katiedid404's reviews
68 reviews

this was my first foray into the writing of Rebecca Ross and WOW was I impressed. 

this book wasn’t anything like what I expected. again, I am not familiar with Rebecca’s writing style, so I was so pleasantly surprised when I started reading. this book, to put it simply, is beautiful. The writing is gorgeous - ethereal, lyrical, purposeful. It feels airy and magical, truly representative of the story that’s being told. 

Jack, a bard who’s been studying on the mainland, is called home to the magical isle of Cadence to help solve the mystery of missing girls in the East. There, he reunites with his childhood nemesis, Adaira, who also happens to be Heiress of the East, daughter to the current laird. written with multiple POVs, this book tells the story of two clans divided, the people who dare to dream of peace after centuries of conflict, and what the cost of that peace is. 

I genuinely was astounded by what I was reading. some of the sentences miss Rebecca wrote had me scoffing at the audacity to be so good. the mystery kept me on the edge of my seat, the characters were incredibly fleshed out - all beautiful and flawed and real in their own ways. the romance, while it isn’t necessarily the focal point, is purposeful and poignant. the connection to the spirits and the folk, and the magic of the isle was described so beautifully, you truly feel transported while reading. 

I can confidently say that this is one of the best books I’ve read, and I’m anxious to get through the sequel to see how this story concludes.

I had heard so many good things about this book and I’m so glad they were TRUE. 

I am a sucker for a witch/witch hunter situation and this one did not disappoint. 

Rune is a witch in hiding, letting the world think her a brainless aristocrat and witch hater after she turned her own grandmother in for being a witch. But secretly, she works as the Crimson Moth, smuggling witches out of the city before they can be purged by the New Republic, who overthrew the witches’ rule just two years ago. Enter, Gideon Sharpe - older brother to Rune’s best friend, captain of the Blood Guard and the fiercest witch hunter with a traumatic past. He suspects her, and she needs him for information, so they begin to court with ulterior motives. But as feelings become real, and secrets are threatened to be revealed, how could they possibly have a happily ever after? 

This book was DELICIOUS. I devoured it. I’m still thinking about it. The world building was simple and to the point - I felt like I knew everything I needed to know right at the beginning. Not overly complex but not boring. Our MCs had very realistic motivations in why they do what they do, but also very realistic romantic chemistry. Which is wild because hello?! they should hate each other. But it WORKS. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time just waiting for the other shoe to drop. The end had me speechless and I’m simply DYING of impatience waiting for the next one to be out. 

My only qualm here was that we spent so much time on the MCs courting, that we didn’t really see much else. We did get glimpses of them both scheming separately, but it would have been nice to see Rune doing more as the Crimson Moth on page. I think if the book had been a bit longer, or some scenes were replaced with content more plot driven vs romance driven, it would have been 5 stars. But I do also recognize that the reason the end hits so hard is because of the dedication to the romance. So idk. 4 stars feels right. 

I don’t quite know how to review this book, because objectively, it was good. But is it my preferred genre? Probably not. And I can’t knock it for just not being what I typically read. 

That being said, I cried like a little baby at the end. I was very skeptical starting it out because hello??? Secondary school Connell was a menace. but as I kept reading, it all made more sense. And suddenly it was this beautiful story of how two very flawed people can change each other for the better, spinning in each other’s orbit for years, supporting one another and loving one another so completely, to the point that it doesn’t matter whether they’re together or not. They’ll just always be there for each other no matter what. 

All in all, a really lovely book that ended on more positive of a note than I anticipated. The lack of quotation marks is actually a crime against humanity, though. And I stand by that.

I have never loved an Ali Hazelwood book more. I’ve loved the other books of hers that I’ve read, but this one just felt so much more personal to me, and was so precious and funny and I’m just obsessed. I really don’t know how Ali does it but I shall not question it. 

