korry_tza's Reviews (405)

 Let me first give this woman a standing (slow-clap) ovation.

I don't care that some people call this a filler book or something like that. This is not an ending book and it deals with trauma and consequences. To make that work you have to address every aspect or don't use it at all to make the book dark, just to fit in some trend. Don't bother with it, or you will do injustice towards those who had real trauma.

Once again the found family is so much stronger than a family gained by birth and that shows the true power within them and the power that shines from you.

Then the maturity of the characters, over the roof.

You have trauma, it feels real
You are a villain, you are real.
You love, you love for real.

No matter if it is good or bad it feels real. No matter Fae or Human, it feels real.
Miscommunication we don't need you here, Ty, Goodbye.

And the side characters... there are no side characters! Everyone is important, everyone is a main character within their story in the book and this is proven with just a few chapters of Osrik and Rissa... OMG!!! 

This is a sequel, so if you haven't already, you should read the first book in this duology.

"Full tilt" is one of my favorite reads and it was so well written. The characters were amazing, the story was heartbreaking and you easily fall in love with Jonah and Kacey... and that was a problem for going into the "All in". But when a story comes to an end, that doesn't mean that all life should stop. Everyone deserves love and happiness in their life and I just needed to see how the story for Kacey and Theo would go on.

I was so heartbroken for Jonah and Kacey that it took me almost a year to read the sequel, the story of Kacey and Jonah's brother, Theo. And even a full year later, as I was reading the first chapters from "All in", my heart was sobbing for the cosmic injustice that happened to Kacey and Jonah, for Jonah and his brother, their family... Once again, wonderfully written and it holds your heart with bare hands :)
 I was wondering how this side of the story would go but slowly Kacey and Theo did get their happy end. Their love for Jonah and his for them was the strongest bonding they could get and it was presented in such a gentle way. The most magical thing about it is that love can come in all different kinds and shapes and their love for Jonah is something that will live through them and their love for each other... 
Their healing journey was through much-needed time for acceptance and recognizing themselves as individuals and realizing that this is not a punishment and that life goes on, they deserve to be loved and to love again. There is just this part in Kacey's story that was troubling me, of her turning back to alcohol and coping in her old way that I think was resolved too fast. Theo was there for her to help her get through the sobering phase and the withdrawal. Further in the story, her problem with drinking was mentioned a few times but you could not feel the real struggle that a recovering alcoholic (for the second time) would have and that is where the story missed its point of using alcohol for drowning the sorrow. This came just too easy.
Regarding the alcohol part, their story was all so wonderful and then the pregnancy trope happened. You can already tell that I am not a fan of this one, I don't mind it in the epilogue part...but I digress...
Until this point, I was wowed by how smoothly the story went from Kacey and Jonah to Kacey and Theo, and by the end, when it should be wrapped up, she gets pregnant and the few chapters from that point on were just a rush of all kind of emotions and explanations and acceptance..., just too perfect... The hurt that they went through with Jonah's life ending and how closer it got them together was enriched by the hurt of the miscarriage that they got through together, but the story was so developed this far, that they didn't need another painful experience in their life that would prove how strong for each other they are and how much love they share.
I believe that this kind of ending was unnecessary and could be easily avoided. As we got to the end of the book my interest in Kacey and Theo was slipping and the connection with their parents was much more interesting to read. And in the end, I was more emotional about the reconnection of Theo and his father than the happy family Theo and Kacey got. 

I don't like comparing books but due to their strong connection with the plot, In the end, I liked "All in", but I felt "Full tilt" much stronger.

My review is probably going to be as the book is written... total confusion at the beginning and an explanation by the end with even more questions...
I just don't know where to start :)

This book was sitting on my shelf for no good reason other than my overwhelming buying of new books and being a mood reader. Every book has the right time to be read and I finally picked it up :) 

The author does such an amazing job of showing us a world with disrupted nature, fallen cities, and a complex magic system that is the essence of energy shifting, of deep and raw human emotions of not belonging somewhere, being scared from, and at the same time being needed for the survival.

The world-building is one of the most developed ones that I have read so far, and so rich with descriptions that even though it is all confusing at the beginning, by the end of the book you understand everything and it all fits so perfectly into the story. 
The magical thing about it is that you are unaware of how it all came up clearly since there are no drastic revelations about the magic system itself. It all felt organic and perfectly shaped into a world that is, I believe, just scratching the surface. 
The wow moments and the big revelations are all regarding the characters and their stories. Each and every one of them is carrying a piece of the puzzle that presents all of the missing pieces that were confusing at the start. 
Masterwork!

The hard times of the fifth season are presented so real, and I truly believe that real events were an inspiration for some of the story, and if you look deeper, it is not solely about the hard environment, the loss of people, or places to live. It is about the wrongness that people bring to each other, the way that the connection between the child and the mother is brutally disregarded, and families are afraid of their own children...I could go on and on. Each chapter is a punch in the gut, with its answers and its new questions. The biggest question of them all ...how do you find the strength to do some things that you know will hurt as hell and leave a mark for a lifetime...?

This is a book that can hardly be summarised. All the questions are keeping you at the edge of wtf is happening! The characters are not heroes, they are flawed like every other person, and "learning from your own mistakes" is a thing, a real thing... only when you reach rock bottom you can learn in which direction you should go. Each of the relationships between the characters has such a unique start, something that you could not relate to in your lifetime, but then again, it is written so well that you feel like you do. 

