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zluvsreading's reviews
428 reviews
So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is my favorite book and consuming it in audio format just made me love it that much more.
Narration: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot: 10/10
Simply such a great novel that has colonization and diversity and dragons and sapphic relationships and queer characters and morally grey characters and characters you want to hate but secretly love (hi Gael I love you I’m sorry)
Read this in preparation for the sequel that I have both the digital arc and ALC of. Can’t wait, since i have started that already. My hold expired and then i just got it back again so i quickly finished a little less than 70% of the audio in just today. So good. Highly recommend.
Narration: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot: 10/10
Simply such a great novel that has colonization and diversity and dragons and sapphic relationships and queer characters and morally grey characters and characters you want to hate but secretly love (hi Gael I love you I’m sorry)
Read this in preparation for the sequel that I have both the digital arc and ALC of. Can’t wait, since i have started that already. My hold expired and then i just got it back again so i quickly finished a little less than 70% of the audio in just today. So good. Highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Deep End by Ali Hazelwood
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
tense
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
5.0
Full rtc but ALI😭😭😭😭my heart
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail
Spiral by Bal Khabra
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Not in My Book by Katie Holt
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
5.0
(4.9 stars**)
This was such a good book! The things I liked most about it are the fact that it has a love story within a love story. I think that’s difficult to write, but the author achieved it really well. Even though the two are intertwined, you could also see the slight differences and I enjoyed seeing the excerpts at the end of each chapter from Aiden and Rosie’s book.
I also enjoyed the little spice that we got. The two characters had so much tension, you could tell that they needed to work it out desperately (and did!)
The friendships and friend characters that we got to see were also fun. Logan was so funny, he made me laugh out loud at something he said towards the end.
Now onto the audiobook aspects of the story, since I read it through the audio format, primarily. I did have the ebook of it as well, but the audio was dominating.
I think the narrators voice fit with each character that was being voiced. I especially loved the Spanish, from the mother and Rosie occasionally. As someone who knows/understands Spanish, it was lovely to read/listen to it spoken so well. I did have to put the audiobook on 2.5x, as opposed to my normal 1.75-2x speed because it was sorta slow, but I didn’t mind it too much.
The narrators voice and the story fit well together in my opinion. I don’t know if I would necessarily recommend the audio format of this book vs print/ebook but it was still well done. I’d recommend it if you didn’t know how to pronounce Spanish, but otherwise, I think it’s better as an ebook or print book.
It didn’t get confusing when there were excerpts read, or when there were scenes of the book they were writing in the book, but I think I would’ve gotten confused if I didn’t see it in the ebook. I would’ve thought the characters were thinking/saying it out loud, besides the fact that the character names were different.
I love third act breakups because it makes the book more devastating to read, but some things said kind of irked me away from their relationship. There could’ve been more groveling in my opinion, but that’s just me. I still enjoyed the book!
Thank you to RB Media for the ALC and Alcove Press for the eARC via Grab A Galley PW. All opinions are my own.
This was such a good book! The things I liked most about it are the fact that it has a love story within a love story. I think that’s difficult to write, but the author achieved it really well. Even though the two are intertwined, you could also see the slight differences and I enjoyed seeing the excerpts at the end of each chapter from Aiden and Rosie’s book.
I also enjoyed the little spice that we got. The two characters had so much tension, you could tell that they needed to work it out desperately (and did!)
The friendships and friend characters that we got to see were also fun. Logan was so funny, he made me laugh out loud at something he said towards the end.
Now onto the audiobook aspects of the story, since I read it through the audio format, primarily. I did have the ebook of it as well, but the audio was dominating.
I think the narrators voice fit with each character that was being voiced. I especially loved the Spanish, from the mother and Rosie occasionally. As someone who knows/understands Spanish, it was lovely to read/listen to it spoken so well. I did have to put the audiobook on 2.5x, as opposed to my normal 1.75-2x speed because it was sorta slow, but I didn’t mind it too much.
The narrators voice and the story fit well together in my opinion. I don’t know if I would necessarily recommend the audio format of this book vs print/ebook but it was still well done. I’d recommend it if you didn’t know how to pronounce Spanish, but otherwise, I think it’s better as an ebook or print book.
It didn’t get confusing when there were excerpts read, or when there were scenes of the book they were writing in the book, but I think I would’ve gotten confused if I didn’t see it in the ebook. I would’ve thought the characters were thinking/saying it out loud, besides the fact that the character names were different.
I love third act breakups because it makes the book more devastating to read, but some things said kind of irked me away from their relationship. There could’ve been more groveling in my opinion, but that’s just me. I still enjoyed the book!
