toastyghosty13's reviews
156 reviews

Daydream by Hannah Grace

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

3.0

I still enjoyed this but it was definitely my least favorite of the series so far. I felt that the 2 main characters jumped into relationshippy things way too quickly for them to still be interacting at a platonic level. They were constantly hanging out and were going on dates for “the sake of a writing challenge and lack of experience” but it felt like such a lousy excuse. They were constantly joined at the hip and being incredibly intimate without actually being romantically involved in any way and it kinda gave me the ick now that I have ruminated on it more. I was hoping for a lot more since I loved Henry popping up in the other books. 
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense 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

3.75

I don’t think I like this one as much as Love Hypothesis but it was still really enjoyable!! This one was a bit darker in the way that the main character masks herself to meet the social needs of each person she interacts with, and that was explored a lot. She is a chronic people pleaser, and all this man wants to do is help her be her true self!!

Ali Hazelwood has done it again. Her books really are such a joy to read and the men she writes are EVERYTHING. I am officially a fan and will keep reading her works. 
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 43%.
i need to read the physical copy there is so much going on in this book it’s hard to follow with all the names and locations. because i was listening to this as an audio book, i was usually driving while listening to it, which was also not conducive to focusing on the names and locations either. i do plan on revisiting this after reading and annotating a physical copy. 
The Grift of the Magi by Ally Carter

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Fun last novella of the Heist Society series that takes place around Christmas time. This is a retelling of the story of Christmas where people want to get gifts for each other for Christmas and give things up in order to do so. It was a cute story that was quite fun and, as always, Hale is the best character.  
Damsel by Evelyn Skye

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

This book started off strong but I felt like it started to feel slow after about 30-40%. The entire book is the main character trying to escape a volcano while a dragon that lives in said volcano is hunting her. This is after the main character is
offered up as a sacrifice to the dragon by the kingdom that lives on the same island as the volcano in order to maintain the prosperity and riches they have amassed.


I did not like the ending and thought it was kind of strange.
The main character can now turn into a dragon and fly out of the volcano due to the goodness of her heart and mixing her blood with the dragons blood. There was no real explanation for this besides following some prophecy mentioned twice and you just have to accept it as it is. She then rains down retribution on those who have slighted her and the dragon, and all is well in the world.


I liked the overall premise of this book but the execution is questionable. I am not sure if that is because of the skill of the author or if it is because this is a book that is based on a Netflix movie, which could have had bad writers to begin with. Not sure that I really recommend this unless you really liked the Netflix movie and want to see the inner details and POV's of characters, which is just a guess on my end since I have not actually seen the movie. 
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The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

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emotional funny lighthearted sad fast-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

This was a lot better than I expected it to be since I am usually not a fan of anything contemporary or anything where the main genre is romance (unless it is scifi/fantasy). I really liked Olive as a main character and Adam was funny with how quiet and awkward he is. The only thing I knew about Ali Hazelwood before reading this was that a lot of her work is alternate universe fan fiction of Rey and Kylo Ren. I probably would not have noticed that on my own but it makes a lot of sense. 

I really enjoyed this book and binged it pretty fast. I was left wanting more and immediately moved to another book of hers after and binged that too. I will definitely be reading more of her works in the future! I like that it is something I can relate to, being in a STEM field myself, which gave it the element that I need to maintain interest in more contemporary things (something that gives the characters a factor that is more than just normal ass people doing stuff, like how Icebreakers is all hockey players or Heist Society is professional art thieves). 

I am planning on reading more of these books whenever I have that romance itch :)
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This Fatal Kiss by Alicia Jasinska

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dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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

4.0

This book was received as an ARC from NetGalley. It was an immense joy to read, I loved the main characters and hope dearly that there is a sequel in the works. I immediately ordered a special edition of this book and think it will become well loved among readers and probably end up on some banned book lists lol.

I found the main characters to be so loveable and I feel like it perfectly sums up what it is like to have your first love as a teenager. The world is so beautiful in this book and I learned that there is another book already written by the author that takes place in a city that is mentioned in this book as the hometown of one of the main characters. There is a quote somewhere that I saw that described this book as a mix of eastern European folklore and studio ghibli, which I think nailed it on the head. It absolutely felt like Spirited Away's bathhouse if it was a small town in Poland and I highly recommend this book if that is something that sounds interesting to you!!

This might be one of my favorite books of the year :)
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The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was an interesting premise that reminded me a bit of Ally Carter's books like Heist Society and Gallagher Girls. I liked the main characters and I found their variety of skills to be unique and an interesting mix in how they interact with each other. I read this for a book club and will probably finish out the series at a later time!

I was not a huge fan of the love triangle because I think both of the guys involved with it are pretty meh; one of them is way too egotistical for his own good and the other exhibits an unhealthy amount of brooding. I hope we learn more about the characters and their backgrounds with future books!!
Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

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

3.5

The last full length book of this series, it is sad to see it be finished!! This was a heist that involved Hale's family and it was started by the tragic death of his grandmother. It was interesting seeing more about Hale and his mysterious and insanely rich extended family. I wish we would have learned what the W stands for in Hale's name. This had some twists and turns, but I appreciated that it involved all of the thieves and conmen of Kat's family as a last hurrah. Sad to see this series be finished! I think it is my favorite of Ally Carters books.
Wild Game by Colette Rhodes

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

This was an introduction into Wild as a character, which was helpful because not much is known about him and he cannot talk. I did feel like it focused too much on being on the run, but did appreciate the insights into some of the lore with the gods that are involved and their motives. I will definitely be finishing out this series at some point! It is a cool melding of Greek gods in modern times and there is a good balance of romance and lore dumps.