Take a photo of a barcode or cover
books_ergo_sum's Reviews (933)
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
I hated this premise. So much? Our MC Nimona became Blackheart’s supervillain sidekick and pressured him into abandoning his “rules” (only going after his nemesis directly without killing innocent bystanders).
And yeah, the whole book was just them hatching plans to poison, harm, and unalive as many innocent people as they could on crowded streets and big events, all in the name of… something? A personal beef between Blackheart and his frenemy that was fairly easily resolved? Defying the corrupt-but-not-actually-killing-people institution running the country? Or just Nimona unleashing her Chaotic Evil sadism on people for no reason.
And it was all supposed to be funny? Because Nimona was a shifter and she’d, for example, turn into an elephant to trample people to death? I dunno.. even if she shifted into a funny animal, she was still a psycho.
The story made very little sense (why were the crowds cheering for the baddies who just attacked them?) and the chapters were extremely disjointed. Why did Blackheart even like her if her entire personality went against everything he stood for and she tricked him and pushed him into to going against his deepest values? I needed more on-page friendship building.
It’s very possible that this graphic novel just hasn’t aged well since 2013. Maybe I would have liked it more ten years ago.
And yeah, the whole book was just them hatching plans to poison, harm, and unalive as many innocent people as they could on crowded streets and big events, all in the name of… something? A personal beef between Blackheart and his frenemy that was fairly easily resolved? Defying the corrupt-but-not-actually-killing-people institution running the country? Or just Nimona unleashing her Chaotic Evil sadism on people for no reason.
And it was all supposed to be funny? Because Nimona was a shifter and she’d, for example, turn into an elephant to trample people to death? I dunno.. even if she shifted into a funny animal, she was still a psycho.
The story made very little sense (why were the crowds cheering for the baddies who just attacked them?) and the chapters were extremely disjointed. Why did Blackheart even like her if her entire personality went against everything he stood for and she tricked him and pushed him into to going against his deepest values? I needed more on-page friendship building.
It’s very possible that this graphic novel just hasn’t aged well since 2013. Maybe I would have liked it more ten years ago.
emotional
medium-paced
Uhhh.. is this my favourite Felicity Niven? The childhood friends to lovers? With the bald guy?
(no shame to bald guys—I’m obsessed with the way George wasn’t your typical hottie)
This book was:
🖤 part too earnest and pure for this world
🖤 part slow motion car crash I couldn’t look away from
🖤 part forest of pining
🖤 part RIPPING MY HEART OUT
🖤 part putting it back together 😭
I am seriously struggling to fully grasp my love for this book. I mean, I love this author and hoped this could be in maybe my top 100 books ever… but it’s in more like my top 5?
Again, the childhood friends to lovers book??
(which is such a risky trope for me, very prone to containing my bookish pet peeves. Particularly no on-page falling in love, just lazily grandfathered-in affection from another timeline. Also annoying kid MCs and nonsensical non-conflict.)
But this book was incredible!! It had conflict. And angst for days. If I’m going to do childhood friends to lovers, I want it to be like THIS. Awkward as F. And filled to the brim with character arcs and growing pains.
I think it was the character arcs that did it for me. The sex lessons were fun, the ‘she’s engaged to someone else’ created drama-lama, certain events (and there were many) had me INVESTED.
But the character arcs launched this book into god-tier. We had a whole Hegelian dialectic going on in here. George was too "being-for-itself” (too rigid, too self-referential), Phoebe was too “being-for-another" (too unsure, too de-centered), they grew, it was everything (aka “being-in-and-for-itself” aka das Absolute)
This book was SERIOUSLY GOOD. And it made me cry. And the good-book-haze it put me in was so obvious to everyone around me that my husband is binging Felicity Niven’s backlist so that he’ll be all caught up when this comes out.
I’m so happy that I received this ARC!
(no shame to bald guys—I’m obsessed with the way George wasn’t your typical hottie)
This book was:
🖤 part too earnest and pure for this world
🖤 part slow motion car crash I couldn’t look away from
🖤 part forest of pining
🖤 part RIPPING MY HEART OUT
🖤 part putting it back together 😭
I am seriously struggling to fully grasp my love for this book. I mean, I love this author and hoped this could be in maybe my top 100 books ever… but it’s in more like my top 5?
Again, the childhood friends to lovers book??
(which is such a risky trope for me, very prone to containing my bookish pet peeves. Particularly no on-page falling in love, just lazily grandfathered-in affection from another timeline. Also annoying kid MCs and nonsensical non-conflict.)
But this book was incredible!! It had conflict. And angst for days. If I’m going to do childhood friends to lovers, I want it to be like THIS. Awkward as F. And filled to the brim with character arcs and growing pains.
I think it was the character arcs that did it for me. The sex lessons were fun, the ‘she’s engaged to someone else’ created drama-lama, certain events (and there were many) had me INVESTED.
But the character arcs launched this book into god-tier. We had a whole Hegelian dialectic going on in here. George was too "being-for-itself” (too rigid, too self-referential), Phoebe was too “being-for-another" (too unsure, too de-centered), they grew, it was everything (aka “being-in-and-for-itself” aka das Absolute)
This book was SERIOUSLY GOOD. And it made me cry. And the good-book-haze it put me in was so obvious to everyone around me that my husband is binging Felicity Niven’s backlist so that he’ll be all caught up when this comes out.
I’m so happy that I received this ARC!
emotional
slow-paced
Did not expect to be ranting about this book—but here I am.
I was ready to love the dense description and the Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell-esque introduction to the entire family, the Ravenswood estate, and almost every person in the surrounding country. And you know I love a second chance romance with an on-page first chance timeline.
But every new part of this story added something to the “I’m bothered” pile.
That first timeline was A) too long to B) provide so little. It was 40% of the book yet the MCs only had two (short and un-swoony) conversations during it? I needed that first timeline to contain on-page falling in love and some justification for why they hadn’t gotten over each other. And it did neither.
Then I hated the description of our hero during the off-page six years, for the way that it nonsensically undermined his character arc. Why did we turn the guy who, on-page (in both timelines), was pathologically avoidant and borderline cowardly into a brave and decisive leader off-page? And why did we take an MMC who, on-page, was giving demisexual vibes and turn him into someone who had slept with tons women, never the same one twice off-page? Especially given the particular plot of this book?? (And don’t get me started on the Pretty Woman-ish thing about kissing because I hated it)
Now, I’ve read my share of “I’m incapable of love” sad boi heroes. But this made no sense! He was so transparently loving—I did not buy this conflict. One bit. With lines like: “… spoken straight to his heart. The heart he did not possess.” I was dying.
And then, where was the love story in the second chance timeline? They barely interacted!
But my biggest issue was how we set up seemingly intractable problems that destroyed this family for years… only to too-easily solve them with unprompted internal monologues and annoyingly unearned new-to-the-character self-awareness. That was how every single conflict was resolved in this book. Infuriating.
I was ready to love the dense description and the Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell-esque introduction to the entire family, the Ravenswood estate, and almost every person in the surrounding country. And you know I love a second chance romance with an on-page first chance timeline.
But every new part of this story added something to the “I’m bothered” pile.
That first timeline was A) too long to B) provide so little. It was 40% of the book yet the MCs only had two (short and un-swoony) conversations during it? I needed that first timeline to contain on-page falling in love and some justification for why they hadn’t gotten over each other. And it did neither.
Then I hated the description of our hero during the off-page six years, for the way that it nonsensically undermined his character arc. Why did we turn the guy who, on-page (in both timelines), was pathologically avoidant and borderline cowardly into a brave and decisive leader off-page? And why did we take an MMC who, on-page, was giving demisexual vibes and turn him into someone who had slept with tons women, never the same one twice off-page? Especially given the particular plot of this book?? (And don’t get me started on the Pretty Woman-ish thing about kissing because I hated it)
Now, I’ve read my share of “I’m incapable of love” sad boi heroes. But this made no sense! He was so transparently loving—I did not buy this conflict. One bit. With lines like: “… spoken straight to his heart. The heart he did not possess.” I was dying.
