cagneynicole18's reviews
22 reviews

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

4.0

Thoroughly enjoyed this series and the world Rachel built within these pages. The only reason why I wouldn't give it 5 starts is because I found myself wishing that some of the characters had better interactions in this series and others I wished we saw more of in the book. Although I loved the characters individually, I don't think there was enough time to feel attached to many of them. I was much more invested in where the story was going rather than the characters themselves or a balance of the two. This series was great as a duology but would have been incredible if it were longer and we (or maybe just me 😭) could really be invested in the characters.

Spoiler(ish) opinions:
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Meeting Elspeth's mom should have been a much larger deal than it actually was???? Like everyone thought she was dead and all of a sudden she's just there and then we never see her again after that.

-

Personally, if either of my younger brothers where gonna die at any given moment and I'm fighting just to save them, I'  be a lot kinder to them. I didn'treally like how Emory was sometimes treated in these books. And it always seemed to happen in unprovoked moments. Idk I caught a bit of an ick whenever it happened.

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Hot take: This series really should have just been Raven's story. I personally wasn't all that attached to Elspeth by the end of book one, then she wasn't in 90% of this book (understanably so), and the last line of the book was about how she was the author... girl bye it was Ravyn but okay 😭

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

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

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.

I found it too difficult to imagine how the city/characters were figting. Eventually I found that the book didn't have me hooked enough to try to figure it out. Put it down and never came back to it.

A House of Wolves by Steven Adams

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.25

Once I got past the first quarter of the book, I couldn't put it down! The world building was incredible and the overall story was really good. I haven't read too many fantasy books by male authors and found that I really enjoyed his approach to fight scenes. As someone with anxiety, I found Sybilla's panic attacks to be a bit hard to read just because I didn't expect it to be so realistic. Overall, this was a really good debut novel and I'm super excited to read more from this author!

Space for Love by Emily Antoinette

funny inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Overall:
 I really enjoyed reading this book and it was so terribly hard to put down! A short, feel good alien sci-fi romance that makes your heart happy. It was refreshing to read about a character that I found really relateable, and the language used between the love interest and the MC when admiring each other was tasteful.

Characters:
I loved most of the characters in this story. The MC is a brave, badass babe and her love interest is a sexy, down-bad alien. I found them both loveable, relatable, and an absolute joy to read about.
Now, I don't think most people would agree with my opinion on this character, but I didn't like the MC's best friend. She doesn't have any sense of boundaries which, to me, translates to a lack of respect. I did wish our MC actually addressed this rather than gloss over it. This is the only reason why I docked a star.

Why you may or may not choose to read the story:
- The book is focused on the development of the characters' romance rather than being plot driven. Personally I think this makes for a good pallet cleanser book or a comfort read.
- Relateable charaBook.
- Plus size representaion.
- Diverse characters and language when it comes to sexuality & gender representation.
- Alien 🍆
- The characters fall in love relatively quickly. Slower than an instalove, but we're only reading about their romance so it feels faster. That being said it's kind of the point of the book.

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I'm pissed that I'm giving this book such a high rating, but the last few hundred pages took this from a 2 star to 4 star rating. I've been attempting to read this book since it was released (after having read all of SJM's other books), and I couldn't make it past the first 50 pages. BUT I wanted to read it to better understand the multiverse, and let me tell you, I absolutely HATED the first 300 pages. All of the cursing that was primarily in the first 3rd of the book was so unnecessary that it became annoying to read, every little thing became sexualized, and Bryce had no personality. Never thought I'd complain about the first two things cause I usually don't give a shit, but it read like it was written by a 14 year old prepubescent boy just discovered that girls have boobs and that words like fuck exists so now he insists on using it in every single sentence. That very much dies down in the later half of the book, but damn. Random: didn't like Juniper at all. Sis can gtfo.

What saved the book:
- It made me cry, and the only other book series that did that was Throne of Glass.
- I slowly fell in love with Hunt's character. Loved that he actively chose to stay by her side throughout the book when he could have easily switched with one of the other triarii. Also loved that he was very willing to talk about his emotions and knew when he was in the wrong about things. This man also had me kicking my feet and giggling 
- Ruhn 🫱🏻‍🫲🏾 black women
- Ruhn period.
- The last few hundred pages were so terribly good. I was so invested that I stayed up until 6 am to finish it. The birds are chirping outside.
- Tharion period.
- Syrinx
- Lehabah... 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Suicide attempt

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

This was ridiculously good and the ending was so cute I cried. Will now be mourning yhe fact that it's over for the next several months.