The prologue was so sinister that I didn’t know if I wanted to keep reading, but the writing & focus was such a departure of the rest of the story… I don’t know which was worse. the author gave a particular bit away quite early & it just could have been better…

A quick read. Maybe a good palate cleanser. Very little oabout it was about The Best House On the Block. 

Jemisin is a genius as always, loved this view of the gods and the metaphysical, the female lead civilizations, the nuances between tribes, the balance of love & violence.it won’t be my favorite of hers, but the world building is still immaculate. 

2nd book in the series did not disappoint! Emilia learns more about Wrath, the Kingdom, her twin & herself in this installment. Some steamy scenes, less emotional than the 1st book but it dialed up the mystery of the curse.

Shocked at how much I liked this domestic thriller with a side of police procedural. The first chapters seemed a bit hokey, but the 3 couples on the getaway are given unique voices &their side plots were very compelling (rare to see a man write a male character’s experience with infertility or emotionally nuanced insight about resentments or maybe I don’t give straight male authors enough of a chance lol). It was a fun read, &quite twisty. 

soft pick. I had issues: the romance starts when Callie (a siren)& Des (a Fae King,the Bargainer) are 16 and 500? The author takes care to say she’s an adult in paranormal world …but ick. Callie’s abusive stepfather backstory is rehashed too much. Callie is supposed to be helping Des in Otherworld but that plot comes together randomly in 50 pages. It has a good moral. If book 2 stays current& doesn’t take Callie back to being 16, could be great

I liked her previous 2 thrillers more. This one reads a bit younger with the mystery spanning Margot’s high school &beginning college years. Well plotted, but if you read a lot of thrillers you might feel like you heard this one before.

The main twist was super obvious and disingenuous

Solid. Coben is always good for a twisty web of a mystery. He gives unique voices to each of the (sometimes incredibly corny) characters. This had a solid resolution and moral to the story.

There was no emotion coming off the FMC & MMC unless they were banging. The last 20% of the book is good, the spice was good, but I don’t understand Kingfisher as everyone’s new book boyfriend; I simply cannot lust over a 1700 year old male who can’t communicate properly.

I’m usually pretty lenient with the first of a series, I know we need time for worldbuilding & establishing the systems, but this wasn’t anything new & took forever. 

Book 2 Zetian is out of her element as a leader when all of her goals for the revolution/women’s rights were previously centered on her own desires. good dialogue here about choice while broadening her scope to class rights etc.

The ending is so crazy. I think there may have been too much, we were doing alot with the “romance”, deception, politics, battles, mind realms… it was engaging but when I got to “the gods” …it seemed to go a bit far.