chaptersofmads's reviews
845 reviews

A nice palette cleanser after two heavy-ish reads. 

I liked this one more than the first in the companion trilogy! I still had some of the same issues, such as a lot of plot points not being as developed as I would've liked. 

But! There was definitely more depth to this one and even though it can feel like insta-love, the characters' pre-existing feelings buffer that a bit. 

Overall, not my favorite but still a good time. I'd recommend if you're looking for a Hallmark (with a bit of spice) type read.

Didn't realize this was a companion to Don't Cry for Me at first. The moment I realized felt like getting hit by a truck. 

This was devastating and beautiful and hopeful and profound. I'll read anything Daniel Black writes. 

“I am the only storm that matters now, and there is no shelter from what I bring.”

Oh, you guys weren't kidding. This was good.

I went into this book with very little information about the plot itself and I highly recommend doing that. The first chapter is one of the most gripping opening scenes of a book that I've ever read and though the rest of the book isn't quite as dramatic, it's never less interesting. (Except for a certain character's POV but that's beside the point.)

This was atmospheric, with rich world-building and a writing style that somehow managed to be both simplistic and chilling at once. I love fantasy books that discuss religion and prophecies and old gods, so this was right up my alley.

I also loved Serapio and Xiala. They were easily some of my favorite characters I've read about recently.

I can't wait to see where the rest of the series goes. Highly recommend.

This was fun!

If you've been missing the YA retelling days, this is such a good one to pick up. It's got that super nostalgic, retelling feel while also bringing something new to the table by focusing on the "fairy godmothers".

On the critical side, I do feel like the book lost the plot a bit as the story continued, with certain points seemingly added just to keep up the retelling part of the story. The characters and their relationships all felt very one-dimensional, with the evil characters feeling (pardon the pun) cartoonishly wicked.

There is also SUCH bad insta-love in here, holy crap.

 

Even with my critiques, I found this to be an entertaining read and while I might not recommend it to everyone, I do think it's an enjoyable addition to the YA fantasy retelling genre. 

“If they were afraid, then I didn’t have to be.”

Fun fact: the 'it' in the title actually refers to me. I'm the "It" that Waits in the Forest, waiting for this book to actually be about a forest.

That aside, I don't have much to say about this book - good or bad.

It was an eerie thriller, almost reminiscent of Spells of Forgetting by Adrienne Young with a complex main character and an atmospheric setting. I appreciated the discussions of superstition as a weapon, as well as Selina's own personal difficulty to believe in herself.

However! Along with not being very suspenseful (imo), this book also felt pretty redundant, with more of the story focusing on the love triangle than I typically care for. I understand this book is aimed a bit younger, so I'm not belittling it for the romance - but it did lessen my enjoyment, due to how it unfolded.

And there was very little forest. I wanted more forest.

Overall, this was fine. I don't regret reading it, but it won't be one I revisit. 

“We both find solace in the inevitability of broken girls.”

Absolutely incredible. I will never read this again. (I'm only mostly kidding.)

Being serious, this book was fantastic and affecting in the most devastating way. Every word Rivers Solomon writes feels like a beautifully crafted sledgehammer to the chest - which may not sound like a compliment, but I promise it is.

I expected to appreciate this after The Deep was one of my favorite reads last year, but I wasn't expecting the fully body affect this book had on me from the first page.

This is a haunting, immersive book that deals with so many topics. Each one is handled in a way that makes the reader feel bone-deep empathy, even if they haven't experienced those things themselves.

On a related note, going into this book, the reader knows it's not going to be a light read. However, this book deals with heavier topics than some (even within the genre) and I recommend looking up the TWs on Storygraph before reading. I felt they were handled with care, but they were also not danced around which can make them more triggering for some people.
That doesn't mean I think it should be avoided. For example: Model Home deals with a topic I usually avoid and despite the fact it was still incredibly difficult to read about, I'm glad I didn't skip this one because this book was healing in ways I wasn't expecting.

If you are at a place to read this, I really do recommend it. It's not the kind of read that will be for everyone, due to the poetic, stream-of-consciousness writing style and the focus on dysfunctional family dynamics. However, I truly think this is the kind of book that was perfect at what it needed to be.

I know this book (and the many paragraphs I highlighted) will stay with me for a long time.

Kept trying to push through this but I was struggling to want to even pick it up. Since I've been fighting a reading slump this year, I think it's better to just give up and try to find something else. 

“But she still rises. Still stands strong. She’s truly beautiful, in all her phases.”

This was so cute.

I'm pretty picky when it comes to romances (I get the ick so easily, for some reason) so it's always a really pleasant surprise when I find one that works for me. This absolutely delivered.

It touches on some heavy topics (mentioned in the TW below), but it's still such a light-hearted, comforting read. The kind of romance that feels like a hug, with characters you can't help but root for - even when they aren't making the best decisions lol.

Like most romcoms, I will say that this felt a bit rushed but it's also pretty easy to overlook in this book. You get why the characters feel the way they do, even if it might not be the most realistic. That's part of the magic of it.

Overall, this was a perfect February read and I can't wait for "The Love Simulation." 

This was fantastic.

I said this with the first installment, but it bears repeating: the diminutive size of this novella should be a mark against it, while instead Tobi Ogundiran uses the short amount of pages to build a story that is both fast-paced and masterfully crafted.

Not a single page is wasted, which makes this story all the more interesting. Even the smallest of conversations are used to expand the world, the mythology, characterization, and the religious system. All of this paired with rich, dynamic characters and an incredibly satisfying conclusion, this duology deserves so much praise.

Highly recommend. 

ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

A bit of a rocky sequel that seems to promise a satisfying finale to the trilogy.

It's a testament to Saara El-Arifi's talent that my least favorite book by her is a three star read; her worst (in my opinion) still remains better than a lot of the books in the same genre. She's such a gifted writer - one of my favorites - and my conflicted feelings on this installment don't change that.

With that being said, unlike Faebound I found this book incredibly difficult to get through. It wasn't bad, by any means, but it felt so... empty? for lack of better terms. Like the characters and plots were all there only because they had to be, not like the story was actually a real, breathing thing that could stand on its own. The dialogue felt clunky, the romances grating, and the political decisions felt like they were being made by a really dumb teenager.

I understand this makes it sound like I hated this book and I promise that I didn't. I didn't enjoy it, but I think a lot of that is due to it hitting a bit of a middle book slump. The world is still incredibly intriguing and I love the conversations about the twisted historical records.

I just felt like this book could have been better and I'm sad it wasn't.

The end... however... that was a good twist and I can't wait to see what she does with it in the finale.

Overall, while this disappointed me, it was still very much okay and I would definitely recommending giving it a try - especially if you loved book 1 and don't mind too many romances, with very little development.