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leneedh's Reviews (19)
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
This beautifully captures complex emotions of grief and liberation. I appreciated the theme of Venus slowly learning to accept the darker parts of herself through “It” essentially representing the “shadow self.” It was my favorite part of the book. The author did an amazing job of using symbolism to portray how shadow work functions in real life spiritualism/occultism. Venus had to stop suppressing her negative emotions over time, learning how to use them and how to process her trauma. Once she stopped fighting to keep “It” under control, they found common ground until they learned to work together.
So many people, especially women, are raised to suppress their anger, their needs, their selfishness until it strangles them. There’s something gratifying about a story where a character is not punished for embracing the full capacity of her power and emotions, but encouraged and rewarded for it.
So many people, especially women, are raised to suppress their anger, their needs, their selfishness until it strangles them. There’s something gratifying about a story where a character is not punished for embracing the full capacity of her power and emotions, but encouraged and rewarded for it.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault
hopeful
lighthearted
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
I was presently surprised by how much I enjoyed this one on a technical writing level. I usually struggle with contemporary romance books but this one was skillfully put together with strong characterization.
There were some minimal mistakes with mixed present and past tense in sentences and maybe a typo or two. But overall for an indie book this seemed well polished.
I enjoyed the tension with their careers and found it very grounded and relatable. I wished the romance had a LITTLE more build up or obstacles as it felt like the rivals part of this wasn’t quite given enough room to breathe. But their story is compelling enough even with that small nitpick.
Overall an enjoyable read and lovely sapphic rep!
There were some minimal mistakes with mixed present and past tense in sentences and maybe a typo or two. But overall for an indie book this seemed well polished.
I enjoyed the tension with their careers and found it very grounded and relatable. I wished the romance had a LITTLE more build up or obstacles as it felt like the rivals part of this wasn’t quite given enough room to breathe. But their story is compelling enough even with that small nitpick.
Overall an enjoyable read and lovely sapphic rep!
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
sad
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
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
As always Valeria writes with precision. Every word in every line of her poetry is thoughtful and filled with purpose that pierces straight through the soul. Her work is both challenging but accessible and a perfect read to be kept beside the bedside table, digested slowly and thoughtfully. Even if you’re not an avid poetry reader this is a must!
informative
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The .75 is because it’s sapphic and I’ll always give points for that. Unfortunately the writing felt unpolished. The relationship felt like it lacked depth and real build up to justify the story, which disappointed me because by the end I was genuinely interested in the characters but them being together did not feel earned. They’re together just because the author wanted them to be without making them really work for it or showing why or how they end up close beyond lust.
The world building felt very shoddy and like the author assumed readers were already familiar. It was a bit offputting to have the guide at the beginning with species and stats instead of these things being explained and *shown* in the narrative itself. I did not even know it was 100% urban fantasy within the real world until California was mentioned randomly.
Lastly, I was dissatisfied with this take on vampirism. Which is more of a personal taste and opinion, but it felt more like elves with a blood kink than actual vampires. I believe speaking historically vampirism is meant to be symbolism for many things, it is meant to be the forbidden, the repression of desire unleashed, etc. having them be outright copy and paste of medieval patriarchy and monarchy just fell flat for me.
The world building felt very shoddy and like the author assumed readers were already familiar. It was a bit offputting to have the guide at the beginning with species and stats instead of these things being explained and *shown* in the narrative itself. I did not even know it was 100% urban fantasy within the real world until California was mentioned randomly.
Lastly, I was dissatisfied with this take on vampirism. Which is more of a personal taste and opinion, but it felt more like elves with a blood kink than actual vampires. I believe speaking historically vampirism is meant to be symbolism for many things, it is meant to be the forbidden, the repression of desire unleashed, etc. having them be outright copy and paste of medieval patriarchy and monarchy just fell flat for me.