I really enjoyed the book (though going by some reviews if I had read anything by this author before I'd be disappointed?), but I didn't give it a better rating for a few reasons.
First of all, Maggie. She really got on my nerves as the book progressed. Even though we saw everything from her pov I was still on Courtney's side on the breakup? I thought I would love her when I started reading but she seemed overtly judgemental and immature (i would accept immature in the flashbacks but I can't in the now section).
Second, why is the bisexual character the only one to ‘not like labels'? Will this trope die already or do I have to kill it myself? Every bisexual person I know will shout it from the rooftops if asked so I have no idea why it even exists.
And third, I think the flashbacks took too much of the story. I would have liked to see more of them now and their getting together again seemed rushed to me. Too easy considering Maggie's (childish) behavior at first.
I will still check out the author's other books, though, and I look forward to reading them.
I really liked the overall plot and I honestly loved the Percy and Annabeth moments. The cliffhanger was amazing and I loved the inclusion of the Athena Parthenos and its disappearance.
Still weirded out that two 16 year old boys find a 13 year old girl hot. Like, I know 3 years isn't a big difference, but that's later when they're... 18-21 or whatever. When she's 13 I'm just ??? how can you find a 13 year old attractive? Doesn't even get fixed with her being 10x more mature than them both. That's literally why I didn't give it 5 stars. I felt uncomfortable with those scenes.
I didn't love Cat's narrator. Too chirpy even in parts of the book that didn't need it. I also didn't love the whole ‘brain voice' thing, but that's probably because of all the memes about 50 Shades with that to be honest.
I liked this one better than the first, though I didn't enjoy the love triangle at all and wish she'd kept that part out. Specially because of who the third wheel was.
Glad to report the witty charming banter wasn't too overdone here, like it was in the first.
I usually enjoy her books for what they are, but the unending witty banter and the fact that each character seems the same as the last one is really getting to me. Hoping the next one is less.
I started reading this in English and had to change to Spanish after the first three chapters because it was just too hard for me to know what was happening. But, once I went into the Spanish version, everything got better. I feel like the translator made the book better, so props to them for that. The story is interesting even if there's not a lot of assassin things happening until the last 30% of the book, which was disappointing.
You can see the clear ‘influences' from The Lord of the Rings, but it still had enough differences and compelling characters to make for an interesting read.
This would have been a 3 star like the previous two, but the author's obsession to put down every other team annoyed me to no end. Literally every team fakes fouls, dives and plays dirty which is why we should root for the US, I guess. It would have been so easy to make it an underdog-ish story considering they didn't manage to win the last time. And yet, the author insists on not capitalizing on that and instead makes the matches be a struggle because the other team plays dirty or the ref is being unfair. The only one not like that is the match against Japan and I wonder if it's because it's from Jamie's POV or because the author doesn't care about japan enough to hate on them. I hope the way she narrates matches changes in other future books because yikes.
I didn't know anything about the plot when I started reading, I found it strange but obviously also incredible. I can't wait to read the second one after that ending.
Good idea, not a good execution. Too little time to develop anything properly and the characters were just... flat.
I really enjoyed it, though I could have done with less drama in their lives (by page 88 one of the protagonists' dad had died and not long after the other got disowned by her parents, give me a break XD).
I would have also appreciated them being able to mention the word bisexual even if just as a possibility, but I'm used to it in wlw romance already.
I am only taking one star away because the ending felt rushed and abrupt. I would have loved to get more than what we did.
I was really enjoying the book and then the author had to go an include a fake sexual harassment claim. I've never been a fan of that storyline and I'm even less of a fan now with everything that's happening in Hollywood these days. I feel like after that it all went downhill.
I don't see how Isabel went from giving up her job as a writer and being ok with going back to waitressing if needed because she couldn't work there without Taylor to accepting a job as a show runner that she wasn't ready for at all. It makes zero sense to me (her relationship with Taylor having nothing to do with the decision). She knew she'd have a job as a writer and she would have gotten to showrunner soon enough so I really don't get it.
So yeah, the last bit of the book was a huge letdown to me. Specially because I was enjoying it a lot until that point.
You know that gif that says ‘it's not realistic? It's just not realistic'? That's how I felt reading this book. Maggie's fever is not realistic. Alex being able to do all that with her injuries is not realistic. Their wounds being perfectly fine after all that is not realistic. Them being in love with each other for 3 years after working together for 2 weeks is unrealistic. Going from arguing to calling each other sweetheart in a night is not realistic. I could keep going.
I had high hopes for the book based on the premise but I was very disappointed with how it was all developed and written. That paired with thinly veiled biphobia made me not like it much when I was ready to love it.
This whole book was meh. I found the characters bland and the plot boring. I expected more from a book so hyped, specially for its characters, than rich snobby kids running around getting drunk and high while thinking they're the smartest people in the room. I feel like it was way too long. The very little that happens could have happened in 200 pages less. And I was also disappointed the professor wasn't in it more, just because of the blurb. Don't go in thinking he appears much because he doesn't.
