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takarakeireads's reviews
563 reviews
Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Honestly not my fav historical romance I've read, but that ending was kwaaazzyyyyy. I've heard the series improves so I shall try more, because I did enjoy the setup of the group of women 'The Wallflowers' as friends.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Violence and Classism
Minor: Sexual harassment
The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
4.25
The beginning was a tad slow, but I did become interested in the larger world building and political setup of Scion London.
SS is so good at weaving threads that turn into a beautiful web, and I can't wait to see how that continues through this series. The ending had me shouting in joy, and then on the floor....
SS is so good at weaving threads that turn into a beautiful web, and I can't wait to see how that continues through this series. The ending had me shouting in joy, and then on the floor....
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Trafficking, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
You, with a View by Jessica Joyce
emotional
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
4.0
I read another book that was a road trip romance and THIS is what I wished that book was. I enjoyed this a lot!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Grief
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Alcohol
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Cat Sebastian just puts something in these books! I love this series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual content, Dementia, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Blood, and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual assault and Forced institutionalization
The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was fine, I unfortunately was able to predict what was going to happen in a way that didn't quite keep me fully engaged. I could've also used a bit more angst/hatred if we're really calling this enemies to lovers. Like yes, they are a Witch and a Witch Hunter, but I think we were told 'i hate him' too much vs showing us that on page. Overall it was a fairly straightforward ya romantasy
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Gore
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I went into this knowing nothing and honestly recommend knowing as little as possible! You shouldn't read this if you don't like ambiguity tho!
The ending of this book is truly mind blowing and honestly beautiful.
The audiobook had a fantastic afterword that I want to quote “If the narrator has lived a life as best as she could, wildly unconventional, but one that has given her joy in many ways, hadn’t she triumphed over cruelty after all? Over having everything stripped from her? Her dignity and essential humanity winning in the end?”
The ending of this book is truly mind blowing and honestly beautiful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Suicide
Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Sexual content, Blood, and Excrement
Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
that was rough. not the ending I was hoping for.
The first 30% was so promising 😭things were moving along but then we just got bogged down in so much magic and endless ‘battles’ . It felt very repetitive as was the writing - the same phrases repeated over and over.
I think the fundamental problem with this series is the ‘magic’ system. Basically if you create this ability to alter reality to an extent where anything can change and there are no rules, then there’s no way for the reader to have a grasp on what’s coming. In the second book as well as this one I just felt like we were being pulled along and told oh we have x problem then we’ll just do ✨magic✨ and solve it. There’s no logic behind what’s going on and that makes it frustrating and disengaging to read. There’s no puzzling out what is going to happen in the plot because they’ll just always create a new way to do something.
Changing the main pov from Sancia to Berenice was an odd choice for a final book in the series? Like why? It’s not that I don’t like Berenice as a character but we followed Sancia through so much!
As someone who is a big Gregor stan even though I didn’t expect to get a ton of him in this book, I was hoping for more depth to his arc and not a blah resolution. He’s literally a main character in books one and two, and he was written out of the story completely.
While I can appreciate the overall message of this series being: it’s not the technology we have it’s what we do with it, the society we create. Getting to that ending wasn’t the payout I was hoping for.
ending: So people stop using language and writing to communicate cause everyone can just hear everyone’s thoughts? So in this reality there’s no books? Fiction? What an odd thing to posit… in a fiction book.
Did everyone just go to another planet? I actually don’t understand. Where the f are they going?
Actually absurd that Berenice is just left behind by the society she fucking saved
The first 30% was so promising 😭things were moving along but then we just got bogged down in so much magic and endless ‘battles’ . It felt very repetitive as was the writing - the same phrases repeated over and over.
I think the fundamental problem with this series is the ‘magic’ system. Basically if you create this ability to alter reality to an extent where anything can change and there are no rules, then there’s no way for the reader to have a grasp on what’s coming. In the second book as well as this one I just felt like we were being pulled along and told oh we have x problem then we’ll just do ✨magic✨ and solve it. There’s no logic behind what’s going on and that makes it frustrating and disengaging to read. There’s no puzzling out what is going to happen in the plot because they’ll just always create a new way to do something.
Changing the main pov from Sancia to Berenice was an odd choice for a final book in the series? Like why? It’s not that I don’t like Berenice as a character but we followed Sancia through so much!
As someone who is a big Gregor stan even though I didn’t expect to get a ton of him in this book, I was hoping for more depth to his arc and not a blah resolution. He’s literally a main character in books one and two, and he was written out of the story completely.
While I can appreciate the overall message of this series being: it’s not the technology we have it’s what we do with it, the society we create. Getting to that ending wasn’t the payout I was hoping for.
ending:
Did everyone just go to another planet? I actually don’t understand. Where the f are they going?
Actually absurd that Berenice is just left behind by the society she fucking saved
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Slavery, Violence, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
The Winter King by C. L. Wilson
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I honestly don’t know what to rate this. Was it good? Not really? I had A Time for sure. The first like 1/3 of the book is extremely slow. Her father is the scum of the earth. There’s a marriage of convenience of course. Weather magic which was kinda slay. Mediocre smut :/ But then a little political intrigue and things get WILD in the last 20%. Honestly around then when I was getting worldbuilding lore dumps (which should’ve happened much sooner) I realized it’s a series 🫠 Overall definitely could’ve been at least 1-200 pages shorter. But am I gonna make everyone who told me about this book stick to our buddy read? You betcha
Oh also they’re German the audio narrator does a German accent for Wynter yes spelled with a y 😭
Oh also they’re German the audio narrator does a German accent for Wynter yes spelled with a y 😭
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Death of parent and Sexual harassment
Do You Take This Man by Denise Williams
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
3.0
Idk this was just whatever
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Racism
I Am Made of Death by Kelly Andrew
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
STOP - If you haven't read The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew (her first novel) you really should before reading this because there is a big overlap between these books!!!
Now said overlap/tie-in to TWD is phenomenally done and I was squealing and gasping at the reveals. Of Kelly's books, this was the best written in terms of plot pacing and story development. I couldn't read fast enough!
Literally my only qualm is I don’t think there was enough relationship development and that it's very sudden. Which sucks cause it’s not a long book & I would’ve gladly read more chapters to expand upon this!
Now said overlap/tie-in to TWD is phenomenally done and I was squealing and gasping at the reveals. Of Kelly's books, this was the best written in terms of plot pacing and story development. I couldn't read fast enough!
Literally my only qualm is I don’t think there was enough relationship development and that it's very sudden. Which sucks cause it’s not a long book & I would’ve gladly read more chapters to expand upon this!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical content, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, and Confinement