Brittanie

One of the main plot devices in this book is the conflict with Grace's parents and, just like in the last book, it seemed so forced and unrealistic. Grace was still acting like a 17 year old child and treating her parents like trash. Also, it seemed like they kind of gave up on searching for her, even if they continued to think that Sam murdered her. No combing of lakes or the forest? No search warrants for Sam's house and property?
The second is Cole suddenly becoming a genius scientist and working out how the wolf “disease” works - and actually solving it. It seemed ridiculous and, while it's hard to argue against a fantastical disease that turns a human into a wolf seamlessly, trying to explain it like it's a realistic disease and akin it to malaria and thus making malaria a “cure”... it was just hard to not roll your eyes at. Just because your dad is a famous “rocket scientist” (do we ever learn what his dad actually does?) doesn't mean you can solve complex problems, even if troubleshooting the results on yourself without fear of death.
I still give this 4 stars because overall I really enjoyed it and thought it was a decent close to the trilogy, even if it had a lot of problems. Despite all the problems I have with Steifvater's logic and plots (see my reviews for her Raven Cycle series which I liked less than Shiver), I still really enjoy her writing and characters and will continue to read her books.

This one is hard for me to rate. For the first 200 pages or so, it was just a really weird story, with characters that seemed unrealistic and a world that was ours but with enough supernatural elements to make it impossible. A bunch of high school children believing in a buried Welsh king in Virginia and the magical ley lines of energy that would lead to him seemed too far-fetched and it was difficult for me to get into it, though I kept reading because I was determined to finish when so many of my friends had enjoyed the book. After page 200 though, the action finally started picking up and with the revelation of Noah's backstory, I was finally invested and enjoyed finishing the final 100 or so pages. It was a solid 3 stars up until that and then I wavered between 3 and 4. The writing is good enough to keep the reader engaged but, like I said, some of the characterisations of these supposed children are too unrealistic - especially Gansey. I just can't imagine a 17 year old, ridiculously rich or not, being obsessed with medieval legends and asserting himself as a father figure to his friends. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel because it focuses more on Ronan and his family.

This was a fluffy little mystery sprinkled with graphic sex scenes. This has a few classic tropes intermingled - upstairs/downstairs and class issues and a whole lot of insta-love which was laid out very sappily. Not the best writing or plot but an easy, quick read.

Taylor builds a fascinating world filled with enduring characters. Lazlo Strange is a man who grew up not being wanted, building a life within the words and pages of stories about a real city turned legend filled with magic and monsters that no one has had contact with in over 200 years. He was abused and discarded his entire life, but still maintained an innocence and compassion not usually seen in abused orphans. Something happens one day that, of course, changes his fate and he finds himself actually (finally) in the world he's read about and imagined his entire life.
At first, the writing felt over-saturated with weird metaphor and flowery language use but once I got to know the characters and the world, it fit and was a really enjoyable read. The ending, however, was a bit rushed and obviously tailored for a sequel with some character development (mainly Ruby's mentality and Sarai's fate) I can see many female readers not enjoying.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first. Callie's personality has changed a bit and she seems extra dense, with a lot of repeating questions she's been asked and giving off a very valley girl idiot vibe. For someone that's supposed to have grown up fast due to past traumas and a hard life and then making a career out of being a private investigator, she seems very naive and stupid. Des, who is supposed to be at least 250 years old based on the proceeding novella, could not have fallen for her without the complication of the magic-based ‘soulmate' tie. Nothing bothers me more than when an already cliche female character goes to the next level by losing her mind as soon as she's in a dude's arms.
Once I got past that, however, the continuing plot kept me glued to this book. It takes place directly after the first with little to no time in between. It still has the fanfiction writing quality (and it's even more a wing fic now) and it's very heavy on the Twilight vibes - but as someone who is thoroughly entertained by both, that wasn't a hurdle.
I look forward to the third full-length book and hopefully getting to the conclusion of the Thief of Souls mystery.

This was a decent sequel but didn't grip me quite as much as the first book.

