kacey7's reviews
750 reviews

It was enjoyable, but it mainly just made me want Cletus’ story even more

Here’s the deal: if you do not love your child unconditionally, you do not deserve to be a parent!!! You love your child NO. MATTER. WHAT.
I don’t give a fuck what your religion is, where you come from, how you were raised or what-the-fuck-else might make you a prejudiced asshole. When you decide to have a kid, you decide to love them without restriction, and if you disown your own child because of who they love, then you are literally THE WORST KIND OF PERSON.

Fuck Tates family is all I’m saying.

Beautiful.

Exceeded every single one of my expectations. This was everything I wanted and everything I didn’t know I needed. I have always loved Chaol - even when half of this fandom seemed to hate him - and his character deserved this journey. The emotion, the pain, the healing, and dragging yourself out of grief and darkness - just marvelous. Reminded me a lot of HoF in the best possible way.

We now have such a huge cast of characters, finally including numerous POC characters! I am a tad overwhelmed at the expanse of this world, but also blown away at the depth and creativity behind it.

When that “holy shit” moment happened near the end where we learn the history of the Valg... I just about fucking DIED. So unexpected, and masterfully done. Everything makes so much sense now. I am still reeling.

The fact that we got to take space from the other characters *coughAelincough* and have a different story line right before the final book was a brilliant move on SJM’s part. I cannot even tell you how fucking excited I am to read this last book now. I needed the break and the chance to explore new characters and story lines. Chaol, Yrene, Sartaq, Nesryn.... I love you all. Sartaq was swoooooooooon and I love love love all the rukhin, especially Borte!! The entire Southern Continent stole my heart.

The only real bummer was no Manon, but we got Yrene and that’s a pretty sweet deal.

The few qualms I have: the book could have been much much shorter without sacrificing any content, and basically all my usual qualms about Sarah’s writing style and language use which I’ve kinda decided I just need to accept from her at this point.

It was nowhere near perfect, but I adored it regardless. It’s up there with Heir of Fire as my favorite in the series, and really solidifies the fact that I love books and plots about healing and mental illness rep. It isn’t often done in fantasy, and I give SJM a lot of kudos for that. THIS is the storytelling I love from her and what I want more of in the future.

I really enjoyed this one. The plot line was so unexpected, and more intense and emotional than I was anticipating from this series.

I loved that Reid explored anxiety so in depth in this story. As someone with lifelong anxiety, so much of Ryan's internal monologue and struggles really resonated with me. And it was really cool to see an author incorporate sexual dysfunction into a romance novel - I'm not sure I've ever seen that addressed in a romance novel before and it was so refreshing! This book is definitely a much different vibe than the other two but I really liked it.

It's also always a joy to see Ilya make an appearance. No matter how brief his appearances may be, he always steals the show.

This was cheesy and predictable as all hell but I still kinda enjoyed it so idk I guess it did something right

The beginning was a bit slow, but I'm glad I pushed through because I ended up really enjoying this! The pairing just didn't make a lot of sense to me in the beginning but I think that's what makes this story special, as they start to care for each other, you start to watch their chemistry and dynamic unfold and it's so sweet and slow and wholesome. Rachel Reid is easily one of my fave gay hockey romance writers!

I think some of this book went over my head. I'm not usually a big poetry reader, I do enjoy it, and have always had a fondness for poetry. I just don't think I fully understand it sometimes, like there's a depth of understanding my brain can't comprehend.

"Time is a Mother" was poignant, beautiful, and intense at times. This collection of poems delves deep into Vuong's experiences, grief, and pain. Some poems hit me much harder than others, some I didn't care for much at all simply because I couldn't make sense of them, but that doesn't mean they weren't beautiful all the same. I always love when an author can be so deeply open and personal in their work. I could feel Vuong's emotions emanating from the words. I think this book will be most appreciated by poetry lovers and those who enjoy dissecting the meaning of poetry. I'm not sure I'm quite at the level this book is intended for, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.