And then, where was the love story in the second chance timeline? They barely interacted!
But my biggest issue was how we set up seemingly intractable problems that destroyed this family for years… only to too-easily solve them with unprompted internal monologues and annoyingly unearned new-to-the-character self-awareness. That was how every single conflict was resolved in this book. Infuriating.
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
I don’t know what made this more of a fantasy romance: that he could see ghosts or that he was a virgin MMC 😆
Maybe big-donged barbarians are born with innate sex god abilities in this world? Let’s go with that.
This book was more fun than my three star rating suggests—we had only one horse, our hero pretended not to speak their language and comically overheard things he shouldn’t, and all the barbarians in this series fall so hard.
It just had a plot point that I’ve realized is (kinda randomly) not a favourite of mine.
When this couple originally met he agreed to marry her just so he could bed her, break a curse with his peen (yeah, you read that right 😆), and then leave her (and maybe even kill her). Of course, he fell in love with her instead.
But the plot point of ‘she would figure out that he originally planned to betray her and doubt that he loves her at all’ hung over our heads for most of the story. And rather than being focused on the big-donged barbarian fun times, I was filled with dread instead.
But this is probably a me-thing and most people would really enjoy this book, which is the fourth novella in The Dead Lands series but can be read as a stand-alone.
Maybe big-donged barbarians are born with innate sex god abilities in this world? Let’s go with that.
This book was more fun than my three star rating suggests—we had only one horse, our hero pretended not to speak their language and comically overheard things he shouldn’t, and all the barbarians in this series fall so hard.
It just had a plot point that I’ve realized is (kinda randomly) not a favourite of mine.
When this couple originally met he agreed to marry her just so he could bed her, break a curse with his peen (yeah, you read that right 😆), and then leave her (and maybe even kill her). Of course, he fell in love with her instead.
But the plot point of ‘she would figure out that he originally planned to betray her and doubt that he loves her at all’ hung over our heads for most of the story. And rather than being focused on the big-donged barbarian fun times, I was filled with dread instead.
But this is probably a me-thing and most people would really enjoy this book, which is the fourth novella in The Dead Lands series but can be read as a stand-alone.
emotional
medium-paced
You know that Mr. Darcy proposal to Elizabeth? The, “In vain I have struggled. It will not do,” one?
Yeah, this book was basically that face-palm of a proposal. On crack.
Intense gazes. Our heroine thinking he hated her guts… and him actually hating her guts? Because how dare she be so irresistible and so unsuitable at the same time! Our heroine having too much self-respect to gaf (very Elizabeth Bennett: “I have never desired your good opinion. And you have certainly bestowed it most unwillingly.”)
He did that thing where he stared at her while talking to other people… that sh*t is catnip to me.
I read it in a day—the promise of that proposal blowing up in his face made this unputdownable. If only we'd had more on-page softness as their feelings grew. Still, the angst and drama were en pointe.
Yeah, this book was basically that face-palm of a proposal. On crack.
Intense gazes. Our heroine thinking he hated her guts… and him actually hating her guts? Because how dare she be so irresistible and so unsuitable at the same time! Our heroine having too much self-respect to gaf (very Elizabeth Bennett: “I have never desired your good opinion. And you have certainly bestowed it most unwillingly.”)
He did that thing where he stared at her while talking to other people… that sh*t is catnip to me.
I read it in a day—the promise of that proposal blowing up in his face made this unputdownable. If only we'd had more on-page softness as their feelings grew. Still, the angst and drama were en pointe.
emotional
medium-paced
Ooo this book was GOOD. I see why it’s most people’s favourite in the series 👀
Our impoverished marquess hero (his dad gambled everything away, even though our hero begged the gaming hell owner not to let him) needed an heiress. And who better than the legitimate half-sister of said gaming hell owner? Because the only thing better than money is when it comes with a side of revenge.
