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kristens_bookshelf's Reviews (143)
As always, thanks to Di Angelo Publications for sending me this ARC!
POV 1: Pinella - daughter of a revolutionary loyalist (local hero), wife of a rebel leader and mother of a loyalist soldier
POV 2: Cicero - orphan that turns Robin Hood essentially
POV 3: Finnion - rebel general
POV 4: Redeye - rebel with morals that fights on whichever side will help him survive in that moment
What I really enjoyed about this book was the multiple POVs of events happening all parallel with each other. It really helped me get a firm grasp on what all sides were thinking and plotting so I was like "ok here we go, things are about to get messy!". Also the little dash of magic/withcraft in the middle was very intriguing! I like how it was written in and wish I could have experienced more of that in the story.
However, I don't feel like enough of the history of why the different sides were warring with each other was properly explained so it just felt like poor people vs rich people. Also at a few points when the POV switched there was a small time jump of weeks or months and it's like "wait, they were in a situation when I left them last, what happened!?" And then the books ends on a cliffhanger but only 2 of the POVs ever crossed paths, so it left me feeling unfulfilled. I would rather have a 500 page fully complete immersive novel than (2) 350 pagers that have too much fluff.
POV 1: Pinella - daughter of a revolutionary loyalist (local hero), wife of a rebel leader and mother of a loyalist soldier
POV 2: Cicero - orphan that turns Robin Hood essentially
POV 3: Finnion - rebel general
POV 4: Redeye - rebel with morals that fights on whichever side will help him survive in that moment
What I really enjoyed about this book was the multiple POVs of events happening all parallel with each other. It really helped me get a firm grasp on what all sides were thinking and plotting so I was like "ok here we go, things are about to get messy!". Also the little dash of magic/withcraft in the middle was very intriguing! I like how it was written in and wish I could have experienced more of that in the story.
However, I don't feel like enough of the history of why the different sides were warring with each other was properly explained so it just felt like poor people vs rich people. Also at a few points when the POV switched there was a small time jump of weeks or months and it's like "wait, they were in a situation when I left them last, what happened!?" And then the books ends on a cliffhanger but only 2 of the POVs ever crossed paths, so it left me feeling unfulfilled. I would rather have a 500 page fully complete immersive novel than (2) 350 pagers that have too much fluff.
This book has such good potential but I found it to be just ok.
The first 25% of the book was so confusing. It felt like it was the first draft and it didn't get touched by an editor.
Lucy (FMC) has a best friend and they are the same age but her bestie calls her "kiddo" and "kid". Thats something my mom says to me and I say to my young niece, it felt weird between besties the same age. And then the bestie never shows back up in the book...friends for 20+yrs but just poof gone?
There was also cryptic things that were alluded to so it just left me saying "huh? Whats that even suppose to mean?" And 100pgs later it made sense but not enough of a tid-bit was given to make you understand at first, it just felt like an incomplete sentence or thought.
When Lucy first meets the MMC, Lucas, it's an encounter in the street while she is admiring a ring in a jewelery shop window and it's written almost like he is coming at her with the intention to mug her. She turns and runs into a jewelry store gets sandwiched between an employee and Lucas. He tells the employee "they" want to see the ring in the windows. They are lead to a private room, she tries on the ring (1 or 2 words are said between these two), MMC asks for a private moment, employee leaves and then MMC just starts playing touchy feely... with MAYBE 1 or 2 sentences exchanged. How does she go from running away to being stiff as this man touches her less than 5mins from seeing him on the street?
The middle 50% was good! Typical ChickLit with interesting characters and situations and well written. This seemed like a polished story.
And then the last 25% felt like a cheesy after school special. The wrap up was too fast.
Rewritten this could be a great story. The bones are there. There are good spicy moments, good emotional moments and funny as hell moments. They just aren't put together ideally. Also the title doesn't really fit...Christmas is the last couple chapters and at that point the story has been going on for about 6-8 months
The first 25% of the book was so confusing. It felt like it was the first draft and it didn't get touched by an editor.
Lucy (FMC) has a best friend and they are the same age but her bestie calls her "kiddo" and "kid". Thats something my mom says to me and I say to my young niece, it felt weird between besties the same age. And then the bestie never shows back up in the book...friends for 20+yrs but just poof gone?
There was also cryptic things that were alluded to so it just left me saying "huh? Whats that even suppose to mean?" And 100pgs later it made sense but not enough of a tid-bit was given to make you understand at first, it just felt like an incomplete sentence or thought.
When Lucy first meets the MMC, Lucas, it's an encounter in the street while she is admiring a ring in a jewelery shop window and it's written almost like he is coming at her with the intention to mug her. She turns and runs into a jewelry store gets sandwiched between an employee and Lucas. He tells the employee "they" want to see the ring in the windows. They are lead to a private room, she tries on the ring (1 or 2 words are said between these two), MMC asks for a private moment, employee leaves and then MMC just starts playing touchy feely... with MAYBE 1 or 2 sentences exchanged. How does she go from running away to being stiff as this man touches her less than 5mins from seeing him on the street?
