sup3r_xn0va_maya's reviews
364 reviews

💬: N/A

📖Genres: historical fiction, vampires, romance, historical

📚Page Count: 368

🎧Audiobook Length: 11:06 

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️ - 2/5

The Dangerous Ones takes place during the civil war, where vampires are working with the confederates to continue enslaving Black folks. Jerusalem is a Saint and Satins have demi god strength and power and they use it to fight vampires. She is a former slave who fought against her slave master and killed him resulting in what she believes to be her whole family being slaughtered. Jerusalem gets word that her brother might be alive so now she's searching for the vampires from her past because they might have him. Alexi is a 300 year only vampire working with Jerusalem, a group of Saints, and the union to fight against the confederates. This definitely reminded me of Ring Shout but I don't think "The Dangerous Ones" reaches it's full potential. 

There were a few problems with this story; including confusing time jumps and flashbacks, to misplaced romantic banter, little to no world building and character development, and one dimensional characters. The time jumps were continuously confusing, I don't think they were very helpful in terms of story telling, they actually seemed to detract from the main story. I know that love is supposed to be part of the plot but it really felt like it didn't fit right in the story. It felt like I was reading two different stories, one where the main characters were in an enemy to lovers romance and one where there's action and the civil war with death and vampires. The two genres didn't really mesh well.

Overall, the audiobook narration was okay but, the pacing felt off, the flashbacks were more confusing than anything, the characters were one dimensional, there was little to no character building, the romance didn't really work in this story,  little to no world building, and the author used current and modern language instead of historical language from the times (seeing as this is a historical novel). I'm giving this 2 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️ - 2/5 Stars

Thank you [NetGalley.com], Lauren Blackwood (the author), and Macmillan Audio (the publisher) for the arc audiobook (advanced reader's copy.)

💬: "Miles is sophisticated. We do the art shows, wine tastings. When I can’t sleep, he’s a phone call away. Deacon is funny and sweet, flirty and creative. And, well, Cassidy…” “Is bending you like a pretzel!” interrupted Alisa. Her response made Nadine cackle and give her a high five. Tatum rolled her eyes. “If you must know, yes, the sex is phenomenal. He’s aggressive, commanding, but he’s also really brilliant. If something is broken, he fixes it. My gas tank is always full because he fills it. He reads NK Jemisin with me, for God’s sake.” Tatum looked at her friends who said nothing. Alisa was wide-eyed, and Nadine simply stared, rocking EJ in her arms. “What is it? What did I say?”

Richardson, T.M.. The Oath: A WhyChoose Novel (The Secrets Series Book 1) (p. 223). TM Richardson . Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: romance, contemporary, contemporary romance, 

📚Page Count: 280

🎧Audiobook Length: 06h 23min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4.5/5 
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The Oath: A WhyChoose Novel is a novel by T.M Richardson about a widow named Tatum who's husband has recently passed away from losing his fight with cancer. One of his dying wishes was that his wife, Tatum lean on and seek love from his three best friends. Miles, Deacon, and Cassidy along with Tatum agree to try the new arrangement after her husband's death. 

These three men sound like a dream! Someone to read Octavia E. Butler and N.K Jemisin with, someone you could call at all hours if you couldn't sleep at night, and someone who's creative and funny. Wow, Tatum hit the jackpot with these three guys. They protected her against that

nasty and pushy student!

and they took care of her in all aspects possible! 

There were two things I didn't like about this novel,

the sexual harassment scene when the adult college student corners Tatum in her classroom and how the three men keep calling Tatum "mama".

First, during and after the scene with the student, Tatum says

she got "wet" during the sexual harassment, just because that happens doesn't mean you're not being sexually harassed. I don't know what the point of including that was. Tatum clearly denies the student's advances and is uninterested. Why emphasize to herself and her friends that it was a turn on to be harassed?

Second, I HATED when the three male lovers called the main character "Mama". It was so distracting and annoying to me. 

The audiobook narrator was okay, sometimes their voice was a bit off putting when they tried to read as one of the men but everything else was okay. I'm happy I finally got to enjoy this book on audio, that's my main way of consuming novels. 

The spicy scenes were fantastic, and there were plenty of them and they ALL had varity!

The group sex scene was so damn sexy! Whew, I was sweatin'!

I'm giving the spicy scenes four point five chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️.5 out of five chilies

Overall this was spicy, romantic, delicious, and overall a great time. I'm giving this 4.5 out of 5 stars. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4.5/5  Stars


I own a copy of this audiobook, I didn't rent it from the library.

💬:N/A

📖Genres: super hero, action, dark, DC Comics, graphic novels, comics

📚Page Count: 168

🎧Audiobook Length: N/A

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 

Injustice: God's Among Us Vol. 1 is a comic written by Tom Taylor and published by DC Comics in relation with the creators of the video games Mortal Kombat and Injustice. This story is about Superman and what would happen if his loved ones were taken from him, how far would he go overboard trying to control the world? Would anyone oppose him and if they did, would they succeed in stopping Superman and his supporters?

This comic starts off with The Woman in Refrigerators trope, according to Wikipedia.org "fridging" or Women in Refrigerators...

In this particular instance the comic starts off with Superman and

Lois Lane just finding out that Lois is pregnant with their first child. Then Lois is given a fake tip that she goes to investigate, it turns out to be a trap and she's captured by The Joker. The Joker then operates on Lois and rigs a bomb to go off in Metropolis at the same time her heart stops. The joker infects Superman with The Scarecrows mind toxin and Superman begins to believe that Lois is Doomsday. Superman flies Lois or who he believes to be "Doomsday" out to space. Lois suffocates in space and dies, and that leads to Metropolis to blowing up, killing more than 4 million people. Superman basically kills his wife, their unborn child, and 4 million people via The Joker and then he becomes a hard ass because of his losses.

I understand that they wanted to make Superman a dictator but they honestly could have started off with

The Joker kidnaping his parents or something, I know that was used later as a plot point in the story but I think they could have avoided The Women in Refrigerators trope but they didn't even try.

The action was really good and the rest of the story, ignoring the beginning, is really good. I definitely had moments where I was reading and the storyline made me feel hopeless or even cry (RIP to those who are gone). The storyline is just so good, I'm excited to dive into this series again because my first read through was almost 10 years ago and I don't really remember all the small details. 

Overall this was really action filled and entertaining, The Woman in Refrigerators trope that kicks off this comics is ridiculous, but everything following it was so good and moving. This is definitely one of my favorite comic stories. 
I'm giving this 4 stars out of 5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5


I own a copy of this comic, I didn't rent it from the library.

💬: Nik released a ragged breath and squeezed his eyes shut, his brows drawing together. “Aria…” “Open your eyes, love. I thought you wanted to watch?” When he looked at her again, the need in his gaze was almost enough to make her cave. Especially when he combined it with words, those filthy fucking words she loved so much, tumbling desperately from his mouth. “Let me in. Let me touch you, eali mou. You don’t want that. You want me.”

Hibbert, Talia. The Fake Boyfriend Fiasco (p. 148). Nixon House. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: romance, contemporary, contemporary romance, 

📚Page Count: 210

🎧Audiobook Length: 07h 50min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4.5/5 
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The Fake Boyfriend Fiasco by Talia Hibbert is a contemporary romance and the third book in The Midnight Heat Collection, by the same author. This story is about Aria, a tattoo artist, and Nik, a professional football player. Nik and Aria meet at a party that's taking place at a hotel, when Aria kisses Nik to help him chase off an over zealous past hook up. Nik comes up with the idea that Aria can pretend to be his new girlfriend so his past ex's don't try to give him unwanted attention. Aria is hesitant until Nik offers her a very large amount of money to do the job, she accepts because she wants to use the money to open her own tattoo shop. Will this arrangement end in disaster? 

Hibbert seems to use the

third act break up

trope in The Midnight Heat Collection more than I anticipated. That's the only thing I tend to not like about these books, but it makes sense in this instance because of the

lie that Nik told.

I think in comparison to The Roommate Risk,

Nik and Aria got back together way quicker so I didn't have to wait long for them to reconcile.

The audio book narrators were great, I like how much life they gave to the characters. Audiobook narration is the main way I consume books because I have dyslexia. It's always wonderful when a book I've been waiting to listen to finally gets an audiobook version and this was no exception. This was a great listening experience. 

I really loved the spicy scenes in this, especially the one at the very end of the book, wow.

the pegging scene was great!

I'm giving the spicy scenes four chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️out of five chilies

I really enjoyed this story and the spicy scenes were really good. Not only was this spicy but it was also romantic and funny. I'm giving this 4.5 out of 5 stars. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4.5/5  Stars

Thank you [NetGalley.com], Talia Hibbert (the author), and Dreamscape Media (publisher) for the arc (advanced reader's copy) of the audiobook.

💬: N/A

📖Genres: fantasy, romance, urban fantasy, paranormal, vampires

📚Page Count: N/A

🎧Audiobook Length: 06h 58min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5 
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This Side of the Grave (Dramatized Edition) is a graphic audio published by the company Graphic Audio and written by Jeaniene Frost, based on the fifth book in her Night Huntress series, This Side of the Grave. Vampires are going missing in this installment of Night Huntress, and Bones and Cat make it their business to find out where the missing vampires have gone and what's happened to them. Bones and Cat find out that there is a ghoul trying to incite an interspecies war between vampires and ghouls. With no other choice, the couple seek help from the Queen of Ghouls and New Orleans, Marie Laveau (who is based on historical figure Marie Laveau, a Black herbalist and midwife practitioner of Voodoo from New Orleans.)

