howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)

Vol. 1 ★★★★★
Vol. 2 ★★★★★

Do you have any idea how painful it is to go through a 352-page manga trying not to cry?

Vol. 1 ★★★★★
Vol. 2 ★★★★★

My Brother's Husband has to be one of the most precious, heartwarming, lovable things I've ever read in my life. I was totally smitten from the very first page, and that feeling only grew stronger with each passing moment. I read the entire book over my lunch break and immediately placed a hold on the second (and final, sadly!) volume, because I have to continue it as soon as possible.

This manga covers so many emotions, it's wild — it's tragic due to both of these men having just lost someone valuable in their lives, it's a little frustrating because Yaichi is still coming to terms with his own homophobia, and it's enlightening as the author discusses cultural norms in Japan (such as the lack of hugging that Mike finds so bizarre). More than anything, though, it's sweet, cute, and full of feel-good vibes as Yaichi becomes a more accepting and open-minded person, Mike learns about his lost love's home and upbringings, and Kana gets to form an adorable, tightly-knit bond with her exciting new Canadian uncle.

I love this so, so, so much, and I would highly recommend it to absolutely anyone. ♥

#1 Clockwork Angel ★★★☆☆
#2 Clockwork Prince ★★★★☆
#3 Clockwork Princess ★★★★★

Everyone warned me that this series would take everything I love, chew it up, spit it back out, and stomp on it while I wept in a corner (okay, they didn’t use those exact words, but that was their meaning), but honestly, you can’t know just how much this finale will break you until you experience it for yourself—and then again, you also can’t know how satisfying and beautiful this finale is until you read it.

“You endure what is unbearable, and you bear it. That is all.”

Let’s get the unimportant stuff out of the way: the world-building of this series has grown on me tremendously as the story advances, and the plot is enjoyable, though to be fair, the events unfolding aren’t the focus of the story—the characters are. Did I enjoy how the whole war against the automatons and demons and baddies turned out? Sure. Did I care about any of it? No.

“Life is a book and there are a thousand pages I have not yet read.”

Before you think I’m saying that as a complaint against the book, please know that I’m not in the slightest—I just adore these characters so much that nothing else matters. They could have all sat around the fire shooting the breeze for 500+ pages and I would have loved it just as much, because Cassandra Clare excels in crafting these beautiful, precious, flawed, intricate little beans that win my whole heart (and, usually, break it in the process).

“Most people are lucky to have even one great love in their life. You have found two.”

I know I rambled about this in my Clockwork Prince review, but it bears repeating: this is how love triangles are meant to be written. I have never had such a hard time taking ‘sides’ in a love triangle, because in this one, you really can’t choose sides. Will and Jem are so precious and wholesome, and if I must admit that I loved Will the tiniest bit more, truly, it was 51/49—hardly any preference at all. So help me, I have never wanted on-page polyamorous rep this badly in a book in my life.

“The world is a wheel. When we rise or fall, we do it together.”

But aside from the romance, the one thing that I loved most of all, that broke my heart over and over again in this series, was the parabatai relationship between Will and Jem. I am literally crying just from typing this right now. Found families mean so much to me, and the way Will and Jem came together and saved one another from the cruel world outside the Institute, their fierce devotion and love for one another and their desperation to fight at each other’s side as long as they possibly could—that meant everything. I don’t know if any fictional friendship will ever stand out in my heart the way this one has.

“Bright star,” Magnus said, and his eyes were thoughtful, as if he were remembering something, or someone. “Those of you who are mortal, you burn so fiercely. And you fiercer than most, Will. I will not ever forget you.”

The last thing I want to gush about was the tremendous foreshadowing—particularly during intimate moments with my sweet little bi warlock cinnamon roll. I am so glad that I read these books in publication order, because Magnus constantly said and did things that reminded me of moments involving him in the TMI series, and the one thing that stuck out most of all to me was his love and affection for Will Herondale—and the way it has stayed strong in his heart over the years. Beyond that, there’s some information about a certain Silent Brother—no spoilers!—that literally made me gasp out loud at one point, and I know it would never have held the same weight if I hadn’t read the books in the order I did. I adore the way Cassie pulled so many details together in this finale, and it’s made me even more excited to read the TMI finale, City of Heavenly Fire, next.

“Atque in pepetuum, frater, ave atque vale.”

There’s nothing else I can really say, because anything else would just be me blubbering on and crying endlessly about how beautiful this finale was, and how perfect and heartbreaking the ending was, and how much I adore this universe and these characters and Cassie’s writing. Instead, I’ll just be over here in the corner, weeping and nursing my bruised heart until I can muster up the strength to say goodbye to The Mortal Instruments, too.

You can find this review and more on my blog, or you can follow me on twitter, bookstagram, or facebook!

OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO DAMN GOOD

WHY DID I WAIT THIS LONG TO READ THIS?!?!?!?!?!