Thank you to RB Media for the ALC and Alcove Press for the eARC via Grab A Galley PW. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent
Only for the Week by Natasha Bishop
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-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
5.0
FULL RTC BUT mwah chefs kiss
Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Full rtc but such a powerful read, sometimes I didn’t understand certain things so I would probably retain more if I read it with an annotated version of breaking everything down like an English class.
Flirting With Disaster by Naina Kumar
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
Oh my god I need everyone to preorder this book right now and add another copy for your friends to read because this should be read by EVERYONE.
When Meena flies to Houston to get her estranged husbands signature on divorce papers after 7 years apart, she gets stranded when news of a hurricane hitting soon keeps her there.
The forced proximity was so funny!!!!! I loved them being stuck together in a house because of a hurricane and everything that occurred while they couldn’t leave the house due to flooding/rain/roads. It was so much pain!!!! So much pain, but I adored it.
The flashbacks to their early marriage days and even before that were so sad and bittersweet. You’re rooting for them the entire time, but then remember that nothing comes easy in books, or love.
Second chance romances are quickly becoming my favorite thing ever and this book is easily, hands down, one of my favorites with that trope, and also maybe just one of my favorite romances ever.
I enjoyed the Texas location so much!! The references were top notch. I will not spoil any of them so you can see them for yourself but I loved that the author incorporated them in here and had the characters talk about one in particular. That whole conversation was so funny!!! (Meena was right, Nikhil was wrong y’all)
Books are so political, and if you’re thinking “what? No they’re not. This is just a silly little romance.” No, I think you need to reread this!!!!
The lawyer aspect of this was just everything. You can really tell how passionate Meena was regarding everything she wanted to achieve and the Texas seat/running for Senate/Congress and everything else. I like when authors do a lot of research or just have background knowledge about stuff and incorporate that in their books. You can really tell Naina knows stuff about law. It made the book so much better, and it was never confusing or boring. Everything was written very concisely and I enjoyed that.
The familial relationships made me really happy, by the end. It really just goes to show that communication is key to any sort of relationship, whether romantic or platonic.
THATS WHAT I LOVED ABOUT MEENA AND NIKHIL!!!!!! Their communication and growth. Yes, deep down they are the same people they were when they got married all those years ago, but also, growth!!! They’ve grown!!!
The epilogue made me cry and happy at the same time!!!! This book just felt too short, I need MORE. I may just reread it again because I feel so empty without it in my life anymore. 10/10. Possibly an infinity read!!!!! Just so amazing I can’t.
Thank you to Dell Romance for the ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
When Meena flies to Houston to get her estranged husbands signature on divorce papers after 7 years apart, she gets stranded when news of a hurricane hitting soon keeps her there.
The forced proximity was so funny!!!!! I loved them being stuck together in a house because of a hurricane and everything that occurred while they couldn’t leave the house due to flooding/rain/roads. It was so much pain!!!! So much pain, but I adored it.
The flashbacks to their early marriage days and even before that were so sad and bittersweet. You’re rooting for them the entire time, but then remember that nothing comes easy in books, or love.
Second chance romances are quickly becoming my favorite thing ever and this book is easily, hands down, one of my favorites with that trope, and also maybe just one of my favorite romances ever.
I enjoyed the Texas location so much!! The references were top notch. I will not spoil any of them so you can see them for yourself but I loved that the author incorporated them in here and had the characters talk about one in particular. That whole conversation was so funny!!! (Meena was right, Nikhil was wrong y’all)
Books are so political, and if you’re thinking “what? No they’re not. This is just a silly little romance.” No, I think you need to reread this!!!!
The lawyer aspect of this was just everything. You can really tell how passionate Meena was regarding everything she wanted to achieve and the Texas seat/running for Senate/Congress and everything else. I like when authors do a lot of research or just have background knowledge about stuff and incorporate that in their books. You can really tell Naina knows stuff about law. It made the book so much better, and it was never confusing or boring. Everything was written very concisely and I enjoyed that.
The familial relationships made me really happy, by the end. It really just goes to show that communication is key to any sort of relationship, whether romantic or platonic.
THATS WHAT I LOVED ABOUT MEENA AND NIKHIL!!!!!! Their communication and growth. Yes, deep down they are the same people they were when they got married all those years ago, but also, growth!!! They’ve grown!!!
The epilogue made me cry and happy at the same time!!!! This book just felt too short, I need MORE. I may just reread it again because I feel so empty without it in my life anymore. 10/10. Possibly an infinity read!!!!! Just so amazing I can’t.
Thank you to Dell Romance for the ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol