brooksie03051's reviews
178 reviews

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

dark

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.75

 

Immortal Longings (Flesh and False Gods #1) released July 18, 2023

By Chloe Gong also known for These Violent Delights and Foul Lady Fortune duologies

 

The Kingdom of Talin hosts a game each year in its capital twin cities, San-Er, where the palace will award a single winner riches beyond their wildest dreams.  The games are open to all citizens and hundreds join the lottery in hopes of winning as the majority of the half million citizens in the kingdom are extremely poor and struggle to get basic necessities such as food and housing for themselves and their families.  Many are homeless as the small kingdom is overpopulated with little chance to have a decent life.  Unless of course they are one of the 88 chosen and win the annual game.  If a player is confident and has the ability, they can "jump" between bodies (taking over another person's body with your conscience which is against the law), and the competitors who excel at this ability can jump across San-Er and fight to the death to win the coveted prize. It was like the Hunger Games but in a cramped dilapidated city surrounded by regular people going about their lives and not thrown in the woods with only the other players to pick off one by one. However, one player in this year's game isn't doing it for the prize money and is known for refusing to ever jump.  Will that hinder their chances of winning?

 

For the good of the kingdom... For the good of the kingdom.

 

Apparently, this is a retelling of Antony and Cleopatra which I am not familiar with because I was never interested in anything regarding that story so I went into this book blind.  This is also the first book I've read by Chloe Gong, so I am not familiar with her writing. This was OwlCrate's first Adult BOTM Special edition pick for July, and the read-along pick in "The Nest" for September (a bookish app run by OwlCrate for all book enthusiasts, not just OwlCrate subscribers).   

 

I have read a few books that would have numerous character POVs such as GOT, but I feel that this book was a bit too short to flip between several characters and some were just too brief to even mention on their own. Needless to say, I was not a fan of that. 

 

Let the POV jumping begin...

 

• August Shenzhi: The adopted son of King Kasa who is in line for the throne and wants the title sooner rather than later. 
• Princess Calla Tuoleimi: In hiding from the palace for the last 5 years and rumored to be dead.  She murdered her parents and if the king finds out she is still alive, she will be killed.     
• Anton Makusa: an exiled aristocrat formally friends with Prince August who is desperate for money to keep his childhood love Otta alive as she's been in a coma at the hospital since the exile 5 years ago.  Bills are piling up and if he doesn't get money soon, the hospital will stop caring for her and she could die. His intention is to win the game so he can continue her care and is known to be the best jumper in the kingdom.  
• Pampi Magnes: Works at the palace and is one of the people monitoring the killing game. 

 

Calla and Anton are the best contestants in the game and decide to hold a truce to form an alliance to better their chances of being the last ones standing.  August is also tipping the scales toward Calla to her surprise in order for her to help him get what he wants.  As they work together, they begin to look at one another as more than just competition and wonder if they will be able to complete the game as intended. A few characters mention something strange/concerning going on in regard to the jumping, but it doesn't seem like there was an answer to it.  Although I did lose focus a lot while reading this and may have missed it. If not, I assume it will be explained in the sequel which I am undecided if I will be reading because this was a rough read for me.  I had a hard time getting into the storyline and although in the read-along I'm participating in, we only read a few chapters per day and give thoughts on how it's going, I struggled with motivation to pick up the book and read the few assigned chapters each day.  Due to my reluctance, I fell a few days behind because I just didn't want to read it and I considered a DNF but I sucked it up since it was a pick for the read-along and hoped it would get more interesting.

