sup3r_xn0va_maya's reviews
364 reviews

💬: N/A

📖Genres: fantasy, romance, romantasy, dragons, adult

📚Page Count: N/A

🎧Audiobook Length: 09h 22min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 4.5/5 
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Fourth Wing Dramatized Part 2 is the second half of the dramatized version of the novel "Fourth Wing" written by Rebecca Yarros, and part 2 continues where part 1 left off. The dramatized version really helps to add a little something to the characters, even though they're mostly still one dimensional (they happen to be more compelling with each character having their own voice actor, which made certain scenes more emotional.) 

There are still some issues that persist throughout the series and that's because the novel had these same issues and the dramatized version is just sticking to a script, so to speak. Violet and Zayden's relationship is still mostly built upon lust. Violet is a Mary Sue who went from having people try to kill her because she was the "weakest link" to now being called "the strongest rider in her generation". All the characters are one dimensional. Claiming that the romance is enemies to lovers is confusing because I don't really see a "good attempt" at that trope in this book. Towards the end of the novel and the dramatized version Zayden even says

that he was into her from the moment he set eyes on her. I maintain the pervious claim I made in my review for part 1, and that is that Zayden never planned on killing or even harming Violent. Even from the beginning.

There are issues that the dramatized version fixed, and I was surprised to notice that. Violent actually trains with

her dragons in the dramatized version, as opposed to the novel where we didn't see any dragon training or bonding at all.

We also get scenes of Violet training with various squad mates and

even Zayden

so she can get physically stronger. ALMOST none of the strange phrases the author threw in the novel (they still snuck in "holy fvcking hot" once.)

Part 2 of the dramatized version of Fourth Wing has at least 3 spicy scenes in it, they were entertaining though my main complaint about the first novel still stands (I'm a 33 year old woman and I don't care too much for reading about spicy scenes with people 10 years my junior.) I'm giving it 2 chilies 2🌶️ out of five chilies. 

Overall, both parts of the dramatized version come together to tell a story that's not as flat as the novel, though the characters are all still one dimensional and the main "romantic" relationship in the series is based off of pure lust. Both additions of the dramatized version do the original story more than just justice, they come together to tell an actually exciting story. I'm giving this 4.5 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4.5/5  Stars

I listened to this for free on [Hoopladigital.com]

💬: N/A

📖Genres: fantasy, romance, romantasy, dragons, adult

📚Page Count: N/A

🎧Audiobook Length: 07h 52min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 4.5/5 
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Fourth Wing Dramatized Part 1 is the first half of the dramatized version of the novel "Fourth Wing" written by Rebecca Yarros. The dramatized adaption was created by the company "Graphic Audio". This adaptation is really good and worth listening to even if you've read the original novel before. Violet Sorrengail wanted to grow up to be a scribe like her father, but since her father passed away and he isn't there anymore, Violet is forced (by her mother, The General) to join the dragon rider's quadrant instead. She is small and a bit frail, but she is also quick and cunning. Violet will do everything to survive, and she will pray that she can bond with a dragon in the end. 

This was so much more entertaining than the original novel. Listening to the dramatized version of Fourth Wing really felt like a gamble to me at first because, I didn't like the original novel. I rated it very low on the star scale that I use. Well, the gamble paid off because this adaptation was so interesting and exciting. 

This adaptation would ALMOST get the max stars from me, but it won't for various reason (and these reasons have mostly to do with the author's writing, so Graphic Audio literally did the best they could with what they had.) The main character is a Mary Sue and that means she's just really boring and it makes the story that much more predictable. The author doesn't really understand how to flesh out the enemies to lovers trope, the love interest does everything in his power to HELP the main character and not once does he try to hard her. The characters are all no longer one dimensional, but most of the characters still are. In order to expose the reader to exposition, the author writes in that the main character spouts off facts about the world's history and political information when she gets nervous or anxious, and that is a lazy way to get across the political and historical background of the world that was created. In the novel, we don't see Violet train with her dragons not once, that's remedied in this dramatized adaption and I was so happy that it was added in. In the original novel, there was a lot of strange verbiage, but that wasn't an issue in the dramatized version and I'm so thankful. 

Part 1 of the dramatized version of Fourth Wing doesn't have any spicy scenes in it. I'm giving it zero chilies 0🌶️ out of five chilies. (I'm keeping my chili rating in here because I think part 2 is going to have a spicy scene. I'll rate that on part 2's review.)

