ivanareadsalot's reviews
1161 reviews

 I would like to thank GRR for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I'm really sad that Searching for the Prince just didn't work for me. The narrative had no lift or any trace of that dynamic spark I'd loved in Dark Earls and especially in Book 1 of this Fang and Fae series. This read was a dry march from beginning to end, and I think the bevy of unlikeable characters, the loveless "arranged marriage" trope, and the snide or blasé remarks with no real supportive vibe behind Gwil just got on my nerves. So, suffice it to say, this was a miss for me. I will continue with this series because I AM a fan of Rebecca Cohen...I'm just NOT a fan of this. 

 I would like to thank GRR for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Ahhhh i was NOT a fan of Silas in this. I mean, I understood his 18yo mind as being in progress, but the level of messy in Every Mended Heart pushed me over the threshold and i was unfortunately having none of it. I found the angst and drama tolerable in the first two books, even though it triggered me to within an inch of my life. But a lot of this installment just wasn't for me. The vibe was self-destructive, emo, and unkind. And while I get why the overall tone was a giant "FK U" to self awareness, i just didn't like how squirmy this portion of Silas and Ben's journey made me feel. It was a bit too much for me.

And then the middle of the book happened and ruined my face as i ugly cried and puffed up like a red eyed blowfish with a broken heart. It was devastating...and now i feel like crying again because it really fkin hurt. But there was a lot of healing happening in the latter part of this story, and even if it did come from weathering the most awful storms, i still appreciated the emotional and relationship growth Silas and Ben had undergone. Ben's arc was particularly well done and i felt for him the most. Especially because i learned everything about him through Silas' pov, and that boy was messy as fk and Ben still showed up. Child's an angel straight up.

Their HEA was a mature one and it was lovely. But, respectfully, having to go through the challenging ups and downs in the life of these HS seniors who have been through some of the worst experiences life could deal a young person, made me pretty tired and I'm honestly glad it's over.

This was an emotional series that would be a slam dunk for readers who fk with young love, angsty teens, life-changing trauma and everything in between! Personally, i prefer Knight's playful side so i'll be looking forward to whatever else they release in the future that boosts happy, because Far From Ruined was a hard love journey that made my heart super achy and so i think i'm good for sad love stories for the rest of the year...and maybe a little while longer after that, just 'cause this one really hurt. 

 I would like to thank GRR for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Ooof all the emotions! Every Hidden Truth was a tumultuous concoction of sweet, angsty and uncomfortable, and the ending was brutal! I just feel so sad for everyone! Ben's character arc has some real depth and i thought Knight has been doing a great job allowing his fears and insecurities to come through naturally. I'm happy i gave this series a try but HS bully dramas suck and feeling bad for people really takes a toll on me ngl! So i really really hope Silas and Ben's HEA is super sweet because this installment was pretty heartbreaking and i just want them to be happy because they deserve it! 

 I would like to thank GRR for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Every Broken Thing had my heart in my throat the whole way through and I'm surprised I can even string my thoughts together rn because woooooow. I don't typically read YA/NA but I'd read a couple of Knight's more recent work and I'd enjoyed them, so i thought i'd give their Far From Ruined series a chance and I am very happy that I did!

Everything about this was lovely, and achy, and heart fluttery, but also complex and very triggering at times, so please be gentle with yourselves. I really loved Knight's writing style and the pacing, the snarky banter and the easy chemistry between all the characters, not just Ben and Silas. But they were absolutely the darlings of the bunch and I was wholly invested in their adorable awkwardness.

Overall, the narrative tone was fun and charming and open for the carefree parts of this story. But Knight also did well to balance the sinister and the tender spaces where Silas and Ben kept their gravest secrets with agility and grace.

So YES, Every Broken Thing was wonderful and had me anxious and invested from page 1, so I'm very excited to see how Ben and Silas' story turns out because they deserve the most gorgeous HEA and I can't wait to celebrate that! 

 I would like to thank GRR for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.


❤️❤️❤️Eeeeeeeeeee I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!!!😍😍😍

👑This Dark Companions series has been some of the most immersive and exciting and imaginative worldbuilding I've ever read in the genre and I cannot get enough of it!! The Shadow Prince's Ruin was simply stunning to devour and this was quite possibly my favourite from the Merikan babes, and I've not stopped feeling gleeful about it!💍

🍄The characterization here was beyond brilliant! Sylvan was so precious and otherworldly, with an air of melancholy wrapped around his dark ambitions and I ADORED him!! And Hawk was everything ferocious and bold, sexy and growly, but such a marshmallow for his bae and I MELTED!!! They were perfection together and I could read them forever! I legit cried through the last 10%, and I truly found their love journey a meaningful and evocative one!🍷

Andrea Jovanovic, 2D artist

🐺The narrative was on fire and I was pretty much sold from Hawk's kick ass intro NGL! Everything about this story was ROMANTIC and I thoroughly enjoyed the playfulness and the drama, the revelry and the heroics, and how it all came together in the end. I LOVED the dreamy supernatural energy of this dark and magical realm, and I'm already excited to reread this series for when Book 3 drops!☀️

🦋I'm still swooning and my head is filled with Sylvan's cadence, and Hawk's big feelings, and the majesty of the Nightmare Realm and I'm highly anticipating all the beautiful adventures still to come! I hope this series is 6745817435678 books long because Dark Companions is magnificent and lights up my brain and makes my heart all squishy and has me missing this gorgeous world in earnest! There's no better compliment than a book hangover imo so I'll be moon-eyed over this series for a while and i could not be happier about that!🌝 

 I would like to thank GRR for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Ahhhh this was soooo good! J.J. Mulder had stolen my heart with her SCU Hockey series, and From Coast to Coast (Offsides Book 4) was yet another scrumptious and wholesome love story that had me wanting to drop everything for Remy and Gray's HEA!

Gray was just the most lovely, lock-it-down human, and Remy was effervescent Cali preciousness that stole my heart from Day 1 Calgary! Loved the cozy, sturdy feel of Gray's non-fkboi flex, which gave me the internal freedom to experience Remy's journey without feeling nervous for him. The sex was soooo fire and i was beyond happy that their relationship wasn't a long, drawn out, tension filled affair. Remy's mom was also a bit of a surprise iykyk, but i wish she wasn't ngl! I am a huge hockey fan, and after years upon years of reading the genre, it would be nice to read ones featuring more racially diverse MCs! Men from many races and different ethnic backgrounds play the game at the highest level, so the rep would be appreciated...because, yk, we here!

I also love it when found family, accumulated throughout a series, find their way to each other in an installment. Adding that full-of-feelings camaraderie and solidarity energy goes a long way towards making me feel like the MCs have real support no matter what kind of low vibe shit goes down. So the cameos from the couples featured in the first 3 books of this series had me crying for some ARC breathing space so i could just devour this whole series (among a few others) in one shot (or several) so i could ride this MM Hockey high through playoffs and beyond! #goals

So yesss, From Coast to Coast was wonderful and sweet and sexy and fun, and J.J. has proven yet again that she is an author i can trust to deliver a hockey romance that easily stands head and shoulders above the rest! Hope there's more to come because I hate that Z -and Gordon- are still in Calgary! I'm manifesting the garbage taking itself out! Can't wait to read it! 

 I would like to thank GRR for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I love me some Parker St. John ngl! The MCs are always bruised and torn up from fighting the good fight...most times in the shadows of their own grief. They're always intensely gorgeous, like only a dangerous creature can be. And they're always always just trying to survive the hand they got dealt by outrunning the cruelty that made them the hard bastards they were -before love found them- at the start...and at the heart...of every story! Needless to say, i ate. this. up. And the drama was as ferocious as they come!

The boys Boone adopted were all so very different from each other, so this series promises to be pure adrenaline fueled mayhem with each installment for sure. In Man of Honor, Gage and Wyatt's story was all kinds of sexy, dark, and bloody, but also a bit frustrating at times to read. Corruption always makes me furious and imagining the helplessness overwhelms me sometimes.

