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lilithmoon's reviews
210 reviews
Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-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
I really liked the whimsical writing style and the uniquely thought out fantasy elements. I feel like the first half of the book could have been fleshed out a bit more but once the plot got moving the whole book became SO good. I was hooked! I can't wait to keep reading this series :)
Flame and Starlight by Dana Isaly
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
It is just a less detailed PG-13 version of ACOTAR. The nickname 'little duck' made me want to puke.
A Duet with the Siren Duke by Elise Kova
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
What a great book! It is by far the best in the Married to magic series so far. The only reason this is a 4.25 for me is because it dragged on in some parts. However, I need to stress, that while I didn't think this book was perfect, it is a book I will remember for all the best reasons, so I would highly recommend the read. WHAT AN ENDING! <3
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
I'm not a big fan of memoirs but this book is phenomenal! It's so honest and well thought out. I think there will be something in this book that everyone can relate to in some way or learn from. I'm glad I stepped out of reading comfort zone to read it.
A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair
3.0
As someone who adores Greek Mythology I was very eager to start reading this series. I do personally like this series and Scarlett St. Clair has an interesting take on this classical myth especially when it comes to the twist of Persephone's powers. However, at times this book fell short of its potential which in hindsight really let the story down. (No spoilers)
The way gods and mortals interact in the story is similar to how they are described as interacting in Greek Mythology. One thing is for certain in this story, Scarlett knows her Greek mythology and she brings that knowledge to the table when reimagining the stories. The minor characters mentioned in the story personified their Greek myth counterparts with similar but modern interpretations. A warning for future readers, if you are going to research a character to learn about their Greek myth version, do it after you've finished reading as you may end up spoiling their storyline as I did with Minthe.
Persephone sometimes felt like a relatable character and I understood her decisions then she would sometimes lack all complexity and make mistakes repetitively. Her powers, or lack thereof, was an interesting twist and definitely made her a more interesting character that some versions of her. Very little is explained about her past apart from the fact she was unhappy living in her mother's 'prison' of sorts which again took away from the depth this story could have explored in its characters. It wasn't uncommon for any minor characters to lack depth, it was like they only existed to interact with the main characters. They would be described and then no more information about their past or interests was ever mentioned again unless it was relevant to the main characters romance.
The romance, what we really came to this story for...
What forms between Hades and Persephone is the stereotypical 'edgy bad boy loves the troubled but good hearted girl' trope. Romance is honestly the only plot actually happening in the story or at least the only one of importance. Other small story lines do occur but only when it's conveniently not disrupting the couple from forming a relationship. It becomes predictable that there will be a romantic part then a problem appears, is sorted, then another romantic scene occurs. It is almost too much of a good thing when it comes to how much romance this book has and it makes the book rather slow and unexciting at times. I however, am a complete sucker for the surprisingly healthy and loving relationship that forms between Hades and Persephone and if you like the cliche young adult types of romance I would highly recommend this book to you.
If you enjoy Greek mythology being reimagined or the bad boy romance trope I would highly recommend reading this book as I did find it very engaging while reading it. It is only with hindsight I see the problems that limit this book from being a perfect reversal take on this classical story.
The way gods and mortals interact in the story is similar to how they are described as interacting in Greek Mythology. One thing is for certain in this story, Scarlett knows her Greek mythology and she brings that knowledge to the table when reimagining the stories. The minor characters mentioned in the story personified their Greek myth counterparts with similar but modern interpretations. A warning for future readers, if you are going to research a character to learn about their Greek myth version, do it after you've finished reading as you may end up spoiling their storyline as I did with Minthe.
Persephone sometimes felt like a relatable character and I understood her decisions then she would sometimes lack all complexity and make mistakes repetitively. Her powers, or lack thereof, was an interesting twist and definitely made her a more interesting character that some versions of her. Very little is explained about her past apart from the fact she was unhappy living in her mother's 'prison' of sorts which again took away from the depth this story could have explored in its characters. It wasn't uncommon for any minor characters to lack depth, it was like they only existed to interact with the main characters. They would be described and then no more information about their past or interests was ever mentioned again unless it was relevant to the main characters romance.
