Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
It was so good right up till the end when it went downhill. Did not see the separation coming. After all his elaborate professions about never leaving her, after her saving his life, he chose to not go to her till her father came to him to convince him of her wanting him. It was so very disappointing. I was enjoying this story so much but that just destroyed the ending for me. I wish it had ended better. The rest of the story was so good. Feeling very sad and angry about it right now because I was so engrossed in the story the whole day and this was the pay-off I got. I really really wanted a better ending.
TLDR- Very upset because of the high expectations created by the rest of the story thwarted in the ending.
TLDR- Very upset because of the high expectations created by the rest of the story thwarted in the ending.
I loved this book even more than the previous one. I like reading about family dynamics and antics. The characters were likable, the plot was okay, so I really enjoyed it.
another adorable fairy tale. this novel stars william the wolf from the last book's story. i loved the tension etc. i do think that again, the ending is too fast and too sweet. there are loose threads:
how does lark handle the revelation that william is the wolf that laid on the bed with her?
what about william's money- did he explain to cerise that he didnt actually know he had it and therefore hadnt been lying? actually- i still wonder about that logic for the money/estates/etc. he had been convinced that the courtmartial stripped him of his titles and everything- i assume to be confiscated by the weird gvmt. but then - oh no jk! you still have everything- no explanations!
and lastly- what about cerise's necromancer cousin- did he ever get his money for the slain eel-thing? well?
fairy tales. but yeah- i love the IA spin on fairy tales. good read.
how does lark handle the revelation that william is the wolf that laid on the bed with her?
what about william's money- did he explain to cerise that he didnt actually know he had it and therefore hadnt been lying? actually- i still wonder about that logic for the money/estates/etc. he had been convinced that the courtmartial stripped him of his titles and everything- i assume to be confiscated by the weird gvmt. but then - oh no jk! you still have everything- no explanations!
and lastly- what about cerise's necromancer cousin- did he ever get his money for the slain eel-thing? well?
fairy tales. but yeah- i love the IA spin on fairy tales. good read.
4.5 stars
This book was awesome!!!
So I have a confession to make. I have owned all The Edge books for years. I bought and read On the Edge right after it came out but I didn't read the rest. I did purchased each right after it came out. I've just been sitting on them and saving for a rainy day. So its been 8 years and I'm a bit chagrined that I waited this long because they were awesome.
I adored William and Cerise. I think I was reluctant because I didn't think I would like Cerise and she just might be my favorite heroine out of the four books. I really liked the plot I thought it was intricate and the awesome amount of family.
This book was awesome!!!
So I have a confession to make. I have owned all The Edge books for years. I bought and read On the Edge right after it came out but I didn't read the rest. I did purchased each right after it came out. I've just been sitting on them and saving for a rainy day. So its been 8 years and I'm a bit chagrined that I waited this long because they were awesome.
I adored William and Cerise. I think I was reluctant because I didn't think I would like Cerise and she just might be my favorite heroine out of the four books. I really liked the plot I thought it was intricate and the awesome amount of family.
adventurous
dark
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
This romance is buried under the weight of too many characters and too much new world building. It's the worst Ilona Andrews book I've read since waaaaay back at the beginning of the Kate Daniels series, when Magic Bites was a pretty rough start to what was ultimately a fantastic series.
But I'm feeling those awkward, trying-to-do-too-much vibes again.
(Of course "the worst" IA book is still three stars and better than a heckuvalot of other romances I've read, so please keep that in mind as I move forward with its issues.)
First, I like that this jumps to a new featured couple by way of William, a supporting character from the first book. If this had been a series romance (like Kate Daniels) following Rose and Declan, I wouldn't have been disappointed, but I'm not heartbroken it's not about them, either. And I liked William so I'm happy to see him again.
The problem is, in introducing the new character as his love interest, we get her entire family clan as well, and it's a big one. I'm not opposed to characters being from huge families, but there's so much going on in this book and trying to develop so many family members takes up so much space. None of them really got the treatment they probably deserved (I'm looking at you, Lark, with your incredibly fast-told traumatic backstory that could practically be a book on its own but lasted for two pages) and it was clear to me that at least one or two of these cousins will probably be the leads of future books. (I checked after the fact, and I'm 100% right about that.) By the end, I was disappointed by this lack of reasonable development, because it meant I had no way of figuring out on my own who the traitor in the family was--there just wasn't enough about each possibility for me to work with--and when that person is revealed, they have to go on an absolute rant explaining their motives for the betrayal in detail, because the reader wouldn't know, because we didn't know the character well enough beforehand to suspect them.
