dundiesbooks's reviews
74 reviews

I was curious about this after reading a review saying, it's more than a fluffy romance novel and decided to read it spontaneously when Libby had it available in the lucky day section.
Safe to say, the review wasn't lying. It's a book with a love story as its base, but it's also so much more. It's about family dynamics, self-discovery, figuring out emotions and purpose and how we can create moments of meaningful joy. The topics are dealt with in a caring manner and the story did not fall too heavily into cliché tropes - at least not in the usual way of creating unnecessary drama for the sake of drama alone. 
I liked the complexity of the characters and their emotions. The underlying critiques were unexpected, though a nice surprise, all while still being embedded in a very cozy setting. This way it felt safe to go on the ride and I was only slightly stressed out the few times they had conversations/did things, when they were supposed to participate in activities (realistically, them talking would have been suspicious after two minutes max and someone would have urged them to get on with it) or when they risked the plan failing by being obvious in public, when they could have easily gotten somewhere private or simply cut out some of their shenanigans. I get it though, it's part of the fun and I enjoyed this book a lot. Would recommend :) 

Finally decided to give it a 3.75 - it's mostly a gut decision. I don't do low ratings often and it has lots of elements I enjoyed, so it feels like a good middle ground. I do have some critiques about world-building in the in a broader sense, the fact that there are even more big and small mysteries and so many plot points, which could all be expanded on to make them more interesting or simply cut down to make the story feel more coherent and clear. Compared to books #1 and #2, I still decently enjoyed this one, so it wouldn't warrant a much lower rating. Hoping, #4 and #5 bring it all around and tie up the story in a satisfying way though, or I might feel differently in retrospect. 

A longer than expected bonus chapter. Still, short and sweet. It expands the story beautifully and I like the alternate perspective. Now I want more of them again :D

This was one of the truest 5-star-reads I've ever had. I loved almost all of it and the tiny bits I didn't love as much fade in the face of all the good things about this book.

This one touched me deeply with how genuine and emotional it was. At some point I almost got whiplash from how quickly it changed from heartbreakingly sad to heartwarmingly beautiful and back again. Which was both a little exhausting and why it pulled me in so much. I am so happy for Nico. He needed to go on this journey and I am glad Will went with him, since they clearly learned a lot about each other and will be better for it.

Read this without re-reading FW and it's been a while, so it didn't have as much impact as it might have had if I did. I still enjoyed it though. Especially the telepathic communication, which has always been fun and the warmth that comes from Xaden's love for Violet, that we didn't get to see as much of before, especially earlier on.
Can't give full points, since this didn't add to the story really. Still a fun tidbit, so a solid 4 it is. 

Top notch. Very gripping story and storytelling. Much more mature than I would have expected. That goes for the whole series. I loved all the new characters and being back at Camp Jupiter. Maturing Apollo is a delight, as well as our now more grown up known and beloved ones from PJO and HoO.

This got very real, very quickly. The most mature one yet in all of the PJ universe books. I appreciated the many sincere life-lessony bits, as well as the signature humour that still shone through every now and then.
The Arrow of Dodona

felt a little like a deus ex machina in the sense of it giving the crucial advise on an otherwise seemingly hopeless situation, like simply googling the solution.

Other than that I enjoyed getting more

nature spirits into the mix, being almost at the forefront or at least an important thread throughout the story.

I was happy about more

of our known and beloved characters coming back as well, even though not all of them get to stay..

"lazy" 4