Love Parker's writing style, as always. Everything just worked for me! It was very easy to get caught up in this because a lot of this narrative was buoyed by the natural spooky allure of southern noir. You honestly can't miss because VIBES. Crooked cops with a generations-long grudge. An atmospheric foster home for the kids Wyatt saves. The moody broody bayou and a handful of troubled boys who Boone bonded as brothers, now grown men as formidable and vicious as a hurricane with teeth.

And between them there's loyalty in that way of being found and saved from the violence of others. The violence within is another story...actually it's more like 4 more stories, one for each of the Beaufort brothers still to come! Anyway, the OTT "misunderstanding" at the end there was crazy work without a doubt, but also understandable. So I do love the idea of these brothers being bound by savagery, vigilante justice and retribution. There was a lot here that was exciting and sinister, and i hope each installment gets even grittier because i know St. John and this series can handle the weight.

Man of Honor was an awesome start to a thrilling series that can only get better! Man of Lies is up next, and that's Mason and Silas' story, and i can already tell that it's gonna be wild and i absolutely cannot wait! 

 I would like to thank GRR for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.


Ok wooooow this was fkin marvelous! I loved every single sentence of this gorgeous, emotional story that squeezed my heart into oblivion and took me on the wildest love journey! Seb's was superb characterization. It didn't matter if he was 18 or late 30s, because he was fully seated in his character, empowered in every decision he made, and wholly unique and wonderfully himself throughout the entire narrative.


Seb's work and dedication to the conservation efforts surrounding the New Zealand fairy tern/tara iti, an endangered indigenous breeding bird, was the purest, most purposeful thing i'd read in a long while. His passion was completely charming, and i loved that Marcus found him just as precious when Seb was finally able to string two words together when talking to his ultimate crush!


And Marcus' journey was just as compelling. His navigating his relationship with his best friend, Saskia, while hiding his feelings for her little brother was some energy that had me in a chokehold stg. Not to mention his own personal trauma that he had to work through WHILE being the biggest Hollywood heartthrob who was constantly in the public eye. The depth and complexity to these characters was honestly astonishing, because they showed up! And i can happily declare that this stunning, heart smushing, brilliant book has made me a fan of Jax Calder FOR LIFE!


I'm so happy i had picked up Book 1 in this series a while ago, which features Tim and Jamie's story. And when i tell you that watching their romance unfold (from Seb's pov) made me feral for the tea on their love story, receive that!

I cannot WAIT to dive more into this amazing series, because Reckless Hearts was top tier emotional intensity, strong characterization, and a plot that delivered the most dynamic and delicious tension in 400 pages! And also because i live for weeping hysterically for characters who feel real, when they find the most enduring, heartwarming, true love, happily ever after! lbr who doesn't?! This was fantastic! Loved it! 

 I would like to thank GRR for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

DNF @ 51%

unfortunately i just don't think this narrative style is for me. while i do love the hellhound pack and the touch of supernatural to this, at 51% i was STILL not vibing with the characters, especially q. i see a lot of people loved this installment and that's great! but sadly i'm just not able to get into it. 

 I would like to thank NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

This was a lovely, soft, fantasy romance with the most gentle MCs, a bit of water magic, zealots vs heretics and quite a few run ins with Leviathans that added some toothy monster energy to the narrative!

The overall tone was an interesting blend of cozy and creepy. And while the weaver-beater-church bit made me tune out as i've no patience for religion, i stayed for the sweetlings, Lucky and Gabe, for the Dreamers -especially Poe- and for the HEA i needed more than anything because Lucky and Gabe were sooo precious and they deserved it!

The trauma was real and very painful to read at times, and for both Gabe and Lucky the going was tough for a while there. But there was also so much here about identity, devotion, and trust. And the way they both had to help the other -at different parts of the story- to discern what was real from the terrors that haunted from within, just shored up their love story with an intimacy that i found really validating.

Fated Winds and Promising Seas was on the lighter side of queer fantasy, and other than a few gaps in the narrative where i wasn't sure if i'd just missed a connection (arc copy) or the jump was on purpose and my brain was scrambled for a sec, i thought Black did a good job with tone and palpable tension. Can't wait to see what Rose Black has in store in the future, because this was charming and I'm sure whatever comes next will be as well!