Entiendo porqué han añadido un tercer punto de vista, pero son los capítulos que menos me interesaban y creo que no saber lo que realmente estaba pasando habría estado mejor. Pero entiendo que es un libro para adolescentes. También tengo que decir que había varios fallos de edición (palabras que faltan etc), pero eso es lo de menos.
Sadly, I found the ending quite disappointing. I also don't understand the need for romance, but I guess it's what you get with YA novels.
I really like the plot and the older characters, what I felt was rushed was the romantic development between the main characters, I felt like it had no foundation whatsoever.
Voy a ser sincera, la estrella se la he quitado por ser tan sumamente heteronormativo. Y no lo digo porque la pareja sea de una chica y un chico, sino por toda esa charla sobre cómo los guardianes y las guardianas entrenan separados para no distraerse entre ellos. El resto me ha gustado mucho y espero ver más de Rox porque ya solo con lo que he leído me encanta.
First of all I want to thank NetGalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.
And now onto said review. I feel like I would have needed a hundred pages more to be able to fully connect to the characters and the story. I liked the premise, what I read was fine, but I felt like it was not enough. I would have loved to see more backstory to the main characters, I don't find what we need enough to root for them as a couple. I would have also loved to see more of the Princess, she seemed interesting but we didn't get enough to grasp me.
Writing a short story is hard for the very reasons this one didn't get me as interested as it should have. It's still an entertaining read, but I feel like it could have been more than that.
It's hard to review the book because even though I enjoyed the story I don't know if it should be told by a white woman. This doesn't mean white people cannot write characters of color, but I felt really uncomfortable reading some parts of the book because of it. I also don't really know if it's all that ok for a white person to be writing the n word so many times. I am also not from the US, but still.
Another problem is that Linda literally comes to her senses because she thinks Sarah is different and not because she realizes they're all human beings (which also makes me wonder what Sarah saw in her because Linda was truly awful sometimes).
So yeah, I'd cautiously recommend the book? Maybe? I do appreciate the research she did to write it though.
First of all, I LOVE that Sohpie clearly states she's bisexual. Books/tv shows/movies often go the ‘I don't like labels' route and I am glad it didn't happen here. It's ok to say the word!
That said, I really enjoyed both the personal part of the book with Sophie's relationship with Mina, her parents, etc and the mystery part of it. I will say I suspected who the killer was from early on, but that's because I've seen too much crime procedural shows and not because it's obvious, I'm sure.
I've been left with a ‘what if' sense about Sophie and Mina, though I guess that's what the author was going for and I find it great that it ends on a positive note.
It's a very good book, I must say this. It's very well written and I love how Kaz always has a trick up his sleeve. I love Nina and Inej as these unusual best friends. I love how Wylan found a place where he was accepted. I LOVE how it was introduced that neither Wylan nor Jesper are straight (kudos to thy line cause it's both informative and flirty and I love it). I even loved the cliffhanger at the end. It also makes you care for bad people who're doing bad things. All but one, that is. And he's the reason it took me so long to finish it.
Matthias. I know we're supposed to think his whole thing with Nina is romantic but... it's not. I haven't read the previous Grisha books and I don't know if that's to blame for my opinion, but he is someone that has compared her to an animal. He has said she's not human. Even after getting to know her he's not sure Grisha are human, but he knows he wants her so I guess I'm supposed to be ok with it? But I'm really not. And Nina making excuses for him (he was raised by monsters, he doesn't know what he's doing etc) didn't help and made me dislike her character a bit even though she's my second favorite one. And that's sad.
Saddest part is I know they're going the whole romance way with them in the second book and I'm dreading it. I will still read it because I love everything else and I'm looking forward to see how the other relationships develop, but I'm not looking forward to having to read about this dude who did nothing to make me see he's not doing what he's doing cause he is hot for Nina and wants to bang her.
I'll be honest, if it hadn't been because people I trust with books told me the second one (A Court of Myst and Fury) was better, I wouldn't have finished this book. I do love the world building even if the characters and the whole Beauty and the Beast thing are pretty typical. And the writing is good. But I'm usually more into the characters, so even if the overall story is engaging I won't care unless I really, really like a character and the problem I had with this book is I didn't really care about anyone in particular.
Both Feyre and Tamlin are so very uninteresting when put together that I looked forward to her interacting with anyone but him. Her relationship with Lucien, and even Rhysand, were far more interesting. Probably because the author didn't have to convince us they were in love after two meaningful conversations and she could focus on actually developing their friendship/enemyship. The romance part fell short, too forced for my taste, but I am a self declared fan of slow burn so it's to be expected that any kind of instant love wouldn't appeal to me.
I've started the second one, though, and I'm enjoying it way more than the first. But that's a review for another day :P
Sadly it was insta-love (or, we've always been in love even though there's no indication whatsoever) and not slow burn, which is what I expected with the premise. Had I known the romance would go from zero to one hundred in no time I probably wouldn't have bothered. It wasn't a bad read, just not my cup of tea.