The middle 50% was good! Typical ChickLit with interesting characters and situations and well written. This seemed like a polished story.
And then the last 25% felt like a cheesy after school special. The wrap up was too fast.
Rewritten this could be a great story. The bones are there. There are good spicy moments, good emotional moments and funny as hell moments. They just aren't put together ideally. Also the title doesn't really fit...Christmas is the last couple chapters and at that point the story has been going on for about 6-8 months
After reading this book, I feel like I want to go back and rerate all my 5 and 4 star reads.
The author has spent the last 15yrs writing a whole series and companion series and it shows. This story was perfectly polished. This is book one and since everything is practically written its just about releasing slowly but not too slow I hope!
The story starts off fast and never stopped. The world building was incredible. And again, you could tell proper time was taken to introduce and explain things properly while staying immersed in the story so it didn't feel like it was being "man-splained" to me.
The story is about Kenna, an orphaned witch, who was left on the beach of a clan of witches who took her in and raised her as one of their own. There is a great war happening between the "gifted" and the "ungifted". The king has sent out knights to find and kill any gifted person because a sorcerer killed his parents and he assumes all gifted are evil.
The story takes us on an adventure with Kenna as she tries to navigate her way to the palace to try and stop the king from continuing this war.
This book comes out on the 29th. I HIGHLY recommend adding it to the top of your TBR!
The author has spent the last 15yrs writing a whole series and companion series and it shows. This story was perfectly polished. This is book one and since everything is practically written its just about releasing slowly but not too slow I hope!
The story starts off fast and never stopped. The world building was incredible. And again, you could tell proper time was taken to introduce and explain things properly while staying immersed in the story so it didn't feel like it was being "man-splained" to me.
The story is about Kenna, an orphaned witch, who was left on the beach of a clan of witches who took her in and raised her as one of their own. There is a great war happening between the "gifted" and the "ungifted". The king has sent out knights to find and kill any gifted person because a sorcerer killed his parents and he assumes all gifted are evil.
The story takes us on an adventure with Kenna as she tries to navigate her way to the palace to try and stop the king from continuing this war.
This book comes out on the 29th. I HIGHLY recommend adding it to the top of your TBR!
Whew, I am NOT a crier but I am still wiping tears from my eyes after just finishing this book! I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from this book but I got 100x more than expected. I feel like a small part of my heart that needed healing, which I didn't know needed it, was healed after reading this story. I need a prequel...I need a sequel...I need supporting novellas...I need them all!
The author has created a tale that is both enchanting and thought-provoking, leaving readers with a lingering sense of wonder and a renewed appreciation for the stories that define us. Central to the novel is the theme of the power of stories themselves — how they shape lives, connect people across generations, and reveal universal truths.
This would make an incredible movie...Benicio del Toro needs to read this book!
The author has created a tale that is both enchanting and thought-provoking, leaving readers with a lingering sense of wonder and a renewed appreciation for the stories that define us. Central to the novel is the theme of the power of stories themselves — how they shape lives, connect people across generations, and reveal universal truths.
This would make an incredible movie...Benicio del Toro needs to read this book!
This is one of the instances where the beautiful cover has matching beautiful words inside!
This book is so unique! You can read it 2 ways. Hold the book one direction and it's the FMC POV...then flip the book and it's the MMC POV.
This book is the definition of a perfect palette cleanser! Short story, that was fast paced and had such an interesting retelling in it. Definitely something I could reread once a year for a quick 45minute "awwww" moment.
This book is so unique! You can read it 2 ways. Hold the book one direction and it's the FMC POV...then flip the book and it's the MMC POV.
This book is the definition of a perfect palette cleanser! Short story, that was fast paced and had such an interesting retelling in it. Definitely something I could reread once a year for a quick 45minute "awwww" moment.
As always, thank you to Orbit Books for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!
Publish Date: Nov 19th
Let's start with the good things...
I loved the multiple POVs. I enjoy being able to see whats currently happening with each involved party as the story goes on and then seeing them all collide at the end. I also LOVED Sonja's relationship and interaction with her horse. They were quite the dynamic duo!
And now the icky things...
This whole book was a contradiction. I have a weird suspicion that the author has some kind of twisted "love"-hate relationship with fantasy novels. I don't know if this is the authors first novel outside of her normal comic book writing, but that's what it feels like. "I should write a fantasy novel to try to make it into the main stream" and then wrote what she thought a "stereotypical" fantasy novel should be.
The result was mostly a complete mess. She gave us the same ol' linear, attractive, brutal, ill mannered, half naked and frivolous FMC. Red Sonja is a legend...a myth...but she manages to get snuck up on and caught off guard too many times to count by nobodies. This was too close to a comic book that you would expect the same cheesy scenes from just done a little different where you chuckle and enjoy yourself. Definitely not a fantasy novel.
Publish Date: Nov 19th
Let's start with the good things...
I loved the multiple POVs. I enjoy being able to see whats currently happening with each involved party as the story goes on and then seeing them all collide at the end. I also LOVED Sonja's relationship and interaction with her horse. They were quite the dynamic duo!
And now the icky things...
This whole book was a contradiction. I have a weird suspicion that the author has some kind of twisted "love"-hate relationship with fantasy novels. I don't know if this is the authors first novel outside of her normal comic book writing, but that's what it feels like. "I should write a fantasy novel to try to make it into the main stream" and then wrote what she thought a "stereotypical" fantasy novel should be.
The result was mostly a complete mess. She gave us the same ol' linear, attractive, brutal, ill mannered, half naked and frivolous FMC. Red Sonja is a legend...a myth...but she manages to get snuck up on and caught off guard too many times to count by nobodies. This was too close to a comic book that you would expect the same cheesy scenes from just done a little different where you chuckle and enjoy yourself. Definitely not a fantasy novel.
Yes please and thank you! This book was so good!
Dark Academia - Check
Touch Her and Die - Check
Revenge - Check
Enemies to Lovers - DOUBLE check
This story was fast paced and nothing was drawn out or slow. The only thing that lacked for me was world building in the beginning, BUT I think it's only because I found the concept of the magic system and the different types of magic users so intriguing and there was a lot of history that we just weren't told that I would like to know about. A prequel to give us the history leading up to this story would be amazing!
There is a second book (maybe some of that history is covered in that book?) and I'm going to start it tomorrow because I NEED to know what happens next!
Dark Academia - Check
Touch Her and Die - Check
Revenge - Check
Enemies to Lovers - DOUBLE check
This story was fast paced and nothing was drawn out or slow. The only thing that lacked for me was world building in the beginning, BUT I think it's only because I found the concept of the magic system and the different types of magic users so intriguing and there was a lot of history that we just weren't told that I would like to know about. A prequel to give us the history leading up to this story would be amazing!
There is a second book (maybe some of that history is covered in that book?) and I'm going to start it tomorrow because I NEED to know what happens next!
I don't think I can properly give this book a rating. My friends and I used it to give Fable's bookclub system a try so we picked something short and easy.
This story was written so long ago that I feel like I would be doing it dirty to give it a star rating because it would be low. But only because its dated material but had I read it when published and was in the targeted age group, I may have enjoyed it.
This story was written so long ago that I feel like I would be doing it dirty to give it a star rating because it would be low. But only because its dated material but had I read it when published and was in the targeted age group, I may have enjoyed it.
Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC of The Ravenswood Witch.
This book is very well written! I will definitely be looking into other books by this author. The concept of the story was super interesting and right up my alley. The world building and character discovery in the beginning was well laid out and got me excited for what I was about to read.
However, the story started to nose dive for a long time. Some of the scenes were good but there was a lot of "fluff" and stuff that could have been left out. The book was 293 pages and it wasn't until page 261 that the "who done it" part came to light. That left the most exciting part of the story super rushed along with the wrap up. And at that point I had trudged thru so much that the ending kinda fell flat and I was left saying "oh, ok".
Overall, it was a quick read with compelling characters and a great atmosphere. This is more of a palate cleanser of a book if you need one but not one to rush to the top of your TBR.
This book is very well written! I will definitely be looking into other books by this author. The concept of the story was super interesting and right up my alley. The world building and character discovery in the beginning was well laid out and got me excited for what I was about to read.
However, the story started to nose dive for a long time. Some of the scenes were good but there was a lot of "fluff" and stuff that could have been left out. The book was 293 pages and it wasn't until page 261 that the "who done it" part came to light. That left the most exciting part of the story super rushed along with the wrap up. And at that point I had trudged thru so much that the ending kinda fell flat and I was left saying "oh, ok".
Overall, it was a quick read with compelling characters and a great atmosphere. This is more of a palate cleanser of a book if you need one but not one to rush to the top of your TBR.
As always, thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!
I have been looking forward to this book since I read the other 4 books in the series in May. I devoured those books in 4 days, which meant crying my eyes out for 4 days.
...I don't know what happened but I feel like a different person wrote this book compared to the other 4 books in the series. The way the different stories were told in this book was completely different than the previous books. The stories were so matter of fact and perhaps 3 or 4 pages of each short story was really engaging and as emotional as the previous books, but this one fell flat. I caught myself skimming half the book. I am so disappointed. Luckily, you can read each book as a stand alone so this one isn't needed to fill in anything from previous books.
I have been looking forward to this book since I read the other 4 books in the series in May. I devoured those books in 4 days, which meant crying my eyes out for 4 days.
...I don't know what happened but I feel like a different person wrote this book compared to the other 4 books in the series. The way the different stories were told in this book was completely different than the previous books. The stories were so matter of fact and perhaps 3 or 4 pages of each short story was really engaging and as emotional as the previous books, but this one fell flat. I caught myself skimming half the book. I am so disappointed. Luckily, you can read each book as a stand alone so this one isn't needed to fill in anything from previous books.