You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
aspineline's Reviews (413)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I had no frame of reference for this since I’ve never seen the movie and haven’t read the book before. It’s a classic for a reason and it lives up to the hype. It took me awhile to get into a flow with the writing style, but once I did I couldn’t stop. The prose is so elegant and romantic. Modern romance writers should take note—you do not need smut and explicit scenes to have swoon worthy romance. This was a proper slow burn that had my heart clenching and made me laugh out loud at times. I am officially an Austen girlie.
For non-book records, review text and ratings are hidden. Only mood, pace, and content warnings are visible.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My mother-in-law gave me this book in the wake of the 2024 election as a reminder that anyone can make a difference. Needless to say, reading this was both inspirational and gut wrenching. The stories of so many women and POC in this book were hard to stomach, especially given the current climate in the US with the Trump 🤮 administration rolling back policies related to DEI, trans rights, education, etc. McMahon has a wonderful message and a very soothing and pleasant narrating style for her audiobook. A few of the stories felt repetitive, and I would have appreciated a few more chapters for groups that weren’t included (etc LGBTQ, indigenous people), but a great read/listen overall.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I—-wow. I can’t believe this is Kliewer’s first book. The suspense, the unsettling feeling I got while reading it…so well done. This did read more as a horror novel than a thriller to me (so hopefully I can sleep tonight). It also threw a lot of things at the wall, and was a bit hard to follow at times, but I love a psychological read with an unreliable (or not?) narrator. If you want a book that will creep you out that you can read in one sitting, look no further.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is such a fun, immersive book. I liked so much about this story—how it transports you to a Frozen-adjacent magical world, the banter and mutual pining (!!!), the subtle humor—I adored it! The writing is so atmospheric, it reminded me of Ava Reid (this is high praise). It did feel a bit slow at parts and I had to look up a lot of words (the prose was a bit overdone) but overall a great fantasy read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Prepare to be sick of me talking about this one 🥵 This is my favorite Ali Hazelwood so far. Incredibly steamy while also managing to create a deep emotional connection between Lukas and Scarlett. He falls first? Collegiate athlete who is premed and speaks Swedish? Angsty pining and feet kicking declarations of feelings?? What more could you ask for!!?!!? And I always love the easter eggs from her other books 🥰
Also I will die on the hill that Lukas is Bill Skarsgard
Also I will die on the hill that Lukas is Bill Skarsgard
⭐️⭐️⭐️✨I’m…not sure how to feel about this?? Jackson is an excellent writer and she definitely made me feel some *things* about these characters (read: they were all awful humans). But I feel like there’s only a plot when you squint?? And it ended so abruptly with a very hard-to-believe shift in the characters. I know this is Jackson’s first novel so I’m eager to see what she does with the next one. A quick, if a bit purpose-lacking, read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Alright. Buckle up because I have a lot of *thoughts* here. I think this is such a good concept for a series. The overarching story is very compelling. Xaden is hot and one of my favorite tropes is a morally grey shadow daddy who will burn the world for the girl he loves. But these books are not well executed, and unfortunately a few mid spicy scenes and some dragons is not enough to make this series great. I have SO MANY gripes with this book. Here we go—-
-I’ve felt this since Fourth Wing and it felt even more true in Onyx Storm—-There are WAY TOO MANY characters, dragons, and places CONSTANTLY named dropped, especially when so many of them add NOTHING TO THE STORY. I do not mind a book with tons of characters to add layers, depth, and world building (see Throne of Glass). That’s excellent! But this is not that! This is characters just to have characters. Random names are thrown out constantly with no references to who they are or past actions. Who the fuck are these people!!? And why do we care? All the sudden someone named ‘Felix’ is here, with no context to who he is or what he did in a previous book. Even the slightest reference would be so helpful. But because there are so many people thrown out there when tragedy happened to some of them like Aura or Tavis I did not bat an eye, because I did not feel connected to them at all!! And that’s in addition to all the random new characters that are introduced in Onyx Storm. I will leave you with this…Lewellen is a city AND a person? What?????? Why!!?
-I do not care for Yarros’ writing style. I understand writing is subjective and that’s just my opinion, but I find her writing so confusing and stunted. Almost to the point of being unnatural (which sad to say doesn’t help her case re: the AI allegations). I find myself reading sentences multiple times because the syntax is unclear or I have no idea who certain pronouns are referencing. And so much of the book is dialogue between the millions of characters. The best parts of this book are when Yarros actually takes time to SHOW us the world and describe what is happening, not just listing conversation after repetitive conversation. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen frequently enough.
-This series does not need to be 5 books, each with 500+ pages. So much of Onyx Storm was very similar (especially in ending) to Iron Flame. It feels a bit like Yarros didn’t have things planned out in advanced, so now in order to fill 5 books she’s throwing in things that feel like cheap conveniences (e.g. the ‘first love’ plot with Halden). It’s just sloppy and seems to me like she doesn’t have a clear direction. I know they extended the series to 5 books to make money, but it’s at the expense of the quality of the books.
-I find the magic system confusing to follow and poorly developed. This might be because similar to people’s names Yarros loves to just throw out sentences about the magical system without explaining to the reader. So now venin have signets? How? And shouldn’t Jack Barlowe be completely turned by now? How long does the serum work? How is Xaden able to hold off on turning so long?
-The plot reminded me of House of Flame and Shadow (and that is not a good thing lmao). The whole plot of Onyx Storm felt uncoordinated and chaotic. There was very little build up or tension. The story moved from one action sequence after the next. It made it hard to care, especially when I couldn’t always follow where we were/who was there/why we were doing something.
-Why is there not a map when HALF OF THE BOOK takes place on isles that we haven’t yet seen?
-Unnecessary swearing. I don’t mind swearing especially if you’re making a point, but all the swearing in Violet’s head is soooo cringe. ‘Holy. Fucking. Nausea’. Ugh. It’s so juvenile.
-Theophanie. Why?? Just give them normal names!!!!!
-This issue might be my fault because I did fall down a bit of a rabbit hole on social media with fan theories about Violet’s second signet. But after all the hype her second signet is….going into other people’s dreams? What a letdown.
-It felt sloppy to add in POVs from Rhi and Imogen at the end, especially when both were hardly in the book. I understand she wanted the reader to be able to see what happened in places other than Violet’s location, but was there really no other way to do this?
I will not abandon this series because that was a great twist at the end and I love a memory loss trope. And, like I’ve said, the premise for this series is so so cool. It says a lot that I’m still giving Onyx Storm three stars even after the above problems. But I’m sorry to say, this series does not deserve the hype it gets. I hope Yarros takes more time for book 4 so it’s not such a mess. 🐉 ✌🏻 end rant !
-I’ve felt this since Fourth Wing and it felt even more true in Onyx Storm—-There are WAY TOO MANY characters, dragons, and places CONSTANTLY named dropped, especially when so many of them add NOTHING TO THE STORY. I do not mind a book with tons of characters to add layers, depth, and world building (see Throne of Glass). That’s excellent! But this is not that! This is characters just to have characters. Random names are thrown out constantly with no references to who they are or past actions. Who the fuck are these people!!? And why do we care? All the sudden someone named ‘Felix’ is here, with no context to who he is or what he did in a previous book. Even the slightest reference would be so helpful. But because there are so many people thrown out there when tragedy happened to some of them like Aura or Tavis I did not bat an eye, because I did not feel connected to them at all!! And that’s in addition to all the random new characters that are introduced in Onyx Storm. I will leave you with this…Lewellen is a city AND a person? What?????? Why!!?
-I do not care for Yarros’ writing style. I understand writing is subjective and that’s just my opinion, but I find her writing so confusing and stunted. Almost to the point of being unnatural (which sad to say doesn’t help her case re: the AI allegations). I find myself reading sentences multiple times because the syntax is unclear or I have no idea who certain pronouns are referencing. And so much of the book is dialogue between the millions of characters. The best parts of this book are when Yarros actually takes time to SHOW us the world and describe what is happening, not just listing conversation after repetitive conversation. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen frequently enough.
-This series does not need to be 5 books, each with 500+ pages. So much of Onyx Storm was very similar (especially in ending) to Iron Flame. It feels a bit like Yarros didn’t have things planned out in advanced, so now in order to fill 5 books she’s throwing in things that feel like cheap conveniences (e.g. the ‘first love’ plot with Halden). It’s just sloppy and seems to me like she doesn’t have a clear direction. I know they extended the series to 5 books to make money, but it’s at the expense of the quality of the books.
-I find the magic system confusing to follow and poorly developed. This might be because similar to people’s names Yarros loves to just throw out sentences about the magical system without explaining to the reader. So now venin have signets? How? And shouldn’t Jack Barlowe be completely turned by now? How long does the serum work? How is Xaden able to hold off on turning so long?
-The plot reminded me of House of Flame and Shadow (and that is not a good thing lmao). The whole plot of Onyx Storm felt uncoordinated and chaotic. There was very little build up or tension. The story moved from one action sequence after the next. It made it hard to care, especially when I couldn’t always follow where we were/who was there/why we were doing something.
-Why is there not a map when HALF OF THE BOOK takes place on isles that we haven’t yet seen?
-Unnecessary swearing. I don’t mind swearing especially if you’re making a point, but all the swearing in Violet’s head is soooo cringe. ‘Holy. Fucking. Nausea’. Ugh. It’s so juvenile.
-Theophanie. Why?? Just give them normal names!!!!!
-This issue might be my fault because I did fall down a bit of a rabbit hole on social media with fan theories about Violet’s second signet. But after all the hype her second signet is….going into other people’s dreams? What a letdown.
-It felt sloppy to add in POVs from Rhi and Imogen at the end, especially when both were hardly in the book. I understand she wanted the reader to be able to see what happened in places other than Violet’s location, but was there really no other way to do this?
I will not abandon this series because that was a great twist at the end and I love a memory loss trope. And, like I’ve said, the premise for this series is so so cool. It says a lot that I’m still giving Onyx Storm three stars even after the above problems. But I’m sorry to say, this series does not deserve the hype it gets. I hope Yarros takes more time for book 4 so it’s not such a mess. 🐉 ✌🏻 end rant !