noisydeadlines's reviews
678 reviews

Priest by Sierra Simone

emotional inspiring 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

5.0

This book is not for the faint of heart. It deals with a priest struggling with temptation and sin and the need to control his feelings. The POV is entirely by the male protagonist, Father Bell (no dual POV here, expect for a few confession passages in the female protagonist voice). The whole book could be very cringe, but somehow the author manages to make it beautiful and touching. It's sexual and emotional. It plays with the forbidden love trope with all the struggles these characters felt. The writing is beautiful.

Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher

adventurous funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was a fun read! Lovely writing, great plot, gorgeous romance. The main characters are Istvhan, a Paladin (whose God died), and Clara, a nun, who cross paths and join forces to deal with some evil problems. They go on a long road trip together! I like that the romance is between two people in their 40's and they are both tall, big and strong. The banter was delicious and funny. Seeing them complain together about their aches and pain was hilarious. The worldbuilding is excellent and makes me want to spend more time in it. It has dark tones, some terrible things happen and there is violence, but the characters are trying to make the world a better place and helping each other. A major plot point that starts in Book 1 is resolved in this book. I want to read the next one!

The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.0

I was a bit disappointed with this book. It has been on my TBR for a long time and I finally got a chance to read it. It starts really well, with a gripping opening scene where I saw a lot of potential. I mean, a beautiful princess who’s secretly a spy? I loved that premise. The world building is well done and the Bridge Kingdom is fascinating. But I thought the interpersonal relationships and the whole forced marriage trope to be weak and not interesting at all. It also uses the lack of communication trope which annoyed me a bit. The plot became incredibly predictable after a while. 

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

slow-paced

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

2.0

The faerie lore in this book is interesting, it has a whimsical feel to it but with a more verbose prose. The beginning was interesting: a scholar, Emily Wilde,  spends some time in this small wintery village doing research.  She is portrayed as an introvert neuro-divergent scientist, so I kinda liked that part of her personality at the beginning. The winter ambience was nice, it felt atmospheric.  The narrative style starts interesting, with her journal entries. But I thought it lacked a personal touch. At times it seems like she's writing an academic journal, but she also uses it to write about her day to day, and the language does not seem to be intimate enough for a personal journal. I found the pacing of the book very uneven, and it seemed nothing was happening to move the plot for a long time. None of the main characters were likeable to me. I really didn't care about them at all. But I cared about the magical dog, Shadow. 

I couldn't understand Emily's love-hate relationship with Wendell. It this is supposed to be a romance, I couldn't see any of it. Some places classify this book as cozy. I don't agree. There are gruesome scenes, and did Emily just tortured a fairy child? Poking steel into it? Also she cuts her finger off. The mystery about Wendell's origin was not a mystery at all, since she already suspected it. It was something resolved within a paragraph, there was no tension or built-up to this plot line.

The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

adventurous funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book starts with young Miles Vorkosigan doing 17-year-old shenanigans in space. It's super fun, fast paced with the most absurd heist escapades. I couldn't help but love Mile's "in control" attitude but also internally panicking about the situations he put himself into. 
The story includes a lot of military strategy, which is never boring due to its absurdity.  Miles is an engaging character—confident, super smart, and likely has ADHD (super active). We also see him struggling with his decisions and feeling uncertain, making him relatable despite his crazy choices.   He's lucky and always wants to help people, so it's hard not to like him. 
 Miles has a physical disability and knows his limitations (most of the time), but he never feels like less of a person because of it. Overall, he's a very confident and funny guy. It was a fun read. 
I want to continue with the series.

Never Have I Ever With a Duke by Darcy Burke

lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

Cute romance, but I didn't find it engaging. I think I had issues with the writing style, something didn't click with me. I think it was too predictable. The dog (Buscuit) was great, tho!

Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

Barrayar continues right after the events of "Shards of Honor". Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan are now in their new political leadership roles in Barrayar. We spend most of the time inside Cordelia's head, and I loved it! She is trying to adapt to barrayaran cultural standard while trying to change a few things. We get a lot more worldbuilding that is expertly done as the story develops. There are excellent interactions between characters: they grow and evolve. There are heart-breaking moments, but also good action-packed scenes. It plays with this duality of technologies of birth and death. But there is so much more: motherhood, cultural differences, warfare, love, vengeance. It was so exciting to see Cordelia taking charge of things in the end and being just bad-ass (that's the scene where she "goes shopping" - if you know you know). It was a very good read!

Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was a great read for me! I loved how it played with Fantasy/Dungeon & Dragons elements. An order of Paladins struggles after their God (The Saint of Steel) dies mysteriously. Most of them go berserk and only a few three of them survived. The surviving paladins join the Temple of the White Rat, an order focused on public services such as law and medicine. They aim to stay useful while coping with the severe psychological impact of their god's death. Stephen is one of them, and he just wants to help people, while battling with his depression. One night he meets Grace, a woman fleeing from the acolytes of the Hanged Mother cult. She is an independent perfumer, who has learned to fend for herself. There are also mysterious murders going on, many severed heads, political intrigue and romance. And it's fun, I loved the sense of humour of this book. I want to read the second one to learn more about the severed heads mystery (and the other Paladins!).

Gentle Rogue by Johanna Lindsey
Did not finish book. Stopped at 47%.

it's a romance, I got to 47% to realize I don't like the romance itself. I didn't like the characters. The first sex scene completely put me off this one. 

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.

 It's too abstract ro me, too wordy, I couldn't get into it