Parallel to that, the first book did a lot to set up the Edge and the way this strange worlds-collision works, and yes Bayou Moon does build on that, but mostly by doing an incredibly deep dive into a very small patch of land, so to speak, which functionally builds an entirely new world--the swamp--with very little connection to anything we learned in the first book. Cerise's Edge is nothing like Rose's, and when William goes to Declan for help near the end of the book, it's shocking to see the Weird and the characters from the first book who seem like a fever dream now, because Bayou Moon feels so separate.
And since now I know more Mar family characters are future leads, we're going to spend two more books building on this setting within the Edge (presumably) which makes this feel like a first-in-series book all over again, even though it's the second. There's enough held over from the first book to make this unreasonable as a standalone, yet it does so much to set up new territory and so little to carry on the first book that it seems like it wants to be a standalone/first-in-series.
I don't want a series to have two "first" books fighting with each other.
Also, the end felt super-rushed, like we spend four hundred pages doing the family feud in detail, then a huge battle happens afterward in the Weird and it's glossed over like an afternoon tea party. I don't object to what happened, just wonder why something so major is wedged into the denouement, essentially.
So, after all that structural nonsense I complain about, what's good? I do love William, and Cerise is reasonably awesome. A lot of the swamp magic was interesting, a lot of the Hand's magic/creatures were interesting and revolting at the same time, and even if I didn't want to spend so much time on Cerise's extended family, the push/pull they had with her about her love life, and whether or not William should feature in it, was adorable and sometimes a little heartbreaking.
But I'm feeling those awkward, trying-to-do-too-much vibes again.
(Of course "the worst" IA book is still three stars and better than a heckuvalot of other romances I've read, so please keep that in mind as I move forward with its issues.)
First, I like that this jumps to a new featured couple by way of William, a supporting character from the first book. If this had been a series romance (like Kate Daniels) following Rose and Declan, I wouldn't have been disappointed, but I'm not heartbroken it's not about them, either. And I liked William so I'm happy to see him again.
The problem is, in introducing the new character as his love interest, we get her entire family clan as well, and it's a big one. I'm not opposed to characters being from huge families, but there's so much going on in this book and trying to develop so many family members takes up so much space. None of them really got the treatment they probably deserved (I'm looking at you, Lark, with your incredibly fast-told traumatic backstory that could practically be a book on its own but lasted for two pages) and it was clear to me that at least one or two of these cousins will probably be the leads of future books. (I checked after the fact, and I'm 100% right about that.) By the end, I was disappointed by this lack of reasonable development, because it meant I had no way of figuring out on my own who the traitor in the family was--there just wasn't enough about each possibility for me to work with--and when that person is revealed, they have to go on an absolute rant explaining their motives for the betrayal in detail, because the reader wouldn't know, because we didn't know the character well enough beforehand to suspect them.
Parallel to that, the first book did a lot to set up the Edge and the way this strange worlds-collision works, and yes Bayou Moon does build on that, but mostly by doing an incredibly deep dive into a very small patch of land, so to speak, which functionally builds an entirely new world--the swamp--with very little connection to anything we learned in the first book. Cerise's Edge is nothing like Rose's, and when William goes to Declan for help near the end of the book, it's shocking to see the Weird and the characters from the first book who seem like a fever dream now, because Bayou Moon feels so separate.
And since now I know more Mar family characters are future leads, we're going to spend two more books building on this setting within the Edge (presumably) which makes this feel like a first-in-series book all over again, even though it's the second. There's enough held over from the first book to make this unreasonable as a standalone, yet it does so much to set up new territory and so little to carry on the first book that it seems like it wants to be a standalone/first-in-series.
I don't want a series to have two "first" books fighting with each other.
Also, the end felt super-rushed, like we spend four hundred pages doing the family feud in detail, then a huge battle happens afterward in the Weird and it's glossed over like an afternoon tea party. I don't object to what happened, just wonder why something so major is wedged into the denouement, essentially.