I was obsessed with these characters. Our heroine was a painter and described things in terms of pigment names (my pigment nerd heart was fluttering). And I loved how she made some major mistakes in the beginning.
And this hero! A strong character motif can really go either way, imo. And this “tomcat” hero was so so good. From his True Neutral alignment, to his unnerving gaze, his prickly yet calculating aloofness, he was such a vibe.
That said, this contained a (very random) pet peeve of mine—the ‘he originally pursued her for a bad reason but fell in love with her instead, now she'll find out and doubt everything’ romance plot. Yet the reason this didn’t drop down to a 3 star reading experience (like it did to the book I reviewed yesterday) is because the plot delivered so much angsty desperation that I was still having a darn good time.
Our impoverished marquess hero (his dad gambled everything away, even though our hero begged the gaming hell owner not to let him) needed an heiress. And who better than the legitimate half-sister of said gaming hell owner? Because the only thing better than money is when it comes with a side of revenge.
I was obsessed with these characters. Our heroine was a painter and described things in terms of pigment names (my pigment nerd heart was fluttering). And I loved how she made some major mistakes in the beginning.
And this hero! A strong character motif can really go either way, imo. And this “tomcat” hero was so so good. From his True Neutral alignment, to his unnerving gaze, his prickly yet calculating aloofness, he was such a vibe.
That said, this contained a (very random) pet peeve of mine—the ‘he originally pursued her for a bad reason but fell in love with her instead, now she'll find out and doubt everything’ romance plot. Yet the reason this didn’t drop down to a 3 star reading experience (like it did to the book I reviewed yesterday) is because the plot delivered so much angsty desperation that I was still having a darn good time.
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
A grumpy/sunshine alien fated mates story with a virgin MMC and half-human raised by baddies in a series I’m loving… and I didn’t like it?
This grumpy hero was the matcha flavour of grumpy heroes: you either love it or you think it tastes like grass.
And not because he was a baddy. He was pretty sweet, actually. A bit dumb, suuuper awkward, and randomly yelled all the time. I was basically picturing him as grumpy Will Ferrell, if that makes any sense.
I just thought it got old? There was a kind of cartoonish flatness to the MCs that I struggled to get in to.
Also, I hate matcha.
This grumpy hero was the matcha flavour of grumpy heroes: you either love it or you think it tastes like grass.
And not because he was a baddy. He was pretty sweet, actually. A bit dumb, suuuper awkward, and randomly yelled all the time. I was basically picturing him as grumpy Will Ferrell, if that makes any sense.
I just thought it got old? There was a kind of cartoonish flatness to the MCs that I struggled to get in to.
Also, I hate matcha.
adventurous
medium-paced
Everyone but me loves this book, and I’m probably wrong… but let’s get into it.
The narration:
▪️ single POV, not my fav
▪️ the narrative voice felt stiff and distant (I DNFed this book in the first chapter last year for this reason)
The spice and… gaslighting?
▪️ as I was reading I had so many notes like, “No doesn’t mean no, she’s fighting and scratching him…” and, “there’s an ‘I own you, I’m using you’ vibe but she’s the last person who would be into that??” So the spice was giving me the ick…
▪️ … but then, the tone changed. They had a dry spell (that was her fault?) because suddenly he was a consent king and wouldn’t touch her without her being obviously consenting? It was such a bizarre shift that I went back and reread everything up to that point. And yeah, I standby my original notes. The beginning was non-con, maybe dub-con, and his change in behaviour was a departure from his original character. And the book was trying to convince me otherwise--nope.
