jasmineteagirl's reviews
79 reviews

The Ippos King by Grace Draven

adventurous medium-paced

3.75

I can’t decide between 3.75 or 4!! There’s a few things holding me from four. Update: actually 3.75 is perfect. Some parts of the plot were lacking/construction odd so I’m comfortable with my rating! 

-anhuset and serovek are my fave couple from the trilogy I love both couples but I was waiting for this one!!

-

i still feel bad anhuset had to give up her title. I think this is a good end to the series despite a fourth in the works but I definitely want to see more of Anhuset’s development outside of Sha.

This series was the perfect amount of romance and fantasy I’ve needed. Thanks to the random Reddit user who listed these on some random thread 

Eidolon by Grace Draven

adventurous fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

The romance of this series is so sweet. I’m ngl I was rushing to get to Anhuset’s book tho. I love her and Sevorek’s dynamic 

Radiance by Grace Draven

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

I’d classify this as Romantasy. And I’m someone who’s had trouble enjoying popular romantasy-  I really enjoyed this!! The writing was good. I don’t have time to read much and finding a fantasy with romance under 300 pages was perfect. I ended up loving the characters, Brishen and Ildiko were a refreshing couple. It was great reading them start off nice, grow to respect each other and eventually love each other. And they were funny lmao calling each other hideous 

Obviously being short, the fantasy details are not amazing. Some details about the cultures and politics and other nuances don’t really make sense if you think too hard. But I went in the book with expectations of less detail so it didn’t bother me as much. However if you’re looking just for a quick read you will probably be satisfied with this! I thought I’d be done just with the first book, as I’d wanted a quick romance to satiate my boredom but i immediately started the 2nd book. 

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Review to come? Wtf do I rate this

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.75

It has been awhile since I’ve picked up a book and not had anything else on my mind but finishing it. “I Who Have Never Known Men” provided me with that experience I almost solely associated with my childhood readings. It’s a book unlike any I’ve read, a dystopian also unlike any I’ve read. Harpman excellently weaves us into our narrator’s (unnamed) mind. I think one of my favorite parts about this book was its size, but specifically in how the book was written for its size. Harpman carried our Narrator’s voice consistently, and even when large time jumps occurred, I didn’t feel like I was missing out because in my mind, the mystery of the end was always the goal. I kept thinking “where is this going? What has happened to her?”. I just NEEDED to get to the end. But, I also didn’t want it to end. I wanted to continue on with our Narrator as she took us through her life. As gathered from the description, our main character has been isolated her whole life. That feeling never leaves her voice as you read. 

What I also found fascinating was that this book COULD have spanned hundreds of more pages. In fact, part of me wishes it did. But it didn’t, and I still enjoyed it. I didn’t feel rushed by the writing at all. 

Now, for a semi-spoiler part;

I can see how people would feel rushed or dislike the book for the concise writing, time jumps, etc. 

A small, petty criticism I had came up when I’d find myself thinking about the women in the book, especially our narrator, and wondering how they were doing certain things living the life they did.

SPOILER after they escaped,  I found myself wondering random things about their daily lives, walking across the plains and never finding anything. One thing I wondered was- why had it taken so long for our main character to notice her reflection? We know in the beginning, in the bunker, that she has never seen herself. Yet when she leaves, certainly she’d see her reflection in a river, as she sees many throughout her journey. I did enjoy reading the part where she saw herself for the first time, but that thought was nagging me. Stupid, yes, but it felt inconsistent with the narrator’s habit to experience new that she wouldn’t have noticed herself in a blurry, unstable water-image. 

