alilbitofmonica's reviews
375 reviews

Exes go on the same food and wine tour four years later and reconnect over their love of fancy foods. Miscommunication led to a breakup, and a second chance at love is what they need to find what they really want and need in life.

I liked their relationship, but the first half felt slow and I wasn’t really vibing until about halfway when we switch to Kit’s POV.

This book had way too much fancy vocabulary for wine and pastry connoisseurs. I never understood anything that was being described which had my eyes glossing over…

I am unsure of what to even say about this book. As interesting as the synopsis is, I found my self incredibly bored by this story and largely confused at certain fantasy elements that seemed to come out of nowhere and be so whimsical that I was then distracted from everything else.

Brie was a fun main character and her predicament was one that was very... interesting. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. But the longer the book went on and the plot developed, I found myself not particularly attentive to much of what was going on. There were SO many character introduced early on (which may be easier to manage if you read book one first, which I did not since they are not advertised as needing to be read in order). There were so many different types of fantastical creatures in play, many of them with multiple terms to describe them by, and this was hard to follow.

Overall, I was underwhelmed by this and will not be reading any of the others. If this book was any longer, I probably would have dnfed.

Thank you to Orbit Books for access to this title. My review is completely voluntary, completely my own, and always completely honest.

The thing I love most about Adrienne Young's writing is the lyrical beauty and undeniable atmosphere she builds. The small forest town setting is painted vividly through the words on the page and I genuinely loved the way I could imagine this story coming to life.

I do think the first half had a very somber tone and the pacing was a bit slow, but the second half picks up with a lot of tension and suspense revolving around the death of Johnny and so much more that gets uncovered.

I wanted a bit more of the fantasy element in this story - James has a sort of supernatural connection to her twin brother, even after his death, and while this seemed like it would be a major feature of the story, it was barely utilized and left me wanting a lot more in that respect.

I appreciated the deep dive into small town interpersonal relations, and I really loved the bond between James and Micah, twisty and messy as it was - even if the romance kind of fell in the background for me in the grand scheme of the rest of the mystery plot.

I devoured this in two days and I’m not sure what came over me but I’m not mad about it

This is an adult fantasy with a murder mystery at its core. However, I do think this feels more YA in tone and behavior.

I had a fantastic time with the setting (isolation on a ship) and the murder mystery (there’s only 12 people to choose from so the suspect pool is limited). The fantasy elements were fascinating - each character is the Blessed, aka the heir to their province, and therefore has a magical power.

Grasshopper 💛

This book was rather long, but the resolution still felt a little rushed in the end. But overall this was a great read for the mystery and fantasy lovers.

I love these characters, I love this story, I love this writing.

The way I was audibly laughing at some scenes, then nearly crying at others, and getting chills by yet other scenes... You could say this book moved me in so many ways. It was such an immersive and beautiful reading experience. TJ Klune weaves very real and troubling concepts into this whimsical story and practically leaves you no choice but to love and adore these children. Every single one of them.

Arthur and Linus are strong and fiercely loyal protectors of their children and will stop at nothing to keep them safe and show them love. I feel such a strong, warm feeling just thinking about this little fam by the sea.

Also, I need the energy put into this narration injected into me because Daniel Henning is incredible.

This book had me experiencing some very conflicting thoughts. There were strong moments where the scenes were vivid and captivating. But there were a lot of moments in between where I felt lost in the details and was just reading to get through.

The world building in book 1 was not as thorough as I would have liked, but I was hopeful that it would expand more in book 2. Unfortunately I don’t think I really grasped the world building any more in this one either. I think it was trying to be more and bigger and in some ways became too much to comprehend. The gods and their abilities were unfathomable at times.

As a reader who visualizes scenes as I read, I found this book very difficult to visualize. It was either too detailed in mundane things or not detailed enough/to abrupt in other ways.

Kiara and Jude spend a lot of this book tackling the connection issue they discover between the two of them in book 1. It felt like a very long and repetitive cycle in this book with lots of things happening all with the same results?

I do love the shadow wielding badass FMC with the light wielding MMC to balance each other out. I think this was a fun twist that carried a lot of the story. 

Everyone gets a love interest in this, too which I don’t think was necessary. Did I love the pairings anyway? Yes.

In general, I liked the story. I liked the beginning, the first 1/3 was strong at continuing the story from book 1 and it really does just jump right into things. The middle was slow and confusing at times. This is where I struggled the most. But the final 1/3 was again picking up pace and bringing things to a conclusion in a way that was enjoyable.

Thank you to Entangled Teen for this advance copy. My review is completely voluntary, completely my own, and always completely honest.

This was such a fun and spooooky kind of romance. I loved the small town setting and the vibe of Boneyard Key is everything I would want in a small town.

Cassie and Nick were great leads, and they carried the story well. I loved getting to see the progression of the ghost dealings while they also navigated their feelings.

The haunted house plot was intriguing and I loved the element of historical research that was included in order to understand their ghosts.

Elmer became a fast favorite for me, which… brought issues of its own but I don’t care 😂 and Sarah wanting to watch reality tv all the time was just so fun

Okay this can have 2.5 stars but honestly I was bored. Like utterly and completely.

I have a love hate relationship with reality tv, especially dating shows. And this was kinda a hate relationship? The drama was so unnecessary (although I guess reflective of real dating show drama 🙄). The “here for the right reasons” thing is overdone and I just didn’t need it.

The relationships felt so shallow. Cas and Femi have one conversation and suddenly they are ride or die best friends? How? It all happened off page and felt so surface level it was painful. And Cas and Ada were cute together, but so much of the actual connection was either off page or purely physical attraction. I wanted more depth.

The ending was irritating. The show drama, no thanks. And the resolution was so quick it almost felt like “what was the point?”

I wanted to love this because the afterlight edition is stunninggggg but this did not work for me.

 I go back and forth on how to feel about this book. I think 3.5 is a safe rating for me. I enjoyed it, but wasn't obsessed. And there are some weak points for sure.

Kiara is a really strong female lead, but her defiance can get annoying. Like refusing to listen to anyone else because what she thinks is always right... is just not a good look.
Jude was a great male lead, seeing the internal struggle with what is right vs what he feels and wants.

The plot was interesting, with Kiara going to train surrounded by men and being the best recruit, hand selected by the Commander. Then they go on a suicide mission into the Mist, the cursed lands surrounding the regular cities. Kiara and her found family of recruit-brothers under Jude's leadership. And of course they will face mysterious and suspenseful dangers and very weird and creepy enemies.

By the end, the resolution for book 1 felt... confusing at times? Like I couldn't quite see how and why things unfolded the way they did. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the extremity of the main villain's actions. The final quarter of the book kind of lost me - the back to back action and fight scenes were a lot, and then the discovery of the light and dark powers just made things... chaotic?

But overall, I did still enjoy this book a lot and look forward to reading the next one to hopefully understand more of the world building, which was lacking a bit in this one. And the way book 1 leaves off... book 2 is going to pack a punch.