xxivo's reviews
323 reviews

This book was intense in the best kind of way.

I requested this eARC quite a while ago, so when I started it I went in quite blind. And damn did it blow me away. Very much positively, but it also made me struggle. When I requested this my mental health was in quite a good place and all the triggers were fine, but now 2 months later that changed. I had to take mental health breaks reading it making it 15 days to finish the book which is extremely long for me. But I finished it and it was so worth it.

This book starts with the perspective of Maël. Sweet, innocent and hard working Maël. Gosh that guy I'd give him a hug. His interactions with Sebestyen had so much emotion, postive, negative, abusive, caring it was a mix that made me feel so many strong emotions. It's a push and pull that goes in many directions between these two broken men.
I loved how this was shown in the book until the hight when part two starts.

Part two had a POV switch that made the book feel incredibly different. It was a huge switch from the first part and I needed a moment to get familiar with it. But gosh hearing more sides of this relationship was exactly what was needed to shake things up and keep it interesting, while continuing with the bigger overarching plot and romance.

I also really liked the way vampirism was done in this book, with proper horror elements that were gruesome and bad with that forever kind of sexy allure. It pulled me in real fast at the start and got me hooked after a few chapters.

Concluding this is a good book for anyone loving dark romance with vampires.


I received this eARC and this was my honest review.

Autism representation in a way I haven't seen before.

So I have read plenty of books with Autism representation and enjoyed most of them. One issue that I have with some though is that my Autism is usually a bit more disabling than most characters in books. In my experience most books have Autistic characters showing level 1 Autism. In the Netherlands we don't use levels so personally I'm not diagnosed with a level, but with me living in a 24/7 care institute for managing my Autism I would say I'm somewhere around level 2. I haven't found any kind of person like me on that regard in books before. Most Autistic protagonists live on their own if they're adults and manage their daily life without needing to speak social workers daily. They don't have meltdowns that need professional intervention else they don't go away. And that's okay, those Autistic people definitely exist and deserve their representation too. But representation with someone like me I haven't seen before I read this book.

This book, is one big exception and made me feel incredibility seen. The main character of this book has self destructive stims. Stims they can't hold back even if they try. And I don't do those myself anymore, I very much used to in my childhood. Seeing that on page, humanized in a way that makes it just a part of Autism and not something infantalizing, made me feel at home in this book from the start. 
One thing in the Autism representation that also really stood out to me is that you can read the character getting stuck on mental things. I struggle with this the most myself in my daily life, that I just don't understand things, even with multiple explanations by brain can't grasp it. But also getting stuck on thoughts and spiraling from there was something that very much happened in the book. These scenes were both beautiful and painful to read. It was like a big mirror in front of me that made me understand myself better from an outward perspective which was nice, but also a big confrontation with my own limits. It was good, but definitely hard as well.

Outside of the Autism representation the book is very much about moving on from a relationship that ended. I read a lot of romance books where the whole plot is basically the opposite, so for a change seeing the aftermath when things don't work out was beautiful in it's own way. Breaking up with your partner is messy and can leave you unmoored for a long while and this book showed all sides of that struggle. The main character was living his own life but kept relating everything back to their partner and just wasn't able to mentally move on. Seeing him slowly work through his feelings made me look back on my own breakups and how I might not have handled those all the best. And to be honest in the book it also isn't handled the best, this stuff is messy. But following this journey was an amazing read.

Concluding this book was a refreshing read with Autism representation in a way I really needed.


I received an eARC from Netgalley and this was my honest review.

To see a romance develop from just a fling to deeply in love is something magical.

In the previous book the view we had of Emrys really wasn't all that great. And to be honest, he's still often a dick in this book. But everything is different when it relates to Torquil. Emrys has a real big soft spot for them and will do anything to make them happy. Seeing that soft side come out was absolutely wonderful.

