pastelwriter's reviews
1099 reviews

Let me start my review by saying that truly I think it’s personal preference why I didn’t adore this book. 

The major problem I had with this was that it was tackling way too many issues. I understand that this is realistic, as many of us are often juggling multiple difficult situations at once, but as a reading experience it doesn’t work for me. I’d rather a novel focus on a small number of concerns, so it can fully dive into them in detail.

That being said, I definitely think this was written in away to be approachable for its target YA audience. The fact that it was mainly written in journal entries with some poems means that it’s not difficult to get through it in terms of the prose. 

I’m definitely going to be including this in my classroom library, as I do think many of my students would appreciate a story like this one. Ultimately, I don’t always try to read books with myself in mind. Sometimes, the gain I get from a book is knowing it fits well in my classroom. 

I had such a fun, silly little time reading this! It was an excellent read to prepare for the spooky season, and fits even better for the Christmas season! 

First and foremost, I adored Hex with everything in my heart and soul. I’m always here for the emotionally reserved character and over thinker who has to learn to share their thoughts and burdens with others. He was genuinely my favorite character in the novel. I wanted more of him! I would’ve loved to read from his pov 🥺 

Coal, on the other hand, was chaos incarnate. He has 5 million thoughts, and often doesn’t know how to keep them Inside Thoughts. He did really make me laugh multiple times in this story though. And my favorite thing was his name changes to his group chat with Iris and Kris! 😂

Now when we talk Hex and Coal together? The two definitely had chemistry! I was rooting for them almost from the very start because the author built really well the dynamic between them and how they’re being drawn to each other again and again. 

Finally, justice for Iris! I really need a book with her and her potential love interest 😭 It’s criminal how this book made me genuinely root for

a m/f ship (initially I thought both characters were straight), only for then it turn out that the sequel will be about Kris with someone else. I felt like the story truly did hint at it turning out that they’re not end-game…but I’m still SAD. My only compensation will be if we manage to get a book 3 with Iris and a yet unknown love interest.

P.S Truly my one qualm with this book is that I never truly understood if Hex was half Mexican. It felt very…white author trying to talk around it without just saying it straight out? Maybe I misread it…But as a Latina… Most Latine individuals are incredibly proud of their culture and heritage and aren’t afraid to state it straight out. So, it felt muddled here. It wasn’t clear if Hex was or wasn’t half Mexican…or if his family was only in Mexico because Día de Los Muertos is such an important holiday with significant connections to Halloween because of the time of year it takes place. 

I could’ve sworn I wrote a review for this when I finished it 🙈 Let me try to remember my thoughts.

I guess the best place to start is my love for Ellery. I support all their rights and wrongs 😔✊🏻 You give me a kid emotionally Going Through It, and I absolutely adore them and defend their every action. I also adored how protective they were of Knox 💖 It was so sweet! And Ellery truly is committed once they decide their feelings for you. Get you a partner who would go to the underworld for you 🙏🏻

Speaking of Knox, he was such a cutie! I wanted all the happiness and love in the world for him. He’s so genuine and open about his feelings and interests. It’s amazing!  F.T. Lukens is SO GOOD at contrasting sweet and earnest characters with characters that are more reserved and skeptical. It’s amazing (and not repetitive!) every time.

The main reason this lost stars was because the side characters were underdeveloped. Truly Ellery and Knox were the only ones propelling the story. Everyone else was just there for amusing decor 💀

However, F.T. Lukens always includes fun chaos in their novels. I can honestly say they’ve only written bangers from my perspective 💁🏻‍♀️✨ I always have a grand ol’ time.

P.S. Ellery’s only weakness in my eyes is how frequently they note that their cousin is “weird.” No, honey. You’re weird and emo. Your cousin is the definition of emotionally stable and a good sport 😌

If I have one regret… it’s not giving up on this book sooner. 

At first, I was genuinely interested in this story. I wanted to see how far Gyre would get in the caving expedition and learn how much we could trust Em. 

Ultimately, though, this totally lost me with how repetitive it was. This could’ve been executed perfectly if it had been around 200 pages. Because, instead, it was 415 pages, it meant that we kept having the characters discuss the same dilemma over and over. It was insufferable.

What made matters even worse? Once my friend told me how this story ended, I was LIVID. Everything she mentioned was more and more ridiculous. 

1. We have the random naked man running around the caves after he gave up on his own caving expedition for Em.

2. Then there’s the hallucinations that are only there to be creepy and  “ambiance,” and we’re probably caused by the spores Gyre got contaminated with. Lame. 

3. It was absolutely necessary to have more worm (tunneler) action…but instead there’s limited content of them and instead there’s a scene where one of them dies on accident instead of accomplishing Gyre’s goal (killing her). 

4. Gyre and Em getting involved in a romantic relationship 🧍🏻‍♀️ Excuse me? I’m all for gay shit…but not in a dynamic where Em literally drugs Gyre multiple times without her consent. Nor when she’s clearly mentally unstable with her deranged desire to keep sending more and more people into these caving expeditions regardless of how many have died. HUH?!?! Absolutely not!

