mspilesofpaper's reviews
889 reviews

Thank You to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an eArc.

I had asked for The Palace of Eros because it is marketed as a queer retelling of the Eros and Psyche myth, which was a great selling hook to me. (I think I'm still deeply influenced by Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, which was part of my art lessons in the late 2000s.)

Unfortunately, the book isn't it. The myth of Eros and Psyche is considered as one of the greatest love stories/as one of the most beautiful love stories, and the author didn't manage it to keep the vibe. Instead, it is very a sex-heavy retelling with flowery prose. The prose is so flowery that it creates an entire garden and I wish someone told the author to use punctuation marks from time to time because they gifted us with phrases like this:

The paragraph is 13 lines long on my Kindle and technically isn't even a sentence as it ends with a question mark, which makes it a question.

Another example of "The author never learned to use punctuation marks and the editor failed at their job as well" is this:

It's a lot of words to say nothing and reminds me of my essays at university where I would have added non-necessary bullshit to reach the word limit.

As for plot, there's not a lot of it. Of course, the original myth isn't rich with plot either but de Robertis' retelling is mostly sex. Either Psyche and Eros fucking at night or Psyche masturbating during the day (when she doesn't weave, paint or eat). It's pretty half just sex for half of the book and it's ... a lot. Psyche is borderline obsessed with sex and Eros uses it as a tool to avoid questions, which makes it yucky. At the point when something could happen (the trials), the author just told the reader what happened instead of showing it. In the end, the trials are skimped on, so the author can squeeze some dialogue between Eros and Aphrodite into the book, which results in an "everything is wrapped up offscreen" situation. 

In addition, to the very flowery prose: Psyche's chapters are written in the first person while Eros' are written in the third person, which is a weird decision and always irritated me while reading. It's a sharp contrast and Psyche feels like an unreliable narrator due to it at some points.

An interesting aspect of the novel is Eros' exploration of gender dynamics but I think it would have been better to discuss this as an academic essay instead of squeezing it into the novel. 

You're Not Supposed To Die Tonight is a YA hommage of the slasher movies of the 80s and 90s. I'm not always one for horror movies and novels because I'm easily scared and I do like to sleep through the night without having weird nightmares. (A psychological thriller though? HIT ME UP!) So, I thought that a YA horror novel would be a somewhat better choice for me. Spoiler: It didn't work out as well as I thought.

Well, to start with the book, I have to mention that it feels like the author wrote it at two different points in time and planned to use one part for another book because they are just ... weird.
The first part is slow-paced and builds up the setting. The reader gets introduced to the characters and the entire camp setting with its horror/terror game. It also starts to have the typical creepy elements of a horror movie, e.g. a humanoid shadow at the shoreline, bumps in the night, flickering lights, ..., before it turns into the "leave the campgrounds" and overall, I would have given it 4.5 ⭐. There's an actual sense of fear and foreboding, which made it close the book at night as I do value my sleep. Of course, it could have been faster-paced but it worked well as a set-up.
The second part though? That's the actual horror/mystery part of the book and it really just fell flat for me. So, I would give it 1.5 ⭐, which results in a 3 ⭐ rating as an overall rating. There's a weird cult involved (which still doesn't make sense), there's an occult/paranormal aspect to it, it's very predictable in terms of who is the actual villain, and the ending/epilogue is just ... something. This part feels heavy-handed and stereotypical of horror movies where the characters always do the dumb shit. Splitting up? Yes, of course! Investigating something in the night in a forest? Hell yes! All the things where anyone with a brain would be like "no, we just leave now!" instead of going through with investigating something creepy at night.

TL;DR: A YA horror novel (that's surprisingly gory for the age group) that takes a weird turn after the halfway point of the story, which results in a loss of tension and horror. Instead, I just got left with a lot of question marks and eye-rolling.

On a personal note, I think I will stay away from the author by now because I wasn't happy with Cinderella Is Dead either. 

Late Bloomer was another read for Sapphic September but oh dear, it was such a disappointment. (Though after checking out other books by the author, I realised that it wasn't my first book from the author and I was disappointed by the other book as well.)

While the story blurb sounded like a fun and cute sapphic read, the actual read was ... well, something. If I have to describe it briefly, it would be basically "someone mixed tons of pop culture references, even more Taylor Swift references, with modern slang and a romance idea that could come from TikTok".

The summary highlights already some of my main issues with the book: there are tons of pop culture references (mostly Taylor Swift related but not limited to it) and modern slang (e.g., "noice"). If social media teaches us anything, it is that pop culture references do not age well and are utterly limited to a certain generation or time period. I might put myself as older here but there used to be a time when there were references to the American Pie movies everywhere ... You might guess it already but if you use those nowadays, only a few people would get it. It will be the same issue for this book. 

