crispycritter's reviews
403 reviews

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was published when I was deep in my litfic douchebag phase (I was trying to impress boys). Stoked to have been living under a rock until now and to discover Kate Daniels in the year of our lord 2025. What a delightful trip down memory lane. Big Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes sans Joss Whedon. And Curran? Be still my heart. Anywho I'm almost through the entire Immortals After Dark series so it was high time I discovered another early 2000s urban fantasy with one thousand backlist books to devour.

Love and Other Conspiracies by Mallory Marlowe
Did not finish book. Stopped at 31%.

First DNF of the year! An interesting premise. I gave it my standard fair shake by holding on until the 30% mark, but unfortunately, there was nothing to grab me beyond the quirky back cover copy. Why this didn't work for me is a tale as old as time: Hallie, our FMC, spends a lot of time explaining to the reader how physically attractive she finds Hayden aaaaaand . . . that's it. No emoting. No yearning. I'm becoming a lot pickier about contemporary romance, and unfortunately these days I just need a bit more than "boy who is hot and nicer than my ex" to keep my interest. An attempt was made to include some banter but it was mostly Hayden: here is a fact about a cryptid, Hallie: lol bigfoot isn't real.

Something that really hampered Hayden's character development IMO was that Hallie kept saying she "didn't understand Hayden." That's . . . fine. And part of many normal human interactions with new acquaintances. But when it was written in only Hallie's first person POV - it's also hard as the reader to understand Hayden. And to understand why Hallie feels such intense emotions about someone she admittedly doesn't know and doesn't understand.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted slow-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

4.25

Stylistically, this book reads like THE blueprint for rom-coms - punchy, quippy, spicy, funny. Talia Hibbert has such a strong voice. Frustratingly - the middle dragged on a bit and it began to feel like a slog to get through. If I didn't have the ebook version, which made it easy for me to pick up on nights I couldn't fall asleep, I might have considered DNFing it. Fortunately, the last 60 pages or so really picked up.

Red and Chloe were beautiful, well-rounded characters. Their emotional development together and as individuals was *chef's kiss*. Hibbert's chronic illness rep and discussions of class and racism I thought were so well done. And the third-act

breakup was handled in a way that made it feel earned and appropriately frustrating as a reader. I love some well-done conflict!

Princess by Claire Kent

2.25

This book is set in a post-apocalyptic hellscape where most of the world's population has died and the folks that remain must battle daily against illness, injury, disease, and fending off violent roving gangs. It's an absolutely brutal existence where only the fittest survive. My favorite part of this book happens when our heroes are on a warpath to take back their bunker from a band of hostiles who've already murdered a bunch of their friends. One dude (not the love interest) tells the female main character that she's, like, really really pretty. Everyone in their group totally thinks so. And she doesn't even know it! This is vital information to communicate to the reader.

Second favorite moment communicates another similar yet critical piece of information. The set up: couple is about to have a baby, a very dangerous proposition in said post-apocalyptic Earth. The woman might very well die during childbirth given the lack of medical supplies and trained medical professionals. The couple takes a moment, in the midst of much handwringing about their future, to tell the female main character that she's, like, really really pretty and of course the male main character is into her, how could he not be? He looks at her all the time. She's so modest, she doesn't even know how pretty she is or how he looks at her.

Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris
Did not finish book. Stopped at 65%.

This book has a super interesting premise but fell flat for me. 

As cool as it sounded to read about the children of Mina and Johnathan Harker, Moriarty, and Van Helsing running around bell epoch Paris solving fantastical crime - I’m not certain their parentage actually mattered. It just made for a cool hook. 

The world building was almost nonexistent as was the character work. Super sad this didn’t work for me. 

Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby
Did not finish book. Stopped at 10%.

The little I read was hilarious, but I have to be in the right mood for essays. 

Quicksilver by Callie Hart
Did not finish book. Stopped at 4%.

Marked safe from another booktok darling. I tire of these romantasy copy pastas. 

All My Love by Morgan Elizabeth
Did not finish book. Stopped at 1%.

I feel like I’m shifting out of my indie KU romance phase - or at least getting much pickier - and it makes me a little sad. The writing is not for me.

Io: The Shrew by S.M. LaViolette, Minerva Spencer
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.

The book starts off with a bang - literally the two main characters banging - then backtracks. I spent over 100 pages waiting for the enemies-AND-lovers part to start, but felt like the author was disingenuously adding as much page time as she could to get those additional KU page flips. LaViolette/Spencer needed a better explanation for inclusion of the cartoonishly evil fiancé - particuarly since it was tearing apart the family Zeus just found and clearly wanted to have a relationship with. Down with cheap plot devices to manufacture conflict.

A Scot in the Dark by Sarah MacLean

2.0

DNF at 95% - wow. This took a turn. 

A lot of this just didn’t work for me. I’m hoping most of it is just this book (aka Alec) as opposed to MacLean. What didn’t work:

• Incredibly repetitive conversations. The main characters had the same argument far too many times. 
• The goalposts kept flip flopping on how to resolve the primary conflict in ways that felt very frustrating and a waste of time. I felt like Michael Scott describing his series of vasectomies and vasectomy reversals. 
• Alec talking a big game to the bad guy ad nauseum. No follow through for 95% of the book. 
• Alec’s secret past shame needed some sort of good faith foreshadowing earlier. We get zero explanation other than this dude is SO BIG and SO HOT women LUST FOR HIM but ONLY FOR ONE NIGHT and NEVER FOR FOREVER. Alec big sad. This may have been a problem in ye olde England but it doesn’t feel like a “real” problem to a modern reader. Also brotato is a MFin Duke. 
• Maybe don’t make the other marriageable dude so much more likable, emotionally available, and kinder than our “hero”? Yeesh. Marry this dude, lady. 

I didn’t think I would be rating this less than 3 stars but alas.