howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)

When this book’s synopsis first started circulating the YA book community, I was unspeakably excited for it. A book about dangerous gangs and gambling, with a bi young man of color as one of the protagonists? Sign me up! Unfortunately, this book suffered the same problem I have with the author’s debut, Daughter of the Burning City—it has a lot of cool ideas at play, but the execution leaves a little bit to be desired.

The photograph of Luckluster Casino matched the stories of New Reynes: red lights that flashed without flame, women of loose morals dancing on street corners in sparkling, skin-tight corsets, gambling dens beckoning passersby with seedy smiles and the allure of fast fortune.

Amanda Foody proved with DOTBC that she’s capable of weaving some very aesthetic settings, whether it’s a twisted carnival city of sin, or a slum full of casinos hiding wicked gang lords and thieves. I love a good casino or gang slum setting, so that was one of the first things that piqued my interest about Ace of Shades.

“So you cheat,” she said, the contempt obvious in her voice.
“We make a business out of winning.”

My biggest problem was that I couldn’t ever fully buy in to the characters. The story alternates perspectives, and first, we have Levi Glaisyer, lord of the Irons gang, orb-maker, and criminal genius. More than anything, I adored the diversity of his character being an unapologetically bisexual young Black man, which is a role I have so rarely seen in YA fantasy. (Speaking of diversity, I’d also note here that Enne’s mother, Lourdes, is a gender-fluid character, which was a nice added bonus, despite not being a prominent piece of the story.)

On the other hand, where similar YA fantasy characters would often seem vicious and hardened, Levi also stands apart in a bad way: he is a teddy bear to a fault. Despite the fact that we’re told he’s an infamous gang lord in “The City of Sin”, where he holds his own against multiple other gangs and crooks, none of Levi’s actions actually made me feel that he was capable, much less the ruthless criminal I was expecting. Levi is a really lovable and warm character—I just didn’t find him to be particularly three-dimensional.

Pretty or not, Levi wondered if he had ever met such a delicate, unpleasant creature.

The other protagonist of the book is Enne Salta, who I unfortunately disliked from front cover to back, no matter how hard I tried to enjoy her chapters. She comes onto the scene incredibly uppity and snobbish, and never fully loses that trait, even though a week’s time in the story tries to transform her from a boarding school ballerina to a terrifying assassin. Again, much like with Levi’s progression, it all felt very insincere and forced to me.

Another complaint I had about the story is minor, but applied to the entire cast of characters pretty evenly: the made-up swears in this book are nearly unbearable. I personally don’t usually mind when a book replaces curse words with made-up terms, as long as it’s used sparingly, but after a handful of chapters, I was sighing inwardly every time a character said “mucking” or “shatz”.

All you know are stories, Enne told herself. And not all stories are true.

On a happier note, I enjoyed quite a few aspects of the story. There are a lot of moving parts to the plot (almost too many, to be fair), and quite a few of them felt very “new” and unique to me, such as the volt orbs for currency, or the inherited talents that each individual has (one from each parent, with one talent being stronger than the other). I was genuinely impressed by a lot of these details and would certainly be interested in learning more about the history of the world. I wish we had been given more back story to the world that New Reynes takes place in, but this is only the first book of the series, so hopefully, future installments will provide further explanation.

All in all, I thought this book fell right in the middle of the scale—I enjoyed myself well enough to finish the story, but I don’t feel any pressing need to continue the series or learn what happens next. That said, I can easily see this story becoming a quick favorite for a lot of readers—especially anyone who enjoys casino settings, and does not mind slightly underdeveloped storytelling and world-building. While it wasn’t entirely my cup of tea, if the synopsis of Ace of Shades interests you, I would certainly recommend picking it up and giving it a try.

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

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

When Becky and Adam announced that they were teaming up to write a story, I was so excited. At the time, I’d only read one book each of theirs. While I found Becky’s writing lacking, I enjoyed her characters and loved what I’d read of Adam’s work, so it was easy to buy into the hype. As its release date grew nearer, I attempted to read two other works by Becky (both failures) and read another book of Adam’s (a massive disappointment), but I still held out hope that their teamwork would be exactly what I wanted in a cute rom-com contemporary.

