120 pages and yet still a slowburn romance?? stunning. i would read a whole novel of these two i absolutely love it. 
it did slightly feel like the end was rushed and there was a sex scene thrown in with a quick confession of feelings, but I'm just a sucker for Ali Hazelwood's writing. 

after so much hype I couldn't wait to get started on this book. 

I did struggle to follow the plot and the characters for the first hundred pages or so but I fully think that's because I had a headache and shouldn't have been trying to explore a brand new fantasy world at that time, and when I read more of the book sans-headache I enjoyed it a lot more (TLDR, don't read with a headache which is obvious anyway). 

Love the concept of gods existing and being tied to their shrines, I think it's so unique and different but also so simple and elegant. I loved watching the relationships between Kissen develop differently with everyone - a motherly protection of Inara, a reluctant fondness with Skedi and what I really think will be a wholesome romance with Elogast in books to come. 

When I tell you I gasped when I realised how subtly Kaner had written Skedi's slow increasing control over Inara until he was fully in charge of her entire being. I was shook. It was so beautifully written that I felt as betrayed as Inara's internal monologue, and I was so glad/proud when she managed to break his will and free herself (which is something I can't wait to be explored more in later books!)

I also didn't see the end coming at all and I was totally taken by surprise with Arren working with the two goddesses. Couldn't turn the pages fast enough at the end, and I suspected it won't be a standalone (mainly because Goodreads lists it as #1 in the series) but seeing there were 5 pages left and nothing resolved definitely confirmed that.

One of the best debuts I've read in a long time!

This book (and this series in general) felt so classic Shadowhunters to me and I loved it. 

I'm usually not a fan of love triangles at all but the way Cassie Clare writes them I can't help but love them (even if they do appear a lot). Like the Jem/Tessa/Will triangle, whilst I was rooting for James and Cordelia and just waiting for them to get back together, I truly felt for Matthew and my heart broke when he was speaking to James about loving Cordelia and the reasons why. 

I thought it was a great end to the series, and also helped build up backstory for Malcolm which I enjoyed getting that final piece of context for his story and what really pushed him over the edge with his Shadowhunter hatred. 

James' character was dealt with fantastically, and I think in this book Lucie finally got the credit she deserved as she fully submitted to her powers with Jesse's help. Wish I had time to reread the first two books before I read this one (two year wait??) to maximise the emotional impact, but at this point I don't know if there's a Shadowhunter book I couldn't love. 

this one was a long time coming. 

I thought this had such a good cast of characters and I really enjoyed all the dynamics between the Crows. Given, it was only one book, but I felt like we only really saw the relationsip between the pairs rather than more one-on-one interactions throughout the group (other than Kaz). 

I found the heist element so fun, but given that we as readers weren't told what Kaz's plans were it meant that there wasn't a lot of tension when things went wrong and things were constantly changing directions but you didn't know where it was heading in the first place. 

Also - my fault - because this was my first Grishaverse book I think I got a bit lost in the world building and if I'd read the Shadow and Bone books first maybe I would have found it slightly easier to understand from the beginning. 

Definitely going to be reading more Leigh Bardugo now!

wholesome romance which is simultaneously friends and enemies to lovers. I was worried when I saw she was a tiktok creator at the start but luckily this wasn’t actually that relevant or mentioned very often. 

This whole book is a big miscommunication issue and it was done well for the most part (dragged out a little), it’s just not a trope I enjoy.

600 pages of faerie sex. 

i loved the developing world building throughout this book, which makes a lot more sense than having more of it in book one when Feyre was still in the spring court but also not a High Fae herself. The slow burn romance between Feyre and Rhysand was brilliant and seductive and addicting, and it peaking in the revelation of the Mating Bond was heartwarming. 

I was genuinely shocked at the end of the book with the chaotic last 50 pages. Tamlin's betrayal, Lucien and Elain being mates, and the snapping of the bond between Rhys and Feyre (which I fully believed was the mating bond and I was so glad it was revealed it wasn't before the end of the book). 

I will say, upon investigation this book came out around the same time as Empire of Storms and I don't know if it was coincidence that Aelin/Rowan and Feyre/Rhysand snuck out in secret the night before the big battle to get married as a way of increasing the stakes, but it was the first thought I had when that was revealed in the last chapter or two.

With every book Olivie Blake writes I'm getting more and more sold on her writing. 

This book was absolutely stunning, with the most beautiful dialogue between the characters. Full of twists and turns, you think you know what to expect with the Romeo and Juliet narrative and framework, but Blake manages to keep you on your toes the whole time. 

These women are powerful and unapologetic and the whole discourse of loyalty through blood or choice as Marya and Dimitri's story is repeated in Sasha and Lev's was heartbreaking and hopeful. 

A book I adored and I know will already be a contender for one of my top books of 2023. 

it took me a while to really get into this, and i found myself continually getting confused by who all the characters were because we kept switching between them too much and I couldn't keep track for the first 100+ pages. 

I did enjoy it by the end though, and I particularly liked the mixing of the fae and various fae species with elements from greek mythology (and just ancient greek beliefs) but also Christianity where the seven sins were brought in to play a part. This mixing of theologies isn't really something I've seen in a fantasy book before and I found that really interesting. 

I did think the romances were very slow-burn. I didn't feel the chemistry between Nausicaa and Arlo, although I think this is something that could be developed later on in the books, and also you get a clear sense of Vehan's feelings towards Aurelian I felt like we were lacking in Aurelian's feelings. 

I read this through Riveted as one of their free books of January, and while I'd be interested in reading the rest of the series I'm not sure I'd want to pay for the books. 

Big points to this myth retelling for being short and sweet. I loved Medusa's sisters and how they protected her, and I loved how the tension built while Medusa was telling Perseus the story of what happened to her with Poseidon. 

Not sure if I'm sold that Athena did this as a favour to Medusa, and once again I feel like it lacked the feminine rage that I thought it really needed.