Take a photo of a barcode or cover
lucybbookstuff's Reviews (378)
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Extremely silly, felt like an episode of scooby doo lol. The writing wasn't that great, the pacing was bonkers, and the mystery was kinda disappointing. But as a Midwesterner, I enjoyed the setting. And sometimes you just need a trash mystery. 🤪
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-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
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-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
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm having a hard time articulating all the reasons I didn't like this book, but I'll try...
- It read like a cheesy YA mystery. But about 35 and 60 year olds. That's not what I want from adult contemporary fiction. The writing fell completely flat for me.
- The original conflict was so convoluted and unbelievable. I struggled to care about any of it from the very beginning.
- The romance was ridiculously bad. I didn't hate Felix but their relationship was not explained remotely well and kept falling apart for the dumbest reasons.
- The magic system made no sense and was FULL of inconsistencies and plot holes. The ending especially was a big question mark.
- The villain and his motives were... very poorly conceived. Dude is basically just a psychotic incel. And I have no idea how the author wants me to feel about him. Obviously I don't like him but it almost seems like I was supposed to feel bad for him, which... no.I will say I was actually surprised by the William/Wally reveal, but I couldn't bring myself to care about it.
- I didn't dislike the flashback stories. I might have enjoyed a book just about the Cartographers in the 80s/90s more. But even so, their whole plot never made sense to me. Maybe I don't understand because I don't really care about maps, but what made them all so obsessed with this town? They should have ran and told the world immediately. Or left it alone. I don't even understand what they were trying to do with their project about it. And I don't care.
That's the main issue. I just didn't care AT ALL about ANY OF IT. If I weren't reading it for book club, I might have even DNF'd. It was so hard to make myself read this, but I forced myself to just to get it over with so I can start another book. 😅
I'm very excited to talk shit at book club and see if anyone feels as strongly as I do lolol.
- It read like a cheesy YA mystery. But about 35 and 60 year olds. That's not what I want from adult contemporary fiction. The writing fell completely flat for me.
- The original conflict was so convoluted and unbelievable. I struggled to care about any of it from the very beginning.
- The romance was ridiculously bad. I didn't hate Felix but their relationship was not explained remotely well and kept falling apart for the dumbest reasons.
- The magic system made no sense and was FULL of inconsistencies and plot holes. The ending especially was a big question mark.
- The villain and his motives were... very poorly conceived. Dude is basically just a psychotic incel. And I have no idea how the author wants me to feel about him. Obviously I don't like him but it almost seems like I was supposed to feel bad for him, which... no.
- I didn't dislike the flashback stories. I might have enjoyed a book just about the Cartographers in the 80s/90s more. But even so, their whole plot never made sense to me. Maybe I don't understand because I don't really care about maps, but what made them all so obsessed with this town? They should have ran and told the world immediately. Or left it alone. I don't even understand what they were trying to do with their project about it. And I don't care.
That's the main issue. I just didn't care AT ALL about ANY OF IT. If I weren't reading it for book club, I might have even DNF'd. It was so hard to make myself read this, but I forced myself to just to get it over with so I can start another book. 😅
I'm very excited to talk shit at book club and see if anyone feels as strongly as I do lolol.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Damn ok. I believed everyone when they said book 2 is better but damn is it BETTER.
Not entirely perfect. It took about half of it to really pull me in and make me care, which is a LONG TIME for a 600+ page book. But once it hooked me, I was completely gripped. I was in it and invested. The romance was so good; I had been skeptical of it but SJM definitely did a good job of explaining it. The ending had me REELING and I'm so excited for what must be a lot of political intrigue in book 3.
I have some of the same complaints about the writing, but it did improve. Writing the first book as a fairytale retelling was a shit idea and not well-executed. This book did well for not being tied to that anymore. But I still don't totally buy the world building. It seems very confused. I know it *can* be whatever the author wants but a lot of it just feels silly. We're seemingly in a medieval-style world, but with modern-ish clothes and lifestyle and appliances. 🤔 Pick one, babe.
The magic system also has no discernable rules. A lot of things were just a little too convenient.
Despite all of that, the depiction of trauma and mental illness is so well done. I have to give her props for that.Feyre lifting herself out of depression and discovering her powers and her strength and independence was really powerful. She was MUCH more likeable in this book.
It was very bold of SJM to write such a terrible first book with a romance that purposefully fell flat, and expect people to keep reading lol. But I'm glad I did.
I fought it hard, but you've pulled me in, SJM!!
Not entirely perfect. It took about half of it to really pull me in and make me care, which is a LONG TIME for a 600+ page book. But once it hooked me, I was completely gripped. I was in it and invested. The romance was so good; I had been skeptical of it but SJM definitely did a good job of explaining it. The ending had me REELING and I'm so excited for what must be a lot of political intrigue in book 3.