I just think you’re meant to meet some people. I think the universe nudges them into your path. Even on random Monday afternoons in July. Even at the post office.

Unfortunately, most of my worst fears for What if it’s Us came true. While the characters have their cute moments, there’s no real plot besides the romance, and worse still, the romance falls short due to a COMPLETE lack of chemistry. The initial meet-cute in the first chapter was sweet and fun, but it immediately went downhill once any semblance of a real relationship began to form.

“Infinite do-overs.” “I like that,” he says. “It sounds like us.”

As you can gather from the synopsis, there’s space between their meeting and their reunion, in which Arthur is brought to the point of slightly stalker-like tendencies in his obsession to find “Box-Boy”. There are some secondhand embarrassment moments and a bit of development into their respective friendships, but beyond that, it felt like a placeholder. Given how long the book is for a YA contemporary, you’d think that timeframe would have involved some legitimate drama, but it’s mostly just a lot of repetitive moments with Arthur pining over Ben, while Ben pines over his breakup.

I barely know him. I guess that’s any relationship. You start with nothing and maybe end with everything.

Once they reunite, the painful absence of chemistry between them is like a train wreck. I thought at one point that the whole synopsis was one big “gotcha!” and they were about to go their separate ways and find their real love interests. Ben spends most of this part of the story treating Arthur like crap. I hated Ben’s perspective chapters for most of the book, because the way he views Arthur is terrible! He’s constantly reflecting on how Arthur is too short, or talks too much, and there’s the fact that there is an entire chapter dedicated to Ben whining internally about how bad Arthur is at arcade games—when Arthur never even wanted to go to the arcade, and Ben only dragged him there because it was somewhere Ben used to go with his ex.

(I’m getting pissed off writing this review because it’s reminding me of how much I can’t stand Ben’s character. I think I just accidentally lowered my own rating another star.)

All I can think about are all the things I want to know about him.

They do eventually reach a cutesy point, but it’s too late, it never feels authentic, and then the ending? I have never raged so hard at the ending of a fluffy contemporary book. I was LIVID over this ending. If you’re going to try this hard to convince me that these two kids need to be together, you had finish on a higher note than this garbage.

I’m right for him and he’s right for me and that feels beyond right—the universe knew it was love before we did.

On a less rant-y note, there are elements that I enjoyed. Dylan—Ben’s best friend—is hilarious and incredibly awkward. I loved the moments with him and his love interest, Samantha, and I loved the fact that he felt like a fleshed-out character who was going through his own issues and growing pains. On Arthur’s side, I thoroughly enjoyed every single scene with his father, who felt like a total homage to Simon’s dad in Simon vs., as he’s super supportive and well-meaning, and really wants to get hands-on and involved in helping Arthur find a boyfriend (that Craigslist scene killed me).

I don’t like that the same world that brought us together is also scaring him.

I also have to mention the representation: Arthur is gay and Jewish, and has ADHD, while Ben is gay and Puerto Rican. There’s not much time spent on Arthur’s family being Jewish, but we do get to spend a little time reflecting on how Ben feels about being Puerto Rican, the pride he takes in his heritage, and how painful it is to have your culture erased because you’re white-passing. There’s also a moment where the boys have to face off against a homophobic father on the train, which is painful, but necessary, as it shows Arthur that there are bigots everywhere—not just in the south, where he’s from.

People like me should come with a mute button.

Overall, What if it’s Us is not a total disaster—and I think with my low rating, at 2.5 stars, I’ll be in the minority here. A lot of people love both Becky and Adam way more than I do, and those people will have a field day with this book. There are also endless references to Harry Potter and Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen, so if you’re into any (or all) of those fandoms, you’ll enjoy the in-jokes and trivia for sure (though I felt like it reached the point of oversaturation at times).

Sadly, the story overall just didn’t work for me. I feel like I wasted hours of my life that I’ll never get back, and it is with a heavy heart that I confess: I’m probably retiring from reading anything by either of these authors. I appreciate the representation they offer to the world, and I know their stories mean a lot to so many readers, but there are too many queer YA contemporary authors in the world who do a better job.

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

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

She wasn’t a wielder of chains; she was a breaker of them. She was the library’s will made flesh.

