charliauthor's Reviews (531)

 Everyone is entitled to their opinions but to the horde of people who gave this a 5 star, blink twice if you're okay and need someone to come and rescue you from the hostage situation you're so clearly in.

Iron Flame is incredibly bad. I only gave it the extra star because despite his spiral toward becoming a simpy loser, I still like Xaden. Take him out of it - which RY did for the first 300 pages - and theres nothing much else going on. The writing is terrible, the characterisations are weak and the plot is so horrendously non existent, that after a combined total of over 1000 pages, I still don't really know whats going on or why! This is going to be a long one guys...buckle in!

VIOLET - She's boring, overpowered, immature and extremely ignorant. Everyone panders to her which doesnt allow her to grow but to continuously get away with shit that someone else, anyone else among the fifty million cast members could have done. She thinks she knows everything, she actually gets upset when she doesnt know everything and spent the vast majority of the book moaning at Xaden about not telling her everything when that information did in fact get them all in trouble. For someone who keeps saying how important knowledge is to her, why doesnt she figure things out before jumping in headfirst, like oh, how to wield your magic correctly so you dont get everyone killed!

XADEN - One of the only good things about this book after the dragons for me and even he is walking on thin ice. Why does he keep allowing Violet to do stupid things and not reprimand her about them. I'm all for the 'he lets me make my own choices and doesnt try to coddle me' trope but at this point, she's a fucking liability Xaden! You're not a very good lieutenant/leader if you keep putting this obvious weak link of a person on the frontlines. I hate the choices he's making just because he's in love and while that might be cute in other books, if youre trying to explain how high these stakes are, then this isn't the way to do it.

PLOT/STAKES - There arent any. Im sorry but i dont understand how noone knows whats going on in Aretia. How entire councils of seemingly adults are sitting around listening to a 24 year old just because what, his dad was the rebellion leader before? So, that doesnt mean Xaden has any military expertise. If General Melgren thinks the rebel kids are so dangerous, why recruit them into the college? Why not have someone watching Tyrrendor to make sure they dont, ya know...rebel again.
The whole flight from Basgiath where they just continued going to school for a few hundred pages made no sense. We're fighting a war supposedly but you've got time to go to Battle Brief? Sure...okay. That makes sense.

WARDS/VENIN/JACK - Im sorry but none of this makes sense and she tried too hard to make it complex that she wrote herself into a weird hole of complexity and idiocy that i cant seem to get out of? Nolon was doing what? Mending Jack so he could control him after becoming venin? Why not just kill the guy! The venin i straight up dont get? They're people who took power from others, how? The only reason i know this is because Imogen almost had a fit that she was turning into one but is siphoning even her power? I thought it was Sloane's?? If it is, then why is Sloane not a venin after doing whatever she did to the mum/General Sorrengail?
She's trying to get us to believe that the wards are what keeps everyone ignorant to whats going on outside them but this just does not work for me. Absolutely NOONE sees magical men and wyverns flying around before superhero violet turns up to Basgiath? gtfoh!!!

SMUT/ROMANCE - I liked the smut. Xaden can dick me down any day because at this point, it seems to be the only thing he's good at . i liked the addition of Cat until i didnt because it just felt like another thing RY threw in to make X and V fight when there was no need to be fighting. Their entire argument about the questions etc was pointless. Them being apart for the first half of the book was pointless and infuriating because it was so forced.

DRAGONS - I like Tairn and i actually like Sgaeyl but we dont get enough of her. Im not a fan of Andarna anymore because like so much else in this book, she feels forced after that ending. Of course Violet has not only two dragons but one is a special breed that has been hiding for 600 years -_- Its all just too coincidental and forced and unoriginal.
Can I also point out that Tairn's sizing makes no sense. When we first meet him, Violet says she doesnt come up to his ankle so how does he catch her by her arms in his claws when she falls or whatever because surely his claws would be too big to grip under each arm. Surely he'd impale her on one at some point if not break her neck when she falls at such velocity and he catches her then throws her back into the saddle. Surely her already fragile bones would shatter on impact???

GRYPHONS/FLIERS - .....what?! Like honestly, what?! What is even going on there? Who and what are they? What was that whole random section in the middle about them climbing over some mountain. I dont understand

I could be here forever but this book is terrible. The pacing was ridiculous. It did not need to be that long and the ending was bullshit. She just made it something to do with Xaden because she knows that something happening to the 'couple' will be the draw for more sales.

I despise how publishing is using us, pushing out this same old tropey books that have absolutely no substance. They should be ashamed. 

