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tobereadbookshelf's Reviews (935)
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The author tried to present this as wholesome while also basing their relationship on a one night stand. The main character was obnoxious and the love interest sounded too scripted to be believable. It just didn’t work.
emotional
hopeful
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:
Complicated
This might be my favorite Ali Hazelwood book! So glad she has moved past the “steminist” books. She should have stopped at book one. I’m not running out to buy a chess board any time soon, but this was so cute.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would but it definitely had its cringe worthy moments. Just a little too kinky at times to be completely blunt. 🥴 Mainly just at the end. This gods aspect was hedonism and I was worried the romantic scenes would feel non consensual, but the author found a way around this with the addition of “protective crystals.” Her mother being the tarot card reader from the first book was a nice tie in to make it plausible for their to have a bunch of quartz lying around at home. Both main characters were likable and well developed.
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A very generous two stars. The premise had potential but the execution was not good. From the characters to the dates to the overdone social anxiety focus, none of it worked. The main characters were so incredibly bland. This book was desperately in need of a quirky edge or some comedic relief. As is, I felt completely uninvested in their story.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Unfortunately, book two was nowhere near as good as the first book. This one was too cheesy and I didn’t enjoy reading about a god with this particular aspect as much. Fifty pages or so of Opposite Day lines in book one made for a fun deviation but having to reverse what he said in my mind for an entire book became tedious. I also caught lots of truths as I read and found myself searching out the authors errors instead of focusing on the plot. I really just didn’t take to either of these characters like I did the original couple. I am intrigued by the idea of a god being pulled to our world as this book foreshadowed. Looking forward to reading book 3 despite being a little disappointed by this installment.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Unpopular opinion alert… This is a good book, but it’s not a great one. After reading Fourth Wing I said it measured up to the hype, but since then I think the fandom has gotten a little out of hand. I have certainly enjoyed this series, but if I had to make a list of my favorite romantasy series books, I don’t even think The Empyrean books would make the top ten.
Again, I seem to be in the minority here, but I feel that the author has some major shortcomings in the way she writes romance. Their relationship feels extremely juvenile and seems to be mainly centered around sex and how thirsty both characters are for each other. She is always upset with him, they never resolve their issues, and then bam their having sex again.
Xaden does not even come close to being an ideal “book boyfriend” in my eyes. He lied to her the entire first book and in Iron Flame he is just as dishonest but he gaslights her into thinking it’s her fault. Every time she learns of something new he neglected to tell her, he claims he didn’t tell her because she didn’t trust him enough to ask the right questions. Absolutely ridiculous.
There were a lot of hectic fight scenes in this book where our special snowflake Violet of course saves the day. All of these felt pretty repetitive to me and I kind of blanked out a little reading them. Another weak point in these books is the authors lack of environmental descriptors. I can never fully picture where they are and there’s a lot about their signet’s and powers and the arbitrary line between them turning Venin that I just don’t fully understand. Rebecca Yarros has built an interesting world but I think she needs to do a little more leg work to make it feel more real.
This is not important, but the armoire metaphor was so stupid. 😆 Not even going to touch the Kat drama.
In conclusion, I liked Iron Flame, but everyone needs to calm down and read more books.
Again, I seem to be in the minority here, but I feel that the author has some major shortcomings in the way she writes romance. Their relationship feels extremely juvenile and seems to be mainly centered around sex and how thirsty both characters are for each other. She is always upset with him, they never resolve their issues, and then bam their having sex again.
Xaden does not even come close to being an ideal “book boyfriend” in my eyes. He lied to her the entire first book and in Iron Flame he is just as dishonest but he gaslights her into thinking it’s her fault. Every time she learns of something new he neglected to tell her, he claims he didn’t tell her because she didn’t trust him enough to ask the right questions. Absolutely ridiculous.