I love the dramatized editions of these books because this was action filled, emotional, and overall really entertaining! This was very good in terms of keeping my attention and being entertaining so that made this listening experience "mostly" enjoyable. There was a sexual assault in this book that was played off for laughs and I found that to be uncomfortable and disappointing. I detailed more below under spoilers, be warned that it vaguely talks about sexual assault.

TW - 

Sexual assault

 
There were spicy scenes in this but they were weird, and by that I mean for some reason

Cat becomes sexually ravenous because of the blood she drank (if I remember correctly) and then she tried to sexually assault a human? I'm not sure why that was put in there but it seemed as if it were for laughs and sexually assault isn't funny.

I'm giving the spicy scenes NEGATIVE 1 chilies -🌶️ out of five chilies.

Overall the story was interesting but I'm knocking points off for the sexual assault bit, it wasn't funny because sexual assault is never funny (and this would have been a 5 star review without that bit). I'm giving this 3 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5  Stars

I listened to this for free on <a href="https://www.hoopladigital.com/">[Hoopladigital.com]</a>

💬: "It was exhausting to realise that everyone in the world knew he was an absolute fool for Jasmine Allen. He straightened his spine and ran a hand through his hair, suddenly realising that he must look a state—must look as out of control as he felt. And that wouldn’t do."

Hibbert, Talia. The Roommate Risk (p. 279). Nixon House. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: romance, contemporary, contemporary romance, 

📚Page Count: 333

🎧Audiobook Length: 09h 36min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4.5/5 
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The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert is a contemporary romance and the second book in The Midnight Heat Collection, by the same author. The Roommate Risk is about two best friends, Jasmine and Rahul. Jasmine lives with a roommate but she soon finds out that her room and everything in it has been damaged if not destroyed because there was a major water leak in her bedroom. With nowhere to go, Jasmine contacts her best friend Rahul because she knows that his apartment has an open room and she hopes that she can rent it for a while. Little does Jasmine know that Rahul has been in love with her for the last 7 years of their lives together as best friends. Will Jasmine moving in complicate everything in the best or worst way?

I really enjoyed this story, it was romantic, sweet, and angsty. I love the chemistry between Rahul and Jasmine, I think they're cute together. They both have their own stuff that they're dealing with and the author does an okay job of depicting that with Rahul and an even better job depicting it with Jasmine. There was this really cute scene where Rahul takes Jasmine on a date and I couldn't stop smiling during that scene, it was just adorable and a little spicy. I think the only issue that I had with the story was a trope that takes place in the last part of the book, and it was basically

a third act break up but to continue to spoil things I will say that there IS an happily every after at the end so it all ends up working out. I understand why there was a break up near the end, because Jasmine had a lot of stuff she needed to sort through. I think it was a good choice to write in that she got a therapist and started working through her emotional and insecurity issues as well as her drinking problem.

The spicy scenes were really enjoyable. I might have really liked them because I dated someone in college with the same name and look as the main male character and memories were doin' their thing, but wow these spicy scenes were great. I'm giving the spicy scenes four chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️out of five chilies

I really enjoyed this novel, it made me smile and I definitely swooned over the main male character. I'm giving this 5 out of 5 stars. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4.5/5  Stars

Thank you [NetGalley.com], the author, and publisher for the arc (advanced reader's copy) of the audiobook. 

💬:Suddenly the page changed before her eyes, the ink bleeding together and reforming into new pictures, faster than she could register. Words appeared and disappeared in languages she couldn’t read. A ringing filled her ears, and she could hear her blood rushing in time with her heartbeat.

Sbrana, Analeigh. Lore of the Wilds: A Novel (pp. 165-166). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: fantasy, romance, fae, romantasy, adult, magic, 

📚Page Count: 339

🎧Audiobook Length: 10:51 

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5 - 2.5/5

Lore of the Wilds is the first in the series of the same title by Analeigh Sbrana. This story is about Lore, a human who lives in a society of fae. Her village falls on disaster and she has no choice but to surrenders herself to the dark fae Syrelle. Syrelle instructs her to tend to his library in the castle they're in. It's not long before Lore runs away with one of the castle guards, a fae named Asher. Later on Lore ends up meeting and becoming enthralled with another fae named Finn. 

