charliauthor's Reviews (531)

Surprising!

This cover really doesnt do this book justice because it is sooo much more than it appears to be.
This book is basically what From Blood and Ash wishes it was and then some!

Romy is a thief in NYC and through some random acts of insanity, is transported to another time and place where she is in fact a princess being accused of murder.

What follows is her journey of finding out who she really is and how she can get home while saving her skin and not falling in love with the king.

This is such a good mix of Urban and Traditional fantasy and Im excited to continue the series!

(3.5) What a fun ride!
When I heard there was a pirate adventure book featuring a Black cast, I was SOLD!
I was so excited to read something a little different in the fantasy sphere and it was a such a fun time!

MC Samara is working a shitty job in a tavern on the isles desperate to get away to a more adventurous life on the sea. When the call to the ocean comes in the form of having to reunite with the ex who jilted her some years ago, Samara is reluctant but goes anyway and starts an adventure for the mysterious Macarios' Scepter.
Joined by her twin sister Seraphina, an academic nun and her aforementioned ex, pirate captain Baz Blackwater; Samara learns about her new purpose in life and all the magic that now entails.

Where this book shines is the incredible descriptions of the islands they inhabit and the pirate life. I loved the terminology and the motley crew of the Pursuer. I felt really engaged in the physical world that was built and loved the exploration of the various isles. The characters feel authentic as well which is another bonus. The debauchery of pirate life, the banter between the crew and the secret love between ex lovers was so funny and relatable.

The main reason I didn't give this a solid 4 is because of the lack of lore in the world building. There is so much richness in the world that wasn't significantly explored for me. The scepter, the gods, the chosen one prophecy and reasoning were sort of rushed over so even though the adventure and action was amazing; there was a larger understanding of why that was missing for me. It could have gone a lot deeper in that respect but I hope this is done more in the second and third books in the trilogy!

Book 2, The Secret Library is available now and book 3, The Spell Keeper is available soon!

This is the second book by @joya.goffney that I’ve read that solidifies how important it is to see your self in art because i enjoyed it sooo much!

After the amazingly cute #ExcuseMeWhileIUglyCry, I was so excited to have been approved for an ARC of Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl and it did not disappoint!!

Its been a long while since ive read a four part series as ive always found them a little weird. What can you split into four that you couldnt have just wrapped up with a bigger third book?

The third instalment of the Embers series falls prey to this set up, as i simply wasnt as invested in it as I was the first two books. The story still has shocking revelations and the characters remain interesting, but the parts that made them unique when starting, by this book had been overly played out.

How many times is Keris going to get one over on Helene before she works shit out earlier? How many times are Elias and Laia going to not kiss? Like dafuq!?

I listened to my first audiobook with Fire and Blood and im so glad i did!
This is written basically like a history book so to have to read essentially non fiction seemed like it would be a little hard so i was happy there was this as a great alternative.

GRRM is a master of worldbuilding and lore and the history of the Targaryens is as rich and intense as it gets. This tells the Targaryen history from the conquering of Westeros by Aegon the Conqueror to the first 150 years or so until Aegon III and it is AMAZING! There is so much drama and politics and incest (theyre targaryens what do you expect) and murders and poisonings, its just so great.

This book details the Dance of the Dragons which is the basis of the new House of the Dragon show; which depicts the civil war between House Targaryen Iron Throne claimants and half siblings, Rhaenyra and Aegon.

Its beautiful, its intense, its rich and emotionally taxing and i stan it all lol i recommend listening to this rather than reading to get the best out of this amazing world.

Yes. The ending is amazing.
No. It wasn’t worth the 800 pages it took to get there.

Im highly annoyed by this book and the fact that SJM has me by the balls cause as pissed off as I am, i HAVE to read her books. I physically cant, not read them!

But I digress! 85% of the book just isn’t good.
Its very slow, its very dry and heavy on the world building and characters and the plot just doesn’t cut it. Too many lines of plot were picked up and then sometimes forgotten so it just dragged!

To add insult to injury, the smut is mediocre AF! We were promised steam akin to ACOSF and i am sorry, but Maury determined, that was a lie! It was tame as hell and too infrequent. The book didnt need to be a smutfest but when the plot was lacking any substance, it would have helped to be uplifted by some steam.

Hunt and Ruhn are to be protected at all costs but Bryce regressed as a character and i found myself kinda losing interest in her again after her great arc in book 1. I didnt care about Ithan or Tharion, the big reveal wasnt even all that shocking and I could have done without the endless whiteboard scenes of repetitive explanation.

No. I didnt love it.
Yes. Im going to read the next book cause im clearly a sucker for punishment.

Im very pissed off that it will get high ratings online simply for the last 4 ish pages when the first 800 are bland as hell!