aquinntessential's reviews
124 reviews

funny medium-paced

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

2.5

This book very much felt like the author felt her readers were idiots based on the very clear telling and not showing. This read like a mediocre fan fic that you read for the sake of reading and you move on straight after.

Luca’s letters were hilarious. Ngl. However, the writing never changed. They wrote to each other when they were maybe 10? They wrote the same as they would adults. And it would’ve been nice to have characters use different phrasing to actually build them.

E.g. the military huh saying Luca and Penny were on and off and Luca using the exact same words)

I didn’t really care much about either of them. And the ending was so predictable that I just feel like the blurb was inaccurate and the book not executed well.

And I feel like Luca was writing specifically with the hopes of him becoming a ‘book boyfriend’ with the whole sidewalk thing.

Heartless by Elsie Silver

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funny lighthearted slow-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

Your Honour, I love single dads.

Powerless by Elsie Silver

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing slow-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

4.5

I’m really not big on friends to lovers but Elsie Silver makes her characters so likeable I actually enjoyed it.

The Blood Traitor by Lynette Noni

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adventurous funny lighthearted 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

4.0

This book was so much better than the first two (1 being 3⭐️, and 2 being 1.5⭐️).

After the (imo) disappointment of the second book I was hesitant about this one.

Second book: The character development and building was appalling and made the book fall apart completely.

However, in this book having Kiva and Jaren have to start from the beginning they were given the development they deserved.

The world building was better and it was interesting to see all the other places even if it was minor.

I really would have liked to see more about Kiva’s

addiction

. There was so much that could have been written about this and it was just forgotten until it was a way to get

Jaren and Kiva together

.

That being said, this author very much tells instead of shows which can be frustrating and repetitive. Also why do you love the phrase: “you really mean that, don’t you?” I’ve heard AT LEAST 6x in this trilogy. AT LEAST. Maybe up to 10. That’s crazy stuff.

All in all I would say the key thing missing is character depth. All of the characters, their dialogue, their actions were solely to benefit Kiva or her and Jaren. I would’ve like to see them have their own personalities, gains, desires etc for no benefit to Kiva & Jaren. It would really add 3D to them because they’re still a little flat.

The Gilded Cage by Lynette Noni

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adventurous challenging slow-paced

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

1.5

I have a lot to say about this book. Which is hilarious given that absolutely nothing of value happened. This could quite literally have been summed up in an email.

The characters are so 2D they make squares look exciting. Kiva is unbelievably stupid and has all the complexity of an adult counting to 3. The whole point was for her to be torn between two sides. From the start she knew she didn’t want to

help rebels

so it was just pointless. The ‘pivotal’ decision moment is NOT pivotal and just ugh.

And Jaren. Who tf even is he? Like I’m sorry but why tf does he keep

kissing her neck or ear

when they’ve had like no romance. And in my option the author is deliberately focusing on making him a ‘book boyfriend’ that it just means he’s so painfully flat. Where’s his quirks? Where’s his wants outside of Kiva? And no, ruling the kingdom does not count. Give me at least an inkling of personality.

Even a character as fiery as whatever her sister was called (I should remember considering I finished this book 2 mins ago) should have been well developed. And wasn’t.

And now that Kiva is out of prison you have a whole new world that the author could have built. And didn’t.

I didn’t really like the first book but was hoping the second would be good after the reveal but was instantly disappointed.

The only good things about these books so have been the endings. And if a book has to rely on the last pages to hook a reader then clearly it wasn’t well-built.

I will say I do like the way author sometimes describes things, usually using less conventional descriptions. I wish had an example but I fear going back into the epub will make me need to seek help.

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni

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adventurous dark sad slow-paced

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

3.5

It was really hard for me to connect with this book, the characters, and the world in general. And considering the characters are supposed to be in a death prison it felt more like they were in a Minecraft roleplay prison from some guy named Jay because they just did whatever they wanted. And the prison just wasn’t well ‘built’, like you could at least incorporate an actual routine they’d have to follow etc.

That being said I was very happy about guessing the ending 💅

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted sad fast-paced