imskylow's reviews
267 reviews

Barbarian's Choice by Ruby Dixon

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

3.75

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

Interesting concept but poor execution. I was a very fast ready but I won’t lie, there’s almost no world building in this book. It really made it hard to be immersed. Maybe this is nit-picky but I can’t be absorbed into if I’m not convinced of the setting. We have suitors, horses, carriages, and balls but somehow a poor character has a shower at home? We have dresses and gowns with lacing up the back and slippers but also only “underwear” and “bralettes”?  We mention lamplighters being a job but also mention light switches? I’m thinking, maybe this is inspired by Victorian era or the Industrial Revolution and obviously it’s not set in our world but class differences, clothing and technology need to make sense. 

On a more serious note there was an infuriating love triangle that made my perspective of the main character sour. Additionally, the ending felt very gratuitous. I could just imagine the author manically laughing and she tortures her characters for no reason. The romance was awkwardly vague. Like it felt like a Wattpad novel where we didn’t want to talk about body parts. And it’s okay if you don’t want your book to be explicit but the intimate scenes should have the right pacing. Something about it just wasn’t it.

All that being said, I was not annoyed enough to DNF this book. The magic system and the plot twists were quite nice.
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Blood Orange by Karina Halle

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 17%.
Look, I love smut as much as the next b1tch but trust me when I tell you this is the last time I trust BookTok. 
The first two chapters from Dahlia’s perspective were mild interesting, world building and introduction of the conflict (although there was an inane amount of info dump in the exposition). Cut to Valtu and you get several LONG pages of him railing a random girl in a bleeding den before biting and sucking blood out of her gluteus maximus. Like bruv, what do you think you’re gonna get out of biting her there? Not even the inner thigh artery? 🤦🏾‍♀️ That aside, when will romance authors learn that smut is basically worthless when you don’t know the characters or are invested in them. All I learned was what a manwh0re Dracula is. WHICH BY THE WAY, DRACULA? Really? This isn’t a spoiler (it’s talked about in the very beginning) but Valtu is supposed to be Dracula but was only turned in the 1700s? Tell me you know nothing about Dracula without telling me. The man was from the 1400s 😭
ANYWAY, cut back to Dahlia and her chapter just returns to heavy exposition. Babe 53 pages in and I was too exhausted to care. 
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Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

Interesting concept. Poor execution. My biggest qualm is the nauseating amount of meh male characters and only one woman. 

This book isn’t pretending to be anything it’s not. It’s not fancy. There’s no whimsical prose or rhythm to it. It’s straight forward. Martin did this. Martin did that. Martin went here. In some sense that made the words fast to read through but the plot slogged along. There was too much explanation and training and not enough action or conflict. Honestly only the last quarter of the book was interesting but by that point I was already exhausted. Martin wasn’t an interesting or facinating character. None of them were. All the characters were a copy paste of each other. Words on a page without personality. Just dudes. Gwen (the one woman) was fine but it was a running joke that every guy in the book was trying to get with her instead of attempting to befriend or understand her. Really speaks to the level of value the author puts on women. When she did anything badass, the men were turned on more than anything.
 
“Martin stared at her, mouth agape. She thought he was amazed, and that was part of it. He was also tremendously turned on.”

Also, you cannot convince me that geeky women wouldn’t be living it up in Medieval England and using their“magic” to protect themselves and avenge other women.

“There were only men at the table, as women tended to find the climate of Medieval England a bit more favorable for Wizards than Witches.”

Clearly, the author doesn’t know how much women love fantasy and sword fighting and the idea of witchcraft aesthetic. I don’t know. It just felt like a guy’s book— written for and by. I wish the execution could have been as cool as the concept, but alas. 
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Volume 0-Issue None Book of The Month by Mary Jones, Puloma Ghosh, Abby Geni, Juliet Escoria, Christine Vines, Jean Kwok, Lena Valencia

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? No

4.25

I actually really enjoy anthologies but I always forget I do until reading another. These stories were dark and a little twisty but very interesting. I liked the spooky feel of everything. Fabulous writers who happen to also be female 🎉
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A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense 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? No

4.5

This was very good but also very hard to read with all of the genocide and torture happening in our world right now. There were definitely several times I had to put the book down and take a break. 
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An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? No

4.5

Pleasantly surprised by this novel. I feel like I haven’t read a good political fantasy YA in a long while. All the characters have depth and emotion and the conflict feels real, too real at times especially with the genocides happening in the world. Laia is a fabulous FMC. She’s determined without being arrogant and unfeeling. She’s not a pick-me, she’s an I’ll-try-my-best. Elias is an intriguing character as well. A++
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Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is everything. It’s honestly one of the top books of the year for me. It’s a love letter to all of us that deal with anxiety. The right person for you will not find you to be a burden. In this book, Jacob, find himself falling for Briana, a woman who is not trying to make him be anyone other than who he is. His anxiety is not an issue for her and not the reason that keeps them apart. In fact, she so seamlessly supports him by taking the guess work out of outings. I was stunned when the character listed: where they were meeting, how loud it would be, who would be there, where to park and such. It’s written to be such a small thing for Briana to do but means to world to Jacob. Honestly, I found myself falling for both MCs. Jacob is so selfless and willing to show up even if it makes him uncomfortable. I love his willingness to communicate even if it’s not via usual methods. We love a letter writer. Both are so cognizant of each other’s needs without making it a big deal. I am in love with this book. I’m in love with this whole cast of characters. I was strapped in the entire time. This one is going to go down as one of my favorites. 
The Dragon's Bride by Katee Robert

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

3.0

It was fine. It felt like Kate’s Robert was really scratching the surface of what monster romance could be. It didn’t have the thrilling aspect I seek in books like this. It was pretty average and underwhelming. 
Filthy Rich Vampire by Geneva Lee

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

It’s smutty vampire trash but I eat it up nonetheless. There is a “I have to make them hate me so they leave even though I love them” break up; so, points off for that. It’s not revolutionary. But it’s fun. 
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