heddas_bookgems's Reviews (490)

“Some people just need a high-five. In the face. With my knives.”

Celaena Sardothien is a convicted assassin. And since then she is imprisoned convicted to hard labour in the mines. When suddenly the Crown Prince asks her to join a dangerous competition to win back her freedom and if she wins become the Kings Champion. She agrees, but when the competition starts other participants are being brutally murdered. But by who? Celaene is determined to find out.

It finally happened. I started the ToG series. I was so excited to pick this up and it did deliver. It was everything that I expected. It was a fun read with humor, action, mystery, excitement and magic. Was it the best book I read? No. Did it have an immense worldbuilding or extremely likable characters? Also not so much. But it was fun. It made me laugh. It had some quirky characters, some romance and it had a, slightly, pretentious main character that grows on you. All in all this book just gave me what I needed. A nice fantasy book that didn’t ask much in return and that made curious for the rest. I ended up rating it 3,5 stars.

“It occurred to Delilah that this was probably the longest she'd ever really looked at her stepsister. She'd spent years perfecting the art of avoidance, of protection, of never letting Astrid see how much Delilah was hurting. If eyes were the window into the soul, Delilah's had long been shuttered.”

Delilah Green is a loose canon she really doesn’t care and is always in search of new hook up. A long time ago she escaped her family and childhood in Bright Falls. She’s always been the black sheep of the family. So when her sister is getting married and she is hired as the wedding photographer she’s not feeling it. But when she meets one of her sisters besties, the single mother Claire, things could be fun.

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care is everything the blurbs describe. It’s quirky, funny, mischievous, steamy and as a plus it really has some depth.
I’m so glad @manoeksbooknook tipped me to read this for #pridemonth, because this was everything I didn’t knew I needed. The slow burn gave me the feels and the chemistry was unquestionably hot.
I could completely see the attraction in this bad girl behaviour, what is it with those morally grey characters with the kindest hearts, and I couldn’t but only love the sweetest person in the world, Claire. Besides that, these characters really had some depth as they battled grIef, childhood trauma, toxic relationships. I also loved the wholesomeness of found family in this read. Never would I expect to say that I would love a romance read, but with this one I really did.

“He loved people being messy as f*ck—he said it was one of the best things about being human, how we could make such disasters and recover from them enough to make them into stories later.”

Feyi is an artist and a widow. She’s messy, intoxicating but at the same time destructive and derailed. When she gets the opportunity of a life time, a holiday and a prestigious exposition of her work as an artist, she can’t say no.

You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty, lyrics from the wonderful song Hunger by Florence+ The Machine’s, is a one of a kind literary romance. It makes you feel messy, unethical, morally depraved and in between flirts with yearning, dedication and loyalty. As Emezi intended, confided to Teen Vogue, “it opens up a huge conversation about dating ethics, what things are acceptable or unacceptable”. In these prose filled pages we are taken on an ethical journey filled with grief. It’s because of these characters and explorations of ethics that I Ioved every bit of it. I loved Feyi as a complex character making unwise decisions and because of it being scolded by her amazing and hilarious friend Joy. I loved the romance and the search for oneself again after losing it. I loved the prose and the detailed mouthwatering descriptions of the food. It’s just everything. A book of the senses: I cried, laughed, ate, created and loved and it left me full.

Fun fact: the screen rights for a movie have already been auctioned to Amazon Studio’s.

“I think the older you get, and I am very old, the more you see that being in love and breaking up have a lot in common. Love is hard. Breaking up is hard. Love is dramatic. Breaking up is Dramatic. Which makes me think that a lot of the questions you have about breaking up might be better thought of as questions about the nature of love you have with this girl.”

Freddy is a teenager in love with Laura Dean. Unfortunately Laura Dean keeps breaking up with Freddy and that makes Freddy a mess. She questions everything about love and relationships and in the process loses herself and her friends. She decides to ask help from advice columnist Anne Vice.

There are fun and fluffy graphic novels, and graphic novels with amazing drawings and there are graphic novels that are just merely brilliant. This one, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me is everything of the above and more. The drawings are mere art pieces in black and pink. Yes pink. And I love the color pink. The message is messy and raw and heartbreaking but also very relatable and important. And then we have these friendships which really make this graphic novel in a realistic and lovable and sometimes funny story. I took my time with this one and because of it I really felt I knew these characters, had a few tears and a “hell yes!”, in the end. I absolutely recommend this one to everyone into graphic novels with a serious note to it and in search or a lovely read for Pride Month.

“My father was abusive. Not to me—to my mother. He would get so angry when they fought that sometimes he would hit her. When that happened, he would spend the next week or two making up for it.”

From a young age on Lily Bloom knows that some love isn’t always beautiful, it can be toxic. However when she runs into a super hot neurosurgeon the attraction is undeniable and on the deepest level as they share their naked truths. But what if love comes with the ultimate cost?

It Ends With Us is not just a romance book. Sure, it does have certain elements that classify accordingly, hot guy meets shy girl and such, but besides that this book transcends the romance genre. As this book rawly illustraties, and with it educates, toxic relationships and in particular domestic abuse. Mostly when domestic abuse is portrait we tend to judge the abused and utter words like: “that would never happen to me, I would leave!” Hoover illustrates that the choice to leave isn’t always easy. It’s especially this element that makes this book a must read as it illustrates there’s no black or white and there’s a subtle distinction in between. Because of it you will feel conflicted. It swooshes you from feeling empathy for the abuser, which results in feeling guilty, which effects in extreme anger for the abuser to evolve in confusion about the decision to stay.
As a consequence to the conflicted emotions and its educational purposes I liked the book. It did have some problems in pacing at the end and I didn’t like some of the cringy smut scenes, but besides that this book is a must read. I do however advice consulting TW before reading.

“That’s the thing about women. There’s no good way to be one. Wear your emotions on your sleeve and you’re hysterical. Keep them tucked away where your boyfriend doesn’t have to tend to them and you’re a heartless bitch.”

For Nora there are simply three things important in her life work, books and her sister. She is a no nonsense kind of women, is not afraid to give her unsalted opinion and works hard. When her sister persuades her to go on holiday to the idyllic Sunshine Falls in North Caroline she runs into the annoying concurrent Charlie Lastra.

As I never read a Emily Henry, Book Lovers was my baptism of fire. And boy oh boy was this a fun and quick read! First of all, a book about the book industry, working 24/7 with books, big love! Then the banter between the sisters. This has made me die laughing non stop. It reminded me of the banter that Lorelai and Rory Gilmore had and that’s precisely why I always loved that show. The enemies to lovers was so nicely done and the chemistry was undeniable and steamy. Was the plot predictable, yeah maybe, but isn’t that why romance books are fun too?

Thought I would go out of comfort zone. And, ehm…we need to talk. Let me be clear, I love smut, I’m a SJM kinda girl. It does however need to be well balanced (so message to Mrs. Maas: tiny pinch less smut more fantasy please). But besides that, smut? I’m here for that. But this… This is what I thought smut was before I know what it was. This feels like my experience with the hype of FSOG. It’s merely p₽|n with sort of a plot. And well, ehh, although I get that that is popular… I’m not into that.

Okay, so this is not exactly my thing, we established that. Are there things that I did like? Yes! Hades and Pershepone are favorite characters and I did like the storyline that was hidden between all love making scenes. Although it didn’t really followed the myth accurately, which is totally fine. Love a creative swing at the Greek myths. Brings me to the next: Greek mythology & smut, loved it as well. Also, I highly appreciated that the concept of consent in a smut novel was explored. And yes, I do adore Katee Robert. Funny as hell and exactly my kind of people. Who doesn’t love someone who says “seecretss seecretss” in that way.

So yeah, I get the hype. This book is spicy as hell (pun intended). I know why everyone calls this unspeakingly hot, but tbh I need more. More storyline, more worldbuilding, more character development and more romance instead of just h$mp¥ng. But if you are in search for a fluffy book about the Olympians with a small layer of b₽nd@ge and exh!b!t!+n!sm, this one is calling you.

“Something had drawn him to Ironwood that day with her heart tucked in his haversack. And he had a feeling that whatever was pulling him down this path was important, was special, was interesting, for he was so easily bored. ”

Angrboda is a powerful witch who can perform seid magic and because of it has felt the wrath of Odin thrice. She flees to Ironwood. Here Loki finds the witch to return her heart. From then on they seem to have a connection which grows out to more.

The Witchs Heart is a retelling of the Norse myth of the Witch Angrboda whom according to Poetic Edda and the Prose of Edda seduces Loki and bares him three children: Hel, Fenrir and Jormungandr. In classic myth Angrboda, is the one who offers sorrow or the one who brings grief, but in the retelling of Gornichec she is a likeable, strong character with some trust issues.
The story has no chapters and is divided in three parts. The first part of the book is mainly focused on characterization of the characters Angrboda and Loki. In which you really connect with her as she is very charismatic and funny. You also get attached to Loki when he comes to visit her yet again because he has gotten himself in trouble. In the second part the pacing takes up a notch as we follow Angrboda preventing a prophecy. And this is not the best part of the story. As it is somewhat sloppy in pacing. But besides that the story is as well accurate to the myths as sweet. I would highly recommend this for everyone interested in Norse mythology retellings!

“'But not my Breca. His absence had hit her like a sword-blow, piercing deep, almost breaking her. Grief had flowed from her like blood from a sword thrust. But today the wound was seared and stitched closed again, her heart cold and hard.”

In The Hunger of the Gods, the second book for the Norse inspired epic fantasy of the Bloodsworn Saga, we follow our hero’s from the first, with the addition of Gudvarr and Biòrr. We continue after the freeing of Lik-Rifa from her everlasting imprisonment. With the breath of the dragon in everyone’s neck, they feel the need to make their own fate as quickly as possible as the impression of war is imminent.

In January I read the first book and I couldn’t wait for the next. So I read it as soon as possible and adored it yet again. I keep falling in love with this world, it’s creatures (especially Spert and Vesli) and it’s characters. I particularly liked the new POV from Guðvarr, his inner dialogues are very amusing. I also loved the storyline of Varg No-Sense in specific the softhearted Einar Half-Troll. This book excels in character development, but lacked a bit on the pacing. However the mind blowing plot raced towards the end resulted almost in book throwing and uttering swear words. Despite stomping on my heart I loved it. Did it transcend the first? Nope. Was it still epic and mind blowing? Yes, the major plot twist at the end left me searching for answers and wanting more. I expect we get those in book 3 which hopefully will be very soon.

“What I did not know was that I had hit upon a truth of womanhood; however blameless a life we led, the passion and the greed of men could bring us to ruin, and there was nothing we could do.”

Ariadne has grown up in a world where females are disposable or punished for the actions of their husbands. The Kingdom of Minos is stained by the yearly sacrifice of the Athenians to her brother, The Minotaur. When Theseus, the prince of Athens joins his people in this offering, Ariadne falls head over heels for this hero and decides to help him escape. But at what cost?

Ariadne is a retelling by Jennifer Saint from the Greek myth about Theseus and his quest to kill the Minotaur. But in this case we follow a female point of view. And I really enjoyed this book. I loved how Saint truly took this myth to the next level. In the myths Ariadne barely makes it to the footnotes and now we see the story from a whole new perspective from her and her sister. The book is written from two POV’s: Ariadne and her sister Phaedra. As I didn’t like Phaedra immediately it took some adjustment with these chapters. Only downside was the fluctuation of the pacing. At some points it slowed down to the somewhat extensive elaboration of the tales by the “heroic” men, which probably was intentional, while it picked up at such a fast rate in the end that it felt a bit rushed. But besides that I could really appreciate that Saint showed how the disposability of women can grow in strong, witty resilient and lovable characters.