joyreads2024's reviews
93 reviews

Ledge: The Glacian Trilogy, Book I by Stacey McEwan

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adventurous dark funny sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Up until those last two pages I was thinking on whether this book was a 3 or a 3.5 star, but man has that ending SHOCKED me. I am GASPING. I am SHOCKED. I need to go and buy the second book NOW! 

The whole plot idea behind the book is good and interesting; I haven’t seen it done before. The Ledge is a village settlement placed there for winged bastards to come and harvest the people who live there. In between the Ledge and Glacia (where the winged assholes live), is the Chasm where people fall in and die. Down below is Mecca where two bitchy, evil, should die Queens live. 

I do really like the diversity in this book; we have two lesbian Queens, a slay drag queen(?), and people of different skin tones. 

In terms of the sun themes which I really liked: the found family in this book was amazing, and so was the banter. I really liked this book.

However it was a bit slow and did take me a while to read it. 
Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 2 by Sorata Akiduki

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adventurous emotional hopeful relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

We go to a fort, Obi gets a bit more airtime and we meet the crown Prince. It was a good quick read but I wasn’t screaming over it. 
Hate by Tate James

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dark funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

When you start reading a reverse harem, you know you're not looking for anything intellectually stimulating or groundbreaking, but instead the genre falls into what is known as "junk food." There are bad junk food books that are like extra greasy McDonalds or there's top of the line, someone knows what they're doing, Mad Mex Nachos. This one was Nachos. DUDE IT WAS SO GOOD. It kinda fell out of the normal set up of the reverse harem tropes (e.g. one guy is an asshole, one guy is mysterious, and one guy is a golden retriever), but I think in the next few books, this will be fleshed out a bit more. The ending was not what I expected and neither was the stalker subplot. I'm super interested to see what happens, who was stalking her, and then why Archer's blade was where it was. Also I want to know more about Bree, Zane and Dallas. Her dad can drown off the coast of Italy in his fancy yacht for all I care tho. 
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Untainted by Lilian T. James

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The book was good but slow until the last like 5 pages. The epilogue had be gasping, but not enough to immediately read the second book.

I enjoyed the Fated Mates trope and Jaren’s overall character, as well as Vera standing up for herself. Trey and Elric were great side characters and I appreciated their parts in the storyline

Book summary:
Vera is actually the Princess, was kidnapped, Jaren and her knew each other since they were kids, Prince Eithan is a psycho and ends up torturing Gibson and imprisoning Elric, the crystals are dying and the ”Fae” are losing their power, oh and Queens die quicker
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Waiting for Spring, Vol. 1 by Anashin

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Good manga! The main couple is adorable
Hold Your Breath by Katie Ruggle

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

OMFG. When I bought this book two years ago, it sat on my shelf completely forgotten. I mean, how good could a book be when the cover is a shirtless guy holding a gun with ice mountains behind him? The answer is: GOOD. LIKE REALLY GOOD.
I am actually gobsmacked. I’m gonna be processing this one for a while, and I am like O.o

I wish we got a bit more background on Cal, and a bit more depth to him and his need for everything to be in place, but that’s being picky. Sooo excited to read the next one
Dragon Fall by Katie MacAlister

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It’s good, I just wish things were delved a bit more deep into, because there was so much to delve into. And the conclusion was meh. Kostya was hilarious, Jim was sometimes funny sometimes cringy, the magic system was a bit confusing and I feel like you definitely had to read the pre-series books to understand things. At some points I loved it, at other points it was just.. meh.
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Playing with Fire by Gena Showalter

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Look. The premise is so good, and the book started with humour and good energy. And then I realised the entire book (except for the last few pages) happens over like 5 days?? Like you fell in love with someone over 5 days?? It’s not even a true mate trope, it’s just horniness (which, don’t get me wrong, is fine, but over 5 days and possessive/jealous/the l word IS WHACK). It was also incredibly cringy and everything was icky.

Gena Showalter, babes, you are definitely sometimes a hit or a miss
Archangel's Lineage by Nalini Singh

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

PS: According to her newsletter a year ago, the next book comes out in April 2025

THAT IS WHAT I WAITED 2 YEARS FOR?? THAT?????? 

GAH. It wraps up a lot of RANDOM ASS loop holes and gave me MULTIPLE jump scares FOR NO REASON. If the next book is 300 years in the future I WILL NOT BE SURPRISED. 

I feel like I have been edged and not in the fun way. 

The next day review update:
  • Okay, it was pretty good, and istg if I didn’t know the next book was coming out next year I’d feel so much better about the book, but now i’m left wanting (see above edging comment)
  • The title was dead on 
  • If that was the last Elena/Raphael round up (firstly, where was Ransom then, or my babies Janvier and Ashwini) I liked it but like I need time to process
  • What happened with Kier I need time to process

Imma be processing the book for ages.
Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 1 by Kamome Shirahama

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It’s aight