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readsforlove's reviews
828 reviews
All The Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows
2.5
Part of what I loved about book 1 is how mature the MCs were, and how they talked about stuff. I hate miscommunication as a trope (barring a few examples) and I knew it was going to be in this book, so I was trying to give it a chance but ... LORD. These boys. There's so much they don't resolve, even at the end, and I get more frustrated the more I think about it. They both care so deeply for each other, and yes they're each hurt deeply and dealing with that in their own ways, but I really wish they had some sit down convos to work stuff out, especially before they got to the city. Instead, they just barely talk about any of it. (like, Cae triggering Val especially. They fight about it but don't ever talk about it to resolve it? Ugh.)
Not only was that driving me up a wall, but the whole mystery plot of things was annoying to me. I thought I had a good suspect, but who it ended up being was just ... weird and unbelievable in my opinion. I thought the whole thing could have been done much better. (And made different from book 1 cause it felt very similar.)
Also, this book was a lot spicier than the first one which was not my cup of tea, but I have a very low tolerance for spice, so take that with a grain of salt. (I also just ... did not get what the fuck was going on with Azrien and Naza. At all. Azrien really did not need a POV.)
Anyway, yeah, I don't regret having read this book, but it just was very underwhelming and miserable to get through and I wish it had been better.
Not only was that driving me up a wall, but the whole mystery plot of things was annoying to me. I thought I had a good suspect, but who it ended up being was just ... weird and unbelievable in my opinion. I thought the whole thing could have been done much better. (And made different from book 1 cause it felt very similar.)
Also, this book was a lot spicier than the first one which was not my cup of tea, but I have a very low tolerance for spice, so take that with a grain of salt. (I also just ... did not get what the fuck was going on with Azrien and Naza. At all. Azrien really did not need a POV.)
Anyway, yeah, I don't regret having read this book, but it just was very underwhelming and miserable to get through and I wish it had been better.
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows
4.5
My first question is why are more people not talking about this amazing book? I found it on Audible recs of all places after searching for a similar book to A Taste of Gold and Iron and was quickly swept away. Velasin and Caethari are ... wow. Like. This book is the arranged marriage trope, and while being an asexual makes this concept feel truly straight from a horror novel, the tenderness with which it happened in this book was just so so good. I'm having trouble finding words. They were each so tender and sweet and kind to each other, and there was no unnecessary drama, which I'd honestly been expecting. While things were by no means easy between them, they each went into the situation with grace, care, and honesty, despite there being ample opportunity to create drama. But they were both so refreshingly mature and sweet about everything, it makes me want to dive right back in for a reread from cover to cover.
Instead, I'm diving right into book 2, and I predict I will have the worst book hangover ever when I'm through.
Please do be sure to check content warnings before going into this novel though!! Very heavy topics are addressed and depicted on page, and while it's done with care, it's still important to go into the novel consciously.
Instead, I'm diving right into book 2, and I predict I will have the worst book hangover ever when I'm through.
Please do be sure to check content warnings before going into this novel though!! Very heavy topics are addressed and depicted on page, and while it's done with care, it's still important to go into the novel consciously.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity and Vomit
The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
I just can't deal with the lack of backstory we have on the characters. Things keep happening and I can't make myself care because there's too much suspension of disbelief regarding pretty much every aspect of the story. Cool concepts, but really bad execution and poor writing.
Curses by Lish McBride
1.0
Book 6 of the Trials of Beauty and the Beast retellings. (Yes, I am still suffering)
This one, amongst all the others, I think, pissed me off the most. (Which is saying something, because Hunted really pissed me off.) (...okay, maybe Hunted still takes the cake, but this comes pretty damn close.) The reason this almost surpasses Hunted is because of the promises that it takes in its pretty little fingers and squashes like a grape. This book promised a gender-bent retelling, heavily implying it would be feminist! Wohoo! What we get is a novel told from so many perspectives that it took ages to get into the story and care, a strange and frustrating mass of attempted themes that half heartedly tried to leap before they plummeted off a cliff, right along with any hope this novel had at being good by the 75% mark.
