Scan barcode
anthonybanthony's reviews
499 reviews
Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter
1.5
Rating: D
Not since Frozen 2 or season 4 of The Dragon Prince have I seen a delightful romance so thoroughly butchered. Everything from the writing to the characters to the romance screams 'rushed-out cash-in'. Liz and Wes are both destroyed as individual characters, and their relationship is grounded into hamburger meat. Wes loses all his maturity and goes to unacceptable lengths to push Liz away, and then to get her back once the story proper begins. The mental health aspect, so wonderfully done in BTTM and Betting on You, is slap-dash and barely impacts the story. Wes goes from despair to cocky and self-assured between heartbeats. Liz also loses the emotional maturity she attained in BTTM and just feels like a 14 year old coming to grips with her first love. She's annoying and unsure of herself, which was fine in BTTM because she had to overcome those flaws. NLTM constantly goes on about how she's all grown up and no longer Little Liz, but it feels like she's regressed prior to where she was at the start of the prior entry. The writing is also terrible and leaves me convinced this was written within a small window of time to capitalize on BTTM being a success. Scenes have odd transitions, it's difficult to keep track of all the side characters, the first half is full of random bits of exposition that never come up again, and the secondary characters are massive jerks who don't respect Liz or Wes's boundaries. Another thing, it just wasn't fun or charming in the slightest. It's a dour, badly written, badly plotted, confusing mess that made me appreciate how well written and mature BTTM was in comparison.
Not since Frozen 2 or season 4 of The Dragon Prince have I seen a delightful romance so thoroughly butchered. Everything from the writing to the characters to the romance screams 'rushed-out cash-in'. Liz and Wes are both destroyed as individual characters, and their relationship is grounded into hamburger meat. Wes loses all his maturity and goes to unacceptable lengths to push Liz away, and then to get her back once the story proper begins. The mental health aspect, so wonderfully done in BTTM and Betting on You, is slap-dash and barely impacts the story. Wes goes from despair to cocky and self-assured between heartbeats. Liz also loses the emotional maturity she attained in BTTM and just feels like a 14 year old coming to grips with her first love. She's annoying and unsure of herself, which was fine in BTTM because she had to overcome those flaws. NLTM constantly goes on about how she's all grown up and no longer Little Liz, but it feels like she's regressed prior to where she was at the start of the prior entry. The writing is also terrible and leaves me convinced this was written within a small window of time to capitalize on BTTM being a success. Scenes have odd transitions, it's difficult to keep track of all the side characters, the first half is full of random bits of exposition that never come up again, and the secondary characters are massive jerks who don't respect Liz or Wes's boundaries. Another thing, it just wasn't fun or charming in the slightest. It's a dour, badly written, badly plotted, confusing mess that made me appreciate how well written and mature BTTM was in comparison.
A Reign of Rose by Kate Golden
3.0
Rating: B-
Part 1 and 2 = Yeeeessss
Part 3 = Ehhh
The good parts of Part 4 = Yesss
The final battle was great. Dagan's death and Arewen transforming into a dragon to take out Lazarus were awesome.
The bad parts of Part 4 = Noooooo
Them not sensing Lazarus coming during the wedding is pretty bad judgement on Kane and Arwen's part since they're packing everyone together when they know he's coming for them. An easy solution would be to have a private ceremony with all the main/secondary characters and then having the final fight take place as described. Briar's death didn't land nearly as hard as Dagan's. They try to tie it into Arwen's mother dying, but she wasn't nearly as significant in the story and characters' overall development. Why the heck do they introduce and then drop the 'we can't kill Lazarus because his death will drown the Fae realm in darkness' plot?
Some really excellent action and visuals. The romance between Kane and Arwen is great, but what is up with all the unsatisfying resolutions and lingering plot threads? It's really not in the 'and the adventure continues' kind of way. I expect that in these types of stories.The Fae realm is supposed to collapse into darkness upon Lazarus's death, and yet the characters barely mention what's going on there in the epilogue. Despite that magic spell being a major reason why they were afraid to kill Lazarus in the first place. They also wrap up all the political drama in a few paragraphs and all the other stuff that was introduced in Promise of Peridot. The Griffin and Mari drama really got on my nerves, and it's still not resolved! Even after the aging conundrum is patched up! It was like the bizzaro universe version of Oscar and Ruby from the Renegades trilogy. I think she caught on the Frederik plotline was dumb and only addressed it in the most vestigial manner possible. It felt like there could've been at least half a book's worth of stuff to properly wrap things up.
Part 1 and 2 = Yeeeessss
Part 3 = Ehhh
The good parts of Part 4 = Yesss
The bad parts of Part 4 = Noooooo
Some really excellent action and visuals. The romance between Kane and Arwen is great, but what is up with all the unsatisfying resolutions and lingering plot threads? It's really not in the 'and the adventure continues' kind of way. I expect that in these types of stories.
Cataclysm by Lydia Kang
1.0
Rating: F
When I read books on my Kindle, I like to highlight lines or sections I find well written/impactful/cathartic/funny/clever/emotional/etc. My favorite books are full of highlighted lines. This was the opposite of that experience.
When I read books on my Kindle, I like to highlight lines or sections I find well written/impactful/cathartic/funny/clever/emotional/etc. My favorite books are full of highlighted lines. This was the opposite of that experience.
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
3.25
Rating: B
Objectively, I think this is Hazelwood's best work, although a lot of the humor prevents me from giving it a higher rating.
Objectively, I think this is Hazelwood's best work, although a lot of the humor prevents me from giving it a higher rating.