stardust_heidi's reviews
485 reviews

The Favorites by Layne Fargo

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

OH. MY. GOD.

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

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emotional lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I agree with others I know when they said they think this shows a lot of writing growth from Ali, especially compared to her previous books. It kind of stepped away from her standard formula, which I definitely appreciated. I enjoyed the emphasis on mental health, trust between partners, and loyalty to friends.

I did get frustrated with the often significant

self-flagellation and what I perceived to be some kind of self-manipulation behavior — like how often Scarlett put Pen’s feelings and past relationship with Lukas before her own feelings/behavior, almost granting Pen some sort of continued ownership to Lukas even though they were clearly broken up. It could also be the age of the characters too. I also felt like that random periods of no communication between Lukas and Scarlett weren’t explained quite to my satisfaction, but whatever.

I still haven’t read Ali’s last book (Not in Love) because I was just kind of tired of the same thing on repeat. But this definitely changed the game a bit. For me, it didn’t have the addictive quality her books have had in the past, but I’ve been struggling to find that lately, so maybe that’s more of a me thing than a book thing.

Content Warnings

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

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adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I don’t know that I loved this quite as much as the first two. Like another review said, it felt like a certain magic was lacking that the first two contained in abundance.

I also know this is Emily’s story and I respect her independent journey in this installment, but I really felt like the moments with Wendell were kind of lacking. It’s hard to explain, but I felt like I needed more, somehow.

Shadow. 🥺

Don't worry, he doesn’t die.

I now need miscellaneous stories of their adventures around their kingdom.

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced