bahareads's Reviews (1.09k)

Monica McCarty creates a world, plot and fleshed-out characters with her Highland Guard series. A feat many romance authors are unable to do.

I have read the Rock before. I enjoyed the romance and the tension. I guess love does conquer all in some cases. I love how all the characters and plots connect.

Monica McCarty creates a world, plot and fleshed-out characters with her Highland Guard series. A feat many romance authors are unable to do.

I have read the Chief before and LOVED it. Turns out I still love it. Tor and Christina are such a cute couple. I love their romance and the building of their relationship with each other.

Mistborn was recommended by a friend. The premise intrigued me greatly, it gave historical vibes which I enjoy.

I had to read the first 100 pages of Mistborn twice because I kept putting the book down for other things, and forgot what was going on. The writing and world-building are slow. Once Sanderson starts moving then it is amazing and everything comes together wonderfully. I think the worldbuilding could have been fleshed out even better, but I think that will come with the continuation of the series. The excerpts at the beginning of chapters always tickle me, I wonder who is talking and what do they mean. When it all comes together I am amazed at how Sanderson thinks.

Vin has my heart. The other character is kind of whatever. I do not feel any type of way about them. The romance in here seemed very insta-lovely to me. I think the development of love could have been fleshed out more. A few encounters and conversations do not constitute love to me. The plot threw me for a loop. I DID NOT EXPECT the end. I thought that is what the whole plot was going to be about. I was shook.

I read the first two books from the Stormlight Archive before Mistborn and it's easy to see this is some of Sanderson's first work. The Stormlight Archive's writing style, world-building, and character development are far beyond this series. Mistborn adheres to similar tropes that are seen in male-written fantasy books but Sanderson evolves beyond that with his newer works.

 Sketcher writes a gooood (toxic irl) romance. Age gap is not usually something that I like but I do like mafia romances, and bad-boy-who-is-only-soft-for-one-girl tropes so that covered a myriad of sins. Penny and Rafe were both enjoyable characters, I did not want to throttle either one of them. There was some nice hot scenes in here but not as much as in the first book. This wasn't as good as the first book either.

Sketcher writes a gooood (toxic irl) romance. Age gap is not usually something that I like but I do like mafia romances, and bad-boy-who-is-only-soft-one-girl tropes so that covered a myriad of sins. Penny and Rafe were both enjoyable characters, I did not want to throttle either one of them. There was some nice hot scenes in here as well. The tension build was PERFECT in my opinion. 

"'We are but fevered stars', he intoned, like an orator on a stage. 'Here a little while, bright with promise, before we burn away.'"

Fevered Star follows up the fantastic Black Sun.  Fevered Star, unfortunately, faces the curse that many sequels face, it was not as good as the first book. Roanhorse's writing is fantastic and the world is still as large and wonderful as ever. Fevered Star is something any reader can breeze through. However, the plot did not go much of anywhere. Xiala, Nala, Okoa, and Seraipo POVs were them trying to figure out their place in this unmade world. There was a lot of pondering and little action. The gender-neutral pronouns and sexual fluidity once again surprised me. Roanhorse continues to write these things in ways I haven't experienced on paper before.

Fevered Star is building for something bigger coming in the next books. There does not need to be any foreshadowing to know that there will be war and some major fights coming soon. Black Sun was a simple book about a man on a mission, Fevered Star is about the political machinations of the world we've entered into and how everyone is positioning themselves on the political chess board. I think there'll be LOT going on and moving in the third book. I hope it won't be too much.

Spoilers-ish ahead - read at your risk.
" I'll be a Liege someday, if I'm lucky enough to survive that long."

Bloodmarked follows up the fantastic Legendborn. Bloodmarked , unfortunately, faces the curse that many sequels face, it was not as good as the first book. There was a lot of talking and very little action, and then it was all action and very talk. The characters moved around so much but I honestly could not name most of the locations they went to. The world-building could have been better, to help the reader get a sense of where they were and what was going on. The only location I liked and can truly remember is the former plantation, Volition.

"Black folks don't need Oaths to take care of each other. We never did."
What I truly enjoyed about Bloodmarked is the black woman experience that Deonn shows in a way I've never read before. The pain, grief, trauma but also joy that entails the experience. The evolution of Bree's character was the one thing that I loved. (and I'll be honest Bree was annoying me for most of the beginning of the book) Coming into your person and stepping out of generational curses is a major theme. Bree is not perfect but she is a powerful character to read about and relate to. Seeing her advocate for herself is worth the read.

Arthur, Arthur, Arthur. Honestly, I was happy that he was not "good." I think all characters in this series are multi-dimensional but in popular media, Arthur is always portrayed as honourable. I like reading about a different Arthur. I swear to God, I do not want a love triangle, please please get rid of it immediately. It is giving YA trope vibes and I will not stand for it. I love the bad boys over the golden retrievers, so I am throwing my hat in Sel's camp. I would be interested in seeing a poly-romance but I do not think Deonn would do that. I know the series revolves around Bree but I would have liked some of the characters to continue to be fleshed out as well. William and some of the other side characters are left by the wayside.

Rootcraft is another highlight of this book. I love history and the connection with Rootcraft, enslavement, and ancestry had me (once again) fangirling. I enjoyed how well Deonn fleshes out the craft (I would not exactly call it magical because I think it is more than that.) Connecting to your ancestors and the spiritual world through your life practices and gifts takes on many forms in our modern world. The main point is - Deonn does an awesome job writing something that I think is not done very well in most books.

Brandon Sanderson rolls right into the second book, there's no break from the first. I read both of the books back to back and I really enjoyed the fact that there was no time break (and he did not feel the need to reintroduce us to anything). Sanderson continues to develop the characters in a fantastic way. No POV is neglected here; What I enjoy most about the multiple POVs is that there is not one I'd skip. I find it rare that an author is able to balance all the POVs equally and make them all enjoyable but Sanderson does just that.

The world continues to expand and Sanderson does a great job of adding pieces in a slow methodical way. The mythology and the lore continue to expand as well. I want to know more and more about it. The Stormlight Archive is peak epic fantasy for me.

I FORGOT that I've read this before. The Devil of the Highlands was good, there was tension and drama. The narrator did a great job with the accents (in my opinion). I wish there had been more physical romance in the book. The characters were a bit bland, there was no growth from them. I've read better Highland romance books.

Murder at the Vicarage and The Mysterious Affair at Styles were enjoyable. I liked Murder at the Vicarage more than the Mysterious Affair at Styles. I enjoyed listening to them on audiobook. The narrators for each of the stories did a great job. Agatha Christie always manages to keep me guessing until the last second.