jenni_elyse's reviews
500 reviews

Carley Fortune is one of my favorite authors so I was really excited when it was finally my turn to check out THIS SUMMER WILL BE DIFFERENT from my library. As with most of the books I read this year, I read the audiobook and I liked the narrator a lot.

As far as the story goes, I absolutely adored it. I loved both Lucy and Felix. I loved their on-again, off-again, not-sure-what-this-is relationship. It was steamy, sweet, and a lot of fun. I loved Lucy's sister-like friendship with Bridget. I adored the setting of Prince Edward Island and all the references to ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. Reading this, makes me want to visit PEI even more than I did before. It has also made me want to try oysters for the first time ever in my life.

I've been waiting to read HELL BENT since it came out in 2023; I just never got around to it until now. I'm so glad I finally read it because it was quite the ride! As gritty as NINTH HOUSE (maybe more), HELL BENT had me on the edge of my seat from the very first page. I love the paranormal aspect of the secret societies of Yale and all the historical elements of these books. I also loved delving deeper into the uncanny and learning more of its secrets. I'll be on pins and needles waiting for book #3 and excited to see where the next installment takes its readers.

I read THE PASSENGERS because it's my IRL book club's pick for October. I knew nothing about the story or characters when I first started reading it. While it wasn't my favorite book, I think the discussion surrounding this book will be interesting (and maybe a little bit uncomfortable).

I liked the premise of THE PASSENGERS and I thought the story was very compelling. It definitely kept me reading to the end despite the fact that I hated most of the characters and found parts of the story hard to get through because of the content. *coughSofiacough*

I think THE PASSENGERS is plausible

except for Clare's ability to clothe and move her large, dead husband from their bed to the trunk of their car while she's 7 months pregnant

. I also think the story portrays an interesting view of Cancel Culture, social media, online anonymity, mob mentality, bipartisan politics, and the future of AI.

I've always been interested in secret societies like Skull and Bones at Yale. When I heard about this book, I knew I had to read it. I loved this gritty tale of magic and murder among college students. I really like Alex, the main character, and I have high hopes about her and a certain someone in the rest of the series. I loved that Bardugo had me questioning everyone's motives and trying to figure out what happened. I'm glad the big douchebags got what they deserved. However, I was way off in the end and blown away at what Bardugo accomplished with the story and where it leads for book #2.

I'm so happy I read A FIRE ENDLESS. It's everything I wanted in a sequel / conclusion. Just like its predecessor, as soon as I started reading, I was hooked. I didn’t want to put it down. I stayed up until 2am last night finishing it.

I loved getting a chance to experience life in the West and seeing how different it was from the East. I loved seeing Adaira grab hold of her lineage without sacrificing where and how she was raised. I also loved seeing Torin and Sidra growing into their roles as Laird and Laird's consort.

I was a little disappointed in the romance from the first book because there wasn't enough. I was glad the romance didn't sacrifice the story, though. I was pleasantly surprised by what happened in A FIRE ENDLESS. I thought there was a perfect balance of romance and story. It made my heart happy!

I loved learning more about the Folk, their origins and history, and their hierarchy. I especially loved being a part of the Spirits realm and seeing how it worked.

I guessed that Eagan (sp?) turned into Bane and was excited to see that I was right.

I still loved the Gaelic / Scottish feel to the story and I loved Ruth Urquhart's narration. Her Scottish accent added so much to the story. Any time I read this duology, I'll read it via audio.

As soon as I started to read the story of Cadence and its inhabitants in A RIVER ENCHANTED, I was hooked. When I was reading A RIVER ENCHANTED, I didn’t want to put it down and I couldn’t stop thinking about it in between reads. I stayed up until 4am finishing it because I was that invested in the characters and the story. I haven’t done that for a very long time.

I loved that RIVER ENCHANTED was written from different POVs and that it wasn’t done chapter by chapter. The story was told from whoever’s POV it needed to be told from at that moment. (Don’t worry. It’s not confusing in any way.) I also loved all the characters and the slow-burn romances. I wish there was more kissing, but I’m glad the story wasn’t sacrificed for the romance.

I adored the mythology of A RIVER ENCHANTED. It was fascinating. The magical system with the spirits was fun to read about and experience.

I really loved the Scottish feel to A RIVER ENCHANTED and I think Ross could’ve pushed that aspect of the story a lot more. My guess is she didn’t want to make it hard for her readers to pronounce the names and places or dialogue between the characters. Because she didn’t embrace the Scottishness whole-heartedly, the story felt a little YA at times. (Ross states in her “review” on Goodreads that A RIVER ENCHANTED started out that way.) The YA feel doesn’t take away from the story. However, as a lover of adult high fantasy, I think A RIVER ENCHANTED could’ve been that much better if Ross had pushed the envelope a lot more.

I’m so glad I finally got a chance to read it. It was a delight to read and I look forward to reading its sequel. It’s going to be a very long wait until December

because the ending killed me

.

During my second read, I listened to the audiobook and I loved it so much. It gave me the extra Scottishness I wanted because the narrator was Scottish.

After enjoying both THE DUKE AND I and THE VISCOUNT WHO LOVED ME, I pretty much knew I'd love the third installment of the Bridgerton series as well and I was right. I'm really glad there hasn't been a long waitlist at my library for the audiobooks so far.

