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thedailydiva's reviews
774 reviews
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Hmmmm…
This is a difficult book to rate.
Is it well written? Yes! Is the storyline compelling? Absolutely, how could you not route for a Mother’s Quest to locate her children? Did I learn anything new about this time period? No. But this is going to be subjective. I read a lot of slave stories. It happens to be a favorite genre as I’ve personally searched for answers to my ancestral timeline. So reading this book, while interesting, didn’t teach me anything new.
Books, like any art, are subjective. I think my biggest disconnect was with the characters. Unfortunately, the main character Rachel, lacked depth or any believable likability other than my natural pathos toward a suffering Black Woman on a noble search for her family and legacy. But that yearning has lil to do with the character and more to do with my endearment to any suffering maternal figure. That emotion comes from me, not the character introduced on the page, if that makes sense.
I enjoyed the story, as it progressed. The overall story arch finally picking up and my yearning for the characters happy ending. The pace of the story was slow and I found myself in some spots a lil bored. Wanting more from the story than the carefully crafted convenience. Everything happened almost too neatly for the time period presented. Especially with my knowledge of its relentless brutality, specifically in the Caribbean Slave Trade.
This one just didn’t hit home for me. Sadly.
This is a difficult book to rate.
Is it well written? Yes! Is the storyline compelling? Absolutely, how could you not route for a Mother’s Quest to locate her children? Did I learn anything new about this time period? No. But this is going to be subjective. I read a lot of slave stories. It happens to be a favorite genre as I’ve personally searched for answers to my ancestral timeline. So reading this book, while interesting, didn’t teach me anything new.
Books, like any art, are subjective. I think my biggest disconnect was with the characters. Unfortunately, the main character Rachel, lacked depth or any believable likability other than my natural pathos toward a suffering Black Woman on a noble search for her family and legacy. But that yearning has lil to do with the character and more to do with my endearment to any suffering maternal figure. That emotion comes from me, not the character introduced on the page, if that makes sense.
I enjoyed the story, as it progressed. The overall story arch finally picking up and my yearning for the characters happy ending. The pace of the story was slow and I found myself in some spots a lil bored. Wanting more from the story than the carefully crafted convenience. Everything happened almost too neatly for the time period presented. Especially with my knowledge of its relentless brutality, specifically in the Caribbean Slave Trade.
This one just didn’t hit home for me. Sadly.
Fearless Love by Donnia Marie
emotional
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Le sigh…
I decided against sharing my laundry list of reasons this book is NOT for me! I’m just writing this note to myself to not read anything else from this author. She is not for you! At all! Avoid at all costs. You will hate it. You have been warned.
In my quest to try new authors and stories, to find ones that I love, I know I’ll hafta go through quite a few that don’t meet the mark. And some unfortunate ones that I should have DNFd a long time ago.
You have been warned!!!
Sucks that I’m starting BHM this way… 🤦🏽♀️
I decided against sharing my laundry list of reasons this book is NOT for me! I’m just writing this note to myself to not read anything else from this author. She is not for you! At all! Avoid at all costs. You will hate it. You have been warned.
In my quest to try new authors and stories, to find ones that I love, I know I’ll hafta go through quite a few that don’t meet the mark. And some unfortunate ones that I should have DNFd a long time ago.
You have been warned!!!
Sucks that I’m starting BHM this way… 🤦🏽♀️
Hooked by Emily McIntire
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
3 middle of the road stars…
Pros:
- I will always rout for the villain. I love a wounded hero. I think villains make better main characters.
- Enjoyed the characters and their parallels to the original story.
- The mystery was simple but really good.
- Great cast of side characters.
Cons:
- Morally ambiguous MMCf just didn’t work. I really didn’t like her version of Hook. Meh. I didn’t believe him.
- Tried to hard to sell this evil persona. Book, in general, felt like forced dark erotica.
- There’s a thin line between erotically dark bad boys and non-redemptive psychopaths. This book was more of the latter and just not well written. Meh.
- FMC was far too forgiving and simply weak. Some of her reactions and forgivings were just odd.