 

It picked up more towards the end and there was a cliffhanger but I just didn't get that feeling you typically have with a big cliffhanger wishing you could read the next book right away. There were a few characters thrown in there briefly, which one I completely forgot about until I went back to look at something, and seems they may be a big key to the strange things going on so to me that shouldn't have been a forgettable character.  I decided to listen to the audiobook to play catch up and get through and finish it a day early so I could move on to something else I may enjoy more. The idea of how the game is played and the abilities people have is interesting.  The backstory (although brief) of Calla was as well.  It was just missing something for me and I was left feeling a bit, meh.  It had potential and I hope that the sequel is better with a bit more backstory to the characters and how that world works to help fill in the voids and make up for what this one was missing.  I gave this a 3 star rating, but unfortunately due to my reluctance to read the second book, it actually dropped down to about 2.5- 2.75 which you cannot rate on this platform. Typically if I rate a book at a 3 or above it means I feel it is worth reading any sequel it may have. Not sure it will happen.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Blood, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Kidnapping

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

She is the King's Champion, the greatest assassin her world has ever known.
But will her goal to become free be stronger than her conscience, or her heart?

After being sent to the Salt Mines of Endovier for a year of hard labor by the King,
eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien won the right to become the new royal
assassin. However, Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She holds a secret close, even
keeping some from the few people she considers friends. She must keep the King happy
as she pretends to do his bidding to kill those he states are a threat to his throne.  Celeana
is intelligent, and observant and was trained by Arobynn Hamel the King of the Assassins
and the head of the Assassin's Guild, as well as the master of the Silent Assassins in the Red
Desert.

She's given a task that is harder to conceal from the King and could jeopardize everything
she's come to care for. There are far more dangerous forces gathering that threaten to destroy
all she holds dear, her freedom and her world. 

• How is it that the King was able to conquer so many kingdoms?
• What is HE hiding from all his subjects? 
• Will she be able to piece together all the crumbs she has come across in her time here? 
• Is there anyone that she can trust with all she has learned?
• Celaena has to make a choice.
• Where do her loyalties lie, and who is she willing to fight for?

I look forward to the next adventure this series has to offer and see how Ceaena handles the

new revelations she has revealed about the King, Prince Dorian, and Princess Nehemia Ytger,
the secrets hiding in the Palace of Glass and her own heritage that she has kept closer to her heart. 

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.5

I'm late to the party of reading this series but I'm sure I am not alone so I don't feel too bad.

A prequel to Throne of Glass, this is a collection of five novellas: 

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
The Assassin and the Healer
The Assassin and the Desert
The Assassin and the Underworld
The Assassin and the Empire

This Offers a deeper look into the history of the infamous assassin Celaena Sardothien and her enthralling - and deadly - world.   Celaena is her kingdom's most feared assassin. Though she works for the powerful and ruthless Assassin's Guild run by the heartless Arobynn Hamel, Celaena yields to no one and trusts only her fellow killer for hire, Sam. 

I will not be afraid...

I listened to this book after Throne of Glass.  It gives a better understanding of who Sam was and their relationship, her master, King of the Assassins Arobynn who trained her, and when she first met the King of Adarlan.  These short stories build up to the point when she is sent to the dreaded slave mines.  

I enjoyed hearing some of her backstory to get a better understanding of what brought her to the point of being locked up.  There is a fleeting mention of the crown Prince Dorian at the end that makes me wonder.  I'm not sure if it was intentional to have just a hint but not give away a future plot, or just was a side thought in the book.  It was intentionally added so I am leaning towards a seed to something down the road that will make more sense.  Since this is the second book I read in this series and not the actual second book I have no other frame of reference.  

Looking forward to seeing how Celaena fairs in this series constantly having to watch her back and wondering who she can trust in this fantasy world as it seems to be significantly less than the people she cannot.  I also sense that she is a bit more than "assassin Celaena Sardothien" than she realizes as well. 
 

House of Marionne by J. Elle

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Firstly, a HUGE thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me the ARC of this book.  The opinions are my own after reviewing the digital copy. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

I LOVED this book!!!  This hasn't been released yet and I want to read book two 💛 

I pre-ordered a hardcover of this immediately after finishing to add to my collection of fantasy that I enjoy and want a nice copy on my bookshelf.  This will be a trilogy that I believe will do very well. 