In conclusion, this sounds awful. At least I didn’t make it to the end 😩👌🏻 I’m free at last! 

This was such a wonderful conclusion to this series! I just wish we had more volumes 😭

I loved finally being able to see Oogami and Mitsuji together. They were so adorable! My heart stopped with all the moments we got of Oogami being extra adorable now that his feelings were out in the open 🥺 I was bursting with feeling! 

I also loved that we got to meet Mitsuji’s family and learn a little bit about Oogami’s family! Mitsuji’s parents and brother were an absolute delight 💖 I’m so glad they immediately liked Oogami and saw he was a good noodle! It made it all the more rewarding.

I’m also shook to my core at the fact that the wedding we got in here was between Usami and Shishikura! Can’t say I was disappointed since I loved seeing the extra content of them in the other volumes. They were cute as hell, and I’m glad we got to see them get married 💖

Anyway. I think that’s all I have to say about this volume! I loved it, and I’m glad it ended on such a cute and positive note ✨

I had so much fun reading this novella! I think it’s my favorite out of this series…truly a feat considering that I’m not a fan of age gap romances 😂

The steam in this was just IMMACULATE. The way Rhyne was absolutely worshiping Arabella? This is what I’m here for in romance. A dom man can be tolerated when he also clearly treats the woman like she hung the moon 😌 That’s always a delight to read. 

There wasn’t much else to this novella tbh. Sure, the conflict of the age gap was there. There were some tensions our main couple had to work through because of it, but most of it is truly just talked out. We never get to the part where they tell Arabella’s family, but that’s okay. I’m happy with this just being heavy steam 😂👌🏻

Anyway. I’m always glad when I get a banger from Adriana Herrera as it’s not always the case. 

I never have enough of this series! This mangaka writes too slowly 😭 Time for the agony of waiting to return. It’s always a gift when a new volume is out, but the slowness is a killer. 

The information we learned in this volume was JUICY. I’m glad that, despite how tragic, we got to learn more about Ichii’s past. 

Speaking of Ichii’s dark past, Megi is an absolute menace to society. Just absolutely deranged. The way he put his hands on En? I was ready to fight! I’m glad Ichii hit him in the head with his helmet 😌 I only wish he’d been able to fully bash his head in with it 😔 But we must settle with what we get. 

Beyond that, the rest of this volume was truly just En and Ichii fucking…and Ichii finally giving in to being a sappy bitch. Still great, in its own way, but for ONCE I kinda wanted more plot. That’s why this had to stay at 5🌟

Considering what I know this mangaka is able to write…this was incredibly mid. 

The pacing of this was completely off because it’s all condensed into one volume. We neither get enough of the complexities between the fenrir and humans nor of the relationship between Gar and Hati. 

The artwork, of course, is gorgeous. The cover alone is stunning! However, the character design was terrible. There was a scene where literally members of the same pack were talking, and if it wasn’t for the different scar placement, they all looked exactly the same. There definitely should have been more variety in the character design. 

Anyway! At least we’ll be blessed by a new Fangs volume soon enough!

Mitsuba and Kou content will always make my heart weak 💖😭💖 Just their precious faces on the cover and inside art made me screech.

It was an absolute delight and agony to be able to follow them in their adventure in the acquarium. Kou truly is such a sweetheart and cares so much about Mitsuba 🥺💖 And Mitsuba is such a messy character, but he clearly also loves how much Kou cares for him. It makes it all the more painful what he wants Kou to do, and his sneaky attempts to get Kou to dislike him enough to follow-through on what Mitsuba wants 😩 I know only pain. 

I also become mush whenever there’s sweet content between Yashiro and Hanako! The two of them holding hands? Spinning in the auditorium? Be still my heart! 

I can’t wait to be put through more agony as we learn more about Hanako’s past. I need my baby boy at the front and center of the narrative again 💖

Let’s start off by saying that…what happens with Hakubo and Sumire? Absolutely deranged. I’m into it, but I was certainly not expecting this manga to go there! 😱 That was some hardcore shit. Iconic for sure! 

As always, as a girly whose brain has been rotten by my precious Hanako, it was dreadful that he was hardly in this volume 😭 it’s likely a considerable contributing factor for why this didn’t get 5🌟

It was fascinating though to have Sakura reveal so much information in this volume! We know the circumstances of how Yashiro will die… We know what/who Hanako’s yorishiro is… We know Sakura is over 100 years old… It’s a lot of information to learn in such quick succession!

Anyway. It was precious seeing Kou and (my enemy) Teru bond! All Kou wants is to be as powerful as his big brother, and I can’t fault him for looking up to him. It was sweet seeing Teru finally accept and encourage Kou’s path to becoming an exorcist. Though I must admit, Teru is correct. Kou's not really built to exorcise supernaturals without regard or consideration. He’s too close to two supernaturals in particular to ever be so emotionally uninvolved in the process. So, we’ll see where that goes!