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gattolinos_nerdy_nook's reviews
503 reviews
Lore Olympus: Volume Two by Rachel Smythe
dark
emotional
funny
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? It's complicated
3.5
Rachel Smythe does a really good job of taking myths and adjusting them into her own world. There is the obvious Hades and Persephone myth that we follow, but on top of that myth there are smaller myths sprinkled in and mentioned that makes everything feel more alive, but at the same time Rachel Smythe is creating new moments and conflicts that were never in a myth.
Speaking of conflicts, this volume does a lot to setting up for upcoming conflicts for the following volumes. There's also a lot of staple moments and personalities of characters that have been introduced in this volume and I can't wait to see how these personalities and characterisations grow over the volumes.
I liked the series but there isn't much more I can say. There was a lot of set up and the beginnings of Persephone dealing with what Apollo had done to her in the first book, so whilst a bit did happen we are still waiting for the fruits of what has been sown. In saying that if you know some of the Greek myths you can guess where these volumes may go or some future conflicts.
Speaking of conflicts, this volume does a lot to setting up for upcoming conflicts for the following volumes. There's also a lot of staple moments and personalities of characters that have been introduced in this volume and I can't wait to see how these personalities and characterisations grow over the volumes.
I liked the series but there isn't much more I can say. There was a lot of set up and the beginnings of Persephone dealing with what Apollo had done to her in the first book, so whilst a bit did happen we are still waiting for the fruits of what has been sown. In saying that if you know some of the Greek myths you can guess where these volumes may go or some future conflicts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Rape and Sexual harassment
Bad Breakup by Elise Faber
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I thought Cecelia and Colin were a fun couple. Once we got past the first introduction between them, were Colin does come off a bit aggressive for my tastes, the two have a pretty fun and lighthearted relationship for the most part. There is still the much needed serious moments where the two of them to bond and trust one another again, but it is not bogging down the book making it too serious for a fun romance read.
Whilst I did really enjoy the book I thought the conflict that was the whole reason this is a second chance romance, was not really confronted. It was addressed but it felt very fast and brushed to the side in the overall story. The story is mainly about Cecelia and Colin connecting again but it didn't feel satisfying when the issue was finally resolved. I wanted the two of them to confront it in a way that felt like the two of them had grown and we could see it, not just hear it.
Overall I am enjoying the series and this book did the job of entraining me and being a fun read. I think the next book is going to be fun if the epilogue of this book is anything to go by.
Whilst I did really enjoy the book I thought the conflict that was the whole reason this is a second chance romance, was not really confronted. It was addressed but it felt very fast and brushed to the side in the overall story. The story is mainly about Cecelia and Colin connecting again but it didn't feel satisfying when the issue was finally resolved. I wanted the two of them to confront it in a way that felt like the two of them had grown and we could see it, not just hear it.
Overall I am enjoying the series and this book did the job of entraining me and being a fun read. I think the next book is going to be fun if the epilogue of this book is anything to go by.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
adventurous
challenging
slow-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
4.0
I first read this book back in 2020 and now I'm finally rereading so I can get read the sequel and finish this duology.
I thought this was a good read. The dual POV highlighted the emotions of both Zafira and Nasir and what they are dealing with throughout the book. I loved the world that are we in and how everywhere is different from one another, and shows the impact of magic with how it impacted the environment. It makes for a fantastical world placing a juxtaposition on the environment and the people. It all sounds magical but here are the ordinary people with no magic coping with what they have. Most people have forgotten about magic or don't believe it ever existed.
I thought the introduction of Benyamin and Kifah could have been done better. The group didn't feel like they really meshed and worked well together despite the book trying to make it out like they have bonded towards the end of their journey. This was the one area that I thought could have been improved. In saying that I thought Zafira, Nasir and Altair had good relationships and interesting dynamics but the other two felt underutilised.
Making up for it is the lore of the world and the plot of the book. These were highlights and very well done. The plot was also gripping and interesting throughout most of the book an not just in the last third coming up to the final climax. The twists and reveals were really well done and has you wondering what will happen in the next book. It leaves off on a slight cliff hanger, but really the excitement comes from the unknown for these characters after they have decided to throw off their vail and embrace change.
I am excited to see what We Free the Stars does with these characters.
