Well that was kind of disappointing. I’ve been quite excited to read this book because it was one of my most anticipated releases of last year that I didn’t end up getting to. When I saw my library had finally acquired a copy of the audiobook, you best believe I snagged this right up. What initially had me wanting to read this story was it’s comparison to The Cruel Prince, and it’s similar enemies-to-lovers romance. However, there draws a line where a book can be labeled as a comparison and where a story is practically a blatant carbon copy of another.

And really Violet Made of Thorns is the latter. At this book’s core, this was simply just an elaborate Cruel Prince fanfic AU, with our FMC, Violet a semi-copy-and-paste of Jude and our MMC, Cyrus, a nicer, less edgelordy version of Cardan. Violet is a gifted seer, one of very few that live in her world. When she was a child, she saved prince Cyrus and became appointed the court seer. Over the years, Violet has become hard and resilient to survive, lying about the prophecies she gives people at the king’s orders. The prince has grown to hate her, due to her unflinching loyalty to the king and her downfall into corrupted morality. When Violet lies about a prophecy she foretold of the prince’s true love, she sets off a chain reaction of events that could kill the prince and embroil the kingdom into war.

I think what bothered me about this story the most wasn’t how similar this was to The Cruel Prince despite my criticisms above. I would have been fine with the slivers of originality had there been world building or an interesting love interest. This is another one of those fantasy-romance books that have a heavy emphasis on the romance and very little world-building and magic systems. When I read fantasy-romance my primary goal is to find a good fantasy first and a good romance second (which is very rare and hard to find). Not only was the world building shit in here, but the love interest was making me yawn. I wouldn’t have even minded if he was a Cardan wannabe. This guy was just too good, too nice, and too pure and he really had no other attributes besides that. I love me a golden retriever man, but Cyrus was just sleep worthy. But despite me catching some sleep everytime this man came on page, I really liked Violet. She’s very unlikable, and very similar to Jude as I said before. She is morally gray, intelligent, and literally cares for no one but herself. She’s playing her own game for power, and it was so refreshing. Her unlikability made her likable. No one ever had her back in that crusty ass kingdom and she’d be damned if she didn’t have her own.

The romance was fine, very much I-hate-you-so-much-I-don’t-know-if-I-want-to-kill-you-or-choke-you-or-if-I-actually-love-you (very much Jurdan esc) and it was pretty fun. Violet and Cyrus had decent chemistry, but not enough for me to fully care about what happened to them. Cyrus just put me to sleep so much that I didn’t really end up caring what happened to them together lol.

I don’t think this was bad. It was a solid debut with some good writing that could really grow as this author continues. Although there are (very) suggestive illusions to sex, the rest of Violet Made of Thorns reads quite young to me. With the low world building, mostly 1D characters, and heavy emphasis on the romance, I think this would work quite well for the younger YA audience. Unfortunately, that is just not me anymore. However, don’t let the average rating keep you from reading this book if you’re interested. I definitely think it will work for a specific audience, it just wasn’t personally for me or what I was looking for. Fun audiobook though!

*3.5

This was a really fun and sweet mistaken identity and kidnapping historical romance (I love how we all say kidnapping romance so casually on this app LMAO). The MMC, Hugh, is supposed to marry the FMC, Catriona’s (Riona) cousin who has the same name (Catriona/Cat) to form an alliance between their clans. Riona’s uncle (Cat’s father) doesn’t want to uphold the potential alliance and contract that was made, so he tricks Hugh into kidnapping his niece, our FMC, Riona instead. Riona tries to tell Hugh that he kidnapped the wrong woman but Hugh doesn’t believe her and he takes her back to his clan.

I really loved the banter between Hugh and Riona, and at first, Hugh not believing Riona about the mistaken identity really bothered me, but it honestly became just funny as the book went on. I really enjoyed how both Riona and Hugh grew both together and separately as people in this book. Riona’s journey to self-growth and becoming a lairds wife really reminded me of the FMC, Judith from Julie Garwood’s The Secret.

Despite all the good things I have to say about The Wrong Bride,, I don’t think this story was anything profound. It was a fun book, but I can definitely tell it will be one I forget about in the future. A good palette cleanser, if you will. Regardless, this was a really fun audiobook (I love when Scottish historical romance audiobook narrators actually do accents, it’s so fun), and I’m interested to continue on with the series.

DNF @ 55%

I picked this one up on a whim last night after reading the description and finding out it was about a gymnast training for the Olympics. I always gravitate towards stories that have gymnastics at their forefront, mainly because I was a gymnast my entire childhood (fuck you knee injury that made me quit) and I love reading about characters that childhood me can relate to. However, this one was kind of a bust.

I think my main issues with Out of Bounds were both of the MC’s. Our FMC, Brie is literally broke (like $100 in her bank account broke) and she has been training for the Olympics since she was a young kid. But she literally spends her money on so many useless things and fucks around in her training, not at all taking it seriously. She yells at her coach—our MMC, Erik—for correcting her mistakes and gets mad when he doesn’t praise her. She was so irritating. Girl, you are going to the Olympics, at least take it seriously.

I also didn’t like Erik who was a grade A alphahole. He was such an asshole to Brie, and I honestly couldn’t understand why she was so attracted to him? What happened at the 52% mark was also insane??? Mainly one of the reasons I DNF’ed tbh. Anyways, I love the coach/athlete trope so much (as long as it’s legal obviously), mainly for the angst and the silent pining and the will/they won’t/they aspect of it. I love the coach character who keeps telling themselves they have to stay away from their athlete bc they’re teaching them, it’s not right, ect., Literally none of that is present in here. Erik is literally fucking around with Brie the entire book and not even thinking about the consequences. Dude, you are literally an Olympic coach. I’d think that the forbidden aspect of it would double but none of it was present at all.