The instalove:
▪️ this aggressive of a love-at-first-sight situation without fated mates… kinda creeps me out? (is there fated mates later in the series? “chosen mates” are meh)
▪️ I didn’t think these MCs were compatible. They were both stubborn and stuck in their ways, though loyal and tough. To make it work, the book did that thing I hate—periodically making the heroine a different person. Even she was like, “Whoever that woman had been last night… it wasn't me.”
The Dothraki/Dakkari thing:
▪️I was so confused about the world building and plot (why was it Bronze Age but also spacefaring? Why was she immediately made queen? etc) and I was having a little rant about it when my husband replied "Because the Dothraki did it on Game of Thrones in 2011.” And I was like, “Oh. Yeah, that is probably why.” But the GoT Dothraki made sense and these Drakkari didn’t.
▪️ my alien romance cravings weren’t satisfied—because they felt too Dothraki, aka human. I wanted more alien-human culture clash, body horror, language barrier, etc.
The plot:
▪️ it was boring. She stayed in her tent, complained about being bored (same, girl), mucked space-horse stalls, and the predictable thing was done to her by the predictable baddies.
Once again, I am SO ALONE with this review. So I am clearly wrong lol
The narration:
▪️ single POV, not my fav
▪️ the narrative voice felt stiff and distant (I DNFed this book in the first chapter last year for this reason)
The spice and… gaslighting?
▪️ as I was reading I had so many notes like, “No doesn’t mean no, she’s fighting and scratching him…” and, “there’s an ‘I own you, I’m using you’ vibe but she’s the last person who would be into that??” So the spice was giving me the ick…
▪️ … but then, the tone changed. They had a dry spell (that was her fault?) because suddenly he was a consent king and wouldn’t touch her without her being obviously consenting? It was such a bizarre shift that I went back and reread everything up to that point. And yeah, I standby my original notes. The beginning was non-con, maybe dub-con, and his change in behaviour was a departure from his original character. And the book was trying to convince me otherwise--nope.
The instalove:
▪️ this aggressive of a love-at-first-sight situation without fated mates… kinda creeps me out? (is there fated mates later in the series? “chosen mates” are meh)
▪️ I didn’t think these MCs were compatible. They were both stubborn and stuck in their ways, though loyal and tough. To make it work, the book did that thing I hate—periodically making the heroine a different person. Even she was like, “Whoever that woman had been last night… it wasn't me.”
The Dothraki/Dakkari thing:
▪️I was so confused about the world building and plot (why was it Bronze Age but also spacefaring? Why was she immediately made queen? etc) and I was having a little rant about it when my husband replied "Because the Dothraki did it on Game of Thrones in 2011.” And I was like, “Oh. Yeah, that is probably why.” But the GoT Dothraki made sense and these Drakkari didn’t.
▪️ my alien romance cravings weren’t satisfied—because they felt too Dothraki, aka human. I wanted more alien-human culture clash, body horror, language barrier, etc.
The plot:
▪️ it was boring. She stayed in her tent, complained about being bored (same, girl), mucked space-horse stalls, and the predictable thing was done to her by the predictable baddies.
Once again, I am SO ALONE with this review. So I am clearly wrong lol
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Me, loving a college sports romance? This is probably the most wtf reading choice I’ve made this year.
I’m an alien-, historical-, fantasy-romance girlie. Not a college sports romance girlie. At all. The last college sports romance I read was a book I DNFed 7 years ago.
Rightly or wrongly, my impression of the subgenre is it’s about jock-ish womanizers, girl-hate about puck bunnies (or whatever we’re calling female side characters), heroines who Aren’t Like Other Girls, and our curiosity about “what that (elite athlete) dick do?” 😅
I say all that to put this review into perspective. Because this book was lovely! And ridiculously unputdownable.
The fake dating in exchange for tutoring premise made me feel so nostalgic. My “but why aren’t they for real dating 🧐?” scepticism was perfectly handled on-page. And our heroine was totally like other girls, which is to say, she was great!
