jaedyn's reviews
410 reviews

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.75

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.25

Babel by R.F. Kuang

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

4.0

A Court Bright and Broken by Amy Patrick

adventurous lighthearted fast-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

2.75

Thanks to Nerd Fam for providing an arc copy to review 

Synopsis:

A Court So Bright And Broken is a dual POV Cinderella retelling that follows a human girl, Raewyn, and a fae prince, Stellon. This book is great for those looking for a fast-paced, character focused romance, set in a fantasy world. 

Characters: 

Whilst I read this book relatively quickly once I got to roughly 30%, this book leaves far too much to the imagination in terms of character development. 

I am not one to hate on romance in fantasy books, however the characters within this book only existed for the purpose of the romance and nothing more. 

Essentially, you spend 2/3 of the book within one room where you just bounce between either characters POV as they justify feelings that developed practically instantaneously

World building:

Usually, I like to have a section discussing the world and magic. However, we don’t get much of that within this book, which is a huge disappointment! Tell me more about the earthwives because they seem sick!! 

While what we did get of the MMCs magic was super interesting, it didn’t feel fully fleshed out because of the lack of world building 

Story:

This book is definitely of an era that I think readers are tired of: blond hair and dark hair fae fight over impoverished and super skinny FMC. Essentially, this read like SJM fan fic. 

Conclusion: 

Overall, this retelling was a fun take on an old tale. However, it lacks originality and needs a large dose of world building and character development.

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

Spectacular by Stephanie Garber

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

Finale by Stephanie Garber

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Legendary by Stephanie Garber

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5