Overall, the dramatized version of Fourth Wing was really good. Fourth Wing the novel is; a story that is too long, one that had a Mary Sue main character, and one dimensional characters, with dragons and dragon riders as characters, but there was no dragon training in sight. The novel had a slew of problems and the dramatized version fixes a lot of the novel's issues, it was honestly so exciting to listen to. I'm giving this 4.5 out of 5 stars instead.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4.5/5  Stars

I listened to this for free on [Hoopladigital.com]

💬: "Zaira wove her fingers into his. “It’ll happen. This is your destiny, Aden.” Her kiss was fire and love and primal possessiveness. “Your parents dreamed too small when they wanted you to become the leader of the squad."

Singh, Nalini. Shards of Hope (Psy-Changeling Book 14) (p. 481). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: paranormal romance, romance, urban fantasy, adult

📚Page Count: 484

🎧Audiobook Length: 15h 41min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 

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Shards of Hope is the 14th book in the Psy/Changeling series by Nalini Singh. Two Psy Arrow soldiers, Aden and Zaira are the main characters of this book. I love the way this starts out, it was so exciting and chilling, and because this started off so powerfully and with action I was definitely invested for the duration of the book (I also went into this without knowing the synopsis because I didn't read the book's synopsis! So, if you want to go in without knowing the synopsis too, skip the rest of this paragraph.) Both Zaira and Aden

wake up in a dark cell, with no memory of how they got there. Neither of them are able to use their psychic abilities and they both know that if they don't fight to get out, it'll cost them their lives.

The story goes on from there.    

This book really reminded me why I kept reading The Psy/Changeling series after I read the first book in the series, Slave to Sensation. When I first read Slave to Sensation, the story gave me literal chills. This is the third book in the series to give me the chills! When I get the chills while reading, it either  means that I'm scared or that I'm really excited and happy with what I'm reading. I don't want to spoil anything other than the synopsis so I'll just talk about the spicy scenes and I'll mention that so many elements from previous Psy/Changeling novels have finally come together to paint a picture that I know Singh has been planning since that first book, Slave to Sensation.  

I enjoyed the spicy scenes. I think Aden and Zaira are so cute together. I'm happy the first scene basically cut to black because

I'm not a fan of scenes where the heroine is a virgin and then she has to go through all that pain and the bleeding. Ugh.

I did like the spicy scenes that game afterward though. I'm giving it three point five chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5 out of five chilies

The 14th book in the Psy/Changeling series was exciting and it kept my attention for the duration of  it's 15 hour + audiobook. It was exciting, surprising, emotional, and just damn good. I'm giving this book 4 stars out of 5. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  5/5 Stars

I listened to this for free on the library app [Hoopla Digital]

💬: "There is only one way to fight, and that’s dirty. Clean, gentlemanly fighting will get you nowhere but dead, and fast. Take every cheap shot, every low blow, absolutely kick someone when they’re down, and then maybe you’ll be the one who walks away.”

Frost, Jeaniene. The Other Half of the Grave: A Night Huntress Novel (pp. 47-48). NYLA. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: fantasy, romance, urban fantasy, paranormal, vampires

📚Page Count: 398

🎧Audiobook Length: 13h 14min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 4.5/5 
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The Other Half of the Grave written by Jeaniene Frost, is an alternate perspective book based on the first book in her Night Huntress series, Halfway to the Grave. The Other Half of the Grave was entertaining and just as exciting if not more exciting than it's original predecessor. In this book, Cat and Bones meet for the first time but everything is from Bones' perspective, and even though he makes some interesting decisions, I still like him as a character.  I appreciate Cat and Bones' relationship that much more. 

There are still outdated scenes in this book, but that's because the original was outdated and had poorly aged scenes. I think the outdated scenes were handled much better than they were in the original story. For example, there were less triggering details about these particular scenes this time around. That might be because it's from Bones' perspective, it might be because the author realized her mistake from the past and maybe she understood that rewriting these scenes was a way to make up for the outdated scenes from the past. I'm unsure, either way they're done better around this time. 

The spicy scenes were enjoyable and the audiobook narrator made them even more interesting than they normally would be. I'm giving the spicy scenes three point five chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️.75 out of five chilies

This was an entertaining story and I enjoyed it a bit more than reading the original from Cat's point of view. There was still an okay amount of triggering content in this story but most of that stuff was glossed over in this version. I'm giving this 4.50 out of 5 stars. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4.5/5  Stars

I used an audiobook credit to buy this audiobook. I was not able to locate the audiobook on hoopla, libbyapp, or everand. (as of 3/4/2024)

💬: "He didn’t budge. “Plenty of room, Kitten. I’ll stay here.” “Don’t call me Kitten.” My voice was sharper than romance dictated, but I was seriously aggravated. The sooner he was truly dead, the better."

