mcgbreads's reviews
1125 reviews

This is only my second Cat Sebastian book and I feel like she writes romance and spice specifically for me. I loved this so much! Loved it a little less than Kit Webb because the banter in that one was a bit better, but this was still fun, lovely, and sexy. I can't wait to continue exploring her work, I enjoy it so much, it puts me in a great mood. 

ARC review; thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the access to this ebook. Pub date: Jun 24 2025. 

Oh, this was BEAUTIFUL!!! I couldn't and didn't want to put it down. The prose is breathtaking and it was a delight to read, so I'm ending my 2024 reading year on a high note. This book includes 3 novellas, though I'd say it's more like 2 novellas and a short story. The two novellas were my absolute favorites, The Gentleman from Peru and Room on the Sea. 

The Gentleman from Peru is about a man who can perceive alternate versions of people's lives, the ones that sprout with every choice we make. He meets a group of young Americans traveling together and the story starts with him as a mentor, sharing his knowledge, but then he starts spending more time with one of the women in the group. The story changes from that point, and the reveal is so beautiful. 

I loved the idea of soulmates continuing to exist after they're gone and the inevitability of us finding them again in our alternate versions, even if it takes hundreds of years for us to coincide and meet each other again at the right time. 

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Room on the Sea is about a man and a woman in their 60s/70s who meet during jury duty and they connect for a week. We see how their connection builds and how the love that grows between them awakens something in them that they thought was long gone. This story is also about soulmatism, but in a different context. 

They're both married, which may be an issue for some people, but I didn't mind it. The way the story unfolds, you can't be angry about two people finding genuine love. It would be different if it was just lust and it was ill-intentioned, but this just didn't feel that way. It kind of reminded me of that old movie, Brief Encounter, which I love. 

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Lastly, there's Mariana, a short story that's basically this woman writing a long letter to the man who broke her heart. I think it drags a little, but it explores very well what it feels like to fall deeply in love with someone who was only infatuated with you and what it's like when their infatuation stops, but the love you feel for them continues, no matter what you do to try to get over it. 

Overall, a nearly perfect collection of novellas and I will definitely get a physical copy of it when I can. 

ARC review; thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for the access to this book. Pub date: Jun 03 2025. 

I'm heartbroken to say this didn't work for me. I hit a couple of paragraphs that read so melodramatic after an already melodramatic scene that I had to pause and think about whether I wanted to continue with the book. The answer is no, it's a DNF at 25%. 

I was already struggling with this book after the first few chapters and it took me like 20% to realize that we're following two different perspectives. I thought "limb one" and "limb two" were just different timelines from one perspective because they sound exactly the same, there's no difference in voice or inner thoughts at all. 

Overall, I agree with reviewers who mention this is overwritten. It is. Though I won't deny there are beautiful lines here and there, it feels pretentious. I also found it too melodramatic, like I already said, and I felt like it was trying to force emotion out of me. I was also painfully aware that I was reading a book, you know? I was aware that things happened just because the author wrote them that way. I don't even know if that will make sense to anyone else, but I just wasn't engrossed by this story. 

It ends like THAT? Oh my God.

I needed to read an erotica book to complete my bingo challenge, so here we are! 

I didn't like the FMC and her characterization, I hated the dialogue, and the dirty talk was cringy most of the time. That said, the smut did its thing. 

It was filthy and so hot. I was more invested in the two guys getting together cause I just liked them better, and the way they were kinda fighting their desire for one another made it so engaging. 

Overall, easy to read, spicy as hell, and a lot of fun. 

Thanks to NetGalley and CLASH books for the access to this ebook. Pub date: Aug 26 2025. 

Immediately, the writing style wasn't for me and I hated the main character. I can't finish this in good faith cause I don't expect to like it. I was actually excited about it cause I love the premise, it sounds so good and I see a lot of people mention this had good potential, but I just can't read a book I can't stand. 

Today was a cozy hobby day, so I ate this audiobook up while setting up my digital reading journal, coloring, and organizing my bookshelves. I had a lovely time. However, I didn't connect with this as much as I expected to. I wanted to be wrecked because I've seen that a lot of people consider it to be one of the saddest books ever, but it wasn't that for me. 

Full disclosure, I've only read The Illyad and the Odyseey once and it was back in high school, so I don't remember much. I intend to reread them as part of my classics journey now that I'm an adult, but I didn't before I picked this up, so I'm not sure how well this works as a retelling of that. I can say this is definitely more of a romantasy take on the story than a historical take. And that worked for me. I just expected... more. It was even a little boring at times. 

The characters were bland, in my opinion, and I didn't feel like the chemistry between them was strong. They didn't give me the butterflies except when they were kinda pining for each other and finally got together in their youth. That was really moving and beautiful. Other than that, I feel like the text wanted me to believe that their chemistry was insane, but it didn't make me actually feel it. 

Patroclus was the blandest of them. I do love a soft, tender boy, but not at the expense of having an actual personality beyond the love he feels for his partner. Achilles was also bland, but he had more of a personality. The problem is that personality kinda sucked for a lot of the book, so it was disappointing. I did feel for these characters a little in the end, but I wasn't particularly heartbroken. 

The prose is beautiful, though, and I loved a lot of lines and little moments, they just lacked depth for me. Overall, it's a book I enjoyed, but I expected so much more out of it, so I can't help but feel let down. 

This was so thrilling and a lot of fun! I'm glad I finally read it and it was as good as I expected based on the hype it got a while back. I loved this sci-fi exploration of alternate realities that are created by every major life decision we make and the question of whether or not we would be happier if we had gone down that other path. 

My only issue is that it gets messy and convoluted in the last, I don't know, 10 to 15 percent. That took away from the emotional impact overall and I feel like there was a better way to wrap the story up. Other than that, I enjoyed this very much and it was super engaging. Now I'm ready to watch the adaptation and I hope it's good. 

I thought I would have more thoughts about this book than I actually do. I liked it and I can stand behind the message of switching the focus from the serial killers to the victims and stopping the glorification of these ordinary, loser, psychopathic men who prey on women and overlooked population groups because they know that the system won't fight too hard to get them justice and they will low-key be enabled to continue murdering people longer than anyone expects. 

One of the saddest books I've ever read in my life. So short and so heartbreaking. I felt bad for EVERYONE. Everyone. It hits very hard.