alliewithbooks's reviews
643 reviews

The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde

Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.

Just could not abide by the structure of this book. You think you’re getting dropped in the middle of the action (which I love) but after the first chapter the momentum is immediately halted and we get a cycle of info-dumping and some light action, and so on and so on. I also didn’t wasn’t super invested in any of the characters. Overall, just felt very meh and not really worth continuing.

A Dawn of Onyx by Kate Golden

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.

I am just…getting so tired and impatient with the current state of romantasy. So many of these books are just bad. The world building here was okay and I thought the characters were enjoyable enough (not necessarily likeable, which is a different thing in my eyes) but once her brother burst through the door at the most convenient and coincidental time, it just lost it for me. They’re talking about him and being like “sigh he hasn’t returned in so long he’s prob dead atp” and at that exact moment he waltzes through the door. It just felt way too timely, like I was watching an SNL skit where they were heavy-handedly setting up the entrance of a character. But despite all of that, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. Not every author is good at subtlety or pacing, not a big deal and can easily correct itself. However, it just never really found its footing. I felt like the character interactions were weird and the story was getting lost in the structure. And I also felt like the introduction of what I’m assuming is the love interest just wasn’t working for me. I knew I wasn’t going to like him, and therefore wouldn’t be invested in the relationship.

The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

DNF’ed @ 85%

I really really tried, y’all. I did. I saw the bad reviews and I decided to give it a chance. And yet! Despite how boring and poorly paced this book was, I continued on. Despite the lack of world building and relationship development, I persevered. But when I got to this specific part in the book, it was a wrap.

*don’t proceed further if you don’t want spoilers*

The entire premise is that Marigold is a honey witch and her family line has been cursed to never fall in love. Despite that, she has somehow managed to fall in love and once she realizes that she has feelings for this girl she has not gotten along with, the relationship progresses pretty quick. That’s part of the bad, but it’s not the whole thing… Because of the curse, whenever these two show affection towards each other, the non-witch (her name is Lottie) goes through intense pain and has to be revived through magical honey each time. Okay, sounds like there is obvious love there because she’s being affected so greatly by the curse. Right? Sounds like common sense. BUT NO. Marigold is a dumbass I guess and is still under the impression that only she loves Lottie and the feelings aren’t reciprocated. Which tbh doesn’t make sense to me as the book has always made it seem like the curse is about mutual love and not just unrequited love. (There is a scene towards the beginning where Marigold sees an interaction between her grandmother and her long-time male friend and she asks her grandmother if he loves her, but her grandmother says something along the lines of “no, he’s just a very good friend and cares a lot about me” which implies that because of the curse love isn’t possible for them.) Anyway, Marigold somehow doesn’t realize that the feelings are mutual despite multiple instances of it being very, very obvious. So when Marigold and Lottie are masturbating together (because they can’t touch in an affectionate or sexual way without it being painful to Lottie) Marigold has the bright idea to profess her love, thinking it wouldn’t hurt Lottie which makes NO SENSE AT ALL. Is this character an idiot? Did we not just spend multiple chapters where it was very clear that Lottie was being affected by the curse? Of course after this admission of love Lottie is gravely affected and lies motionless on the bed. That’s where I paused the audiobook and said enough is enough.

THIS AUTHOR CANT GET AWAY WITH THIS. This is beyond the character being stupid, it’s just bad storytelling. I’m actually angry about this.

There are so many other issues with this book, but this was just egregious. There needs to be a reckoning in publishing, because how is this allowed? How are we publishing such poorly written and poorly thought-out books? How are they ending up in the Goodreads Choice Awards???? This is offensive to sapphics everywhere. This is offensive to people with good sense and good taste.

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-paced