forevermorepages's Reviews (811)

This was really cute!! I wish we’d gotten to see more of Ben and Nathan together, but I really enjoyed this anyway :)

I'm just going to say that I don't really recommend this book, BUT that I did enjoy the last 75 pages or so when the plot finally sped up and I actually understood what was going on. Well written, but so boring and so depressing.

-Book Hugger

Earlier today I ranked my top three books of the year and...now I am considering changing it...

Needless to say, this book kicked ass. Shae, Wen, and Anden have my entire heart (and Hilo can suck it whoops), and I am so desperate for Jade Legacy that I may go sell my soul to Fonda Lee for an ARC of it.

Anyway, I'm going to actually write a review for this one (she says, knowing damn well she barely writes reviews anymore) and force y'all to not only add it to those never-ending TBR lists, but actually read it.

Thanks, Fonda Lee, for making me cry today.

-Book Hugger

God Tier Scenes:

1. Luke giving Clary the coming out to your parents pamphlet to give to Simon.
2. Clary giving the coming out to your parents pamphlet to Simon and Simon practicing on her.
3. The fearless rune scene. Enough said.
4.

Imogen saving Jace's life

and all the foreshadowing about his parentage.
5. Alec giving Magnus his strength on the boat. Nothing rivals their love.
6.

Jace saving Simon's life by letting him bite him. Ngl this is the most erotic scene in the series and somehow they're both straight.

7. Luke telling Clary how he's in love with Jocelyn. That story...my heart...ugh

'nuf said. love this series. serotonin restored.

---

I finished my reread! And I think I'm out of my slump now!! YAY!!!

This series will always be one of my faves, it holds such a dear place in my heart, thank you, Cassie.

-Book Hugger

This was a really cute collection to end the holiday season with! It contains three short stories, but unfortunately, only one of them I really fell head over heels for.

Triple Dog Dare - 5-ish stars:
This was the one I enjoyed the most. To begin, it has my favorite trope of all time: fake-dating. Therefore, I was destined to love it. Not only that, but the writing was the most mature of the three stories and I felt like I actually knew the characters. They were deep, well-characterized, and they didn't feel like Hallmark knock-offs. This is the only of the stories that I could see myself enjoying as a full novel, even if a tad cheesy at parts.

Hustle & Bustle - 3-ish stars:
This one was honestly a bit forgettable. I appreciated how the characters' relationship developed over time. However, I found both of them a bit boring. Much of their relationship was one of the girls (I can't remember her name) making assumptions about the other (Toby) and then finding that she had stereotyped her all along. I didn't really love that and didn't find it all that compelling of characterization. It was cute, definitely sexier than the first story, but I think I much preferred the first story's plot.

A Christmas Miracle - 2 stars:
This one felt very Hallmark. I was a bit bored, not going to lie, and neither of the characters had distinct voices. For the only story that was dual-narrated (I believe), you really couldn't tell. More so, I didn't like how both of the characters seemed entirely different when they were around their family. Their interactions together were sexy, but honestly only that, and their interactions with family were calm, reserved, and caring. I had trouble reconciling the two personalities of Courtney and Mira that were displayed.

Anyway, this collection is definitely really cute and I don't regret reading it! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

I would also like to say that the one thing I really appreciated about this collection was that, yes, all characters were gay, but it was never a point of conflict. They were just girls in love and happy. There were no parental issues, no coming out stories, nothing that would make this anything less of a feel-good collection, and that made me really happy to see.

-Book Hugger

I'm rereading this solely to read The Silvered Serpents and I have a few thoughts:

(1) While this book was one of my favorites of 2019 and a five star read at the time, I am dropping it to 4 stars because I didn't enjoy the first half as much as I did the first time. The ending though...damn.

(2) I don't think Severin is my favorite of the characters anymore...maybe Enrique, Hypnos, or Laila. Not sure. (I definitely liked Tristan and Zofia a lot more this read, as well.)

(3) I think it really set itself up well for a sequel and during a lot of the book I was kind of like eh...I don't really want to read The Silvered Serpents yet, but when I got to the last 50 pages, I was like holy sh*t I need to read TSS now.

(4) I should not have compared TGW to Six of Crows so much in my review. Both are wonderful books but shouldn't be compared simply because they have a heist. I still recommend TGW more than SoC, but both are very well-crafted novels with an excellent cast of characters.

