ashley_mrose530's reviews
434 reviews

This was such a cute cozy fantasy! I loved it so much!
This was really comfy vibes, very low stakes, and super adorable. I just loved going along for the ride.
Vivian was such a strong main character. She knew what she wanted and she was going to do whatever she needed to do to get it done.
I'm also a sucker for found family troupes and this book has one of the best examples of it which I hadn't seen people talking about when they were recommending it. But the group that forms here is so sweet. They all support each other and take each other as they are unconditionally.
The sapphic romance wasn't as prevalent as I thought it was going to be. It was only barely brought up, but it was still really cute to see them grow closer.
I do wish there had been a little bit more world building at the beginning to set us up for a world filled with beings who are not humanoid and I also don't know how much time has passed throughout this book in general either. But neither of those things bothered me enough while listening to the story to feel like I needed to lower the rating.
I would definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for a fast, low-stakes, cozy fantasy book and I can definitely agree with the hype. 

I just really didn't enjoy this book. I think it's mostly the genre because contemporary has never been my favorite but it was also written kind of like a memoir which is also not my favorite.
I will say that this book was fairly well-written. The prose was descriptive if a little heavy on similes and the character development and growth were decent. I particularly liked the full-circle closure at the end.
But ultimately I was just bored with this book. I wasn't really interested in the main character too much. Actually she kind of annoyed me with how naive she was. And I really didn't like how often the author used gay, queer, and fag throughout the book. I know those words were used in that time period but they really didn't need to be on like every page. It was overkill and unnecessary.
I also wasn't really invested in the romance of this story. I know that the romances probably weren't the point because it was more of a character study and watching the character grow, but still. I didn't like Kitty and her lack of communication and I didn't like the jealousy of the past from the other one either. I also felt like they were so different and probably weren't good for each other in general.
I did like the small pieces of queer history that I got through this book though. At least I hope the things I picked up on are actual history pieces. Like I didn't know lesbians were called toms back then and I hope that wasn't made up for this story.
Overall, I do think this story was written well but it was really not for me. 

I liked the depth in this one. Both main character's back stories were well-crafted and it was clear how those backgrounds affected their current personality and choices. And I liked how those backgrounds meshed with each other and helped form their chemistry as well. This really was a well-crafted novel.
I thought the story being centered around writer's block was so relatable too. As creative people, we run into that often and I thought it was funny that the author could turn that into a story on its own. A prime example of "use what you're feeling" as a writing tactic for sure.
The romance itself was also really well done here. I really liked the banter between January and Gus and their chemistry because of it as well as their backgrounds was great. I liked that they both shared a sort of complicated grief that wasn't exactly the same, but wasn't altogether different either. It was good to see them share that and talk about it throughout the book as they both worked to process it themselves.
The only thing I didn't really like is January's perception of Gus at the beginning. I'm really not sure how she came to the conclusion that he hated her just because he thought of her as a fairy princess and critiqued her writing. She seemed to be quick to judge people as being rude honestly which kind of seems like the opposite of what she was characterized to be, especially when they were in college. I would have thought she would give him the benefit of the doubt back then because she was such a "happily ever after" type person, but she didn't.
The second time she automatically assumed he was rude too instead of thinking it could have been a bad day, but that one made slightly more sense with how disillusioned she was after finding out about her dad. But then she kept assuming the worst of him throughout the book even though he was proving otherwise and that didn't really sit right with me. I did like that she had the courage to bring it up with him every time though and talked to him about what she was reading into his actions and gave him a chance to explain. It showed maturity that some romance novel main characters lack and I appreciated it.
Overall, this was a good romance novel. I don't think I fall in love with  Henry's books as much as some romances, but I do like the depth she gives the characters and the subject matter of them. 