Emrys already quite enjoyed Torquil from the start as they were lovers for a long while before this book even starts. This is such an interesting start to the book. They know each other intimately and enjoy spending time together but there is still this separation between them because of their station. When that changes though, both of them are thoroughly confused with what it means for the two of them. Them slowly figuring out those feelings throughout most of the book was so beautiful to see. They want to be together but in some ways the world really is out there preventing that. These contradictions makes for a lot of hurt for them and me too during the book. But then when there are moments when they're together the sparks fly and it's so damn wonderful.

Torquil is such a lovely person. I really enjoyed having a nonbinary character in this book and seeing their lives. It's interesting that in the book them being nonbinary causes no friction in their world, while them being both human an fae is where all the bigotry of the people come out. It made for a book that felt wonderful as a refuge for queer feelings, but at the same time was still a shitty world full of prejudices and negativity. Torquil handles this all in stride, but at the same time is still deeply hurt. Honestly I was hurt by it too, because damn some people are vile in this book. Torquil does work really hard to try to change this attitude of people though and it made me so proud of him from start to finish of this book. 
I also really enjoyed seeing more of his press work in this book. The Tribune is essential to book one (and this one too to be honest), so it kind of felt like a behind the scenes episode seeing all of that. It was just fun to see Torquil combine snippits of gossip together for the paper, and talking to all the servants getting his information together. It gave the book some down to earth fun that I really enjoyed.

I also need to mention that I read the last 55% of the book in one go and sobbed so hard at the ending. It was late, more like morning, I was still reading and needed to know how it finished. And just sobbed happy tears full of emotions.

Concluding this is a wonderful sequel with winter fun and romance of companions growing closer and I would literally recommend it to everyone.


I received an eARC and this was my honest review.

Some Christmas love to start the season.

This book takes a different twist to the trope of one of the couple not liking Christmas. Instead of the character just not liking Christmas for more asocial reasons this time there is a deep layer of trauma causing the distress. Niall as a main character doesn't start off as an easily lovable character because of it, but it left us with a lot of potential for growth at the start of the book. He is grumpy and rude but as he is the main character we quickly get insight to what is the cause of all of it. I enjoyed it that we had this deeper perspective than it being the love interest with all the turmoil. To see him grow and become healthier in his mental health was a lovely journey to follow and made me smile a whole lot towards the end of the book.

As a contrast Sam is such an happy lovely guy that is totally into Christmas as an polar opposite. Niall and Sam clash a lot, have clashed for even longer before the book starts. There is so much history between these two guys that makes you feel the pain from the start. Sam is clearly hurting from this situation but refuses to let go of Niall. This determination of his is such a joy to see and makes you root for him all through the book. Sam was a joy to have and I couldn't get enough of him.

When the book gets to the part that they're at the cabin the real magic starts. It was so much fun to see these two have some quality time. Niall slowly opening up was magical to see and made me feel so proud of him. When the time in the cabin came to an end I was sad to see them move out of their safe bubble, but the real growth started there for Niall. He now had to carry through his change with the people he usually clashes against. Him working through all that lead to an adorable ending of the book.

Concluding I really enjoyed this Christmas book that gave me fluff with big character growth.


I received an eARC and this was my honest review.

This opened my eyes.

Of course I know disabled people existed. I obviously know queer people existed. And yeah then logically queer disabled people existed too. But this book giving me many examples of wonderful people made it so much more real. It gives examples of people further back into history, and others who lived not that long ago. It gave me a big idea of us being there in all ages of time, and that was really nice.

I felt connected with history through this book in a way I only once had before with Queer as Folklore which I reviewed a few weeks ago. Both books take a look at historical queer things and it really gave me space to exist. Queer Disability Through History gave me even more a connected feeling though because disability is such an essential part of me and that intersection gives life a very different outlook. I loved that the book talked about this intersection too, how queerness can sometimes act as a disability, or how queerness and disability together give someone a significantly higher chance of discrimination. The look at both of these marginalizations together and how they interact through history gave me a lot more insight how this can be for others.

