequences for the main characters. It is disturbing and reminiscent of true crime documentaries so the believability is there for me.

Overall, I do not regret reading this book and the book left me a lot to think about, which is important to me. I'd give this book a 3.5 stars and I would recommend it for the most part, but it's not my favourite read of the year. I feel like other people would enjoy this book more than me.

I found the size of this book very intimidating, but I am appreciative of high fantasy and I think it has to be considered high fantasy at 800 pages long. It would be an absolute crime if this book was slow but it was enjoyable and finishing this book in two sittings is good.

A brief summary is that our protagonist has sacrificed her mortality to save her sister and is now under the servitude of Kaden, who requires the Book of Azrael.

I requested this book via NetGalley because I wanted a high fantasy novel that wasn't Brandon Sanderson or emphasized male characters too much. Of course, I wanted a book of quality with a fresh voice and that's what I got! This book is not derivative at all and I don't feel it is trying to copy formulas of big franchises.

This was a comfort read in terms of tropes like a villainous female main character (Dianna) and enemies to lovers yet not unreasonable, poorly written spice at all. This book gave me a lot of things I never knew I wanted from books. I feel that in my limited experience of high fantasy, I haven't read anything like this and I absolutely loved it.

This book is excellent from the characters to world building. I am excited to see more from these characters.

Finally, yes this book does show a bit of inexperience as a debut and the editing could be improved but it is a very promising start and I am thrilled to have read this e-ARC. Thank you to NetGalley and Rose and Star Publishing for giving me an opportunity to read this work for free in exchange for a review.

Book Title: Come with Me
Age when read: 19-20 y/o
Written: 29 days after finishing this book

Review:
I didn't really have any favorite characters because everyone felt equally distant to me and I cared more about the mystery. However, the characters felt real as they were regular people and mostly quite boring to be frank. An exception would be Aaron's opposing thoughts acting like two personalities as I feel his inner conflict moved the story. The story kept me guessing in the way that I had no suspects at all; realizing that I just missed the clues. This is a good thing as the reveal makes sense, so I don't feel tricked. My favorite part of this book is when Aaron becomes suspicious of another character who is trying to solve the mystery of the story. The fear that Aaron felt is very well-written and the reader can feel it too. The ending surprised me, but it was really fun. I should've seen it coming. The beginning of the story gripped me and the ending was pretty good. I gave this book 4 stars because while it was good, it was not mind-blowing.