I have some of the same complaints about the writing, but it did improve. Writing the first book as a fairytale retelling was a shit idea and not well-executed. This book did well for not being tied to that anymore. But I still don't totally buy the world building. It seems very confused. I know it *can* be whatever the author wants but a lot of it just feels silly. We're seemingly in a medieval-style world, but with modern-ish clothes and lifestyle and appliances. 🤔 Pick one, babe.
The magic system also has no discernable rules. A lot of things were just a little too convenient.
Despite all of that, the depiction of trauma and mental illness is so well done. I have to give her props for that.
It was very bold of SJM to write such a terrible first book with a romance that purposefully fell flat, and expect people to keep reading lol. But I'm glad I did.
I fought it hard, but you've pulled me in, SJM!!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wow this was bad. 😅 But I'm not disappointed at least, because I expected it to be bad. It very much delivered on that score.
I'm not particularly into hate reading or picking up books I'm sure I won't like, but I did this as a buddy read with a friend just for some fluff. It also delivered that, I suppose. But I did find it harder to read than the average page turner since I literally did not care at all what was happening.
However, being so quick and fluffy, I may go ahead and hate read the next ones the next time I'm in need of quick fluff lol.
For the specifics of why it was bad:
- I think fairytale retellings are not for me. So much eye rolling. The curse reveal was ridiculous.
- Tropes on tropes on tropes. A rugged girl with dumb sisters and a dead mother to whom she made a mysterious promise. Really? And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
- The heroine is so unlikable. I found her narration incredibly annoying.
- Literally the only characters I liked were Lucien and Alis. The others were so uninteresting and stupid.
- The romance was supremely boring, nonsensical, and there was very little chemistry.
- Boring villain. Just pure evil. Her backstory was not enough to justify her reign of terror.
- I strongly prefer stories where I'm given pieces to put together for myself rather than having to wade confused through 200+ boring pages for a Big Reveal. I was getting really pissed at how little anyone was telling her.
- The answer to the riddle was ~*LOVE*~ fucking spare me. I had thought it might be that when I first read the riddle, but I dismissed it as being too obvious and stupid. Guess I shouldn't have given SJM that much credit.
- The writing was so bad. So many repeated words and phrases. Get a thesaurus, woman. Also too many ellipses. I don't need the emphasis to know how dumb Feyre is.
- Not nearly enough smut for what I was led to expect lol. That was honestly the only reason I picked it up tbh. I hear the next ones are better in this regard though.
- FUTURE BOOK SPOILER: I am torn though because I know she ends up with Rhysand but he was so revolting in this book. I realized by the end that it was all calculated for everyone's survival, but god was it disgusting and rapey. So I'm not sure I want to read about them getting together. But we'll see.
There's more but I'll leave it at that. 🤪 Like I said, it was decent as page turning fluff. I'll probably pick up the next one next time I need something like that.
I'm not particularly into hate reading or picking up books I'm sure I won't like, but I did this as a buddy read with a friend just for some fluff. It also delivered that, I suppose. But I did find it harder to read than the average page turner since I literally did not care at all what was happening.
However, being so quick and fluffy, I may go ahead and hate read the next ones the next time I'm in need of quick fluff lol.
For the specifics of why it was bad:
- I think fairytale retellings are not for me. So much eye rolling. The curse reveal was ridiculous.
- Tropes on tropes on tropes. A rugged girl with dumb sisters and a dead mother to whom she made a mysterious promise. Really? And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
- The heroine is so unlikable. I found her narration incredibly annoying.
- Literally the only characters I liked were Lucien and Alis. The others were so uninteresting and stupid.
- The romance was supremely boring, nonsensical, and there was very little chemistry.
- Boring villain. Just pure evil. Her backstory was not enough to justify her reign of terror.
- I strongly prefer stories where I'm given pieces to put together for myself rather than having to wade confused through 200+ boring pages for a Big Reveal. I was getting really pissed at how little anyone was telling her.
- The answer to the riddle was ~*LOVE*~ fucking spare me. I had thought it might be that when I first read the riddle, but I dismissed it as being too obvious and stupid. Guess I shouldn't have given SJM that much credit.
- The writing was so bad. So many repeated words and phrases. Get a thesaurus, woman. Also too many ellipses. I don't need the emphasis to know how dumb Feyre is.
- Not nearly enough smut for what I was led to expect lol. That was honestly the only reason I picked it up tbh. I hear the next ones are better in this regard though.
- FUTURE BOOK SPOILER: I am torn though because I know she ends up with Rhysand but he was so revolting in this book. I realized by the end that it was all calculated for everyone's survival, but god was it disgusting and rapey. So I'm not sure I want to read about them getting together. But we'll see.
There's more but I'll leave it at that. 🤪 Like I said, it was decent as page turning fluff. I'll probably pick up the next one next time I need something like that.