This is a mix of a dark fantasy romance centering Fae and a retelling of the Artuhrian legend. Two things I often don’t enjoy in books, but here it diThis is a mix of a dark fantasy romance centering Fae and a retelling of the Artuhrian legend. Two things I often don’t enjoy in books, but here it did work for me.
In the beginning we’re introduced to the world the story is set in. We learn a lot about the customs and politics that are present in the country and we see how the court works. It takes a while before we really get into the story, but that didn’t bother me. I liked learning about worldbuilding, about Morgan and her past.
Around the halfway point the story picks up pace and there’s a lot more action. It always feels like there is a plotline hidden behind everything that’s going on and we just scratch the surface when the book ends.
I’m excited to see where this story goes and what we’ll find out in the next book. ...more
In ‘The Ex-Husband’ we meet Charlotte, a woman who was married to a con-artist and who’s now, that they are divorced, trying to stay on the right sideIn ‘The Ex-Husband’ we meet Charlotte, a woman who was married to a con-artist and who’s now, that they are divorced, trying to stay on the right side of law and leave the past behind. But then Sam starts sending her cryptic messages and goes missing shortly after. It seems like someone knows what happened in the past.
The story is told from Charlottes POV in dual timelines. One where she meets Sam for the first time right to the point where he abandoned her at their last joint con, in the other we see the present and how Sams vanishing effects Charlotte’s life.
I love cruising and I love books about cruising, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that whenever I see a book that’s set on a ship, I HAVE to pick it up. So, the setting worked already in favor of the book, before I even started.
Charlotte is an interesting main character. She thinks highly of herself and what she deserves from life. That makes her really unlikeable in my eyes, but I was stuck with her and her obnoxious thoughts.
The twist was partly surprising, and I liked that. That’s also a plus for this book. ...more
In my years as a reader I’ve read quite a few April Henry books, especially when I was younger and when I heard there was a new book coming out by herIn my years as a reader I’ve read quite a few April Henry books, especially when I was younger and when I heard there was a new book coming out by her I knew I had to read it. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC and dove straight into it.
Two Truth and a Lie gives the reader exactly what it promises: a good YA Mystery-Thriller. It was well executed and I always thought April Henry’s prose was very accessible and I enjoyed reading it again.
If you have read some of my reviews you’ll know that I LOVE whodunits. There are so many great books out there with this trope and it never seems to bore me. And so it’s no wonder I liked it in this book as well. There aren’t many big reveals or twists, at least I thought it was very obvious where the story was going BUT still it was a very enjoyable read.
I liked most of the characters, Nell especially, she didn’t bore me or get on my nerves, even though I didn’t really understand her penchant for Knox. The characters were a little flat and could have been a little more flashe out for me though. ...more
I have to admit I wasn’t to keen on getting into this book. I didn’t enjoy reading the first book as much as I hoped, but I wanted to continue anyway I have to admit I wasn’t to keen on getting into this book. I didn’t enjoy reading the first book as much as I hoped, but I wanted to continue anyway to see where the plot takes us. It’s definitely on me, that I hadn’t such a great time.
The writing is good, solid at least, but this book heavily relies on characters and not so much on plot and that’s something I tend to not like, with some exceptions. I also didn’t remember much about the first book, only some small details, and I think it would have been easier to follow the characters and their stories if I would have remembered more or read the books closer together.
If you liked the first book though, I think you will enjoy this one as well. For me it had a similar feeling....more
In my mind I was picking up a mystery thriller about girls who are kidnapped and some schoolmates who try to discover what really happened. What I gotIn my mind I was picking up a mystery thriller about girls who are kidnapped and some schoolmates who try to discover what really happened. What I got was a suspenseful contemporary book about girls, who try to cope with grieve, fear, and still try to manage their daily life as best as they can.
Chloe, a scholar student, tries to keep her distance from most of her classmates. I found her very condescending to some and actually, I still don’t understand why she would act how she did at some points.
Natalia is one of the popular girls at the school, I don’t know why she is, because she seems to not like anyone and no one seems to really like her. She is speaking her mind but her approach at things feels more like she’s trying to run headfirst through a wall. She says she’s always telling the truth, but she is mean in doing so. Some things don’t need to be said, even though they are true.
The mystery didn’t take much place in the whole story and instead it was more focused on the girls and their life. That, and me disliking both MCs, made me not enjoy this book. I think there’ll be reader who’ll have more fun reading this. ...more
After surprising myself with loving the first book in this duology so much I had to pick up this one next. It basically is the story told from Max’ peAfter surprising myself with loving the first book in this duology so much I had to pick up this one next. It basically is the story told from Max’ perspective and it was great; it just wasn’t as good as ‘In the echo of this Ghost town’. We got to know Max from Griffins perspective and now we get to see a little more inside her head, which was great because she experienced so many encounters with Griffin so different from him. Since I knew what he was thinking it was fun to see how she interpreted some of his actions. And actually, everything was totally believable.
