blewballoon's Reviews (763)

On paper, I feel like I should have really liked this? This historical fantasy type setting usually works for me, heist plots are interesting, and I am a sucker for found family. I do think this book spent more time on the (lackluster) romances than it should have, but I could see myself not minding as much if I was in a different mood. 

I think my problem is that more than anything I'm a character driven reader and I need to like the characters. Apart from Jin, I didn't really care for anyone, and so it was hard to care what was going on with them. Jin deserved better friends, honestly. He spent a lot of time having information kept from him and having to work around Arthie's love interests. 

I wanted to DNF a few times, and I knew I was going to come away from this book displeased when I remembered it was the first in a series and seemed like the kind of book that was going to end on a big cliffhanger. That assumption was correct. 

I think that if you're the type of reader who connects with the type of character that Arthie is, and you don't feel like the romance elements get in the way of the rest of the story, you may enjoy this. The audiobook narrator was okay, but it seemed like she was kind of whispering the whole time.

For such a short page count I got pretty invested in these characters! I did feel a bit like I got dumped into the middle of a story, but the context came through and I found myself enjoying the ride. I actually started this book on my phone while waiting in line for a ride at Six Flags. This is quite a spicy book. I normally get a little annoyed at characters who are too horny to function, but it was done well here. 

I thought this would be cute and fun, and it managed to be even better than I expected. I thought the level of detail in the artwork was perfect for the style of story, and I loved how colorful the illustrations were. I would be so down for a whole series of this story, it would be fantastic animated as well. Highly recommend if you liked Danny Phantom, but wanted there to be more realism and rounded characters for the ghosts. 

Every time I picked up this book I was immediately immersed in it. The writing style was clear and expressive, the setting felt tangible, and I really enjoyed Jane and Rochester's portrayal as well as the many other side characters. I love a retelling that takes the parts of a classic that haven't aged well and fixes them to focus on the better parts of the story, while adding some new elements that make the story feel fresh.

A slice of life graphic novel about 3 friends going through their senior year. 

I was enjoying this book just fine and then I'm not sure what happened, but around the 60% mark I started to feel exasperated with it and just wanted to finish as quickly as possible. 

I liked the concept of the magic seamstress who could imbue her embroidery with emotion, and the tension that her magic came with a price and it would weaken her if she used it too much. I was baffled by the juxtaposition of this setup with a multitude of other (arguably more valuable and powerful) forms of magic that cost nothing for the users. People can just shoot lighting, have Elsa's Frozen powers, sprout plants everywhere, and more! This made it seem out of place that the main character's abilities would be so valuable, half the time she didn't even sew the right emotion into the garments that were commissioned of her. Speaking of, the book tries to make it seem like there's a little bit of a found family situation going on with the group of royals she is working for, but every time they are like "aww you work too hard, just relax!" it doesn't hit right because the reason she is working so hard is because of the complicated garments they have ordered her to create in such a short time frame? 

I thought the political aspects of the plot were a bit weak and/or nonsensical.

How the hell could the prince regent keep the fact that the country was out of money hidden from anyone? They specifically say he's hiding it from Parliament? What? It was so obvious that was what he was hiding, but it didn't make sense. At the end most of the issues are basically resolved by "people inexplicably became a lot more chill about everything, and they just talked about stuff off-page and it all worked out."

Ultimately I probably could have looked past all of the above if I liked the romance more. I was looking for some cute tension with the premise of a seamstress falling in love with her client (like a gender swap of The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews) but I felt let down by the small amount of sewing/fitting/garments in the story. Kit kind of does the bare minimum in terms of being a love interest. He's outwardly a jerk most of the time and he turns on Niamh at the slightest discomfort. Their bickering/banter didn't feel healthy because the power dynamic was off-balance. I'm not even sure if having Kit's perspective would have helped. 

I'll cut myself off there, I feel like I've complained enough. The audiobook narrator was pretty good, and the cover is gorgeous. I also didn't mind the writing style, there were some really pretty yet effective descriptions. I would try this author again.

"The stakes have never been lower" is not something I usually have a problem with, because I like it when lower stakes leave room for more focus on the minutiae of the human experience and getting every detail of an emotionally charged interaction between characters. In this case I didn't feel like I really got any of the above. Billie and George never grew on me much. Billie is too much of a blatant "not like other girls" trope. That phrase is used literally in the text to describe her. George is your typical uptight heir who starts to think about his family friend Billie differently without much reason for why. The grounds for them being "enemies" is nonexistent and the animosity poofs away almost immediately. I don't think that was the right starting point for the relationship to grow from, because it didn't add any meaningful conflict or angst. Ultimately nothing really happens, and without an interesting emotional journey the book just kind of plods along slowly until a single mildly spicy scene at the end and a happily ever after.

I gave Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries 5 stars, and I think I liked this sequel even more. I don't know if it's due to a change in the way Emily the character sees people or if it's due to having met some of these people before, but the characters felt more detailed. I felt much more attached and fond of  Wendell in this book and I really enjoyed the understated comfort of Emily's romance with him vs feeling like it was a weaker aspect of the previous book. This story also seemed more adventurous and fast paced, which I enjoyed despite not having any issue with the slower pace of the previous story. I am curious to see where the series goes from here. I recommend the audiobooks for this series, they suit the tone so well.

A very spooky little collection of stories, greatly enhanced by the artwork!

This was so much fun! I love the Wynchester family and I'm very excited to read more from this series! I think I would have had a great time with these characters and this story regardless, but it was an extra bonus that the audiobook was narrated by the fantastic Moira Quirk, who can make me feel immersed in just about anything. I do have some vague criticisms in the back of my head somewhere, but right now I'm still on the high of the happy ending and I'm just gonna stay in that feeling for now. If you like historical romances and you like stories with loving and supportive (but quirky) families, you will probably have fun with this book too.