tianabooks's reviews
176 reviews

“No one expects the truth from me anyway.”

Perhaps one of the greatest audiobook experiences and one of the best audiobooks I’ve encountered in a while! 
In fact, I had to go and pick up the paperback copy too just to complete the collection and the reading journey 🫣. The format was just so good - I absolutely adored the podcast segments, especially as a true crime podcast listener. There were times when I forgot I was listening to a fictional story and not an actual podcast. 

The characters are complex, in an intriguing way. I mean…it’s a small town and that small town mentality is definitely depicted here. And what it means for a young woman to feel trapped in that setting. 

All the little twists and who interacted with whom had me shocked 😨. 
Plus, the interactions between Lucy and Ben were SO fascinating. Intrusive thought went wild too 🙃

Pick this uppppp 

“One for the fire, two for the storm.” 🤍

Magic, prophecies, forbidden love and a darkness threatening to destroy everything - sounds like quite the adventure, right?

Reading Fate and Fury was like going on an unexpected journey without knowing what awaits when you get there. The description might prepare you for a few plot points but it doesn't prepare you for the feelings of anguish and pure internal (and external, depending on the situation) torment that Katerina and Niko experience throughout the story. The depiction of said feelings was vivid and you could almost feel what they were feeling. It was PAINFUL at times like give them a break please 😭

The writing in this book was beautiful. It's descriptive in nature, so I will say it might not be for everyone. However, when it comes to fantasy - even more so, fantasy with rich lore as its basis - I find myself enjoying and almost craving vivid descriptions, the writing which will make me feel jealous I am not actively part of this world. Not that I'm asking to come face-to-face with the ever-growing Darkness... I think I'll leave that in the capable hands of Katerina and Niko. 🫣 The descriptions are not burdening the book, in fact they enrich this world and paint it with beautiful colours.

"No matter where she was, he was home." 🤍

I enjoyed the multiple perspectives! This is one of the few cases where we , aside from the main character's perspective, we get POVs of the villain(s) of the story whose intentions/actions/thoughts are not a predictable black & white hue. Even the villains of the story had their own reasonings - some were more twisted than others but you do get exposed to their side of things. One of the revealed villains though I could do without....thanks! 🙃 Selfish purposes. 

The lore and backstory of this world were so interesting to read about - saints, prophecies, different roles for each character. We get exposed to pieces of this backstory slowly throughout the book and each time it added a bit more to what we knew.

I would have liked, perhaps due to the description of this book, to spend more time at the actual trials. I found fascinating the political side of this story - when our two main characters attended the trials and they interacted with the ruling figures/establishment. I thought they would play a larger role; however, it was in the beginning and didn't take up much time. It was such a promising point, which I was looking forward to, and there was not enough time spent there. Obviously, the plot ventured towards a different direction - which IS hinted at - but the trials were a personal preference of mine.

Overall, such an enjoyable first instalment in this duology! Given THAT cliffhanger... could the second book please magically appear in front of me?? Because what do you MEAN we have to wait?? 🥲

A massive thank you to NetGalley, Emily Colin, and Black Orchid Books for sending me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review - all the aforementioned opinions are my own.

Go read this! 🤍

“there’s nothing I love more in life than proving a man wrong” 🤭

This was so good! The perfect blend of wholesome and spicy — an ideal read for the holiday season! We love it when a novella gets it right! 🫶
I had such a good time reading about Margo and Finn and their little festive story and adventures. They were both such good characters individually and together they were perfectly explosive. 🤍😋 and can we talk about the fact that Finn is the biggest green flag??

Seeing the tropes in this and them matching a lot of my other fave romance reads… I don’t know what it says about me, look away 🫣🙃

“Maybe Miss Independent was just waiting for the right guy to come along.” 🤍 read this wonderful treat! 

When I started reading this, I had no idea where we were going with the story but I appreciate the complexity of Sibby and her story in this. Especially her backstory, which is really heartbreaking :/
I don’t want to say much because of spoilers — and because this is quite short — but it’s quite the fast-paced, intriguing novella and very character based! Although I’m aware that it might not be for everyone given the content 😅

p.s. it’s quite dark and violent so definitely check out the trigger warnings! 

“Do you call yourself a demon-slayer too?” 🖤

“We may have been enemies, but I knew your scent like I knew home.” 🤍

Is it a second chance when you have to live with your high school nemesis because your sister messed up so bad??
All I know is that I enjoyed this slow burn, former ‘enemies’ to lovers. It is slow - in fact, angst and denial (and partly yearning) is what you get for most of the book.. and I enjoyed every second of it. 🤭

Delilah and Macon were intense and stubborn, with lots of unresolved issues plaguing them over the years, games of back and forth and other people messing around with what they thought was happening. But they were also so so funny when they were interacting in the present especially. Honestly, meant to be 😌. They had their flaws and they felt real.