Aside from the pop culture references and the modern slang, the relationship between the two young women has no chemistry. It goes from "I do not like and trust you" to "I want to bone you"/"I like you"/"I love you" extremely quickly with no actual scenes where the reader sees why they start to like each other. It is instant attraction, lust and love in one package. Aside from it, both characters have zero characteristics aside from their neurodivergence. Pepper is autistic and Opal has ADHD/autism (undiagnosed) and that's their entire defining character trait. Their hobbies are their jobs and are directly based on their neurodivergence. They don't have another hobby or anything aside from it. Pepper deals with a bit of grief as she lost her grandmother but that's it. In all honesty: both should just go to therapy instead of hurling themselves into this situationship/relationship. If you care about sex scenes: you can find plenty of them in the book. By far too many for the measly amount of plot to be honest. They were also boring, repetitive and a virgin is apparently a sex goddess at oral sex and fingering. I skipped over them at one point because just ... bleugh. 

As for the ADHD & autism representation: books like this one are the reason why I would rather have no representation than such a horrible one. It's such a stereotypical representation and brushed over most of the time unless it could be used as a device to create some tension. If you want an example: Opal doesn't get a diagnosis because "I know who I am" but basically medicates herself with alcohol and drugs to feel "normal". Yes, people with ADHD have addiction issues (Hello sugar, you are the bane of my ADHD existence.) but the author implies that it's ok not to get a diagnosis and professional help because "I know who I am". 
As for the bisexual representation (because Opal is bisexual): it is so stereotypical and she is a caricature of a bisexual character as she incorporates the three traits of every stereotypical bisexual character: messy commitment issues, loves to dye their hair in unusual colours (pink, green, ...) and loves casual sex. I hate it. And Pepper ... I feel like the author also put all stereotypes about lesbians into her and called it a day. (Although she doesn't get labelled because "What if I like a man one day!?". Bitch, please.) To be honest: the entire book reads as if it is a sapphic romance written through the male gaze. 

(And please, for everything that is holy, do not ever get me started on the author's note. The book's working title was "Lavender Haze" because the author is a Swiftie.) 

Party Animal is the third book in an ongoing series and while it might be beneficial to read the previous books, I can say that you don't need to do it. There were more than enough points about the two previous couples to understand their relationships without having to read those books.

It is a fun contemporary sapphic romance in a zoo setting (on an island somewhere on the US East Coast) but the zoo part (and the island part) is a background thing. I think the only places within the zoo that play a larger part are the vet clinic and the restaurant/café as the couple is a zoo vet and a chef. In the book, we follow Goldfinch "Finch" Lachlan, who works as a vet at her family's zoo and lives for her work while avoiding any long-term relationships like the devil avoids a church, and Francesca "Frankie" Benedetti who is a (pastry) chef who got out of a long-term relationship with Jake who cheated on her. They both get into a fake relationship with each other for different reasons but as they continue with their "play of pretend", the lines begin to blur with each display of commitment.

My only issues with the book were:
- Frankie thought that she is a bisexual woman who just had never been able to explore relationships with women. I wish the author would have let her continue to be bisexual and just get her into a relationship with a woman instead of having her very short "aha" moment where she realises that she isn't bisexual but a lesbian. There aren't many books with bisexual characters in general, so this erase of a bi character irks me.

- The end. The author has a love for epilogue weddings. Unfortunately, she utterly spoils the upcoming book with it and the developments of Hawk's and Lark's relationships (the two siblings from the first two books).

- The fucking third act breakup. God, I hate those. All because of miscommunication in this case. 

Man wird mitten ins Buch geworfen und weiß nicht wirklich wer wer ist. Es heißt, dass man es unabhängig vom ersten Teil lesen kann, aber es bezieht sich immer wieder auf den ersten Teil, so dass das nicht stimmt.

Erinnert mich auch mal wieder daran warum ich so gut wie nie auf Deutsch lese. 

Love At First Set is about Elizabeth "Lizzie" who works as the front desk manager at the local gym and gets dragged to the wedding of her best friend's sister as he doesn't want to appear alone there. Drunken mistakes happen and the wedding is called off, and suddenly Lizzie finds herself pushed towards the bride Cara.

While the set-up of the novel did sound cute, I have to say that the book just sucked a lot. Why? Because the fucking relationship between Lizzie and Cara is just instant love and instant lust. James (the best friend), Cara, their parents, Lizzie and her mother are just awful characters. James and Cara manipulate the hell out of Lizzie, their parents Stella and George are just the typical "she is cruel and worried about the money while he is a drunken idiot" rich family, Lizzie's mother manipulates and uses her daughter as well, and Lizzie has no backbone. Tbh: Lizzie needs tons of therapy and new friends. Instead, there's a fucking happy end, a useless third-act breakup (the entire drama was just too much) and none of the characters have any redeeming traits. Even the supposed character growth after the two women get back together just feels forced and unbelievable. 

Pumpkin Spice & Polstergeist is the autumnal/spooky equivalent of a Hallmark movie with a touch of Gilmore Girls.

Maple Hollow is a small town, reminiscent of Girlmore Girls' Star's Hollow, with paranormal citizens and a bunch of humans. Of course, all paranormal citizens do not hide and just use the town's theme Halloween/Fall, and the excuse of good costumes, as an explanation of why there's a pumpkin-headed monster walking around or why Frankenstein is the mayor. You have to ignore all logic to accept this and do not ask too many questions about it either or the entire explanation will fall apart.

The sapphic romance is pure instant love and instant lust for each other. There's no actual depth to it, just like there's no actual depth to the characters. They all fall neatly into some stereotypes, which fits the Hallmark movie vibe. (The lack of depth isn't limited to the side characters, it is ALL characters.) Jordyn is a white sapphic witch while Harlow is a white bisexual human. Jordyn's ex is also white. All mentioned characters are white as long as they are humanoid/humanoid-passing. The monsters are the exception as there's a green Frankenstein monster, the pumpkin-headed monster, and the swamp monster. If you are looking for a BIPOC character, you will be deeply disappointed.

Overall, it's a very fast-paced story (no wonder with barely over 200 pages) that is very predictable (especially the murder mystery). At times, it is noticeable that the book was written by two authors because the writing style is different enough and some chapters just feel like they don't connect well to each other. Yes, there are funny moments and if you are looking for a sapphic cosy romance that you can read in a few hours, you won't be disappointed, but it isn't something to write home about. It's just ... ok, hence the three stars. 

One of these books where I had to force myself to book it up. 43% after eight days isn't a good sign for me (especially given the fact that the book isn't even overly long).

The idea of the novel seemed interesting and promising, just like some elements of the world-building, but I couldn't care less about the characters (and the reversed gender images) and the story itself, which felt dragged out for the purpose of Bancroft showing his world-building. The case on which the two were working wasn't big enough to end up with a nearly 400-page book. Also, the writing is partly so exhausting because it felt as if Bancroft used a thesaurus a few times too often, which results in stilted writing and confusing descriptions.

Drowned Country happens two years after the first book and starts with Henry, the new wild man of Greenhollow, sulking in the ruins of his mansion because he is alone (aside from Bramble) as Tobias left him. Their romantic relationship lasted just a few months and their split resulted in Henry struggling with being the wild man of Greenhollow but also being Henry Silver at the same time. Until the day his mother comes calling to demand his help with a case in the seaside town of Rothport where a 900-year-old vampire lives. Rothport used to be part of the ancient wood to which Henry is bound but it was drowned beneath the sea. While Henry still suffers from a broken heart, he is still quickly pulled into the mess that awaits him in Rothport, and there's more to Rothport and Maude, the vampire's supposed victim, than meets the eye.

While Silver in the Wood was very character-driven and whimsical in its own way, Drowned Country is a plot-driven story, which switches between the present and the past when Henry remembers how his relationship with Tobias ended. I found the plot to be a bit all over the place with a vampire, the run-away young woman who wants to become a monster hunter/wants to follow Henry's and his father's footsteps in terms of academic success, the last fairy and the fairy queen in fairyland, and then the sudden end. The end irks me a lot because it's really just to solve the entire romance situation, so Henry and Tobias can be back together and enjoy a mortal lifetime together. 

Why is it SciFi/futuristic Indian-inspired fantasy when the summary makes it sound like medieval Indian-inspired fantasy? The holopods truly surprised me because I didn't expect so many futuristic elements in a world that still seems somewhat medieval.

While the overall world-building is slow but interesting, the characters are by far the worst. They are boring and inconsistent. No one trusts anyone. Elena is an exhausting brat who thinks the worst of her own father because the man tries his hardest to protect his daughter and to make sure that she will have an easier time ruling. Yassen just exists.

I think the book could have been great if the characters would have been better and if the writing style would have been smoother because the world-building is good and the story idea is ok (as far as the revealed plot goes up to 35%, which isn't that much). Unfortunately because of both, the book is just exhausting to read and doesn't draw the reader into the story.