sophiehatters's reviews
1002 reviews

A Deal with the Bossy Devil by Kyra Parsi

slow-paced

1.0

it pains me to give this book a one-star because i really did enjoy the book. the banter and chemistry between adrien and ariana were top notch and i liked that they genuinely hated each other in the beginning. so, when they finally jumped each other’s bones, all i could think about was “finally”.

however, i think that if you’re going to make your romance hero fuck up as much as adrien did—mind you he humiliated the fuck out of ariana—at the very least you need to give more room for him to repent, grovel—anything to make it up to her. what he did was despicable, and it was excruciating to see ariana being guilt-tripped into forgiving him. 

the issue was that the conflict materialized very late—around 86%-90% into the book, so when i got to that part, i was actually worried that it would be resolved too quickly. in the end, i was right to be worried. literally, some of the sex scenes could be cut out or minimized to fix this problem. i promise you, one less sex scene between the two wouldn’t have changed a single thing. they’re hot for each other and they have mad chemistry. that has been established!

i honestly think the author just got overzealous with the sex scenes. yeah, they’re hot (i skipped some) but, you might want to work on how you resolve your conflict because that wasn’t it.

Catnapped: A Pawsitively Purrfect Christmas by MINK

3.0

unserious and sickeningly sweet. this author really loves their cats because this is like, the fifth book of theirs where cats are at the forefront of the story. i mean, i’m not complaining—it’s a very cute quirk. what’s not to like about cats?

The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde
Did not finish book. Stopped at 49%.

i enjoyed the world building in this book, but that’s about it. i found kierse to be annoying—just a too op, femme fatale wannabe with no other interesting characteristics. graves was slightly intriguing, but only because we only see him through kierse’s eyes. i didn’t like him enough to continue this drivel. 

maybe one day i will go back to this. maybe not.

Sunsets & Other Dangerous Things by Dani Frank

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

a very cute and surprisingly deep book about finding a place in the world to call home. i loved ashley and esther’s relationship because of how easy and seamless it was. i think the idea to make ashley, the perpetual sunshine as the vampire, instead of the recluse esther, was a smart one.

the reason for the three stars are two things: first, i don’t think i could forgive august and esther for betraying ashley like that. especially august—i thought it was incredibly selfish of him to force esther to make that decision, justlike that. it makes me feel like he would throw ashley and esther under the bus if it meant he and uther could run off into the sunset. fuck that. 

second, the taylor swift references were too cringy for my taste, even if i’m a casual taylor swift listener.

Raising Hell by Melissa Haag

dark tense slow-paced

2.0

this book was just as aggravating as the first one. the only reason why i even finished it was because i wanted to know what in the frick was going on. however, we didn’t really find out much. the whole book pretty much went like this:

ashlyn: i’m not persephone. i’m human. you have to believe me!
hades: no you’re not. you’re playing me.
ashlyn: i swear i’m not lying. *shows proof* see! i’m not her!
hades: no.
ashlyn: but—
hades: NO.

and this happened again and again, until about 95% into the book where we finally found out what really went down with hades and the real persephone. at that point, i was already so exhausted with everything. 

also, correct me if i’m wrong but is ashlyn truly seventeen-years-old? she mentioned about her “almost eighteen years” of living among the children of gods, which got me scratching my head. she never acted like a regular 17-year-old. for all intents and purposes, she’s very mature, and handled her situation very well. so, i find it hard to believe she’s still a teenager, and i’m not saying this to belittle teenagers. 

i just think that there’s no reason why she couldn’t be 21+ considering the seriousness of the book.

Going to Hell (In Fire and Ash Book 1) by Melissa Haag

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

A Witch's Guide to Love and Poison by Aamna Qureshi

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious 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

4.75

full review closer to release date

The Butcher's Daughter by Corinne Leigh Clark, David Demchuk

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“Of course, once the doctor made me vow never to step foot in his surgery, my curiosity drew me towards it. I wonder now if that was his intention, if he already knew me better than I knew myself.”

just as haunting as it is heartbreaking, the butcher’s daughter follows the story of the notorious character, mrs lovett through her correspondences with a well-to-do journalist, miss emily gibson. i’ll be honest, my knowledge of the original sweeney todd is quite limited. i distinctly remember watching the 2007 film on dvd with my mother, and feeling disgusted with the subject matter. other than that, i don’t remember much. therefore, i went into this almost completely blind. 

the book started out at a snail pace—there were a lot of lull moments, and the narrative also got me a little confused. i had to flip the pages back and forth a couple of times to ensure that i got the sender of some of the letters correctly. however, as i tried to follow the story, everything slowly came into place. the pace picked up, and i found that i simply couldn’t stop reading even if i wanted to. 

the authors’ interpretation of margaret lovett was absolutely fascinating to read. she felt so real to me that her voice even followed me in my sleep. literally! i loved that she was sympathetic, yet terrifying at the same time. there were times that i felt so heartbroken for her that i could just cry, but there were also times where she would do something that got me questioning her sanity. i know that some would argue that she was passive during her stint with sweeney todd, but you have to admit, the ease in which she settled into her life as a (human meat) butcher slash (human pie) baker was bone-chilling (no pun intended). she went from someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly, to an accomplice to a serial killer in 3 seconds flat. 

chronologically, the story follows margaret throughout a few phases in her life—as a butcher’s daughter, a maid, a companion/aide, and the famed baker at fleet street. some phases were longer than others, but each phases gave a lot of insight into what made margaret into the woman that she was. the only singular complaint i had was that

i wish we had gotten more time with margaret and her son. based on her vague letter, it seemed to be that he turned out just like his father. imagine my shock when he didn’t bat an eyelid at her mother’s previous occupation at fleet street? also is it just me or margaret alluded to his son being jack the ripper?

however, this complaint is a minor one. 

overall, i really enjoyed this book and i think it will live with me for quite a while. thank you so much to soho press and netgalley for providing me with the arc! <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment

Please Be My Star: A Graphic Novel by Victoria Grace Elliott

lighthearted

3.5

i just cannot wrap my head around the fact that this book was based on a true story. you’re saying you built a shrine based on the guy you had a crush on, he found out and everything worked out? that’s hardcore, man.

If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens
Did not finish book. Stopped at 16%.

look, as much as i understood pen’s anger towards neil, she fucked up when she threw the book at neil, permanently scarring him. i was absolutely horrified to read that scene, but, i wanted to give this one a chance. 

at least until both her and neil started getting lusty moments over absolutely nothing. if you know me, you know i despise insta lust because i think it’s a cheat code used by a lot of authors to avoid writing proper relationship development. based on some of the reviews, i don’t think it would change for the better. 

also, apparently the author also lied about being native, so i will be returning this book back to the library.