dbguide2's Reviews (863)

Four (#2)
Archer Kay Leah
Stars: 4
I received this e-arc through Less Than Three Press in exchange for my free and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Note that even though this is the second book in a series, it can be read as a standalone.

This (Four) was Mayr’s book, which I was excited for as I loved him in A Question of Counsel. I loved Tash (aka Halataldris – still trying to figure out how the author got Tash from that mouthful, but it’s probably the same as getting Dick from Richard). He (Tash) was a good love interest and he and Mayr balanced each other out.

Something that annoys me when I read a fantasy romance book is that the pacing and flow of the story is nearly always sped up due to the romance aspect, and when you speed up the pacing and flow of a fantasy book, the plot tends to unravel and even move away from what the original plot was meant to be. This did not happen in Four. The romance and fantasy worked together to ensure that neither plot nor romance was lost.

I loved this book and will definitely read it again in the future, or even manage a series reread when the fourth book comes out (I saw it on Netgalley and am itching to request it).

Reason why I chose the book:

It was mostly the title. It made me instantly think of Peter Pan and I just love Neverland, and the description sounded like it was good – because the main character could talk and heal animals, and that really intrigued me.

Reason why I’m not finishing it:

Nothing interesting happens or something that would make me want to read on instead of forcing myself to read on. I think I read until Chapter Nine and realised I should have stopped at Chapter Three. Also, there’s major discrimination and racism against the main character in the book, because she’s Romani. I did not like how the other characters treated the main character and how they flung insults at her. There were too many insults, most of them coming from kids her own age, which annoyed me and then a teacher also contributed to the discrimination, which resulted in my (metaphorical) closing of the book (as it was an e-book).

Any thoughts I had while reading the book:

Do the animals she talks to speak English or does she understand each and every single animal language? Does she speak to them in English or in their language?

Ashley is having a Goodreads Giveaway! Read more here: Goodreads Giveaway! or read on to read my review!

Link to my blog: https://dbsguidetothegalaxy.wordpress.com/2017/05/03/the-author-less-read/?frame-nonce=995302e5b8

Amount of Stars: Fiv
Ok, so first I've read this book at least five times (I mean, it could be ten, but I’m crap at Maths). Half of those times were editing it and the other half beta reading it. I’m not giving it five stars because I’ve read it five times or whatever (because if I have to go that route, all the Harry Potters would be over ten).

Nocturna deserves five stars because it’s amazing. Like just read it. Give it a go. And give an indie author feels to feel. Because the author is a friend of mine and she’s just wonderful and she will most probably just love you if you read her book (tbh she’ll probably love you if you support Slytherins and hate Dumbledore and whatnot – as is seen by our very lengthy and heated discussions about Harry Potter and all the characters we want to adopt and hug and pair them up with each other).

All right so this is a YA Fantasy (and Fantasy is the genre that started me on reading – thank you, Pappa for reading LotR to me) and it’s LGBT+ (which adds like 2 stars already). I mean everything’s just wonderful in it. The characters are amazing and I just want to hug like all of them. Give or take a million times.

Read the book and you’ll know why. I connected to some of the characters in the way I might act the way they did in certain circumstances, or how I would hope I would act (but I would definitely be a Merry and would most certainly be the one to accidentally kick armour off a well and wake up an entire army. I wonder if the goblin army in Moria reverted to cannibalism in order to survive. No, stop, DB. Stop finding ways to refer to cannibalism).

Onward with the characters. They’re brilliant. They’re funny. They care. They make you want to insert yourself into the story (which I suspect Narnia and Inkheart took that advice very close to their hearts. Not that I’m complaining).

So now that the characters have drawn you in, allow the plot to draw you in. Ashley (the author) has spent a lot of time building the world. And you can see that she’s spent a lot of time on the world – which is very important, especially when you’re writing a fantasy novel. Also add to the fact that Nocturna is her very first novel, and she self-published it. Can we get a hell yeah for her (hell yeah!)? Can we get a whoop whoop (whoop whoop!)? Can we get her redemption for Tom Riddle (well duh!)?

I mean I could literally go on for days about this book and how wonderful it is and how you should all read it, but then go ahead and then read it! Post a review on Goodreads and Amazon and rave to your friends about it!

Perfect for readers who love fantasy worlds, royalty and love. And sarcastic characters (Valon, you beaut).

So this is another The Little Mermaid retelling, this one being a M/M and the mermaid being less of a mermaid and more of an octuman? Or however you’re meant to explain it – the water-dwelling creature has tentacles.

All in all, it was a good read. Not that good – as I rated it 2 and a half but because of Goodreads and its ratings (yes, another snide remark about how Goodreads needs to change their stars but then again, are you even a blogger if you don’t complain about this?) so then I had to rate it down to 2 stars.

