gloomyrivers's reviews
5 reviews

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book has been very hyped up by booktok so I didn't have a lot of faith in it and I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. That being said, I finished this book in 5 hours I simply needed to know how it ended. 

The book was really more plot focused than it was character focused but I loved Pip as our main character, she was funny and incredibly intelligent and I enjoyed seeing how her mind worked as I read through all her notes on the case. Ravi also made the story really fun and added humor when the story got really tense. The side characters that had a major role in the story were all interesting as well, and I'm glad we got to explore some of their lives and personalities. 

The plot was very interesting and it wasn't too predictable. It kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting to know more as I desperately tried to put the puzzle pieces together along with Pip. Every time she got another clue or found another loose end in the case I went through all the events in my head and mentally noted potential suspects.

Also, the big reveals at the end ?? With there being two murderers completely unaware of what the other had done ?? Absolutely genius I genuinely didn't see it coming.

 

I thought I would get bored as the story progressed but it never happened. It was captivating to the very end and I'm so happy I finally got around to reading it. 

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

I cannot express how much I adored this book. 

It started off a bit slow but it was intriguing and kept me interested and eventually I couldn't put the book down. It was such an interesting world and I found myself needing to know more about the creatures, the magic, and the gods. 

Vanja instantly became one of my favorite protagonists, her wit and sarcasm made the book so fun to read. The side characters were also incredibly lovable and the whole time I was just rooting for them to get the ending they deserved.

The Ragne/Gisele relationship took me by surprise but it was pleasant, I loved them together :').

I loved Death and Fortune and I do wish we got more of them but that's a minor thing. 

I didn't go into this book expecting romance but I am glad we got it. The relationships that were explored were so sweet and I loved the dynamic between our main couple. 

Overall, super fun book and I will be thinking about it for the rest of my life.

The Only Light Left Burning by Erik J. Brown

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

I loved this book so much more than the first one. The first one had some flaws that I feel were not present in this one and it was a lot more enjoyable for me. 

The side characters in this book were so lovable and easy to get attached to. It made everything higher stakes because now I had a whole new batch of characters to be worried about and root for. I got so invested in the lives of all of the characters, not just Jamie and Andrew. It was also nice that our main characters had friends around that they could talk to that weren't just each other. They spent the majority of the last book on their own and while that wasn't a bad thing I liked that this time around they had others to knock some sense into them. 

I thought I would get bored with their relationship issues and the lack of communication but I think it was handled well. They both had problems that they had to work through and I liked reading about their inner conflicts and watching as they grew and learned from their problems. 

In the previous book the voices of the two main characters sometimes blended together and without the book saying it directly, I might not have been able to distinguish who was who. In this book, I feel like their voices were distinct and interesting and it kept me engaged throughout the entire story.

Overall, it was a super fun book to read and I was fully invested the whole time. There was never a moment where I got bored and even when I put down the book I kept thinking about what was going to happen next. I'm also a sucker for found family so really this checked all my boxes. 

A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

3.25

I went into this book expecting an experience like the second book in this series and that was probably my first mistake. I think a lot of my disappointment came from setting my expectations way too high so I had to take a bit to just analyze the book for what it was, instead of comparing it to the one that came before it. 

With that being said, I liked the book overall. I really enjoy the way Stephanie Garber writes and it was fun to once again get lost in this magical world that she created. We got some cute moments between our main leads and I love Evangeline as a character so much that I'm just glad she got the ending she deserved. After reading the rest of Stephanie Garber's books a big part of why I was reading this book was for the vibes and I think it definitely delivered on that end. 

As for things I didn't like, Eva's memory loss made it so that a lot of the side characters we met in the first and second books weren't able to play a big part in this book until near the end and it was a bit disappointing. While I didn't mind the alternating POVs, I have to say I did not care for Apollo's chapters and a lot of them felt like they added nothing to the story. If this book had just alternated between Eva and Jacks POVs I would've liked that better.

I wasn't expecting a fully in-depth explanation on some of the questions I've had throughout the series, but I also wasn't expecting this book to have as many plotholes and loose ends as it did. What happened to some of the characters that were never mentioned again? Marisol wasn't even mentioned in this book and Luc was mentioned but we never found out what happened to him. Knightlinger appeared for a bit and then he just disappeared and did nothing, so what was the point of even mentioning him?  We got so much focus on the Valors throughout this book and yet they didn't do much except for Aurora who was your typical jealous girl villain. LaLa appeared in the last half of the book but her story with Dane wasn't really explored or the tension between her and Castor but I'm hoping that's because the next series Stephanie Garber writes will be about them. 

Did this book leave me with a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of speculations? Yes. BUT, for all my complaining I did enjoy all the moments we got and I think the author did what she could to give this series a satisfying ending and I do think it was a good conclusion for Evangeline and Jacks story. 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

There were bits of this book that I really liked and bits that I didn't. 

I enjoyed the concept of the circus and I really loved the way the elements of the circus were described. The book was written in a way that made it feel whimsical and exciting to read and I enjoyed going through and building the circus in my own imagination. Following along with all the characters and discovering how they each tied into the circus and the game that was taking place was also fun. I found myself getting incredibly attached to a lot of the side characters more than the main characters, but I did like Celia and Marco's story. 

I did feel like the romance was a bit rushed. It took a while for our two main characters to even properly meet and get to know each other but then all of a sudden they're desperately in love. There were also several moments where I just had to sit and process because I had so many questions about what the hell was happening. The jumps from year to year were confusing at the beginning but maybe that's on me because I did not pay attention to the dates. 

Was this the best book I've ever read? No, but it was an enjoyable read and it got me out of my reading slump so I can't complain too much.