The fake dating was my favourite kind. Not the ‘denying their feelings’ kind—it was the ‘they know they have feelings and the fake dating expiry date is going to rip their heart out but they do it anyways’ kind. Which is so much more angsty, love that.
And our hero was just such a good boi. The whole story was just so sweet and emotionally honest, I was having a great time!
I’m an alien-, historical-, fantasy-romance girlie. Not a college sports romance girlie. At all. The last college sports romance I read was a book I DNFed 7 years ago.
Rightly or wrongly, my impression of the subgenre is it’s about jock-ish womanizers, girl-hate about puck bunnies (or whatever we’re calling female side characters), heroines who Aren’t Like Other Girls, and our curiosity about “what that (elite athlete) dick do?” 😅
I say all that to put this review into perspective. Because this book was lovely! And ridiculously unputdownable.
The fake dating in exchange for tutoring premise made me feel so nostalgic. My “but why aren’t they for real dating 🧐?” scepticism was perfectly handled on-page. And our heroine was totally like other girls, which is to say, she was great!
The fake dating was my favourite kind. Not the ‘denying their feelings’ kind—it was the ‘they know they have feelings and the fake dating expiry date is going to rip their heart out but they do it anyways’ kind. Which is so much more angsty, love that.
And our hero was just such a good boi. The whole story was just so sweet and emotionally honest, I was having a great time!
emotional
medium-paced
I am not a college sports romance girlie. So when I read the first book in this series on a whim and… loved it so much? That HAD to be a fluke. My potential identity crisis was READY to give this one a meh rating. The heroine was his coach’s daughter—and here’s where my prejudices about college sports romances come in… The hero was going to be a vaguely misogynistic douche. She was going to be Not Like Other Girls. And the coach/dad was going to be a possessive caveman who treated our fully grown heroine like the Virgin Mary…
But, for eff’s sake, none of that happened! It was an amazing book, 100% deserving of this 5 star rating. Goddammit.
The coach’s daughter thing was so wholesome. This hero was so heartwarming. There was zero girl-hate. And our heroine read monster romance and she still wasn’t Not Like Other Girls!
The centre of this book was our heroine’s sexy bucket list, complete with some heavy hitters like anal, impact play, DP, and mild exhibitionism… and it was so so well done, down to every little detail.
Our bossy boots in the bedroom guy didn’t just get off on being bossy, he got off on receiving someone’s trust. We Good Girled a heroine who actually had a praise kink. The anal scenes knew what was up. We put down some towels for a period sexy time. Our heroine went pee after coming… like, what??
And it was a friends with benefits romance plot—which has a lot to prove with me. Because, if the couple is so compatible, why don’t they just date? But their reasons for not dating were really compelling (and it wasn’t the coach/dad thing, which would’ve been lame).
These two were so multi-factorially perfect for each other, watching their compatibility unfold as the book went on was making me feel feelings.
It was lovely. My favourite in the series so far.
But, for eff’s sake, none of that happened! It was an amazing book, 100% deserving of this 5 star rating. Goddammit.
The coach’s daughter thing was so wholesome. This hero was so heartwarming. There was zero girl-hate. And our heroine read monster romance and she still wasn’t Not Like Other Girls!
The centre of this book was our heroine’s sexy bucket list, complete with some heavy hitters like anal, impact play, DP, and mild exhibitionism… and it was so so well done, down to every little detail.
Our bossy boots in the bedroom guy didn’t just get off on being bossy, he got off on receiving someone’s trust. We Good Girled a heroine who actually had a praise kink. The anal scenes knew what was up. We put down some towels for a period sexy time. Our heroine went pee after coming… like, what??
And it was a friends with benefits romance plot—which has a lot to prove with me. Because, if the couple is so compatible, why don’t they just date? But their reasons for not dating were really compelling (and it wasn’t the coach/dad thing, which would’ve been lame).
These two were so multi-factorially perfect for each other, watching their compatibility unfold as the book went on was making me feel feelings.
It was lovely. My favourite in the series so far.