 

Spoiler-free synopsis 

 

Quell is a 17 year-old who has lived her entire life filled with memories of being on the run with her mother Rhea.  Never able to settle into a place with friends, constantly moving, and changing schools to hide her big secret.  Deadly magic flows through Quell’s veins and her mother is desperate to keep her safe and hidden. She is weeks away from graduating high school and once she does, it will be easier for them to hide and have a more peaceful life, however, the people looking for her (who hunt all with her dark magic) find her and she is forced not only to run, but to do so alone.  Her mother gives her the location of a safe house where her mother said she would meet her once the threat was clear.  When she arrives the location is compromised and she is forced to make a quick and hasty decision in order to survive.  She seeks shelter at the only place she vaguely knows of that should be safe and where her mother will also know how to find... her grandmother's house.  A decision that she hopes will help her bide time until she can reunite with her mother. 

 

By morning, I'll be gone 

 

Little did Quell know that she would be thrown into a debutante society of magical social elites called The Order which she never knew existed. 

There are four territories and four Houses run by different headmistresses which are boarding schools young people attend (if invited) to oversee magical instruction.  Quell is hiding in House of Marionne run by headmistress Darragh Marionne. 

House of Marionne Specialties offered: 

 

• Anatomer~Tranfigurer of Anatomy   
• Audior~ Tranfigurer of Sound 
• Shifter~ Transfigurer or Matter 
• Retentor ~ Remover of Magic 
• Cultovator~ Tranferer of Knowledge 
• Dragun~ By Invitation Only 

 

She reluctantly is inducted and if she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she’ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever. If they find out about her real magic abilities, she will be killed. Oh, and of course throw in a very handsome mentor who is assigned to her that is in training with the group of people who she has been running from and trying to kill her.  

The magic in this fantasy reminds me of the Grisha in Shadow and Bone but set in the modern day in a posh boarding school. 

Holly Horror by Michelle Jabès Corpora

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.75

 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a digital copy ARC of this book and the opportunity to read and 
review based on my own personal opinions. 


Please note, I am fairly picky about the books I choose to read and don't always jump on the most popular buzz of books being 
thrown around online. Between the description and the cover, I was very interested in reading this book.


This book is said to be a nod to a beloved classic Holly Hobbie reimagined with a dark twist.  😏Color me intrigued... 

🌑This YA Horror (leaning more toward younger than adult) revolves around teenager Evie Archer who moves from the big and 
busy city of New York to the small quiet New England town of Ravenglass, Massachusetts, with her mother and brother after 
her parent's divorce.  This is meant for a fresh start for the family in an old abandoned family home previously owned by 
her mother's Aunt and Uncle. Her new home however is known in the local community as the "Horror House" and small towns tend 
to talk.  Yikes! 😲


👤The home has a dark past after learning about Holly Hobbie, who vanished from her bedroom one night.  This mystery starts 
to weave itself into Evie's life and a strange shadow starts following her everywhere.  What happened to the lost girl?  
What's real?  Things start getting strange as soon as she arrives in this sleepy little town.  Trying to fit in as the new 
girl is hard enough, but being the new girl living in a haunted house is challenging.  Evie also struggles with her 
relationship with her mother but this story is from her POV so you only see what Evie feels regarding her mother's disregard 
to the rumors of ghosts.  


😱Traces of Holly linger in the Horror House and slowly begin to take over Evie's life as she struggles to get answers to her 
disappearance. A strange shadow follows her everywhere she goes, and Evie starts to lose sight of what's real and what isn't 
the more she learns about "The Lost Girl".  A teen who is thrown into a new school trying to make friends, dealing with a 
broken family, and a house with a dark past that hasn't seemed to go away over time. Can Evie find out what happened the night 
of Holly's disappearance, or will history repeat itself and confirm its wicked nickname "The Horror House" given by the people 
in this little town? 


👀I don't know about anyone else, but in my own personal experience, I have had odd feelings of being watched and in some 
cases, I was and saw the person staring at me.  At other times no one was there but I still got that same feeling which is 
super icky, to say the least.  This book has that creep factor which makes it more interesting for me.  It goes at a medium 
pace with all sorts of odd things happening but then a little slower in the middle but be patient, it ends with a banger.  