Elsie, postdoc theoretical physicist, suffering adjunct professor, and part time fake dater, is a people pleaser. Plain and simple. She chameleons her way through life, adjusting herself to be who she thinks everyone wants her to be. It’s exhausting, and when she realizes her arch nemesis, experimental physicist Jack, can see past the fake versions of her, it’s freeing - she only ever has to be herself with him, because he simply can’t be fooled by the other versions of herself she tries to be. And better yet, he encourages her to shed those versions, to voice her opinions and needs, and stand up for herself. But how could this be? He’s her enemy, her rival, and he attacked the integrity of her area of study!!! Confused, scared, and flustered by Jack’s incessant attention, Elsie goes on a journey of self-empowerment and self-love, and perhaps even finds some romance along the way??

This book was truly a love letter to those of us who maybe lose ourselves a little bit when trying to fit in. Who are scared of being completely ourselves. A reminder that the people who really love you will love you no matter what, and anyone who doesn’t maybe isn’t worth your efforts. 

This book is written so well, is so funny, is STEAMY (hello?!! the Twilight Marathon??), and is so painfully relatable but in the best way. I genuinely need to book a trip to MIT to find a sexy experimental physicist STAT.

I really wanted to love this book based on what I’d read in the synopsis. It sounded badass - a woman fighting for her rightful throne against those who would oppress women and are determined to overthrow the matriarchal ways in which their clan historically operated. 

However, maybe it’s just my lack of knowledge of how these types of clans work, or the fact that I didn’t know until 30% in that this was inspired by HOTD, but I had to slowly piece together the fact that **the main characters in this book are related**. If that’s going to be the case, it absolutely needs to be mentioned in the content warnings of the book before it starts, and it wasn’t. And I’m not talking distant relations, I’m talking third cousins (technically, half third cousins). Again, if I’d known this was HOTD inspired, I could have maybe assumed this going into it. But I was caught off guard and left wondering for the entire book if they were related, which absolutely affected the experience of reading it. I did guess early on that they were third cousins, but it’s never fully explained well enough to say one way or another. I resorted to reaching out to the author to confirm. Again, it needed to be stated explicitly in the CWs or at the beginning of the book, not assumed that the reader will understand the clan lineages based on the vague information that’s provided. This was just my experience, so I’d be interested to know if anyone else had this experience. 

It’s also very clear that this is HOTD inspired. There are changes made, but if you’ve seen the show (I haven’t read the book), I think it’ll be clear where the inspiration was drawn from. Sometimes to the point that it felt too on the nose.  

Finally, I just felt like the plot was too rushed for the romance to have happened realistically. I wish we’d had more time to develop the relationship, but it just felt like one thing happened after another so quickly and by the time the romance starts, I found it hard to believe that it would have actually happened given what was going on around them and to them. 

Overall, this was a classic romantasy, with typical character arcs (though again, I wish we’d gotten more development) and a brutal cliffhanger. I did enjoy the plot, it was fun and the characters had good banter and the enemies to lovers appeal, and I really do think if I’d known what I was getting into ahead of time I would have had better expectations for what it would be, but the lack of clarity and my issues with the inspiration and pacing made this a three star for me. All in all, a fun, quick read and I’ll be picking up the second book when it’s out to see it through.

4.5⭐️ - listen, I watched The Queen’s Gambit and honestly found chess to be insufferable after that. This book, however, has changed my mind. 

It was SO CUTE. Mallory, ex-chess prodigy, finds herself in a bind and has to get back into the chess world after a particularly traumatizing history with it in order to support her mother and sisters. enter, Nolan Sawyer, chess world No. 1, current world champion, and king of my heart. Mallory plays Nolan once in a charity event, beats him, and after that she can’t seem to get rid of him…

throughout the book, with Nolan’s help via his insistence on her happiness and well-being (king sh*t), Mallory learns that the world doesn’t always have to be on her shoulders, that she can just be a sister and a daughter and a friend without feeling responsible for everyone and everything - that martyrdom is more self-serving than selfless. 

the ONLY reason this book lost a half of a star for me is because the entire situation with her friend who left for college and went MIA and ghosted her but then tried to accuse MALLORY of ghosting HER genuinely triggered a deep, deep fury in me. 

