laur gluchie

"The world turned and flung me."

I did not want to read this book at first.

This book was given to me as a gift by my grandparents. I had no interest in reading it when I had received it. None. At all. I throught this was going to be the most boring book in the world. I let this book sit on my shelf for about a year before I picked it up.

I then realized that I was very, very wrong.

Ths book was absolutely hilarious and heart-wrenching. I love Astrid and her sassiness, Lucy and her shy-awkwardness, and Noah. Just Noah.

I love the scenes with Astrid and her Grandfather, especially the one wher he takes her to the Louvre and tells her to steal a painting because its hers. And it absolutely broke my heart when he died.

“If you were quicker,” he said, “you would have had that damn painting. Astrid, never let anyone stop you from having everything you want.”“It's impossible, you know. I never could have had it.”“Impossible for everyone else, sure,” he said, “Not for you and me.”

“Fire is fierce. Fire is angry. Fire does whatever it fucking wants. I am a big fan of fire.”

Listen. I do not read Red Tower books expecting quality. It's just an unfortunate fact that the writing in this was just so poor and amateurish that I was in disbelief that this was an actual print book I was reading and not some random Kindle Unlimited fodder with a man's bare chest on the cover. However, what editing this book lacks, it makes up for an attempt in storytelling. Key words here being: an attempt.

Firstly, I can tolerate the comparison to A Darker Shade of Magic, but I have a bone to pick with everyone who compared this to Six of Crows. News flash: not every book that features a thief needs to be comped to Six of Crows just because it's the most hyped-up heist book out there. It set this book— and many others with this comp— at unrealistic expectations, and it affects my personal reading experience. So please, kindly, stop!

Okay so. The writing. Yikes. Reading this felt like reading a first draft, or an amateur fanfiction. You know the common writer saying, “show, don't tell”? Yeah, well this author does a fuck-ton of telling and not showing. “Kierse did this,” “Graves did this,” “Then, Kierse did this,” “Then this happened.” “Finally, Graves did this.” It was so hard to read at points that I just started skimming. There were these ✨ moments of brilliance ✨ though, scenes here and there that actually started to make this seem like a well-put together story, but it would quickly lose itself to that basic, boring telling again. To me, this felt like a lack of skill and creativity, with everything being made so obvious, like I was reading an informative textbook rather than a fictional story.

Beyond that, there were also a lot of inconsistencies in the writing. For example, the author reveals that Graves is a warlock in chapter 14 on page 92, a species Kierse was unaware of prior to their conversation. However, Kierse calls him a warlock in the previous chapter on page 88. There are so many instances like this, to the point where I literally doubt that this book had an editor at all during the publication process.

Another thing, the names of the people and places? I mean, come on. The main characters names are Kierse, Graves, Lorcan, all fine and dandy for a paranormal fantasy novel. But then the side characters names are all Ethan, George, Nate, Gregory, etc. Like, where did the creativity go? Pick a side, go with fantasy or modern names. It's upsetting when you can tell a character's importance in the story just based on their name alone. Also, the location names had no creativity at all. The Holly Library. The Five Points. The Third Floor. It's all so conventional and unrealistic, I was at the point of laughing because this is some of the most outrageous shit I've read all year.

My final writing complaint: the romance— and this one might get me side-eyed a bit. In my ever most humble opinion, Kierse and Graves had more of a found family-type, mentor/mentee or even parent/child connection, and their romance came completely out of left field. When I first started reading, I was wondering if maybe I had read the synopsis wrong and Kierse's love interest was actually supposed to be Lorcan? Because the relationship between her and Graves did not seem like it was steering in that direction at all until it very abruptly did, and I was a bit weirded out if I'm being honest.

As for the storytelling, I have to give Linde some credit. The story, at its base, had the potential to be something great— it's the execution that fails it. I would've loved this story had the planning, writing, and editing been up to par; a modern-day paranormal fantasy, with monsters and humans living in uneasy harmony, with a Beauty and the Beast-inspired romance? Sounds like my dream novel. I'm just so disappointed that it had been published like this.

Entangled Publishing (Red Tower's parent publisher), I'm begging you: the pretty covers are nice but PLEASE hire editors for your books. If this book had anything beyond beta readers or a line editor, this probably wouldn't be half as bad as it is. And the thing is, I'm not even mad, I'm just ironically amused. That's the main reason I didn't DNF this, as well as the receipt for this book saying that the return due date was literally the day before I started reading this so I was like “this must be fate” lmao. Lowkey I wanna read Sanctuary of the Shadow now for shits n giggles because if this one was that bad...

(Also, I don't think that this is entirely K.A. Linde's fault, and I'm still interested in giving her Ascension series and Royal Houses series a shot at some point, probably not anytime soon though. Her non-Red Tower books seemingly have more of a positive reception, so I'm hopeful that her next venture isn't as unsatisfactory as this one.)

TL;DR: Pretty cover syndrome strikes again, concept was cool but execution was shit, it's so bad it's funny and I want to give it a zero but I can't so I give it a one, and another one of my bookish rants is now over.

Wow. I did not see that coming.

This book was above my expectations. I loved Wren and Lucas, and the mystery kept me intrigued to the very end! I literally couldn't figure out who had murdered Kasper, and I became even more confused when Sable was poisoned. I hadn't expected the murderer/poisoner to be Greer of all of the characters! My money had been on Hale. Whoopsie daisy.

The most shocking thing, though? This book is FREE on Amazon Kindle. I honestly couldn't believe that a book of this quality was free. What a steal! Claire Luana, meet your newest fan. I'm looking forward to read The Confectioner's Coup!

3.5 Stars

I'm really sad, because I really wanted to enjoy this considering it's my first Ann Liang book (an author I've heard nothing but great things about). Unfortunately, this didn't start clicking with me until around the 70-80% mark, and I believe the reasoning to be in part the writing style, and in part that this felt more like contemporary fiction than contemporary romance— which I was not expecting. I still want to give Liang's other books a try though, as their synopses all sound very intriguing.

This is the third time I've cried over a Sarah J. Maas book in my physical science class. Seriously, my teacher is just used to it by now.

I honestly love how everyone is hating on this book and saying how they hate Feysand and the smut was cringy... and I'm over here with my five stars like ¯_(ツ)_/¯

(Also, Chapter 22 is the new Chapter 55. Fight me.)

- - -

Pre-Reading Updates

30/1/2018: THE COVER IS STUNNING. BEAUTIFUL. FEYRE'S STARFALL DRESS JUST GKSSHLGSKSKTIDHKJ

29/1/2018: COVER REVEAL TOMORROW I AM SCREAMING

15/11/2017: FROST AND STARLIGHT FROST AND STARLIIIIIGHT

14/11/2017: GUYS WE'RE GETTING A TITLE REVEAL SOON FFJHGKMX I KNEW IT WOULD BE THIS MONTH YESSS

I've received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book through a giveaway hosted by the author. This has not affected my rating in any way.

Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman's All of Our Demise picks up right where All of Us Villains left off; in the wake of massive reveals- including a very much alive Hendry Lowe. What follows are alliances made and broken, a string of unsolved murders, and a plot to break the Blood Veil once and for all.

I'm very happy with how this story concluded; in fact, I'd go as far as to say I predicted the ending well before it happened. That's not a bad thing, by the way. I also like the pairings of the characters, and while some were unexpected, each relationship was portrayed so well that I'm not mad about any of them. The action was amazing as per usual and had me on the edge of my seat each time. I'm very sad about the fate of one specific character, though if it had to be one, of course it would be them.

My only complaint about this novel would be the pacing. Compared to the fast-paced first novel, All of Our Demise was much slower. I grew bored at times, and I ended up having to skim some parts, especially in the middle. And honestly, had I not skimmed, I thought I might not have finished this (that, or it would've taken me a year to complete and immediately put me into a reading slump). However, the beginning and end were of that same fast pacing we see in All of Us Villains.

Regardless, I still enjoyed this duology very much. I'm excited to read A Fate So Cold, the next dual-written novel by Foody and Herman. But for now, I give All of Our Demise 4 out of 5 stars.

this is one of the greatest, if not the greatest urban paranormal fantasy novels i've read in a long time... or maybe ever.

from the well-written characters to the incredibly deep worldbuilding, legendborn is a gem in a world full of booktok fodder. the way this novel intertwines such unique characters, a brilliant multi-faceted magic system, romance, trauma, grief, racism, sexism, stigmas, and arthurian legend in a world so parallel to our own is unfathomable to me. i'm proud to say that this story is set in my southern home state of north carolina and focuses so much of itself upon that fact. it's long for a first in a series, but it's worth it when you realize how much great lore it has to pack in. if you are a fan of urban paranormal fantasy or just great literature, please, please give this a chance. it's basically arthurian shadowhunters.

also i was firmly team bree and nick but y'all... that ending may have turned me into a bree and sel shipper bye

Pre-Reading Updates: i see “unc chapel hill” and i instantly go into fight or flight mode we-

OH MY GOD ITS FINALLY OVERRRR

...not that this was a bad book, but the Caraval series has two of the most insufferable main characters I've ever had the displeasure of reading about. Too much happened too fast and this ended on a confusing note.

