imme_van_gorp's reviews
697 reviews

I was afraid I wouldn’t enjoy this novella because we already knew it would have a sad ending due to the previous book, but I shouldn’t have worried. There wasn’t a single moment where I would have felt emotional anyway, regardless of knowing the ending beforehand. I felt zero connection to the characters or story, and I simply didn’t care.

Also, is it just me or was it a little sad that Adena was constantly thinking about Pae like she was some perfect saviour, when we know that Pae never even gave her a second thought once she left Loot. 
I mean, poor girl… Such a one-sided friendship, and then she even has to die so tragically for it? That’s the worst luck in the world.

That said, Adena’s incessant perkiness and childishness did give me a major headache and her romance with Mac was really superficial as well. Adena truly read as a child 99% of the time, and Mac read like he had the personality of a cardboard box. Their relationship gave me the ick, especially because Adena was way more into him at first than the other way around and it was pathetic. Then, suddenly, for no reason whatsoever, Max becomes obsessed with her too but it just feels fake and random.

The writing was also insanely repetitive and super cringy, especially in the first half. The first half truly was one of the worst things I’ve read in a while, but the second half was quite a bit better. It still wasn’t good, but at least it wasn’t that awful either. 
I think it’s because the second half at least had some semblance of a plot, so we didn’t have to focus so much on the awkward and forced romance. Still, the tiny bit of plot we did get felt super rushed and underdeveloped. This novella could have done so much more with it. 
We could have gotten to see the true friendship between Adena and Pae (so that Pae’s revenge arc in Reckless would hold more meaning) or we could have seen how and why the king did this to Adena (but instead we skipped over every scene that could have told us anything meaningful). I think the only reason this novella will have had some sort of purpose is if Mac ends up playing a big part in the rest of the series, but I’m not sure he will. And even still, his personality was pretty much non-existent in this, so the novella wouldn’t have added much regardless.

Honestly, I just wasn’t a big fan of this whole story overall, and I felt disappointed and underwhelmed. It was pretty bad. It’s as plain and simple as that.

Oh, that ending! It broke my heart! 
It’s honestly just very cruel to have to witness two characters grow so much, work so hard on themselves, and feel so much intense love for each other, only to have it all be completely ripped away from them in the end. 
All that progress Adrian made, only for him to spiral out of control after losing her… All that progress Sydney made, only to be betrayed and hurt by those who should be closest to her… It’s so heartbreaking. 
And I can’t even imagine how sad the next book will be! I’m not sure I can stomach seeing what will happen to Sydney in that… place.

That said, I truly cannot wait to see the inevitable downfall of The Alchemists. That cult (because really, that’s what they are) is nothing but evil, and I want them all to die. 
Also, I don’t care if she’s young and brainwashed; if Zoe can let her jealousy and vindictiveness turn into something so cruel, then she deserves nothing but pain and sorrow. I desperately hope she will not be granted a redemption arc, because I will personally never forgive her.

On a more positive note, the majority of this book (outside of the ending) actually gave me really sweet and wholesome vibes. Adrian and Sydney’s relationship turned into something so pure and strong, and it was actually really nice to see. It warmed my heart that Adrian was willing to truly work on himself to be better for her. I mean, it was a really tough journey for him, and I can’t imagine how hard his Bipolar Disorder can be to manage, but he tried his best. For Sydney. His love for her means everything, and he is willing to give up his magic if it means Sydney won’t have to go through the heartbreak of seeing him lose his mind…

I’ve aso grown rather fond of the other characters. I used to dislike a lot of them and got annoyed by them almost constantly, but I actually found myself liking them quite a bit now. Eddie and Neil are both really good guys, and I truly respect them a lot, but Jill and Angeline also became so much more tolerable. Jill was actually nice this time, and no longer self-absorbed, while Angeline’s quirky antics actually became a little endearing to me or at least made me chuckle. I never thought I’d stop getting annoyed by them, but it’s happened.

All in all, I think this was a good story, but I especially liked the growth we got to see in Adrian and Sydney. They’ve both come so far from where they began. I just hope they won’t have to start all over again after what happened at the end here…

Was this sequel really necessary? No, probably not. But was it still really nice to see Lily finally get her happily ever after? Yes, definitely. 

I can honestly say I felt a lot of pride for the strength Lily has found, and the fierceness at which she wants to protect her daughter. It takes so much patience and courage for someone to co-parent with a monster like Ryle, yet she did it in the best possible way. She always stayed calm and civil to protect her daughter the best she could when she knew this horrible, abusive man had to stay in their lives. 

It’s such an incredibly sad thing that real-life women in similar situations also have to keep co-existing with monsters because they legally don’t have the right to keep their children away from their “father”, but I hope all of them find the strength to handle it in the way Lily has.