The romance, what we really came to this story for...
What forms between Hades and Persephone is the stereotypical 'edgy bad boy loves the troubled but good hearted girl' trope. Romance is honestly the only plot actually happening in the story or at least the only one of importance. Other small story lines do occur but only when it's conveniently not disrupting the couple from forming a relationship. It becomes predictable that there will be a romantic part then a problem appears, is sorted, then another romantic scene occurs. It is almost too much of a good thing when it comes to how much romance this book has and it makes the book rather slow and unexciting at times. I however, am a complete sucker for the surprisingly healthy and loving relationship that forms between Hades and Persephone and if you like the cliche young adult types of romance I would highly recommend this book to you.
If you enjoy Greek mythology being reimagined or the bad boy romance trope I would highly recommend reading this book as I did find it very engaging while reading it. It is only with hindsight I see the problems that limit this book from being a perfect reversal take on this classical story.
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
2.0
This book was overall not good for pretty much every reason... The book is split into two and after the first half I was very close to just putting it down and being rid if it. While it did get better in the second half, it wasn;t by a lot.
Why it sucks: (Yes, I'm making a list here!)
- Nothing was original... I know it is a story about fay and in a genre of books that tend to upcycle ideas or characters from other work but this book was just a bad combination of other book characters and ideas crammed together and made worse in the process. E.g Grimalkin, the cat is just a slightly evil version of the cat from Alice in Wonderland, Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream is just crammed into the cast when he could have very well been his own original character. Pretty much the main characters of of A Midsummer Night's Dream are used and it comes across that the author was too lazy to create her own characters so just used someone else's and made them emotionally flat. There are whole scenes in the book that are in other, more famous work, and they all get emotionally dumbed down for this story.
- Megan Chase is the worst main character. While reading the book I made some notes on what I thought about her and they went like this... "Not emotionally deep. So very dumb. So whiny. Doesn't have realistic reactions to anything, Pathetic." I just really didn't like her. At one point I was reading and realised I had completely forgotten Megan's name. He's just not what I want in a main character. (There was also one moment when she was suddenly smart but then returned to being dumb straight after, we love the consistency.)
- The romance that occurs is predictable and also completely undeveloped. It went from 'looking at a hot guy' to 5 seconds later 'being soulmates' with no real explanation as to how they suddenly felt this way. By the end I was really questioning why the two of them were in love, nothing in the story happened to justify their romance other than this book wanted romance to be a theme. I clearly missed the part where the characters built up a strong, passionate and loving relationship that I was meant to care about so instead felt like I was just watching two emotionally dull people pretend to be in love...
- I just didn't care by the end. You realise that nothing will be unexpected and the characters honestly should just die because at least that would be interesting.
Why I kept reading:
- Ash. At the strat when we didn't know who he was it offered some mystery to the book which was desperately needed. The part where they first meet is, in my opinion, the best part of the whole book. He might be the only interesting character in the story not directly taken from other literature.
- The plot was occasionally interesting when we got ino describing the interesting world of the Fay and the other creates. (Shout out to the "rat pack" for making the ending bearable...)
- We learn the rules of Fay society along with Megan so if you don't have a knowledge of Fay worlds from other books you can still read this book and not get confused.
I won't be bothering to read the next book in this series... Not recommended by me sorry.
Why it sucks: (Yes, I'm making a list here!)
- Nothing was original... I know it is a story about fay and in a genre of books that tend to upcycle ideas or characters from other work but this book was just a bad combination of other book characters and ideas crammed together and made worse in the process. E.g Grimalkin, the cat is just a slightly evil version of the cat from Alice in Wonderland, Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream is just crammed into the cast when he could have very well been his own original character. Pretty much the main characters of of A Midsummer Night's Dream are used and it comes across that the author was too lazy to create her own characters so just used someone else's and made them emotionally flat. There are whole scenes in the book that are in other, more famous work, and they all get emotionally dumbed down for this story.