I never do this, but I’m going to give you all a TL;DR for this review, just in case you’re in a hurry and need me to get the point across quickly: This is one of the best books I have read in my entire life, and if there is any single book I could beg you to purchase this year, it is Sorcery of Thorns.

“Knowledge always has the potential to be dangerous. It is a more powerful weapon than any sword or spell.”

After adoring Margaret’s debut, An Enchantment of Ravens, it felt blaringly obvious that I would love this, too, but I had no idea how much my love for this world, this story, and these characters would blow Enchantment out of the water. The lore and world-building are so gorgeous and intricate, particularly surrounding the grimoires.

Books, too, had hearts, though they were not the same as people’s, and a book’s heart could be broken; she had seen it happen before. Grimoires that refused to open, their voices gone silent, or whose ink faded and bled across the pages like tears.

You see, you might know that this book is about books, and magic, and libraries, but what I loved most is that there are no simple books in Sorcery. Grimoires are living, feeling creatures, capable of good or bad, kindness or scorn, and most of all, of being corrupted. Elisabeth, having grown up in a library (literally), is more familiar than most with the grimoires, and her level of respect and adoration for them made me ache. As another adult who grew up with books as my closest friends, I loved how easily I related to her desperate need to be surrounded by books and to take care of them. (After all, it’s why I became a librarian, too!)

For these were not ordinary books the libraries kept. They were knowledge, given life. Wisdom, given voice.

Margaret’s care in crafting these grimoires is evident from the start, but as the story progresses, I was amazed at how important a piece of the story they became. I won’t spoil anything, but I will tell you that I have never in my life literally sobbed over a narrative about books in my life until this story.

“You belonged in the library, as much as any book.”

Of course, that’s enough about the grimoires, because the primary star of the show is Elisabeth, and hell, she deserves an entire review dedicated solely to what an incredible, hilarious, witty, kind, lovable character she is. She’s clumsy and awkward in all the best ways, and she genuinely leaps right off the page with her general realness. There’s a sub-plot line involving her and the development of PTSD that felt so honest and authentic, it broke my heart for her every time it reared its head and made me root that much harder for her successes and happiness.

“Are all librarians like you, or is it only the feral ones who have been raised by booklice?”

Sharing the spotlight is our love interest, the infamous, talented, handsome (and casually queer!) sorcerer Nathaniel, and his demon servant/companion Silas, either of whom I would happily protect at all costs because they are precious and not to be trifled with. Okay, Nathaniel could probably use a little trifling-with in his life, particularly because he responds with disarmingly hilarious nonchalance to every minor or major disaster Elisabeth drags him into. Silas, on the other hand… well, you’ll just have to meet him for yourself, but I don’t think anyone could not love his grouchy, quietly protective demonic self.

“It’s an honor to fight by your side, Elisabeth, for however long it lasts.”

Oh, and I can’t pass up the opportunity to mention the romance! It’s fairly slow-burning, and it forms in the most natural, beautiful way. I loved watching Elisabeth and Nathaniel grow to trust one another, become friends, and gradually recognize the fact that neither of them could fathom this adventure without the other. If you all could see the number of tabs I used just on Nathaniel’s sweet admissions of affection, wow. I might have also tabbed every single instance in which Nathaniel called Elisabeth “you absolute menace”, because if that didn’t sum up their relationship as a whole, I don’t know what could have. My heart is so full.

She felt as though she stood on a precipice, and that if she leaned forward, she would fall. She would fall, and drown with him; she would never resurface for air.

Beyond all of this, the plot in this story is so engaging and suspenseful! I’d been reading Sorcery as slowly as I could stand to, because I knew I would be devastated when it ended, but once I hit the last hundred pages or so, I couldn’t be interrupted for anything because I simply had to know what happened next—and reader, let me tell you, not a single word in this story disappointed me. For every expectation I had of this book, Margaret surpassed it by a country mile.

“Of course you can stay, you menace. It isn’t as though I could stop you even if I wanted to. And fine, I’ll help you. Not for any noble reason. I still think it’s a lost cause. We’re probably going to get ourselves killed. But every man has his limits. If there’s one thing I can’t do, it’s stand by and watch you demolish irreplaceable antiques.”