This book also has a lot of focus on Atlas, and I’m really glad for it. I never built a super strong connection to him in the first book, but this book couldn’t have made it any more obvious to me how perfect he is for Lily. He’s the exact calming and controlled presence that Lily needs; I can’t imagine a person she’d feel more safe with. 

That said, I also really appreciate the insights we got into Atlas’s own struggles and traumas. This man has been through so much, yet remained so insanely kind and patient through it all. I admire the hell out of him. 

Last but not least, I want to give a quick shoutout to Theo. I don’t even remember if he was ever present in the first book, but he really stole the show for me here. He was such a snarky, sassy but also insanely adorable kid. The scenes where he played “therapist” to Atlas were my absolute favourites, and they even had me laughing out loud multiple times. These two series had the most wholesome and fun relationship ever. 

This felt like a very flowery love letter to nature. 

It tells the story of a child who is completely enamored by the wild life around her, and who would give up a fortune to protect it. 
However, she later wonders  if she made the right choice and if saving a bird was worth more than money and the chance at friendship with another human.

This story is about a woman who receives the news of her husband’s death in a rather… unexpected manner. Instead of grief, she feels intense joy and gratitude and relief for the freedom his death will now grant her. Not because she hated him or because she didn’t love him, but purely because, without a marriage, she felt she would be able to genuinely live life without being held back and without restrictions. She would be able to live life for herself. 

Also, that ending? Such a twist! I definitely didn’t see it coming! 

This was definitely the best book in the series so far. It had a really strong plot with really nice pacing and truly engaging writing. It’s a pretty long book, but I never felt myself getting tired of it or thinking that it started to drag. It had me hooked from start to finish.

Of course, this series, and this book especially, has a lot of side-characters and I’m insanely intrigued by a lot of them. Obviously I love Feyre, and I respect the hell out of her strength and bravery, but I sometimes wish we could get inside other people’s heads as well, because I’m desperate to find out more about a lot of them. I mean, Azriel, Cassian, Lucien, Nesta, Amren, Elain and Mor are evidently people I crave to get to know better, but it’s not just them I’m curious about. I’m also super intrigued by all the other High Lords and their courts; they all had such distinct personalities and dynamics, I bet each of them could have a super cool and interesting story to tell. 

Personally, I think I’m currently the most interested in getting to know Nesta better. She’s obviously got a lot of sharp edges, but she’s also got such a strong personality and fierce loyalty. I really did not like her before this book, and I would even go far enough to say I hated her, but the fragility and love I saw in her now has made me forgive her. It has made me want to understand her better, but also see her get a happy ending. 

Another character I personally love so much and would kill to see more of is Lucien. He’s got so many emotions swirling inside of him, and I know he’d have such an interesting story to tell. I really hope the plotline of Helion being his father will be further developed down the line, because I see a lot of potential in that. It’d really warm my heart to see Lucien finally find love from family. Speaking of, I am super curious about his brother, Eris, as well. I know all the characters hate him, but I personally don’t. What we’ve seen of him so far has mostly been good, and I think he has a lot of valid reasons for the things he does. I hope we’ll get to see a redemption arc for him, including the re-building of his relationship with Lucien. 

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t hate Tamlin. At all. Is he the right man for Feyre? Abso-freaking-lutely NOT. But he has a good heart underneath it all. He has issues, he definitely does, but that doesn’t make him evil. And I genuinely do feel bad for him; can you imagine how betrayed he must feel as he gets hit time and time again with rejection and abandonment? And yet, he didn’t let revenge take over from doing what was right… 

Speaking of almost-villains I’ve developed a soft-spot for (as there are apparently quite a few of them): I’m a Jurian fan. I don’t care what anyone says, but this man has been through so much torture and despair, yet he came out of with not only his heart in the right place, but also the wits to play the game well. I have to respect that. 

Contrastingly, I’m honestly not a fan of Elain. I don’t hate her, but I don’t like her either. Her naivety and tendency to rely on others annoyed me. She never really worked for anything herself, and just expected everyone to tend to her like she was some delicate little flower. Nesta took care of her, Feyre took care of her, but did she ever take care of them? What makes her so special that nobody ever expects her to give the same energy back to them? She’s not some holy angel who needs to be taken care of at all times. It’s annoying. 
Anyway, I don’t think her and Lucien would make a good pair. Aside from the fact that neither of them really seem to like the other, I also just don’t see the chemistry or the passion. I think it would be much more interesting to see her build a relationship with Azriel. I love a grumpy x sunshine trope, and it’d be really sweet to see him go soft and gentle for her. Especially since I want him to move on from Mor desperately, who I personally think does <i>not</i> have a valid reason for stringing him along all those decennia; she could have easily told him the truth and spared him the heartache and longing. It’s very selfish of her, and it’s kind of the one reason why I can’t fully love her character.

