alilbitofmonica's reviews
375 reviews

I don’t know how this book went from being amazing to feeling ridiculous but it did.

I was vibing for the first half. The banter was great, the setting was splendid. I loved the concept and the direction of the plot. But it really fell apart in the second half for me.

Too much smut, first of all. And like… too much monster smut? It was almost every chapter at one point like… don’t you have a curse to be breaking??

But here’s the real kicker. I think the characters got more dumb as time went on? They’re trying to break a curse, and yet when Key is literally given the instructions to break the curse she still manages to ignore the important information and then only “remembers” it when it’s almost too late? The solution was handed on a silver platter and she still missed it? This made the ending feel ridiculous and extra cheesy.

I like the family dynamics throughout, especially in the end. But I was just so confused by how they could all be so dumb.

I received an ARC of this book to allow for early reading. My review is completely my own, completely voluntary, and always completely honest.

I loved this. The banter was delicious and the plot moved along at a rapid pace that had me not wanting to put the book down.

A slow burn, secret identity (secret enemies?), reluctant allies story of Seokga the Fallen god and the infamous Scarlet Fox. Inspired by Korean folklore, we meet countless mythological creatures and take a glimpse inside the immortal life.

With low spice, this story focused much more on the plot and the buildup of feelings for our main characters, all while Hani harbored the most deceitful of secrets.

This started as a super cozy witchy romance and turned into a fall SPICE fest in a matter of seconds.

Dina is a witch who finds herself hexed in a way that affects her relationships... and in comes Scott causing her to question everything and put it all to the test in order to break her hex.

I loved Dina and Scott as our main characters, but they were so horny it was unreal and at times took away from the parts that I loved early on (the witchy baking, the talk of magic and hexes and the fated encounters).

This book is SO long. But somehow, King managed to make me invested and excited for the entire book. Sure there are moments where the story slows down because the events are not as high action, but overall I feel like this moved along well and offered a mind boggling kind of life pondering in the end.

Jake Epping, a run of the mill english teacher, goes back in time with the sole purpose of preventing the JFK assassination. But he finds himself so heavily tied up in the life he built in the meantime that events begin unfolding that suggest he may not succeed in his overall goal. When life and love get in the way, he makes difficult decisions in order to try to save the president. But the butterfly effect can not be predicted, so what do all of his decisions do to the life of the future?

I loveddddd the deep dive into the intricacies of time travel and the butterfly effect. Especially when it came to the "echoes" and "harmonies" of the past trying to right itself as Jake/George was trying to change it. The entire story is about Jake trying to change the past while being fully concerned for how it could change the future. And truly, the concept of the "greater good" becomes a central, yet not directly debated, point of contention.

Once again, Stephen King's mind is brilliant and he laid out so many puzzle pieces that come together to create a stunning picture. The story was creative and complicated, and interwoven with subtle (or not so subtle) nods to his other works.

 

I have gone back and forth on how to rate this book because I went back and forth on how I felt about this book while reading it. This is book 2, and I did not read book 1. Although this fact did not affect my ability to enjoy the book at all.

Cooper is a children’s ski instructor who relentlessly chases after his students guardian in an attempt at getting her to agree to fake date him for a publicity interview for the ski lodge. Now I love fake dating, but Cooper was giving me the ick when he refused to back down and let Madeline say no to his offer/question. 

Madeline is a single aunt in guardianship of her niece and nephew. She is doing her best when the world is throwing every difficult thing at her. And I loved her for it. I thought Madeline was a very strong female lead and I loved her little family dynamic.

The kids, Charlie and Piper, were adorable and added a levity to the book that kept me interested. The interactions with the kids were my favorite honestly.

The last portion of the book was slowing down a lot for me until the final big event in the last 10% of the book. And then it ended really strong. But the pacing made it hard to stay consistently in the story.

Overall, it had some really cute moments, an interesting plot with complicated family relationships to explore. 

The format of some of the writing was frustrating at times, the non-usage of quotation marks or other punctuation to denote popular sayings or other phrases was irritating and had me slowing down to reread and comprehend certain lines. As this was an eARC copy, I’m not sure if this gets fixed in final edits or not.

Thank you to the author for this ARC copy. This review is completely voluntary, completely my own; and always completely honest.

I didn’t expect to be so bored but here we are.

I didn’t care about either character, there was no chemistry, and honestly there didn’t seem to be a lot of background on them either, other than the shared of experience of losing a sister/friend.

There was no urgency to the story, nothing that had me feeling like I couldn’t wait to keep going. In fact, the second half had me counting down to when it was over.

The third act conflict was dumb, I hate all the miscommunication, and it all started because I apparently also hate fake dating where the goal is to make someone jealous enough to take them back.

I don’t know how to process anything because my heart is recovering from the rollercoaster that was this book. I laughed, I cried (real tears!) and I fell in love with this story and these characters.

The dementia plotline hit home for me, so this felt real and painful at times. But utterly beautiful. I am in awe of how Abby Jimenez can draw upon grief and true emotional depth and build it into a stunning work of art using imperfect people to create a perfect love story.

Xavier and Samantha are some of my favorite romantic leads. The love they have for each other was SO strong and so touching. Add in the way they each supported each other in their own spheres. I want to cry thinking about it again.

AND HANK??? Imma need a minute to recover from loving Hank so much in this story.

This book isn’t out yet, but I want to buy every copy ever because of how perfect it is. Read it. Love it. Remember it.

I devoured this book like it was life saving medicine. And maybe it was, because I feel healed after reading this.

Daphne and Miles are wonderful leads. I love Miles's ability to attract everyone and love hard and loudly, while Daphne is more standoffish at first and loves hard but silently. Each of their family dynamics influenced who they became as adults, and navigating that in the midst of the breakups was difficult, but their slow but steady friendship turned more was beautiful to watch.

The third act conflict almost had me breaking a window, but I held myself back and I'm pleased with how things worked out. I love romance books where ridiculous circumstances bring completely normal people together, and this book really highlights how absolutely realistic they both were in their outlandish situations.

This was my second Emily Henry book, and I didn't love People We Meet on Vacation (it was the timeline jumping) so I was very relieved to love love love this one.

Audiobook notes: I think the narrator did a fantastic job of bringing Daphne's perspective to life. Everything felt well paced and this would be easy to follow with audio alone.

It took me a minute to get into it but BOY OH BOY WAS I INTO IT 😍🥰

The forced proximity, the mutual pining, the drunken confession, the immediate connection once they admitted their feelings. Obsessed. I love this. It just kept getting better.

Idk what was infused in this book to make me sit down and read the last 300 pages without getting up, but here I am.

Fake dating almost never fails and truly, this was a masterpiece. I loved the depth of Beau’s emotions, be it rage or passion or fear and worry. I loved Bailey’s ability to stare her undeserved reputation in the eyes and still know her worth. I admired her refusal to let anything but herself define herself.

Their conflict resolution is something to be studied by scientists because I LOVE the way each of them knows what they need, learn to ask for what they need, and respect those needs of each other. Even when one oversteps, it is with grace and apology. Gosh I love them.

Once again, the Eaton family is wonderful and they prove to be the most supportive and understanding family ever.