- Megan Chase is the worst main character. While reading the book I made some notes on what I thought about her and they went like this... "Not emotionally deep. So very dumb. So whiny. Doesn't have realistic reactions to anything, Pathetic." I just really didn't like her. At one point I was reading and realised I had completely forgotten Megan's name. He's just not what I want in a main character. (There was also one moment when she was suddenly smart but then returned to being dumb straight after, we love the consistency.)
- The romance that occurs is predictable and also completely undeveloped. It went from 'looking at a hot guy' to 5 seconds later 'being soulmates' with no real explanation as to how they suddenly felt this way. By the end I was really questioning why the two of them were in love, nothing in the story happened to justify their romance other than this book wanted romance to be a theme. I clearly missed the part where the characters built up a strong, passionate and loving relationship that I was meant to care about so instead felt like I was just watching two emotionally dull people pretend to be in love...
- I just didn't care by the end. You realise that nothing will be unexpected and the characters honestly should just die because at least that would be interesting.
Why I kept reading:
- Ash. At the strat when we didn't know who he was it offered some mystery to the book which was desperately needed. The part where they first meet is, in my opinion, the best part of the whole book. He might be the only interesting character in the story not directly taken from other literature.
- The plot was occasionally interesting when we got ino describing the interesting world of the Fay and the other creates. (Shout out to the "rat pack" for making the ending bearable...)
- We learn the rules of Fay society along with Megan so if you don't have a knowledge of Fay worlds from other books you can still read this book and not get confused.
I won't be bothering to read the next book in this series... Not recommended by me sorry.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
5.0
I love this book so much!
As soon as I started reading it was one exciting moment after the next. This fast pace was very enjoyable and I couldn't stop myself from finishing the book in one day!
It is a similar idea to the first ACOTAR (strong female mortal amongst fey) but a lot more plot and character focused. The book isn't as romance driven, instead highlighting other relationships, such as the relationship between siblings (but don't worry there is still some heartthrob moments!) The main character had a very good arch and I found her to be a good balance of flawed and strong characteristics. In book two the story tends to focus a lot more on the politics of the royal family which isn't just a background plot while the romance was center stage, but rather the focus of the story with romance being naturally weaved throughout.
The Fay lore in the book is really interesting and the book handles some very mature themes, mainly violence, but it isn't very sexually explicit (which adds some variety to this often very steamy genre.) I really like that this book fits in well with this genre yet isn't just the same story of all the others, it brings new things to the table and I felt like it balanced them well.
While I did love all the characters for what they brought to the story I will admit that sometimes they would have been developed a little bit more *cough* the princes *cough* instead focus was put on what Jude was experiencing which wasn't too much of a loss in terms of storytelling.
I highly recommend this book but it does require you to pay attention, it isn't a simple light read due to the complex plot twists and important character interactions but it is a very rewarding book which offered me lots of enjoyment.
I am very keen to read the second book!
As soon as I started reading it was one exciting moment after the next. This fast pace was very enjoyable and I couldn't stop myself from finishing the book in one day!
It is a similar idea to the first ACOTAR (strong female mortal amongst fey) but a lot more plot and character focused. The book isn't as romance driven, instead highlighting other relationships, such as the relationship between siblings (but don't worry there is still some heartthrob moments!) The main character had a very good arch and I found her to be a good balance of flawed and strong characteristics. In book two the story tends to focus a lot more on the politics of the royal family which isn't just a background plot while the romance was center stage, but rather the focus of the story with romance being naturally weaved throughout.
The Fay lore in the book is really interesting and the book handles some very mature themes, mainly violence, but it isn't very sexually explicit (which adds some variety to this often very steamy genre.) I really like that this book fits in well with this genre yet isn't just the same story of all the others, it brings new things to the table and I felt like it balanced them well.
While I did love all the characters for what they brought to the story I will admit that sometimes they would have been developed a little bit more *cough* the princes *cough* instead focus was put on what Jude was experiencing which wasn't too much of a loss in terms of storytelling.
I highly recommend this book but it does require you to pay attention, it isn't a simple light read due to the complex plot twists and important character interactions but it is a very rewarding book which offered me lots of enjoyment.
I am very keen to read the second book!