I really liked the emotion in this book. I really made me feel for Britney and the things she's gone through.
As someone who didn't really pay much attention to her besides listening to her hits, the insight into her life was really helpful in understanding her breakdown fully. I was never a person who judged her. I remember hearing about her shaving her head and empathizing with her because I could only imagine how horrible it must be to be followed by paparazzi everywhere and always look put together. But through this book I learned that wasn't even the main reason for her breakdown. I didn't even know she had kids at that time. I really liked getting that insight to her life so I could get a full understanding.
I do really empathize with everything that Britney has gone through and the emotions tied to the events in this book were palpable while reading, but I do wish there had been a little more introspection along with them. She did a great job of portraying her emotions but the examinations of them were a little lacking. I wanted to hear her thoughts on why she felt that way and how it connected to how she grew up or previous incidents and those things weren't as present in the book as I would have liked them to be.
Overall, I think this book was a great insight into the life of a hugely successful pop star and how the lack of freedom affected her throughout her life. 

Another addictive romance from Hazelwood. She has a way of writing that makes me want to not stop reading every time and I love it.
I am really starting to enjoy her books more now that she has kind of gotten out of the cookie-cutter plot lines she was doing, which is great because I love her writing, characters, and romance, it was just the plots that were boring.
And this book definitely had me falling in love with these characters and rooting for them. They had great chemistry together and some of their interactions were so funny.
This book does rely on miscommunication as the main reason that the two are not together, but I think it was done in a decent way. The bulk of the miscommunication was done in the past, before the book starts and that made it a little easier for me to get over, especially since Viola is so adamant and determined to talk to Jesse about it right from the start. She was almost forceful about having a conversation with him to figure out his problem but not in a bad way. I liked that she was standing up for herself and trying to understand him in the process.
That overall made the book enjoyable despite my distaste for the miscommunication troupe and I would definitely recommend this to any romance reader. 

This was another great read from T. Kingfisher. I love her writing so much. Her imagery is so detailed and she can set up a world so quickly and simple that she makes it seem easy even though it's anything but.
This little novella is a retelling of sleeping beauty but

in this case, the girl who is sleeping should not be woken up at any cost because of how dangerous she is to everyone.

It was a great way to turn the story on its head. I really enjoyed the contrast between Toadling and the sleeping princess's characters. They were very much opposites, one who would do anything to keep other people from harm and the other who enjoyed causing it.
Finally, at the end, I really enjoyed watching Toadling make a choice for herself. Once the princess was gone she was finally free to do whatever she wished and I liked seeing her make that decision of where to go and what she really wanted to do after she had been told to do things her whole life. It was nice to see that little bit of growth in her character.
I will say that I think this is one of Kingfisher's weaker stories, but I did enjoy it a lot overall. 

This was such a good book. I thought the world was so interesting and different. It took me a little while to understand the differences between each group of people and I even I had to start the first like half hour of the book over so I could make sure I was getting it all, including the POV shifts, but once I understood it, it was such a good read.
I really liked the world building in this book. The three separate blood types making a caste system was intriguing. I really enjoyed that the book played heavily with the fact that you truly don't know someone's blood color just by looking at them so there were many who were able to pretend to be in one caste over the other and as long as they never got an open wound, they would essentially be able to masquerade for as long as they wanted.
I also liked the idea of the blood magic they had

though one of my very first questions was why only the red blood people could do it which ended up being one of the big reveals at the end - in actuality, anyone can do it. I figured this would be the case but I still enjoyed the reveal and how it connected in a way to our real-world history of colonization.

This book has so many obvious parallels to our current world and political climate and that was no accident. It's amazing how much the author was able to fit in this world to make it so similar to ours but so different at the same time. 
I also really liked the portrayal of addiction throughout this book. It was great to see how realistic it was and how Sylah was still dealing with the withdrawal effects even 5 months after quitting cold-turkey. I liked that it wasn't just forgotten about and dropped in the middle like it easily could have been. It was very much routinely brought up and focused on which is a very real issue that addicts deal with. I loved seeing that representation and I hope it continues throughout the series.
Finally, I loved seeing these characters grow throughout this book. Syla goes from being completely hopeless and giving up on herself and the empire, to being inspired and passionate and full of determination to fix the systemic issues within their country and helping the ones who are being oppressed. And Anoor goes from being a very naive and kind of spoiled rich girl to having her eyes opened to how other people are being treated in the government that she was benefitting from and being determined to change it and help them. I hope they both continue to grow and find their own power as the series progresses.
I can't wait to finish reading this series. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that my library doesn't have the other two books so I don't currently have access to the rest of the series. It might be a while before I can finish it. 