As you can see, from the fact that I’m forcing myself now to refrain from writing another entire page to this review about all of the things I adored in Sorcery of Thorns, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is easily my favorite read of 2019, and one of my favorite reads of all time. It touched my heart in a million places and a million ways I could never have predicted and will never fully recover from, frankly. I can’t wait to reread it over and over again, and more than that, I can’t wait to see what Margaret writes next.

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

#1 Illuminae ★★★★★
#2 Gemina ★★★★★
#3 Obsidio ★★★★★

Wow. Where do I even begin? This is one of my favorite series of all time, and I was so eager and terrified to see it end. Jay and Amie have scripted the most beautiful world, with the most lovable, endearing characters, and I was horrified to see how the war would end—but, above all else, I knew this would be a ride I couldn’t miss. I genuinely don’t even know how to break this review up, because I don’t know how to explain to you all just how much this book meant to me, and how perfectly satisfied I was with it as the ending to our journey.

Kady looks back and forth between the girls and shrugs.
“At least our lives will have been worth dying for.”

→ Kady Grant / Ezra Mason ←
Our original duo, and quite frankly, my favorites. I loved them in the first book, but we see an entirely different side of the couple in the finale. They’re exhausted, beaten down, grieving, and full of rage, but they’re still clinging to hope. If anyone can put on a strong front and pretend like everything isn’t going to hell around them, it’s these two. Kady is one of my favorite female protagonists of all time, and she didn’t let me down. She’s wickedly intelligent, and an emotional powerhouse who manages to ground everyone around her, no matter how bad things get. Ezra is honestly the perfect counterpart to her with his humor and warmth, and I would be the first one in line for a 600-page collection of pure fluff and cuteness between these two.

And he kisses her like she’s the first, last and only thing he’ll ever need, like he’s learning every last part of her. Reverently, like this moment is holy.

→ Hanna Donnelly / Nik Malikov ←
I wasn’t sure how I would feel about watching the two couples meet and interact with one another—would they mesh well? Would it feel natural?—but it was honestly perfection. With her astonishing strength and fighting prowess, coupled with her tactical brain and wit, Hanna meshes beautifully with Kady. Nik and Ezra are both our natural pros at banter, and the two of them together? Hilarious. Constantly a bright spot in horrifically dark times, and I loved the reprieve their taunts and jabs offered. Hanna and Nik together, though? I know a common complaint in Gemina reviews is that they didn’t know each other well enough to fall for one another, and I won’t spoil anything, but that topic is touched on really solidly in this finale, and I applaud the authors for being willing to tackle it on page.

“We invaded these people’s homes, Cherry. Bombed them to ███. Killed their families. You think this isn’t a battle? This is a ████ing war.”

→ Asha Grant / Rhys Lindstrom ←
When I first learned that Asha would be one of our protagonists in Obsidio, I was stunned. I’d been perfectly content to count her a loss in the first two books, when Kady mourned the loss of her cousin, but I’m really pleased that she was included as a character. She didn’t feel quite as three-dimensional as the other girls did to me, but I think that was fully to pin on the fact that this book was non-stop action and suspense with very little time for a lot of character development. Rhys struggled with the same problem, but despite not getting to spend much alone time with either of them, I still enjoyed them tremendously as characters and was certainly rooting for them throughout the entire thing. There’s a sub-plot arc with Asha and a little girl she’s rescued named Katya, and the maternal vibes it gave off? Everything.

I feaR this ship will neeD knives soon, Little SpiDeR.

→ Ella Malikova ←
Everyone’s favorite little hacker girl did not fail to impress in this installment. I absolutely adored Ella in Gemina and desperately hoped she would get a substantial amount of screen time in the finale, so I was beyond ecstatic to spend so much time with her. True to her nature, she is still hilarious, snarky, and brilliant with a keyboard—but she also develops in the sense that we see her develop an affection for Hanna that is sisterly and precious. I love my little Spider girl, and what I wouldn’t give for a whole spin-off about her.

She cradles me to her breast
and I cannot feel the warmth of her skin.
Cannot hold her as she holds me.
And I cannot recall ever feeling so alone.
< error >

→ Artificial Intelligence Defense Analytics Network ←
I am without words. AIDAN plays such a tremendously fascinating role in this story—truly, it would be nothing without its logic, vicious honesty, and fiercely protective nature of Kady, the last of which we see bloom quickly in this final installment. If you noticed AIDAN growing more human-like and emotional in Gemina, just wait until Obsidio, where we get to see it depict humor, sorrow, loneliness, and even jealousy. There’s nothing that I can really tell you about AIDAN without offering up a million spoilers for this finale, so I’ll just say that, if you love AIDAN even half as much as I do, I don’t think a single part of you will be disappointed by this book.

I know their names.
I
know
their
faces.

→ supporting cast ←
There are a million and one characters in each installment of this story, and Obsidio is no different, but they each feel so complex and unique and perfectly human that I am consistently stunned by how easy it is to keep them all apart. We have entire spaceships and armies full of supporting characters, so I’ll just name a few favorites:

• Isaac Grant: #SquadDad goals for life. We’ve got a crew full of orphans running around at this point, and Isaac doesn’t hesitate to take them all under his wing. I have probably never loved a parental figure in any YA story half as much as I love him, and I spent the entire book laughing and crying over his pep talks, jokes, and desperate attempts to make everyone stop swearing.

• Duke Wozniak: Ah, “The Duke”. One of Rhys’ co-soldiers, he refers to himself in the third person, is missing half of his tongue, and sleeps in full armor no matter what. I love this guy. I know he’s on the “wrong side” of things in the story, but he’s a fantastic example of how there are people on both sides who don’t have bad intentions—they’re just doing what they can to survive.

• Yukiko Oshiro: Rhys’ sergeant and “shadow”, responsible for keeping him out of trouble at all costs. This poor woman is shown from the beginning to be in so far over her head that she’s doing everything she can to stay afloat, no matter what it takes. Despite how much I wanted to dislike her for some of her decisions, I couldn’t help but constantly root for her and hope she would see the light.

“The die is cast. But today we will shake the table upon which it lands.”

→ action and war ←
While the other two books had plenty of scenes that were written for character development, or plotting, or explaining the ins and outs of spacetime, dimensions, ships, etc., Obsidio comes in with a hook and doesn’t relent until the very end. There is so much action and tension in this story that I literally spent the last 150 pages with a feeling of nausea I couldn’t quite shake. There were pages that left me trembling, sobbing so hard I could not think straight—much less see the words on the pages. I cannot express to you how invested I was in this story, and how desperate I became to reach the end and see where the die would fall. The final battle was scripted so fluidly and to utter perfection; I could not, and would not, have asked for more.

I am not good.
Nor am I evil.
I am no hero.
Nor am I villain.
< error >
< error >
I
am
AIDAN.

→ final thoughts ←
If my incessant gushing and compliments to Jay and Amie’s storyweaving has not been enough to sell you on this book, I can’t think of a single other thing I could say to do the job, honestly. As I mentioned at the start, The Illuminae Files is, without question, one of my favorite series in life, and I can only count one or two other series in the world whose finales have pleased me as much as Obsidio did. I cannot recommend this series, and this book, highly enough, and I sincerely hope that you will give it a try. I cannot wait to see what Jay and Amie craft in their next adventure together.

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

Alex, the First Son, has one arch-nemesis: Prince Henry of England, the Crown’s golden boy. After their long-held feud escalates to a disaster at the Royal Wedding, the two are forced to fake a friendship in the spotlight to smooth international relations, and it’s going to be absolutely terrible. After all, Alex hates Henry! … doesn’t he?

Okay, look, I don’t even know how to start this review so I’m just going to apologize in advance for my fangirling, because honestly, it’s really just NOT fair at all that we’re less than three months into the year and I’ve probably already found my favorite book of the year. I mean, HOLY HELL, Y’ALL, THIS IS SO GOOD.

“And you are good. Most things are awful most of the time, but you’re good.”

I mean, this book is exactly what I’m referring to when I say that romance thrives on tropes and that we should embrace tropes more often because, seriously—international relations? Reluctant royals? Enemies-to-friends-to-lovers? Fake friendships? Fake dating? IT’S ALL HERE AND IT’S BEAUTIFUL.

“The turkeys are not going to Jurassic Park you. You’re not the bloke from Seinfeld. You’re Jeff Goldblum.”

