corabookworm's Reviews (264)

Couldn’t get into this one bc the romance was just a little over the top without the redeeming banter. RIP

Fun YA fantasy, bit of a classic romance with *alllll* the tropes but I enjoyed rereading it. 

I enjoyed this book! To be honest, listening to the audiobook made me lose track of the plot at some points, but it was interesting and the magic system was super cool! I love when sister relationships are the focus of books, and this one had that, PLUS cute couples and friend groups. Definitely recommend if you're in the mood for a YA fantasy full of dragons and magic.

NOTE: While I was reading, I had to check multiple times to see if there was a prequel I'd forgotten to read. They reference a lot of past events and I would've loved to actually read through that whole war and stuff. But it was also super neat seeing the aftermath of it.

This book was absolutely marvelous. Review to come.

More journey-focused than the other two books. Some of the explanations grew very repetitive at the beginning. Focused a lot more on Finn’s character arc and healing which was kinda cool. All in all not my favorite book in the series but a good conclusion. 

Such an amazing sequel. Finn and Alfie returned, as brilliant and adorable as ever, and in this book we got to see more of Luca, who's hilarious. Maya Motayne did a perfect job painting the main characters as insecure teenagers. Their panicked thoughts and overthinking and assumptions were all so realistic it had me cackling. The conflicts in Oculta were also fantastic. The way it all twisted together was absolutely perfect and even though I predicted a couple of the plot twists, others took me completely by surprise. And the ENDING! Ahh! I'm so excited to start the third book.

It's 1926, and the tense balance between reapers (vampires) and humans in New York is thrown into upheaval following a series of mysterious, brutal murders.

I had really high hopes for this book, which was my mistake. The concept is just so cool. I was expecting something along the lines of These Violent Delights, with rivalries and monsters and murders in the bustling 1920s. And while this book definitely tried to be that, the execution just fell short. The writing was clunky, the plot was convoluted, and the characters just felt flat to me. Don't get me wrong, there were some really good aspects to it! One of the plot twists at the end was really well done, and the plot as a whole was pretty interesting. It just felt a little all-over-the-place and I would have loved to see it cleaned up a bit more. Most disappointing, though, is that the things I was most interested in--the reapers and the backstory between the characters--was never fully explained! Like there was reaper lore, it was just so broken up that I couldn't piece it altogether and I couldn't understand what was happening to them and differentiate between their various blood crazes. Or understand the agreement they had with the Saints, because both the reapers and the humans seemed to kill the others quite a bit?? I just wanted a full explanation! Similarly, I would've loved to see a full flashback or something to Elise and Layla's past instead of just hinting at it over and over again.

This isn't a bad book, it's just a ameuture YA debut that wasn't my cup of tea. If you like YA and vampire stories, you might enjoy this one.

Every year in Ithaca, 12 girls are hung and dropped into the sea to satisfy Poseidon. Except, this year, one survives. Leto wakes on an island and meets the mysterious Melantho, a girl who tells her that to end Poseidon's wrath, they must kill Ithaca's prince.

I really enjoyed this book! The plot was a beautiful combination of curse-breaking and assassination attempts and romance, and the writing was really gorgeous. My only real problems were that 1) the plot and pacing got a little tedious at times, as it would kinda loop around and repeat and drag at a few points and 2) (slight spoilers!) I do feel like it perpetrated the whole bisexuals-are-cheaters narrative as the main character holds a relationship with both Melantho and Mathias without either of them knowing. I know other people had issues with the historical accuracy of this book, but honestly if you go into it just expecting a fun fantasy novel, there's nothing that really sticks out or ruins the story or anything. And all the controversy about the author never having read the Odyssey is pointless. This is NOT a retelling of the Odyssey. It takes one element of the end of the story and spins a new tale that takes place centuries later. (I also really did like this spin on said element of the Odyssey.) 

All in all, this book wasn't perfect, but I really liked it! If you like Greek Mythology-inspired stories and retellings, you should check this one out!

This book was absolutely stunning. Twisting together the biblical stories of Judith and Susanna with the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, it tells of her career as a painter and her survival of rape, along with the trial that followed. It was a powerful story told through beautiful poems, and a must-read for anyone interested in Artemisia or fans of historical fiction poetry.