“Yours is the voice in my head, haunting my dreams, pushing me forward.”

On the other hand, Delilah’s sister Sam is probably the worst sibling and person out there. For the life of me I couldn’t understand why Delilah was putting up with her. I mean, it does get explained, but my goodness did I dislike her 🙃

A lot of references to food and cooking, which worked really well here since Delilah is a chef! And really enjoyed the way food/cooking was linked to memories and how we experience the world and people via food. 

I read this on KU but I also had the audiobook, both gorgeous. Would recommend this 🩷

cute and festive — the holiday season is on! ❄️☃️

This was such a lovely book to read in December! It feels very appropriate with Christmas around the corner. Surrounded by snow, Christmas movies on, a bit of friendly (or not) competition = a cosy recipe of a book in the making. 🤍🎄
My favourite thing about this book was the family dynamic and the overall interactions between the two main characters and the secondary characters. It’s always nice to read about wholesome family moments in books and their little festive traditions. 
Some moments between our two main characters were very sweet aaaand we also got some spice thrown in there! 🤭 
The keychain moment and the drawing were SO CUTE!  🫶

The main reason this didn’t get a higher rating was because I guess I wanted more moments between the characters which would explain the present feelings and actions. We get told about what happened, we get little glimpses but nothing more. I personally needed a bit more to show why these two should be together. 😭

I have to say, the audiobook for this was stunning! So so enjoyable so I would recommend — we love a duet 🤭🤍

“and I felt it then: this strange, inexplicable sense that she might be the only person in the world I could really care about”

Don’t talk to me 😭 I completely understand why everyone’s obsessed with Warner, this novella destroyed me what even?! I rarely rate novellas this high and I’m SO tempted to up the rating. 
I don’t know what to say - I fully agree that it’s such an important novella after you finish reading Shatter Me. You get an insight into Warner’s mind and you get the reasons behind his actions. 
Chapter 16 physically hurt 🥲. 
On the bright side (surprisingly) we have the coffee scene and the dog scene that were so precious 🫶. 
Anyway I’m now too invested in the series so I must continue 

An interesting new fantasy world to explore, with fascinating lore revolving around magic, the significance of its absence, the lengths people will go to protect secrets, and the ability to continue fighting against all odds. 

This book started slowly and it took me a bit to warm up to these characters and the context. Now mind you, this was mostly because apart from 3 characters (and two animals), everyone else was such a horrible person. These characters did vile things 😩 There is some animal cruelty in this by the way, which can be distressing to read about. 

I have to admit I loved the tarot cards displayed and explored throughout the book and I enjoyed seeing our main character become more familiar with them and their significance. The way the characters used the cards was SO cool let’s be fair. 

A solid first book in this fantasy series! I’m intrigued enough to continue reading 🤍

guys.. someone cheer I finally read it!

Okay I have to admit this has been on my tbr for the longest time, it’s actually embarrassing. 🫣 but we made it!

I’m not going to lie, at first when I read the note about the crossing out and the repetition and kept reading those extensive metaphors I was like oh no.
But I’m nothing if not a yapper and goal-oriented so I got used to it pretty fast and I was like you know, I’d probably talk to myself too given the circumstances.
Also, had to remind myself this was written years ago in classic YA dystopian fashion.

In terms of characters, Kenji’s commentary on literally everything and Warner’s psychotic moments truly kept the pace going. I have somehow managed to not get spoiled at all except for the odd quote but I do know people love those two characters. Although besties, if this is the Warner we’re getting, I’m slightly concerned about all of us because??? 

I have all of the books already so we keep going 🥳

“Can I tell you something?”

This was so much fun! If there’s one book that deserves an audiobook is definitely this one, which is why I’m glad I chose to listen to the audiobook and read this at the same time. This is saucyyy 🤭

I don’t know what I was expecting to be fair, I had heard of this but didn’t quite know much about what I was getting into. I was so pleasantly surprised! 
First of all, the setting was so picturesque and cosy; coincidentally, I chose to read this during the ideal season ❄️☃️ it takes place during Christmas, there’s a lot of snow, we’re skiing, cosy vibes all around — I was delighted. 

Now having said that, this isn’t just cosy vibes 🫣. In fact, I’d say if you don’t enjoy spicy content, then this probably isn’t for you. There’s a lot going on 😂. 
It feels appropriate for the two main characters based on how they “know” each other - or rather how Hannah knows Cameron - so it’s not out of place.

I liked the side characters too; it was lovely seeing how close Hannah’s family was, all those family moments were adorable. 🤍 I’ve seen the next book is about Ryan’s story so that’s excitingggg, we definitely get some hints and moments here as well with his love interest! Cute cute 🥰.

A new-to-me author and will absolutely read more!