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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5 stars!
After reading this, I would 100% love to be abducted by Damien Bloodthorne, too. This was grumpy x sunshine perfection and insanely underrated! I’ve been looking for a villain-gets-the-girl book and tried Assistant to the Villain before this, but could not stand the writing style and DNFed pretty early on. I went into this cautiously optimistic and crossing my toes and fingers that this wouldn’t be a repeat of ASTV, and I am so happy to say this was so good!
Amma has that dorkish charm and optimism about her that was very disney princess coded and I found that she complimented Damien’s grumpier, darker personality really well. She’s like a mix of Anna from Frozen, Tangled’s Rapunzel and the Lunar Chronicles’ Cress: super optimistic, selfless, kind, dorky and charismatic. I loved that her friendly disposition and charisma actually helps get information for Damien. She’s also a thief which makes her really capable on certain occasions and they make a great team!
Them basically:
Damien: “Fine, I’ll use my magic to threaten them.”
Amma: “Or we could, you know, just talk to them.”
Damien, aka the love of my life, was the perfect morally gray, grumpy blood mage. I think fans of Loki, Selwyn Kane and any other grumpy, broody wizard would love Damien Bloodthorne. His character development was an 11/10 and I guarantee you’ll want to be whisked away by Damien as well after this. There were so many moments where this man got me folding, banging my fists, and wanting to jump into my kindle to be with this man. He’s grumpy, villainous, swoon-worthy, and just tired of everyone. He’s also the most unromantic person alive, and my heart just goes into overdrive whenever his icy exterior melts and he says the sweetest things ever. I was annotating my kindle like crazy!! It was so cute seeing him in denial with his feelings when it was obvious he was already down bad for Amma. Oh, he also has his insane moments where I nearly went into cardiac arrest because that man is SMOOTH. Man might seem unassuming, but he absolutely knows how to woo a woman, you can’t convince me otherwise. Still going insane over that rope tying scene.
The slow burn was PERFECT. No insta love to be found here, y’all. Just a hell lot of pining and yearning. The way their relationship progressed just seemed so right and natural and organic. I loved going on this whole journey with them.
This book might be on the sillier side – it’s pretty wacky and wild – but still packed with a lot of charm, humor and heart! The type of book you don’t take too seriously but is still well written for what it is. This book had no business being so funny. I was laughing throughout and “resting villain face” is now my favorite quote. Damien is also naturally funny without trying to be. Get you a guy who can be super authoritative, scary and hot, but also super hilarious and adorable.
Though I can see why this book might not be for everyone. Some characters are more comical and goofier than others – Damien’s father, especially. It was kinda jarring when he first spoke. It was so different compared to how serious Damien is and he felt disney villain coded to me, which did take me out of the story for a bit despite it being a sillier read. The worldbuilding was also super overwhelming in the beginning. It felt like one big info dump, and you really just have to pull through for the first few chapters. I admire how creative the world and lore is, but I do think I am still lost even now and a glossary would have been nice. At one point I just gave up trying to make sense of things and was just along for the ride with Amma and Damien, LMFAO. The use of modern day cuss words also felt jarring because the characters say things like, “infernal darkness” and “dark gods” but then will drop an occasional F bomb that broke the immersion for me at times. But it did lead to a funny gag between Damien and Amma that did make me laugh and I didn’t mind it so much as the other nitpicks I had with the novel.
I can see why people may not like Amma either since she does cry and whine a lot, but I found it appropriate for the genre. My only issue with Amma was that she was really mysterious for almost the whole novel. Though it was intentionally done, it was a bit difficult to sympathise with her when she started to feel guilty and sad because there was no context provided to the reader to connect with her. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the plot twist towards the end, but I absolutely LOVED the ending and have high hopes for the sequel!
After reading this, I would 100% love to be abducted by Damien Bloodthorne, too. This was grumpy x sunshine perfection and insanely underrated! I’ve been looking for a villain-gets-the-girl book and tried Assistant to the Villain before this, but could not stand the writing style and DNFed pretty early on. I went into this cautiously optimistic and crossing my toes and fingers that this wouldn’t be a repeat of ASTV, and I am so happy to say this was so good!
