jrayereads's reviews
290 reviews

This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings

3.0

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sapphic enemies to lovers set during the Harlem Renaissance with vampires and great black representation? This book should have been a slam dunk for me, but unfortunately it didn’t hit as I hoped it would. I really struggled to get through this one. 

First off, the good. I really liked our two main characters as well as most of the side characters. Layla and Elise both had really clear motivations that I found believable and well written. The premise, atmosphere, and setting were also well done and very immersive. The discussions of race and the themes of medical exploitation that have often been inflicted on black bodies throughout US history was compelling as well.

The biggest issues for me with this book was with the pacing and the writing. The central conflict is surrounding a mystery that forces Layla and Elise to work together. This ended up making the plot pretty circular where we would see them meet up to try and unravel what is going on, have some banter, and then go back to their separate worlds for the fallout of whatever mischief they caused. And then it went on in that exact order for a couple hundred pages. The writing was sometimes clunky and awkward and there would occasionally be moments where certain phrases in dialogue would be overused. There were often times when a conversation did not flow very well and that made it hard to stick with. 

Also, for an enemies to lovers book, there was so little tension built. I believed that they hated each other, even though it wasn’t explained why until MUCH later into the book, but there wasn’t much done with that aside from repetitive bickering, so the romance fell short for me.

Overall I was impressed by the concept of this book but the execution was a bit lacking. I would definitely see what Dennings does in the future, because I’m sure her writing will only get better with time.

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-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

This was a cheesefest (trigger warning for harry potter references) but I liked both of the main characters and bought into them falling for each other. Darcy's mom was so annoying and insufferable that I almost considered dropping a star for my rating but the cute gay shit makes up for it. The third act conflict was. . . fine? It was semi believable and I empathized with both of them, but still a bit annoying.

Also did Darcy ever pass her exam and get her FSA????? The book NEVER tells us??????????

The Blood Gift by N.E. Davenport

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

3.0

 

I usually don’t feel this way, but this should have been a trilogy. The first book is such a solid blend of sci-fi and fantasy and we get so much set up of this world and the political dynamics that Kenna has to navigate as a black woman with secret magic. SO GOOD. But this book tries to do waaaaaaay too much in too short of a time. I desperately wanted a book in between these two to allow time for relationships between Kenna and her team to develop and for Kenna to learn about her heritage and actually take time to learn and grow in her powers. The gods, the magic system, and Kenna’s own abilities were so underdeveloped and that made the entire final battle between her and the big bad feel pretty cheap.

The writing was also pretty hard to get through for me. In the first book Kenna is very irreverent and crass and that was really funny to read and works well for her character, but it was played up to such a cheesy degree in this one. It was pretty painful to constantly be subjected to characters preaching about how badass they were and how much they were going to kill each other, and this bled into Kenna’s inner monologue to the point where I felt like I was constantly reading Marvel one-liners. Some of the dialogue was so painfully cringe. Don’t tell me how badass everyone is through them standing around having a dick measuring contest, SHOW ME. I think Davenport saw the positive reaction to how badass Kenna was in the first book and played that up way too much.

This was a disappointing sequel but I still feel pretty positively about the duology as a whole. I just wanted MORE! More development of the world and the magic, more quiet character moments that make me care about everyone and their relationships. More REED (bc I did love him and the severely underdeveloped romance made me so sad). I will definitely be sat for whatever Davenport does next because I think she has a lot of potential.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

3.5

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-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? No

5.0

 I completely devoured the audiobook for this one in a single day. It moved so quickly and felt like I was watching a Black Mirror episode (one of the good ones). It had an understated and personal quality that I loved. Annie was really easy to root for and sympathize with.

This book doesn’t have anything wildly new to say about feminism or patriarchal expectations placed on women, but it still really worked for me as far as the social commentary went. I was so invested in all the quiet moments where we got to see Annie interrogate her own identity and really consider what she wanted out of life. I also found the ending to be really satisfying. 

Definitely a sci-fi/dystopian to check out if you want something that’s grounded and feels more literary and character-driven.

 

Athena's Child by Hannah Lynn

3.5

A quick and enjoyable Medusa retelling! Nothing groundbreaking but it was well written and does her narrative justice.

I really liked the characterization of Perseus and how his and Medusa’s storylines were intertwined. That added a lot of nuance to their dynamic and the idea of who is a hero and who is a monster. I will definitely read more works by this author.

 

The Name-Bearer by Natalia Hernandez

3.0

Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

4.0

 This book seems to be pretty polarizing but I liked it a lot. I thought that it was cleverly written and I loved our messy cast of characters. Some of the perspectives we followed could have been fleshed out more (and honestly some of them could’ve been fleshed out less. . . ). I’m really just a sucker for well written, unlikeable characters. These are people that are so interesting to follow in an almost voyeuristic way, but you would not catch me spending time with them in reality.

This is DEFINITELY a book where I would check trigger warnings. I was caught off guard by a few things that I would’ve liked a heads up for going into this book, but that’s on me for not looking up warnings beforehand. Overall I thought it was enjoyable and I’m really excited for this author’s newest release.

Trigger warnings I would've liked to have known beforehand in case you're curious (I'll be vague):

There is on page description of self harm and attempted suicide which was pretty jarring but I don't think it was poorly done or gratuitous, just caught me off guard. There is also violence against a pet sugar glider (sad). Definitely look up a full list of warnings if you think you might need to.

 

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake
Did not finish book. Stopped at 8%.

I hated the audiobook narrator, all of the voices he assumed for women felt weird to me. I would pick up a physical copy of this in the future because the first couple chapters were promising. 

Circe by Madeline Miller

4.0