analenegrace's reviews
475 reviews

The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava

funny hopeful lighthearted tense 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

3.75

This was such a cute debut, and I will absolutely be reading Nava's future books! There are so many communities under-represented in Romance and publishing at large, so reading a native American romance was fantastic! 

Some of the writing of this book felt a bit YA, although the smut made it an Adult romance. I think this amount of lying isn't for me, although I appreciated how Ember dealt with the consequences of her actions. I think her story is super important, and it accurately represents how much racism and anti-indigenous sentiment there is in the business world. 

The romance was quite cute, and I liked how they dealt with their problems. 

Cute but needed some extra editing. Fully first-person POV romance just isn't my favorite, which I think also impacted my rating. 

I'll Be Gone for Christmas by Georgia K. Boone

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Thanks so much to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an e-ARC of this book! I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did, but it was absolutely fantastic!

Bee and Clover were both wonderfully written and fleshed out, even though they only had half the screen time each, as the book alternated between them. I adored the different ways they approached the world and their new environments. The Holiday-inspired books are always great, but this one captured the beauty of the holidays in two places I've never been and made me love them just like the characters did. 

The side characters made this book for me because they were so lovely and opened their lives to Bee and Clover, respectively. Jimmy was such a fantastic father figure, and I loved how he interacted with Bee and how much he adored Clover. 

The romances here were fairly fast-paced since the book was as well, yet I believed them whole-heartedly! 

This book made me tear up and laugh so many times! I just loved it so much!! Go buy this one!!!

Mistakes We Never Made by Hannah Brown

emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I was really intrigued to read a romance novel written by a former Bachelorette. While this wasn't the best thing I've ever read, it made a pretty good audiobook and was generally well-written. 

This was a fairly short audiobook, but it felt so much longer because of the slow pace. The book's plot takes place over a weekend, with flashbacks, and so many moments just felt dragged out to make this book its length. While academic rivals/friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes here, I think the continued miscommunications got in the way of me fullying enjoying it. 

Emma, our MC, was just so oblivious to how down bad Finn was and it was KILLING ME! Since the plot is slow, she just seemed a little too much for me; she also had serious anger issues that kept getting called her being controlling when she was just SO angry. She never got into therapy and I wanted that so bad. 

There were some very cute moments between the two MCs and I thought the smut was well-written. I think this book was a fairly generic romance novel, and I honestly just wanted more! 

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Read for the October meeting of the Guild Fantasy Book Club at Blue Cypress Books in New Orleans, LA

This was an absolute surprise of an amazing book! It's especially perfect for the Haunted House month of book club! I've read some of Harrow's novellas, and while they were fun, they were nothing like this! The writing style of this book made it easy to dive into while still being super intriguing and mysterious. 

I really appreciated Opal and Arthur as MCs, and I thought the way they interacted, talked, and thought about each other was one of the best parts of this book! They were both written so compellingly that you couldn't help but root for them. The side characters of this book were also impressive, especially Opal's brother Jasper, who pushed the story along in so many important moments! 

The plot of this book was engaging, and I really enjoyed the footnotes and fake Wikipedia page/bibliography. The idea

that Opal and Arthur may have written the book

was a fun surprise at the end! Magic houses can be an overdone trope, but Harrow approached it with such a unique flair, throwing in the problems, beauty, and folklore of Appalachian culture. 

I can't wait to discuss this one! 

In the Shadow of the Ship by Aliette de Bodard

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-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

4.0

This was a super interesting novella and my first foray into this universe, which may not have been the right choice. I was super engaged by the writing style so I will be jumping into de Bodard's other work for sure! 

Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas

adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

4.75

AIDEN THOMAS I LOVE YOU I WORSHIP AT THE FEET OF YOUR WORK!

ok now a more normal review:
This was one of my most anticipated of 2024 and it did not disappoint! The first book was so good and this was the perfect follow up/conclusion!

Teo is such a wonderful MC and this book deals with gender so beautifully in that in this one both of our MCs are trans and even when one

briefly turns evil

their pronouns and experiences are respected across society. Kids need content without transphobia, homophobia, misogyny and other isms and I think this is such a great one for kids/teens of today! It’s also perfect for adults who loved PJO, The Hunger Games and others like that!

The fantasy plot wraps up so well and it made so sense which doesn’t always happen in YA Fantasy. I really appreciated the way Thomas dealt with how the  Dioses had interacted with the humans and their children. It deals a lot with power, control, vengeance, family, and love and handles them all in a way that’s just so lovely and great for adults and kids alike!

Thomas is truly a one of a kind author whose books always make my most anticipated! 

Sunsets and Other Dangerous Things by Dani Frank

funny tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Thanks so much to Dani Frank for an e-arc of this book! 

This was a reasonably sweet sapphic vampire romance that hit a lot of fun tropes, but for much of the book, it was pretty slice-of-life-like. The middle part of this book stretched out quite a bit as our MCs got to know each other, and while it was enjoyable, it felt like some editing could have done it some good! 

The romance was charming, and as someone with an MLIS who loves vampires, this felt very much like it was made for me! The plot didn't pick up until the last 75 pages, which was late since this was almost 400 pages, but when it did, I was very intrigued and thought the idea of a vampire cure was super interesting since it is usually the other way around.  

One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin
Did not finish book. Stopped at 6%.

it wasn’t the book, it was me and my brain, will return 

Karaoke Queen by Dominic Lim

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Thanks so much to Forever and NetGalley for an E-arc of this book!

This was a super fun and sweet that looked at drag culture, karaoke culture, and Filipino culture and food! Our main character, Rex, was a great narrator and being in his head made the plot of the book make a lot of sense. Paolo was the perfect love interest for the story, and I really liked seeing his entry into drag alongside the more experienced drag queens in the story!

Initially, I wasn’t sure if I like the “love triangle” between his college ex-boyfriend and the KJ, but it becomes very obvious where the story is going very quickly and doesn’t fall into any of the usual love triangle tropes that I don’t like!

This book is super short, which made for a quick read during a hurricane no less! I highly recommend this one and I hope everybody checks it out when it comes out next week!

Spells to Forget Us by Aislinn Brophy

adventurous funny hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Thanks so much to the publisher and netgalley for this e-arc!

This was such a fun YA sapphic romance with an interesting look at magic, magical societies, and influencer parents. Aiofe and Luna's relationships went in loops I wasn't expecting, and when it happened for the third time, I have to admit I laughed out loud because I wasn't expecting as many loops. 

They were both a bit of tortured souls who had to learn to stand up for themselves as they constantly stood up for each other. Their dynamic was delightful, and I thought the ways they kept protecting each other were very romantic. Family is the most significant theme of this story, as they both have to make choices that their family might not understand for the sake of themselves. 

The side characters here were especially fun as they could remember all that Luna and Aiofe couldn't and would get so exasperated, especially during the third and fourth loops between them. 

I wish this had been a little longer and had maybe a bit more on these characters' self-improvement, but I think this is a great YA for kids of today!