Amma has that dorkish charm and optimism about her that was very disney princess coded and I found that she complimented Damien’s grumpier, darker personality really well. She’s like a mix of Anna from Frozen, Tangled’s Rapunzel and the Lunar Chronicles’ Cress: super optimistic, selfless, kind, dorky and charismatic. I loved that her friendly disposition and charisma actually helps get information for Damien. She’s also a thief which makes her really capable on certain occasions and they make a great team!
Them basically:
Damien: “Fine, I’ll use my magic to threaten them.”
Amma: “Or we could, you know, just talk to them.”
Damien, aka the love of my life, was the perfect morally gray, grumpy blood mage. I think fans of Loki, Selwyn Kane and any other grumpy, broody wizard would love Damien Bloodthorne. His character development was an 11/10 and I guarantee you’ll want to be whisked away by Damien as well after this. There were so many moments where this man got me folding, banging my fists, and wanting to jump into my kindle to be with this man. He’s grumpy, villainous, swoon-worthy, and just tired of everyone. He’s also the most unromantic person alive, and my heart just goes into overdrive whenever his icy exterior melts and he says the sweetest things ever. I was annotating my kindle like crazy!! It was so cute seeing him in denial with his feelings when it was obvious he was already down bad for Amma. Oh, he also has his insane moments where I nearly went into cardiac arrest because that man is SMOOTH. Man might seem unassuming, but he absolutely knows how to woo a woman, you can’t convince me otherwise. Still going insane over that rope tying scene.
The slow burn was PERFECT. No insta love to be found here, y’all. Just a hell lot of pining and yearning. The way their relationship progressed just seemed so right and natural and organic. I loved going on this whole journey with them.
This book might be on the sillier side – it’s pretty wacky and wild – but still packed with a lot of charm, humor and heart! The type of book you don’t take too seriously but is still well written for what it is. This book had no business being so funny. I was laughing throughout and “resting villain face” is now my favorite quote. Damien is also naturally funny without trying to be. Get you a guy who can be super authoritative, scary and hot, but also super hilarious and adorable.
Though I can see why this book might not be for everyone. Some characters are more comical and goofier than others – Damien’s father, especially. It was kinda jarring when he first spoke. It was so different compared to how serious Damien is and he felt disney villain coded to me, which did take me out of the story for a bit despite it being a sillier read. The worldbuilding was also super overwhelming in the beginning. It felt like one big info dump, and you really just have to pull through for the first few chapters. I admire how creative the world and lore is, but I do think I am still lost even now and a glossary would have been nice. At one point I just gave up trying to make sense of things and was just along for the ride with Amma and Damien, LMFAO. The use of modern day cuss words also felt jarring because the characters say things like, “infernal darkness” and “dark gods” but then will drop an occasional F bomb that broke the immersion for me at times. But it did lead to a funny gag between Damien and Amma that did make me laugh and I didn’t mind it so much as the other nitpicks I had with the novel.
I can see why people may not like Amma either since she does cry and whine a lot, but I found it appropriate for the genre. My only issue with Amma was that she was really mysterious for almost the whole novel. Though it was intentionally done, it was a bit difficult to sympathise with her when she started to feel guilty and sad because there was no context provided to the reader to connect with her. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the plot twist towards the end, but I absolutely LOVED the ending and have high hopes for the sequel!
needs a serious edit and my brain just can't look past all the commas. also super slow and just not my vibe
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
✨”Amma, please, grant me a little more respect than that. I might be slightly intrigued, but I am not worried. Not about anyone. Ever.”
“Well, thank you for, I guess, re-abducting me today, Damien.”✨
A quirky, tongue-in-cheek adventure that had me cackling and smirking my way through! I ended up listening to the audiobook more than physically reading because the snarky dialogue is where this book really shined. Definitely more “Romcom” than “Romantasy”, this was a fun read with low stakes and high humor (just with some clunky world building and unclear plot at times).
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
I didn't really enjoy this? It's got rave reviews but I found the satire of it to be odd. I think I'm not much of a comedy reader. I skimmed over portions of this book but tried to keep to reading the dialogue. Eventually I did get invested enough to keep reading at least. I think I'll look into when the series gets better and try picking up the 2nd book but for now not a fan.