I absolutely loved this book!

It's so good to find a new series to get excited about. I'm already planning to recommend it everyone I know. I can't believe I've had this little gem of a book on my shelf since last year, not knowing what a great story it held within. I think I might possibly have been put off by the cover art (don't really like it I'm afraid) but I'm so glad I finally got around to it.

It is an Urban Fantasy, so for anyone who needs a romance storyline all wrapped up neatly within the first book, you might not enjoy it for that reason alone. But I, for one, am quite happy to have a slow burning love story cast over several books. It's all in the anticipation, people! And there is clearly a potential love interest here. Just as soon as they both get over themselves and stop annoying the crap out of each other. I think it's great when they start off hating each other, actually. It just makes it all the sweeter when they finally admit defeat. In this case, I'm not sure who will break first. They both seem equally stubborn to me...

There are oodles of weird creatures in the series. It makes a refreshing change to have some new ideas in this area. There were Shapechangers, Necromancers and various other magic users. There were hints left here and there that Kate herself might have some big secret concerning her own genealogy, too. Although we know she has magic right from the offset, she, for some reason has to be really careful about her blood. Always making sure that if she bleeds anywhere, she cleans it up or burns it. Like as if someone were to smell or sample her blood, they would find out what bloodline she came from or something, and I'm guessing this would be bad... As I said, there were only clues so far, no actual answers, so I have no idea what the big deal is, but I am very intrigued at this point!

Another interesting twist was that, although this series features vampires, they are not the sexy, sparkly, gorgeous-looking beings that many authors portray these days. But rather disturbing, insect-like creatures that scuttle about on the ceiling. They're also mindless, and have to be controlled, or "navigated" by a necromancer or necro-navigator. They were completely gross.

I like the whole idea of the world being post-magical apocalypse, with crumbling buildings and other leftovers from the tech age, before magic took over. It was also something new that I haven't read before. And for me to find something new with the amount of books in this genre that I read, is always a bonus.

I really liked Kate. It's great to find a female protagonist you just love instantly. That's not to say she's not flawed, though. Her smart-ass retorts are hilarious, but she doesn't quite know when to switch it off, which is so going to get her in trouble one of these days, I'm sure.

I cannot wait for the next one but at the same time, I almost want to put off reading them because I don't want to run out!

4 Stars ★★★★

This book sounded right up my street from the description. I also thought the title was killer. Unfortunately, it was incredibly boring and I really struggled to finish it.

The setting was interesting, I guess; Irish language summer school. But the plot was nothing more than characters pottering about having mindless conversations while you were waiting for one of them to hurry up and die already - which didn't actually happen for the longest time!

And speaking of the characters, they were little more than vague outlines; each one's voice sounding exactly like any of the others. Since we didn't have a main character to bond with it was vital we had a diverse bunch of interesting characters in the ensemble, but this couldn't have been further from the truth.

There was a vague attempt at foreshadowing but it was so brief and so subtle you'd blink and miss it. It was not nearly enough - where were our breadcrumbs to follow?

I don't want to keep harping on but, basically, this book needs major work. I can see it's already garnered a very low average score on Goodreads and I can see why. It's simply not ready for public consumption yet. It has zero suspense, zero thrills, 2D characters and hardly any plot. It reads like a bad first draft.

1 star ★
ARC received in exchange for an honest review.
Find this book on Goodreads

 

This was such a rollercoaster of a read. I was getting so worried at the beginning--I actually wasn't vibing with the book or Bryce very much at all in Part 1. Then by the end, I was like oh, okay, this is the best book ever and SJM reigns supreme once again.

House of Earth and Blood, book one in Sarah J. Maas' newest Fantasy series, Crescent City, is a whopping 800 pages (or 27 hours if you're an audiobook listener) of romantasy goodness. Yes, it's a long read and yes it starts a little slow and hits you with a lot of information, place names and hierarchies to memorise all at once. But, if you're anything like me, you'll go from bemoaning the pace and the unnecessary and indulgent page count, to fervently wishing it would never ever end.

Out of all of Maas' series so far, this one definitely had more of an Urban Fantasy flavour. There was a city backdrop, there was modern technology, vehicles and weaponry. And Bryce herself was a club-going party girl, at least at the start. Very different from the more historical fantasy vibes of her other two series.

Bryce, our main character, had a pretty epic transformation over the course of the book. I now think my lack of vibes at the beginning was intentional. My initial opinion of her matched Hunt's (main dude) opinion of her. Then she showed us who she really was and oh boy!

For the romance quarter, I'm not here for spoilers but can we just say slow burn deliciousness is my fave and I'm very happy.

I ended up really loving the worldbuilding once I got my head around it and got used to the change up from Maas' usual style. I will DEFINITELY be reading the next book as soon as I get my grubby little mitts on it.

I've got nothing else. It was amazing. That is all.

5 fricken stars

★★★★★

Oh em gee, finally! FINALLY!

I've read about 5 books in a row recently that scraped by with two or three measly stars based on my own personal enjoyment starometer. I was getting frustrated and bored. I'd added this book to my Goodreads a few weeks back after seeing a review that made me think it might be for me - kickass female lead, spaceships pew-pew-pew, slow-burn romance - oh hells yes! And my word was I right! I've found a new favourite series right here and a new-to-me author that I'm very excited to read the back catalogue of.

Okay, so this book... At the time of writing, I've actually just finished the second book so I'm well into this universe and loving it. But the first book was so stinking good! A lot of first books can be slow starters taking a while to get going; getting bogged down with excess worldbuilding. Not this book! 

I actually feel like the worldbuilding elements were included so seamlessly and naturally that you just picked up the vibe as you went along. After all, the technology is nothing new to the characters so why would they go into major detail about it. 

I actually read a review that called this series Sci-Fi lite - I'm guessing because of the lack of detail or explanation on how all of the technology works? But for me, I was more than happy to just be like, oh there are world gates where you can teleport across solar systems? Cool! I honestly don't need more than that. I'm aware of the genre of book I've picked up and my suspension of disbelief hat is sat firmly atop my head.

The main thing that I love about this series so far is the characters. The main character, Kira, especially but also the wide cast of very well-drawn and diverse characters that all added something to the story. There was a good amount of banter to enjoy and there were also some difficult relationships with a lot of emotional baggage.

Main character Kira is extremely cool. I feel like the author walked the razor's edge of Kira being almost too cool. I mean, she's literally good at everything but somehow not in an obnoxious way. Her physical skill level is just way out there but you know she's earned it from her time serving in the war so it seems perfectly justified. You just want to cheer her on and I found myself grinning wildly at her antics frequently.

Her best bud is a ball-shaped drone called Jin who has a very sassy personality and for many years prior to the events in this book, has been her only company.

AND THEN THERE'S GRAYDON!

Ho boy. It's all very slow burn and PG-rated but that's exactly my jam. I'm not a fan of smutty books, no shade to those that are, but this kind of delicious and tantalisingly slow buildup is exactly where I'm at and I was living for it!

I also just wanted to mention the overarching story. As I said, I'm two books in now so I can see some things that were hinted at in book one coming into fruition and also there's a whole bunch of backstory for Kira both from her childhood and from the events that left her going solo with Jin 12 years earlier.

I've actually just started book three and I believe there's set to be five books in total. I'll definitely be reading (and likely re-reading) them all and I can't wait!

An intriguing character-driven mystery that reminded me of a one-act play. The story will come out eventually, but can you guess how it will end?

When Crew nearly drowns during a party on their beach, Nixie plunges into the ocean—and fierce rebellion against her father—to save him. As the two explore the strangeness of each other’s worlds in stolen moments on dry land, they’re caught up in a whirlwind of intensifying feelings.

Rebellion’s easy when you focus on what you hope to gain. It’s a million times harder when you realize what you stand to lose.

Ah, what a shame, what a shame... Such a beautiful title and cover, such an interesting-sounding premise but ultimately a very forgettable and disappointing book.

I really had high hopes for this, I find the topic of cults quite fascinating and frighteningly, they're an even more relevant topic these days than they really ought to be in 2022, but this book did nothing to explore the topic. 

This was not so much about a girl brought up sheltered and unaware in a terrible cult, not realising just how strange or strict her way of life was until an outsider showed up - which is what I thought and what would have been more interesting to read - as it was about a girl brought up fully aware of the weirdness of her living situation and of the real world, who's a bit bored. I feel missold.

Nixie was not particularly likeable. I struggled to find any reason Crew would have been so enamoured with her. Her characterisation was puddle-deep and she made erratic swings, particularly near the end. The ending was just bad, bad, bad. I was rolling my eyes hard by that point.

I think this book's main problem was how surface-level everything felt. Shallow characters, slim to no plot and nothing of interest explored.

So yep, this was not very good and I don't recommend it.

2 stars ★★

ARC reviewed in exchange for an honest review

When Leeds meets Layla, he’s convinced he’ll spend the rest of his life with her—until an unexpected attack leaves Layla fighting for her life. After weeks in the hospital, Layla recovers physically, but the emotional and mental scarring has altered the woman Leeds fell in love with. In order to put their relationship back on track, Leeds whisks Layla away to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met. Once they arrive, Layla’s behavior takes a bizarre turn. And that’s just one of many inexplicable occurrences.

Feeling distant from Layla, Leeds soon finds solace in Willow—another guest of the B&B with whom he forms a connection through their shared concerns. As his curiosity for Willow grows, his decision to help her find answers puts him in direct conflict with Layla’s well-being. Leeds soon realizes he has to make a choice because he can’t help both of them. But if he makes the wrong choice, it could be detrimental for all of them.

Whew, well I'm almost relieved to have finished this one unscathed. When I went to check out what my Goodreads buddies had rated it before I started there was everything from 1-star reviews to 5 stars so I just didn't know where I'd end up at.

I think a lot of CoHo fans might have been a bit non-plussed with the genre shift as well so that could explain the wildly varied ratings. It hasn't given much away in the blurb so I won't either, but just to say this isn't your typical CoHo rip-your-heart-out-and-stomp-on-it contemporary romance, there's a very definite twist.

Also, it's entirely from the male character's point of view which I think is also unusual for her. I don't claim to be an expert on Colleen Hoover at all, I've only read 3 or 4, but it was definitely a different type of story than I was expecting.

So did I like it? Ehhhhhmmmmmm... kinda? I feel like I've definitely read better books in this genre and I felt a little restrained only being in Leed's head although I fully understand the reasoning for that in the story. The last 20% of the book was a nice twist I didn't see coming. But, honestly, when I grab a book by Hoover I want waayyy more romance than this so... eh. I give it a wishy-washy 3 stars.

★★★