Reviews

House of Lies and Sorrow by Emily Blackwood

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danib24's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

rachaelreverie's review against another edition

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4.0

intriguing

This book kept me enchanted and wanting to know more. I liked the plot and character development. I see potential in the storyline. Would like to see more of the brother’s point of view. Would like to know the family background a bit more of why dad was the way he was. Maybe the next books will unfold this a bit more.

spotter16's review against another edition

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3.0

Really quick read and the story has all the elements for a good fantasy romance but nothing really stood out. I do plan on reading the sequel, as the series definitely has potential. I would like to see more world building to set the series apart from many of the other fae romances out there. I think there is a lot of room to build upon the relationship between the brothers and sister as well as the two main characters, the family dynamic is the sole point of difference from many other books out there in this genre.

amy_madhatter's review against another edition

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1.0

This was annoying as hell. First thing I noticed was the ridiculous attempt to resemble ACOTAR. The plot is so ridiculous I want to talk about it. There was zero chemistry between Jade and Malache - btw what kind of stupid name is that! - aaand why on earth would he want to hold her hand and let them act like a couple in front of his family aaand at the same time he said and I quote "No, they didn't know I cared about her. Saints, I didn't care about her. But they had to believe that, too" like whaaaa?? Plus, why would a king want Malache to marry a human wife, aaand insisting on doing so, like FOUR TIMES to unite faeires and humans and at the same time killing those human wives before even establishing this so called goal of his!!! Jade's father who is just as confusing as hell, selling his daughter to faeries then cry and plead for her not to go then when she visit them after marriage he acts weird and furious all of a sudden and want her out of the house and wishes to not see her again!! And please don't blame it on him being drunk, this is just insane. Tessa. The young loving sister, the one who loves her sister to pieces and know the way her father is and doesn't like him much, just all of a freakin sudden is lashing at her sister and standing up for the drunk, never at home father??? Lol. Adeline, who risks Jade's life everytime they meet!! Jade who doesn't want to die but wants to be out and about in the land of fae she hated so much aaand not to mention every living fae wanted her dead!! But like no problem I don't wanna be a prisoner, please, thanks.!!!!!!! Plus we knew from the very first pages who wanted to kill Jade, so, zero plot, zero conversations and just zero everything.

annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition

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4.0

This month I wanted to get a book that was on my wishlist for quite some time already. Eventually this book spoke the most to me. Partly because I'm really into Fae at the moment, it seems, but also because it sounded like a great haters to lovers and enemies to lovers and I'm always a sucker for those. And when I saw that it was an easy to read book with not too many pages I knew it was the perfect read for this morning.

This book was everything I had hoped it would be. We had haters to lovers and enemies to lovers, we had court politics and royal bickering, we had siblings we could or couldn't trust, we had typical Fae behavior and we had a human heroine who was exactly the right mix of strong, fierce and healthily afraid. On top of that we also had a plot that seemed quite simple at the start, but turned out to be a little more complicated when we reached the finale.

I do hope that in the next book in the series we get to see a little more of the world. Due to some remarks and throwaway lines I have an inkling of what the world looks like, but it all seems a little vague. We never really explored the human world and what life is like there. We also never stepped outside the palace so we have no idea what the Fae world actually looks like either. I think the book would be even better if the world building was a little more detailed.

The characters made up for everything though. I already said that I loved the heroine, especially because she played along and let others take control when she knew she wasn't capable to handle things on her own, but I also really loved the prince. He was still very much Fae, with some anger issues and some dark powers that were really sickening at times, but he also clearly had a big heart and I could understand why our heroine did eventually fall for him.

I can't wait to dive into the next one.