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tobereadbookshelf's Reviews (935)
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Based on the premise, I was anticipating an action packed fast paced novel. I most definitely did not expect to read this absolute snooze fest of a book. With all the inane planning sessions and talk talking, you would think I would have an extremely comprehensive grasped on the plot, but she somehow lost me along the way. Now I’m not even really sure what the point was? Did they ever pull off the heist? I think I must have blacked out or disassociated at the end there and all I can say is that it was necessary for my mental health.
This was one of the worst “popular” books I have ever read and I was truly so relieved when it ended. If this were written in first person perspective it might have been alright, but there were too many characters with completely undifferentiated character voices. I was so confused about who was who and who was speaking and even how many characters I was dealing with and none of them hooked me enough to care about their plight. I’ll be honest, I also hated We Hunt The Flame, so perhaps this author just isn’t my cup of tea. Pun intended. 😏☕️
This was one of the worst “popular” books I have ever read and I was truly so relieved when it ended. If this were written in first person perspective it might have been alright, but there were too many characters with completely undifferentiated character voices. I was so confused about who was who and who was speaking and even how many characters I was dealing with and none of them hooked me enough to care about their plight. I’ll be honest, I also hated We Hunt The Flame, so perhaps this author just isn’t my cup of tea. Pun intended. 😏☕️
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Big news guys… I have officially read 1000 books!!! 🎉🥳🎉🙌🏻🍾🥂 Okay… back to the review…
As strange as the idea of slowly morphing into an animal sounds, their struggles were surprisingly relatable. It was easy to draw parallels to other chronic and fatal illnesses as well as to illnesses like dementia that take the person from their loved ones in mind if not in body. I was very intrigued by the premise but I think in the end it was a little too tragic for my taste. It was already very sad and then the author shared Angela’s story and that took things a bit too far for me. Poor Wren. That is more than anyone should ever have to suffer through, but I supposed life is not always fair.
I was also a little bothered by the way Lewis’s dialogue was written. It almost felt like he had shark brain the entire book. His lines were all very stilted and lacked the appropriate emotional affectations. It read like the character was autistic which would be completely acceptable if I believed the author intended for his character to exhibit those traits (I don’t). The ending felt abrupt and I didn’t feel like any of our characters found true resolution. I think this could have been great but in the end it was just okay. 3 stars is generous.
As strange as the idea of slowly morphing into an animal sounds, their struggles were surprisingly relatable. It was easy to draw parallels to other chronic and fatal illnesses as well as to illnesses like dementia that take the person from their loved ones in mind if not in body. I was very intrigued by the premise but I think in the end it was a little too tragic for my taste. It was already very sad and then the author shared Angela’s story and that took things a bit too far for me. Poor Wren. That is more than anyone should ever have to suffer through, but I supposed life is not always fair.
I was also a little bothered by the way Lewis’s dialogue was written. It almost felt like he had shark brain the entire book. His lines were all very stilted and lacked the appropriate emotional affectations. It read like the character was autistic which would be completely acceptable if I believed the author intended for his character to exhibit those traits (I don’t). The ending felt abrupt and I didn’t feel like any of our characters found true resolution. I think this could have been great but in the end it was just okay. 3 stars is generous.
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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:
Complicated
I won’t pretend to be an Emily Henry super fan, but I absolutely loved Happy Place and I was hoping she’d hit this one out of the park as well. I thought this was so cute and would rank it on par with Beach Read as her second/third best books. The fake dating trope is always a favorite, but I felt there were some missed opportunities to really crank up the tension between these two characters. I think they kissed a little too early on or maybe I just needed a few more scenes where the forced proximity of them being roomies served to ratchet up the heat between them. I appreciate that her books tend to feel realistic and relatable, but in this particular case, I would have appreciated a little more angst and sexual tension. It really wouldn’t have taken much change to take this into the five star range for me but as is, I think I can only give it four stars.
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Did I just reread Iron Flame? Because all they did was fight and have sex. The smattering of plot that was included was not enough to hold my interest and I was sad the author chose to take this couple in such an immature direction. Looks like this is the end of the line for me and this series.✌🏻
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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:
Complicated
Something that always bothers me about these books is that when push comes to shove, it’s their bonds and not them that take over and save the day. What’s the point of all the training if they’re essentially just a vessel for a parasitic god? All of them becoming such special snowflakes seemed like overkill to me. The ending was unexpected but I feel like the author is really dragging this series out at this point. After all the build up, I am doubtful that she can pull off a satisfactory ending that doesn’t feel like just another battle scene. I was pretty over it by book four but I’m committed to finishing out the series!
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Picking this back up after a long hiatus. I’m too invested at this point not to finish this series but six books was overkill. Also, gotta say, there’s nothing about the group sex scenes that I find appealing. 🥴 I’m not a fan of reverse harem but I have stuck around for the storyline. If the author could have found another way to write this story without that aspect I think this series could have been massively popular. As is, those scenes are very disruptive to the progression of the story in my opinion and I am not excited to read more of them. And the amount of times the words “bond” and “bonded” are used is excruciating.
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Picking this back up after a long hiatus. I’m too invested at this point not to finish this series but six books was overkill. Also, gotta say, there’s nothing about the group sex scenes that I find appealing. 🥴 I’m not a fan of reverse harem but I have stuck around for the storyline. If the author could have found another way to write this story without that aspect I think this series could have been massively popular. As is, those scenes are very disruptive to the progression of the story in my opinion and I am not excited to read more of them. And the amount of times the words “bond” and “bonded” are used is excruciating.
emotional
hopeful
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:
Complicated
Wow, people have some really strong opinions about this one. I personally thought it was pretty middle of the road. I can understand the complaints about how “horny” Isolde was throughout the book, but I didn’t feel like the spice level was all that extreme. It’s possible that my threshold was a little higher considering the last book I read was an excessively smutty dark romance. I honestly really liked Adrian’s character. He is presented as somewhat of a villain but I think he was actually one of the healthier book boyfriends I’ve read to date. This was also an excellently voiced and produced audiobook which is always a plus! I would happily let Lilly Drake read all future books to me. I have a feeling the story line is going to start to feel pretty far fetched to me, but I’m willing to read on to find out.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was too spicy. I wasn’t a fan of the kidnapping trope and the author really lost me with the choking kink. I’m all for a morally grey character but I think the villain worship has gotten a bit out of hand. He is a murderer and a mob boss and this book tried to also paint him as a cinnamon roll book boyfriend. It’s not adding up. The plot was extremely obvious apart from a few reveals at the very end which saved this book from a 1 star rating.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’ve been reading through reviews and I’ve gotta say, I’m surprised by how fervently some people loved this. As middle books go, it was decent, but it wasn’t very eventful and it didn’t hold a candle to book one in my opinion.
I was annoyed by the obvious and unnecessary love triangle and the insta love between Kane and Arwen made very little sense when I added up all their interactions. I also don’t understand the urgency in rushing in half cocked just for her to die or present herself to the king on a silver platter. It would have made more sense for them to search out some other option or at least develop a more strategic plan. They’ve been looking for her all this time so why does the prophecy need to be enacted so immediately? It just didn’t really add up for me. I also wasn’t that shocked by the ending. Honestly, it was bold of them to assume they knew his motivations in the first place. He is a villain after all.
Ready for her to really come into her power in book three! Do we think she’ll be a dragon?
I was annoyed by the obvious and unnecessary love triangle and the insta love between Kane and Arwen made very little sense when I added up all their interactions. I also don’t understand the urgency in rushing in half cocked just for her to die or present herself to the king on a silver platter. It would have made more sense for them to search out some other option or at least develop a more strategic plan. They’ve been looking for her all this time so why does the prophecy need to be enacted so immediately? It just didn’t really add up for me. I also wasn’t that shocked by the ending. Honestly, it was bold of them to assume they knew his motivations in the first place. He is a villain after all.
Ready for her to really come into her power in book three! Do we think she’ll be a dragon?
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Risky, thought Paul D, very risky. For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love. The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you'd have a little love left over for the next one.”
I went into this blind and was surprised to find that this is at least horror adjacent? Strange that it is not labeled as such. If this isn’t horror, someone please explain…
The writing style was hard to follow at times - It was like I was reading one continuous stream of consciousness even as the author alternated between different character perspectives. I think I would need to read this a few times to fully grasp all the nuances of the story. Seems like the author just skips half the necessary punctuation and gets away with it by calling herself a poet. 🙃
The content was sad and heavy and should really come with some trigger warnings. The darkness presented in Beloved felt a little too unhinged and fictional in my opinion for this to be considered a must read book. Slavery is a terrible business but I don’t know if I think this is THE book to read if you want to educate yourself on the harsh realities of slavery. Honestly, I’m kind of concerned that Toni was even able to pull this out of her brain. I hope it’s not an indicator of her lived experiences…
This was my favorite line in the book. 💁🏼♀️
“He licked his lips. ‘Well, if you want my opinion-‘
‘I don’t, ‘ She said. ‘I have my own.”
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20% update… not labeled as “horror” but starting to feel suspiciously like horror. 🤔🧐
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Monthly classic pick for April ❤️
I went into this blind and was surprised to find that this is at least horror adjacent? Strange that it is not labeled as such. If this isn’t horror, someone please explain…
The writing style was hard to follow at times - It was like I was reading one continuous stream of consciousness even as the author alternated between different character perspectives. I think I would need to read this a few times to fully grasp all the nuances of the story. Seems like the author just skips half the necessary punctuation and gets away with it by calling herself a poet. 🙃
The content was sad and heavy and should really come with some trigger warnings. The darkness presented in Beloved felt a little too unhinged and fictional in my opinion for this to be considered a must read book. Slavery is a terrible business but I don’t know if I think this is THE book to read if you want to educate yourself on the harsh realities of slavery. Honestly, I’m kind of concerned that Toni was even able to pull this out of her brain. I hope it’s not an indicator of her lived experiences…
This was my favorite line in the book. 💁🏼♀️
“He licked his lips. ‘Well, if you want my opinion-‘
‘I don’t, ‘ She said. ‘I have my own.”
————————————————————————
20% update… not labeled as “horror” but starting to feel suspiciously like horror. 🤔🧐
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Monthly classic pick for April ❤️
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The whole “he’s mean because he likes you” angle isn’t my favorite but this was still cute. Not a must read book but enjoyable enough.