When I say I loved this book, I’m worried that you’re interpreting it as, “wow, Destiny enjoyed this book,” when what I mean is, “I had to stop looking through my highlights for quotes to use because I was getting derailed by rereading all of my favorite parts and I’m legitimately tempted to reread this book right now even though I just finished it less than 24 hours ago.”

“You have so much in you, it’s almost impossible to match it. But he’s your match, dumbass.”

There are so many freaking adorable characters that I want to cherish forever. I mean, SO MANY. And they’re all so flawlessly and casually diverse and precious and wonderful.
✨ Alex: First Son, biracial (white/Latinx), bisexual, hilarious, vaguely full of himself in the best way

#1 The Kiss Quotient ★★★★★
#2 The Bride Test ★★★★☆

Sometimes, you hear so much hype for a book that you reach the point where you’re almost afraid to read it, because your hopes are so high that you just know, if it disappoints you even an iota, you’re going to be totally crushed… right? It’s the worst feeling and it can make it so hard to finally pick up that superlatively popular read, because nobody wants to be the only person who hates a book, right?

“All the things that make you different make you perfect.”

Nah, I’m just playing with you guys—this book was everything I ever hoped it would be and more. Oh, my gosh, I cannot even describe how much I adored this book! I literally picked it up with the goal of reading a few chapters for my buddy read, and bam!, it was way past my bedtime and I was sitting here in some sort of shocked state, like, “How do I even follow up how freaking perfect that was?!”

She wasn’t broken. She saw and interacted with the world in a different way, but that was her.

Seriously, The Kiss Quotient is worth every single ounce of hype it has received and so much more. The chemistry is on fire, the story is so fun and captivating, and these characters—you can’t help but love them. Stella is incredible. I loved being inside her head, and knowing that it’s own-voice autism rep, I wasn’t surprised by how much of what she said mirrored things my own autistic loved ones have shared with me (as well as feelings I myself have had, having strongly suspected that I am autistic for a very long time but never having sought out a diagnosis).

Michael was mint chocolate chip for her. She could try other flavors, but he’d always be her favorite.

While Stella is the star, Michael is honestly just as lovable and precious as she is. He’s this biracial Vietnamese/Swedish man, though the only family we meet of his is the Vietnamese side, and they are all so lovable and wonderful, even down to his obnoxious sisters. I loved every scene in his mother’s home, I loved his dedication to his mother and family in general, and I just cherished all of Michael’s motives and inner dialogue so much.

“I don’t want just a night or a week or a month with you. I want you all the time.”

Between the cuteness, the math, the fake dating trope done flawlessly, the steamy sweet moments, and the fantastic focus on consent… I honestly have nothing but good things to say about The Kiss Quotient. Instead of rambling on, I’ll just echo the tons of other people saying if you haven’t read this book, you need to! It’s wonderful, charming, sad, heavy, and sweet, all wrapped up into one emotional little bundle of romance, sex, and family.

———

Buddy read with Owl!

#1: Stalking Jack the Ripper ★★★★★
#2: Hunting Prince Dracula ★★★★★
#3: Escaping From Houdini ★★★★★

Are you guys ready for some serious fangirling?! This series has utterly bewitched me.

Perhaps it was time for fathers to teach their sons how to behave around young women. They were not born superior, no matter how society falsely conditioned them. We were all equals here.

While we got to see Audrey's feminist snark come into play a little in SJTR, she is loud, proud, and feminist as hell in this sequel. I am so here for this! Despite struggling with PTSD from the ending of the first book (and her PTSD is represented really solidly!), when she arrives at Bran Castle, Audrey refuses to let the headmaster or any of her male colleagues look down upon her. True to her nature, she claws her way to the top despite her trauma and the scorn of the men around her.

"Mr. Thomas Cresswell would descend into each circle of Hell if you needed him to. You are the beating heart inside his ribcage."

Really, though, my favorite thing about this book was how much time we get to spend with Thomas and how much his character develops. He is shamelessly head-over-heels for Audrey, and while he occasionally slips up, his intentions are always good. He learns from each mistake along the way and views her as his equal in all ways. In a genre filled with unhealthy and/or unrealistic relationships, Kerri has written a romance that feels authentic, legitimate, exciting, and so sweet.

His eyes were my favorite constellations to gaze at; each fleck of gold surrounding his pupils were new galaxies begging to be discovered.

Audrey develops tremendously as well, and opens her heart to the possibilities of a life filled with more than just cutting open cadavers and chasing down villains. I found it really delightful to watch her come to terms with the idea that she could be a strong, feminist woman without sacrificing her emotions or blossoming romance.

"Society at large is staggeringly obtuse. If one simply looks to others for their opinions, they lose the ability to think critically for themselves. Progress would never be made if everyone all appeared and thought and loved in the same manner."

Did I mention there's a queer romance in this book? Because there's totally a super precious and adorable f/f relationship between a couple of side characters. ❤

If you couldn't tell already, I loved every freakin' moment of Hunting Prince Dracula. The setting is incredible - a creepy old castle, what more could I ask for? - and the suspense is on point. I know there were some complaints that SJTR threw out too many red herrings, but I don't feel that was the case at all with this sequel. I found myself legitimately considering every possible avenue for the culprit, and while the ending didn't shock me, I loved how everything played out. Plus, we learned some delicious secrets about Mr. Cresswell, which I really hope will come into play in the next book!

If you enjoy YA suspense/thrillers, mysteries, gothic horror, and/or an adorable romance in bloom, I highly encourage you to pick this series up ASAP! You won't regret it.

Thank you to Jimmy Patterson Books/Little, Brown and Company for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

#1 Twilight ★★★☆☆
#2 New Moon - pending reread
#3 Eclipse - pending reread
#4 Breaking Dawn - pending reread

Oh, boy. I know this is probably not a review that most of you expected to see pop up on my blog, and honestly, I almost didn’t even review this, because there are a million and one reviews in the world for each book in this series, and this was at least my eighth or ninth time rereading this… however(!), it was my first time reading it in ten years and I had a lot of unexpected feelings about it, so here we are.

“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…,” he murmured.
“What a stupid lamb,” I sighed.
“What a sick, masochistic lion.”

Okay, first of all, you guys, I gotta be honest—this book is still just as cringe-y as I remembered it being. The insta-love is so real, Bella has major not-like-other-girls syndrome, and some of Edward’s behaviors are downright terrifying. All of this is on top of how incredibly awkward most of the Cullens are, how ridiculously stereotypical some of the Native rep is, and the fact that the writing is just not up to par with what I’m used to reading these days.

“I decided as long as I’m going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly.”

All of that aside… I had a freaking blast rereading this. I laughed my ass off at so many points, I “aww”ed over little cinnamon roll Jacob all over again (#TeamJacob for life, y’all), I rolled my eyes at 80% of Edward’s dialogue, and I grew seriously concerned for the level of “clumsiness” Bella withholds. I mean, if your claims to have fallen down TWO flights of stairs and through a window just sounds like an average Friday night to your family, well…

“What if I’m not a superhero? What if I’m the bad guy?”

This is where my struggle to rate this comes in, though: if I were reading this for the first time, right now, it’d probably be a 2-star read. It’s fun enough to be worth more than 1, but problematic and ridiculous enough not to warrant 3, either. As an OG Twihard rereading these just for the fun of it, at a point in my life where I no longer let people give me hell for the things I like? This was so much fun and I legitimately can’t wait to continue rereading the series. So… we’ll say a 2.5-star rating, rounded up, eh?

“Do I dazzle you?”

So, if you’re wondering if I recommend this title… it depends. If it’s going to be your first time reading the series, eh, you could probably live without it. If you were an oldschool fan, though? Go into this with a grain of salt the size of a Buick and understand that no, it’s not going to hold up to today’s YA literature, but yes, I think you’ll be happy you did it.

The setting is Paris, 1889, and the world is a strange and industrious place, run by Forgers and curators of fantastical items. Séverin is a treasure-hunter with a crew, and he’s looking to find the item he needs to be reinstated in his rightful place, to receive the inheritance taken unfairly from him—but the item will come at a cost, and he and his team will need to overcome many obstacles to retrieve it.

I’d been meaning to read Roshani Chokshi’s work for quite some time, and when I heard about The Gilded Wolves, I immediately knew I wanted it to be my introduction to her stories. I’m a big fan of historical fantasy, especially stories set in real places but crafted very differently from what those places actually were in that setting, and I’m a sucker for a good heist story with lovable characters, both of which were facets Gilded promised to deliver.