Outside of that, the book was so cute and fun and the epilogue had me GIGGLY. I’ve never wanted to play chess more, so if anyone knows of any bad boy chess champions with a heart of gold, please send them my way ok? 

this was a lovely conclusion to this duology, and I am still yearning for a glass blowing, fire god to whisk me away to the middle heavens. 

Karys and Dravyn, and their gaggle of friends/allies must figure out a way to de-escalate the growing conflict between the humans and the elves before something too cataclysmic to recover from occurs. Through their efforts, we get a story about forgiveness, of others and yourself, and benefits of being open minded and letting your perspectives change, to let go of old hatreds, and to fight for peace even when it seems unlikely. 

the epilogue to this book nearly took me out; it was such a beautiful sentiment of how there can be better days ahead if we only have the bravery to fight for them today. 

my only qualm was that the ending was a bit…vague? I wasn’t sure *how* exactly things resolved. only that I was told that it resolved. I wish there was a bit better of an explanation of what exactly happened but I still really enjoyed the book up to that point and afterwards. 

I’ve read the Shadows and Crowns series, so I knew this book would be good, AND IT DIDN’T DISAPPOINT IN THE SLIGHTEST. 

very much enemies to lovers, very much forbidden romance, very much DELICIOUS. 

I was so happy to be back in this world, though this happens in the past compared to Shadows and Crowns. I think that helped with the world building and orienting myself in the plot from the start, though I do believe if you haven’t read the previous books before that you’d be fine. But having read them before, I had a comfortable sense of familiarity with the world and the characters, even if most of them were new to me. 

this story begs the question, what if we chose love over hate? what if we chose peace over violence? what if we have more in common than we think? Karys is grieving the loss of her sister and curses the gods who she believes are responsible. But when she ends up living with Dravyn, the God of Fire and her sworn enemy, to try and bring him and his court down from the inside, she starts to realize that some hatreds are not our own, but are passed down by those around us, and that the gods may not be as bad as her elven kind would have her believe. 

I so thoroughly enjoyed this book - the plot was compelling, the characters were complex and likable (well, some of them. you know who you are), and the romance was SWOON WORTHY. The personal journey that Karys goes on, and seeing her shed her misconceptions and hostilities as she realizes that the gods around her don’t deserve it?? Would that we all could do the same. might I add, Dravyn is HOT. I was giggling and kicking my feet at the things he’d say. He is awarded a ticket to the “blonde mmcs that I love” club - it’s very exclusive. 

I am so looking forward to picking up the next book to see how this story concludes, especially after the end of this one 👀

This book was really cute!! 

I loved the idea of a conspiracy theorist and a skeptic working on a web series together - the potential for witty banter was high with a combo like that and this book definitely delivered. Hayden and Hallie absolutely match each other’s freak. Hayden is quite possibly the cutest little nerd there ever was. Not to mention 6’4” and sexy af. But also kind and caring and loving and thoughtful and I could go on and on. 

The struggles Hallie goes through are so relatable - who among us haven’t been made to feel small or “too much” by those who’d seek to think better of themselves at our expense? But it was so lovely to see Hallie’s journey with Hayden and how he helps heal that part of her, and encourage her to fight for herself and stand up to her shitty ex. 

I also loved all of the millennial humor in this book. it felt real without being cringe, banter that I could see myself having with my close friends. And TWO, count em, TWO references to Franki Muniz movies that I love?? amazing. 

the ooonly issues I had with this book, and why it only got 4 stars, were that I felt it was a bit too insta-lovey for my taste which is a personal preference, and this was in no way marketed to me as enemies to lovers or rivals to lovers so it’s not like I expected that. I just wish there’d been a taaaad more resistance before they got together. Because of how quickly they got together, it felt like the rest of the book was trying to force a sticking point in their relationship which, to be fair, her insecurities were valid, but it bothered me that she felt like she needed to step back from the show for his sake when she knew how terrible Hayden was on his own with it. I’m not sure what I’d have done in her shoes and maybe I shouldn’t judge, but I wish she’d found it in her to do the show without needing the reassurance from the comment section. 

All in all though it was really cute and I enjoyed it!