ashley_a_reads's reviews
2419 reviews

The Unbound Witch by Miranda Lyn

adventurous emotional tense 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? No

4.0

This one was a little more scattered than the first IMO. I had a great time though.

I really could have done without Kirsi’s POVs though they didn’t really engage me and I think we could have still gotten to the end of the story well enough without them. 

We added a lot of new characters in the book overall, almost too many to really get close to. Still completely worth the read though.

The Unmarked Witch by Miranda Lyn

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow. I went into this not expecting for this to be as rich and wonderful as it was. I love me a bad guy who shows us how he’s bad and how he’s not. I love the world here, it was interesting  and fresh while also not trying to reinvent the wheel. I love the trials in this story. Just everything. I loved this.

If You Want Me by Helena Hunting

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

If You Hate Me by Helena Hunting

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.5

I devoured this book. I loved how the characters relationship evolved. It was, in my opinion, perfectly balanced between spicy scenes and regular scenes. It’s not just vanilla either, and I felt like it felt natural. I wish we got a little more of a wrap up of the outside of their relationship stuff, but I get that this book wasn’t really about that. 

One thing that did annoy me a little was how the FMC kind of expected him to take all the blame for their issues as a couple, which he definitely did worse stuff, but she still had a hand in it. She’s mad that he didn’t communicate, but then again, neither did she. 

But overall, I loved this book. I highly recommend it if you want to try sports romance but like spicier book. Actually I just recommend this book. 

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was so good. It had great balance and was truly just the most enjoyable time.

Tethered by Elayna R. Gallea

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.75

This story was mainly about the two main characters, I guess. There was kind of a plot beyond them, but not much moved in that way. I get that this is the start of a series, but I don’t even feel like the “problem” was set up. We spent the majority of the time just sitting with the MCs and we didn’t learn all that much. 

I felt like this story was mostly telling us things. We didn’t get to really see how their relationship was forming or how the characters really developed. Just telling us “well this happened” “they felt this thing” I wasn’t super connected to anything. 

I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll read on in this series, but will try something else by this author.

City of Gods and Monsters by Kayla Edwards

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Where to start? This book should have been 300 pages shorter, at least. It needed an unbelievably deep edit. The story jumped around so much and there were glaring holes, and mistakes. 

The first 40% of the book wasn’t as bad with this stuff but it’s like editing got boring or something because the last 60% was repetitive and the storylines/timelines/ plot points got so messed up.

The world could have been super interesting but literally nothing was explained. It’s like we were just supposed to know what this world was. The structure made no sense. Absolutely nothing was explained. 

This story was also a lot of tell and not show. It got so frustrating. I was so confused by everything happening in the last 100 pages. 

It has so much potential and it was just squandered.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

challenging dark emotional tense 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

3.0

I loved the story of this book. The characters were amazing and the storyline was strong. The characters were a refreshing take and they felt believable and fully realized to me. The relationships were well built and grew, once again, in a believable manner. 

The plot was so nice, I loved what was unfolding, if not the vehicle being used. I deeply felt the emotions of the character and the things happening to them, but the flow of the story was difficult for me.

For me personally the writing style was a little disjointed and felt a little all over the place. It made it hard for me to follow what was happening. It felt like we were jumping from plot point to plot point randomly with little to no build up. 

The “magic” system was interesting, and very reminiscent of Pacific Rim. But the rules of it were hard to follow and seemed to rewrite themselves at times. 

I was overall really intrigued by this book and interested but the writing style did keep pulling me out of it. I’m interested in reading on, but not dying to. 

Just Don't Fall by Emma St. Clair

emotional lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.75

This was a very light, cute, heartfelt story. Very little plot/ friction. I just enjoyed the ride. 

There are a couple of tropes in this story I am not a huge fan of 1) virgin 2) miscommunication. The main characters never really fought or anything, but their lack of actually talking to each other caused confusion. Also since this book is no spice they took virgin to the extreme and made it so she’d never been kissed. 

It was a super cute wholesome way to spend the evening. Outside of my norm, but I had a great time. I smiled a lot while reading it.

Throttled by Lauren Asher

emotional funny tense 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

4.0