This plot sounded really similar, no doubt the authors took inspiration from The 1922 Gruber Family Murders, but seemed to get a bit grandiose especially when the next book in the series is from the POV of yet another different character in an entirely different country. I think the authors could have pared it down a bit or closed it out a little cleaner, unless we do see The Order again in a sequel.
As some other reviewers said, this book also feels a little flat being from the POV of William who is not as strong a character as James. It didn't feel like we learned much more about him or that he grew as a character, and the relationship between him and James felt a bit stagnant which is not what you want from your main pair in a romance novel. I actually wanted to see more from Victor and his budding relationship with Adelia, they seemed much more interesting if I'm honest.

The thing the authors do really well is create a really creepy atmosphere and write scenes that almost feel like a good paranormal horror movie. There were a few bits where I didn't want to read anymore in the dark before bed in case of nightmares. Really great descriptions of both the scene and the ghost... zombies? just like the first book made this a great read for the spooky season.

I'm hoping we get a bit more character development in the subsequent novellas but I am actually excited to read the third book, about Preston and Benjamin, James' school mates from the first book.

I think this book is the best of the series, but definitely one that cannot be read as a standalone. Benji and Preston are very likable characters and the harrowing, action-packed plot kept me from wanting to put the book down. I hope we learn more about Crane and even Sid as well. This book had a lot of world building and main character development but still left enough unanswered questions for a continuation of the series.
My only real issue is that this book was written in dual POV, switching every chapter, where the other books were written mainly from one character's POV. This could be confusing sometimes unless the narrator named the other in dialogue, so I'd find myself having to backtrack and figure out which person actually did what in the past couple of paragraphs. Each chapter is titled with who is telling the story, but I tend to gloss over chapter markers/titles when I'm reading through.

A little dissapointing, but still a good read. It started out really slow and I was able to predict the ending by the middle, but the ending was still really well written and entertaining so I'll still be reading the rest of the series.

This book starts a few years after the first one, and after some crucial developments that the reader isn't privy to until the latter part of the book. I found this frustrating because Silver constantly worried about this unknown event without just stating what happened throughout the story and the two main characters (Silver and Tobias) are at odds because of it. It turned out something pretty insignificant and petty imo so the build up didn't make it less frustrating. Also, half of the book is on a linear timeline but then suddenly we're jumping from two years before and back to the present. When I saw the “2 Years Ago” header I was like FINALLY we'll find out what happened between them... but nope, still not for another couple chapters.
I do like this world Tesh has imagined and we see a lot more of it, though the rules she seemed to have set out for the Greenman in the first book are completely broken/remade for it so it.
Overall, an interesting sequel with a lot more action and detail but I would like a more linear plot.

DNF at 40 pages. The writing felt like we were dropped right in the middle of a story and it felt very confusing. The lore wasn't set up and I had no idea who these characters were or what they were though it seemed I needed to already.

It started promising and interesting but, about 85 to 90 pages in, it took a turn and became something I didn't expect but didn't want. The boy became a lot more juvenile and it became a supernatural detective story when I was more interested in an actual serial killer.

This was a great addition to the series with some new characters and some great details about old characters. I hope this isn't the last of the series!
The big difference is every other chapter is told from Niko's point of view which we've never seen before. You get to know a lot more about him this book and see that he's really not as different from Cal as Cal says.

DNF. This sat and collected metaphorical dust in my ereader for months. I got about 100 pages in and nothing had happened, none of the characters had appealed to me, and their situation didn't change enough to make it interesting. This would be a book for those who read a lot of high fantasy and are used to long-winded soliloquies about walking down the street but I need a little more action.

