simonlorden's reviews
1248 reviews

So there's two big themes in this series: dragon bonding, and war. I love the former, but I am bored to death of the latter, which is sometimes a problem. I struggled with most of this book, especially since it didn't have many of my favorite side characters, but the absolute FEELINGS of the last couple of chapters made up for all of it and more.

I've only had Iskierka for five seconds but if anything happened to her, etc.

Tharkay knows how to make an entrance.

I love how dragons are so so intelligent, but think so differently from humans, and point out logical fallacies or things that we just accept as given.

The twists at the end were interesting, but I didn't enjoy reading the book. A lot of the parts seemed useless until the end, and most of all just, the way pretty much everyone in this book has mental problems didn't sit well with me. 

I received an ARC through NetGalley and this is my voluntary and honest review.

A heartfelt and colorful queer romance between two foreigners living in France, trying to communicate across three languages. I loved how the feeling of learning a foreign language was described, as someone who also speaks two languages and tried to learn more. I also really liked how the translations were presented. And Ping is soo real for wanting a better life for Bébé.

A heartfelt classic about both the devotion and the needless cruelty humans have towards animals.

I somehow read two queer Christmas romcoms taking place in a small Welsh village after each other, which is wild to do by accident.

A+ good story though. My favorite part was how the community organized after the snowstorm to make sure everyone in the little village was safe and had something to eat for Christmas.

Also, Nash is trans, but it's kind of a non-issue and there's only a few sentences about it, which was strange to me at first, but I guess if he came out 20 years ago then it's not a big deal anymore.

It was okay. I wasn't really vibing with the writing style, but I loved the original idea. (Gay guy doesn't keep in touch with his homophobic sister, but he doesn't want the kids to suffer, so he gets them anonymous gifts each year.) Also, there's a toy store and a vet clinic/shelter with lots of cute dogs.

tldr; Overall a good book, with a couple of things that bugged me.

M/M smalltown Christmas romcom, between a queer bookseller and a famous author who both have their own trauma and problems to deal with. It also goes into issues such as capitalism, large firms destroying small businesses, slut shaming and victim blaming in media, all without making it feel too much or too in your face. Also complicated parent-child relationships.

It also takes place in a little Welsh town, near the English border, and it has some discussion of the English oppression of Wales, and an appearance by Mari Lwyd. (If you don't know what Mari Lwyd is I very much recommend you look it up.)

Four stars only because I really don't like cheating plotlines, and while this wasn't /quite/ that, it came close. I would say there was definitely emotional cheating involved (not between the two main parties).