So technically, I didn't finish it. I think I got to about 50 or something percent, according to my Kindle, but I should have stopped long ago.

Found it boring, too much religion, instalove, characters were annoying - need I go on?

So yeah, was sad that I didn't like it, because I love the crusades and thought I would as it had the added element of demons, but most of the characters annoyed me - I think I only like Mattias - is that the spelling?

Forgot when I started it, so just made it to today.

Song of Blood and Stone (Earthsinger Chronicles Book #1
L. Penelope
Year published: 2018
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Young Adult ~ Fantasy ~ New Adult ~ Romance
Stars: Dnf’ed at 50%. Wasn’t interesting me enough. But for the most part – it was a 2 star read.

Someone said on Goodreads that the book was self-published in 2015 and then was picked up by a publishing company. But since I received the book through Netgalley – I’m choosing the details of the ‘newly’ published over the self-published detais

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for a free and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. Please note that as this as I read an arc I have no way of knowing that if the scene shows up in the published version.

Warning: There’s illusions towards rape and also an attempt at rape.

So, I wanted to like this book. It looked good – had magic and mentioned a land at war and I really like those things. But then it all fell apart. The book wasn’t interesting enough. I tried to keep on – that’s why I kept reading until 50% – thought it was maybe a slow read – and it was a slow read, but it didn’t pick up for me.

The characters were a bit boring to me. I liked Jasminda, though, she was strong, but her story confused me a lot. I could never keep up with which side of the land her dad comes from and which side her mom comes from and what’s the story behind both – it all confused me so much. And Jack, yeah, it’s not that he was too intense, it’s just that he instantly fell in love with Jasminda and that’s not really in my interests.

The plot, while decent, had too much going on and too much time spent highlighting subplots to allow the main plot to thrive. The plot had the chance and ability to grow, it just didn’t – and that upset me a bit.

https://dbsguidetothegalaxy.wordpress.com/2019/08/02/mini-dnf-review/

Listen, I didn’t finish this one, okay? I stopped around, I think, 15%. Therefore I don’t have as an articulate summary as my other reviews (or well, two, excluding this one, as I recently started doing this).

I did want to like this book, as it seemed like a good book – a lot of people on Goodreads liked it. Everyone said it had a good plot, but I sometimes have trouble with the going back and forth of time. But unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me – which is perfectly fine, as not everyone likes the same book.

I think what I didn’t like were the characters – Scott and Winny. I didn’t click with them and if I don’t click with the characters within the first 10 or so percent of a book, I’ll probably not finish it.

Do I recommend this: Since I didn’t finish it, I can’t actually say if it’s good or not. If you read the actual summary (the way more concise one on Goodreads. and you think it’s interesting, definitely go have a read!).

Apparently I got to 22 % percent while reading this, which probably meant I was a little bit bored reading this. Again, I’m sorry if you read this book and you really liked it, and once again, as mentioned earlier, that’s totally fine. But I didn’t enjoy it.

I’m that kind of reader where I pay attention to the characters, plot, and worldbuilding (if it’s a fantasy-type novel). But more often than not, I’ll focus on the characters. I want to like the characters I read, I want to root for them. I want see them achieve the goals they set for themselves. But for these characters, I could see they had goals and wanted to achieve them; I just didn’t feel the need to root for them.

Do I recommend this: If you’re interested in reading about pirates, f/f relationships or long hauls on the sea, then you might want to pick this up. Also remember that as I didn’t finish this book, I don’t know how the book ends or how specific events unfold.

Reason I chose the book:

Goblins, need I say more? I love fantasy and the darker the better. I started this book and it looked really good. Until it didn’t.

Reason why I’m not finishing it:

The way the depression was written is the main reason why I’m not finishing the book. Livy, Skye’s sister keeps on mentioning how Skye was such a happy person, like happy people can’t become depressed? Depression comes in all shapes and sizes and happy people can just as easily have depression as sad people – even if they ‘don’t show it’ in the way that 'sad' people do.

The title is Goblins, right? Except the goblins don’t really feature much in the story (I stopped reading around the 50% mark, so I don’t know if they appear more heavily in the second half of the book). But I would expect there to be a lot more scenes involving the goblins rather than the people. It’s called Goblins of Bellwater not People of Bellwater.

Any thoughts I had while reading the book:

The goblins lure people in by planting the scent of coffee and baked goods. And let me just tell you that that will MOST DEFINITELY get me there. Like I would dive head in if I smell coffee and scones. Especially if the scones have whipped cream on it.

Warnings: sexual assault. Homophobia. Possibly others further into the book.
I picked this up because I liked the premise and people were speaking about it. I also got to like 40-something % and found myself just swiping through the pages.
So yeah. I figured if I was absentmindedly turning the pages, it meant I wasn’t actually interested in the story.