jlreadstoperpetuity's Reviews (309)

It took me few months after reading Sweetest Oblivion before reading this one, probably because the first book isn't that memorable for me. Therefore, I am so glad I picked this one up ♥️ 

It's a little bit of a timelapse approach and there were some references on the first book, however, this book can stand on its own. It has the typical alpha male MC and charming FMC but the icing to the cake is that the FMC is not a sweet Abelli like Elena but a crazy and affable Russo - which makes her the more loveable. 

They have their own dark pasts and try to move past it they only way they know how. They are both volatile when mixed together but not the suffocating kind of toxic relationship. This is one of the mafia romance that I read past the sm*t and appreciated the plot more - the sm*t was a plus 😅 It's refreshing to see a mafia romance that does not just point out the alpha male BS we know about. Well, probably except when said alpha male has no qualms blowing people's brains out fo4 just annoying him, lol

[Blurb @goodreads] All Mina ever wanted was to escape her father's control. Half human, half vampire, she lived eternally torn between two worlds, never fully experiencing the pleasures of either—until her father chose her as the pawn in his latest political move, gifting her to the darkly powerful and dangerously seductive Malachi Zion. 

So that was the initial premise of the book until along the way FMC met 2 other Bloodline Vampires that made up their MMMF relationship. To say I was left speechless on some of the acts is an understatement 😅 

This is a book where the plot is described via sm*t and NOT sm*t as part of the plot. I thought I got the hang of dark romance and all its quirks but I was wrong. Could've rateed this higher considering I liked The Dark Olympus Series to some degree however, I could probably sum up the plot in few phrases - supposed useless FMC sacrificed by her father to another man, they ended up falling in love and then had relations with 2 other hot vampires so now all of them are on the run until they decided enough is enough and plotted to steike back, kill the dad and take iver the throne. The end.

[Blurb @goodreads]
 Lady Maela Llewelyn loves her family and her land. Every year she sees her people growing weaker and sicker as the kingdom demands more and more resources from them. All the while, she hides inside her a magical power in fear she will be taken away by the High Holy Council. 

After saving a young girl working in one of the orchards, she is seen using her power by her uncle, who sits on the High Holy Councile and other priests with him. Her uncle convinces her to go to the palace to participate in an event meant to find the crown prince’s bride and the next queen of the kingdom. Mae has no desire to wed the prince, but she sees a chance to speak to the king about her land’s problems and train with her mystical powers. 

📍Thoughts
 The blurn is as underwhelming as the ending. The FMC was actually described as someone kind, witty, brazen, high born yet humble and ultimately powerful. She is quite likeable. She is the type of a fantasy character that depicts a bad ass queen in the making and has a whole lot potential to be more. I actually pity her that in every chapter at least 4 or more characters needs to talk to her about something. She felt tired dealing with people and honestly, I am right there with her. 

Plotline. Think of Selection x Bachelor mixed with magic. There were some really great moments and intricacies that was woven in their somewhere, however, I think the author did not have a clear direction how to wrap up the book. 

I can count at least 4 times FMC over heard conversations about rebellion and misuse of power but the identity of the supposed villains were not even explored or uncovered on the book. The selection finale in itself was a big wonk wonk that I had to ask myself, that was the big ending? 

Chapters 1 to 15 talked about the FMC's background and travel to the palace. 16 to 27th talked about the budding romance betwen FMC and the prince (with some side High Lord in the mix) so I was really looking forward to the last 3 chapters where everything is revealed. Like why is FMC the most powerful one, what made her magic stood out, what made those on Holy Council want her so bad, etc. And all I got was a downward spiral of an ending. Sure, FMC got the Prince at the end but even then, I have no idea how her and the Prince fared given that the author ended the book with the sad version of a wedding.

Whew! WOW 🥵 

[Blurb @goodreads]
 Mary has had enough. Enough of the comments, the looks, the eggnog. Enough of the pity she knows she’ll see on everyone’s faces over the loss of her husband two years ago. If no one else can move on, how can she? 

This Christmas, Mary is getting away from all of that. For two weeks, her only company will be herself, a pile of smutty romance books, and her army of buzzy, rechargeable friends, out in a quiet log cabin. 

Each person deals with grief/loss in their own way and while this books contained a lot (and really lots of it 😅) of steamy scenes, the vulnerability that comes with finding and healing each other was also explored. Of course, I would've loved it to be explored more but as a novella, it did justice to capture the realistic transition between characters. 

I thought I would be put off by the age of the characters but as it turns out, I related to their insecurities and no nonsense ability to work through it more than I did with people my own age, lol

[Twisted Games is a slow to medium burn contemporary royal bodyguard romance. It’s book two of the Twisted series but can be read as a standalone.] 

3rd Ana Huang book and I was just a tad happy that the book did not center around a brooding, Alpha male CEO again 😅 Typical bodyguard-princess forbidd3n romance turned fairy tale ending with thrown mini twists here and there, least FMC has  some spine in her after all. 

Word building ain't that much and steamy scenes are full of hardcore effin around, had to skip some pages cause it is hurting my imagination with the same phrasing to describe how fantastic the growling and the slapping were 🙄 

Compared to Twisted Love, can't help but imagine how it would look like if the MC from the first book ended up with the FMC of rhe second book. Now that would be interesting.
 

Well, that was anti climactic 😅 This series has been on my TBR for so long that I relented in reading it because I am currently watching the Netflix drama "Wednesday" I was looking for a YA thriller x mystery and this series seemed to be right up there.

[Blurb @goodreads]
Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord's daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father's wishes and society's expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle's laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

Nothing really special about the story itself, a lot of plot holes and looked like a semi watered down version of Sherlock Holmes - a fanfiction if you will. I get that FMC is living in an era where propriety and misogyny goes hand in hand but no need to fill up pages upon pages to remind the readers again and again. The identity of the killer is a dead giveaway when said killer was being described by the author but okay fine, I can play along and finish the book then pretend I didn't knew who it was, lol

There were splashes of romance here and there but it did not influence the story too much which is great. Although this is just a meh-meh for me, I can still give book 2 some time but not today.

It took me 5days to read this. 5days. In a timeline where I can read a book in a day or two, 5days is a tell tale sign that I needed some time to compose myself because I am darn frustrated and at the verge of DNF'ing a book. 

I really liked the side characters, especially the Jester (and then I didn't). I liked the concept of wizards protecting the royalty (fantasy book that includes magic, yes!). I liked the air of mystery, secret organizations, betrayal and uncovering the traitors part. What I did not like, the FMC; which is rather ironic since this book was told on the POV of the FMC and the underwhelming twists on how the book ended (Yeah, I know there is a second book but given the premise of this one, rather unnecessary) 

The FMC has to be the most self absorbed, pretentiously self righteous and irritatingly st*pidest cast in this book (I am really so sorry for the lack of of a better term) It took her 30pages before the book ended to uncover the real villain behind the betrayals. The author tried portraying her as this intelligent and fierce badass FMC but truly, she is just a spineless lap dog unable to do sh*t for her friends. Stickler for rules even if the truth is right in front of her. As a reader, I find it sometimes offensive if authors brands their casts this way just to illicit emotions and extend the story. Who would want a lame as*s character all the way to the end? 

The ending. My goodness. So each character has this secret on whatever lives they led before meeting the very oblivious FMC, which is all and great. Explanations were done at the ending, albeit not really helpful. A twist was mentioned which I think was an attempt to have a premise for the second book. 

I'll end the review there are there's not much more that I can share that isn't a replication of the boorish repetitions from the book itself.