catlion27's reviews
271 reviews

Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

5.0

Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir

challenging dark

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

4.5

This short novella was really well done. It's told like a fairy tale, with a tongue-in-cheek narrator (and a fabulous job done in audio by Moira Quirk). However, the overall message is not particularly "happy": it has some incisive but depressing things to say about abuse, love, and marriage. If you know what to expect, though, it's a solid read.

We Shall Be Monsters by Alyssa Wees

mysterious slow-paced

3.75

This book had a lot of things that should have made me love it (dark mysterious magical woods, body horror bits, lyrical writing, exploration of motherhood and independence) but I just...didn't. I'm not sure what didn't work for me, but I just wasn't invested and had to pull myself through. This may have been a me thing more than a problem with the book. 

I'll Get Back to You by Becca Grischow

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

This book is not what I was expecting. It is really a mix of a coming-of-age story and a romance, and I think if I had gone in with that in mind, I might have felt differently about it.

I enjoyed the Chicago suburb setting, as it's close to where I grew up and there were just little touches that made me laugh because of that. 

I love a fake dating plot. Love.it. But this one didn't quite do it for me.

Usually in a fake dating plot, the couple is having to perform more intimate relationship stuff for an audience. They're forced into a situation that is fake but then they develop real feelings. The problem with the main cute scene we get in the beginning of the fake dating plot of this book is that it isn'tin front of an audience, it's in private *after* the love interest turns down the main character and says she's not looking for a relationship. I just didn'  have the giddy "they're so cute" feeling, and I think it's because Ellie felt manipulative in that moment. They talk about it later and it makes sense that she's conflicted, but that's the main cute thing we get from them for like 3/4 of the book.

The pacing also felt...odd, for a romance novel.

They have a big fight like halfway through the book, the type of thing that would normally happen 80% through the book after they'd had a really amazing connection, and i just don't feel like they had enough cute time together (theyve known each other for like a day) to make me root for them through their big fight.

 

The book was still enjoyable, but the main character's non-romantic relationships were about equal importance to the romantic one, and that kinda changed the flow of the book and went against my expectations.

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

Not quite as good as the first but still loved it. The descriptions are atmospheric and perfect, and communicate so much detail in a short amount of time. I love that, in the same way as the first, explanations about the world or the character that are incredibly interesting in their own right

(in this case, describing PTSD)

end up being relevant in the climax, which gives a really satisfying sense of fulfillment. 

Loved all the character moments, even the painful ones

like the widow begging for Alex to be killed instead of her son

. I was a little uncertain I was understanding parts of the end, but still liked it. I also liked getting to explore a unique take on

a new-to-me monster

.

The Gulf: A Novel by Rachel Cochran

challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

How to Steal a Galaxy by Beth Revis

adventurous fast-paced

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

5.0

Just so much fun. Revis is excellent at keeping some information hidden so that you soon realize you are being played just like Rian (and enjoying it even more).

Character voice is super strong and the narrator is killing it again 👏 

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

emotional relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.5

Absolutely delightful. The prose is beautiful, the magic world/plot is interesting, the spice is 🔥, and the characters are both layered and fun to watch. Excited to continue the series

except that I saw THAT DICK JACK HAWTHORNE is an MC in the final book and I'm mad! I don't wanna have warm fuzzy feelings for him! But i shall persevere.

The City in Glass by Nghi Vo

slow-paced

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

3.0

I've really enjoyed Nghi Vo's work in the past, but I just didn't click with the one. The main redeeming quality is the prose, which has the beauty you'd expect from Nghi Vo. Otherwise, I had a hard time getting into the book. I didn’t feel super connected to the characters or the world (though this had improved slightly by the end), and the central relationship bothered me.

Vitrin just uses the angel and is cruel the whole time. By the end she says she loves him, but it's possessive and the relationship never becomes one of equals. The angel (who never gets named, by the way) has no agency. He is always asking her for permission to do things, even at the climax where he saves Azrael. Her taking his wings felt particularly cruel, especially without any evolution to that plot. If she'd given him back his wings so that he could save the city and then he chose to stay even though he could then physically leave, that would have felt more satisfying. In the end, the angel is just another object of Vitrin's affection. The whole treatment of the angel was dehumanizing, and as someone else pointed out to me, if the characters were genderswapped there would be rioting about how the angel is treated. Dehumanization of men by women isn't somehow better because it doesn't happen as often as the reverse. On the whole, I was disappointed at the lack of expansion or deeper understanding of their relationship throughout the book.

Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.5

Just so much fun. T. Kingfisher's paladins have my heart.