Ashley

Editing this three weeks later. Knocking down 1 star since upon reflecting, this is not a great book. As Leonie said (way more concise than myself) “no worldbuilding, no lore, no atmosphere, nonsensical and superficial politics, bland cardboard characters, romance that had no basis other than to fit the ‘enemies-to-lovers/knives-to-throats' checkbox”


3 stars! Unique premise, but I feel like the author was writing with the goal of being the next booktok viral romantasy instead of an actual good story and quite literally lost the plot because of it.

Imagine if the throne of glass competition in the first book was a hunger games style contest. Now imagine the plot is a convenient way to string trope after trope (forced proximity, “who did this to you?”, golden vs dark brother, enemies to begrudging allies, “i'm not like other girls because I want to bring my dagger to the ball”, morally gray love interest, “i hate that I don't hate you”) together with dual POV. The magic system was unique but not developed enough to buy me into it, and the plot holes made the character's actions feel random and insincere.

That being said, I never found myself struggling to reach for or finish this book, and the tension between Payden and whatshisface was really well written. The high stakes just weren't there for me since I have read other fantasy with much better world building and developed character motives. There were some scene for scene moments ripped off from acomaf and moments I rolled my eyes but this got me out of my DEEP reading slump which I will forever be grateful for. Will maybe read the next one, but only if I get it free on Libby ya feel? Ok bye

This was incredibly well written and further solidified my undying love for Impossible nuggets (specifically the spicy ones).

In all seriousness, this is a book that everyone should read. I loved that this was not pushing vegetarianism on the reader, but (through peer reviewed research) showed the facts and horrors of factory farming in the USA Today and how far removed we are from the animals we consume. Eating/not eating meat is a multi-level discussion (moral, social, economic, feminist) and I'm privileged to be able to make the choice to not eat meat.

This book was also so thoughtfully written. Some non fiction can be too stark and textbook-y, but JSF wove personal narrative with peer reviewed facts (the last 30% of this book on my kindle was citations, notes, and links) in a way that felt incredibly natural. It was an honor to read this book. 5 stars.

Listen, I would not have made it past “I love twilight more than I love cheese” 20 pages in if it weren't for this being the book club book. Elsie was really giving door mat the first half of this book. And her quirkiness was cringy instead of endearing. But she is mirrorball No 1 and that I can relate to. Ali also has never spoken with a t1 diabetic and that made me laugh. Jack is too perfect tbh but seeing Elsie through his eyes is what made me finally start to like her. And while I had many qualms with this book I am giving it 4 stars (which was not on my 2024 bingo card, esp because I would have thought this would be a 2 for me) and would rec to people looking for a mind candy, low stakes happy pay off read.

2 ⭐️

This was - without a doubt - the MOST pretentious book I've ever read. And I ate that sh*t up in the first half.

I love the premise of meeting a stranger over six conversations, of healing yourself by learning who you are through the context of falling in love.

But then, you get to the last half of the book. In my opinion, it feels toxic, unhealthy, codependent, and gratuitous. It's giving tumblr, pick me energy, with Regan and Aldo acting as if they are the only two people of substance or value or original thought. It's a sex-capade of co-dependence and I got mega ick (think: Megan fox and whatever his name is)

This is also a character driven book, focused on the relationship over a typical plot. The issue with character driven books is that you have to be interested in the characters to make the “slice of life” storytelling worth it. I didn't relate to Regan, and I do not believe that you have to feel connected to a character to enjoy or derive value from a story (that is a dangerous thing to think). But I do think you have to be curious about their story, and I found her to be a frustrating character to read as I don't agree with her poor choices and how they are romanticized.

The author (sort of) addresses this in the acknowledgments, but I don't love the messaging that medication and therapy were obstacles to her finding love. The implication that she could only love Aldo, and that he could finally love her, once she stopped taking her pills and ignoring her the phone calls/therapy appointments of her court-issued psychiatrist felt like a dangerous narrative to tell.

This book got glowing reviews and emotional recommendations, but didn't land for me. The prose is nice, but if English is not your first language, good luck. You have to wade through parts of it and I found myself reading out loud just to understand what was being said and which characters were speaking.

I was expecting a book about flawed humans falling in love despite their imperfections, but I got a pretentious, unhealthy depiction of an obsessive relationship.

4.5 oh my god this was a delight???? Charming and includes all the fun regency balls and courting but unique and with a social critique on the elitism of the time. Plus a magic system with folklore accurate faeries? Howl pendragon coded man? Neurodivergent leading lady? This was absolutely wonderful

Okay okay okay. 2.5 stars and many thoughts that I will list haphazardly here.

I would not have ever picked this up or even finished it if it was not for book club. Which I love that book club gets me out of my genre comfort zones. But Yuck! This was really gross. Made me squeamish. I do not like horror or blood or scary things at all and this was graphic.

I love a run on sentence when used as a literary device. But when a (Kindle, size 3 font) page only has 6 sentences on it total, it makes it hard to digest the story.

Speaking of the story. I think a lot about own voice; should stories be told only by individuals who have the same lived experiences as the characters they tell (yellowface I'm looking at you)? I think context does matter and play a role in that. So why the f did a man choose to write from the POV of a southern housewife? It made me feel icky to read those run on sentences about how she was such a chaotic mess when I knew they came from the keyboard of a man. But could have been relatable if written by a woman. What was his motive? That was such a weird thing for a man to write. (insert book club group chat text “He for sure fantasizes about being a vampire”)

I will say this. I was never bored. I was at 10% on my Kindle when I picked it up this morning, and read the last 90% today. So while the characters fell flat for me and I was reading with one eye closed and my hand clamped over my mouth, I did find myself curious as to what happened next.

The ending was rushed and a bit dissatisfying. There were some loose ends that didn't properly get tied up. I also would have loved the story to have been about a unified book club figuring out the mystery together. I can relate to book club being your support system and would have enjoyed that theme to be present throughout the whole story. I wish the black characters had been taken more seriously.

My personal rating system is that 3 stars and above is something I would recommend, and while I was engaged in this book, I don't think it's something I would tell someone to pick up. So 2.5 stars feels right for me.

All in all, this just solidified to me the that I should only read female authors (except Rick Riordan I will read anything he releases), that I never want to go to the south again, and that I am done with thrillers for the foreseeable future. Can't wait to discuss this in book club.

Nothing like getting ready for spooky season by reading a book about our culture/history of hating “witches” as there is nothing more horrifying than the atrocities committed against women. I thought this would be a bit superficial, but was very intersectional and spoke of issues women still face today. Age, sexuality, motherhood, all the good stuff. This was excellent. 4.5 stars.