Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley

24 reviews

kassidyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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whatthekatdraggedin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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journeythroughthechapters's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-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

3.5

 I liked how this started off with a bang. It was pretty dark pretty quick but I feel the rest of the book fell flat. I understand the journey we went on with the characters but I feel like everything happened so quickly and then we get to the battle scene which dragged on too long.

The book is short for fantasy so this isn't surprising that the balance of the plot was off. I think I just wanted a bit more. At the end of the day this is a debut and I think the author has potential. It was a quick enjoyable read. Thumbs up.

Representation
Queer, Non Binary

Content Warning
Violence, Attempted Sexual Assult, Grief, Amnesia, Anxiety, Depression

 

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booksdogsandcoffee's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Tamsin is cursed witch. For years her curse has caused her not to feel love, so she takes it. When the people of her village come to her for help their payment is their love for someone in their life. Her village lives in constant fear of her. 

A plague has befallen the country, one of magical origin. As it infects people they forget their loved ones. Sadly one such infected is Wren’s father. But Wren also has a secret. She is a source of magic, which are so rare and coveted that they are rarely found out side the witch lands. Yet Wren has managed to hide herself all these years. Until her father comes down with the plague. 

Seeing no other choice Wren strikes a deal with Tamsin to help save her father. In return for his life, she will pay for her love for him. The two team up to track down the source of the dark magic causing the plague, but as they work together Tamsin’s secrets start to come back from the dead, and wren, well she just might start having feelings for the witch who can’t love. 

I really enjoyed Sweet and bitter magic. Especially the magic system in it. It wasn’t very complex, but I did love that it was a system where you had a magic bar( like in a video game) and could only use x amount at a time with out loosing power. 

On top of that there the love and relationship wren has with her father is very touching. 

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook and thought this was a fun wlw witchy quest that had me gasping and yelling at the book half the time. 

Cw
Death
Violence
Death of a parent 
Murder


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abigail_reads06's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring sad 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

4.5

What I wanted: Sapphic witches and cool magic
What I got: All those things and sadness

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bot's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

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dododenise's review against another edition

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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

4.0

This was really sweet. 
Fairytale vibes. Sapphic enemies to lovers. Only one bed trope. Many glorious things to love about this book. 
There were a few small things I didn’t quite like. The writing sometimes felt a bit tacky. I would also have preferred it if the protagonists were about 1-2 years older. Simply because the actions from five years previously would feel more realistic. Especially the diary entries didn’t feel like they were written by a 12 year old. 
But overall a really enjoyable read 

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violet_pages's review against another edition

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

3.0


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lunagirl_alice's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

I absolutely adored this book. The world building was really great and I love the magic system that is in place, the idea of there being direct consequences to the witches themselves for using magic in terms of the physical toll it took was something I found really interesting. I also loved the characters, both the main characters were loveable even Tamsin who has a very cold exterior, her quips and taunts were very funny at times. Even the smaller characters whom we did not get to see a lot of in the book were well written and I really liked them. I would love another book on the school itself and maybe Tamsin's life at the school prior to her banishment, that's something I did want to know about in more detail, however obviously I understand why that would not have really fitted into the book. I would have also liked to see more of Wren's childhood and maybe how her father became to be the man he was when we were first introduced to him, and seen how his relationship with wren was affected. I loved the author's writing style so I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future books, I believe there's one coming out this year. I highly recommend this book as an adventurous Sapphic fantasy and especially as this was a debut novel I was highly impressed.    

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wet_towlette'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? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I want a Tamsin. Where do I get one. 

I wish I could find more words to describe why I liked this book so much, but I think sometimes when you enjoy something enough, there isn’t really words. It was just so good and I didn’t want to put it down. It’s not perfect by any means but it was entertaining and I liked the writing style. 

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