Last but not least: Rhysand. Is it just me or is he just a little bit <i>too</i> perfect? Don’t get me wrong, I admire this man with all my might and I think he is the ideal partner for Feyre, but his perfection was a little boring to me sometimes. I needed more personality from him. I do like him for the respect he gave to Feyre and how he always allowed her to make her own choices, but sometimes that freedom almost looked a little bit like disinterest. As if he would literally just accept her death or her pain, as long as she chose it for herself. I really needed more of those protective feelings, maybe. I mean, even Cassian seemed to have those feelings more towards Nesta already, and they aren’t even together yet. Then again, it’s also clear those two make a much less healthy or evenly-matched pair, so perhaps you can’t have it both: a healthy relationship <i>and</i> some drama/angst/intensity. Perhaps it’s one or the other…
Also, I feel like Rhysand’s near-death experience at the end was a little cheap. Either kill him or don’t, but if the author keeps resurrecting everyone, it really lowers the stakes. I’m not supposed to feel like everyone will be safe anyway, regardless of what happens in the story. I mean, even Amren came back in the end! The only one who really died here was The Suriel, and it broke my heart (he was so pure and good), but he was such a minor character… Death scenes can be so impactful, and I wish authors weren’t so afraid to use them properly without backtracking all the time.

All in all, it’s obvious I have a lot of feelings and thoughts about these characters, which tells me this book did a really good job at making me curious about them. It clearly shows how engaged I was and how I actually started to care. And all that is even aside from how hooked I was with the plot itself! 

Jeez, this girl seriously had about twenty different love interests so it was pretty much impossible to keep track of them all. Moreover, it was also very hard to take any of those feelings seriously considering she had them for so many different people. 

I mean, she claims to be in love with Christian (and even hates Magnolia for being the girl he loves), but then she also goes on and on about how much she loves Romeo and how she always will?? Like, girl, PICK A SIDE! I honestly don’t understand why the author chose to include Romeo in this book at all; there was no need for it and it only made Daisy seem unfaithful, superficial and insanely hypocritical. It was a weird choice. And a bad one. 

Honestly, I just feel bad for Christian at this point. He keeps falling in love with girls who have this toxic, insane love connection with boys from their childhood. This guy can’t ever catch a break and I want him to find someone who only loves him, and only him.

Of course it could be said that he wasn’t faithful to Daisy at the start either, and sure that’s true, but at least he didn’t claim to be in love with her at that point. First he was in love with Magnolia, then he started to slowly and unconsciously develop feelings for Daisy, until he eventually fell in love with Daisy completely and moved on from Magnolia. That’s a normal and valid trajectory. 

Daisy, on the other hand, claims to fully and completely love Christian from the start but also feels the same about Romeo, and also has very intense feelings and attractions to a million other men. That’s not normal and not valid. She’s giving exactly the type of behavior Christian hates Magnolia for, but Daisy is actually much worse since she isn’t honest about her feelings to anyone and also doesn’t have a single valid reason for stringing all these people along. She uses people and doesn’t even acknowledge how evil some of her actions are.

 I think the thing that annoyed me the most about her was her hypocrisy; she was so hurt and so angry about Christian’s unresolved feelings for Magnolia, but she’d been having so many more worse feelings for Romeo the whole time. This girl was exasperating! And Christian really deserved better. He really did. (And Romeo too, actually).

As might be quite clear by now, I genuinely couldn’t stand Daisy. But my dislike for her turned into full-on hatred towards the end when she broke up with Christian for the dumbest reason and just completely fell of the wagon. She became a giant mess who didn’t care who she hurt in the process of her own little mini-drama. She was selfish, mean, cruel, embarrassing, self-absorbed and insanely slutty; she turned into the absolute worst, and I was completely done with her by then. She didn’t have a single redeeming thing left about her. And it killed me to see Christian still pining away for her, willing to give her a million more chances, and even acting like he was the one who had to make things right. SHE was in the wrong. SHE should be begging. Ugh.

Honestly, I think there is only one couple I’m actually interested in right now: Henry and Taura. They’re both such decent people, and I love how they seem to have a little more of a slow-burn with actual development. I’d love to get a book about them. Probably won’t get it though.

Lastly, I want to talk a bit about Julian: I’m not sure why we got his POV considering he never really gets his own story and he only really exists to narrates about Daisy’s life and feelings, yet I still found him to be the most intriguing and meaningful character (perhaps that should tell you something about the lack of overall depth in this book, but I digress). I definitely think there could have been a lot more for this character if only the author cared enough to give him his own voice, relationships and feelings outside of Daisy. That said, his unconditional and deep-rooted love for Daisy was kind of exactly <i>why</i> I was intrigued by his character so much. A cold mobster who hates everyone but his baby sister? Yea, love that. And when these two had their falling-out it was the only time I actually felt sad while reading this book. Their relationship was so gentle and truly loving; it broke my heart a bit to see that shatter. And I’m very curious to find out how Julian will react to it after he’s had a minute to calm down. I imagine he’ll be absolutely devastated…

All in all though, this book gave me yet another awful romance where I do not want the couple to get together in the end because one of them deserves better (Christian in this case, Magnolia in the other), yet I still really enjoyed this book due to all the addictive drama and high-paced angst. I have such a weird relationships with these books where I kind of hate and love them at the same time. 