RTC when I can stop reeling from how obsessed I am with this novella now

Sigh. Don't get me wrong. 3 stars is not a bad rating. It's just that this book was one of my most anticipated reads and I was so convinced that I would adore everything about it, and instead, it fell short in so many ways.

the good:
• Rafe is super sweet, gentle, and 100% anti-toxic masculinity
• Sloan is a brilliant, hilarious, badass surgeon & mother
• the kids are cute AF
• Xeni & Monica are 10/10

the bad:
• too much pointless dialogue, not enough happening
• a lot of really awkward phrasing that doesn't make sense (I'm not referring to word choices and slang, I'm referring to words missing from sentences, etc.)
• a tremendously rushed ending
• forced tension between Sloan & Rafe (there's one scene where they act like they've had some sort of fight, but it was really just... nothing?? there's literally no tension present on-page WHATSOEVER, but they make a big deal out of it and it feels so forced)
• lots of minor annoying, unrealistic incidents
• most of the side characters are incredibly flat and one-dimensional

I didn't even realize until reading this, but I miss my TMI babies so damn much.

This is a gorgeous adaptation and I am absolutely in awe of how perfectly the artist captured these characters!

"You have to decide if you'll bloom or if you'll wither."

Do you ever read something and, while you're reading it, you're like, "Yeah, this is good," and then you finish it, and you're still like, "Yeah, that was good!" and then suddenly, a week has gone by and you think back on it and it hits you that holy smokes, that was such a good book?! That was Constellation for me. It's like it crept up on me and got under my skin, and now I just can't stop thinking about this sweet, quiet, sad story.

Some of my scars will always show, whether I want them to or not.

First, and most importantly, is Trix. She's such an incredibly flawed, wounded, lovable protagonist and I felt the most ridiculous levels of pride over every single step of her journey. She progresses so much and truly blossoms right before our eyes, and the love I have for her, well, it's downright maternal. I just want to hold her for a while. She's been through so much, but she manages to find a light in the dark and cling to it, and it's the most gorgeous tale of hope and healing.

Her embrace is the only thing that gives me the courage to say what I want, mostly because I know that I'm putting everything on the line.

The thing about it, though, is that Trix's progress couldn't have ever come so easily without the support of her newfound family, and they mean so much to me, I have to gush about them, too. There's Mia, the mother figure of the McCabes, with her quiet fierceness and forgiving, gracious compassion and love — if there's a fictional mom I want to be like, it's gotta be Mia, right down to the magic she cooks into each and every pie. Then there's Ember, fashion designer in the making, a quiet introverted little thing who hurt my heart just as much as she warmed it. And of course, there's Auntie, playing the classic "hilariously blunt older woman" role that I'm so fond of in stories like this. These three McCabe women are all so entirely different from one another — and from Trix herself — yet they make the most delightful little family unit. I adore them.

"Just wait," Auntie says. "Wait and see what blooms for you."

Beneath all of the humor and warmth and love and magic, though, A Constellation of Roses is a story of grief, addiction, abuse, generational curses, poverty, and the measures desperate people will go to simply to survive. It's a hard read, especially given the fact that I've had so many family members go down paths like Trix's mother's, but it's well worth the ache and it offers so much optimism in the end. Just like the McCabe women's gifts, this story is quietly, sweetly magical and left me more than a little bit awed.

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Wunderkind PR for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I've been wanting to get back into weaving because I loved doing it as a kid, but have forgotten basically everything I knew back then, sadly. I'm not sure most of these are exactly the types of projects I personally would commit to, but they're definitely fun and creative, and there are some gorgeous photos in here! Plus the instructions feel pretty simple and well-clarified. I think this would be a good guide for someone who's already somewhat familiar with weaving and looking for new ideas; maybe not so much a brand new beginner.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I sadly find myself wondering if everyone else got a wholly different book from what I was sent, because as much as I wanted to love this when I first picked it up, it turned me off literally within the first few pages and never got any better — to the extent that I had to skim-read the second half because I was so irritated with literally every single facet of this writing style.

There are entire pages that are just blocks of the word

Spoiler

"cunt"

(in spoiler tags because I know a lot of people dislike this word's existence very much). Just... that word over and over and over and over and... do you get my point?

People complain about modern contemporary poets a lot, and usually I'm on the opposite side of that — I love seeing poets twist and reshape the classic formats of poetry, and enjoy the creativity expressed in the idea — but this was... I don't know what this was. I felt like I was in a fever dream while reading it, in the worst possible way.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I had a really hard time getting into this, sadly. As an empath, I was pretty excited to learn more about it, but the text feels very repetitive and I don't enjoy the author's overall writing voice, sadly. There's nothing wrong with it, it just isn't for me. I also think maybe I don't see physical empathy the same way as the author does; at one point, she mentioned a client whose rheumatoid arthritis literally disappeared after he learned to stop empathizing with his mother. I'm not yet convinced that physical empaths can empathize with another person's pains to the degree of being diagnosed with full-on disorders and ailments, especially ones as "big" as RA. I also kept getting annoyed by the author's tidbits about her family for a myriad of reasons I won't bother delving into much here, the least of it being the gender roles and her line about being surprised that she could empathize with her sons since they're men and she's a woman (rolling my eyes, sorry — most empaths will agree with me that empathy has no concept of gender roles).

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!