ashlightgrayson's reviews
754 reviews

I thought I was eventually going to get back to this, but it's a dense read and it's been a few years. We're just going to DNF for now and see if we revisit it in the future.

I stopped reading this one and have not been reading romance as of late, so I think I'm going to call it quits for now. Maybe I shall return to this later, but definitely not any time soon. It was a good story while I was reading it, though.

 I started reading this when I had Kindle Unlimited and then just never went back to it. I have now mostly lost interest in going back. I have not been gravitating towards romance in general. It may be a while before I read romance at all, so maybe I will pick this up in the future. That, however, will not be any time soon. 

I was having trouble getting into this book I feel like I wasn't I'm the mood for it at the time. Will be picking this back up at some point.

This plot just continues to become more intricate. This book is more plot heavy and less character focused. I do recommend reading Sightwitch before picking up this installment if you haven't. It gives a lot of context for the history of the paladins and explains their existence as they start popping up within the story. There are a lot of characters to keep track of in this series, so I would recommend reading all of the books back-to-back as well.

I had moments in the story where I had to backtrack a few paragraphs because there was so much happening. Dennard uses a lot of subtle subtext to drive the narrative. She veers away from hand holding and mostly counts on the reader putting two and two together to figure some things out. I prefer this approach personally, than having an author overexplain things that can be concluded if you're just paying attention. 

We get a tremendous amount of time with Aeduan and Iseult. A lot of characters that have never met before finally meet in this installment (it's about time). There are also some interesting relationships that form from that. My favorite dynamic was probably Leopold with Iseult. Iseult is just so intuitive and is easily able to see through Leopold's charming facade. Leopold has cultivated a persona in order to survive. Iseult on the other hand, has never fit in and has never tried to pretend to be something she is not. Some of the best dialogue in the book occurs between those two characters and it was so unexpected. 

We spend some time with Iseult and Aeduan, but if you are looking forward to a lot of romance you may be disappointed. There is a lot of slow burn buildup and tension between Iseult and Aeduan, but there are no outright romantic scenes. I appreciate that we did not steer too far from the plot long enough to really focus on it. As much as I like some good romance in a story like this, it would have felt disigenous to me to have them spend more time canoodling than fighting to survive. 

This isn't a political intrigue novel, but it sure felt like one with how many characters had overlapping schemes with various different goals. I really liked this aspect of the plot. There are more shifting points of view than ever in this one. However, they always all come together in the end to make and adventurous and cohesive main plot. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Waiting for it to be published is what is really going to be a pain.

The art for this comic is stunning as usual. I love how all of the bright colors bring the story alive. My favorite part of this volume was seeing the development of Ivy, Holly, and Aster. The relationship between Holly and Ivy has changed, but I think at this point it definitely stems beyond platonic. I was very happy we got to explore that and hope that we continue seeing those relationships develop. Aster's family is also wonderful. Tulip is such a gem. It's good to know that there are other people besides Abeille who are touch positive in this world while also being respectful of other people's boundaries. 

I wasn't very happy with Poppy's behavior in the last volume, but by the end of volume 3 Abeille and her are in a much better place. There is a lot of character development for both of them. One of the things I love about this series is that the characters are flawed, but still have redeeming qualities. They are like a large friend group that feels like family. I cannot wait until the next volume comes out so that I can add it to my collection. I'm looking forward to how all of their relationship continue to develop. This was one of the best volumes so far.

This book is an exploration of depression, mental health, and the restrictive expectations placed on women in society. The main character, Esther, is a semi-autobiographical stand in for the author and you can definitely see the parallels if you know about Sylvia Plath's life. The narrative is an exploration of a  privileged woman's deteriorating mental health. I emphasize Esther's privilege because a lot of Esther's experience is informed by her privilege as a white woman. I will elaborate.

Esther does suffer various forms of oppression such as the expectations of marriage and having children that society imposes on her. Furthermore, Esther often ruminates about having sex and relationships. She is aware of the double standard there is for women and men when engaging in sexual activity. All of these issues are part of much of the female experience. However, in the context of women of color and queer women Esther's struggles are very narrow in scope. Esther is very depressed and it's clear from the way she often feels dissapointed by the relationships around her as well as her cirumstances. As the book progresses, her mental health deteriorates and she ends up staying in a psychiatric hospital. Her stay ends up being completely funded by by an anonoymous sponsor. The fact that she has access to pschiatric care at all and on top of it has it fully funded is very privileged. Most people, either due to race or socioeceonomic reasons, would not have access to that level of care. I think there is definitely space to explore the stories of white women like Esther. However, I think the limited scope of this experience must also be acknowledged. 