There were a lot of hectic fight scenes in this book where our special snowflake Violet of course saves the day. All of these felt pretty repetitive to me and I kind of blanked out a little reading them. Another weak point in these books is the authors lack of environmental descriptors. I can never fully picture where they are and there’s a lot about their signet’s and powers and the arbitrary line between them turning Venin that I just don’t fully understand. Rebecca Yarros has built an interesting world but I think she needs to do a little more leg work to make it feel more real.
This is not important, but the armoire metaphor was so stupid. 😆 Not even going to touch the Kat drama.
In conclusion, I liked Iron Flame, but everyone needs to calm down and read more books.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Do they have a triplet out there somewhere? Can’t say I’m crazy about either twin. Both act entitled and neither has my vote for Queen. Shen was by far the best character and even he seemed a bit fanciful. For some reason he reminded me of Westley from the Princess Bride. All the scenes with him in them were automatically my favorite.
I was honestly really excited to read this. Everything about the premise is right up my alley and I expected this to be added to my growing list of favorites. This book was written from the POV of both twins and the storyline switched back and forth each chapter between the two of them. I understand why this was done, but it made the book hard for me to really get into. As soon as things would get interesting with one twin, the story would switch over to the other. I felt like this made the story progress very slowly, especially because most of the time it made me want to put the book down.
The writing also felt kind of abrupt and choppy and wasn’t at the caliber that I am used to. The ending especially made very little sense to me. It was almost like a whole group of people just teleported away onto their ship and inexplicably they could not catch them? Did they forget they can do magic and they are surrounded by witches?
I honestly think this maybe should have been a standalone book and the author tried extra hard to stretch it into a series. I am invested and will probably still read book two, but good Lord I hope it doesn’t take me as long to finish as this one did. As someone who finishes books in a day, a month and a half is an eternity. 😅
I was honestly really excited to read this. Everything about the premise is right up my alley and I expected this to be added to my growing list of favorites. This book was written from the POV of both twins and the storyline switched back and forth each chapter between the two of them. I understand why this was done, but it made the book hard for me to really get into. As soon as things would get interesting with one twin, the story would switch over to the other. I felt like this made the story progress very slowly, especially because most of the time it made me want to put the book down.
The writing also felt kind of abrupt and choppy and wasn’t at the caliber that I am used to. The ending especially made very little sense to me. It was almost like a whole group of people just teleported away onto their ship and inexplicably they could not catch them? Did they forget they can do magic and they are surrounded by witches?
I honestly think this maybe should have been a standalone book and the author tried extra hard to stretch it into a series. I am invested and will probably still read book two, but good Lord I hope it doesn’t take me as long to finish as this one did. As someone who finishes books in a day, a month and a half is an eternity. 😅
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this would have been 4 stars for me if it weren’t for the mental health direction the book took. This was a very raw emotional story that unfortunately I think many women will identify with. It is frankly too common for women to bend over backward for men who don’t truly value them or treat them well. Women will take scraps of a man’s love and affection and use those moments to rationalize staying in toxic relationships for much longer than they should. Depression as a diagnosis would have made a lot of sense to me, but the main character being diagnosed as bipolar did not align with what we knew of the character in my opinion. I felt it was unnecessary and made the story less impactful. I don’t like the implication that she sought out broken people because she was bipolar. This man masked himself well and I imagine even the healthiest of women could have fallen for his charms.
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Same old quirky English characters. Interesting that “weird” can feel so boring and overdone. MC’s were likable enough, but I didn’t feel the spark. 2.5 stars
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The friends with benefits trope makes me want to wax poetic about the sad state of our modern world, but on the whole I did find this to be an enjoyable read. The irony is that the trope manages to both trivialize sexual intimacy AND prove that as human beings we are seeking love and genuine connection. The possessive alpha male type isn’t ideal and insta love is cringe, but I can’t see myself feeling confident in a relationship with someone who was happy to play wingman for me for years. Them both being indifferent to each other for so long really didn’t work for me, but I still found the characters to be likable and well developed.