An absolutely delightful cozy mystery to start off the fall season!! This was extremely well written and perfectly atmospheric as well. The mystery4/5
An absolutely delightful cozy mystery to start off the fall season!! This was extremely well written and perfectly atmospheric as well. The mystery was well plotted which I really appreciated, and the cast of characters were all given unique voices and personalities. And who doesn't love witches??? The little magical aspects of this story made it all the cozier! Would highly recommend if you want to read a cozy mystery perfect for fall!...more
Loved the slow pacing and dream-like quality of this book. I guessed both major twists by halfway, but nonetheless it was enjoyable! Just wish th3.5/5
Loved the slow pacing and dream-like quality of this book. I guessed both major twists by halfway, but nonetheless it was enjoyable! Just wish that certain parts weren’t so long - there were a lot of very long drawn passages with non-important details. Also, Margot was an annyoing MC. ...more
My review got deleted after 20 minutes of writing. So I’m pissed off.
This book was awful, and a les1/5
Thanks to NetGalley and bloom books for the arc.
My review got deleted after 20 minutes of writing. So I’m pissed off.
This book was awful, and a less than stellar sequel to bewitched, which was a favourite of mine last year.
Selene loses all edge she has to her character after her main adversity in book 1 is removed. She is stupid and does foolish things the whole book, never thinks, and acts immature 24/7, never wondering why she keeps getting into awful situations.
Memnon is reduced to just loving Selene and having no personality of his own.
The romance is shitty. Selene has control over Memnon’s will and implies she can control him sexually more than once. This is very non consensual and gross that she would think such a thing, let alone say it. This leads to lots of rather odd smutty scenes where the line between consent and non consent blurs at times because she can make him do whatever anyways.
The plot doesn’t come in until 70% through, by which is goes at a very fast pace to make up for its lack of presence at the beginning. The plot lacked a sense of urgency and had no twists at all.
The character of Kane was very stupid. He tries to get Selene to love him after multiple rejections and always tries to undermine her relationship with Memnon. He is disrespectful and always looking for a way to make her see how bad Memnon is so he can claim her himself.
The cliffhanger is laughably boring. I literally said ‘who cares?’ After reading it. The implications are next to zero and they provide 0 clues as to what a third book could even entail. So Memnon has a company now. Who cares???
All in all, this was a lacklustre sequel that left much to be desired....more
I think I just have grown out of the YA fantasy genre at this point to be honest. The world is really, really interesting and I loved the concept o2/5
I think I just have grown out of the YA fantasy genre at this point to be honest. The world is really, really interesting and I loved the concept of other born, but the characters were just so annoying. The lack of brain cells was so frustrating to read about. It was so annoying. The romance was really lack lustre (I mean - we’re made to think the guy has a girlfriend for 80% of the book. And you can fall in love with people who are dating other people, of course, but this was just here for unnecessary drama) and had no actual chemistry. The plot …. Well I could have told you how it’d turn out right away. YA books unfortunately tend to make characters fall into archetypes that make the villains super easy to detect. And I hoped they wouldn’t make my favourite characters the villains, but they did! All in all, it’s a meh book, but isn’t mind blowing....more
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC!
5/5
OMG. LAURA THALASSA HAS DONE IT ONCE AGAIN. I read her bargainer series last summer and absoThank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC!
5/5
OMG. LAURA THALASSA HAS DONE IT ONCE AGAIN. I read her bargainer series last summer and absolutely adored it. This? This was just as good, if not better. I know. The world of the witches is exquisitely crafted, with such vivid spells and magic described. I loved all of the coven setting vibes!! SELENE. LOVE OF MY LIFE. She is SUCH an amazing MC!!! Her sense of humour is amazing, she feels so realistic, and she’s just …. so lovable. I cannot say enough times how fun her POV is!! Seriously, her character is relatable in a way I find is so hard to see in romance fantasy books these days. AND MEMNON?! okay. So yes he is a bit crazy and definitely out of his mind BUT. BUT. He is hot as hell. Seriously. His character is so fucking intriguing, and I am dying to know exactly what he’s done in the past. Although to be fair if a guy did half the stuff he did to Selene in real life I’d hate him with a passion like she did, but there was something so romantic about him as well. His endearments for Selene??? The scene where he heals her?? Take my heart. Make of that what you will ! The romance. Oh my god. This is the perfect ‘I don’t want to love you but I do’ romance. The push and pull of Selene and Memnon is SO compelling and intriguing to read about. The fact that they’re soulmates just adds more layers and depths to their relationship. I wanted them to get together and also never see each other again - it’s such an interesting dynamic. I am so excited for more layers to be peeled back in this series!! The plot? Is so so good. Laura manages to bewitch readers with this book. Yes see what I did there. ...more
Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for this e-ARC!
