caseythereader's reviews
1836 reviews

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Thanks to the author for the free copy of this book.

 - It’s tough to review the fourth book in a series without giving away too many spoilers, so let’s just say this. If you are a romantasy lover, especially if you like a bit of a darker slant but not toooo dark, you must get into this series.
- This book is roughly the middle of the series, so the characters are dealing with the fallout of the revelations at the end of book three and getting set up for bigger showdowns to come.
- The stakes are higher, the secrets are bigger, and the spice is spicier. 

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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A Bánh Mì for Two

Trinity Nguyen

DID NOT FINISH: 74%

I feel bad DNFing this because it’s very cute. I just keep getting progressively more annoyed at how unlikely it is. Vivi goes to Saigon and IMMEDIATELY runs into the food blogger she idolizes, Lan. And so far Vivi has shown photos of her long lost family to two random shop owners Lan knows and both the owners know the family. Aren’t there like 10 million people in Saigon?
challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous funny fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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emotional funny fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Oath of Fire

K. Arsenault Rivera

DID NOT FINISH: 32%

The inciting incident of this book is that Psyche is a therapist who is repeatedly fired from jobs (?) who gets fired from her latest job because she outed a trans client to the client’s parents (?!) and her response is basically “I thought it would be okay in this case” (??!!) and then all of that is tossed aside and not really revisited again as far as I can tell. 

Also, there doesn’t seem to be a clear reason why Eros brought Psyche to her. Psyche seems to have zero questions or concerns about getting a weird invite out of the blue to a god orgy where she participates in a ritual she doesn’t know the purpose of. 

The people Psyche confides in already know all about these god parties, and she is also more than once able to immediately find a book that has the exact information she needs about the gods. But also the gods are a secret from the human world? Maybe? Unclear, because Eros mainly just speaks poetically about love and fire and doesn’t have much of a personality. 
challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Thanks to Tor Dot Com Publishing for the free copy of this book.

 - TIME’S AGENT is one of the bleakest books I’ve ever read, and I could not tear myself away.
- Peynado creates a world ravaged by climate change and capitalism, all turbocharged by the existence of pocket worlds that can be used up in service of corporate greed.
- Inside of that larger vision is the tender grief of Raquel and Marlena, mourning a life that was ripped from them in an instant.
- All of this is held within barely 200 pages. I really hope to see more work from Peynado in the future. 

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dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Thanks to Libro FM for the free copy of this book.

 - SNOWGLOBE has quite an inventive premise. The idea that the fee for living in the only hospitable city is to become a reality TV star is fantastic.
- However, we barely saw what that daily life might be like. Most of the book happened in non-filming moments, so much so that it felt like they were hardly ever actually filming. Some of the logistics of it didn’t make sense either, though I can mostly forgive that in a YA novel.
- I could see the twist coming, but still enjoyed listening to it play out. So, mixed feelings on this book but I’m still glad I gave it a try. 

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