Frost, Jeaniene. Happily Never After (Night Huntress) (p. 83). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: fantasy, romance, urban fantasy, paranormal, vampires

📚Page Count: 97

🎧Audiobook Length: 02h 47min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5 
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Happily Never After is book 1.5 in the Night Huntress series, it's about a human named Isabella and one of Bones' friends, a vampire named Chase. Isabella somehow was promised to be engaged to a wanna be mob boss, one that she is repulsed by and one that wants to kill her brother. Well, Chance is going to try to make sure this wedding doesn't happen, even if he has to "die" several times to ensure it.

This was okay, it was somewhat interesting so it kept my attention for the short duration of the audiobook (which was about 3 hours long.) I was disappointed to find out that this novella wasn't about Bones but just one of his former acquaintances. 

There was one spicy scene and it was okay, I think it could have been more exciting so I'm going to give this scene 2.75🌶️ chilies out of 5 chilies🌶️.

Overall, this novella wasn't as good as the first novella in the series, "Reckoning" the story about Bones. I even Happily Never After has spicy in it and Reckoning doesn't, I still think Reckoning was a more exciting story. I'm going to give this 3 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5  Stars

I listened to this for free on [Libbyapp.com]

💬:N/A

📖Genres: shoujo, romance, humor, manga, graphic novels, comics

📚Page Count: 192

🎧Audiobook Length: N/A

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 3.5/5 

My Love Story!!, Volume 10 by Kazune Kawahara has some of the same charm that the pervious volumes had but I find the plots having to do with adults having crushes on teens makes the story fall flat and I end up feeling uncomfortable. The rest of the manga was cute and I enjoyed it.

The first part of this manga starts up where the last volume left off. The story continues with Takeo's girlfriend, Yamato, working at her summer job at a bakery. The main baker at her job has a crush on Yamato (and he also happens to be a grown man) and he begins to call Yamato by her first name, he's also been referring to her as his "muse". The baker has asked Yamato to help him in a baking competition. The second part of this manga is about a cop themed café that Yamato and her friends are hosting at their all girl's school. Takeo and his friend join to help Yamato and her friends at this cop café. The last part of the manga has to do with Takeo and Yamato potentially taking their relationship to the next step. 

Overall, this addition to My Love Story was just okay. I think previous volumes have a bit more charm than the ones including adults having crushes on and trying to date teens. I'm giving this 3.5 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I read this manga for free on [Libbyapp.com]

💬: "It was past nine when Bones came back. His coat was lined with several knives, both steel and silver. No telling whether Delphine and Louis might have vampiric help with them, so best to have all bases covered."

Frost, Jeaniene. Reckoning: From Unbound (Night Huntress) (p. 34). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: fantasy, romance, urban fantasy, paranormal, vampires

📚Page Count: 59

🎧Audiobook Length: 01h 50min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 3.5/5 
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Reckoning is book 0.5 in the Night Huntress series, it's about Bones before he meets Cat. I wasn't sure what to expect with this novella, but the audiobook kept me interested throughout. Bones is in New Orleans and he ends up doing some work for real world historical figure Marie Laveau the herbalist, midwife, and Voodoo practitioner. There are tourist that are getting eaten by a couple of ghouls and Laveau wants the issue and the ghouls taken care of. 

There's a lot of gore scenes and decapitation going on in this novella. It was action packed. I don't think it's necessary to read this novella before continuing with the series, it's just an interesting sided story about why Bones is no longer allowed in New Orleans. 

There were no spicy scenes in this novella, I will not be giving a spice rating. N/A 🌶️.

Overall, this novella was action packed and it revealed a bit of information about Bones' past. It was exciting and a little gross. I'm giving this novella 3.5 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 3.5/5  Stars

I listened to this for free on [Hoopladigital.com]

💬: N/A

📖Genres: fantasy, romance, urban fantasy, paranormal, vampires

📚Page Count: N/A

🎧Audiobook Length: 09h 30min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 - 4.25/5 
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Halfway to the Grave (Dramatized Edition) is a graphic audio published by the company Graphic Audio and written by Jeaniene Frost, based on the first book in her Night Huntress series, Halfway to the Grave. This was my first time listening to a production by the company Graphic Audio and I was not disappointed. Catherine Crawfield is a half-vampire and she's made it her mission to kill other vampires because one vampire in the past, destroyed her mother's life. Bones, a full fledged vampire agrees to help train Catherine and help her find her father as long as she agrees to help him take out some of his vampire enemies. 

