courtofbooksanddogs's Reviews (350)

Shield of Sparrows

Devney Perry

5.0

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Um hello, Guardian. 👋

The way I am obsessed with this book!!! And that ending had me gasping so many times! I’m so excited for book 2 whenever that happens. Catch me reading Devney’s backlist in the meantime!

Not a Strong Enough Word

Allie Samberts

5.0

challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense 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: Complicated

What. A. Book. I laughed, I smiled, I swooned, and I cried. Ryan is officially my top MMC in Allie’s books so far! He reminds me so much of my partner and it just gave me the gushy lovey dovey feelings the whole read 😭

It would be so easy for me to solely focus on Ryan and his goodness for my entire review, but I’m not going to. I just want to talk about Scarlett and the incredibly complex and human character that she is. Scarlett deals with depression and is forced to come to terms with what boundaries she needs to set in her life in order to manage her mental and physical health. These don’t come easy and are filled with therapist appointments, medication, coping methods, and a support system to help her stay on track.

She does all of these things and is ready to try and go back to her career as a writer, but guess what? She’s not cured and still faces things that challenge these new boundaries she has set for herself. Allie perfectly encapsulates my own experience with depression in so many ways. Sometimes there isn’t a “fix” and it becomes more about managing and having balance. This story coming out in mental health awareness month is absolute perfection. Intentional or not, I appreciate the awareness it brings!

Also, I love Ryan. 😘

Thank you to Allie Samberts for the digital ARC of this book!

Content Warnings

My Demon Hunter

Aurora Ascher

3.0

adventurous dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Much like book 1 this was an experience and a half 😂

The Mist Thief

LJ Andrews

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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: Yes

Jonas and Skadi 😍😍😍😍 True morally grey MMC, FMC who is sassy, strong, yet also vulnerable, so many “my wife” moments that I melted over and over again.

Infinity Stars ✨ By far my fav romantasy read of 2025! LJ crushed it!

Be monstrous 🖤

The Ever Queen

LJ Andrews

5.0

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-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

Butcher & Blackbird

Brynne Weaver

3.5

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This was something 😂 I enjoyed so much of it and questioned my reasons for reading on others 🙈 As of this moment I don’t know if I will finish the trilogy anytime soon, but probably will at some point!