I thought Brie and Erik had chemistry, don’t get me wrong. Their fighting and Brie defying him at every turn made sense. But honestly because of their respective situations, I found their arguing more annoying than hot? Their relationship just ended up giving the ick tbh, especially Erik and his advances towards Brie. I really think the only aspect of this book I enjoyed was the gymnastics (which I came for so at least I received lmao). Even then, the training scenes were far and few between, covered up Erik and Brie (obviously it’s a romance, so I was expecting that), and Brie’s fellow gymnasts gossiping about her relationship with Erik.

I think I was just too technical reading this book, especially because I was a gymnast as a kid, and I did compete a lot. It’s just, I know how serious training for the Olympics and as a gymnast can be. If I was in Brie’s position today, I wouldn’t be fucking around so much and actually try to focus on my training. I think my main issue with this was just how immature both Erik and Brie were. Anyways, after reading this book, I realized I had read another book by R.S. Grey called Scoring Wilder which I gave 3 stars. My issues were exactly the same from this book and that one, so this will probably be my last book from this author.

*3.25

This is one of those fantasy romances that are very much romance and very little fantasy. Which is fine, but I really like my fantasy romances with a 50/50 on both, or a little more fantasy then romance. The world building was quite poor, and much of the world is left to the readers imagination or not explained at all. The romance and smut was good, but this book was really just a romance in disguise. I didn’t hate this, but I was quite done with this one by the end. I don’t think I’ll continue on with the series, but if you like mostly romance in your fantasy romance this one is probably for you.

Wow, this book was such a pleasant surprise! Everything about this book was such a blast! One Dark Window is a gothic fantasy romance with some horror elements thrown in. The story itself is set in a medieval Europe like setting, and has a very complex magic system and plot. Our FMC, Elsbeth Spindle is a survivor of a deadly sickness she caught when she was just a child. Surviving this sickness comes with a price; magic and the instability that follows. Children found with this disease are immediately killed due to their unnatural magic. However, Elsbeth was harbored by her aunt and uncle, and hidden from the rest of the world. Elsbeth keeps her secrets from everyone, especially her biggest secret of all: the special monster residing in her head named the Nightmare. But when she’s usurped into a plot that’s considered treason against the crown, her Nightmare and her magic may not be a secret any longer.

While this story isn’t anything inherently that new in this genre, it was still so much fun reading this story. The best part about On Dark Window was the unique magic system. One of main magics in this story is card magic, a magic that’s deemed acceptable to use. I’ve never read a story with magic quite like this, and it was really fucking cool. Mixing it in with the “unnatural magic”, the magic children receive with the disease made the story even better. I also loved the consequences of the magic, how all magic used comes with a price. It made the story so much more compelling and entertaining. I really loved it.

I also liked the FMC in this story a lot, surprisingly. She’s very much a “damsel in distress” type of character, and it was honestly kind of…refreshing? to read about a character who’s a total “badass, takes no shit from anyone, actually needs help”. I love me a good badass female assassin who’s waring with the fae prince of the kingdom just as much as the next person, but I really like a FMC who needs that extra help.

With all that being said unfortunately, this book took me two months to read. It wasn’t anything to do with the book, my library checkout just ran out the first time and I was on a hold list for about a month and a half for this book again…which I think hindered my enjoyment for this story a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed this story as whole, but I think I missed out on loving it as much as everyone else just due to the time I spent away from this one.

Nonetheless this was a really fun and entertaining fantasy romance, with a very beautiful gothic atmosphere and some light horror. The characters were very lovable (the Nightmare was also hilarious, I loved him the most, I think), the romance was very easy to root for (although a little fast), and the magic system was very unique. This was a really well done debut, and I think if you enjoyed Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder or The Young Elites by Marie Lu, you’re probably really going to enjoy this book.

Hmmm I don’t really know what to think of this story. I was really excited to try these books out, and while I enjoyed the whimsy, the world building, and the overall weirdness, I just don’t think this story was long enough for me to fully enjoy. I felt pretty lukewarm listening to this until the 60% mark, and by then, everything felt very rushed to wrap up. So I don’t think this was bad, but I don’t think it was long enough for me to fully enjoy. I loved Jack though, so I will be reading book 2 solely for her. I kind of wish she was the MC of this story; I think Jack was far more interesting than Nancy imo. Anyways, not bad at all, and I’m definitely willing to give this author another go. I just don’t think the novella length of this one worked for me. I will continue on with book 2 to see my thoughts on that one.

Oh my god this was so good. I feel like a lot of the time I read fantasy-romance I either complain about the lack of well, fantasy elements (eg: good world-building, sold magic system, fleshed out characters and relationships, decent conflict, ect.) or the lack of romance (so all those “missing components” but a semi weak romance). However, this is one of those fantastic anomaly books that had everything I rarely find and always love in fantasy romance.

✔️ Absolute kick-ass heroine (who’s even a little overpowered imo)
✔️ A+ alpha hero love interest
✔️ Awesome romance
✔️ Fantastic side characters and character relationships
✔️ Well written, unique, and entertaining magic system
✔️ Ancient Greek inspired world
✔️ Greek God deities and godly magic
✔️ Unputdownable writing and plot

Like, I absolutely adored this story. The heroine was so funny and such a badass, and I absolutely adored her relationship and banter with her love interest. I loved all the side characters, and was completely invested in their well-being’s and story arcs. The world and magic were so unique and absolutely so well written. And, the writing was so complex, and absolutely blew me out of the water.

Everything about this story was absolutely five stars and I wish I had read it sooner. I cannot wait to read the sequel, and hopefully all the rest of the secrets we got in here will be revealed in there. But this is definitely going on my fave fantasy romance books list.