afi_whatafireads's reviews
589 reviews

I get it. I get why Lispector is an author that many love. But like other authors like her, the border between liking and loving her has a thin line. So yes, her writings might not be for everyone, but this is one of the books that I felt compelled to read, picked it up at the right time and ended up loving it. Even amidst my confusion at first as I get used to her writing style, but once you get past that, you'll find that the almost-subconscious-dreamlike style that she wrote suited the whole theme of this book; which was about the struggles of women in their mundane everyday lives.

I feel with the three stories, the roundabout way she narrates each character in their own state, where three different women lives entirely different lives, but is blanketed with the same emotions : Loneliness. The questions of the hows and the whys of being a woman and the complex nature of motherhood itself was explored in such a way that felt like I was brought along through the stream of consciousness from Lispector. Its almost like, one minute you won't understand what she's saying but in the same sentence, you'll be able to grasp what she wanted to convey. That for me is ingenius of her, but its definitely not everyone's cup of tea.

I had definitely enjoyed my first short entry to her works. Definitely more to come :)))))))

This volume definitely had gotten me very teary for Hades and felt super proud for Persephone because she finally stood up for herself!

In this volume, we follow a few key highlights :-
1) Ares and Persephone's relationship and how he came to know Persephone's real powers and talents
2) Hades as a person and how he's badly hurt
3) Hera and how she's navigating through with Zeus
4) Apollo the asshole
5) Hades and Persephone's relationship

Firstly, for the first part, we get a glimpse of Ares and his relationship with Persephone. I kind of liked how its somewhat different from the original mythology but also I liked how its rendered in here. Ares is quite the trickster but I also appreciate his gestures with Persephone and his ways in making her feel safe in some sense. Persephone is definitely still naive but we get more understanding of her powers eventho it kind of gets a bit frustrating at times.

Secondly, for Hades, oh my gosh I want to hug this man so bad. He's badly abused, physically and mentally by everyone around him especially Minthe. I hated that she used violence against him and that's one of the reasons why I loved Hades in the first place. Even if he's the God of the Underworld, he's the most misunderstood character and I hated that he has to go thru everything that he's going through. Its pretty shitty ://

Hera's part in the webtoon is finally getting more recognition. I liked that she stood up for herself and not take any of Zeus's bullshit. Its pretty annoying actually for her to just accept whatever Zeus did so when she just stood up for herself? We stan a queen like that.

Apollo deserved what's coming to him. Oh my god he was insufferable in here and i lowkey wanted to smack him. But I love that Persephone FINALLY stood up to her perpetrator!!!! Good lord that scene was satisfying as heck~!!

Finally, Hades and persephone. Lowkey, I kind of wished that they get together already ://///// I lowkey want them to be disgustinly happy because :////// AFHHH. I can't wait for the next volume for reals.

Of a story of hope , love and finding yourself. I can't wait to see how this series unfolds.
Personal Ratings: 4🌟

Thank you so much to Times Reads for this copy! I truly appreciate it :)))

Good lord for the life of me, this book ended up becoming like a man apologist. I WAS NOT HAPPY WITH THAT ENDING. AND FOR EVERYTHING THAT I WENT THRU WITH THIS BOOK.

Yeah no thanks.

(if you do want to read my rants here it is)
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Good lord was this suffocating.
I sighed a huge BIG OLD GUST OF RELIEF WHEN THIS FINALLY ENDED.
What the heck did I just read ?
This got me so mad and angry and annoyed i want to slap someone.

Firstly, lets talk about the premise.
The premise of the book sounded like everything that I would lile. A black power couple on social media, going to get married, and a list came out, being them allegedly being accused of something so horrendous (yes Michael u dumbass) that circulated in social media. Ola, began investigating the list to get to know what is behind everything that is happening. A story of betrayal, laced with the mystery from the list itself and supposedly to be a feminist read.