I think this was a very well-written book, but it wasn't really for me.
I tend to not really enjoy the more literary contemporary romance stories and this one was definitely one of those, but just because I don't really enjoy it doesn't mean that it's not a very good book.
I love Malinda Lo's writing in a general sense. She's very thought-provoking and philosophical and that can be really difficult to do in a novel without it becoming boring like a textbook. So I very much appreciate that kind of writing, but unfortunately it's just not my cup of tea. 
This book also had the added bonus of having a particular detail of the relationship that I just did not like. It centered on Steph cheating on her current girlfriend with the MC and I couldn't get past that to even enjoy the romantic relationship. I think it would have been better for me if the MC would have been the one cheating on a boyfriend or something while she was figuring herself out because I can relate to that. I remember being in high school and being dumb and thinking that kissing a girl didn't count even though it very much did. So I could probably get over that a little bit easier, but Steph was already out and proud and had a girlfriend and I just couldn't get past her cheating to enjoy a majority of this book.
If it wasn't for that, I probably would have given this book around the same rating as the Telegraph Club (I did enjoy the small connection to that book in this one too) which was a 4. I liked the writing style and the reflective nature of the book otherwise. 

This one was super cute.
I loved the aspect of growing up and how it might distance you from your family but that doesn't mean you love them any less. That struggle with change was a big part of this book and I think it worked really well for a young adult romance. There were also many other little topics covered that I thought were great for a YA novel like sex and body sizes.
I really liked the main couple in this book too. I thought they were super cute together and it was so obvious that Reid was down bad from the start. It was great.
The main thing that I didn't really like in this book was basically the main character Molly. Her personality was okay but I couldn't get behind her obsession with getting a boyfriend to cure her loneliness. I found it really boring and almost one dimensional. And it wasn't really fixed at the end either. She got the boyfriend and suddenly her loneliness was cured but I wish she would have realized that her family and friends can fix that loneliness just as well if not more or even found something within herself to stop her lonely feelings altogether. I don't know. I was just kind of hoping for more from the ending of this book for her.
In all it was a super cute book and I did enjoy it, I just wish the character growth would have payed off a little more. 

This book was unfortunately very disappointing.
First of all the plot was very out of the blue. I don't remember any foreshadowing of this in the first two books. It felt very much like a completely different book and probably could have been a series of its own. It felt very packed in and because of that everything felt rushed.
There was also very little world building. We didn't need it for the main magic system because it was already explained in the first two books, but I didn't understand the new magic that were brought in during this book. The people who have these powerful axes that transform them and the people who control the vines. They both seemed to have a completely different magic system with different rules and we weren't clued into them at all. I couldn't even really understand what the medallion's powers were.
There was just so much stuffed into this book and not enough pages to develop it all properly.
My biggest gripe though, the main reason why this book felt almost completely separate from the other two books, was that the character arcs were either unfinished or completely rushed and not fully fleshed out like they should have been.
First, Roan was like completely forgotten about. He was such a big character in the second book and his romance with Zelie actually had me rooting for them just for him to be nonexistent in this book. It was really disappointing. And then Amari had a huge villain arc in the second book so I was expecting the redemption arc for this one and it was... there... kind of. We got her realizing her mistakes and working to change but Zelie and Tzain's forgiveness didn't seem earned or won over at all. It was just given just because. This was also affected by the rushing of the whole book in my opinion.
Overall, I think this series was very much not thought out beforehand because I did notice some of these issues when going from the first book to the second, but the arcs of the second book made me forgive its flaws with its connections, but this one didn't give me any of that and just left me wishing the second book had been the ending instead.