😵Beware because this is the first book and there is a cliffhanger which I should have expected since it said #1 after the 
title online, but if you just look at the cover you may think it's a stand-alone book.  I hope that the other characters in 
this story are more developed in the second book because they weren't quite there in this first book which lowered my rating.  I do like a bit more when it comes to characters in a book otherwise they are forgotten as the story progresses. They might be in the second book and this first book scratched the surface of their involvement with Evie.  


🙀Based on the title and cover it may intrigue people looking for an adult horror but this book is not geared for the adult 
horror reader. If that is what you are looking for, this isn't for you.  Since I enjoy all sorts of genres, regardless of this 
leaning more toward a younger audience, I found it entertaining and look forward to the next book.  Side note, anything I rate 
a 3 or above I feel is worth reading. 


💭Final thoughts, this is a great book to read during the spooky season or listen to on audio with your friends for a spooky 
sleepover weekend (if it's offered in audio) for middle-aged kids. Honestly, I think if this is offered in audio form I will 
get it because the spooky factor is typically much better when listening to it in my opinion. Especially if they add some light 
spooky music in the background during the creepier parts

---

Content Warnings

This book is listed as YA but could be even lower to Middle Grade. This is NOT for people who prefer Adult Horror.

When You Are Mine by Michael Robotham

dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

Philomena (Phil) McCarthy is a young, ambitious police officer with the Metropolitan Police in London. When she responds to a domestic violence call, she finds the victim, Tempe Brown, trying to protect her abuser, a married man named Darren Goodall, an honored Scotland Yard detective who is afraid of no one and not as honorable as he may seem. 

As Phil pursues the case against Goodall, she not only encounters resistance from her police force colleagues but also becomes closely entangled with the victim Tempe who is not at all who she appears or states to be, much to the increasing endangerment of herself and Henry, her fiancée.  Being a female in law enforcement was hard, but also being the daughter of a well-known mobster father, it makes her have to work harder for recognition and respect among fellow police.  

This story twists to endanger Phil's reputation not only with her peers but her friends and family.  Who is Tempe and what are her intentions?  You will have to read the story to find out...

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope
Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life
“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead
 
The Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume their 17 year old daughter Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside the cliffside mansion Hope’s End since the night where the massacre occurred.   Now the story is reduced to a schoolyard chant that all the local people know and all are afraid to step foot into the mansion.

Fast forward to  1983, and home-health aide named Kitteridge (Kit) McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora Hope after her previous nurse Mary fled in the middle of the night without so much as a goodbye or note of explanation. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Kit is told that Miss Hope was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate by tapping yes or no answers with her only good left hand.  But then Kit finds out that she can also use an old typewriter that her previous caregiver taught her to use. Something that others were not aware of.  One night, Lenora uses the typewriter to make a tantalizing offer to Kit—I want to tell you everything.
 
"But here's the thing, I wasn't a good girl. Not in the least. You'll see for yourself very soon."

This story is not only about what happened at Hope's End but also about Kit and the reason why she has taken this new job at the infamous murder mansion.  It is also told from a few points of view and what they thought happened that night.  Lenora's story starts on the day her portrait is painted to commemorate her birthday.  The same one Kit sees as she is brought in by Mrs. Baker (the housekeeper) that is on the wall in the mansion next to 3 other portraits of identical size but are covered in black silk crepe nailed to the frames hiding the family member underneath. 

Just when you think you may have figured out the mystery, there is a twist to the story.  This happens a few times as more and more information comes leaving you shocked and surprised.  This is not a story that is easy to figure out the ending.  It is not predictable in the least and even leading to the last few pages, when you think it's done, you get hit with one last surprise.

Hang on my pretties, it's going to be a wild ride!

10/10 recommend this book for all who love a good mystery. 

Devil of Black Creek by Victor Methos

medium-paced

3.5

A quick campfire story to scare everyone before bed. 

Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou

dark mysterious

3.5