kendranh's reviews
58 reviews

Tangled Up In You by Christina Lauren

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

If you’re a big fan of the movie Tangled, you will love this book! I saw some reviews unhappy that it was closer to Tangled than the source material of Rapunzel. This book series  was created by Disney so of course it is going to follow the Disney movie as a one to one modern adaptation.

Loved:

• The idea of Rapunzel being a naive homeschooled farm girl from Idaho. As someone who was a naive homeschooled kid, can confirm the accuracy
• Fitz having people he cared about. It made him much more sympathetic than he would have been as just a criminal orphan
• A car named Max

Meh:

• Steve was such a non-character. Maybe because he didn’t exist in the movie. Could have gone without him
• It followed the Disney movie a bit too closely making it very predictable
• The bar scene was cute, but cheesy 

Disliked:

• The entire premise is based on these super protective “parents” letting their kid go to college. Which frankly would never happen. Like you’re telling me these people who kidnapped a baby and went completely off grid are just going to let her go to school in a different state because she wants to go??

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Death of parent

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

Fake dating spicy vacation romance? Hell yeah! I love Anna and Liam’s relationship and how they balance each other out so well.  What can I say except the vibes were good!

Love:

• Liam’s acknowledgement and awareness of how messed up his family is
• Anna being pragmatic enough to take the money offered while also hating seeing what comes from extreme wealth 
• Anna’s friendship with Reagan 
• The contrast between the two dads

Meh:

• Alex did NOT deserve such a forgiving end. Dickhead
• There’s still kind of a pretty woman ick factor for me 

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.25

This felt quite different from other Ali Hazelwood books, but I loved it just the same! 

Loved

• Eli immediately accepting Rue for who she is without expecting any change
• Rue’s opinions on sex and her comfort in her own body
• The overall lesson being that it’s okay to be happy even when things are difficult
• The heavy communication in spicy scenes 
• This not being a “frumpy nerd meets hot guy” story. They were both hot and knew it!
• Rue and Eli bonding through their horrible person stories 

Meh

• I wish I had more time to get to know the other Harkness team members. It just felt like they were a little bland.
• Same with Tish, she seemed great, but I wanted more friendship time 

Those Who Wait by Georgia Spearing

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

Thank you to the author for providing an ARC. 

I have conflicted feelings about Those Who Wait. At its core it has so much potential to be an amazing mythological fantasy romance. But the problem is that the author didn’t get me invested in the characters. There were so many awkward time jumps that bypassed critical relationship building. Lena and Hector went from enemies to friends to lovers with zero plot to tie it all together. Plus this led to me feeling detached from the characters as a whole. And it felt like there was the attempt of a training montage, but you can’t training montage a relationship in a book! As I was writing this review my rating just kept dropping lower, which sucks because I really really wanted to love it.

Loved

• The idea behind the story was amazing. Archaeologist finds mystical amulet and is suddenly granted magical powers, I’m sold!

Meh

• The time jumps made it hard to care about the characters or see any real relationship growth 
• Everything felt rushed, like we were seeing an outline instead of the full picture 
• For an archeologist Lena had very little knowledge of Greek gods
• The gods themselves felt very one dimensional

Disliked

• Spending the whole book waiting for something to click and make me excited about what was happening 

A Flame Forged in Mist by Samara Saward

adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you to the author for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! Samara Saward has created a unique magical world that immediately sucks you in. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!

Loved:

• The trials including people of all different ages, genders, sexuality and background. It’s so refreshing for it not to just be oddly talented 18 year olds competing!
• The magic system outlined in the book is unique and allows for so many cool developments
• The themes of forgiveness and revenge being so tied together. With Ever learning to forgive herself
  (and Abrams)
  for the attack on her and her brother
• The friendship/found family themes both between Ever and Erryn and the other recruits

Meh

• I’m normally a huge fan of dual POV, but this time it felt like it was just repeating chapters instead of giving insight into Calyx
• Why were some recruits killed for leaving while others could just choose to go? It felt like it should go one way or the other.
• Ever was WAY too forgiving of her father for keeping that secret.
  Like you’re telling me he lied to you your whole life, kept in close communication with the men who murdered his own son and raped you, but it’s fine because of reasons??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault

Academy of Villains - Nyx & Erebus by Ever King
Did not finish book. Stopped at 37%.

I made it about 40% of the way through this book before I had to make the choice to DNF. While the initial world and magic systems held so much promise, the characters all felt flat and it felt like none of the story was being fleshed out at all. It gave me no reason to feel engaged. I wish I could have loved it because the idea was great, but I couldn’t connect with the plot or characters.

Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings

funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Looking for a second chance romance with a heavy side of personal growth? Look no further!

Loved:

• Rylie. His evolution from grieving fuck boy to Perfect Man was amazing
• LGBTQ characters being a natural part of the story without it feeling forced

Meh:

• The friendships overall felt very shallow
• Pacing just felt off with everything being magically resolved in the last thirty pages
• Eva constantly being reactive got old fast. I understand it was a defence mechanism, but it made her supremely difficult to root for her

Disliked:

• Aida’s lack of support after the whole reading comments incident. If my friend did that to me I would have a hard time forgiving
• For all the growth that everyone else had, it would have been nice to see more of it in Eva

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

Ali Hazelwood can’t miss with her books! College competitive diver Scarlett struggles to overcome a mental block that could derail her diving career while starting a relationship with Lukas, a successful Olympic swimmer.

Loved:

• Scarlett’s processing of her fears and what is holding her back 
• Therapy representation
• Lukas being such a supportive partner
• The friendship between Pen and Scarlett 
• Scarlett’s relationship with her stepmom
• Bringing back familiar characters like Olive and Adam
• The spice

Meh:

• Pen going from incredibly supportive to jealous seemingly overnight. It felt like it did a disservice to their friendship

Disliked

• Lukas going along with Pen’s desire not to tell people about their breakup for so long. No wonder Scarlett had a hard time opening herself to their relationship being more than just a hookup

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

adventurous dark lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

When Rae, a young woman dying of cancer, is given a second chance at life inside her sister’s favourite fictional book series, she finds herself in a world where survival requires wits and a little villainy.

Loved

• Key. KEY. Key. Holy shit Key.
• Rae building a villainous union 
• The twist at the end with the Emperor
• The Golden Cobra and his whole storyline
• Acknowledging that sometimes the heroine isn’t clumsy to be cute, she just needs glasses

Meh

• I wish I had more context for who Lady Rahela was before Rae
• Sometimes the modern references took me out of the story. Most of the time I liked them, but inventing sunglasses, come on…
• The whole thing with the Oracle seemed out of left field
• Also the whole thing with the princess from the north. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Murder, War

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-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

5.0

Please note this review may be biased by reading the book while on vacation and it being impossible to be dissatisfied with a read while on a beach chair with a cocktail in hand.

Normally I’m not the biggest fan of friends to lovers but Alex and Poppy just work! I loved seeing their relationship grow from one summer trip to another. From water taxis in Tofino to dancing in the streets of New Orleans, I was rooting for them! 

Loved:

• Emily Henry’s description of each vacation
• The acknowledgment of how scary it can be to love someone 
• Alex’s fear of happiness
• Poppy’s desire to find human connection
• The reveal that what happened in Croatia wasn’t a massive blow up, but was just a miscommunication that neither knew how to get past