This book read like a 2012 self-insert watt pad fanfic, especially in the beginning. There’s a lot of build-up with no delivery and it seems like instead of letting the story speak for itself, the author instead just tells you how you should feel about the story. 

At the beginning, the main character refer to the (initial) antagonist as “the monster” constantly. After hearing a single rumor about him, being told that he’s called a monster and having like 2 interactions with him. It’s like it was just easier to have the main character keep calling him a monster instead of actually illustrating it and leading you to that conclusion yourself. The entire book just felt like it was trying to hard to be dark and scary, without actually delivering. 

My biggest complaint, though, is the descriptions throughout do not line up. When I read, I have a movie that plays in my head of what’s going on in the book. And the way actions were described, it completely took me out of the story almost constantly! For example, if it describes two characters in the same room, at first it will describe them as being on opposite side of the room, and then 2 seconds later it’ll be saying that character A grabbed Character B’s hand. When did they cross the room?? Did I miss something or do they just have super long arms?? 

My final note:

there’s supposed to be  a love triangle in this?? The third person in the supposed love triangle is only actually in a scene maybe 3 times. And the way it’s described it felt my creepy and weird than anything. Reading it, I kept thinking to myself “does the author mean for it to sound like the main character is kind of into him??”

Nothing about it seemed intentional.

“There are monsters in the world. There are monsters in the woods. There’s a monster in the shadows, and now it knows my name.” 

I have to confess I had zero expectations towards this book. When I received my edition in an Owlcrate box I read the blurb and was intrigued, but didn’t expect great things from it. But oh boy was I wrong! I absolutely loved and wholeheartedly enjoyed this book! When I finally picked it up to read it, I knew that it would be part of a series, but honestly, even if I hadn’t, there were a lot of things foreshadowing this fact very early on.

Anyone familiar with Greek mythology would pick up the not so subtle hints of Violeta sacrificing pomegranate… this in combination with a “Lord Under” point pretty obviously to a Hades and Persephone retelling

.  And all in all, I have to say that even though I saw the ending coming, I enjoyed every single moment of getting to it and I just can’t wait to read the sequel once it gets released. 🥰🥰

 The description, cover, and title combination for Lakesedge caught my attention right away, and I was glad to be granted an advanced copy. The story itself pulled me in right away, with intriguing world building and a strong older sister fighting to keep her younger brother safe in an abusive environment. The magic/ religious system in the story is interesting and cohesive, and the world as described seemed welcoming and pleasant. Well, mostly. At first. Then the magic really started. And the romance. And the drama. And the impulsive and often self-destructive decisions. 

Violetta is extremely self-sacrificing when it comes to protecting her loved ones, and not good at caring for herself at all. The more you get to understand the trauma she has been through, the more her behavior makes sense, but it still gets a little tiresome after awhile. I felt like this was very YA, with maximum angst, both familial and romantic. There’s also some sort of love triangle, and the story ends on a cliffhanger. I keep forgetting that “lush” as a book descriptor means all the purple prose describing everything, and while this book wasn’t terrible, I got a little tired of hearing about how everything tastes like ash or burned sugar or poison or whatever, and how there were strings tied from / tightening her heart, etc. And this is very much my own preference, but some of the things these characters, especially Leta, went through, and the losses they endured, just felt like too much. I could see how the writing is gothic fantasy bordering on horror. 

I did love the LGBTQ+ rep, as multiple supporting characters had same sex preferences or were bi/pan, and Leta appeared to be demisexual. And while this is wholly a fantasy setting, and Violetta and her brother are fair skinned and red headed, there’s also a fair amount of supporting characters who are described as having darker skin, curly hair, etc. Also, women have a lot of agency in this story, and while most of the people with leadership roles in the story (lords, village leaders, etc) were male, several of the female characters filled important professional roles and all the women were treated with respect. (The characters definitely existed on a gender binary, and there was no non-binary representation that I can remember. 

Overall this was an enjoyable, if sometimes slightly redundant and slow read. I finished it in a few days around the autumn holidays. While I’m not sure I’ll bother reading the sequel, I nevertheless appreciate #NetGalley and Macmillan granting me a free electronic advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 

So I got this book from Owlcrate and I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. The story is nice and simple, but is also dark. It's a mix of a couple of different fairy tales (

Beauty and the Beast

and

The Myth of Hades and Persephone

were the ones I picked up on), and twists it with it's own story. 
The main weaknesses in this book is the time jumping can be a bit confusing (not the worst I've read, but a lot of character feeling changes happen in those time jumps) and the enemies to lovers trope isn't great. After reading books like Queen Takes Rose and Survival Instincts, I'm worried that the straights aren't getting the same level of quality with this trope. It's mainly I hate him, but he's hot so might as well rather than anything being developed over time. 

I saw that this is planned to be a series, so I might just have to pick up the next book whenever it comes out. 

 Ahhhhhhh that cliff hanger!!! And the next one isn't out until LATE 2022!!

Oh man, I requested this book from Netgalley based on the cover. Not something I usually do, but this one was just too beautiful to pass up. I am so glad I did and that I was chosen to read an advanced e-copy. This is such an amazingly written and well thought out fantasy. I was getting slight ACOTAR and Shadow and Bone vibes while reading (definitely saw Kaz as the Rowan, not going to lie). I was also getting Beauty and the Beast retelling vibes in the beginning too.

We have a bad ass group of female characters. Obviously our main character, Violeta, after making some choice decisions with the Lord Under, comes to find her power. But what is going to happen to her!? Man, this is why I have a love/hate relationship with reading newly published books that are going to be a series.

I really loved that there was representation in this as well.

Overall I am really excited for more people to read this. I am also excited to see where the next book is going and it will definitely be on my most anticipated releases list for next year!