Because what happens 3/4 of the way through? I'll tell you what happens.Merit is drugged, turned into a mindless version of her beastly form, and out of commission for the entire rest of the book until the very end. I kept waiting for things to change, for her to fight the beast and win back her independence and freedom and her self, but she was the textbook damsel, and would have been royally fucked (literally) if not for Tevin, who deserved so much better because SURPRISE she also never really asked him about anything of importance? Ever? When they had their little tiff, he brought forth valid concerns that she didn't even blink at. This novel had a great opportunity to explore classism, and it just ... failed utterly? At every single turn? It made it into such a shallow theme that could be stated as "ooh how sexy and cute that a rich girl would marry a poor con artist" and I despise it.
The only reason I got through this book was because of how lovely the side characters were. But even then, when that Thing happened at the 75% mark, I almost DNFed right then and there. Like ... what? the fuck? I'm so livid. Why would they take the main character out of her own story?? It was the least empowering and feminist read I've done yet. Because in all the other B&B retellings, she at least is given the choice to return, and even then, the beast was neverreduced to a mindless monster. The beast was allowed to retain his humanity in all other versions I've read of this story, yet when we made that Beast a woman, we couldn't give her that, now could we?
Which leads to yet another thing that pissed me off about this book, which was that we're supposed to have a female monster. A womanly beast. And instead, we have this whole tincture situation, which again, Things (with a capital T!) could have been said about that, but the author just didn't utilize that and instead we are left with a non-monstrous heroine for many of the important scenes. Would it really have been the worst thing to let our lady Beast be trapped as a Beast for the whole story?
I could rant for much longer because there were lots of little things that rubbed me the wrong way about this book as well. (Like, what the fuck was this book trying to say about Merit and her mother? Who was the reason Merit was cursed? like???)
I did like Tevin a lot, though he did a complete character change right after the plot got going and fell for her so fast. It was not messy, really, and I honestly kind of wanted it to be because that's who we met at the beginning of the book, and then they changed. Not in a good, character-arc way. The change was immediate to suit the plot, and I am pissed off.
Val was pretty great though.
This one, amongst all the others, I think, pissed me off the most. (Which is saying something, because Hunted really pissed me off.) (...okay, maybe Hunted still takes the cake, but this comes pretty damn close.) The reason this almost surpasses Hunted is because of the promises that it takes in its pretty little fingers and squashes like a grape. This book promised a gender-bent retelling, heavily implying it would be feminist! Wohoo! What we get is a novel told from so many perspectives that it took ages to get into the story and care, a strange and frustrating mass of attempted themes that half heartedly tried to leap before they plummeted off a cliff, right along with any hope this novel had at being good by the 75% mark.
Because what happens 3/4 of the way through? I'll tell you what happens.
The only reason I got through this book was because of how lovely the side characters were. But even then, when that Thing happened at the 75% mark, I almost DNFed right then and there. Like ... what? the fuck? I'm so livid. Why would they take the main character out of her own story?? It was the least empowering and feminist read I've done yet. Because in all the other B&B retellings, she at least is given the choice to return, and even then, the beast was never
Which leads to yet another thing that pissed me off about this book, which was that we're supposed to have a female monster. A womanly beast. And instead, we have this whole tincture situation, which again, Things (with a capital T!) could have been said about that, but the author just didn't utilize that and instead we are left with a non-monstrous heroine for many of the important scenes. Would it really have been the worst thing to let our lady Beast be trapped as a Beast for the whole story?
I could rant for much longer because there were lots of little things that rubbed me the wrong way about this book as well. (Like, what the fuck was this book trying to say about Merit and her mother? Who was the reason Merit was cursed? like???)
I did like Tevin a lot, though he did a complete character change right after the plot got going and fell for her so fast. It was not messy, really, and I honestly kind of wanted it to be because that's who we met at the beginning of the book, and then they changed. Not in a good, character-arc way. The change was immediate to suit the plot, and I am pissed off.
Val was pretty great though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse
The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco
3.5
Another delightful read from Chupeco. It was after I spent three and a half hours riveted and unmoving that I realized I just need to go read every book by this author. They are incredible.
The premise was dope AF. A ghost that takes vengeance on the murderers of children? Hell. Yeah. I ate that shit up. It was scary and sad and well written. I loved how it was told from Okiku's point of view, and thought that was a really interesting choice.