I thought this was a good read. The dual POV highlighted the emotions of both Zafira and Nasir and what they are dealing with throughout the book. I loved the world that are we in and how everywhere is different from one another, and shows the impact of magic with how it impacted the environment. It makes for a fantastical world placing a juxtaposition on the environment and the people. It all sounds magical but here are the ordinary people with no magic coping with what they have. Most people have forgotten about magic or don't believe it ever existed.
I thought the introduction of Benyamin and Kifah could have been done better. The group didn't feel like they really meshed and worked well together despite the book trying to make it out like they have bonded towards the end of their journey. This was the one area that I thought could have been improved. In saying that I thought Zafira, Nasir and Altair had good relationships and interesting dynamics but the other two felt underutilised.
Making up for it is the lore of the world and the plot of the book. These were highlights and very well done. The plot was also gripping and interesting throughout most of the book an not just in the last third coming up to the final climax. The twists and reveals were really well done and has you wondering what will happen in the next book. It leaves off on a slight cliff hanger, but really the excitement comes from the unknown for these characters after they have decided to throw off their vail and embrace change.
I am excited to see what We Free the Stars does with these characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, and Sexism
Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent
The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black
adventurous
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.0
I thought this was a different way of ending the series. Going into the book, the other two books whilst feeling different were more tied together in their political drama angle of the book. This felt different to as it was less focused on the political aspect, and more on the fantastical areas. This lead to what felt like it went pretty fast read once we got back in the world of Faerie.
Whilst I would have liked more political drama in this book, I think this fantastical view fits much better as anything more political might have felt too much like the second book. I still had a lot of fun with this book and thought it still had solid characters and interactions that drew me into the series to begin with. I could also see how the ending ties into the the spin off series around Oak. I thought it was fun to see. I really liked how everything was wrapped up and it felt like a happy ending but also a realistic one for this world.
I can see why people didn't want to leave this world once they finished the series. It has just been a lot of fun reading and following these characters.
Whilst I would have liked more political drama in this book, I think this fantastical view fits much better as anything more political might have felt too much like the second book. I still had a lot of fun with this book and thought it still had solid characters and interactions that drew me into the series to begin with. I could also see how the ending ties into the the spin off series around Oak. I thought it was fun to see. I really liked how everything was wrapped up and it felt like a happy ending but also a realistic one for this world.
I can see why people didn't want to leave this world once they finished the series. It has just been a lot of fun reading and following these characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: War and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual content and Infidelity
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
slow-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
4.0
I thought this was really strong in the world building as well as setting up and introducing the readers to the overall conflicts that are driving the series as a whole. I think this book really focuses on betrayal and how it can come from different people in our lives and present itself in actions we take or don't take, and how people can try and repairs that relationships.
With this as the main focus of our story we do get a handful of miscommunication/mistrust between Violet and Xaden that was hard to get through and I know a few people had issues with this. I found it felt like for the whole 27+ hours I was listening these two took one step forward and two steps back, making the readers reread events that felt like it already happened or was similar enough to previous events that we lose interest. Whilst Violet and Xaden's relationship might have fallen a but in this story I think Rebecca Yarros did a really good job with the side characters and developing most of them and their relationships with Violet. I thought this was the strongest part of the book and keeps you interested to see what is happening next.
The overall conflicts in the story and the ending were good. I think the ending was interesting as to see how it plays out in the long run or if this is going to be one of those issues where everything is magically fixed. Given Rebecca Yarros has not shied away from breaking hearts and having consequences I think it will be an interesting to see hoe this will develop. The conflicts where fine across the book. The major conflict at the end was gripping and exciting but the conflict with Catriona I could do without as It doesn't feel like it really adds to the story for the most part.
Overall I think this was a good read and having listened to it on audio I think the pacing that others had issues with was less prominent. It does feel like it had some issues for the most part I didn't notice that critique. Overall I enjoyed the characters and the friendships particularly where a highlight of this book.
With this as the main focus of our story we do get a handful of miscommunication/mistrust between Violet and Xaden that was hard to get through and I know a few people had issues with this. I found it felt like for the whole 27+ hours I was listening these two took one step forward and two steps back, making the readers reread events that felt like it already happened or was similar enough to previous events that we lose interest. Whilst Violet and Xaden's relationship might have fallen a but in this story I think Rebecca Yarros did a really good job with the side characters and developing most of them and their relationships with Violet. I thought this was the strongest part of the book and keeps you interested to see what is happening next.