Well all that should be a great premise to a great story if not for the messy writing, the jarring and super unlikeable characters and just the whole premise at the end of the story. For some parts that I actually liked, was the social media cancel culture and how people are so quick to judge someone that they don't know. Social media is both a powerful tool and yet can be discriminating as well. However, that's the only thing that I liked about this book.

1) I hated and LOATHED the characters. I didn't want to root for anyone. Nope not a single bloody person in here deserves my pity. I actually liked reading unreliable narrators and their perspectives, but this one,....... damn it was not it. Ola was annoying, Michael is just a douchebag and good lord I wanted to slap the minor characters once or twice.

2) The writing style was just not it. I feel that it was written solely to be picked up by a cable TV and whilst its not a bad thing, it actually affected my reading experience. There were so many loopholes in the story that were unexplained and I'm left there dumbfounded that I even finished the bloody book.

3) The ending was almost like an apologist to men. I was annoyed because it touches a very sensitive topic on sexual assaults and victimisation of women, only to make it seemed like this women are crazy and not in their rights minds.... which beats the whole purpose of the book???????? Like what even, not only I was pissed off, I literally want to hurl this book in the gutter because uh huh that was not it.

So yeah, this book was definitely not it for me. the fact i read this when I was sick... and it physcially made me feel worst? yeah nope nadah.

(hide spoiler)]

I tried. But nope.
1.5🌟 gurlie is not happy.

There's something about these kind of books, for how simple and yet how well a message can come across it is. Its a story of faith, hope and love; of something that is everchanging and yet, is simpler than we thought we already know. As a reader and someone who is working in the publishing industry, I loved how the author had came out with a simple and yet powerful message; on how books can change someone's lives, on how at the end of the day, its up to our own perspective and beliefs that can change our fates and mostly its about a community, and how everything that we do, does not come in isolation. We are all interconnected.

The story is a collection of five interconnected short stories, that is set in a community library in a small town in Japan. The focus of this book highlights more on working individuals and its roles in society and we get five people with different circumstances come into the library to look for something and ended up finding something that will entirely change their lives. Out of the five stories, the one that touched me most was Natsumi's story, who is a 40 years old and a former magazine editor. I think her story was what interconnected every single character in here and makes the whole book an almost 5 star read.

Aoyama's writing in here for me is simple and yet the recurring message of how your job does not define your role in society makes it such a relatable read, especially for those who are in the adulting phase and is still trying to find footing in this world. I liked how every story is relatable in its own way and at the end, Aoyama also highlighted how books plays a big role in someone's lives. Its interesting how every person takes up something different in a book and that's what the beauty of this book is as well. The other person can find a total different meaning than my takeaways from it, but at the end of the day, its how we use that information to our own benefit that makes a book worth it. Its not just the story, but its the people around you, the community and mostly, its yourself and how you plan to go on with your life after.

What I can say, its never too late to try anything in this world. At the end, a job is just a job. A job is a ticket for you to be in the society but it does not define yourself nor your personality. At the end, its what you make of the time with the ones you love, and most importantly, its the contentment that you find with your job that makes life worthwhile. You will find that in due time and nothing is set in this world and I hope that if you come across this, you will be awarded that happiness you seek in your life , as you deserve :))

Thank you so much Times Reads for this copy! I truly appreciate it.
4.5🌟 for this gem~

Lowkey, I can't believe I actually listened to the freaking audiobook in full :')))))
(was surprised with myself lol)
But as far as spicy romance's goes, the audiobook was okay. I feel like there were parts of the book was a bit off but political intrigue wise, I actually liked it.

Spicy Rate: 3.75/5 (thats high even for me lol)
Also not gonna put any disclaimers but this is supposedly to be a dark romance so you go in knowing what ur reading so there's that kay :)

So.......... as far as the series go, I think I will rank this on my third best maybe? But I feel like since its a polyamorous (4 people) in this relationship, with MM, FF and MFM (?) in here, it was a bit weird with Pandora going in the romance tangle. Don't get me wrong, her and Aphrodite's scene was fire but it was just ........... abrupt ( i mean that's saying something for katee's book but even I can't justify this haha). I've totally accepted besides Radiant Sin, which is Apollo's and Cassandra's book, the rest of these books are love at first sight which is common in katee's book and i just came to accept it.