The book stayed down to earth but professional throughout. It felt respectful to the deceased and handed it with care. It was interesting to learn about so many individuals, some of whom I'd heard from before and others who I didn't. It highlighted a few big moments in both queer and disabled history and showed someone disabled and queer who had a big hand in that. These highlights were really awesome and gave me a lot of insight. 

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting queer and disability history in a fun way.

I received an eARC and this was my honest review.

This book increased it's intensity from start to finish and had me hooked!

This book has a lot of long sentences that I struggled with a lot at the beginning. I started this book on deep fatigue days and I couldn't make out what was being said. However as the book went on I started to understand the flow better and better and became to actually love the long sentences. They held a lot of feeling and deep thoughts, and at the same time gave so much color and detail to the same time. It gave the book a lot of character and I really enjoyed that.

The story starts of a bit slower too. It gives us a look into the day to day life of Ash. And while she isn't an ordinary person in the city Drenthe the book starts of on an fairly ordinary day for her. This gave me the time to get used to this very unique world with an awesome magic/abilities system. When I grasped that enough the book ramped up the intensity immediately with introducing Lina.

Oh how I loved Lina. She is such a bubbly person and I enjoyed her so much. The way Ash and Lina meet is so high of tension, but that then turns into something of a friendship fast and gave me a whole load of feelings. Lina is curious and excited about little things and it made me excited to see where the story would lead to. 

Oh boy and leading to things it did. Things really went moving fast after that and things were really intense. I couldn't stop thinking about the book. While at the same time I had to take breaks reading because it was all so intense it was a bit overwhelming. Which... was so amazing. I loved it.

I can't wait until the next book and see what secret Ash is going to uncover next.


I received an eARC and this was my honest review.

Oh my god Quincey is the most adorable robot ever.

Kinky robots was not a thing I knew I was into. But oh boy did I guess that wrong. Pincers, hozes, metal legs... give it all to me now. It is so much fun how this book handled the robots their sex appeal and made them into these amazing desirable people, but at the same time kept them down to earth and so to speak "human." Quincey is such a natural dom and grew into the role fast, because of course he would with the whole internet one thought away. But still seeing him grow in his sexy ways was amazing to see and I enjoyed it a lot. 
The sex scenes itself were also a lot of fun. It had kink but nothing to intense, keeping the focus on the fact there was robot sex. The smutty moments felt creative and unique. I definitely wanted more when the book was over and thank god I could immediately move onto the next.

Evan was a very endearing love interest and main character. He means so so well and is so incredibly kind. I enjoyed spending time with him and just seeing more of the guy. He cares so much about Quincey from the start, wanting to make sure he lands on his feet well just having stepped into this human world. Then when Quincey slowly starts taking care of Evan too it's just all too adorable. It was beautiful the way they supported each other and I could not get enough.

I also really enjoyed the way android sentience was handled in this book. This book felt like Detroit Become Human, but make it romance and kinky. The new sentient Quincey sometimes felt like a kid, validly so when they've just started existing. But at the same time Quincey had been an robot for over 20 years living an adult job and had a mind like an adult. This mix together went really well and definitely added to the realistic feel of this book.

Concluding I deeply enjoyed this book and I moved onto the next one immediately.


I received an eARC and this was my honest review.

A new robot with a different feel, but the same great romance.

Maxamillion felt very different from Quincey in the previous book. First of all he is not an android and that was such a fun twist to this book. When I imagined robot romance I did not think of an Knowledge, for how the book calls a computer without a body, becoming sentient and then falling in love. It was such a fun change compared to the previous book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Maxamillion only controls other bots with prompts and guides them to do things, but in a way it still very much felt like those separate bots were extensions of him while at the same time they were not him either. This is a delicate balance that was done really well and made me enjoy the book even more.

Maxamillion and Ben have a very different dynamic compared to Quincey and Evan but gosh was this good too. Maxamillion knows how to handle Ben so well and knows what to do to rile him (and me) up. The sex scenes were absolutely hot because of it. Even more the amount of robots and robot appendages increased and made this lean even more into the robot sex appeal. And gosh yes was that fun. The pincers, the suckers the.... everything hell yes I wanted to keep reading about them so bad. 

