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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5⭐️3.5🌶️
Book 3
Dark adult Fantasy
Multi POV
Orphan FMC
Fae/fae adjacent
Folklore/mythical creatures
Stockholm syndrome
Slow burn
Fated mates
Forbidden romance
Secret identity
Forced proximity
On the run
Tw: questionable guardian/ward relationship, toxic relationship,
Book 2 and 3 take place over a month. That is NOT clear at all until the very end of the book. It felt so drawn out in that regard. I basically wish they were just 1 book. I think book 3 took place over a 2 week period. 600 pages is a lot for 2 weeks of story building.
The ambiguity is finally the focus! finally, the big world building questions are answered, in part, leaving the resolution and unveiling how things fit together.
I hate it when trials are put into play, but then amount to basically nothing. I don’t think the aspect of the trial moved anyone’s character arc forward. Really, it was a blip just to get to the end of the month/coupling ceremony. A big letdown.
Some of the side character’s arcs are very interesting. But also leaving questions unanswered… in an annoying way.
I’m ready for this series to be wrapped up. If this is dragged out for more than 1 book, I may toss the ending and call it a spade. I think beautiful writing and prose can only take you so far. I need this world building to fully reveal the shape of the fantasy world so that we can just let the plot play out.
—————————
Crystal Bloom Series: unfinished
To Bleed a Crystal Bloom- 4.5⭐️2.75🌶️
To Snap a Silver Stem- 4⭐️3🌶️
To Flame a Wild Flower- 3.75⭐️3.5🌶️
Book 4- unannounced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
This book was beautiful perfection.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
I was fortunate enough to win an ARC on one of the authors Instagram giveaways, and I am not lying when I say I DEVOURED this book in less that 24 hours, and am still a little shell shocked and unsure of how exactly to put into writing everything this work of art has made me feel.
This book is heartbreak and pain, trauma and fallout, and all the ugly faces that rear their heads when someone has fallen into the deepest darkest parts of themselves. But it's also healing and picking up the pieces as best as you can, and finding that strength, acceptance and even a little bit of humour in the moments that you feel the most lost. The depth and complexities of the MC's are so fleshed out in this book, I don't even know how else to describe it apart from its everything I was hoping for in #3 and more. This was one of my most anticipated book for 2023 and I can 1000% say that my heart is already in a vice knowing that I have to wait to read the rest of the story, but I know the wait will be SO worth it.
If I could give more than 5 stars, I would. This author has joined my 'see her name and buy it' list - I can't recommend these books enough.
This book is heartbreak and pain, trauma and fallout, and all the ugly faces that rear their heads when someone has fallen into the deepest darkest parts of themselves. But it's also healing and picking up the pieces as best as you can, and finding that strength, acceptance and even a little bit of humour in the moments that you feel the most lost. The depth and complexities of the MC's are so fleshed out in this book, I don't even know how else to describe it apart from its everything I was hoping for in #3 and more. This was one of my most anticipated book for 2023 and I can 1000% say that my heart is already in a vice knowing that I have to wait to read the rest of the story, but I know the wait will be SO worth it.
If I could give more than 5 stars, I would. This author has joined my 'see her name and buy it' list - I can't recommend these books enough.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rating: 4 stars
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Tropes:
✔️Dark romance
✔️Fae/fae adjacent
✔️Fairytale retelling
✔️Forbidden romance
✔️Mutual pining
✔️Forced proximity
✔️Secret identity/disguise
✔️Monsters
✔️Marriage of convenience
✔️Only one bed
✔️"The people I love die"
✔️Morally grey heroes
✔️Fated mates
This series has left so conflicted. I feel like I’m on the cusp of something life-changingly incredible here, and yet I’m constantly being yanked away from that possibility. While I really enjoyed reading these stories, at the same time, I was left incredibly frustrated.
Laith is back in Bahari, intent on going through with her marriage of convenience--at least to a certain point, when she can incapacitate her groom and stage a heist to rescue the people trapped in his Unseelie father's cavern. She's more firm in her belief that she is a murderous monster than ever, and to a certain degree, she's absolutely right. She now knows that what she did at the end of the last book was a critical mistake, but she doesn't believe there's anything she can do to correct it. She's just determined to think for herself now, and not allow herself to be swayed by the opinions of others. To "grow up," as she calls it. Along the way of carrying out her major plan, she uncovers more tragic secrets and even more questions about herself and the world she lives in, and potentially endangers her life by venturing into a community of shunned Blighted citizens. She has to make decisions not just for herself, but for all those she cares about. We end on another small cliffhanger, with a decision made yet again for her in defense of her life that could potentially alter the course of the entire story.
