Reviews of my Reading List
Review #232
I gave “The Stars We Steal” a solid 4/5 stars. This first person (one point of view from Leo) sci-fi YA stand-alone was enjoyable & flowed smoothly. It was a bit predictable but was an easy read for a lazy, sunny day. I had first heard of this author from YouTube...
Review #231
I gave Stolen by the Shadow King by Alisha Klapheke a 4.3/5 stars. This fabulous enemies to lovers was the first of a fantasy romance series. I’m unsure if it’ll be a duology or longer. The next is called Rise of the Fire Queen, available for preorder. There are other...
Review #230
So Wake County Public Library purchased Touch of Malice at my request. I’m the first one to read a fresh copy! Unfortunately, at the end I rated this steamy contemporary fantasy as a 3.3/5 stars and here’s my thoughts as reading. Chapter one is all about Persephone’s...
Review #229
I’d give this fantasy a 4.9/5 because I still wanted a little more emphasis on the romance. It was a tiny bit better than the first novel in this duology. I appreciated the effortless prose in first person present tense that stayed in Alosa’s POV the whole time. ...
Review #228
I gave a strong 4.8/5 star rating for Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller. If you want a female Captain Jack Sparrow, this is the fantasy pirate book for you. I assumed this was fantasy romance, but the romance wasn’t as strong as a focus as I wanted...
Review #227
Unfortunately, this contemporary trajectory was a 2.9/5 star rating for me. I loved the LGBTQ representation and the bravery of addressing the difficult theme of death. The first chapter felt pretty choppy, vague, staccato and the prose were a little awkward. In the...
Review #226
The contemporary romance of “November 9” was a solid 5/5 rating for me. I’ve read more than a handful of CoHo books and I’m finally starting to understand the rage. Her characters are so crystal clear and layered from the very first chapter. It reminded me of “One...
Review #225
Okay, y’all. This one was a doozie for me to rate. I went back and forth between 3.8/5 because it felt chaotic in regards to the path the plot took and a 4.2/5 because the uniqueness of the story. The genre jumped around a bit, undecided between fantasy, then dabbled...
Review #224
I gave this romance a 3.9/5 star rating and it could technically fit into a few subcategories like historical fiction or fantasy romance. In the first chapter we learned of Charlotte, a troublemaker and thief who dislikes pirates & idolizes Jane Austen and of...
Review #223
So, one day when I walked into Barnes and Noble, I told the salesclerk I was looking for fantasy and sometimes dipped my toes into demon themes. She highly recommended House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland but said it was a bit scary. I was nervous and hesitant to...
Review #222
The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith would’ve had a lower rating than the 4.2/5 I gave it but the back half really bumped it up. This young adult witchy fantasy also crossed into a historical fiction category. Not all answers were fully discovered but I believe the...
Review #221
I rated The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang a 4.6/5 star. There are two others in this contemporary romance series, but it could also be a standalone since it ended tied up in a neat little bow. I loved that the two points of view switched between the main characters,...
Review #220
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd was a standalone, contemporary Book of the Month Selection that I rated 4.0/5.0 stars. I also read The Paris Apartment this month and that one was scored higher. Compared to all 20+ BOTM reads I’ve finished so far, Cartographers felt...
Review #219
I read Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover in one day and it was a great 4.9/5 star rating! This was my favorite CoHo book so far (compared to Regretting You, It Ends With Us, Ugly Love, Verity and Layla). This standalone fit into the contemporary genre and had a first...
Review #218
Title- Once Upon a Broken Heart Author- Stephanie Garber Series- the sequel is The Ballad of Never After releasing Fall 2022 Rating- 4.3/5 Genre- YA fantasy POV- third person, one POV Trope- unsure due to questions needing answered in sequel Steam level- clean Cover-...