Maxamillion also lived through a lot of distress for his first few weeks as a SPARK. These added to the complexitiy of him as a character and made me feel for him so much. This book really added that layer of lore about SPARKS that yeah, getting sentient really isn't something that just gently happens. We saw that the  stress spikes that Max felt had dire consequences and added a lot of plot to the book. This made the book quite intense towards the end for me but gosh Morrison writes good HEA when they're promised.

Concluding this book was absolutely lovely and for everyone who might one day want to fuck a computer.


I received an eARC and this was my honest review.

This book felt different from the previous two in a way that was very interesting. Both in Garbage and Smart Ass both human love interests already have an affinity with robots and SPARKS. They're already friends with other SPARKS and know they're sexually interested in them. With Wallace that is not the case at all. Wallace is someone who has a professional interest in them because of his work, but there it kind of ends. For him this interest really had to slowly develop away from fear into something more like interest. This was a wonderful change to be a part of and see happening through the book. I am even more excited to see this grow into something more in the second book of this duology.

Volt, oh boy Volt. I want to wrap him in a hug and say it will be okay. This dude seems to be so full of stress he needs a break asap. The business at Prism is just not going well and it's weighing heavily on him. But then Wallace appears and gives him that break. A break to just forget for a moment and only think on how to make Wallace squeak. And gosh was that lovely to see. At the same time Wallace is full of stress just the same. His family are assholes and logically make him feel absolutely shit. So when both of them come together in the evenings, a place for both of them to relax, it made me relax too.

So uhm yeah at this point I will admit that daddy kink romances are extremely hot in my opinion. This book has plenty of that and it was great. Volt is such a natural Daddy and Wallace submits so beautifully. Together they make a wonderful team that give us great sex scenes. Wallace is not only new to SPARKS, he is also new to kink. Reading stories where people explore kink for the first time has something magical and this book hits that so well. The way they slowly explore things together for Wallace to open up to. Volt takes the lead so well and keeps things simple. Early in the book they start this thing where Volt will ask three things for Wallace to try or decline and they go from there. This was a very nice way to have Wallace try things while not overwhelming him. I was looking forward each night they were together to see what those three things would be and kept their meetups interesting throughout the book.

Concluding this book makes me so excited for the second part of this duology and is a must read for anyone who's into the series and maybe wants to explore more deep character growth.

I received an eARC and this was my honest review.

Vampires and SciFi? Hell yes!

At first I didn't really expect this combination to work. Vampires feel like such a fantast element and mixing it with SciFi is something I'd never seen before. But putting it together was so much fun! I had a great time with both elements in this book.

Laurel and Juniper are such lovely main characters in this book. Both of them are incredibly tied to each other and that friendship was amazing to see. Their friendship isn't perfect however and they have struggles between them at certain points too. This made their friendship feel really human and it was nice to see this play out in the book. It reminds me of how lovely friendships can be wnd really makes me want to cherish my own friendships even more.

This book takes us to a lot of places, with danger in every corner. It was a lot of fun and adrenaline throughout the book when there would be intense fighting scenes or the main characters had to flee something. Fleeing is a big theme of the book with Laurel and Juniper trying to make life for themselves running away. They always seem to be chased by law enforcement or another entity wanting to stop them. This keeps the urgency to keep reading high, always wanting to know if they're going to be safe. Which was also just a lot of fun to keep going.

Lastly I want to say that this book has found family in a way I haven't seenuch before. A lot of found family in books the found family is around the same age as the main characters. And that's lovely and I enjoyed a lot of books with that. However this time having a parent figure show up that's actually a lot older was so sweet and enjoyable too. I felt like this added a lot to the book and made it even more memorable for me.

Concluding I absolutely loved this book and it made me even more sure to want to keep reading books from this author.

I received an eARC and this was my honest review.