Reading her side of the story was so interesting and if I haven’t read the other book first, I probably would have reacted and incorporated a lot of things the same way she had, even though Griffin’s intentions were totally different.
It was a really good book but in comparison to the first one, this lacked a little character development for me. But comparing Max to Griffin that way is probably unfair because Max was a great character to begin with and didn’t need that much development. Both books are now part of my favorites of this year and will be reread soon. ...more
Wow. This was… AMAZING! And it caught me totally by surprise. It made me feel so many different emotions and I haven’t cried so hard with a book for sWow. This was… AMAZING! And it caught me totally by surprise. It made me feel so many different emotions and I haven’t cried so hard with a book for some time now.
Griffin, our MC, is so unlikeable in the beginning that I went into this thinking I would hate him. He was self-centered, drunk and a douche to everyone that came close to him. Due to his actions, he lost all his friends and didn’t seem to think he was at fault. But throughout this book he evolved and got more self-aware, and I started liking him more and more, in the end, I think he is the perfect MC for this story. What I liked most is, that his personality didn’t change over night and that it took time and relapses into old behavior, because that made it feel so real. No one can change who they are without putting work into it and Griffin was no exception to that.
Max, another major character, was completely different from Griffin but I could see the influence she had on him and how she was a great friend to him, even though he was awful at times, but she was human and real too and only couldn’t take so much before she broke down.
Like I said it made me feel all the emotions and I loved it for that. Please give Griffin and his story a chance, he deserves it. ...more
This book was very cute and endearing and it set me in the right mood for christmas time. I know it’s a little early for that but to be honest, ChristThis book was very cute and endearing and it set me in the right mood for christmas time. I know it’s a little early for that but to be honest, Christmas is my favorite time of the year and it’s never too early to get in the right mood for that.
I liked Graham as our MC, he is loveable and sweet. He’s set his heart on his neighbor, Sarah and is madly in love with her for years when a wish upon a star grants him to live in a world where Sarah is his girlfriend.
There isn’t much chemistry between him and Sarah and I didn’t quite get his obsession with her and why he tried so hard to make it work between them, when it was pretty obvious that being together with her didn’t make him happy.
For me, in the end there was a little too much religious stuff to feel comfortable and I think this book could have easily done without it. It did for most of the time, but in the end it suddenly turned super religious, something I do not feel good with. ...more
I normally hate to say, that a book is surprisingly good, because why would I pick up a book if I wasn’t expecting it to be good? However, this one waI normally hate to say, that a book is surprisingly good, because why would I pick up a book if I wasn’t expecting it to be good? However, this one was good and surprising.
The concept was really interesting. Set thirty years in the future, snow and ice are a novelty and if you want to experience it, you can book a time slot at an artificial underground glacier and feel the cold snow and wintery atmosphere.
Due to some greedy staff members and unfortunate circumstances, 7 people get stuck in Glacier Haven for the weekend. Without food or any means of getting warm the tourists try to keep themselves alive and while the temperature sinks, some of the characters show their real face.
This book was gripping from the first page through the last, I was at the edge of my seat the whole time wondering what would happen next and how they would battle their environment. The creepy and gloomy feeling never left me while reading.
One negative thing I want to mention is, that one character is a victim of abuse, both physical and emotional, and even though it was never explicitly mentioned I sometimes had the feeling that the book wanted to say: see, she is horrible, it was okay how she was treated, which is not, of course. It doesn’t matter how bad a person is, abuse is never okay. ...more
A romance anthology where every story is based on different tropes? I was sold the second I first heard about it and it didn't disappoint.
Rating an aA romance anthology where every story is based on different tropes? I was sold the second I first heard about it and it didn't disappoint.
Rating an anthology isn't always easy. So while reading I tried to rate all the different stories on their own and based on that calculated the average score.
I think over all this was a great read. Only one story couldn't totally convince me (The Idiom Algorithm), but most of them were solid 3 star reads. 3 of them were even higher and I can't decide what my favorite story was.
It's either Shooting Stars or The surprise match. I enjoyed both immensely. They had a very cute love story and relateble characters.
Here are the ratings for the stories:
Anyone else but you: 3 out of 5 The Idiom Algorithm: 2 out of 5 Auld Acquintance: 4 out of 5 Shooting Stars: 4 out of 5 Zora in the Spotlight: 3 out of 5 In the Blink of an Eye: 3 out of 5 Liberty: 3 out of 5 The Surprise Match: 4 out of 5...more
Ta || bookishbluehead
>
Books:
z-netgalley
(105)