Whatever. Now onto what I've truly been waiting for... Once Upon A Broken Heart! Dear god I hope the main character of that one isn't as annoying as Scarlett or Tella.

i feel sick to my stomach i actually feel sick to my fucking stomach i am literally laying on the floor what the actual fuck was that last chapter shaking and crying and throwing up

spoiler-y jumbled up thoughts beyond this point

• first of all the last eight chapters had me so stressed like my heart was beating so fast while i was reading
• this was better than hoeab to me but i also don't completely remember what went down in hoeab so
• i loved the way that bryce and hunt were like “you know what fuck it let's be mates” and then they actually ARE lmao and then when they used it against the autumn king at ephiram and celestina's mating ceremony that was amazing
• speaking of celestina i hope hypaxia wakes the fuck up and sees what her lover is doing. unless celestina is redeemed which i'm not sure if i even want that.
• AND THEN BAXIAN IS DANIKA'S MATE???? FUCK LMAO i literally had to go lay down for a few minutes after i read that
• and i had my theory that lidia was daybreaker as soon as the scene where the guy woke her up for sex like i knew that was little bitch ass pollux. i hope she gets a second chance with ruhn. like she's so hot she deserves it.
• i couldn't have asked for a more perfect final chapter. bryce totally jumped through a wrydgate to get to prythian you can't convince me otherwise. i do kinda hope that acotar 5/6 focuses on the acotar characters and cc 3/however many books there are focus on the cc characters. i want my azriel book to be about az and gwyn only lmao.
• and genuinely who cared about the epilogue after THAT lmao
• i hope the cc and acotar characters gets to go to erilea as well because i miss my tog bbs like doctor strange in the multiverse of madness who??
• also as soon as i finished this i went on tumblr and saw that people are now shipping bryce and az???? like NO THANKS az is not a homewrecker!!! and quinlar is finally canon and mated i'm happy where i am sarah please don't ruin this for me
• and also sarah please don't kill bryce or hunt or ruhn or lidia or baxian or tharion or ithan or dec or flynn or hypaxia or aidas or ember or randall or cooper or fitzroy in the next books everyone else is fair game please sarah
• OH YEAH i forgot to add when bryce introduces herself as her full name and rhys only said his first name i just rolled my eyes like we're never gonna get this man's last name are we but then i had a thought
• WHAT IF RHYS'S LAST NAME IS DANAAN.
• BRYCE LITERALLY THOUGHT HE WAS RUHN FOR A MINUTE.
• THEY BOTH HAVE POWERS RELATED TO NIGHT, SHADOWS AND DARKNESS.
• THAT'S GOTTA MEAN SOMETHING.
• FUCK.
• also i just read the target exclusive bonus chapter while in target cuz a bitch is broke and i just gotta say that fitzroy brookings is my all-time favorite character of the series now i said what i said

spoiler-y jumbled up thoughts end here

okay. my jumbled thoughts are out. i'm planning to reread throne of glass next and actually finish the series this time around. might reread acotar too for funsies. k bye.

AAAAAA THIS IS JUST WHAT I NEEDED!!! I loved this! The angst, the love, the Lucas... 😍

Kylucas remains one of my top OTPs. This novella just proves that this ship will never sink!

I missed Holiday, Burnett, Della and Miranda so much! I was so happy to be reading about them again!

This is my favorite Shadow Falls novella so far!

Ember of Night was good in the way that Tracy Wolff's Crave was good; in that trashy, borderline chick-lit kinda way. Though I will say, I enjoyed Crave much more.

This book had a slower build-up and was a bit harder to get into, it had some of your basic paranormal tropes including the “super special chosen one.” The way some of the characters and aspects were described wasn't all that vivid. Also, the way Draven (his name is a whole issue in itself) kept calling Harley “honey badger” was such an ick, sorry. However, it was an enjoyable read overall... even though the epilogue revealing that Harley is the antichrist gives me icky vibes and now I don't really want to read the next book anymore lol.