The story itself was outdated at certain parts, but it was very exciting otherwise. There was a very outdated and poorly aged part where

these two guys at the club try to drug Catherine to date rape her. Because she's a half-vampire, the drugs don't fully work on her so they end up triple dosing a human woman after it didn't work on Catherine. The human woman died, Bones found the perpetrators while they were assaulting the victims dead body. Further spoilers, Bones kills the perps for their crime.

This entire scene made me uncomfortable. I see a trend with older (circa - mid 90's - late 2000's) paranormal or urban fantasy stories where the author includes copious amounts of sexual assaults'.  Other than the issues with date rape and sexual assault, the graphic audio was enjoyable because the story's twist and turns were so interesting. This audio is action packed and it really has me excited to read the second installation. 

The spicy scenes were good, I enjoyed them and I really liked the voice actor for Bones. He has a very attractive voice. I'm giving the spicy scenes three point five chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5 out of five chilies

Overall, disregarding the sexual assault issues I found this graphic audio to be really riveting. If the outdated parts in the story weren't there, I would definitely have to give this the max stars, but because of the triggering content, I'm giving this 4.25 out of 5 stars instead.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4.25/5  Stars

I listened to this for free on [Hoopladigital.com]

💬: “Well, hey there, little lady,” he said in that fake Southern accent that made her laugh and drove her crazy all at the same time. “I haven’t seen you around these parts before.”

Weatherspoon, Rebekah. A Cowboy to Remember (Cowboys of California Book 1) (p. 306). Kensington Books. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: romance, contemporary romance, spicy

📚Page Count: 307

🎧Audiobook Length: 10h 33min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5 
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A Cowboy to Remember by Rebekah Weatherspoon is the first book in the Cowboys of California series, it's the first western I've ever read and it was very cute. Evie Buchanan is a chef who has a spot on a morning show and she has recently lost her memory from a accident at an industry party. After waking up with amnesia she's informed that there's only one person on her emergency contact list, a sexy African American cowboy named Zach, apparently from her past. Zach messed up the first chance he had with Evie, now that he has a fresh start, will he be able to convince her to fall in love?

Evie and Zach were cute together, and almost all of the side characters were really nice. I don't think this was my favorite romance story, but I did enjoy the read. I can not see myself reading this again though, because of the slow pacing in the middle of the book. It feels as if not much happens for a bit and I hate when I feel like the plot is stalling. I did like the epilogue.  

The spicy scene was okay, there was only one if I remember correctly. It wasn't my favorite spicy scene and I honestly wish there were more, but I understand that the author is trying to tell an actual story that's not exactly an erotica. I'm giving the spicy scenes two point seventy-five chilies 🌶️🌶️.75 out of five chilies

Overall this romance was okay, there were cute moments, a few moments that were boring, and the one spicy scene was alright. I'm giving this 3 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5  Stars

I listened to this for free on [Hoopladigital.com]

💬: “Laughing in the intimate space between them, she rose up against him, kissed him in sweet little sips, her hands on either side of his face. Every muscle in his body tense, Vasic surrendered to the kiss, to the possession that may as well have been steel chains around his body."

Singh, Nalini. Shield of Winter (Psy-Changeling Book 13) (p. 374). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: paranormal romance, romance, urban fantasy, adult

📚Page Count: 450

🎧Audiobook Length: 15h 47min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 

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Shield of Winter is the 13th book in the Psy/Changeling series by Nalini Singh. Two Psy, Ivy Jane and Vasic, one of the central members of the Arrow Squad, are the main characters. I really enjoyed their romance story. Vasic is tasked with protecting Ivy after

the fall of Silence.

There's a lot of action in this novel, but there's also a good amount of romance as well. I really love the balance between the Romance and Paranormal/Urban Fantasy genres, Singh is so good at making the stakes high and interesting while also making sure to naturally make the characters fall in love. I don't want to spoil too much by going into detail about the "threat" in this book, though I will say I was hooked and didn't want to stop reading until I had finished. 

The spicy scenes were so good in this. I especially enjoyed how

Vasic kept teleporting while they were being intimate, I know it was supposed to be dangerous but that made things more exciting. Imaging being intimate with your partner and they teleport you to private island or to a beautiful beach in the tropics?

. I'm giving it four chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies

I really enjoyed the 13th main book in the Psy/Changeling series. It had action, romance, good spicy scenes, and a handsome brooding MMC! I'm giving this book 4 stars out of 5. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 Stars

I listened to this for free on the library app [HooplaDigital.com]