I can't help but feel that Esther is also heavily informed by Sylvia Plath's internalized racism. There is an instant in the book where she is in the psychiatric hospital and there is a black janitor that Esther describes very negatively. It falls into many racist stereotypes pertaining to the lack of intelligence of black people as well as their likeness to animals. It's jarringly racist and even the dialogue Plath uses for the black janitor feels like something pulled out of a minstrel show from the 1800s. There is another instance in the book when she is looking at herself in the mirror and is not happy with what she sees. The description she uses for the image she sees in the mirror is "smudgy eyed Chinese woman". I don't think I need to explain the prejudice there. She just uses these negative comparisons often enough that it's hard not to notice.

Despite the shortcomings of the book, I still found the story interesting and worth a read. I think it is a good representation of the state of mental healthcare during the 1960s. The outdated treatments are hard to read about at times. A lot of people suffered through treatments like electroshock therapy with no benefit. It offers insight into the neglect that a lot of women with mental illness probably felt at the time. To this day, as far as we have come there is still a lot of stigma related to mental health for both men and women. I wish Sylvia Plath had lived long enough to write more than one novel, but I'm happy that we at least have this novel as well as many of her poems and essays to remember her by.

This series makes me so happy. Abeille and Miel still spend some time experimenting with each other in this volume, but their relationship progresses, and they officially become an item. We also see how Clove and Ivy are seeing each other more often. Both of them are becoming more open to cuddling and other forms of touch, in part due to Abeille's influence. 

In this volume we are finally shown how Poppy's sister, Evette, died. Poppy, Abeille's old room, becomes prominent within the story. I have mixed feelings about her. I dislike her for being manipulative and lashing out at Abeille. Poppy is very critical of the way Abeille both chooses to live her life and to grieve her sister. It's not behavior that is conducive to a friendship. Besides that, it feels like she may have some residual romantic feelings for Poppy. This wasn't fully explored in this volume, but I feel it will probably be explored more later on.  I appreciated that Poppy eventually owns up to her behavior and makes amends. 

Meanwhile, we get a lot of wholesome romantic development for Clove. Ivy also is starting to spend more time with Aster. We learn a bit more of her family together with some interesting family drama. Everyone gets some time to shine, and I was always interested in seeing what was going on with each character. Whilst volume 1 felt like an introduction to a lot of the characters, volume 2 feels like an exploration of every character. It was a great time and I'm looking forward to more in volume 3.

Full disclosure of any bias before you read this review: I am an acquantaince of the author. The copy I read was one that I bought of my own volition with my own money. Now for the review:

I am usually not into thrillers but the premise and cover of the book was so intriguing that I could not resist giving it a try. This is a debut novel and is a very good start considering that it is self published. Gabriel is an unlikeable but charming main character. He is immediately established as a cheating womanizer that also befriends people that condone this behavior. His unlikeable traits feel purposeful and give space for him to grow as the narrative develops. The writing can feel a bit stiff at times and I think the book would have benefited from a bit further editing. However, this does not take away from how interesting the story is. 

Gabriel's father lives in Jamaica and at least half of the story takes place there. Gabriel's cheating eventually leads to him being cursed by voodo magic. The people closest to Gabriel begin to be affected by this curse. The story afer the first few pages kept me on my toes the whole time. I wanted to keep reading without stopping. It is not a long book at all, but it packs a punch with how much happens in it. I know that there are plans for a sequel and I'm looking forward to it. Thrillers are usually not my thing, but I can get on board with more of this.

I have had multiple friends try to convince me for years to try and read One Piece, and I finally caved. Luffy is a typical cinnamon roll main character. I think the world is very interesting with both pirates and magic. Luffy accidentally eats a devil fruit at the beginning of the story which gives him the power to stretch his limbs like Mr. Fantastic (the side effect being that he is unable to swim now). Luffy has a very welcoming found family of sorts and dreams of being a pirate. The adults around him are very protective despite some of them having less than savory ways of making a living. This made for a very nice introduction to a lot of the characters as well as Luffy and the world. I'm looking forward to continuing this journey forward. Nothing like a future pirate that can't swim to get you interested.