booksare42's Reviews (608)

 I find books like Caraval to be the most difficult to review. I enjoyed the book, there were moments that had me intrigued, but I wasn’t super invested. There wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with Caraval but there also wasn’t anything that made it stand out. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t love the characters in Caraval. I found the main character, Scarlett, to be annoying. While I could sympathize with her concerns about her sister, after a while I found it repetitive. It was difficult to get a feel for a lot of the other characters because in the world of Caraval things and people aren’t always what they seem. 

I liked the ideas of “remember it’s only a game” and not getting too swept up in the game. These ideas kept me on my toes and they provided a lot twists and turns that kept me invested enough to keep reading. 

I found the world-building in Caraval to be lacking. While I’m not a fan of heavy world-building, I thought Caraval could have used a bit more. I liked learning about the history of the game but I would have liked to know more about the magic and the world it’s set in. 

Caraval has a romantic storyline in it, I liked watching it unfold and I’m curious to see where it goes as the series continues. 

There were a few moments in Caraval that were unexpectedly violent, including some parental violence. 

Overall, I enjoyed Caraval enough to want to continue on with the rest of the series, but I also found it underwhelming. 

 Done and Dusted is a steamy cowboy romance that features the “brother’s best friend” trope. 

I thought that Clementine “Emmy” Ryder and Luke Brooks had great chemistry. I enjoyed their banter and seeing their relationship evolve from friendship to something more. I thought they had some sweet moments while they were getting to know each other, and I especially liked the moments where Luke was helping Emmy work through her trauma from her riding accident. 

I also appreciated the mental health rep in Done and Dusted. Emmy has ADHD and there were scenes where she talks how it affects her. 

I enjoyed getting to know the other characters in Done and Dusted. I liked Emmy’s family and her best friend, I’m looking forward to reading their books and getting to know them more. 

One of the best things about Done and Dusted is that it does not have a third act break-up, I wish more books would leave this common occurrence out. 

As far as spice goes, Done and Dusted has it’s fair share of open door spicy moments. I thought they were well-written and not overly cringy. 

Overall, I really enjoyed Done and Dusted and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the Rebel Blue Ranch series. 

 Amari and the Night Brothers is the first book in a magical middle-grade series. Set at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, it features some fantastic characters, great world-building, and lots of twists and turns to keep you hooked until the very end. 

Amari is a great main character. She’s faced a lot of adversity in her life. She’s dealt with bullies and things have not been easy for her since her brother mysteriously disappeared. Amari is an easy character to root for and I really enjoyed seeing her grow throughout the book. I liked seeing her become more comfortable in the supernatural world and starting to believe in herself more and more as the story went on. 

Amari and the Night Brothers also has a great set of supporting characters. Elise is Amari’s roommate and she is a weredragon. She’s brilliant and I love the friendship between Elise and Amari. Agent Magnus and Agent Fiona are senior agents at the Bureau of Supernatural Investigations. I enjoyed getting to know them, their pride in their careers, and some of the comments they made. Dylan and Lara are an interesting pair and I’m curious to see how their roles evolve later on in the series. 

I love the world building in Amari and the Night Brothers. I love books where the supernatural world co-exists with the ordinary world. I love the idea that some famous moments in the ordinary world were caused by the supernatural world and that there are cover stories to explain things. I loved learning about the supernatural world with Amari. I liked seeing the different departments in the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. I would definitely read some of the books Amari had to read for her Junior Agent tests just to learn more about the supernatural world. I also love how open ended this world is and how much room there is for more. 

I also quite enjoyed the mystery aspect to this book. I liked trying to piece together what happened to Quinton and Maria. Since this was a reread for me, I did remember one major plot point to this mystery, but I still enjoyed putting the clues together and seeing what I missed the first time around. 

I thought the three challenges to become a junior agent were a lot of fun. I enjoyed the set up of the first two challenges and the tricks that were built into them. I enjoyed seeing Amari grow more confident throughout the challenges and how she used her new found skills to succeed. 

I thought the idea of magicians being illegal was interesting. I liked the parallels between Amari’s life growing up in a low-income area and being a magician. I liked how Amari used her experiences growing up to help her navigate her newfound title. I’m curious to see what happens with magicians in the rest of the series. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my reread of Amari and the Night Brothers. I think it’s a brilliant opener to a middle-grade fantasy series. I’m invested in Amari and her career as a Junior Agent. I’m looking forward to finally continuing on with this series. 

