toastyghosty13's reviews
184 reviews

Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i am obsessed with lilith and vale and extremely upset that we don’t get more than a novella. i need a full length book stat, just bc i love lilith so much. i need to see her doing whacky experiments and being a lab gremlin absolutely slaying life helping with whatever the mainline characters need. vale also seems like the make war general version of her and i love that they have each other to geek out over stuff. 

please carissa even just one standalone full length book (like slaying the vampire conqueror) on lilith and vale would suffice. 
The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

i could not stop reading this. the lore and chaos was so good, plus the romance was mixed in there so well. oraya has so many reveals that would probably fuck up anyone and she takes them in stride (except for the beginning but like completely reasonable to be in a depression pit considering what happened from the last book).  

lots of interesting lore. i also liked how the ending still has a lot of loose ends to be further explored but also tied up a lot of things. i did find the conflict resolution to be a bit too quick but i appreciated that overall it was in a way i was not expecting.  

i need to restrain myself from reading book 3 bc book 4 is not out until august. 
The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

the audiobook for this must suck bc this was soooooo much better for me this time around. i originally listened to the audiobook for this and found it meh, but after this i am hooked and actually need to pace myself since book 4 is not out until august. 

this has vampires in a game competition kind of like hunger games except all fantasy and the prize is a wish from a goddess. the romance is so good and well balanced with all of the twists and secrets. the ending is crazy and i’m rabid for book 2. oraya is a great FMC and is not annoying to me in the slightest (unlike some other fantasy FMCs i have read in the past)
Caraval by Stephanie Garber

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i loved the aesthetic of every part of this book, but was a bit confused by the plot and the point of it all by the time i got to the end. the premise was definitely there and the characters are so interesting but i find myself asking “why?” still at the end. i am probably going to read the rest of this series, partially bc i want to know what happens and partially bc i heard the prequel series “Once Upon a Broken Heart” is better but that you are supposed to read it after Caravals books. 
Scythe & Sparrow by Brynne Weaver

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

nah i love them sm and i am sad that it’s over and that leather and lark bombed for me so much. 

i thought rose and fionn were super cute (mainly i loved rose). sometimes i found fionn great and others i found him flat like he was just a hot doctor that didnt really have much going on upstairs. 

at first i thought the ending was a bit odd and forced but then the author really made it work and i actually ended up finding it to be super sweet and lovey dovey. i expected the epilogue ending too considering how the other books ended. 

i also appreciate how
the author left it open to do a new book or series within the same universe, following a minor character from B&B that Sloane helped save
. 
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i liked the lore and info we got in this one. might be the best book of the series so far. hate that it ended on a crazy cliffhanger but also am pretty pleased with how much i enjoyed this book considering how quickly RY turned around and wrote it after the iron flame release, plus my feelings about iron flames were somewhat negative. 

the new places we saw were cool and i am looking forward to more with the rest of the series!
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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

3.75

alls i knows is that the prose is beautiful and this book weird as hell. one of the most unique love stories i’ve ever read. it’s one of those things that doesn’t necessarily make sense but i will probably remember this book for the rest of my life only because it proves that one of the meanings and purposes of life is love. 

crazy ending but all i could think of was when gunther turns into orgalorg and is flying towards the earth in adventure time lmfao
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

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mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

i am not fully sure what the point of this book was. maybe it was to set the stage for an actual plot to happen in the next book since it is a series? essentially the whole point was study for a year and then pass a trial, plus some other things happen that i am guessing will be explored more in book 2 since that seems more important to figure out. 

not sure that i liked this as much as masters of death. 

i will read book 2 and probably book 3 just to see how it ends. 
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

3.0

really interesting and chaotic true story about the sailors who experienced near death at sea. the narrator for the audiobook has a god-tier voice. it did get confusing keeping track of all of the people and their roles, locations, plus a rotating POV. i think i will listen to this again at some point in the future but also have a hard copy in front of me bc i think there are maps i missed out on that probably would have helped a lot. 
Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

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challenging dark mysterious sad 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

3.25

i felt the beginning was stronger than the ending. i was not as much of a fan of this book as the previous book but still enjoyed it. i think the ending felt a little disjointed and conjured semi last minute and so i cared a little bit less about this than i did with the last book and solving what happened between sal and his gf.