 I enjoyed this until i didn't lol
While there was nothing terrible about it, there was nothing spectacular about it either and for a book that was clearly meant to be about the smut, there wasnt that much of it.
There was a decent idea of a plot but it didnt quite lift off the ground the way i expected or needed it to. The curse in question wasnt particularly clear and neither was the world they live in that seems to include supernatural beings but why this is never really explained.
I liked the main characters well enough and their bonding as woman and wolf was actually quite sweet but nothing else really got my motor running.
Decent writing style throughout but just not enough substance to give it that little extra star. 

 This was excellent!

Honestly, after so many duds in the Fantasy space, i decided to have a breather/pallet cleanser and it was phenomenal! The added pleasure of this being set in South London with all its accompanying colloquialisms and cultural references, was a pleasure to read.

Ola and Michael are considered InstaFamous and considered the epitome of 'Black Love'. They seem to have it all but when Michael's name is found on a list of men in the media who are predators, the cracks in their relationship begin to show. This book is the realistic fallout of the power of the internet and the Black social scene.

To the untrained eye, this is basically written in an entire other language! Lol. It might even be difficult for non-black South Londoners to understand but for me who grew up around the speech, these types of people, it an exemplary spotlight on our culture, the good and the bad. Saying that, I did read this alongside some international friends and while they did ask me what some terms meant lol, they all agreed that the context allowed them to grasp what was being said and that it didnt take too much away from the experience.

I adore how the author was able to describe certain characters that had similarities to actual Black famous and Insta-famous individuals that made it all the more entertaining. This isn’t to say that those people had done anything like what the book says they’ve done, but they were just wonderful depictions of the type of people found in our communities and it was clear that the author was able to build those visions through a shared social experience.

I laughed. I cried and at some moments, I was genuinely afraid to turn the page because I wasn’t sure what surprises would be revealed. The social commentary throughout out was incredible and i loved how the author was able to navigate the nuances of social injustices, criminal injustices, victim blaming, political and racial movements and a host of other concerns in between. Everything just read and felt so real, and i cant commend it enough for being so genuine.

The ending absolutely blew me away and i implore all of your to go out and read this book. Not only for a great story, an easy read with depth but to get a real depiction of Black British culture at its finest but in some cases, at its worst. 

 I started this after recommendations from friends and while there were some funny laugh out loud bits, I just wasn't really invested and stopped at 79%.
For what is meant to be a fluffy past time for me, there was just alot of nothing going on and the steam wasn't that steamy. I liked how the time period was blended into the smut and remained true to the social conventions but the characters were just a little flat and at some points a little unrealistic. The setting of spindle cove was also a little unrealistic with the lack of and calibre of men. It stopped being funny and just seemed a little pathetic. I was definitely on the MMCs side in that regard lol
A cute enough read but i just dont think i was in the mood for it 

 I'm not entirely sure how i found this one but it didnt really live up to the hype of the whole horseman thing. People keep trying to do this right and im not sure why its not working for me.

In this case, it was mainly the writing that needed A LOT of work. Typos and missing words aside (im an indie too, i'll never slate someone too harshly for that) not a lot of this made sense. We're constantly told how dangerous these men are, what they're capable of but dont actually see any of this. Again, constantly told they have enemies, the FMC is working for their enemies but still dont know who these enemies are.

The FMC is a problem all on her own. She's just super contradictory and really okay with all the depravity they do with her so she doesnt bat an eyelid, despite having amnesia and not even remembering that she's had sex before :/

The 4 MMC all have varying levels of depraved personalities but they're all pretty much standard fare: the uptight Dom, the happy go lucky rake, the quiet one with personal demons and the unhinged crazy. In short, they're not very original and the fact the writer kept trying to fit them into the horsemen roles, made no sense. At one point "pestilence" asks her if she wants him to "infect" her. During sex. Like, is this meant to be sexy because i dont want to be thinking about STIs while im getting railed my friend!

The book's just silly.
Will i read the next one?
Of course i fucking will LOL 

 The fact this whole situation is so one sided really irks me.
Noone would not be jealous if she bangs one more than the others and its almost an insult to my intelligence to think i will let this fly.

This is insanely unrealistic - noone can have this much sex with this many people and their vagina not be on FIRE! Lube or not, this is just ridiculous to expect her to get railed in all orifices endlessly with no complaint of fatigue or tearing or something! haha i cannot with this 

 Even though we finally get some answers as to what happened to the FMC in this, literally nothing else goes on. Theres no worldbuilding, no reasons, no extended characters with and depth and theres simply no plot. Its just endless repetitive scenes of Scarlett asking to be degraded to feel better which i absolutely do not get.