The overall conflicts in the story and the ending were good. I think the ending was interesting as to see how it plays out in the long run or if this is going to be one of those issues where everything is magically fixed. Given Rebecca Yarros has not shied away from breaking hearts and having consequences I think it will be an interesting to see hoe this will develop. The conflicts where fine across the book. The major conflict at the end was gripping and exciting but the conflict with Catriona I could do without as It doesn't feel like it really adds to the story for the most part.
Overall I think this was a good read and having listened to it on audio I think the pacing that others had issues with was less prominent. It does feel like it had some issues for the most part I didn't notice that critique. Overall I enjoyed the characters and the friendships particularly where a highlight of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, War, Violence, Blood, and Torture
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Wild Game by Alisa Woods
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Despite the 2.5 star review this book is really well done. It has a good and compelling plots, solid characters and side characters and some interesting dynamics to keep you interested.
The reason I gave it such a low rating is purely personal preference and a couple of issues that made me want to DNF the book. The first, and to me the issue that least impacted my score, is the insta lust and love that really felt tone death and out of place. I am usually fine with the insta lust it has it time and place to be used, but this was neither the time nor place. It felt really awkward and stiff in this world to have that insta lust connection, and how and where it happened felt all wrong.
Now this may seem a really strange issue to almost DNF a book over, but the second issues was Nova's way of running and talking about the game company and the conflict that arises there. In any normal world THIS WOULD NOT BE A CONFLICT! Just thinking about it gets me really annoyed as it comes across like very little to no research was done on of how game companies work, the gaming audience in general and how most game designers feel about having their games on multiple platforms. I could go on for ages about this issue which to me almost made me DNF, but realistically for most people this probably wouldn't even be a blip on the radar. The conflict that is set up with this does come back and create a different conflict for the story but overall these comments are nothing in the grand scheme of thing. It is strange what can tick people off.
Overall it is a shifter universe that is gritter then some that I've read and I will give the next book a try to see if I want to continue the series after that.
The reason I gave it such a low rating is purely personal preference and a couple of issues that made me want to DNF the book. The first, and to me the issue that least impacted my score, is the insta lust and love that really felt tone death and out of place. I am usually fine with the insta lust it has it time and place to be used, but this was neither the time nor place. It felt really awkward and stiff in this world to have that insta lust connection, and how and where it happened felt all wrong.
Now this may seem a really strange issue to almost DNF a book over, but the second issues was Nova's way of running and talking about the game company and the conflict that arises there. In any normal world THIS WOULD NOT BE A CONFLICT! Just thinking about it gets me really annoyed as it comes across like very little to no research was done on of how game companies work, the gaming audience in general and how most game designers feel about having their games on multiple platforms. I could go on for ages about this issue which to me almost made me DNF, but realistically for most people this probably wouldn't even be a blip on the radar. The conflict that is set up with this does come back and create a different conflict for the story but overall these comments are nothing in the grand scheme of thing. It is strange what can tick people off.
Overall it is a shifter universe that is gritter then some that I've read and I will give the next book a try to see if I want to continue the series after that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Torture, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Grief, and War
Minor: Death of parent
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-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
4.5
This book grips you when you start reading. It acts all unassuming before it grabs your hand and bolts, and as such you are just there now for a ride and there is no way to stop. I don't think I could explain my experience with this book any other way.
I went in thinking this would be a fun read and see what everyone was talking about, and It started off ok. I thought it was interesting and I wasn't 100% sure how I would feel about Violet as she comes across as a bit off to me. By the time we get into the academy I had grown to like Violet and very quickly I could see that Rebecca can write very compelling and complex characters, and by the end of the book I had grown to love them all.
I think the world building was fascinating. I keep wondering to myself what would a dragon riding academy be like and I think Rebecca did a really good job at bringing that idea to life. I would say that for the most part the book is not focused on the overall plot of the series but instead getting us invested in the people and the world so when we start getting to the bigger picture the stakes and consequences of everything has a much greater impact, because of that I don't think the overall plot had much development. I didn't mind this though as establishing the academy was still every interesting the the overall plot for the book, which is to bond a dragon and survive, was still thrilling and gripping.
By the end of the book i was so glad that my library had the second audiobook as I needed to start that right away.
