demetria_books01's reviews
269 reviews

Hunt on Dark Waters by Katee Robert

adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

3.5

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

3.5

A Very Kraken Christmas by Ashley Bennett

lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

For non-book records, review text and ratings are hidden. Only mood, pace, and content warnings are visible.

Ghosts of the Forbidden by Leanna Renee Hieber

dark emotional mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

‘Ghosts of the forbidden’ would definitely be a 4 star read if not for the dialogues. The plot was interesting although it would need extra 100 pages to properly develop and fully immerse the reader. Nonetheless, I had fun reading this book and I did feel drawn to this story, as well as to the romance (which, just like the plot, needed few pages more to become better) but it did make me feel butterflies and it definitely did make me cheer on Lilliana and Nathaniel. I loved the whole premise of them being some sort of reincarnations of the past lovers and both of them sharing part of their past selves’ souls. I found the romantic bits very cute and I really wanted to spend more time with these two.

I also enjoyed the darker parts of this book and found the whole curse plot very intriguing. Unfortunately, because the book is so short, I feel like the author wanted to create something way bigger than she had time for. The are many things about the curse that were underdeveloped or mysteries that were left unsolved (like why Martha from the start of the book had a heart attack or what exactly was hiding in the old mine).

I think the shining point of this book are the characters. There are quite few of them but somehow the author manages to build their personalities well enough, I could feel for them straight away. Which was surprising because again, the book has only 144 pages! 

Lastly, I want to circle back to what I said about dialogues. As much as I liked the book, the dialogues were awfully dry! They felt unnatural and I’m not sure it’s because the author tried to write them in an old fashioned style of speaking or is it because they were just bad. Because of this, I couldn’t fully immerse myself in many situations in this book because I was focusing so much on how robotic the dialogues were!

Anyway, even though it’s not one of the best books I’ve read this year, it was a fun read and I think if you want to read a short ghost story with romance, you should give this book a chance!

Killing Jericho by William Hussey

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I must be honest- I don’t read crime novels that often but when I do, there is one thing I expect from their authors: not making it too easy to realise who is the murderer.

And god dammit, William Hussey did not make it easy. On the contrary, I had absolutely no clue who was going to be revealed as the bad guy right until the very end. Hell, I was just as confused as our main character Scott Jericho! The case he was working on seemed to be incredibly theatrical and like in a gothic novel. Other things that were happening to him were just too perfectly timed to be accidents. Still, knowing all that I had no idea who could be responsible for the murders, so just like Scott I was suspicious of every single person in Scott’s life. 

This book was just a pleasure to read, right from the start. The characters were all interesting, even if some played a part of a racist child killers or annoying paparazzi. Scott himself was such a complex character, definitely morally grey but oh how lovable and impossible to hate. Once again, William Hussey has taken his time to talk about mental health of his characters and the impact things in their life have on their behavior and way of thinking. I love how real William Hussey characters are, how they’re never just caricatures and how most of them have their good and bad moments (except racists, I approve beating them into a pulp)!

The ending blew my mind! I did not expect this rollercoaster of emotional confusion I was served! I also absolutely adore the fact that in this book some people do not get happy endings and holy duck I love the fact that William Hussey understands that some people do not deserve it. Don’t worry though, justice is served just… in a very different way than you’d expect. Nonetheless, this book was amazing and the only reason I’m giving it half a star less is because of the complete mind quack I had in the first 30% of it. Although I probably should get used to this style of writing because I adore the way William Hussey writes his books and I will definitely read anything he writes!

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy, Sierra Simone

funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

2.5

BEWARE, THIS IS GONNA BE MORE OF A RANT THAN A REVIEW. SPOILERS!!!!!
Also: I will use a lot of curse words so if you're bothered by it, don't read this.

Right, let me start by saying I enjoyed this book, I really did. It was long but I had quite a lot of fun reading this story. The characters were great, the relationships were okay, some dialogues were quite funny... overall it was good. 

Or it would be, if not for the fact that the romance had no leg to stand on. It was supposed to be a meet cute, Christmas romance between a porn star and pop star and I expected it to develop nicely through their time together on the set of Duke the Halls. But it didn't. The relationship between Nolan Shaw aka Nolan Kowalczk (KOWALCZYK KURWA, his surname is spelled wrong! And yes I know that's how Americans of Polish descent write it but it's still wrong) and Bee Hobbs aka Bianca von Honey was purely sexual right from the start all the way till the end and it was clearly based on them being each other's fantasies. Nolan has been Bianca's follower for years, just as Bee has been a massive fan of Nolan's career since she was a teenager. With a base like that, to make a romance between them believable the authors would have to give them time to get to know each other without using their genitalia EVERY SINGLE TIME. We are told they had some cute moments together but we are never shown that! Everything we see as readers is them having sex and shooting some scenes in between. Oh and going to the strip club together because obviously that's a brilliant idea when you're working on a movie made for Christian-holier-than-thou families and you're hiding your identity as a bad boy and a porn star. 

Jesus, this book was so frustrating. I loved the ending but it felt so detached from the rest of the book because there was no reason for their supposed love for each other because AGAIN, we haven't seen them going on cute dates and all that, we've only seen them FUCKING! 
Speaking of which: there was a scene in this book that really pissed me off. Imagine this: Bee is wearing a wedding dress and thinking about how it would be nice to wear something like this during an actual wedding and how she never thought she could have that because of her profession. Nolan bursts into the church and you'd thing he'll be romantic and tell her how beautiful she looks like and give her a kiss and we'll get this amazing cute scene between them... NOPE. He tells her to get down on her knees and proceeds to fuck her. At the altar. How freaking romantic.

Also, throughout the book he expresses numerous times that the only way they could be together is for her to be his secret girlfriend. When later on shit blows up in their faces because of course it does, he not only firstly denies he knew about her career but then proceeds to again ask her to be his dirty little secret and to convince her he says he loves her. Fortunately she refuses but still.
 I've been there, I had been someones dirty secret for 2 years and trust me when I say this: men who do that are nothing but pieces of crap. I don't care that Nolan decided to later be honest on cameras and admit he knew about everything and all that. He knew from the start who she was! She was literally the reason he had a permanent erection and the only way he could get rid of it, so for him to play the victim is just unacceptable. And yes, I know he had a sick mum and all that but if he knew being with Bee would jeopardise his whole career, he should have at least been honest with himself about what he would do in case of their lies coming out. Don't get me wrong, Bee was also guilty for lying to herself and seeing Nolan more as a fantasy coming true than a human being.

Also, I'm very sorry but I just cannot support this 'porn is female empowerment' movement. I understand some of you may believe this but I just can't. I understand some women may find it empowering to do OF or porn but let's not pretend this industry is not built on objectification of women. 

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.5

Rescue Below Zero by Ian Mackersey
Did not finish book. Stopped at 36%.

DNF at 36%

I don't know why but I really struggled to get through that 36%. I had trouble understanding what the author was talking about waaaay too many times and because of this I really struggled to get into this book. I'm really disappointed because I had high hopes for this book since I found the topic so interesting.

I don't know, maybe it's just me.

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0