But I don't know... I think I might have wanted more progression with the four of them rather than just having the book finish just like that so that's what bothered me most I feel. I appreciated that the audiobook has two narrators, one female and male and it adds more depth to the story as a whole. Adonis and Theseus is <333333 I love them together.

Political intrigue and plot-wise, I'm excited to know how it unfolds at the end. Its the way that these books and these series had me on a chokehold (pun intended), and how I'm just going thru Katee's books like its her shopping list or something lol. I like the powerplay and how it unfolded at the end and I kind of somewhat guessed who the "person narrating" the chaos in Olympus but we'll see. I feel like we'll only get to know once in Poseidon's book or something.

So yeah, this was an okay read for me. Intimate moments in here was just 🥺

Again... Bite me :') I'm into this series and I need all of the books out already aghhhhh.

Big Big Disclaimers : If you're planning to start this series, you'd probably want to read it according to the order, especially this book is the START of the PLOT UNFOLDING of the whole series.

Another Disclaimer : As usual, its a romance with spice so if its not your thing, then skip this altogether.
Spice Level : 3/5 (for me)

I kind of get why Radiant Sin might not be for everyone, but to me, THIS WAS ONE OF THE BEST ONES amongst the four that has been released :') I was swooning and smiling and almost teared up cause wtf I didn't even like Apollo that much in the original myth, but I loved Apollo in here! And good lord Cassandra my gurl <3<3

I feel that this book is just SOFT as a whole. The fact that BOTH of them had feelings for each other for a very long time and due to a situation, they had to fake date and it became a real thing made me just :'))))))) Screaming cause wth this was cute. The plot and political intrigue in here was interesting. I was looking forward to what was going on and we have some sort of murder mystery as a plot as well. It was interesting and kept me intrigued and I wanna know how the plot unfolds after (besides the romance that we get)

Overall, it was not a bad read and I'm just looking forward to this series and how its going to end. Also just knew that it will be a 10 book series (wth) and I better get Hera and Zeus to be good or I will be pissed haha. I'm also looking forward to Icarus's book so there's that.

4🌟

Hook - Tink

Honestly, I liked this one quite a bit.
Hook and Tink’s relationship is one that made me 🥺
Also mind that the series is dark romance so there’s that but i liked this one.

3.85🌟

Hades - Hercules - Meg

This one was a 3.5🌟

Its pretty 🔥

Well... that was something.

Disclaimers:
1) If CNC (look it up yourself peeps) is not your thing, you might want to skip this book.
2) Its a spicy romance book as the main plot so if its not your think skip this one too.
3) Spicy level : 4/5🌶 (gurlie was shookth)

For me, overall it was okay. One of the reasons why I was excited to dive into the whole series is because it has relations to the Dark Olympus series. YEEEEEEP. So yeah, I'm a sucker for interconnecting worlds and its a disney villain retelling so there's that.
This one is on Jaafar and Jasmine and I for one kinda liked how Ali was potrayed in here. We're also introduced to a number of characters that seemed familiar so there's that.

Romance-wise, I wanted a more depth in Jasmine's and Jafar's character per ssay, but since the main point of this book is the spice so ..... yeah.

The ending was a bit off for me so overall not a bad read. Excited to read about Hercules in the next book cause.... I wanna know what happened to him - (related to Wicked Beauty - book 3 Dark Olympus series)

This book is not for everyone but hey this genre exists for a reason. So pick your reads accordingly :)

Beau Eaton the man that you are 😭😭

I was right to wait for him and knew that his story would be the best one because it totally did 😭😭😭

I love it so much I cried a whole load.
Thot I loved Cade’s bur Beau’s in a different league 😭✨🥺🌟

Infinite /5 🌟 i have a soft spot for two effed up people pariahs in their own way having found each other and made a home for them 😭🤍🥺

Now i need harvey’s cause why not :’) old people romance would be 😭🥺