Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - House of Earth and Blood

“Sabine whispered a sentence to the room, to the Autumn King, and Declan’s heart rose, hearing it.
It was the answer to the ancient Prime’s words. To the Autumn King’s question of how, against every statistic blaring on Declan’s computer, they were even witnessing Hunt Athalar fight like Hel to keep Bryce Quinlan’s heart beating.
Through love, all is possible.”
- Sarah J. Maas, House of Earth and Blood 🌙❤️
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HI I FINISHED READING HOUSE OF EARTH AND BLOOD FOR THE FIRST TIME. ITS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AND I HAVE NO WORDS. No thoughts, just so many emotions. I’m obsessed with Bryce Quinlan and I love her so much. Bryce’s unwavering loyalty to Danika was so special and bittersweet. They are my favorite fictional friendship. Hunt and Bryce becoming friends to something more was so cute. The slow burn, the teasing, the protectiveness… just so good 🤌🏼😘 They are endgame and I won’t listen to anything else. I really enjoyed all of the characters. The way Ember cursed out the Autumn King. She was waiting for her moment for 20+ years! 😂 The last 600+ pages 🤯😭🥺❤️. I stopped and read parts over again to help my mind comprehend everything. Yes, I have House of Sky and Breath and I preordered the third book because I’m always prepared. I’m so excited for the next journey in Crescent City! 💙

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k_l_smith's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

3.0

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bhrtng's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Uggghhhh this is my fave SJM book YETTTT. The world building was a little heavy at first, but pushing through was worth it. A friend who finished before me said that "If it's important, it'll come back up later" which helped me get through the first part without getting too hung up on little details. The murder mystery kept me guessing and the last 200 pages were a SPRINT that had me screaming, crying, throwing up, literal tears in my eyes it was GOOD. I can't wait to start book 2 but at the same time I think I need a week to recover haha. I loved the modern setting, the way Bryce was more likeable/less annoying than SJM's other protagonists (at least to me), the slow burn romance between Bryce and Hunt, and the interesting side characters! I can't wait to see where this series goes!

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lstelts's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

Really enjoyed the writing and plot. Thought the mystery of this was well written. At times gut wrenchingly sad. Good twists thrown in

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nikkihill22's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

like most books by this author, it made for an entertaining read. I don't think SJM includes very much true depth to her stories, her world building leaves too much to be desired for that. It's like she mixes and mashes various mythologies without thinking about how they could or should intersect, and she has the same issue when it comes to technology being included in a magical world. There's a lot of potential for interesting world building but none that she follows through on.
Where she does shine though, is writing characters and their interpersonal relationships. I won't say that was perfect in these books either, although i do think it was a lot better than the ACOTAR series. I didn't expect to be as emotionally involved as i was throughout the climax of the story. Which is maybe a knock against the overall quality of the book that i didn't even realize i cared until it was too late.
The pacing of the book was a little slow for me, it's mainly following one macguffin to another and another and another in the hopes of finding a criminal. Although i do think SJM does a decent job of explaining all that when we finally learn what's really been going on, i think most of it she just wanted the story to go to certain settings or explore certain relationships and found a convenient explanation for why the criminal really led them to go those places after the fact.

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forgottencupoftea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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emahleh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Amazing. I loved this modern twist on SJM’s usual fantasy tropes. BUT, it could have been like 150 pages shorter and still been just as good. Too much world building at the beginning made it so hard to get into this book.

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