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fkshg8465's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If I wasn’t a vegetarian, I think I might like trying to be a vampire. 😂😂😂😂
I couldn’t put this down. In fact, I was so mad that I had to go to sleep at all, and it was already almost 4 am when I finally gave into my slumber. Had no idea it had been made into a TV show until I was well into the book and read it in someone else’s review while making dinner last night. Now I’ve got to figure out how to stream it while waiting for the second book to come off my holds shelf on Libby.
I couldn’t put this down. In fact, I was so mad that I had to go to sleep at all, and it was already almost 4 am when I finally gave into my slumber. Had no idea it had been made into a TV show until I was well into the book and read it in someone else’s review while making dinner last night. Now I’ve got to figure out how to stream it while waiting for the second book to come off my holds shelf on Libby.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
emmasiporatyler's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
My rating is probably skewed because it took me a million years to read this book! But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy it!! I think it was just a first-time kindle user thing. A friend pitched it to me as “Twilight but if Bella had agency” and they were so right! I loved the academic setting, the unique types of sorcery, and of course the romance. At times the plot/their relationship felt choppy for me but that might have been because of my reading habits. Starting from about halfway through onward I was HOOKED and I will definitely be finishing the series at some point in the future!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Confinement, Torture, Blood, and War
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Miscarriage, and War
kgreer's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book is the love child of Twilight and Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries. It is the intersection between academia and vampires.
As a STEM girly, I enjoyed the way the author explained magic with “science” (even though it was a little ridiculous and the non-magical science parts weren’t always correct - but it’s a fantasy book so I let that go)!
The beginning was slow but then picked up once the romantic interest started becoming relevant. At some points, I felt like the main character lost parts of who she was (independent, precautious, studious) as the story continued. Part of this change was ~character growth and development~ but part of her changes felt like it was just to fit the romance. And to me, without the romance, the plot wouldn’t have been as interesting.
It should be said that the main character had to confront suppressed parts of herself and deal with some hefty trauma - so who am I to critique how the author envisioned/wrote about how the character reacts to all that. In the end does it really matter that the character seemed whishy-washy at times? I did not read this book for a world based in reality or for a main character that would react like I would - so all and all, I did not hate the book but it’s not my favorite.
I may try reading the next book and I am hoping it picks up and gets straight to the action and drama!
As a STEM girly, I enjoyed the way the author explained magic with “science” (even though it was a little ridiculous and the non-magical science parts weren’t always correct - but it’s a fantasy book so I let that go)!
The beginning was slow but then picked up once the romantic interest started becoming relevant. At some points, I felt like the main character lost parts of who she was (independent, precautious, studious) as the story continued. Part of this change was ~character growth and development~ but part of her changes felt like it was just to fit the romance. And to me, without the romance, the plot wouldn’t have been as interesting.
It should be said that the main character had to confront suppressed parts of herself and deal with some hefty trauma - so who am I to critique how the author envisioned/wrote about how the character reacts to all that. In the end does it really matter that the character seemed whishy-washy at times? I did not read this book for a world based in reality or for a main character that would react like I would - so all and all, I did not hate the book but it’s not my favorite.
I may try reading the next book and I am hoping it picks up and gets straight to the action and drama!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Death of parent
abby_can_read's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
📖
I went back and forth on what I wanted to rate this. I have mixed feeling about this book.
Based on the blurb, I was excited. I thought this sounded great. I think this book had a great start and based on the summary, I knew the love story of Diana and Matthew was coming. I liked that Diana was older and she had life experience before meeting Matthew and them getting involved.
I started to lose interested around the time Matthew watched her sleeping, but I stuck with the book. I lost more interest as the relationship between Diana and Matthew developed.
I went into this book hoping it was a more mature and developed version of Twilight -- mainly featuring a better female character and a better romance. I don't think I had unreasonable hopes/expectations. But neither of those panned out for me.
The plot wasn't horrible, though I found to be predictable. The writing style was okay. The characters, mainly Diana, had me going back and forth and I still can't really decide how I feel beyond I think they were flat and some of the character development went backwards. I'm not really sure what I think about the relationships, mainly the one between Matthew and Diana. I can't decide if it's better or worse than Edward and Bella.
Despite my mixed feelings, overall I did enjoy reading this book. I plan to read the sequel. I have low exceptions and I'm curious how this series will compare to Twilight.
I went back and forth on what I wanted to rate this. I have mixed feeling about this book.
Based on the blurb, I was excited. I thought this sounded great. I think this book had a great start and based on the summary, I knew the love story of Diana and Matthew was coming. I liked that Diana was older and she had life experience before meeting Matthew and them getting involved.
I started to lose interested around the time Matthew watched her sleeping, but I stuck with the book. I lost more interest as the relationship between Diana and Matthew developed.
I went into this book hoping it was a more mature and developed version of Twilight -- mainly featuring a better female character and a better romance. I don't think I had unreasonable hopes/expectations. But neither of those panned out for me.
The plot wasn't horrible, though I found to be predictable. The writing style was okay. The characters, mainly Diana, had me going back and forth and I still can't really decide how I feel beyond I think they were flat and some of the character development went backwards. I'm not really sure what I think about the relationships, mainly the one between Matthew and Diana. I can't decide if it's better or worse than Edward and Bella.