-Book Hugger

-- The OG review --

It's been far too long since I read this and far too long since I've written a proper review. My sole excuse is that my homework has piled up immensely and I've spent every ounce of free time doing what I can to either catch up on work, reading, or watching TV. So my blog has gone slightly hiatus.

Whatever.

The Gilded Wolves was a remarkable novel. I've seen it compared to Six of Crows on numerous occasions. My only comment about this may be problematic: I actually liked TGW better than SoC. First, I could comprehend TGW's plot a lot better, the world was more grounded, the characters felt more real, and it delved into more social issues grounded in our world. I could go on and on about how there were no lulls in TGW like there were in SoC. Everything felt smoothly transitioned, flawlessly crafted. It was everything I wanted and more.

The characters are flawless.

We have my favorite: Sevérin, who reads kind of like Kaz, but more openly emo.  I would start wars and burn cities for Sevérin, mark my words. 

We have my other favorites: Hypnos (the Magnus Bane type), Enrique (the Alec Lightwood type, but more confident, and so sweet), and Laila (the Inej type, but more of a baker, yet sneaky sneaky).

We have my least favorites, but still well loved: Zofia (while I love the autism rep, I didn't connect as well to her) and Tristan (not going to lie, I think his main personality trait was his pet tarantula).

The plot was fascinating. Just writing this review makes me want to jump back into the world and experience it all over again. Chokshi's writing is wonderful and paints such a beautiful image, but also keeps it real. It's rare that historical fiction tackles social issues. Chokshi is really giving us what we deserve in 2019.

(Also Enrique's little bit made me cryyyy.)

I'm super duper hyped for the sequel, whenever that will come. If you read one 2019 release this year, make it this one! It's diverse, fascinating, and has a wonderful cast of characters you'd die for.

-Book Hugger

http://www.bookhuggerreviews.com

It's weird giving a Cassandra Clare book four stars, especially one with my two favorite characters leading it, but 2020 is a first for everything I suppose. I don't know. I did love this and seeing Magnus and Alec happy and in love and raising a child together is everything I could ever need, but at the same time, I feel like Cassandra Clare is churning out book after book and the quality is suffering. There was just something...off about this. It didn't feel like the normal Shadowhunters books, and maybe that has to do with Wesley Chu co-authoring this (which I still don't fully understand), but maybe not.

Anyway. Moral of the story: I really really enjoyed this but I also know Cassandra Clare can do better than this messy-ish plot and out-of-character dialogue.

-Book Hugger

I didn't expect We Are Okay to become one of the most important books I've ever read when I ordered it off Amazon. It was cheap, I'd seen good reviews, and I'd always wanted to read something by Nina LaCour. So, consider my mind blown.

I read this book in one night, I kid you not. It’s actually really short, which I wasn’t completely expecting, but so much emotion is packed into it to make up for the page count. Yes, this book is sad. But it is also optimistic and a beautiful depiction of grief, for both who you’ve been and who you’ve lost.

Grief is something I understand really well. I lost one of my favorite teachers when I was 12, my granddad in elementary school, my aunt in fifth grade. I know the pains of grief like the back of my own hand, know the muteness of a funeral, know the ache and pain and questions and anger. I wasn't as close to my granddad as Marin was, clearly, because I was only eight when he died and had seen him a limited number of times, but I'm trying to say that through these three experiences put together, I understood where she was coming from completely. I cannot comprehend how hard the pain of losing your guardian would be if what I felt during those experiences was suffocating.

Anyway, I'm always on the search for books that represent grief well, and I always get really irritated when a character dies in a book and the main character suffers for a chapter and is okay in the next and they never mention it again. (Or in a TV show...I'm looking at you Shadowhunters.) That's. Unrealistic. So, this was a breath of fresh air if I've ever seen one.

This book is heavy, though, for being so short. It's one of the more tragic books I've ever read, and there's so little light until you reach the final pages. It's like walking through a tunnel without a flashlight and finding a crack in the wall where you can push the rocks away. The point is that you have to push the rocks away yourself, or Marin does, at least. She has to make herself accept the love she deserves.

This book isn't about romance, even though a lot of it is told in flashbacks about a past "fling." It's mostly about friendship, reunion, and overwhelming loss. It's about hope and sorrow and the light at the end of the very long and winding tunnel. I cannot possibly recommend this book enough. 

-Book Hugger

http://www.bookhuggerreviews.com