This review was originally posted on https://booksare42.com/

Thank you to the Write Reads for organizing this blog tour and for providing me with the materials for it. Thank you to the publisher (Tiny Tree Press) for providing me with a copy of this book for the blog tour. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

 

Skyfleet: March of the Mutabugs is a fun, fast-paced, middle-grade adventure with some great representation in it.

The Mutabugs are attacking the New World and are destroying everything. The Skyfleet base isn’t sure how much longer they’ll be able to hold on. Amberley, with the help of her best friend Ricardo, are determined to repair her parents’ plane to help save the New World and to prove that they can be valuable to the base.

Skyfleet had some disability rep in it, Amberley is a wheelchair user and Ric is not able to see without his Opti-Kit. These two characters were likeable and easy to root for. Skyfleet was fast paced and full of thrilling and intense moments.

I liked the different planes and their technology. I thought the world-building was creative. I hope there are more books set in this world because I would love to read more adventures featuring Amberley and Ric. 

This review was originally posted on https://booksare42.com/
 

I decided to start the Under the Mistletoe Collection with Only Santas in the Building because I’m a fan of Alexis Daria.

This was a cute little festive story. Even though the story was only 65 pages, I got a good sense of Evie and Theo and I liked both of them. I liked that I was able to get a feel for what the community in the apartment building was like and who some of the different residents were.

I thought this story had a good balance of spice and Christmas cheer. I appreciated the theme of the Christmas party and Evie and Theo’s costume attempts. There were a few slightly awkward moments during the spicier scenes, but most spicy scenes have a slight hint of awkwardness.

Overall, this was an enjoyable story. It wasn’t the most memorable, but it was a nice and quick read that got me feeling a bit more festive. 

This review was originally posted on https://booksare42.com/
 

This was my first time reading anything by Alexandria Bellefleur and the second novella I’ve picked up in the Under the Mistletoe Collection.

The blurb for this novella describes the plot quite well. Everleigh Dangerfield (of course her last name is Dangerfield) has had a few holiday mishaps which has led the fire department, including Griffin Brantley, to her door. Things start to heat up between them, sparks fly, and there’s a decent amount of steam.

I found this novella to be on the cheesier side, but it was what I expected. It had a decent mix of banter and spice. I appreciated the banter and some of the comments that the two main characters exchanged. While there weren’t any laugh-out-loud moments, I did smirk a few times. There were a few cringy moments, but I find that most spicy scenes have a few cringy moments.

I’m not a fan of firefighter romances, but I think this would be a great novella for people who are fans of that trope.

While this novella took place at Christmastime, it didn’t feel as Christmasy as Only Santas in the Building.

 

This review was originally posted on https://booksare42.com/

Based on what I mentioned in my post intro, it’s safe to say that I did not love All By My Elf. I went into this novella with low expectations because the average rating on Goodreads and Amazon isn’t that great, but I wasn’t expecting to dislike it as much as I did.

The first thing I want to mention is that this was not a Christmas novella. Yes, it took place at Christmas, but Christmas was not relevant to the story. It took place in winter and the dates happened to be around Christmas.

Despite not enjoying the novella, I didn’t hate the romance. I didn’t hate the awkward miscommunication and mixed signals that were going on. I can appreciate that people are awkward and might not realize that there’s some mutual pining going on. I also appreciated that the male main character tells the female main character that he didn’t say anything because he didn’t want her to feel forced or uncomfortable since they were working in close proximity.

My main issue with All By My Elf is the refurbished wienermobile. Firstly, why? Secondly, WHY?! Thirdly, why did they have to do that in the back of the wienermobile? I don’t want to get into details about what happened in the back of the refurbished wienermobile while it was stuck on the highway in the middle of the snowstorm, but it’s a romance novel so you can probably fill in the blanks. A lot of the dialogue during this scene was more cringy than usual.

The most believable part of All By My Elf is that three people working in academia would have to take on an extra job promoting mincemeat pastries during the Christmas holidays to make ends meet. It also very believable that their manager would tell them they have to drive in terrible weather conditions and that it was non-negotiable.

Overall, All By My Elf just was not for me. The refurbished wienermobile was too much, but it did make this novella memorable.