beasbookburrowxo's reviews
554 reviews

Blood of the Sands by

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

3.25

Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

Riftborne by Parker Lennox

adventurous mysterious medium-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

This book has everything I love in a fantasy book, pronunciation guide at the beginning, maps! (Thank you to the author for sending me a bigger version) a FMC who we see blossom into a strong confident woman, a mysterious morally grey MMC and plenty of action and magic. This book had me smiling like an idiot in one scene in particular, read it and you’ll know which I mean. And after that ending I cannot wait for the next book. 5 stars

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Vale of Dreams by Alex Rivers, C.N. Crawford

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-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

Avalon Tower by Alex Rivers, C.N. Crawford

adventurous funny mysterious medium-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

4.0

Bleeding Rose by Kyla Shinder

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

4.0

So this is a little bit of a mixed one for me. I’ll start with the things I loved about this book because I did really enjoy it. I absolutely loved the FMC Ella, she has so much personality and she’s really funny. I love how she doesn’t just take what everyone throws at her and she sticks up for herself. I love how she treats Kellen the MMC in the first half of the book. I did really like Kellen too, it’s a classic enemies to lovers which is my favourite trope and he does make a really good enemy. I loved the plot too, it’s something I’ve not come across before so it was very refreshing to read something new. Without giving too much away I loved the relationship between Kellen and Freya (Ella’s dog) it added a really nice touch to the story and it also made me giggle quite a bit. The reasons for me giving this 4 stars instead of 5 is during the last half of the book I found at times certain things to become repetitive, for example, there was a lot of crying from all the characters, it seems as though every time the FMC and the MMC exchanged kind words to each other they both ended up crying which I found unrealistic given the way the world works where they are is all about not showing weakness and being strong on the outside etc, I feel as though it would of been a lot more powerful if there was one big declaration of love and the tears happened then. I loved the twins so much they’re really great characters although I do feel as though it would of made more sense to make them older as they just seemed a little too mature for 12 year olds, it felt like I was reading adult characters. When the enemies became lovers I also feel like the 2 main characters lost their personalities especially Kellen, we only really see him declaring his love in the second half of the book rather than his sarcastic dry humor that is in the first half. The monologues between the characters were really well written and really poetic but at times I felt they were just a little too long to flow properly. That being said I did enjoy this book a lot and would recommend and I will be picking up the next book if there is one. 

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

adventurous lighthearted medium-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? No

4.0

I loved the first book and this one did not disappoint! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and following Emily’s crazy adventure’s again. I love how Heather writes these books, she manages to surprise us and keep us on our toes with all Emily does and the writing style gives me a really cosy old english feel. I really recommend this book if you love lighthearted adventure, funny and charming characters and a big fluffy dog! 

To Cage a God by Elizabeth May

tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

King Of Flames by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

adventurous mysterious fast-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

3.0

So this is a super quick, fast paced read that I enjoyed quite a bit. The main character is so unserious which was actually kind of refreshing, a lot of the time with fantasy it’s very high stakes with a lot of emotion which I love but it was also nice to read from the point of view of a sarcastic fmc who just doesn’t seem to take any of it seriously. I liked the fmc however it did seem as though her and her male best friend just had zero loyalty to each other and honestly put themselves first a lot of the time which fair enough who can say if they were getting chased by a monster we wouldn’t run as fast as we could and leave our friends to fend for themselves. There was no romance or spice in the book but throughout the book it was building, I feel like the foundations for a good spicy romance were definitely there which will come to fruition in the next book maybe. I would recommend this book for a quick fun read, trigger warning though there is some gore which did make me feel a little sick. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore