faeriesparks's reviews
644 reviews

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

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dark informative mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

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mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Café Con Lychee by Emery Lee

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emotional inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Shattered Blue by Lauren Bird Horowitz

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2.0

actually 2.5/5 stars

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I even start... This book was a rollercoaster for me. I went into it liking the premise, then after a third of it I could not stop rolling my eyes and even thought about stopping it. Half way through I started enjoying it a bit more and more and then I was totally immersed - and then the ending went crazy. Like weird crazy. I'm not too sure yet. I just finished the book like 15 minutes ago.

I was intrigued by it because of the Fae aspect. I've been starting to get into books about Fae. And I really liked the Fae premise in this book.

Unfortunately this book contained a trope I absolutely dislike in YA or books in general - instalove!
So in the beginning of Shattered Blue we meet our main character Noa. Her older sister recently died and Noa's life is centered around that. She wakes up thinking about it, everyone at school talks about it, her family is still recovering from the death.
And then we meet Callum. A new classmate and so obviously Noa's love interest. He's mysterious (for a few pages) and hot. They talk a few times, they plan to go on a date, which Callum suddenly wants to break off but then they end up going out anyway - and they fall in love with each other.

Then in some random chapter we have loads of info-dumping about Callum and Fae and his realm - Aurora. In this book/series there are different kinds of Fae. Also called Color Fae. Red Fae can read and control minds and those kind of things. Green Fae can control feelings. And Blue Fae can control matter.
Callum was banished into the mortal world and to be able to use his powers and not fade away, he needs to suck 'Light' out of mortals, which is basically their happiness. And this happens easily when he touches mortals. Of course he doesn't want to suck Noa's Light out of her because he is so in love with her.
SpoilerBut surprise! They find a way to work around this problem with a talisman. They can be together!


By the way, all of the above happens in the first third of the book. Uh-huh.

So by then I was easily annoyed by this book. But I kept on reading. And I'm glad I did. Because later we meet Judah - Callum's brother.
Judah is probably my favorite character from this book. He is sarcastic, a rebel - and he has so much more chemistry with Noa than Callum.

I was enjoying the book A LOT more now.
SpoilerCallum is kidnapped about halfway through the book and Noa and Judah work together to find them.
And those were my favorite chapters in this book. I enjoyed their interactions so much. Their relationship was built up amazingly; something that was lacking between Noa and Callum.

Slowly a love triangle evolves between Noa, Callum and Judah. As I said earlier, personally, I think Noa and Judah have a lot more chemistry going on. Noa and Callum felt a bit forced, especially towards the end of the book.

The ending was a bit crazy for me. Plot twist upon plot twist and then a cliffhanger. Which I didn't mind - it was just a lot.

Despite the beginning of the book, which I didn't like too much, I still enjoyed this book and will probably continue with the series, when the following books come out.
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

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3.0

3.5 stars; almost 4, I'm not quite sure yet, I might change it later