So again, plot-wise, not much actually happens in this book, although it's by far the most fast-paced and linear of the three. Orlaith does a lot of growing, though she remains slightly irritating in her "my love is poison" crap--but then, I hate that trope as a whole anyway. She owns up to her major fuckup at the end of the last book and does everything she can to set things right. However, when presented a golden opportunity to fix her broken relationship, she still refuses to open up and let him see those broken parts of her. I understand her trauma and I even understand her reticence to give him even more power of her, but it's frustrating because Rhordyn has made such a conscious effort to change this book as well. To open up and let her in, answer all of her questions. It's frustrating that she doesn't want to allow this to happen.
This book was the best of the three for me in terms of the pacing and the overall plot structure. I liked that it wasn't so character-driven anymore, that we had a definitive storyline running through all the interdependent moments building Orlaith's character. I did not enjoy the sudden spike in the flowery prose, however. I like this author's writing for the most part, and up to this point, her metaphorical style had been well-balanced with plain prose enough for me to just enjoy the story. This book took those metaphors to the nth degree. Every other paragraph was about her "crystal domes," or "vines of hope/regret" etc--all not truly existing, but metaphors for how she felt. It was so overloaded that it became hard to follow the story at times. I would have appreciated the return to balanced that made me love this series to begin with.
I'll definitely be following for book 4, I'm too invested now to not see where these characters end up.
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Tropes:
✔️Dark romance
✔️Fae/fae adjacent
✔️Fairytale retelling
✔️Forbidden romance
✔️Mutual pining
✔️Forced proximity
✔️Secret identity/disguise
✔️Monsters
✔️Marriage of convenience
✔️Only one bed
✔️"The people I love die"
✔️Morally grey heroes
✔️Fated mates
This series has left so conflicted. I feel like I’m on the cusp of something life-changingly incredible here, and yet I’m constantly being yanked away from that possibility. While I really enjoyed reading these stories, at the same time, I was left incredibly frustrated.
Laith is back in Bahari, intent on going through with her marriage of convenience--at least to a certain point, when she can incapacitate her groom and stage a heist to rescue the people trapped in his Unseelie father's cavern. She's more firm in her belief that she is a murderous monster than ever, and to a certain degree, she's absolutely right. She now knows that what she did at the end of the last book was a critical mistake, but she doesn't believe there's anything she can do to correct it. She's just determined to think for herself now, and not allow herself to be swayed by the opinions of others. To "grow up," as she calls it. Along the way of carrying out her major plan, she uncovers more tragic secrets and even more questions about herself and the world she lives in, and potentially endangers her life by venturing into a community of shunned Blighted citizens. She has to make decisions not just for herself, but for all those she cares about. We end on another small cliffhanger, with a decision made yet again for her in defense of her life that could potentially alter the course of the entire story.
So again, plot-wise, not much actually happens in this book, although it's by far the most fast-paced and linear of the three. Orlaith does a lot of growing, though she remains slightly irritating in her "my love is poison" crap--but then, I hate that trope as a whole anyway. She owns up to her major fuckup at the end of the last book and does everything she can to set things right. However, when presented a golden opportunity to fix her broken relationship, she still refuses to open up and let him see those broken parts of her. I understand her trauma and I even understand her reticence to give him even more power of her, but it's frustrating because Rhordyn has made such a conscious effort to change this book as well. To open up and let her in, answer all of her questions. It's frustrating that she doesn't want to allow this to happen.
This book was the best of the three for me in terms of the pacing and the overall plot structure. I liked that it wasn't so character-driven anymore, that we had a definitive storyline running through all the interdependent moments building Orlaith's character. I did not enjoy the sudden spike in the flowery prose, however. I like this author's writing for the most part, and up to this point, her metaphorical style had been well-balanced with plain prose enough for me to just enjoy the story. This book took those metaphors to the nth degree. Every other paragraph was about her "crystal domes," or "vines of hope/regret" etc--all not truly existing, but metaphors for how she felt. It was so overloaded that it became hard to follow the story at times. I would have appreciated the return to balanced that made me love this series to begin with.
I'll definitely be following for book 4, I'm too invested now to not see where these characters end up.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated