I love the aesthetic, but the characters were boring. Very early on, I found the story couldn't keep my interest. I don't mind low-stakes stories, but the pacing and characters contributed to my disinterest. 

Despite that, I adored how supportive Clara’s dad was; what a sweet man! I thought the whole flower disease and the inclusion of flower language were very imaginative too. Of course, I loved the cover.

The Little Mermaid meets African deities and Trans-Atlantic slavery

This was a little ambitious with all its moving parts, but the premise wasn’t bad. Orisas (differentiated from orishas?) made the narrative a bit distracting for me. 
 
Personally, I would’ve liked the book to focus either on the involvement of the orisas or Simi’s amnesia. Simi’s fractured memory of her previous life before being made into a mermaid was the most promising part to me. 

Kola could’ve been a better companion. But his character was bland as was Simi.

Overall, this was too slow-moving for me, so it couldn't keep my interest. 

dnf halfway through

Another flat, lifeless male power fantasy. The appeal is ‘don’t you wish you could get back at everyone who did you wrong? Win at life because you already know everything.” 

The main character, I legit cannot remember his name, is so boring. The world's done him wrong, but I don't care. I felt no connection toward him.

Every time the artwork draws me in, but the story kills any interest.

not from the writing itself, but the usage of bible scriptures here is making my skin crawl

 I didn’t enjoy the first book, but I thought the sequel would be more interesting because hello, an underwater kingdom with a dragon prince??? Sign me up! But the matter-of-fact, telling instead of showing writing style didn’t change. Shiori just feels like a blank slate or a generic character to me. Seryu and her don’t act like friends to me either.

The covers for this series are startingly beautiful, but I wished I could’ve enjoyed the series more. 

 This had all the ingredients for a tasty pizza (cheese, flour, tomato sauce, toppings if you get down like that, etc), but it was never put into the writing oven. So, we were left with an undercooked goopy mess. I could not connect to the storytelling style. It relied heavily on “telling” things about the characters that it could’ve have shown. Dialogue/banter was unseasoned. 

Circle of Shadows’ story is plot-driven. There are some big themes: a cult; two armies of ninjas (taiga and ryuu); a brother and sister estranged due to their ideologies; animal-based magical abilities; a male lead realizing his feelings for his best friend; female lead consumed with revenge; dead sister; did I mention multiple BLOOD SACRAFICES? 

The dark angle with the prince and princess’ fallout was interesting. The graphic violence and the cult made a sharp, almost whiplike effect, contrast against the otherwise light story. The humor was lighthearted as well as the previously mentioned unseasoned banter. 

Even the most cliché story can thrive with a cast of fun characters, but I didn’t care for this crew. Early in the story Sora decides to take her taiga training skills seriously in hopes to move up in the army/elite fighting force. She was supposed to be this goofy prankster, but it felt like she never really was. She threw one “prank” which was just overdoing a performance for the princess and a mention of making laxative brownies for a bully. Despite getting serious, you would think she would retain this supposedly goofy personality. 

Daemon, which is way too close to demon lol, was dull. He was grappling with his feelings for Sora and his identity. He was abandoned as a baby and never knew his parents. With some work, this could have been a fun or compelling character. The rest of the side characters had quirky name-conventions/codenames, which I didn’t mind, but none really stood out either. There was a petite, flirty chick and a guy who basically worked in the file cabinet/administration. But they needed more to be likable. 

The magic system not being more fleshed out was a huge letdown. I needed to know more of its limitations. Being a Taiga comes with animal power-ups, by chanting an animal characteristic (think: teeth of a shark!) will grant the user that ability. However, it’s not clear how long they last. At first, the abilities were shown to wear off, but in another instance the effect lasted even with the user unconscious. Another example is that Daemon is basically Rock Lee (Naruto) here as he sucks at casting spells/using magic. Is magic innate or genetics-based? Can you be gifted it? I know the gods specifically select the taiga, but why would they select a magicless baby? 

It’s very unfortunate I didn’t mesh with the story. Because I love stories about ninjas + magic abilities + a sweet first love. And a guy raised by wolves! Come on, those are some of my favorite things. Personally, I don’t need the most elaborate worldbuilding or robust magic system if I enjoy the characters or the story. I’ve liked worse, less than critically acclaimed stories before. Truly I wanted to like this story, but it’s not for me. 

I love magical realism and urban fantasy. The world as we know it with some magical-fantastical sprinkles. The cover and the merfolk drew me to this story. I also connected with Alex about feeling like your hometown can feel too small. 

Unfortunately, I found the execution too dry and the characters a bit too dull. However, this is a very cozy, lighthearted, and low-stakes read that will definitely appeal to others. 

Major Hallmark vibes + mythical and paranormal creatures around doing the mundane + baking + wedding planning + interior design 

Points for being wacky and quirky, but I do not mesh with the humor. The plot is both slow-moving and fast-paced at the same time. It’s a terribly long stream of ridiculous consciousness that never goes anywhere which is its appeal but not for me. Of course, I acknowledge I’m an adult and that kids may think differently. 

Yet again I’ve been fooled by a beautiful cover.

It is not my intention to be overly harsh because writing is hard, but these are my true feelings. I’m a completionist at heart, so it has to be a lot for me to throw in the towel.
 
Unfortunately, I didn’t mesh well with the writing style. We’ve immortals, magic, DRAGONS, and court politics, but GOLLY do we have a boring bland MC. Very rarely do I throw out the Mary Sue title because it’s disheartening to hear as a writer, but Xingyin feeling sad for her parents is not a personality. It’s giving they are an orphan, so now they have built-in character development. She’s pretty, plays music, has magic, and can fight. Oh, but her flaw is she doesn’t know how to use her magic well. Okay, but she eventually learns, so now what?

Even during Part I where Xingyin decides to accept the cattiness of those girls, it just felt like she was going through the motions. She’s upset, but she tries to hold her head high. She’s sad because of her parents’ situation. Okay. That’s expected. Sad stuff happens character sad. Bad stuff happens character disappointed. I just … I don’t know.

Action and war play a part here as well. But every big bad villain felt cartoony. Some of the best villains you understand where they’re coming from or at least they make a worthy opponent/good foil to the hero. Xingyin "struggled" with the various ones, but none ever felt satisfactory.

And the relationship between Xingyin and Liwei is literal day-old stale bread. I generally enjoy childhood friends or royal character falls in love with MC who is of a lower class/not royalty. The author had the foundation to build their relationship until she started telling us they were close and these feelings they supposedly had. I felt no chemistry, ma’am. Maybe some geometry as best.

when we had the fakeout that Xingyin killed Liwei... like girl, I FELT NOTHING.

Love interest #2 Army Dude was slightly better than Liwei, but I don’t why he fell for Xingyin either. She’s not that interesting nor is he to be honest. Major Wenzhi spoiler:

Wenzhi being a demon felt abrupt. There was little to no foreshadowing at that. How was he talking he doesn't like that side of him that threatened the merpeople but then he's like secretly evil??? chile, is this a rebrand?

  The characters felt like chess pieces that just had to move to from one area to another to keep the story going. None gave deep connections, whether friendship or romantic. I don’t even care about the girl’s doggone mama, which is what the story hinged on.

Because I didn’t enjoy the reading experience, none of this was entertaining and it just dragged along. Many of my mutuals enjoyed this story, but I couldn’t see it in that light. Overall, this story wasn’t for me. Some of this may be my own personal enjoyment tainting the story, or the fact I’m more inclined to character-driven stories. I could’ve liked this more if I had seen it as a soap opera or an animation.

Too dry. I couldn't get into it. The humor isn’t translating well for me. Maybe it would work better animated.