I would have given this a solid four stars, but I had to knock off another half star because of the lack of emotional depth in the story. I really feel like there was a lot of potential to make me sob with the weight of this story. And it was so heavy. Like. Wow. But due to the distance of Okiku's narration, a lot of that emotional weight just didn't happen. Sure, it can be inferred and implied, but the narrative should work to evoke that. (It would have helped if the narration was shared between Okiku and Tark.) I think this is an area that Chupeco has really grown in, having read their most recent books first, so I think the issue is just that this was an early novel from this author. I still really enjoyed it, and have already downloaded the audiobook for the sequel. (I think Tark is the narrator in this one, which is very exciting!)
The premise was dope AF. A ghost that takes vengeance on the murderers of children? Hell. Yeah. I ate that shit up. It was scary and sad and well written. I loved how it was told from Okiku's point of view, and thought that was a really interesting choice.
I would have given this a solid four stars, but I had to knock off another half star because of the lack of emotional depth in the story. I really feel like there was a lot of potential to make me sob with the weight of this story. And it was so heavy. Like. Wow. But due to the distance of Okiku's narration, a lot of that emotional weight just didn't happen. Sure, it can be inferred and implied, but the narrative should work to evoke that. (It would have helped if the narration was shared between Okiku and Tark.) I think this is an area that Chupeco has really grown in, having read their most recent books first, so I think the issue is just that this was an early novel from this author. I still really enjoyed it, and have already downloaded the audiobook for the sequel. (I think Tark is the narrator in this one, which is very exciting!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Stalking
Hunted by Meagan Spooner
1.5
Good lord, this book has me pissed. This is the second installment in my Beauty and the Beast research, and ... wow. This was painful. I at least kind of enjoyed Robin McKinley's Beauty, but this ... like, damn.
Skipping over the usual problematic parts of the source material that this book tries to fix in one conversation 85% through the book (spoiler: it doesn't work), this book was just ... GAH.
Let's start with Yeva. She is ... stupid. But that foolishness is not very consistent, which is so. infuriating. The scenes where she is first captured by the Beast (and being held in a cell until she gets sick and almost dies) were probably the most infuriating part of the novel, because she just ... is so naive? And comes up with these assumptions with no fucking grounds for them??? like. girl.
She had the potential to be a good character, and I did like the heart of what the book was trying to say (chasing the things you want and turning again and again to the next thing in the hopes of finding it, but never succeeding) but the ending just completely negated that theme (as well as, you know, most of the novel also negating it). I can kind of see what this book was trying to be, but it just ... failed. Miserably. The Beast wasn't cruel, but he hurt her and manipulated her and I just don't get why??
Anyway, I'm already tired of writing this review so I'll end with the reason it gets a star--the writing was pretty. It felt really haunting and scary (would have worked so well as a horror, I'm telling you), and the magic system was really cool too. I loved the various magical creatures. They really took my breath away and heightened the fairytale experience of reading this.
Okay I'm going to go take a break from B&tB content to purge my weary soul of the ick.
Skipping over the usual problematic parts of the source material that this book tries to fix in one conversation 85% through the book (spoiler: it doesn't work), this book was just ... GAH.
Let's start with Yeva. She is ... stupid. But that foolishness is not very consistent, which is so. infuriating. The scenes where she is first captured by the Beast (and being held in a cell until she gets sick and almost dies) were probably the most infuriating part of the novel, because she just ... is so naive? And comes up with these assumptions with no fucking grounds for them??? like. girl.
She had the potential to be a good character, and I did like the heart of what the book was trying to say (chasing the things you want and turning again and again to the next thing in the hopes of finding it, but never succeeding) but the ending just completely negated that theme (as well as, you know, most of the novel also negating it). I can kind of see what this book was trying to be, but it just ... failed. Miserably. The Beast wasn't cruel, but he hurt her and manipulated her and I just don't get why??
Anyway, I'm already tired of writing this review so I'll end with the reason it gets a star--the writing was pretty. It felt really haunting and scary (would have worked so well as a horror, I'm telling you), and the magic system was really cool too. I loved the various magical creatures. They really took my breath away and heightened the fairytale experience of reading this.
Okay I'm going to go take a break from B&tB content to purge my weary soul of the ick.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood