Bianca

4.5 stars

I really liked this less than the Hidden Oracle despite of Apollos slightly toned down personality. Old Apollo I could not stand (I didn't like him in the previous series either). Granted I can like a series despite not liking the main characters, it does effect my rating here a little bit. And that's because of the short seperations of the character groups. I didn't like the “only x people can go” strategy here and these mini quests were entertainable but I would have liked a huge consistent quest more. Because of this the “main showdown” felt flat for me.

Daughter of the Book by Dahlier Adler - 2/5 stars
You're A Stranger Here by Mackenzi Lee - 3.5/5 stars
The Magician by Erin Bowman - 3/5 stars
Lady Firebrand by Megan Shepherd – 4/5 stars
Step Right Up by Jessica Spotswood - 2.5/5 stars
Glamour by Anna-Marie McLemore - 3/5 stars
Better For All the World by Marieke Nijkamp - 5/5 stars
When The Moon Isn't Enough by Dhonielle Clayton – 2/5 stars
The Belle of the Ball by Sarvenaz Tash – 3/5 stars
Land of the Sweet, Home of the Brave by Stacey Lee –5/5 stars
The Birth of Susi Go-Go by Meg Medina – 2/5 stars
Take Me With U by Sara Farizan – 3/5 stars

Average rating: 3,56

It wasn't as badass and kickass as I wished it to be. I would have liked a more steampunk or magical realism approach on some of the stories.

Mother Carey's Table- 3 stars
The Journey- 3.5 stars
Madeleine's Choice - 5 stars
El Destinos- 4 stars
High Stakes - 3 stars
The Red Raven Ball - 3.5 stars
Pearls - 4 stars
Gold in the Roots of the Grass - 4.5 stars
The Legendary Garrett Girls - 4 stars
The Color of the Sky - 3 stars
Bonnie and Clyde - 2 stars
Hard Times - 2.5 stars
City of Angels - 4 stars
Pulse of Panthers - 3.5 stars
The Whole World is Watching - 4 stars

How did a 18 year old watch most of the series of the eigthies and play videogames in just 5 years? And some of them multiple times, I cannot understand.
The writing was flat and repetitive. I predicted the references of the key and gate quests, way before our main character did. After the first half I couldn't care less what would happen to our main character, who was either absolutely stupid or in the zone and a true gamer. No in between.

What also unnerved me to no end, was that there were no real dead ends. Almost everything had a point and the characters only didn't guessed it. Also the repetitions got on my nerve. Perhaps it was the fault of the translation but reading the same lines every few pages is exhausting and not helpful.

I thought that the ending could have helped this book, but I would have liked a different, not so open ending or an epilogue.

So one and a half quite generous stars for the references and the nostalgia factor.

2.5 stars. Too much drama, too much convenience (and then phases of inconvenience) and not enough coding.

I am a girl in IT myself, I hoped there would be more than two buzzwords about web development in this. I felt connected to Dimple in the beginning but that got lost in the middle of the book. Rishi is clearly not made for engineering and you see it. But I did not see that Dimple is logical or fitting for actually develop. She has ideas and is creative in terms of e.g. usability but no coding action.

Rishi was loveblind and too pushed around. He is too sweet and chewy to be a good cinnamon roll.

The romance was good in the beginning and I tought it would be a good hate-to-love. But it got into instant attraction very fast.

3.5 stars

I liked the book and the direction we were heading until the last 100 pages. It felt like there was to much going right and it needed to be crashed.
I hated the cameos from Assassin's Blade since I hated the characters in this book but they were as remembered and still got on my nerves.
The romance scenes: I couldn't care less and some even ruined ships for me (way to go). Also: everyone must have romance.... Why couldn't there be main characters without a love interest? (Also Dorian got kind of cocky with Manon and so he got also on my nerves and thrown off my favorite character in this series throne).
Overall I wished the book was shortened by the romance and some dragging scenes and I hope the next two books will be better than this one.

