blewballoon's Reviews (763)

This was a light, easy read. I would say it's a good "beach read," except it seems like a good chunk of the book takes place in the winter. 

The romance has the casual feel that I actually like, since I think it's more realistic to how romance works in real life, but some people might find it a little bland. I did feel a bit uncomfortable about the way the Influencer Life Coach character spoke about relationships and self worth. It was a little too cold and clinical, and I couldn't always tell if the book agreed or disagreed with what was being said. 

I think the author narrated the audiobook herself, and I hate to say this, but I didn't like her narration. The way she read was sort of like how it feels when you're catching up with a friend and they're kind of breezing through a recap of what's been going on with them. The way it sounded made it feel like she was skimming through the boring parts to get to the good stuff, but the whole thing was read in exactly the same tone, so the parts that I think could have had more emotional impact felt more shallow than they should have. 

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book! 
I received an ebook copy, and I did a combination of reading the ebook arc and an audiobook that I purchased.

I don't think I can continue with this series, it's too stressful. I made it through the last book a lot more easily because the main characters were such bright spots amidst the darker subject matter, and ultimately they put their skills and plans to good use and were able to help a lot of people. In this book it felt like everyone became at least a little less likable and a lot more jerked around by the plot. Old characters were a bit flatter and new characters had very little substance. I'm also getting a bit impatient with how some of the plots from the first book are dragging.

I'm still giving it 4 stars because this has many of the good qualities of the previous book and I appreciate the integration of the historical research into the story. The audiobook narrator is also once again doing a great job. The next book even sounds interesting in terms of where the plot is going, but I know myself and I'm most likely going to avoid it because I didn't like the headspace this one put me in. The present day still has so many injustices that it's too disheartening to think about how little things have changed from the past.

I don't know if it's intentional because it's trying to be funny, but the quality of the writing is just awful. I avoided picking this book up for a week because the prose put me off so much. It's time to admit defeat and DNF. 

I hadn't realized how short this was when I began the audiobook, and I was dismayed when I realized I was already halfway through! Olivia Waite has created a very intriguing setting for a sci-fi detective story here, and a compelling main character.  I love Olivia Waite's writing and it was fun to see their talent put towards a new genre from their historical romances. 

I thought the book started off quite strong, but I did feel like it was maybe a little too short for the suspense to build and to allow for enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing at the mystery. Still fantastic!

Wow. First, a word of warning, this is not a soft cozy historical romance. This is not a historical romance that sweeps the grim aspects of historical society off the page, they are the centerpiece. The harrowing effects of women being property and nobles being in control of the law are highlighted throughout. Sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, religious bigotry, and more are all held up in vivid detail. I actually lost my appetite at one point and couldn't finish my dinner while I was listening to the audiobook.

Warning aside, this was a compelling read. I loved the main characters and their earnest efforts to help all of the women in need that they encountered. I loved the relationship between the sisters. I thought the romance was pretty solid. There isn't a lot of mystery in the sense that there isn't really a need for investigative work; the cases that the sisters take on are pretty straightforward in terms of what the situations are, but there is a lot of tension as the circumstances unfold and plans go awry. 

The audiobook narrator was also excellent. They managed a lot of different voices to cover the various classes, and their male voice was nicely done.

I honestly had a bit of an enemies-to-lovers relationship with this book. I've said before that it's not a trope I typically enjoy, and it was my own fault that when I started reading it I just wasn't in the mood to read a romance that begins with people bickering at each other. I arguably should have DNF'd, but I didn't feel like picking another book so I just stuck with it.

I'm not sure when it happened, but I did absolutely fall in love with the characters and setting. This is true cozy fantasy, where the world feels full of people and magic and it's the people and their daily lives that are the focus of the plot. This is probably the closest book I've found that scratches the same itch as Legends and Lattes. 

I appreciated how much the other characters outside of the romance factored into the story. There was some good showing-vs-telling of the importance of platonic love and support in addition to romance. The author also managed something I think is missing in a lot of "found family," which is to not have the members of the found family just be perfect and right all the time. They felt like people who made mistakes and assumptions, too. 

While all that was great, I definitely enjoyed the romance very much. I found Ambrose and Eli compelling as individuals, and the slow build of their chemistry was done nicely. I felt their stress and tension during the rivalry and could understand why they would behave the way they did, and it was satisfying to watch them switch gears as they learned more about each other.

If you liked the movie Sweet Home Alabama, you will probably like this. There are definitely differences; the love interests were not childhood friends, most of the characters are fairly progressive in their views, and there's more diversity in the characters. There are also a couple dramatic action sequences relating to the storm the leads get caught in. 

We only get Meena's perspective, and I didn't find her particularly interesting or likable. I'm not an ambitious career-driven person myself, and I didn't feel like she had a lot of personality outside of that. I never got a real handle on Nikhil's personality either, besides him being very stoic and handy. I didn't get a strong sense of the romance/love between them, mostly just physical chemistry and snippets of their past history.

Overall it was a perfectly fine but not very memorable reading experience. Audiobook narrator was good, but I did speed her up to 1.85. 

Tough to rate this one, but I'll go higher as I tend to do. I think the book has good intentions, but not always the best execution. The balance between the things I liked and disliked is pretty narrow, but I think the scales slightly tip towards things I liked.

Pros:

Cons:

Somewhere in the middle are the found family, comedy, world building, and romance. I think those aspects were okay but not amazing. Also up for debate is that most of the larger plot points and setups are not resolved in this book and are left for the sequels. Your mileage may vary with how you feel about some of the "lessons" and "messages" that the book tries to tackle about sexism and classism via the mouthpiece of the male main character.

The audiobook narrator did a pretty good job, I appreciated that they didn't try to do high feminine voices for the female characters, but the cat segments mentioned above were... a choice. 

This was alright? I think I might have liked it more if I hadn't listened to the audiobook. The voices that the narrator did for the various characters kind of took me out because they sounded a little too goofy. I ended up cranking the speed all the way to 2.25 to get through it.

The plot and characters were fine, if predictable. I think there was potential, and it seems like the author was having fun writing it. I just didn't really care about anyone, though, and I did not feel the romance at all. Everything just seemed a little too shallow, but it is possible that had to do with the narration? I did like the structuring of interspersing podcast clips, text messages, blog posts, and excerpts from the in-universe book. That was a fun element.

I've tried reading this book like 3 times and I never get past the first few pages before I switch to something else. Best to mark it as DNF for now, maybe I'll go back to it someday.