olivia_coleman's reviews
31 reviews

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas

4.0

I have been craving something sweet and wholesome to read. This was a nice break it was nice to see the group healing for the most part and enjoyed seeing Feyre’s continuing evolution as an artist. 

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

3.75

This book was just alright yet I was not the target audience. I read this for book club I don’t think I would have ever picked this out myself. My favorite part of this book is when the cat refers to dry cat kibble as crunchies. This books was essentially broken up into four reflections/nostalgic retellings of different stories of friendship in the main character life weaved in with some parts of modern day. I was not a big fan of the short story feeling that gave. I also found the book to be slightly unbelievable because of how well behaved the cat was, how accommodating the world was to cats and how the main character never seemed upset or mad at the world for the cards he was drawn

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

4.0

I liked this book slightly less than Gideon. My minor issue was the setting I dislike sci-fi media on spaceships. It often makes it feel more like a traveling forward book where I prefer my media to have one or a few settings and we get to explore the area a little more. My main issue was the shifting time lines. I prefer a book to be in a chronological order and I dont think we got anything from the few chapters out of order being out of order. Also with the splitting between the alt world and the real world annoyed me at times I hated that we get left on cliff hangers then have multiple chapters in the other before we return making it hard to remember where we left off between reading sessions. I also found that I liked the alt world way more most of time. I liked the characters

(mostly lady’s Pents)

reaction to harrows alt world and breaking the 3rd wall with her. I also loved how nurturing both

lady pent and mangas

were to harrow

like they were for the 4th children

. I also enjoyed the use of perspective in this book. I appreciate we also got chapters from Gideons perspective eventually. Her brashness makes her my favorite character. I found it so cute that she was having her internal monologue as if it was a conversation with Harrow. I am glad we finally are getting all the answers to Gideon’s back story. I know that at the end of the chapter

with Gideon being in the river it says she died but did she really. My current theory is that harrow is taking her body back now that shes not in the river.

I have hope for a happy ending eventually because of what

Septimus says in the last alt world chapter “there’s a difference between keeping a shred of a dance card and saving the last dance”.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

4.0

Found the second half of this book to be much better than the first half. I really struggled in the beginning it seemed like all they were ever doing was getting drunk at different functions for the first half of the book. As someone who does not enjoy drinking it made it difficult to connect with the characters. As the story continued and they were doing less drinking/partying and doing more to develop the characters I became more attached to the story. 

I really like how the book captured the long distance relationship across multiple different forms of communication. I also found them using quotes at the end of there emails to be very cute and endearing.

The President really gave me the ick when she kept pressuring her son about if this was forever because it’s not just his decision and they are so young

Lastly some of the chapters seemed so long I wish they had broken them down into smaller chapters as someone who always likes to end on a chapter break

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

4.5

This book was hard to get into. It had a lot of characters that each had about 3 names each making it hard to keep track of. This book also had a lot of big words and lots of anatomy lingo I did not understand. felt like reading futuristic pride and prejudice. 

Yet once challenges came into play it started to get so good. This book constantly kept me on my feet with its twist and turns. Along with all the drama made by having so many characters.

In my last book I complained about how no one died yet in this book practically everyone died more than I would have liked. It did make the keeping track of all the characters a lot easier in the end. I could tell as the book got closer to the end that Gideon was not going to make it. Also the title of the next book also led me to my suspicions of this.

I wish Gideon had survived. Her budding romance with Harrow was so cute and I’m sad it didn’t get to evolve more. You can’t give me the line “Gideon could have kissed her” and THEY NEVER KISS. If Harrow finds love in the next book and Gideon has to live in her head and has to witnesses everything I will be pissed. 

I also have a sneaking suspicion that Harrow was already an unknowing Lyctor before she arrived to Canaan house because of all the ninth souls already inside her before/when she was born. 

I also did not trust Ianthe from the beginning because of ACOTR .

Also I wanted to know so much more about Gideon family/backstory and the other Gideon and other Lyctors. Upset this went unresolved. Also how did she survive the killing of all the ninth youth? Did she have some unknown/under developed power?

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

3.75

This books it was less romance and more war than the others making it currently my least favorite. Although this is the only book in the series that has made me cry. Normally that makes me rank a book higher. I really enjoyed the start of this book with Feyre and the

deception/demise of the spring court.

Out of all the battle scene my favorite was

Hyberns attack on Velaris

. You got to see Feyre actually harness her gift to their full potential. I loved in the last book the relationship the inner circle was building yet in this book it seemed like they kept using the excuse of it being war to mistreat each other as friends. I did enjoy the exploration of the relationships between the Archeron sisters throughout the book. I’m not a big fan of redemptions and the redemption of

father Archeron

was not as emotional/effective for me.

Also they fight in this hard battle and no one in the core group stays dead or none of the other high lords get killed!! I’m glad Rhysand did get revived yet found it fishy that he didn’t also get the gifts of the lords like Feyre. Kinda feel like he’s lying and they will become king and queen of Prythian like foreshadowed earlier in the book. Was kinda happy that Amren got released by the cauldron and kinda wish she had stayed in that form it would have been sad yet touching

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

5.0

I thought this book did an amazing job at developing all the different relationships and not just the romantic ones. I also loved that Feyre slowly rekindles her love of art through the novel. The only thing I found confusing about this book was the time line. So much stuff was happening I assumed it was happening over a longer span of time. 

Also I would like to add that after reading two books by this author she knows how to wrap up a novel. Books without solid endings are becoming my new pet peeve because of it. 

Lastly maybe because I know that this is a more complete series. So I can kinda relax even though the steaks are there I’m not necessarily stressed and feel like everything will work out in the end

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

3.75

This book was what I expected and easy to predict. My favorite POV was definitely the octopus. Didn’t hate it didn’t love it. 

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

4.0

This book was quite slow I thought at the beginning. I get it you made a vow to your mother and want to get back to your family. 

I found spring court being stuck wearing masks to be a silly concept and definitely could not take that seriously. 

The thing I appreciated the most about this book is how Freya's hobby of painting was actually explored and talked about through the book. Benedict Bridgerton could never.

I also enjoyed reading a book that wrapped up and had a solid endings.

Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana

3.5

I loved all the fantasy elements of this book. I started off liking the romance in the book yet then it quickly turned at the end. The romance scene in the kitchen between Asher and Lore felt unnecessary. It was so close to the end of the book I wish we got more of the fantasy story at that point. Also the disrespect on

the table that you and Finn worked at girl!

They had to handle the love triangle yet the author had laid clues and I’m surprised I didn’t connect the dots sooner. I could tell that this book was not going to wrap up nicely based on how much of the book was left.