bookishlymonique's reviews
95 reviews

The perfect blend of fantasy and romance! Just what I needed!

Lore was a character I could definitely root for! The cast of characters was pretty well balanced and wasn’t too much to keep up with. 

Overall the plot moved pretty quickly, so for fantasy this was a nice change. There was some world building but not a lot of exposition and description as you’d normally expect in a fantasy. Major plot points jumped to the next fairly quickly but the pacing was great for the length of the story. (Under 350 pages!) I would have loved more details, but again it was a great pace for the length and the shorter length made for a refreshing change in pace. 

I’m hopeful for the next book and can’t wait to see the side characters fleshed out a bit more as we get to know them better.  

I really enjoyed this follow-up to The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes. Girls with Bad Reputations picks up not long after we first are introduced to The Lilys and the start of their rock career. This novel focuses on FMC Kayla (the drummer) and how she is handling (or avoiding?) embracing and melding her past and present. I liked the how she found value  in the family she was born into as well as her chosen family.

We also get the perspective of our MMC Ty who is trying to ignore his past and not feel like a burden to his grandfather because of it. Their relationship was so special and I loved seeing it play out on the page.

The author did a great job building up the romantic tension between the two MCs. Kayla and Ty's relationship escalated pretty quickly, but it wasn't unbelievably fast. Both of them seemed pretty cautious about a romantic relationship so although their HEA was welcomed and expected, it was a bit of a sharp increase in their feelings fairly quickly in my opinion.

I also loved how we got a deeper look at the interpersonal relationships of the band and their circles. I wish there was a bit more time building/addressing the tension between FMC Kayla and her mother. I thought there could have been more fleshed out conversations to add more emotional charge to the story. I would have appreciated more flashbacks sprinkled throughout the story to enhance different points in the plot versus one, more intense and concentrated conflict.

Overall, would recommend if you like:
- music industry romances (especially if you like rock, punk, alt etc)
- sensitive and brooding and confident in their sexuality MMCs
- standing 10 toes down for your band mates (eff around and find out much?)
- found family and inter-generational family relationships
- the occasional reference to baking/cooking shows
- navigating imposter syndrome and finding your way in the world after injustice 

Brief, initial post-listen thoughts: An awesome follow up to Blood Debts. Blood Justice was gripping and exciting. The audio production was great! For me the entire book felt like a launching pad and a cliff hanger for whatever comes next in the best way!! It would be fun to annotate a physical copy.