→ L I K E S :

“I don’t want to be their equals. I don’t want them to look us in the eye. I want them to look away, to blink harshly, like they’ve stared at the sun itself. I don’t want them standing across from us. I want them kneeling.”

Luckily, Roshani is just as delightful of a storyteller as I anticipated she would be, because I was captivated from the beginning and found myself head-over-heels in love with this series by the end. The writing is so much fun, full of hilarious, laugh-out-loud banter and sweet, tender moments (I swear I highlighted half the book), and the heists and puzzles craft an air of endless suspense and intrigue.

They might owe him their service. But he was the one bound to them. He was the one who would always be left behind.

Even better, the characters in this story are some of the best I’ve ever met. They are all incredibly complex and real, and you’d be hard pressed to dislike any of them because they all have such lovable quirks and bits of their personalities. I never get tired of a good “squad” and this little gang of misfits has to be one of my new favorites! Oh, and there is a romance in this book that has some of the best romantic/sexual tension I have EVER read in YA (without ever being even remotely explicit).

And though they were not all his tales, he saw himself in them: pushed to the corners of the dark. He was just like them. As solid as smoke and just as powerless.

In fact, can we just stop right here and talk about these characters? Because, honestly, I tried writing this review without taking some time to gush over each of them individually, and I just couldn’t do it.

→ Séverin

update — May 2020:
You know what? I've had a lot of feelings about this book over the last year. I initially gave it a pretty high rating, but then the author sketched me out on social media and I decided I didn't want to support her work while she was being unkind to other reviewers. A quick way to convince me not to support an author is to show me them attacking reviewers, because 1) I think of the reviewing community as one big, dysfunctional family that needs to stick up for one another, and 2) it makes me hesitant to read that author's work and review it, because what if they attack me, too?

All of that said... it's been a year since I took down my initial review, and I've had a bit of a shift in thoughts. First of all, while yes, I do think it's super NOT okay for authors to subtweet reviewers, in hindsight, I don't believe I ever saw Emily A. Duncan do anything that I thought felt like a legitimate "attack". I think it was less malice and more a young, debut author not considering what ought to go on main and what ought to be kept to group chats. Second of all, you know what, I liked this book. It wasn't my favorite of the year and I do think it suffers from some definite Darkling Fanfiction Syndrome™, but I want to continue the series at some point.

And, more than anything, I've reached the point in my life where I've realized I can choose my battles. I don't need to weigh in on every "hot take" that comes across the YA book twitter stratosphere.

So... I'm re-adding my review. And if you've read this far, feel free to keep on reading, but either way, thanks for listening. ♥ If you do keep reading, it's a bit more gushy than my current memories of the book are, but frankly, I don't want to edit it. I did lower my star rating from 5 to 4, but the text remains the same.

——————

ORIGINAL REVIEW — APRIL 2019:

Three entirely different paths converge in a singular attempt to overthrow a corrupt kingdom and stop an ages-old war: Serefin, a broken prince whose life is in danger; Malachiasz, a monster gone rogue against his own comrades; and Nadya, the gods-blessed girl with the power to end it all.

Wicked Saints was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, which is such a stressful way to feel about a book when you read it, really — it can either go brilliantly and live up to all of your hopes and dreams, or crash and burn in your hands. Coupling the nerves of the ridiculous level of hype I created for myself with this release with the fact that I’d been in a fantasy slump for months, I had no idea what to expect.

“We’re all monsters … some of us just hide it better than others.”

Starting out, the first couple of chapters hadn’t fully hooked me yet, you know? I was in, but I wasn’t obsessed (YET). Honestly, though, around the 15% mark, something “clicked” for me and I was all in. I could barely be wrenched away from my kindle to do anything because all I wanted was to devour this gorgeous, gothic little fantasy story with its lovable, magical characters and intricate world.

“My name is Malachiasz Czechowicz,” he said, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had just been given something.

First, these characters are beyond incredible. It’s so clear that Emily grew up in fandoms, knowing how characters could best hit a reader’s buttons to make them melt, because these little cinnamon rolls are some of the best I’ve ever met in my life.