I went in thinking this would be a fun read and see what everyone was talking about, and It started off ok. I thought it was interesting and I wasn't 100% sure how I would feel about Violet as she comes across as a bit off to me. By the time we get into the academy I had grown to like Violet and very quickly I could see that Rebecca can write very compelling and complex characters, and by the end of the book I had grown to love them all.
I think the world building was fascinating. I keep wondering to myself what would a dragon riding academy be like and I think Rebecca did a really good job at bringing that idea to life. I would say that for the most part the book is not focused on the overall plot of the series but instead getting us invested in the people and the world so when we start getting to the bigger picture the stakes and consequences of everything has a much greater impact, because of that I don't think the overall plot had much development. I didn't mind this though as establishing the academy was still every interesting the the overall plot for the book, which is to bond a dragon and survive, was still thrilling and gripping.
By the end of the book i was so glad that my library had the second audiobook as I needed to start that right away.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: War and Fire/Fire injury
Breach of Peace by Daniel B. Greene
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
If you want to start an audio series the voice actors were great and Daniel B. Greene has uploaded the first two books of this series onto his YouTube channel for free. So if you are thinking about the series I recommend you go have a look.
This was an interesting way to introduce an audience to this series. I think the world is really interesting as we are introduced into a society that is dystopian, steampunk and fantasy presented in a murder mystery novel. For the most part it was easy to follow along with the story though there were moments that felt murky when listening, like we are meant to know more about this world then what I had at the time. This could also be due to the pacing as I think the story takes place over a day and night. The characters were nothing special, actually the one character that caught my interest, Christy, wasn't introduced until the end of the book, and had me wishing we saw more of her.
I think the ending was a bit rough for me and what made me both like and dislike the book. I am assuming it made sense in the world and the ending felt a little unnecessary and bugged me a little, but I can see that there is a set up for ideas later in the series. I am interested to see how the second book goes as the audio is double the length and I think that is where we will hopefully start to get to the meat and bones of the world lore.
This was an interesting way to introduce an audience to this series. I think the world is really interesting as we are introduced into a society that is dystopian, steampunk and fantasy presented in a murder mystery novel. For the most part it was easy to follow along with the story though there were moments that felt murky when listening, like we are meant to know more about this world then what I had at the time. This could also be due to the pacing as I think the story takes place over a day and night. The characters were nothing special, actually the one character that caught my interest, Christy, wasn't introduced until the end of the book, and had me wishing we saw more of her.
I think the ending was a bit rough for me and what made me both like and dislike the book. I am assuming it made sense in the world and the ending felt a little unnecessary and bugged me a little, but I can see that there is a set up for ideas later in the series. I am interested to see how the second book goes as the audio is double the length and I think that is where we will hopefully start to get to the meat and bones of the world lore.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, and Body horror
Primal by Jenika Snow
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I really wanted to like this book as I really liked the rest in the series but with four main characters in such a short book was really hard to get into. The spicy scenes were still good but with our focus switch between four characters I found that we missed the connection and any scenes between the main characters from the other two books.
In saying that this book defiantly has an audience in those who want a quick, why-choose feeling, monster romance. The spicy scenes were fun and the book was easy to get into and read without needing to much interaction with the characters. Sometimes smut can be just be fun without it being deep.
In saying that this book defiantly has an audience in those who want a quick, why-choose feeling, monster romance. The spicy scenes were fun and the book was easy to get into and read without needing to much interaction with the characters. Sometimes smut can be just be fun without it being deep.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
The Demon's Bargain (Kickstarter) by Katee Robert
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I thought the premise of this book was a lot of fun. We got a carnival that felt a little medieval with the ball and the fighting arena and it really made for a fun and interesting setting as it was mixed with modern technology. The execution on the other hand was a little bit of a miss for me. I think I would have liked it to be a bit longer, as there was some really interesting points that the book touched on but immediately had to move on and had no chance to explore.
In saying that I really liked the Lenora and Ramanu as well as some of the side characters that we got to meet. They all felt different from one another which made the world feel more lively.
I think this would be a great read for those who want a quick and short story that doesn't get too serious. It was a fun read and I would check out the Deal with a Demon series.
In saying that I really liked the Lenora and Ramanu as well as some of the side characters that we got to meet. They all felt different from one another which made the world feel more lively.
I think this would be a great read for those who want a quick and short story that doesn't get too serious. It was a fun read and I would check out the Deal with a Demon series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, and Violence