This book has so much potential but the pacing is off, there's little character development, there's close to no romance and very little chemistry between the romantic interests and the main character even though there are TWO romantic interests, and this fantasy crosses over from being a fantasy drama to being a cozy fantasy to wanting to be high fantasy, and the spicy scene at the end wasn't gotten to with build up or banter or any sort of romantic development. 

Overall, the pacing felt off and there was very little character development when it came to Lore, herself. There was also very little romantic development despite this being marketed as a "romantasy" or romance fantasy. I'm giving this 2.5 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️.5 - 2.5/5 Stars

Thank you [NetGalley.com], Analeigh Sbrana (the author), and Harper Voyager (publisher) for the arc (advanced reader's copy.)

💬:"She’d wavered for too long, and her indecision left her conflicted mind open for Ogun to overtake her. He’d attack where she wouldn’t and damn them all to traitor’s deaths. She tried to resist but felt herself drifting, a numbness overwhelming her as her consciousness was shoved away from her physical body. Ogun pushed through and left her to see and feel with no control of her actions."

Williams, Brittany N.. Saint-Seducing Gold (The Forge & Fracture Saga, Book 2) (p. 5). Amulet Books. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: fantasy, historical fantasy, fae, magic

📚Page Count: 304

🎧Audiobook Length: 08:57 

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5

Saint-Seducing Gold is the second book in The Forget and Fracture Saga by Brittany N. Williams. This book continues on right where the first book left off. The fae and humans are now at war sort of, Joan is pressured into joining the Royal Court and she can't leave it for fear that her captured godfather won't survive. Can Joan save the world as she knows it while balancing having two romantic interests ?

I didn't really like the first book but I wanted to give the series a chance and I'm sad to say that I didn't really like the second book either. I think there was more action this time around, which was nice, but I think my problem is the setting. For some reason Shakespearean London with an Orisha blessed Blacksmith just doesn't work in my head for some reason.

Overall, the story was just okay. I'm giving it 3 out of 5 stars. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 Stars

Thank you [NetGalley.com], Brittany N. Williams (the author), and Abrams (publisher) for the arc (advanced reader's copy.)

💬:N/A

📖Genres: poetry, poems

📚Page Count: 104

🎧Audiobook Length: 01:32 

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5

woke up no light: poems is a poetry collection by Leila Mottley, the author of "Night Crawling". This poetry collection is raw, amazing, and it honestly blew me away. The poems are about being Black in America, most are about being a Black woman in America. The author talks about race, social justice, police brutality, misogynoir, sexual assault, and much more. Mottley writes some painful truths in such an elegant and gritty way. 

There are too many individual works that I liked or that resonated with me to list them all, but I particularly liked the poems in the two sections "girlhood" and "womanhood". The "neighborhood" section made me cry, I'm still processing what I've read overall.

Overall, this collection was moving and it was written with such grace. I definitely resonated with most of the poems in this collection. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 Stars

Thank you [NetGalley.com], Leila Mottley (the author), and  Knopf (publisher) for the arc (advanced reader's copy.) 

💬: "People in expensive-looking suits and flashy cocktail dresses cling to glasses filled with champagne or cocktails and amble up and down the hallways and rooms, enjoying an evening of gambling and debauchery. It’s like a scene from one of Gatsby’s parties, except Black people are invited."

Benton-Walker, Terry J.. Blood Debts (pp. 70-71). Tor Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: Fantasy ,Young Adult ,LGBT ,Mystery, Queer, Young Adult Fantasy, Magic , Fiction, Urban Fantasy

📚Page Count: 400

🎧Audiobook Length: 14h 30min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ /5 

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Blood Debts is a queer mystery novel about getting justice for one's past crimes. 30 years ago there were murders and a lynching and it was considered the greatest massacre in magical New Orleans history. This has 5 different perspectives and I thought it wasn't going to work but everything went together really nicely. My reading experience was a good one. This book is a rollercoaster, the plot starts right away in the first chapter and that's one of the things I really liked about this book. 

The book starts off with twins, Clem and Christina, tending to their mother and waiting for the Dr. to come and give them an update on their mother's condition. Their mother hasn't been doing well and her health has slowly been declining. They soon discover that

their mother isn't sick, she's cursed!

Will they be able to find out who's trying to harm their family? 

A lot of the surprises were predictable but the book was still enjoyable. I think I left probably around 5 notes to myself about the plotline, just of me guessing what the next surprise was going to be. In this regard, the book was really predictable, but that didn't stop the book from being entertaining. There were some secrets I didn't guess but there were more secrets that I DID guess and I thought that was worth mentioning in my review. 

This was my first time reading a book by Terry J. Benton-Walker and they did not disappoint me! This was exciting, entertaining, intriguing, and it was just down right good! I'm giving this a 5 out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️