This book is beautifully written and the story is well developed and quite unique. I guessed some plot points but was still surprised on other plot development.

What brought down the rating was the fact that I thought that it sometimes tried a little bit too hard. I am a massive fan of japanese culture and so I found myself a little disappointed in the briefness some aspects are covered. I get that not all readers will know everything about the culture before hand, but if you expect a super cultural it's not quiet that.
Also the romance aspect bugged me a bit.

I received this book as an e-arc from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Awesome graphic novel.

I tried to read Soulless a few times in the past and didn't get engaged in the story (probably due to the fact that I tried to read it in french which is my second fluent language). This week I found the graphic novel in my local library and took all three novels with me (and read the first one in one sitting). The graphics were gorgeous and detailed and, for what I have read in Soulless so far, similar to the book itself.

I will continue to read the next two books in graphic novel form before I try reading the complete series in german and - if the german version also turns out to be not as suiting for my reading taste - in english.

3.5 Stars

I kind of found this book better than the first (maybe because I read it in two portions).
But oh my, America got on my nerves....
The move of making the presentation was bold and kind of awesome, but the constant whining about the consequences afterwards! Nggggghhh! D:Also the reactions of the king and queen were quiet unique but not thought through and solved by Maxon-wants-this-so-we-will-appriciate-....-kind of.To thought through: I never thought, that America thought more than 2 minutes about her actions. Also I hated the fact that she wanted a clear answer from Maxon but she never gave one to only one of her love interests. It always felt as if she wants to marry both at the same time, equally.

I received an electronic copy via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

This comic was awesome. The story was great and used nordic mythology in a simple yet effective and interesting way. The art was what was really special: Very raw linestrokes, very muted greyish tones made this comic quite atmospheric. I can't wait for more issues.

Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail by Leigh Bardugo 2 Stars
I didn't understand this story. The first pages were irrelevant to the story and beside two or three lines I loved, I didn't get the romance.

The End of Love by Nina LaCour 3.5 Stars

Last Stand at the Cinegore by Libba Bray 2.5 stars
Super weird and not quite a believable love story to me

Sick Pleasure by Francesca Lia Block 1.5 stars
Too confusing and no real goal as for a love story imho

In Ninety Minutes, Turn North by Stephanie Perkins 4 stars
It was cute but I found Marigold a little bit unpredictable (since out of character is not quite the right term for a short story) and also stupid because of some of her descisions.

Souvenirs by Tim Federle 4.5 stars
so bittersweet. I loved the couple in this story.

Inertia by Veronica Roth 4.5 stars
I first tought: nice premise but the first pages weren't my cup of tea. But then it went the feels rollercoaster.

Love is the Last Resort by Jon Skovron 5 stars
I loved how overly ambigious the narrator was and how the strands of simple, yet cute love stories intertwined

Good Luck and Farewell by Brandy Colbert 3.5 stars
This was enjoyable and really cute but a little bit to rash for my liking. Felt a little bit ‘generic' for me

Brand New Attraction by Cassandra Clare 4 stars
This was the most story driven one of the bunch

A Thousand Ways This Could All Go Wrong by Jennifer E. Smith 5 stars
Oh my gosh. So cute, so totally up my alley.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things by Lev Grossman 3.5 stars
It was good but super predictable. I already guessed the ending and plottwist a page into the story

WTF was this book? ._. I still don't love Rhys (don't get me wrong, he is way better than Tamlin but still not what I would love to see for Feyre). If it would have been only a not so slightly beliefable romance it would have been a 4 to 4.5 star rating. BUT... the ending and the sex scenes ruined it for me. I am here for fantasy (worldbuilding, magic, and so on) and not for smutty romance for I don't know how many pages that was too over the top (even Empire of Storms felt light compared to this one (or it could be because I squeezed my reading time into 4 reading sessions). I guessed, as it is for most Sarah J. Maas books the case in the last year, the plot twist/happenings in the last quarter of the book. I wanted to dive right into the last book but now I'm not so sure about this.