Despite my mixed feelings, overall I did enjoy reading this book. I plan to read the sequel. I have low exceptions and I'm curious how this series will compare to Twilight.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Medical content
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-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? Yes
3.75
I was expecting a fast-paced, plot-focused fantasy novel. What I got was a very cozy paranormal romance. This book was filled with so many scenes of dining together, going for long walks, family bonding, and dark academia (my favourite). I wasn’t a fan of the insta-love & slow burn, which I’m hoping will ramp up more in the next book, which I do plan to read. Overall, a nice read that I’d recommend to anyone who likes cozy fantasy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
arsrose's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Torture, and Kidnapping
jaynovara's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Medical content, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
maggies's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Started reading the series primarily because I want to watch the show, and now I'm even more excited to keep reading the series! I think it might have benefitted from some editing down—lots of repetition of the same sentiment or even sentence in just a few paragraphs, for example—but overall a really engaging fantasy story. The world of the witches, vampires, and daemons is laid out for readers as Diana learns the details, which is a simple and effective trick for this kind of world-building. Docked a star because it's just not believable to me that the entire book takes place over less than two months.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Stalking
Minor: Xenophobia and War
bookishchef's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
This book is like Twilight.
But without the love triangle.
And somehow even more toxic.
You thought Edward stalking Bella was creepy?
Meet Matthew Clermont! He is actually mentally and physically abusive to our bland Mary Sue protagonist named Diana.
If you're Matthew, life is easy.
Diana has a panic attack? Threaten her life.
Diana is feeling scared? Threaten her life.
Diana is feeling horny? Threaten her life.
Why? Because you just cannot help yourself of course. After all, it is sooooo hot when men treat women like
A. fragile objects they're supposed to control and protect.
B. things to literally kill.
This book perpetrates the idea that men cannot help themselves from abusing, controling, and commanding women.
Worst thing is, that every time Diana goes against Matthew's wishes, she is immediately punished by the plot. Which only confirms that women are supposed to listen to the men in their lives according to this book.
I have no clue how I, the reader, was supposed to find any of this romantic. All of the scenes were either highly uncomfortable or straight up abusive.
The excuse of "he just can't help himself" is as old as time and has been used time and time again to excuse shitty behaviour from men.
And Diana, the MC, decides that this excuse is not an excuse at all. She seems to think this is actually the way the world works. She doesn't even take the horrible "I can fix him" attitude that so many romance MCs take. Instead she just completely accepts Matthew as the toxic asshole he is and gives up every part of her life to listen to him and conform to his ideas of an ideal wife.
So yeah this book stole the toxicity from Twilight and made it 10x worse.
You know what else it stole?
THE WEIRD BABY PLOTLINE
Yup, you heard me correctly.
This author really looked at Renesmee and went "wow that's such a cool plot point".
Remember how Bella wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant because Ed was a vampire? Well, same goes for Diana in this story. For a solid 80% of the book, we hear nothing about pregnancy rates between witches and vampires. (Diana is a witch and Matthew is a vampire)
Matthew refuses to have penetrative sex because of *plot*, and Diana gets frustrated because of this. And then suddenly out of NOWHERE it is revealed that witches and vampires can't have babies together BUT Diana has *special* DNA which means she is able to conceive with Matthew. Matthew supposedly didn't know this, so his aversion to penetrative sex was completely unrelated.
Even so, this entire plotpoint seems to exist to make Matthew right once again, and to rip off Twilight.
Truly do not understand why this gets 4+ stars on Goodreads.
ALSO OMG WINE GETS MENTIONED MORE THAN THE MC'S NAME I STG
But without the love triangle.
And somehow even more toxic.
You thought Edward stalking Bella was creepy?
Meet Matthew Clermont! He is actually mentally and physically abusive to our bland Mary Sue protagonist named Diana.
If you're Matthew, life is easy.
Diana has a panic attack? Threaten her life.
Diana is feeling scared? Threaten her life.
Diana is feeling horny? Threaten her life.
Why? Because you just cannot help yourself of course. After all, it is sooooo hot when men treat women like
A. fragile objects they're supposed to control and protect.
B. things to literally kill.
This book perpetrates the idea that men cannot help themselves from abusing, controling, and commanding women.
Worst thing is, that every time Diana goes against Matthew's wishes, she is immediately punished by the plot. Which only confirms that women are supposed to listen to the men in their lives according to this book.
I have no clue how I, the reader, was supposed to find any of this romantic. All of the scenes were either highly uncomfortable or straight up abusive.
The excuse of "he just can't help himself" is as old as time and has been used time and time again to excuse shitty behaviour from men.
And Diana, the MC, decides that this excuse is not an excuse at all. She seems to think this is actually the way the world works. She doesn't even take the horrible "I can fix him" attitude that so many romance MCs take. Instead she just completely accepts Matthew as the toxic asshole he is and gives up every part of her life to listen to him and conform to his ideas of an ideal wife.
So yeah this book stole the toxicity from Twilight and made it 10x worse.
You know what else it stole?
THE WEIRD BABY PLOTLINE
Yup, you heard me correctly.
This author really looked at Renesmee and went "wow that's such a cool plot point".
Remember how Bella wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant because Ed was a vampire? Well, same goes for Diana in this story. For a solid 80% of the book, we hear nothing about pregnancy rates between witches and vampires. (Diana is a witch and Matthew is a vampire)
Matthew refuses to have penetrative sex because of *plot*, and Diana gets frustrated because of this. And then suddenly out of NOWHERE it is revealed that witches and vampires can't have babies together BUT Diana has *special* DNA which means she is able to conceive with Matthew. Matthew supposedly didn't know this, so his aversion to penetrative sex was completely unrelated.
Even so, this entire plotpoint seems to exist to make Matthew right once again, and to rip off Twilight.
Truly do not understand why this gets 4+ stars on Goodreads.
ALSO OMG WINE GETS MENTIONED MORE THAN THE MC'S NAME I STG
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Misogyny, Torture, Grief, and Pregnancy
Minor: Child death