4/5
What The River Knows is an atmospheric YA historical fantasy, following our MC InezThank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for this e-ARC!
4/5
What The River Knows is an atmospheric YA historical fantasy, following our MC Inez as she travels Egypt for answers concerning her parents death.
This is a very stereotypical YA novel; which isn’t to say that it’s bad - it just follows YA genre patterns. Our MC is a very solid character, but nothing about her particularly stood out to me. I will say she did not get one break in this book and I felt so bad for her. Bad things upon bad things kept happening to her and no one was honest with her at all, they literally played her a fool a million times. The plot is very linear, and there aren’t any stand out twists. The magic system is very soft and I found it to be a bit confusing because of how soft it was. I also feel like it was way to easy to do certain things plot wise, but that’s fine! The romance isn’t really anything special; I didn’t really like Wes. The setting of Egypt is quite vivid, and very well described. All in all it’s a solid YA fantasy book!...more
THIS. This was everything I wanted and more from it. A new favourite for sure and I need foxglove ASAP <3
Adalyn Grace’s writing is simply phenomenal5/5
THIS. This was everything I wanted and more from it. A new favourite for sure and I need foxglove ASAP <3
Adalyn Grace’s writing is simply phenomenal. It’s improved so much since her debut novel, which I DNF’d. All issues I had with that have been resolved in this one. Her prose is luscious and atmospheric, evoking the writing of Gothic literature. She is able to convey feelings and thoughts so well in this novel. Her descriptions of settings are so well detailed and lyrical, Thorn Grove felt real. Some of the lines of encouragement Death spoke to Signa spoke to me as well - I just felt such a connection to this book.
Signa Farrow is one of my favourite heroines I’ve read about in a long time. Her journey from being isolated, lonely, and scared to embrace herself to being confident, with love, and with power - it was such a beautiful journey. I related to some of the things she felt and she’s just a very relatable character to me. I suppose one of the reasons I loved this book is because I see myself in Signa. She’s such an amazing character.
DEATH. <<33 this man guys. Do I ever love him
Merged review:
5/5
THIS. This was everything I wanted and more from it. A new favourite for sure and I need foxglove ASAP <3
Adalyn Grace’s writing is simply phenomenal. It’s improved so much since her debut novel, which I DNF’d. All issues I had with that have been resolved in this one. Her prose is luscious and atmospheric, evoking the writing of Gothic literature. She is able to convey feelings and thoughts so well in this novel. Her descriptions of settings are so well detailed and lyrical, Thorn Grove felt real. Some of the lines of encouragement Death spoke to Signa spoke to me as well - I just felt such a connection to this book.
Signa Farrow is one of my favourite heroines I’ve read about in a long time. Her journey from being isolated, lonely, and scared to embrace herself to being confident, with love, and with power - it was such a beautiful journey. I related to some of the things she felt and she’s just a very relatable character to me. I suppose one of the reasons I loved this book is because I see myself in Signa. She’s such an amazing character.
DEATH. <<33 this man guys. Do I ever love him...more
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC!
5/5
OMG. LAURA THALASSA HAS DONE IT ONCE AGAIN. I read her bargainer series last summer and absoThank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC!
5/5
OMG. LAURA THALASSA HAS DONE IT ONCE AGAIN. I read her bargainer series last summer and absolutely adored it. This? This was just as good, if not better. I know. The world of the witches is exquisitely crafted, with such vivid spells and magic described. I loved all of the coven setting vibes!! SELENE. LOVE OF MY LIFE. She is SUCH an amazing MC!!! Her sense of humour is amazing, she feels so realistic, and she’s just …. so lovable. I cannot say enough times how fun her POV is!! Seriously, her character is relatable in a way I find is so hard to see in romance fantasy books these days. AND MEMNON?! okay. So yes he is a bit crazy and definitely out of his mind BUT. BUT. He is hot as hell. Seriously. His character is so fucking intriguing, and I am dying to know exactly what he’s done in the past. Although to be fair if a guy did half the stuff he did to Selene in real life I’d hate him with a passion like she did, but there was something so romantic about him as well. His endearments for Selene??? The scene where he heals her?? Take my heart. Make of that what you will ! The romance. Oh my god. This is the perfect ‘I don’t want to love you but I do’ romance. The push and pull of Selene and Memnon is SO compelling and intriguing to read about. The fact that they’re soulmates just adds more layers and depths to their relationship. I wanted them to get together and also never see each other again - it’s such an interesting dynamic. I am so excited for more layers to be peeled back in this series!! The plot? Is so so good. Laura manages to bewitch readers with this book. Yes see what I did there. ...more
☀︎El In Oz☀︎
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