lanagio's reviews
505 reviews

Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

Reign by Siobhan Davis

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Rebellion by Siobhan Davis

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Resurrection by Siobhan Davis

dark emotional tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

Satan's Affair by H.D. Carlton
Did not finish book. Stopped at 10%.

Leaning wayy too heavy into the I’m-crazy-and-love-murder trope.  Like I’m totally down for that personality.  But this felt overdone and forced.  Also, the word “henchmen” was used so often by the FMC when referring to the men in her crew/harem that I searched it in my kindle and found that it was used SEVENTY-EIGHT times in the book.  I knew then that I would not be able to continue reading.

Misconduct by Penelope Douglas

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Five Brothers by Penelope Douglas

dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book got me good.  I honestly wasn't expecting it to be anything like what it was.  There was a lot more emotion than I had anticipated.  And depth.  
I for sure did not expect to like the FMC, Krisjen, as much as I did.  I found her to be a strong, genuine, kind and funny character.  I am also in love with every one of the Jaeger brothers.  Sigh.  Penelope Douglas did a nice job of giving them a variety of personalities and lives.  I felt like I knew each of them, and I liked all of them.  Maybe some of them Douglas had to reach a little to find where their tortured soul piece would come from, but even so I still felt it.
And Douglas does not disappoint with the spice.  Plenty of it and it's 🔥🔥🔥
CW: If you opt to read this, know going in that the FMC is 18 and the MMCs range in age from 20-31.  If you're not into age gap plots, this might not be the one for you.  Otherwise, I think you should read this book bro.

Credence by Penelope Douglas

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

An Echo of Darkness by Kristen Banet
Did not finish book. Stopped at 59%.

DNFed @ 59%.  Womp womp.  Things went downhill for me in this book.  I didn’t love the writing in any of the books in this series, it felt somewhat juvenile, but I did enjoy the storylines and characters.  I lost my interest in this one, way earlier than 59%, but tried to push through.  However I couldn’t tolerate Sawyer any longer.

Also, at the point I stopped reading “Godspeed” had been said 5 times, UNIRONICALLY, and “May the gods have mercy on us” was said once.  Absolutely not.

Bright side: there was less whispering in this one, although still far more than is normal or believable.  So anyway, yeah I’m tapping out on this series.  It wasn’t bad but I won’t be passing out recommendations.

A Nature of Conflict by Kristen Banet

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I didn't like this one as much as A Heart of Shame but I did still enjoy the storyline enough to continue the series for sure.  Kristen Banet has done a really nice job of tying the books together while also giving each one a new adventure for the group to handle.  It's quite cohesive and the plots are not over-complicated or bogged down in too many details.  It's what's kept me going with this series.

This one starts off slow in the adventure department and dives in the relationshippy stuff for the first.  Around 30% the team heads to NY for their scheduled meetings and that's when the politics aspect starts up and somewhere around 45% we find out where the team will be spending the rest of the book for the adventure portion.  I enjoyed the politic part & adventure part, relationship part was alright but somewhat boring honestly.

I must say this.  One of the things that bugged me most about this book (and the previous 2 honestly) is the overuse of specific verbs during dialogue.  NO ONE whispers or groans as much as these people supposedly do, and it's alway just, like, in the middle of a conversation.  I think it's supposed to just give variety & create tension but it comes off rough and makes characters seem like they're reacting to things in a way that doesn't make sense or isn't realistic.  It's so prevalent that I couldn't NOT notice it even when I tried to disregard it.

Sawyer is a badass, there's no question, but she's also kind of annoying to me.  She's fairly immature for a 24 year old woman with her lived experience.  She overreacts to things fairly regularly and even when it's not a dramatic overreaction, I often find her reactions to be irrational.

The MMCs are alright, I'm a fan of Quinn & Elijah, followed by Vincent.  Jasper & Zander are whatever for me.  I don't think I got any genuine laughs in (another overused verb, CHUCKLED), the banter isn't anything to write home about.  The sex scenes are not bad, some are better than others.  I am mostly here for the plot lines and Elijah & Quinn lol.  On to book 4!