dbguide2's Reviews (863)

 The first book was good. This one was BETTER and I loved that! I enjoyed reading the first book but THIS one I kept reading until I couldn’t keep my eyes open 😂. Often they say a sequel in a trilogy lacks but I actually enjoy most of the second books in the trilogies that I’ve read. 

It has a dual pov which I do love – dual/multi-povs. The previous book also had it but I enjoyed it more here because we could go from Lor hating Nadir to Nadir’s pov being like “damn, she’s hot” 😂. That was also fun for me because I DO like that transition in dual povs from the one person hating the other person and then it switches to the second pov where they’re thinking “hate” but also “hot” – it’s always entertaining and makes for good banter.  

Lor and Nadir just grow more fun in this one. We also get to see more growth from them, which I liked. Lor grew more into herself – realised what kind of a person she could be if she believed in herself and set her mind to it. I’m looking forward to the third book to see how she grows even more. 

And Nadir – we definitely got more of his personality than in the first book and I enjoyed seeing all of it. Although he does present and hold himself to be a cold person I liked that we got to know the warmer side of him – and then the very warm (hot) side of him 😅 
 

Of course, this being a romance book I can’t not talk about the romance in this. My favourite – enemies to lovers and Tuli’s done it really well! Which made the reading of it all the better and my flying through it was definitely also due to the good writing of the trope. I think many writers think that because they like reading the trope they’ll automatically be good at writing it. It’s very much not that and more to do with how well the author understands the trope (and also if the author is a good writer as well). 

I was grinning through most of their scenes because they were mostly filled with hate banter which then turned into… other types of banter 😂 but still had those notes of the hate banter – which I’m glad she kept in. Tuli can most certainly write an enemies-to-lovers romance any day because I’ll be seated for it all. 

I did have an issue with the flashback scenes, though. I felt like they weren’t written the best that they could’ve been? Like I saw what Tuli could do with the present scenes so I knew what she was capable of, but it didn’t cross over so much to the flashback scenes. I think maybe the issue was that she was trying to write “old” – as in the writing you have in high/epic fantasy that takes like 5 sentences to say one thing – and it didn’t work out that well? Which I understand because I purposefully write causally fantasy because I don’t want to sit and figure out how to write like that 😄. 
 

I can’t say much about the plot because being a sequel I don’t want to give away anything but I really liked how it immediately picked up where the first book left off. I would’ve liked more attention given to the Sun Realm but maybe Tuli’s keeping that for the third book. 

 I moved from liking it and not liking it all throughout my reading of the graphic novel. First I though it was an interesting take on the Final Girl trope. Then it’s giving too much of the trope. One time it says what I feel about the horror genres, next I could tell so much that it was written by a man. 

I first gave it a higher rating and now I’m thinking just a solid 3 star rating. Middle of the road, average etc. The 3-star rating is honestly very versatile so with Sacred Lamb because while I was reading I thought 3 star but more towards 4. Then when I finished it I thought “Nope, this is definitely closer to the early stages of 3 stars. Or like 2.5 to 3 stars.” I decided to just give it 3 because in the end it did focus on horror, the different aspects and elements of it, which I did like. 

What I really liked was the different “eras” shown amongst all the Final Girls – the babysitter – though I guess it’s also the “home invasion” horror genre as a whole? I was waiting for a Haunted House or Exorcism Final Girl but oh well. Can’t have everything. I did want some type of Final Girl from a Final Destination/Wrong Turn/I Know What You Did Last Summer genre – which would fall under the slasher sub-genre, I suppose? I love all three of those movie franchises) and was waiting for one of those (the Final Girl) to show up. 
 

I liked the illustrations and way they were shown – I did like that they weren’t visibly perfect. I think a lot of the times in horror movies the female characters are always in tight clothing, hair’s messed up but still looks great. Even when they’re running away from the murderer they look super perfect. And I don’t want that! I want messy protagonists – like physically messy – because looking super hot is a thing in horror movies. Either the Final Girl is a virgin and innocent or she’s sexy even when she’s in danger. I just want messiness! 

I didn’t really connect much with the main character? I think her whole thing about being an Influencer is fine, but she was… famous for just unboxing things? That just sounds like Brooklyn from Camp Cretaceous for me and I’d much rather watch that. I liked “The Babysitter” much more and would’ve preferred her to be the main character – even though that would’ve changed the plot around a lot. 

 To me the synopsis didn’t indicate that it was a fantasy set in our world so when Tamsin used a cell phone I was so confused for a few minutes. But that quickly changed because I really liked how the author approached it and mixed the two (a typical fantasy world and the ‘normal’ world) together. Bracken really did a good job at it, which made my reading of the book easier because I was able to enjoy myself without having to work too hard on tying the two worlds together. As Bracken did such a good job on that – all I had to do was sit back and enjoy the ride. 

There are a lot of new terms in the book that I had to learn. I was reading on my Kindle so I was able to highlight them all in a specific colour and just refer back to them at any point in the book – that helped a bit 😅. But as I carried on I got more used to the terms that they used and I didn’t really need to go back to look back when they were first used. Maybe the published version has a Glossery, or I hope so. 
 

I absolutely love messy characters. I think when they’re written well they can be so fun and relatable to a lot of us. Tamsin was definitely both cases here (written well and relatable as a messy character) as I loved her so much. She was hands-down my favourite character of all, with Emrys being a close second. I loved that we got to read through Tamsin’s perspective and therefore got to know her. If it were from her brother’s perspective or maybe even Tamsin’s POV but Third Person and not First Person – I think we wouldn’t have gotten to know her so much because she is so closed off. 

I loved seeing her character development – how she went from not wanting to make friends with others, being closed off. Then slowly becoming someone who wanted to open up to others and start making friends. Her character growth was also testament to Bracken’s writing because not every writer can do character growth like that. 

Emrys reminded me of that moment in the romcom movie where their parents (usually their dads) want him to be this type of person, like play (American) football. And then the character (Emrys in this instance) turns around and goes “No dad, that’s YOUR dream!” While that character in the movies is a very cliché character. That was Emrys to me 😁 Although the character might be a bit cliché but I actually really like them. And I really loved Emrys’s character! He was sweet and snarky, smart and a character I didn’t know I’d love entirely! 
 

 The writing was amazing – there was so many quotes that I highlighted, even though this was an arc and I can’t really share them in the review. I know now why people love her writing so much, I can definitely see why. She is fantastic at writing sentences they just make you feel “oh I felt that.“ And obviously a lot of the writing is linked to the characters, so no wonder I liked it. 

I do love when enemies-to-lovers is accompanied by reluctant allies or they’re forced to work together. I love those two tropes together, they just chef’s kiss. Emrys and Tamsin were absolutely fantastic together and I cannot wait to see more of them in the next book. They popped up early with their banter and I was HERE FOR IT every single turn of the page/tap of the screen because YES. Fuel with your hatred until it turns into something more 😂 
 

Tamsin and Neve’s friendship was so sweet! I didn’t expect to like Neve as much as I ended up doing but I did, which I’m more than happy with. Neve is like that character who just sits down next to you and goes “Hey, we’re gonna be friends now” and you just have to accept that 😄. 

I just think that Tamsin needs a hug or a very warm blanket (whichever she’ll prefer) and a big bowl of soup with some very fresh bread. She goes through a LOT in the book and the child NEEDS sustenance and the knowledge that someone cares. There’s a point where she thought of others and I was like a proud mama because she’s thinking of others!! She’s learning and growing!! 

 I enjoy urban fantasies – like I do like epic and high fantasies, especially with tons of quests available for the taking – but there’s something almost easy about urban fantasies/fantasies set in the modern world (since I think urban fantasies are specifically set in cities and not smaller towns like some modern fantasies?).

I like urban fantasies/modern world fantasies because it’s sort of more accessible for new readers. Also to readers new to the genre. There’s less of the typical fantasy names (listen, those apostrophes and accent marks are difficult even to a trained fantasy reader!); there’s not too much world-building and info-dumping because you already know most/half of the world presented to you. 

Cassia’s love for her sister is plain to see from the get-go. I mean she did literally go into a who ‘nother world to help save her sister. Basically all of her motivation throughout the book is focused on her sister. As someone who really likes (positive) sibling relations; I definitely appreciated seeing the love Cassia has for her. I really like Cassia and Lucas’s close friendship (bit of a spoiler but they stay friends and don’t go any further). As someone who’s not a fan of friends to lovers in books (it has to be written a certain way), I cherish any friends who stay friends. I like how they were dependent on each other growing up and they came back to that a bit in this book and I hope the next book has that more.

Speaking of morally-grey characters, we have one in the form of Lochlan and he was great. Definitely can’t wait for the next two books to see what he gets up to. I don’t know if I was a fan of morally grey characters in my younger years (my word, that sounds weird to type) but I definitely am now that I’m older. Maybe it’s because I can tell (most) authors have a lot of fun writing them and that makes me like them more. Lochlan is probably one of my favourites so I’m only going to say nice things about him because I usually had a grin when he was on the page. 

Dual-Pov for the win! Patel Papathanasiou did it well as I liked how it went from a newcomer (Cassia) and she’s learning about the world-building and the magic system and we, as the readers, are learning about it with her. And then it switches to Lucas and the way he thinks of the worldbuilding and the magic system – there’s no real second guessing because he’s very familiar with it. Which I liked as well because it allowed me to ease more into the world-building because of the easy way he viewed it.

I always enjoy it when I can see that the author is passionate about their writing. It shines through in their work and also wherever they talk about their work. I could see it on all of Shameez’s social media and all throughout the book. It makes for a more enjoyable read – the author enjoyed writing it, therefore you can enjoy reading it.

There was a bit of found family and I relished every bit because – I mean – it’s found family. What else can I say? I hope that the found family aspect is a bit better written in the sequel and that it comes easier – the camaraderie and the way the characters interact with each other. 

You know those books where you don’t have the highest of expectations but you want your reading experience to go a certain way so you come out at least liking the book? That was me with House of Hunger. I knew going in I wasn’t expecting it to be my new favourite of the year or anything, but I still had some expectations for it. Luckily this hasn’t stopped me from wanting to read Henderson’s other book, The Year of the Reaper (whenever I get to that). Either I like/love it or I know not to read Henderson’s future books.

I should’ve marked this a Did-Not-Finish rather than slogging through the book and disliking it all the way through. I originally rated it 3 stars but then after thinking about and it’s now a 1 star for me. Which also proves to me I should’ve stopped reading early on or when I first started realising it wasn’t going my way – which there were so many parts where I had the urge to stop reading it. But I didn’t and that was a bit of a mistake – whoops.

Both covers were just absolutely stunning. I had the review copy with the UK cover but the US cover is also amazing. The cover (both of them) were definitely why I wanted to read it. Unfortunately the cover did not make up for everything else. Which is sad because they’re both so gorgeous!

I sort of liked Marion as a character. I started off interested in her journey and then she met Lisavet and everything immediately went down for me (whoopsie!). I would’ve rated higher if the plot just matched the characters? I don’t know if this makes sense but to me Marion was written (a bit) better than the plot. And I only mention her because I disliked all the other characters so much that even though I didn’t like much of anything, Marion was basically my favourite by default because she was the best… of sort of the worst.

I don’t like books that only start picking up – pace or plot – right at the end. For House of Hunger, to me at least, the “real” action I think was only after the 80% percent. Which is not what I want in a book at all – especially when it’s a book that I’m disliking all the way through.

I can’t even bring myself to say like one nice thing about Lisavet and the representation surrounding her because I disliked her so so much. Obviously that’s how the character is meant to be written but I was reading reviews and others were raving about how much they loved the characters and the represention was good. Because you had me sitting and thinking “good representation? WHERE”. Did these readers purchase a special edition of this book where Lisavet was interesting? I didn’t find her compelling or interesting or likeable in the slightest.

I know that because this is a Gothic novel certain traits of the genre are expected from it. Specifically a slower pace – which means I should have expected this. But this isn’t always the case with other Gothic novels so maybe it was me, maybe it was just this book – like I say a lot – you can’t always win with every book.