fatedhearts_lorilee's reviews
216 reviews

Illuminance by Kara Douglas

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

I loved the development of Lunaria’s character arc as she gets to know her new friends and family, and learns more about who she is. 

Naturally, I love the tension that developed between her and Graylen as she figured out how they felt about each other. 

I love a good trial, and it was interesting to see how this one played out! I’ll be very curious to see what happens in the aftermath of the trial. 

Surprise surprise, I also love wyverns, so having them added in was fun! I love the bonding that’s started between the riders and their wyverns, and between one another. 

The ending is definitely interesting. I thought there could be a few different ways for it to go, so with the way it went, I’ll be anxiously awaiting the next book! 

Lunaria by Kara Douglas

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this book! I hadn’t read about it before starting, so I didn’t know what to expect. The book kept me totally engaged the whole time. 

I loved how Lu (Amira) developed such strong relationships as she went along her journey. Opal, Avery, Sarah and Linnick all seemed to really care about her, and played an important role in her feeling some semblance of home, despite her awful father. 

Not to mention the complexity of the love triangle! 

From the beginning, Graylen was way more intriguing than Adrian. Blame it on Adrian’s blonde hair but it was over for him (in my eyes) once we met Graylen 😂  The way that he protected Amira/Lu showed that he was clearly the one who had her back. Adrian sucks and there were hints of it throughout that made me sure he was not going to be a good fit for Lu.

Overall, loved the book and I’m off to read the next one!

The Consulate by Allison Carr Waechter

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Thank you so much to Haus of Fables for giving me the opportunity to read this book in advance! This review is given voluntarily and all thoughts are my own!

I completely loved this book!! I loved the setting, the characters, the plot… it was all so well executed. 

I loved the complexity of the FMC, Ember. She has a lot of very relatable issues, despite being immortal and powerful. Her insecurities resonated with me — while they affected her, she wasn’t whiny about it. 

Ares is our super hot necromancing MMC who is severe and intense. He and Ember (and the Maere) have not seen eye to eye and there have been some miscommunications and conflicts that need to be resolved. They end up deciding to work together on a serious call, and things really get going from there. 

I am in love with this book and I cannot wait to get my hands on book 2! 

Tropes:

• Found family
• Kickass FMC
• Necromancer (Shadow Daddy vibes ) MMC
• Political intrigue
• Paranormal romance 
• Urban fantasy 

White Horse Black Nights by Evie Marceau

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I loved this book! I was hooked into the story right away, and needed to know more about Sabine and her godkissed abilities. 

Naturally, I love her horse, Myst. They talk to each other and Myst always has Sabine’s back. 

Wolf is the grumpy bodyguard who is tasked with taking his friend/master’s fiancé from her home to her future husband's home. Obviously, Wolf is excellent and he starts to soften up towards Sabine, although they continue to have excellent banter. 

I loved getting to see Sabine and Wolf (Basten) open up despite their trauma, and get to know one another. 

I’m very intrigued by the mystery that becomes more clear by the end, and I’m curious to see how it progresses in the next books!

Mistress of Hours by Emma Elizabeth

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

Thank you to The Nerd Fam for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. 

The concept of the book - magic system, the political conflict/mystery, the characters, the conflicts between characters - is really good. I think it has a lot of potential. The relationship between Evienne and her ex-wife was so relatable and set up a lot of character growth for Evi. I wish that the emotional manipulation that Evi suffered, and how it's affected her, had been delved into further. Similarly, the relationship between Evi and Orion ends up being a bit of an insta-love thing.

I understand that they're fated to be together, but it could've been drawn out and the tension could've been built for longer.

Side characters have a lot of potential to be lovable, but we don't get to know a lot about them. 

We end up skimming through a lot of moments that could've been expanded on, which would've made the story stronger as a whole. The ideas are there, they just needed to be explored, and taken time with. 

I think a lot of the prose tended to be stronger than the dialogue Unfortunately, this took me out of the flow of the story, as it felt so stilted. 

Still, the story was enjoyable and I did really like the concept of the world!

House of Bane and Blood by Alexis L. Menard

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I absolutely loved this book the first time and I love it again the second time around. This time I did the audio version, and it was so fun. I wish it would’ve been narrated in duet instead of each taking their respective chapters but it was still so well done. 

I love the gaslamp vibes and all the amazing tropes including “marriage of convenience”, “touch her/him and die” and “my wife”. Camilla is a strong FMC who is learning more about herself and her family. Nico is a powerful bender who softens up for his new wife. There’s mystery and political intrigue that the MCs have to navigate while figuring out how they really feel about their new husband/wife. 

It’s such an engaging book- I was hooked just as much on the re-read, even knowing what happens!

Storm of Ink and Blood by Nisha J. Tuli

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Thank you so much to Nisha J Tuli & NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing book! I am in love with this series and cannot wait to see what happens next! This review is all my own thoughts and opinions. 

💙 Yasen is my favourite best friend character and I will be taking no complaints about him. He and Zarya care about each other so much but still have a fun and playful relationship, teasing each other for their mishaps and makeouts. 

💙 Zarya is a strong woman who is learning about her magic and her identity under very stressful circumstances. She makes mistakes and doesn’t always know what to do, but she has a strong support system in her found family, and ultimately learns to trust her instincts. 

💙 Rabin and Zarya have a lot to sort out in their relationship after book 2. Things are complicated by Abishek’s orders, and they need to figure out what’s going to be best for both of them. Of course Rabin is a super hot dragon shifter so he obviously has my vote. 

Dance of Stars and Ashes by Nisha J. Tuli

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This book starts off strong, even from the dedication 🤍 I loved the book and I could hardly put it down. 

Zarya & Yasen are friendship goals, and I’m totally in love with Yas. I also really appreciated getting to see how Zarya’s relationships with Aarev and Row developed, and how they got to evolve past the barriers that had been in the way. 

Rabin is of course fantastic and I loved seeing how he and Zarya opened up and shared their vulnerabilities. 

Tuli is such a great writer. She did an amazing job of building the world and bringing in so much detail. Her prose is so engaging and I can’t wait to read more of her work 🤍

Heart of Night and Fire by Nisha J. Tuli

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I really really enjoyed this book! While it has similar tropes to other romantasy books (which is great, I read what I read for a reason!) I really liked the world that Tuli built, and felt like it was a fresh story. 

There’s a lot of world building and set up for what I imagine will be coming in the next few books, but this one still had action and excitement! I’m definitely invested in the character and am rooting for each of them. 

I loved getting to see Zarya grow as she learns more about who she is. She’s strong and wants to be independent, but also cares deeply for her found family. 

Huge Yasen fan. He’s such a fun character and I hope we get to see more of him!!

Where's Molly by H.D. Carlton

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

I really liked the back and forth of the flashbacks and present-day storytelling to fill in the gaps of Molly’s story. Obviously her backstory is horrible, and it was important to see where she came from and how her family impacted everything that happened to her before and after being taken.