The characters were cute. Yes, the story focused more on Ben and Lyle (I mean they are the main characters, so obviously) but I did like Ben’s parents. Though I did find Lyle a bit annoying – mostly his personality and the fact that he was a bit too whiny for my taste. Sure, I guess if you’ve been alone for a super long time, your personality might change, and you’ll probably be a bit needy and whiny.

Another thing that bothered me was the instalove factor – I think that’s mostly why the rating’s not higher. I can honestly say that I have no idea why or how people can look at someone and then go “Ah, yes. I want this person.” Yeah, sorry. But I do applaud whoever does do this – be extremely confident in love and knowing what they want, because sugar, I can’t even make up my mind on what to eat half the time.

The Disappearance
Gillian Chan
Stars: 4
Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from Netgalley and Annick Press in exchange for a free and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I started The Disappearance thinking it was just a contemporary about a male teen who found it difficult to communicate with anyone finds a home and friends in a group home. And then I read it, and suddenly there was this aspect of the paranormal and I was hooked more than what I was before (I also didn’t read the synopsis so that’s why the paranormal aspect was a surprise to me).

Mike, the main character, was my favourite and I loved him for having a hard exterior but being soft inside. I also liked how Mike didn’t see himself as much of a hero, but rather saw himself as a neutral party, someone who’s just trying to get by. And it’s not just Mike who becomes a better character, it’s also the others – Jacob, Adam, and even Paddy, to an extent.

The book opened at the end, which is something I definitely liked – being able to read what happens at the end, then reading the entire story in order to see how and why the end matches up/links back to the beginning.

Link to the blog: https://dbsguidetothegalaxy.wordpress.com/2017/10/13/seriesly-a-question-of-counsel/

Received from the publishers (as I was approved for the 3rd book - Blood Borne).

All opinions expressed are my own.

3 and a half stars

The summary made the book out to be more interesting than the actual story. I mean I was expecting this adorable f/f romance and instead I get a story that's plot isn't fully developed, its dialogue felt a bit forced, and the action and subplot that should've been the main plot were half-formed. Which makes me upset. As now (as I'm writing this review, I'm about halfway through the second book, Four - which I was going to update on my Goodreads account, but then the onnosel thing decided to be down. And I stilll have the 3rd book to read).

I mean, sure, I liked the book, but I didn't really enjoy it, understand? It took me a while to get through it (ok, mostly because I was going through some things), but also because it was a case of me literally forcing myself to read the book. Like read a half of a chapter and then you can watch some Avatar: TLA. And I didn't want to dnf because it's the first in a trilogy, and who knows which characters are introduced will feature in the 2nd and 3rd and what background ontent will become important later on.

Although the characters were easy to like and hate,  they could have done with a bit more fleshing out. It's like their hearts weren't in their motivations and it felt like they were just going through the motions. Yeah, they probably thought about what they were doing, and maybe why, but they didn't motivate me to want to them go through the motions.

I understand she's a Steward, which brings to mind Denethor, so I don't know how I feel about Aeley's job. And thinkin of Denethor makes me think of a certain gif, so I'm super glad that Aeley did not pull a Denethor. 

It's not that there were too many characters, it's that not enough time was spent on them so I never really knew what their job was and their purpose in the story. I mean I barely remember any of the minor characters, or their jobs, or even their names.

So summed up, not that good as I thought it would be. Do I recommend it? Yes, as it gives you background information on several characters, but that's it.

Afrikaans:

onnosel - stupid

I know I spoke about Beau Taplin being an Instagram poet and his collection being a bit too mushy – and while Poindexter is definitely very mushy too, I just love Poindexter’s work.

When I got back into poetry I of course looked for modern poetry. A lot of modern poetry is indeed ‘instagram poetry’ – short poems usually on a filtered background or so. Which doesn’t mean that it can’t be good or meaningful poetry. And Poindexter shows that. I’ve always enjoyed reading his work. Which is why I was happy with Old Soul Love as it was both his old and new work – meaning I could recognise his old work – some of them being ones I really really loved.

Again, I’m not a huge fan of love poetry (I do prefer the hard-hitting poetry – which I’ve found is a lot in slam poetry). But Poindexter makes me want to go back to reading romantic poetry. When I read his poems I want to find love, to be in love with someone (and then I remember I mostly like to be alone. Or with my cat). And that’s a testament to how good of a writer he is – that he can make you feel emotions that you didn’t necessarily think you really had.

Honest review because I beta read it.
So I beta read this book and the author kept me up to date with what was happening - and I was very happy that he did because I loved the book.

It's a story about people with superpowers, which already gets like 2 stars. And the imagery of the people using the powers gains another star. And I gave it another star because I liked the book so much.

The Rising is basically Percy Jackson, which is amazing because PJO is amazing.

I recommend this book to everyone that wants a good, fast paced and interesting read. You won't regret it and I can't wait to read the next book in the series