A review by smitch29
Sleeping with Monsters by Amelia Hutchins
4.0
3.7
This was a very entertaining and intriguing story. I love the uniqueness of the characters (well, they are unique to my reading experience). I think the author has crafted some very complex and interesting relationships. It's not all fairy tale-esque, where things are easy for the main the characters. Too often in the books I read, the main character(s) may have bad things happen to him/her, but it all works out like magic in the end. This book actually has magic, and it's still not easy, it's much more realistic, there isn't always a solution that solves everything.
Though, I must admit, this book wasn't perfect. In some regards, I think this should be rated 3-stars, but I was truly entertained, so it got bumped up. The beginning had moments that confused me. So many people are keeping so many secrets, and I don't know if it was me, or if the author could've done more to help keep things easier to remember and understand since so many characters spoke cryptically for a good chunk of the book at the beginning. There were times that I felt lost, where I didn't know if I had missed something (which is entirely possible), but I didn't always know what a character was talking about.
For the record, I really did like the ending; it was exciting and engaging. However, I think the author wanted so much of it to play out as a surprise, where all these mysteries were finally solved, that the story just before the climax was lacking. Leading up to the finale, the main character Lena, seemed to reference some information she had learned that helped her come to some conclusion about Lucien or the situation they were all in. However, the author wouldn't let that me, as the reader, know that same info. This was the time in the story when the conclusions felt unsupported or weakly supported. I think ultimately, Lena figured out everything because she just thumbed through the archived info in her brain. That's it. However, she had a lot of info (from grimoires she absorbed to stuff her brother, Benjamin, divulged) that the author never revealed. So it felt lacking and lame when she revealed all this info. I wish I could better understand her though process that concluded all of this. If she had just been told all of this straight out, why did it seem as though she still need to solve these mysteries in the days succeeding her getting the info?
As much as I had issue with some aspect of the conclusion, I think the author is skilled at ending a book in manner that makes me want the next one right now. I hope I do not have to wait long for this next book in this series.
This was a very entertaining and intriguing story. I love the uniqueness of the characters (well, they are unique to my reading experience). I think the author has crafted some very complex and interesting relationships. It's not all fairy tale-esque, where things are easy for the main the characters. Too often in the books I read, the main character(s) may have bad things happen to him/her, but it all works out like magic in the end. This book actually has magic, and it's still not easy, it's much more realistic, there isn't always a solution that solves everything.
Though, I must admit, this book wasn't perfect. In some regards, I think this should be rated 3-stars, but I was truly entertained, so it got bumped up. The beginning had moments that confused me. So many people are keeping so many secrets, and I don't know if it was me, or if the author could've done more to help keep things easier to remember and understand since so many characters spoke cryptically for a good chunk of the book at the beginning. There were times that I felt lost, where I didn't know if I had missed something (which is entirely possible), but I didn't always know what a character was talking about.
For the record, I really did like the ending; it was exciting and engaging. However, I think the author wanted so much of it to play out as a surprise, where all these mysteries were finally solved, that the story just before the climax was lacking. Leading up to the finale, the main character Lena, seemed to reference some information she had learned that helped her come to some conclusion about Lucien or the situation they were all in. However, the author wouldn't let that me, as the reader, know that same info. This was the time in the story when the conclusions felt unsupported or weakly supported. I think ultimately, Lena figured out everything because she just thumbed through the archived info in her brain. That's it. However, she had a lot of info (from grimoires she absorbed to stuff her brother, Benjamin, divulged) that the author never revealed. So it felt lacking and lame when she revealed all this info. I wish I could better understand her though process that concluded all of this. If she had just been told all of this straight out, why did it seem as though she still need to solve these mysteries in the days succeeding her getting the info?
As much as I had issue with some aspect of the conclusion, I think the author is skilled at ending a book in manner that makes me want the next one right now. I hope I do not have to wait long for this next book in this series.