l1ndz7's reviews
600 reviews

Probably my least favorite read of the year. The cover of this has caught my eye every time I’ve come across it in a bookstore. Thank goodness I never actually bought it and used my wonderful library instead where I can return this. 

I listened to this exclusively on audio and I hated it. The premise was intriguing but the execution sucked so hard. This is also a translated novel translated from the Dutch and maybe I don’t like Dutch translated novels. The dialogue in this book was so harsh, not to mention, racist, homophobic, and sexist. There was also a lot of unnecessary profanity.  Like, what does that say about this author? 

I got Under the Dome vibes but only at the end of course where all of the action happens. This had so much potential.. what a disappointment. 

I actually have quite a few problems with this book. Problems you could chalk up to “debut author struggles” or to my personal preferences. I looked through the reviews and while there a lot more reviews that loved this, there are others who have the same thoughts as me. 

First of all, I did not like the way first person and second person narration were combined together.  I’ve never seen a book use both narrations in this way before. There was no spacing between the two, sometimes it was changed mid-sentence and it drove me nuts. Also, Saika says her sister’s name constantly. I understand that she’s addressing her but why do you need to say Fi at the end of every sentence when talking to her?! That was strange to me and didn’t feel natural at all. 

Second of all, Saika is the newest member of the crew at Ash Gardens and through her abrasive questioning becomes the one holding all the secrets and making decisions for others without talking with them first (e.g. poor Beelzebub). Idk who Saika thinks she is getting everyone to spill their secrets and yet for her to give nothing in return. Again, this also didn’t feel natural to me at all. 

Third of all, I didn’t find this cozy. The grief is heavy from the first page and I just don’t see how that could be considered cozy. Also, throughout the story, one of the characters begins to show signs of dementia and it’s evident with every interaction (which is quite a bit because it’s one of the main characters). 

The diverse mix of mythical creatures was a delight to see but most of them are background characters. This book is marketed as a “found family” cozy fantasy and sure I’d agree with that if the found family was half the characters that were actually included. In all the books I’ve read where there is found family, we get to know every character included in that family. That’s not the case here. We got a lot of information about some and then hardly any at all about others (poor cherubs, Evette and even Hilde YIKES ifykyk). I sensed a bit of tokenism but maybe I’m being too harsh and we can just cough that up to first-time author struggles. 

I feel like a lot of books I’ve read are formulated in a way where the first 80% is slow af and then all of the action and secrets are revealed within the last 20% always making for a very rushed ending. This debut suffered from that as well. The pacing was wonky and I felt like some things were expanded on that didn’t need to be and others  that we could have used more information on, was not. This book either needed better editing. 

Despite all of this (if you’re still reading you probably think I hate this book at this point), I did enjoy this. It was a quick-ish read and I loved the concept of Ash Gardens. Being cremated and having my ashes repurposed to grow a tree?? DOPE. That’s something I desperately wanted more information about. There is a tiny mystery surrounding the property and the slow disintegration of it and that was fascinating too but I feel like that plot line got wrapped up much too quickly for my tastes. 

Lastly, there is a budding romance that I felt wasn’t necessary and very in the background even though it involved the main character, Saika. I generally like romance subplots but this one was so shallow it barely constituted as one. 

This was everything the reviews are saying: dark, gothic and lyrical. Based on folklore and the Brother Grimm fairytales, this story takes you on a journey filled with gods, mermaids, bluebeards, and wulver. 

One thing I noticed that changed a little more midway through the book was the writing style. The first half was lyrical and poetic to the point where it was a bit hard to understand what was going on and then once Kilda wasn’t included in the multiple perspectives anymore, the writing became more comprehensible while remaining lyrical. Keep in mind, I read an arc of this and it could have been changed in the final copy. 

I highly recommend this if you like folklore, dark fairytales and poetic, lyrical writing :) 

I can’t believe the negative reviews on this book!! This is real romance!! Dealing with societal stigmas and inner demons, making mistakes but learning from them and owning up to them. C L E A R C O M M U N I C A T I O N!! 

This sex-positive, fight-the-patriarchy novel is a breath of fresh air. Black Hat, a giant corporation was the villain and I loved to see it! Big companies like Meta, Google, Amazon and Black Hat stifle smaller businesses and ingenuity. Clara and Josh creating a new business that focuses on women’s pleasure was brilliant and such a joy to see. 

I absolutely adore Clara and Josh and the way Josh would talk to and about Clara was swoon-worthy. Rosie knows how to write her male MCs 😍😍😍 There were multiple parts in this book where I was smiling and/or giggling out loud. If a romance book can do that to me and have an original, refreshing plot without the dreadful, overused miscommunication trope, it’s a five star read for me. I can’t wait to read more of her books!! 

I thought I would be the only one who couldn’t get into this but reading through the reviews, others have had issues with the pacing and plot as well.

I was interested in this story up until Vern and her boys left the forest. The plot from the beginning was difficult for me to follow and then with the wonky pacing I lost total interest unfortunately. 

I think this book talks about some incredible (and dark, def look up content warnings) topics and it was set up well. I’m really sad I didn't like this more. I read The Deep earlier last year and loved it. I was hoping this would be similar but this goes to show that just because you love one book by an author doesn’t mean you will like everything they write. 

This book reminded me alot of Sundial by Catriona Ward and a bit of Ring Shout. Two books I unfortunately didn’t like either but if you did, you’ll probably love this! This could also just be a book that’s read better physically. I listened to this exclusively on audio and wonder if I would have liked it more if I had done in tandem

I’ve got my eyes next on Model Home 👀👀

This was good but it did drag out quite a bit. There were a lot of twists and turns but the translation was alittle hard to read sometimes. I think that dampened the effect of some of the shocks. I did like the premise a lot and wish there was a more complete answer as to what happened to the killer and who the hell the mold guy was 

This would be a good gateway into sci-fi for beginners!! It has a very *light* sci-fi element that honestly wasn’t integral to the story. This story takes place over one day and there’s the instalove trope. None of my favorites but the love story was kind of sweet even though we know it’s doomed from the start from the title. 

Hmm I feel like this is written as a young adult book because the POV was solely from a daughter who from 10-23 years old had to care for her mother. The writing, the dialogue was very easy, almost juvenile for an adult horror novel. 

I also went into this blind and really didn’t vibe with the toxic, co-dependent mother-daughter relationship that was the main focus of the story. The post-apocalypse happening is very much in the background and I would have liked to see more of that instead of just in the last 15% of the book. 

This was so refreshing!!!! We have dark academia, multiple killers and a cast of villains that you can’t help but root for (or maybe that’s just me 🤣). Teddy was my fav to watch and kind of the main character of the story. Samantha kept you on your toes wondering if he going to get away with it along with a few other shocking actions by other characters. While this might not be in my favorites of this year if I had to pick my favorite thrillers of the year, this would be on that list. This was my first read by Samantha Downing and it won’t be my last. She’s definitely a few fav thriller author. I’m looking to read My Lovely Wife next. 

I think this could have been about 50-100 pages shorter but I really enjoyed this. Watching

Yadriel fall in love with Julian

was adorable 🥰 I love the diverse representation in the book and learning more about South American customs. This reminded me of the Disney movies, Encanto and Coco. 

I listened to this on audio and there was a short interview with the author at the end. Aiden sounded so cute and was so excited that he had a trans, queer person narrating his book. I loved his enthusiasm and excitement. I would definitely read more from him. I’m 👀👀 The Sunbearer Trials next.