I’m willing to give the rest of the series a try. I’ll try one more, but my hopes aren’t high. If it’s more of the same then this author just isn’t for me.
Pros:
- I will always rout for the villain. I love a wounded hero. I think villains make better main characters.
- Enjoyed the characters and their parallels to the original story.
- The mystery was simple but really good.
- Great cast of side characters.
Cons:
- Morally ambiguous MMCf just didn’t work. I really didn’t like her version of Hook. Meh. I didn’t believe him.
- Tried to hard to sell this evil persona. Book, in general, felt like forced dark erotica.
- There’s a thin line between erotically dark bad boys and non-redemptive psychopaths. This book was more of the latter and just not well written. Meh.
- FMC was far too forgiving and simply weak. Some of her reactions and forgivings were just odd.
I’m willing to give the rest of the series a try. I’ll try one more, but my hopes aren’t high. If it’s more of the same then this author just isn’t for me.
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Oh man… ☹️
First, it must be super stressful in trying to write a series, when the first two books were bestsellers and hit it out of the park (for most), to try to eek out another amazing story. Ya gotta know when your story has reached its zenith. The plot of this story is just too thin. I do not see how she is stretching this into a FOURTH book. Unfortunately I was under the assumption that this was to be a trilogy!?! So lo and behold this book was almost useless filler. Yikes!
I felt as if the characters just ran around her world in circles for 700+ pages. Going hither and thither, letting the reader see more of Navarre, its isles, and politics; but for why?!? What happened over the course of those 400+ pages our MCs are traipsing isle to isle? Absolutely NOTHING!
I was so bored. And though super tempted to skim, I painstakingly read every redundant passage. It was like copy and paste in each new location. 😖
Lastly, if Violet continued to wax on and on about how ‘hot’ Xanax was I was gonna rip the pages out. Their angsty, ADHD, awkwardly trying to be intense love scenes were just awful. These scenes just didn’t feel authentic! Who has sex like that?!? I don’t want it. Lmao. Yuck! I’m not sure if I’m unsatisfied by the authors style of writing intense, ‘passionate’ love scenes, or if it being purposefully done to indicate the characters youth and immaturity? Both options are poor. Just not for me. I laughed aloud at some of her descriptions. I’d quote some here, but no. Just bad.
I love this series! This was a shot missed. I’m hopeful she can bring it back in her fourth installment. And I REALLY hope that is the final book. Any more, and I’m out! ✌🏽
First, it must be super stressful in trying to write a series, when the first two books were bestsellers and hit it out of the park (for most), to try to eek out another amazing story. Ya gotta know when your story has reached its zenith. The plot of this story is just too thin. I do not see how she is stretching this into a FOURTH book. Unfortunately I was under the assumption that this was to be a trilogy!?! So lo and behold this book was almost useless filler. Yikes!
I felt as if the characters just ran around her world in circles for 700+ pages. Going hither and thither, letting the reader see more of Navarre, its isles, and politics; but for why?!? What happened over the course of those 400+ pages our MCs are traipsing isle to isle? Absolutely NOTHING!
I was so bored. And though super tempted to skim, I painstakingly read every redundant passage. It was like copy and paste in each new location. 😖
Lastly, if Violet continued to wax on and on about how ‘hot’ Xanax was I was gonna rip the pages out. Their angsty, ADHD, awkwardly trying to be intense love scenes were just awful. These scenes just didn’t feel authentic! Who has sex like that?!? I don’t want it. Lmao. Yuck! I’m not sure if I’m unsatisfied by the authors style of writing intense, ‘passionate’ love scenes, or if it being purposefully done to indicate the characters youth and immaturity? Both options are poor. Just not for me. I laughed aloud at some of her descriptions. I’d quote some here, but no. Just bad.
I love this series! This was a shot missed. I’m hopeful she can bring it back in her fourth installment. And I REALLY hope that is the final book. Any more, and I’m out! ✌🏽
Mason Neiman: An African American Romance by Jatoria C.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0