Further SPOILERS regarding the ending and also My Brilliant Friend / Neapolitan Quartet (do not read if you have not read either): I’m realizing I am someone who likes a solid conclusion to her mysteries. There are books and movies with open endings I’ve enjoyed, however I got a similar feeling finishing this book as I did with the Neapolitan Quartet. A feeling of defeat- “that’s it?” I desperately wanted to know where Lila was, and with I Who Have Never Known Men, i desperately wanted to know wtf was going on, where our narrator was, and where everyone else was. Obviously, it’s a creative choice to not include these things. It’s very intentional. Which is why I don’t like docking points from my ratings if an ending isn’t to my preference. Is it disappointing, yes. But it’s supposed to be. How is it not? Reading those pages, needing to know answers- and neither we as readers nor our main character get them.

I really did love this book. I think it’s my favorite read of the year, partially because my experience reading it was so nice. I’ve been wanting a physical copy (specifically the Vintage edition) for so long hence why I put off reading this book for YEARS. Finally, with influence from social media (sigh) I picked it up. And I’m very glad to have! A must read in my eyes. 

Beneath Black Sails by Clare Sager
Did not finish book. Stopped at 12%.

Idgaf 

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
Did not finish book. Stopped at 4%.

Just not in the mood 

A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

I’m really glad I took Storygraph’s recommendation and read this one!! It was cute, fast, and romantic which is just what I was looking for. I’m flip-flopping between 3.75-4 stars for it. Honestly, the pacing was good especially for that of a standalone fantasy, however I wish there was more worldbuilding. And the actual written timeline didn’t make much sense to me sometimes lol. Like sometimes multiple days would pass and nothing would happen, it would just be written that “they have one day til the exposition” like woah how did we get there? While other times so much would happen over the span of a single day or a few hours. I really wanted something romantic with fantasy and this is perfect for that! 

Wes and Margaret were so cute, and the topics of bigotry and having “mommy issues” were touched on well.  

The writing was amazing and the setting was very atmospheric, perfect for fall. I do think the Hunt could’ve been more detailed as the plot went on, however with romantic fantasy books that are less than 400 pages you kinda got pick and choose what you develop lol. 

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.75

This book was averagely written but a good thriller to start with as this is my first official adult thriller read I think ? Millie was honestly annoying until the ending.

Nina really took traumatize him back to a whole new level

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

This book was exactly what I was looking for- a fast paced easy fantasy with a romance. 

In all honesty, it has all the markings of a stereotypical ya fantasy. That was comforting but also a bit annoying, however as I’m not in the ya age range anymore I don’t want to discount the book for being less mature than other books. 

Rune’s magic source was so interesting, it was cool reading a book that so casually mentions menstruation. 

I hesitated to pick this book up due to knowing it had a love triangle. Especially between brothers. However, the author did well in making it not overbearing. And it was a breath of fresh air to have a fmc know and acknowledge her different feelings between the two. For anyone hesitant to read for this reason- the love triangle resolves itself and in my opinion doesn’t feel a very huge part of the romance at all. I’m glad the author executed it the way she did. 

This book was fun and fast. However I think it just wasn’t executed exactly to my liking. Even though this is ya, some of it felt a bit too simple. The witch hunt and runes position as the crimson moth honestly almost felt less important than the budding romance. I feel we didn’t get enough of Rune as the Crimson Moth. Given that they’re young, I think their naivety made some sense but honesty both Rune and Gideon felt a bit underqualified for their positions. Both of them were a little stupid ahah. I also didn’t like Harrow pestering Gideon to sleep with Rune.

I did like that the author emphasized how any romantic actions between the two were genuine, and the two were merely convincing themselves they weren’t. It felt less deceptive that way, as technically it wasn’t.

This is definitely a good ya read if you want something quick and fun, not overbearing in details. Though I found myself annoyed with the book sometimes, I really am curious to see how the rest of the series plays out. I haven’t read a book in awhile where both sides (witches + new republic) are quite awful. I didn’t think I’d be enthusiastic to read the sequel but now I am!

I’d also love to see how Gideon and Rune come back from this, it’s kinda a given they will imo. And how Cressida comes into play again. She seems wild.

Rune is an interesting character to follow. She’s unafraid to be feminine.