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230 reviews
The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton
5.0
I genuinely love these books. This one took a bit longer to get to the action of the story but was overall an amazing book. The killer definitely catches you by surprise. Edward is quickly becoming a favorite character of mine. &as always, I love Jean-Claude but I am forever team Richard (tho, polyamory is always my vote). Great introduction to the lycanthrope community.
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
2.0
I did not enjoy this book. Only reason it isn’t a DNF is because I listened to it while at work& didn’t want to waste the audible credit.
My Main Issues:
1)Shes stupid. She talks about how naive to the world she is but then seems to magically know everything when she needs to. While still doing the wrong thing time and time again. She’s also blind to the relationship situations. Tho, the audience just kind of has that thrown on them too without much showing- just telling...
2) The odd love triangle just doesn’t work. One of them was a grown man she was in love with as a teenager (luckily she left for a few years and came back- so nothing came out of that but they had planned to run away together) and the local alpha who showed 0 interest in the MC until over halfway through the book. It wasn’t even hinted at and then BAM! “He claimed you as his mate and has a photo of you in his bedroom” when in the beginning of the book, it had acted like she hardly ever deals with the werewolf pack and only knows them in passing. The love triangle was forced, didn’t work and really didn’t add anything to the series.
3) Figuring out who was behind everything was super weird. They basically talked themselves in a circle but began and ended with different points& somehow out of all that, they figured out who it was. &When everything was figured out, the motivations for it was stupid and just as contrite and round about as the process for figuring out who it is. Nothing ever hints at the involvement of any of the bad guys- they just randomly decide who it is without any kind of telling information or actions being taken. And then resolving the conflict (getting them untied/cuffed, combatting the drugs, etc;) was way too easy. They went on and on about how strong the chains were and how hard it would be to get them out- but nope, a magic knife makes it to where it took .25 seconds to release everything they spent 20+ minutes talking about how hard it would be to release them from.
4) A whole lot of nothing happened. 70-80% of the book could have been left out and the story wouldn’t have changed at all. Like the meeting with the vampires? Nothing ever comes of that& could have been avoided. The information could have easily been given to them by the fae informant who was an accountant for the vampires but the author attempted to (again) draw it out in a round about way. The scene with the cop pulling up to her and Sam after the vampire meeting- 0 point to it. Doesn’t progress the story at all or add anything, just filler material.
5) So much talk about how big, bad and scary the werewolves are but honestly? They were just boring. It went on and on about how hard they were to kill but then end up killing multiple without issues. It talked about werewolves being allergic to silver but then one of them was being injected with it and he was fine? The hierarchy of having packs with Alphas but still having basically royalty made absolutely no sense.
My Main Issues:
1)Shes stupid. She talks about how naive to the world she is but then seems to magically know everything when she needs to. While still doing the wrong thing time and time again. She’s also blind to the relationship situations. Tho, the audience just kind of has that thrown on them too without much showing- just telling...
2) The odd love triangle just doesn’t work. One of them was a grown man she was in love with as a teenager (luckily she left for a few years and came back- so nothing came out of that but they had planned to run away together) and the local alpha who showed 0 interest in the MC until over halfway through the book. It wasn’t even hinted at and then BAM! “He claimed you as his mate and has a photo of you in his bedroom” when in the beginning of the book, it had acted like she hardly ever deals with the werewolf pack and only knows them in passing. The love triangle was forced, didn’t work and really didn’t add anything to the series.
3) Figuring out who was behind everything was super weird. They basically talked themselves in a circle but began and ended with different points& somehow out of all that, they figured out who it was. &When everything was figured out, the motivations for it was stupid and just as contrite and round about as the process for figuring out who it is. Nothing ever hints at the involvement of any of the bad guys- they just randomly decide who it is without any kind of telling information or actions being taken. And then resolving the conflict (getting them untied/cuffed, combatting the drugs, etc;) was way too easy. They went on and on about how strong the chains were and how hard it would be to get them out- but nope, a magic knife makes it to where it took .25 seconds to release everything they spent 20+ minutes talking about how hard it would be to release them from.
4) A whole lot of nothing happened. 70-80% of the book could have been left out and the story wouldn’t have changed at all. Like the meeting with the vampires? Nothing ever comes of that& could have been avoided. The information could have easily been given to them by the fae informant who was an accountant for the vampires but the author attempted to (again) draw it out in a round about way. The scene with the cop pulling up to her and Sam after the vampire meeting- 0 point to it. Doesn’t progress the story at all or add anything, just filler material.
5) So much talk about how big, bad and scary the werewolves are but honestly? They were just boring. It went on and on about how hard they were to kill but then end up killing multiple without issues. It talked about werewolves being allergic to silver but then one of them was being injected with it and he was fine? The hierarchy of having packs with Alphas but still having basically royalty made absolutely no sense.
Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton
5.0
Loved this book. Allowed for Jean Claude to get a bit better relationship growth with Anita. I loved that she was taken out of St. Louis. The introduction of other mythical creatures and other Masters of the City was great. Though, I will admit, the ending climax was a bit unbelievable- that Anita just gets “lucky” when this other vampire is supposed to be so old and powerful.
Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton
4.0
This is definitely where the books start to go downhill. This book TECHNICALLY is the end of the “Merry fighting for the throne”& feels like the natural conclusion to the story and is where she should have stopped. I noticed many things that don’t make sense or are poorly done.
As mentioned in a previous review, there was no reason for the Taranis issue. It doesn’t wind up going anywhere. The rape of the seelie woman isn’t brought to a conclusion- neither is the rape of Merry. They make such a big deal out of using the human courts but nothing ever happens in relation to the human court system aside from some bad press for Seelies.
Kel was a non existent threat. The first couple books tried to make him a huge threat but both the threat he posed and the actual fight between the two left a lack luster feeling, especially consider that they spent 6 books building up to how scary and bad kel is. They try and bring in all these big bads but at the end of the day, it doesn’t progress the story and the fights have almost no stakes to it. She had already lost frost, so we knew that she wouldn’t lose her other main lover. Kel killing Essus was pretty expected. We had basically narrowed down everyone else- so unless a new foe was being brought in this late in the game, we weren’t left with many options. Overall, I was definitely disappointed with the threat Kel turned out to be.
Finally, Merry turning down the throne... this entire book series has been centered on her fighting to take the throne. I understand why she didn’t. She wanted frost back, blah blah. But it doesn’t make since considering that is the entire series main plot! Get pregnant to take the throne...
Swallowing Darkness was a decent end to the series. A lot of threads were left unfinished but the main plot had overall come to a close. It wasn’t so bad that I would stop reading the series but it definitely wasn’t among my favorites.
As mentioned in a previous review, there was no reason for the Taranis issue. It doesn’t wind up going anywhere. The rape of the seelie woman isn’t brought to a conclusion- neither is the rape of Merry. They make such a big deal out of using the human courts but nothing ever happens in relation to the human court system aside from some bad press for Seelies.
Kel was a non existent threat. The first couple books tried to make him a huge threat but both the threat he posed and the actual fight between the two left a lack luster feeling, especially consider that they spent 6 books building up to how scary and bad kel is. They try and bring in all these big bads but at the end of the day, it doesn’t progress the story and the fights have almost no stakes to it. She had already lost frost, so we knew that she wouldn’t lose her other main lover. Kel killing Essus was pretty expected. We had basically narrowed down everyone else- so unless a new foe was being brought in this late in the game, we weren’t left with many options. Overall, I was definitely disappointed with the threat Kel turned out to be.
Finally, Merry turning down the throne... this entire book series has been centered on her fighting to take the throne. I understand why she didn’t. She wanted frost back, blah blah. But it doesn’t make since considering that is the entire series main plot! Get pregnant to take the throne...
Swallowing Darkness was a decent end to the series. A lot of threads were left unfinished but the main plot had overall come to a close. It wasn’t so bad that I would stop reading the series but it definitely wasn’t among my favorites.
Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K. Hamilton
4.0
This book is actually decent even though this should classify as a stand alone novel... the main story plot finished in the 7th book in my opinion. So, while this had a decent story and it was cool to resolve a plot thread we started in the first book- this book isn’t needed in the series.
A Lick of Frost by Laurell K. Hamilton
4.0
This book was packed full of new adventures.. but sadly, most of it wasn’t needed. Taranis attacking Merry really came out of nowhere. He wasn’t apart of the story at all and suddenly he’s a major player. It just doesn’t make sense. I enjoyed finding out that she is pregnant but the multiple fathers feels like a weird way to let her have her cake and eat it too- so, I basically feel like it was something pulled out of thin air to allow merry to keep all her lovers. Which, I know we all had our favorite but it would have been better, in terms of the story, had they stuck to the idea of “sidhe can only have one partner” that they used repeatedly before this point.
The rape of the seelie woman? Never goes anywhere. Taranis shows his ass, the police say they can’t just drop the charges even though they have witnesses who can vouch that the woman wasn’t raped- that it was an illusion. But they never move forward with it (honestly, I don’t even think it was mentioned again) and they never say “okay, charges are bullshit. It’s dropped”. So they just kinda... forget about it?
I really enjoy the stories but as I go on and think about it- there are lots of holes and things that just don’t jive well or make sense. Like creating a sithen in the mortal world... It just doesn’t make sense. &then for them to not use it- what was the purpose? Other than allowing taranis a way to attack... but he can travel through light, so why can’t he attack without needing to add sithens? Which is another thing that never goes anywhere...
A lot of plot threads are left to just dangle. The author didn’t do a good job of tying all the conflicts together/ending them out in a way that makes sense.
The rape of the seelie woman? Never goes anywhere. Taranis shows his ass, the police say they can’t just drop the charges even though they have witnesses who can vouch that the woman wasn’t raped- that it was an illusion. But they never move forward with it (honestly, I don’t even think it was mentioned again) and they never say “okay, charges are bullshit. It’s dropped”. So they just kinda... forget about it?
I really enjoy the stories but as I go on and think about it- there are lots of holes and things that just don’t jive well or make sense. Like creating a sithen in the mortal world... It just doesn’t make sense. &then for them to not use it- what was the purpose? Other than allowing taranis a way to attack... but he can travel through light, so why can’t he attack without needing to add sithens? Which is another thing that never goes anywhere...
A lot of plot threads are left to just dangle. The author didn’t do a good job of tying all the conflicts together/ending them out in a way that makes sense.
A Shiver of Light by Laurell K. Hamilton
2.0
Absolutely hated this book. As I’ve said on the past two reviews, the story had its natural conclusion in book 7& should have stopped there. I struggled not to add this to my “DNF” list. Even when I only had 30 minutes left on my audible- I still had to talk myself into sticking it out. Absolutely pointless and honestly not worth the read.
Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon
5.0
Acheron, the ever omnipotent leader of the Dark Hunters, has been a character I always gravitated to. He’s by far my favorite character. The historical parts of this book are amazing. Heart wrenching descriptions of torture no one should ever have to endure. Trigger Warning for abuse, drug use and sexual assault for sure. I highly enjoyed this book and have read it multiple times. One of the best in the DH series.
Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon
4.0
Sherrilyn Kenyon is one of my favorite authors. This book is a great read. I loved the body positivity endorsed in this book. &the mysteries are always great. Her characters are so diverse and intertwined that I highly enjoy reading about them throughout each book.
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
5.0
This series has a way of changing how you feel about characters you once thought you knew your feelings for. Each character’s personality is so well written and defined that you can know how each person will react and yet it still is a mystery as to how things will end up. I love seeing the relationship between Feyre and her sisters flourish as they start to find their place in this world. The end was so amazing- I never would have seen half the twist and turns coming. When enemies are friends and friends are enemies- who do you trust? The ending had me at the edge of my seat, surprised at every turn, having my expectations subverted. Truly an amazing series and story.