I enjoyed this sequel a lot more, it reads less like a Harry Potter clone and more like its own world. Some reviews state that it has a different feel to it and I completely agree, but I feel it's an improvement. I went into the first book blind, not knowing it was an HP fanfiction, so it left me confused about why it was so popular and professionally published - however, I enjoyed the story and the characters so much I couldn't complain too much. I also read this one rather than audio at work (how I “read” the first one) so that might have made a difference in how much I got out of it as well.
The conflict between Simon and Baz was a little confusing because it seemed like it was just from Simon being depressed (and with good reason) and Baz not sure how to deal with it, but they should know each other a lot better than this book portrays after living together for all their formative years - even if they were “frienemies” most of that time. The side story with Agatha falls a bit flat but I think only because we spend so little time with her, maybe 2-3 chapters from her POV where the rest is Simon, et. al. and their road trip adventures. I'd actually like to know a little more about that group, and it was a complete surprise when they ended up being **ires, as well as more about all the stuff BTS of Las Vegas. Penny's little side drama with her internet boyfriend also seemed pointless and unnecessary, especially when we never hear about it again or see Penny really process it in a healthy way.
It's like Rowell knew that people were mostly here for Baz and Simon but felt she needed to shoehorn something for the ladies to do, but they were both basically McGuffins in this story. As I'm a reader here for Baz and Simon as well, I'm not complaining. The chapters from Baz' POV are my favourites, but I do enjoy all the characters and want to know more about the newly introduced ones too.
Overall, a really fun book but die-hard fans of the first may feel like it's missing something.

SO. MANY. WORDS. to say a horse and a rider went through a forest listening to the sounds and smelling the smells. No wonder this brick is 880 pages. I can't do it.

When I started reading, I didn't realise this was part of an already-established series. The reader is thrown into the middle of a conversation and it was a little confusing. A lot of the previous action and character building was done in the previous books and, while you do end up getting some background information, it's not enough to really get to know these characters if you're starting here. I guess I wished that had been more clear by the title or cover of the book.

This is another urban fantasy that combines a lot of established worlds and creatures that usually don't interact in lore - vampires, fae, demons, necromancy, etc. - in a real world setting. This book mostly takes place in St Louis and Chicago but that has little to do with the plot. The author could have left out the location of the city and just made it Anytown, USA and it would have been the same.

The weird take on the Wild Hunt was interesting but seemed really bizarre, like it's this sentient demonic mass that has to be herded by specific fae to find its selected target. It's very much an urban fantasy take on the Wild Hunt lore rather than the mystical fae entity that it's more established as.

The “witty banter” was also wearing. There's a lot of random pop culture references or just the main character trying to be antagonistic in a really immature way and it didn't feel like it fit in this world. There was also a lot of random cooking, incl. making cannabis oil from scratch, that didn't belong.

Overall, because I was thrown into the middle of the world without context and the weird almost sci-fi take on fae lore, I was mostly just confused and didn't enjoy this book that much. It's definitely for readers already familiar with the author and their previous work.

This was different than any ghost-centric novels I'd read before . While I enjoyed the characters and the story itself was a diverting read, the author took a few incomprehensible leaps when it comes to what ghosts can and can't do physically to further the plot. It makes sense that a ghost can have a corporeal form but not to have substance and it would be very energy draining, especially corporeal enough that they “feel warm” to and can engage in penetrative sex with a living person. There was also odd choices like having the slight triangle with Carter - why can't they just be friends from the start, especially with the age and lifestyle differences - and also the conflict with Old Man Wayne. They added some tension, sure, but in the end they didn't really elevate or further the story in any way.
Overall, it was an okay read and I would continue on in the series but my eye muscles sure got a workout with all the rolling.

This is a pirate romance with a lot of cliches but it was a fun.
Kellan is a pirate captain that spends a lot of time navigating towards something using the stars and not telling his crew, but it turns out he's trying to find a way to break a curse bestowed upon him by a mythical being of the sea, marked by a conch shell scar/tattoo on his chest. He falls for a very (too?) young tavern boy with red hair and an attitude to match (Fletcher) that accidentally had a peek at him getting serviced by two men in a brothel, but then ends up saving him by taking him more-or-less hostage onto his ship when Fletcher very suddenly/conveniently loses a place to live that very night. Queue a bit of Stockholm Syndrome and Fletcher ends up falling for Kellan and is fully thirsty for what's in the captain's britches.
It's not the best writing or the most original premise, but once I got into the book, I really enjoyed the story and characters.

