stardust_heidi's reviews
437 reviews

Wisteria by Adalyn Grace

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

I am obsessed with this book. I think it’s easily my favorite of the series, which is wild, because I truly loved the first two. But this one is impeccable! The hate/hate “I despise you” vibes are immaculate. I was on a walk and couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot. GOD.

Ocean's Godori by Elaine U. Cho
Did not finish book. Stopped at 1%.

I made it about 1% into the book (I’m talking the first few paragraphs into chapter one) and got so confused, MULTIPLE TIMES, about the use of pronouns connected to specific characters. Basically, the sentence structure is terrible, and I couldn’t even get through the first few paragraphs without my brain staggering over basic grammar. 

I’m really sad about this, as this book has been on my tbr for a while. 

The Ravaged Dark by Allison Carr Waechter
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.

There’s a chance I’ll come back to this. But right now I’m honestly bored. I should be super into the story and the romance, but I’m losing interest. And I want to know what happens, dammit. The pacing is so slow, and while important relationship things are happening, part of me is like, okay let’s get this plot moving. I feel like a plot thing will happen but then we spend the next ten pages working on relationship shit. There’s an uneven balance, and it’s not enough to keep me interested. I hate leaving a series this far in, so maybe I’ll return later. I want to know what happens, but I’m also 🥱🥱🥱

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

5.0

The Hollow Plane by Allison Carr Waechter

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really want to LOVE ACW’s books, but for some reason they just don’t have that addictive factor for me. I had a difficult time getting into this book at first, because I felt like I was being provided with only a quarter of the information I needed for the first half of the book. In hindsight it makes sense due to Mina and the oubliette/Ashbourne and his missing memories, but from a outside reader perspective, I was so confused. ACW tends to write very plot dense romantasy, which is great — I love me a good plot. But it’s almost too dense? 

I would definitely recommend reading the Immortal Orders trilogy before this — I’ve read it, but it’s been long enough that I forgot a lot of the important details that would have been helpful throughout this book. 

Overall, I liked the book and all the characters. I’m glad we finally figured out the missing memories (by the end), but even leaving it on a cliffie, there’s a large part of me that doesn’t have an urgency to immediately continue on to read what happens next. I’m solid in my 4 stars, though my review probably doesn’t indicate that. 

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I don’t even know how to put my feelings and thoughts about this book into words. 

Maybe I’ll come back to update this later. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

Sisters of Sword and Song by Rebecca Ross

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

I mean, give me anything by Rebecca Ross, and I will luxuriate in its brilliance. So lovely. I adored the bond between the sisters. 

I do felt the conflict was resolved a bit too easily at the end, but overall, fantastic read. 

The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Okay so. Outside of the FMC, I loved the book. This world and its magical animals was a delight, and I loved the meticulous detail and care taken to embellish these creatures and the zoo system. I loved the side characters and enjoyed the sapphic romance — though it must be noted it was not a major part of the plot. The Illumicrate edition of this book is absolutely gorgeous! The art is stunning, and I'm glad I got it. I really enjoyed the conservation message throughout the story. 

However... I found the FMC to be utterly infuriating. Look. I think it’s important to have neurodivergent rep in books, I truly do. But for about ⅔ of this book, Aila used her extreme social anxiety, introvertedness, and hyper fixation on her phoenixes as an excuse to be a complete asshole to everyone around her. Aila was so obsessed with her birds that she didn't bother to attend staff meetings, had no idea

Luciana's griffin died until TWO WEEKS later, and was put out when she found out her best friend (Tanya) was putting time that could have been spent working with the phoenixes to work on her own project. (Honestly, Tanya is a saint.)

  Like....GIRL. You are 28 years old. Put on your professional pants and grow tf up. I was about to give up on her character before she had a much needed come to Jesus moment and finally — FINALLY — opened her self-centered eyeballs to notice that other people around her were also going through stuff. Important stuff! I do wonder if this moment came a bit too late in the book, as I spent the overwhelming majority of it getting increasingly pissed off at our FMC. 

I will note that once Aila did face her reckoning, I liked how her character arc grew. I think it was a clever parallel to make when Luciana

told Aila that Aila's anxiety made the phoenixes' anxiety ratchet, which resulted in this vicious cycle of the birds hating each other and Aila living in this bubble of anxiety.

I liked the message about how spending time with the right people will make you feel happy/comfortable/at ease --

Aila realizing this in the face of exploring her feelings about Connor (dick) was GOOD.

Overall, definitely worth the read. I think if you love animals, magical creatures, zoos and conservation efforts, you'll definitely enjoy it. Just be mindful of the FMC. 
 

The Honeymoon Crashers by Christina Lauren

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing 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

5.0