betterthanhamlet's reviews
641 reviews

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Silver Blood by Talli L. Morgan

dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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

4.5

Everything I love about vampires while feeling fresh and new at the same time. Loved the romance. 

Sensitive portrayal of a man with a difficult youth and a difficult (to put it mildly) family while still imbuing the protagonist with a strong sense of agency. The

love interest/main supporting character is the perfect vampire in many ways, and Morgan makes him feel ancient without saying so all the time. His speech patterns, his emotions, the way he reacts to things, all of them evidence a long time lived on this Earth and he was a joy to read. 

They did fall in love relatively quickly but it didn't feel like insta-love to me; there was a real sense of shared interests, appreciation for each other's personalities, and physical attraction to round it out.

Mostly though, Morgan gave me every vampire trope I love wrapped up into something new and I will read every book in the series.

Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-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? Yes

4.5

Delightful characters, really fun world, and heartwarming themes. Also very funny, as I've come to expect from Rowland. I always love reading their work - the voice just works for me. 

Witch King by Martha Wells

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian

5.0

It's Only a Scandal if You're Caught by Merry Farmer

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.0

4 stars for the fun plot, which I enjoyed. A star off for the terribly inconsistent characterization, and another star off for the main relationship being so close to being fun and good, and then falling into unfortunately shallow and one-dimensional waters. Glimmers of goodness, but I don't think I'd try another from this author.

In Perpetuity by Johannes T. Evans

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Really pretty study of two very well-done characters. I love this aspect of vampires and exploring how it would play out. Great read!

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Oh man I LOVED THIS. The characters were so captivating, the relationships were messy and real, and the plot was super interesting. I really liked the lore of this universe, and the way the magic worked. I even enjoyed the villain's pov chapters. I just watched the recent Nosferatu movie as well and the idea that evil is real and can be personified is such a theme lately. Usually I go more for "people are complicated and do good and bad things"- but this folklore vibe with very scary moments is just perfect for me right now. And I personally loved the love story. For me, it built in a bittersweet and lovely way, and it delighted my heart. The main thesis - that we can hope and heal after great tragedy - is so beautiful. This book was just a bundle of several elements that really worked for me. Great world, great characters, super compelling.

Fine Print Volume 2 by Stjepan Šejić

5.0