AN OFFER FROM A GENTLEMAN is my favorite of the series so far. I absolutely adored the CINDERELLA (and EVER AFTER) retelling aspect of this one. I loved getting to know Benedict better as we don't see or hear much from him in the previous two novels. I loved Sophie. She was the perfect stand-in for Cinderella. I especially loved the immediate connection she had with Benedict. Their banter and sexual tension was so much fun to read.

I really love the setting of Regency era England in these books. I especially love the exploration of etiquette and reputation and how marrying someone below your station may affect your standing in polite society and how that may color one's decisions. It definitely makes for interesting stories and situations.

The edition I read had a second epilogue, which I enjoyed (not quite as much as the second epilogue for THE VISCOUNT WHO LOVED ME, but much more than the one for THE DUKE AND I). I loved getting to see Posey's happy ending as well as get a glimpse into Benedict's and Sophie's life together.

I look forward to reading the next book in the series, ROMANCING MR. BRIDGERTON, and getting to read Colin's story. He and his mother have been to constants in each of these stories and I already know I love his character.

I decided to read WITCH PLEASE because the audiobook was available to check out from my library. It sounded like a fun story and I definitely wasn't disappointed. In fact, I basically read it in one sitting because I loved it so much.

I loved the characters in WITCH PLEASE, especially Danica and Titus. Their chemistry was instant and the sexual tension between them is amazing and leaves you wanting for more, creating a cute, fast-paced steamy romance. I also loved a lot of the side characters. Although, I'm glad one character got what was coming to them even if I wanted more to happen.

I loved the setting and the small town feel in WITCH PLEASE. The description of the people, shops, and scenery had me ready to book a plane ticket so I could experience it first hand. Thanks to the descriptions of all the pastries in Titus' bakery, I'm craving cinnamon rolls and gingersnaps now!

I loved the lit bit of fantasy in WITCH PLEASE. I wish there had been a bit more magic, but I loved the concept of witches and how their magic works. I thought it was a fun way to explain the existence of witches. 

I'm excited to read the other three books in the Fix-It Witches series. I didn't like Danica's cousin as much as other characters, but reading her story will hopefully help endear her to me a bit more. Only time will tell, I guess.

I read ELEANOR & PARK because it's my IRL book club's pick for September. I knew nothing about the story or characters when I first started reading it. I've read three other Rainbow Rowell books so I was really excited to read this, and I'm sorely disappointed.

I really wish Rowell had written Park as a white person because she didn't represent his Korean heritage properly. I feel like making him half-Korean only served as a plot device to make him seem like a misfit, a huge problem in and of itself. I feel like the story suffered a great deal because of the bad Asian representation and uncomfortable descriptions of Park, Josh, and Mindy. You could definitely tell that their Korean heritage was from an outsider's perspective.

I especially hated that the audiobook made it sound like Mindy was Chinese and not Korean. Linguistically speaking, her accent would've been different AND she would've spoken English a lot better than she was portrayed to because she was immersed in English ALL. THE. TIME. She wasn't a recent immigrant nor was she surrounded by the Korean language on a day to day basis. Everything around her was English. Her broken English made her seem stupid and unable to learn English. It annoyed the hell out of me because it was wrong.

I also hated that Mindy didn't share her heritage with her sons. Park says more than once that he didn't know what it meant to be Asian. Even if Mindy was sad to leave her country in pursuit of love, I feel like she would've shared her culture with her sons. The family didn't even eat Korean food at their house. I could've totally gotten behind Park feeling different from the other kids in school and learning to be proud of his heritage, but none of that was explored.

I can see why there has been a lot of controversy surrounding ELEANOR & PARK and why a lot of POC readers felt uncomfortable reading it. Not only was their bad Asian representation, there was also bad Black representation. I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of the books that was a pre-cursor to the Own Voices movement. It definitely shows why the Own Voices movement is important, anyway.

The only reason I'm rating ELEANOR & PARK two stars is because I did actually like the underlying story. I thought it was a cute romance and I loved how much Eleanor and Park leaned on each other to survive their day to day hardships. Otherwise, I would've rated this only one star because of the problematic portrayal of POC characters.

I really love Greek Mythology even though I don't remember most of the details I learned about each myth back in high school. Most Greek myths aren't for the faint of heart being chock-full of tragedy (i.e., gruesome deaths, war, rape, incest), but I'm still drawn to the stories because I love a good fantasy.

I don't really think ARIADNE can be considered a retelling as it was just a written account of one version of the mythos surrounding her. In my opinion, retellings put new spins on old myths or fairy tales. Despite that this story isn't a retelling, I still really enjoyed reading it.

Before reading ARIADNE, I remembered that she had helped Theseus through the labyrinth so he could slay the minotaur and free Athens from Minos' oppressive rule, but that's it. I had no idea how much of a jackass Theseus was, lol. I also didn't remember anything about Ariadne's and Dionysus' love story. Nor did I remember how her story ended.

I really loved reading ARIADNE. The writing was interesting and kept me engaged. I wanted to know what was going to happen and I hoped the story would go a certain way. I also loved the inclusion of her sister Phaedra's life outside of Crete. I now look forward to reading Jennifer Saint's other books surrounding Greek mythology.