Oh… This was actually quite sad. Depressing even. Definitely tragic. 

Amberly was clearly such an insecure, naive, desperate and dumb girl, but the most awful thing about that was that Clarkson chose her exactly because of this. He wanted someone he could control and would adore him no matter what, so that’s the only reason why he decided Amberly, as the biggest doormat imaginable, was perfect for him. 

It was truly heartbreaking to see Clarkson propose to her with words that only portrayed calculation and manipulation from his side, yet having Amberly receive it with nothing but heart-eyes and love. 

I really just witnessed the beginning of an abusive relationship, and the most painful part about it is that Amberly was so incredibly happy and grateful to be in one. 

Unfortunately, this whole book had me feeling nothing but confused, bored and annoyed. I had no idea what was going on most of the time, but I did know I couldn’t stand either of them. There was clearly no actual love between these two and I hated their ridiculously immature and vengeful behaviour towards each other. It sucked. 

Really though, why on earth should I believe they had a genuine connection that was based on anything other than lust? I shouldn’t. Cus they didn’t. They didn’t like each other, they didn’t respect each other, they didn’t even really know each other. They just had this crazy sexual attraction towards each other that they mostly let out through hateful words but eventually through the occasional intimacy in the bedroom. That’s not love. Far from it.

Also, I’m not sure why Rina Kent suddenly decided she wanted to try her hand at being a mystery writer or something, but she certainly doesn’t have the skills for it, so she should quit trying. The lack of clarity in the plot was nothing but frustrating and definitely far from intriguing. 

Lastly, I’m not sure who decided it is a cool plot device to portray the hero as the most awful person in the whole world, only to reveal at the end that he had his own ridiculous “reasons” for acting like the devil, but I personally think it’s the worst and I see it happen way too often in books. This idiotic situation always means we have to sit through major episodes of arseholery during almost all of the book, just to eventually get a dumb reveal about how obsessed he really is? Please. It’s so tired.

In conclusion, this book is better left avoided. And if you are somehow still curious, I hope I can save you the trouble with this short summary:
The hero treats the heroine like a cold arsehole, which makes the heroine behave like a brat. He will shut her out, ignore her, act like he couldn’t care any less about her, but then he will still have random bursts of caveman possessiveness after which he immediately treats her like trash again. Meanwhile, she will do nothing but continue to embarrass herself with silly revenge plots trying to get his attention, mostly including idle threats about sleeping with other men.
There, that’s the whole plot. Sound fun to you? Go ahead and pick this up! But if it sounds as dreadful to you as it was for me? Then do yourself a favour and stay away.


<b><u>'Legacy of Gods' series:</u></b>
1. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6406244457">God of Malice</a> - 1.0 star
3. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6406441000">God of Wrath</a> - 2.5 stars
5. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6198193638">God of Fury</a> - 3.5 stars
<b>6. God of War - 1.0 star</b>

First things first, I really really loved Alosa’s pirate crew, and all of their dynamics were by far my favourite thing about this entire book! Not only is Alosa a great captain, I also truly loved all the men and women under her command. It was clear they all cared so deeply for each other but also had so much respect and admiration for what they each contribute! They all found a family in one another that loves them unconditionally. 

That said, I think the romance part of this book was just plain bad. Riden was beyond frustrating to me from beginning to end, and neither did I enjoy any of his interactions with Alosa. The way he treated her sometimes irked me quite a bit, and they also lacked chemistry. There weren’t any real bonding moments between them, and all they did was bicker or make unfounded love declarations. I didn’t like it. 

Opposingly, I was far more intrigued by the hints and glimpses we got of Kearan and Sorinda’s blossoming romance. We didn’t get much, but I ate up every little scrap we got. I love Sorinda’s black cat energy, and I adore the way Kearan seems to pine after her. I love that he truly wants to be better for her while she reluctantly wants to take care of him. It’s why I can’t wait to see their story develop in Vengeance of the Pirate Queen, which I just found out will be their own book! So exciting! 

All in all, I don’t think this book was all that great, but I did read it easily and with enjoyment. It was, once again, a rather simple story with straightforward writing, but I liked it less than book one because it didn’t have as many fun scenes that showed Alosa’s sassy personality. It also didn’t have as many twists and turns, thus making the story a little less engaging. Overall, it was okay. Nothing more, nothing less.