So, after all that structural nonsense I complain about, what's good? I do love William, and Cerise is reasonably awesome. A lot of the swamp magic was interesting, a lot of the Hand's magic/creatures were interesting and revolting at the same time, and even if I didn't want to spend so much time on Cerise's extended family, the push/pull they had with her about her love life, and whether or not William should feature in it, was adorable and sometimes a little heartbreaking.
3 stars★★★
☞ Trigger warnings:
Spoiler
abusive upbringing, mentions of child abuse, captivity, indentured servitude, kidnapping, poverty themes, death & attempted murder, blood & gore, drugging, torture, war themes, body modifications & human experimentation, animal attack & death, necromancy.☁︎ Synopsis ☁︎
Cerise Mar has got a lot on her plate. Her family are poor, in a long-standing, deadly generational fued and to top it off her parents have been up and vanished. It is up to Cerise to be the leader of her clan, find her parents and end this fued once and for all. Also William, the changeling solider is thrust into her life and they have to work together to figure out what the hell is going on in her swamp.
☁︎ Review ☁︎
I thought it was funny that this book was set in a swamp. All the mud, the humidity and the dangers lurking in the waters made for a great setting and interesting storytelling when enemies and foreigners try to go through the land. Using the land against the enemy with guerrilla warfare tactics was great to read about and I wished more books incorporated the land and the characters knowledge of the land more.
I was also happily surprised to read of the ancient magic the land and the characters held and their deep respect for it.
I loved Cerise the second she showed up on the page. She was snarky, interesting and had the families weight and pressure placed on her shoulders. She was bold, smart and stood up against her family who at times were not very pleasant to her.
There should have been more of Kaldar. I loved him and of course he is Cerise's favourite cousin (but I doubt I will read his book though lol whoops). I loved how big and boistours the Mar family was and how everyone who was born or married into the family was welcome no matter the circumstances or differences.
Lark and Gaston broke my heart and I wish there was more sister bonding between Cerise and Lark. William took a while for me to connect with but he was cute, socially stunted and took things to literally which made me love hime when he got confused or misunderstood. His relationship with the kids was so touching and I loved him double for it.
Spider is a good villain. He was psychopathic and was the worst type of person who goes above and beyond for what they think is right. I wish there were more chapters on him and his thoughts, on how he interacts with his team and why they all have such a deep seated fear for the guy.
Spoiler
I'm disappointed he survived and I assume continues into the other books. Like William had such a grudge and a weird connection with this guy that felt personal and heartbreaking. They are similar to a certain extent. They understood each other and each others motives. They were like perfect archenemies. For him to survive felt like a cop-out so they can continue the story. Let William win and then have like a colleague of Spider be the antagonist for the next book.☁︎ Questions/Issues ☁︎
Where the book fell short was the above spoiler, and the
☀︎ Also there was moments of slut-shaming from William (that Cerise didn't call out) that made me ick.
☀︎ I didn't like the epilogue. I know its an unpopular opinion but William owes the Mirror nothing. He should have not said yes to that deal.
☀︎ Clara made me so mad I needed to give myself time-out. Fuck Clara (and poor Gaston that lil baby)
☀︎ I saw the twist of who the betrayer was and I wish it was spicier. Fell flat tbh.
☀︎ It felt too long. Like there was stuff that could have been cut and big climax scenes that should have been stuck together to make it more impactful.
☀︎ The whole Gramps twist. wtf was that??? Why??? wtf??? If you took that bit out it would make little difference with only a few changes to the end. Gramps... WTF??? Get a normal hobby like gardening or woodworking!! You know what they say about idle hands and the devil... Gramps was too idle in the swamp with apparently too little supervision.
☀︎ Also on the note on Grandparents, I didn't like how Grandma was pushed to the side with little mention. Like what were her feelings of leaving high society and being exiled to a swamp. Raising your children in a difficult environment where everything and everyone will kill you. Like it felt centred around Gramps and his dirty dealings but what was Grandma doing when Gramps was tinkering? Did she know? Suspect? Turn a blind eye? Like I felt let down by that.
Anyways my main take-away is that I wanna read more books set in swamps.
Blog ✿ Goodreads ✿ Twitter ✿ Instagram