Even though she only has two books out so far, SoRelle has become one of my favourite authors of the genre. This is a fun mystery read with an ending I definitely couldn't have predicted, with a lot of emotional ups and downs along the way. The tragic history of his adoptive family and the house he inherited from them is really interesting and, if you read the author's notes, you find that a lot of it was actually based on real history. Alfie and Dominick are endearing characters and I can't wait to read more about them.

If you only have a slight if any interest in ancient Roman and Greek warfare and culture, it can be a bit of a slog. The first 1/3 of the book is like any other young friends to lovers story but once Axios and Eryx are young teens, it becomes very repetitive with the training regimens and, later, warfare and I just have no interest in the culture. However, for those very interested in history of this time period, it's a hearty recommend because it is impressive how much research and historical knowledge went into writing it. I ended up getting bored with 100 pages to go so skimmed that. It's also not a HEA story and the last few chapters were hard to read yet disappointing after putting so much effort into the rest of the book.

I went into this basically knowing nothing of the plot besides it had magic and a little m/m romance. I guess I should have been a little more prepared since I spend over half the book just going, “Why is this all Harry Potter?” Apparently, it's the fanfic of a character is the author's book ‘Fangirl' which I have yet to read, though that's never referenced in this (and why would it be).
If I'd never read Harry Potter, I might have enjoyed this a lot more, but I did enjoy the characters and the different references. The author choosing Aleister Crowley's name as a curse and substitute for saying God/Jesus Christ was a weird choice since he was just a weird pervert into Satan, but nevermind. It had pretty much every trope imaginable and I can only assume (hope) it was on purpose since this is blatantly a fanfic.

I listened to this via Audible and the narrator was very good. I hope he's also doing the sequel.

This book was a surprise. I stumbled upon it on Amazon looking for new releases - I've always been a fan of vampires and there's so few good m/m paranormal romances that I was willing to give it a chance blind, and I'm so glad I did!
As the description says, this is a pretty slow burn but doesn't feel stagnant or boring at all. Nikole has built a very vivid alternate world that includes different cultures and settings in under 300 pages which is very impressive. I've read entire multi-book series that didn't seem as well thought out and organized. Haruka's characterisation can feel a bit odd, but if you take into account his age and personality it doesn't feel unrealistic or overly awkward.
It'll be interesting to see more background information in the second book, The Vanishing.

This is entirely a prequel focused solely on Jack and Jill's (from the first book) story. It's interesting to see one of the many fantasy worlds one (set) of the Wayward Children encounter in detail but I would have liked to see more than one somehow. This could even be a standalone book, though it does help explain some things in the first book.

This is a very short origin story with Dominick and Alfie in the orphanage/work house. We find out that Dominick saved Alfie's life after he was basically thrown out as a toddler by his parents but also is the one who named him Alfie. I would have liked more glimpses into their life as they grew up together but this scene does cement the bond that these two have in the full-length books.

I was looking forward to reading this because it sounded like some of my favourite fanfiction (the “coffee shop AU” is a favourite trope) but the characters themselves left me disappointed. I just didn't care about either of these people and they didn't seem compatible at all. When you force a fluffy romance between two characters with zero chemistry, it just reads very uncomfortable and somewhat one-sided. In this case, Robby seemed domineering and internally used his controlling ex-boyfriend as a comparison in this new relationship constantly. The reader isn't given really any background information on that relationship though besides that the ex was also a customer and was in the closet. Robby doesn't want a relationship like that again where he feels he's a dirty secret so he kind of forces David's hand. David seems like a wet towel, is very self-conscious with low self esteem with a lot of trauma and abuse in his past, so he lets Robby take the lead but because he's so uncomfortable with it, withdrawals and Robby feels he has to confront him publicly and make an ultimatum. Basically, it's not a healthy relationship and these two are not good together. If this is your idea of a good relationship, you might need to reassess things.
Overall, while I did finish the entire story, I have no interest in reading more from this series or author.