Even now, writing this, there is so much I would tell but I`m not finding a good way of expressing it. This is a book that leaves you feeling a lot, and question a lot. All I can say is that it had a rough start but it was worth reading it. It is a unique world with magic but with the flaws of humanity.

As I said...if you reached this far with the review :)...my review is like the book, chaos, but when you reach the end you understand it and want to know more...need to know more.  

So, the next book is awaiting!

This book has a voice that everyone should listen to and hear the message it sends.

Who wouldn't relate to a vibe from the final year of high school? An era coming to an end, big decisions to make and a new life to start, some friends you will see in maybe 10-20 years, gain some new ones... exciting, isn't it!
Well, it's not so exciting for Chiamaka and Devon...
What if all of your memories were built up on lies, what if the thing that was important to you was not so important anymore? How hard would it be for you to mirror your mind and thoughts to understand some things? Why it's all happening? These are all of the questions that Chiamakas and Devon's story is raising.

This is a story that still has its roots in today's society.  It has its intro, its plot, and a powerful statement by the end. The writing was nice and the whole story was fluent to keep you wondering what is happening. Every chapter has its theme where they were nicely connected with the mystery this book brings into one cohesive experience.
Chiamaka and Devon are so different in the beginning but in the end, they stand together and with a power within them that can be only admired.

The plot, or the logic, itself had a few holes, in my opinion.

The themes, which were included in this book, are so strong that in the beginning, the accident/death that happened, is treated with a lack of trauma and strong emotions that it would inflict. It is mentioned further in the book how horrible the main character felt but, when the accident ist self happened, for the next few chapters we are hearing how someone wants to be popular and how another girl makes her feel... no sleepless nights, no panic attacks, and no guilt represented. This is just at the start, we see a few more inconsistencies further down the story

The other thing was... I am not a Gossip Girl fan, so the Gossip girl vibes were a bit annoying at the beginning but by the end, I must say it was written well into the story and did bring the whole mystery atmosphere.

Overall, the story was great with a powerful message, and was easy to read.
What I missed was the lack of emotional response from the main characters to some of the scenes that happened (which included different people other than themselves) and were just skipped forward to progress in the story. Also, the few plot holes that just could have been resolved by addressing them and explaining them to us, readers, and not leaving them open to interpretation.

I received an eARC from NetGalley and this is my honest review.

This was a solid 3-star read.
It was ok. 

The whole book is written as a collection of storytelling snippets of mysteries, old fairy tales, magical kingdoms, and legends. All of that was intertwined with the character's story and life, bringing the veil of mystery even closer to the reader. The writing style did well for the descriptive parts of the story and the richness of the character's life filled with imagination and with that an escape from reality. This is where the mystery factor is brought in.

Now, this was such a good idea and I loved how the story started. It was mysterious, sensual, and promising from the start, I was really into it but then the flatness happened.
The main characters' relationship was non-existent. For me, they could easily be two strangers meeting in the street and hooking up for a day or two. All of their years together and I still had no clue what was holding them together. Their love for storytelling? No... that would be more likely for a secret society, but for marriage...just didn't feel it.

The manipulation is so strong in this story, and it is the main reason for things happening, but it does get annoying in some parts reading about it since there is no readers connection to the characters

There was a lot of telling in the story and not much showing, which grew a bit tiresome within the book's second half. Not to mention that the plot was so predictable, you could figure it out quite early in the book. The problem with that happening was, I believe, that the story was told from the dual POV and there were only a few other characters in the story and the hints were so strongly presented...so not a lot of room for guessing. Given that I expected the plot twist, it didn't have the wow impact that the story was meant to have.

When I read the last page of this book my first thought was "Ok, this was nice" not really what I was expecting from a romance novel.
Let me  start from the beginning :)

Delilah is a character that you like right from the start. Her casual attitude, her snarky comments, her tattoos... She is a representation of everyone who wanted to leave their old life behind, but alas, the old life wants you back.
Then there is Claire, the cute single mom who forgot to love herself more but she is trying, she is really trying to open up more :) her two best friends, Iris and Astrid are sure here to remind her of that.

Their story was nice, I can't say that it was something exciting. This is the first book I have read from this author, I haven't read her previous work so, unlike the other reviews I can't comment on her transfer to the adult romance genre, but I can say that the writing was good and the story didn't have any plot holes so that as a fact is great. But even with the great banter in some points and cute moments with Clair's daughter Rosy, the story felt as if I had already read it. Like I have already seen this movie just with different characters and that took out a bit of the enjoyment for me. I missed the chills ... 
Then, there was the part with Josh, Claire's ex-husband where from the first introduction you could feel where his character development was headed and Claire's reaction at the first scene with him was a bit overreacted, but then again those are her trust issues and she had them for a good reason, so that is something to work on, for both of them...

I love the choice of Delialh`s profession. Photography is an art that speaks so much volume and Delilah uses it as a way of expressing herself and her POV is wonderful.

The world-building felt a bit uneventful, other than their stories. Except for the part regarding Delilah's story, we learn about Claire mostly through Delilah, while Claire's character was mostly occupied with the present life, which was fine since we get to see two different perspectives of the small town that for some is a lovely home, while for the others a place near to hell.

All of their moments together were cute but as I said, I didn't feel the excitement for them.

My heart went to Astrid, she was the one that had a family member that did care for her in her own way but in reality, she was alone and her feelings were hidden so well that it makes you wonder how strong you have to be to carry that hurt inside yourself and fool everyone that you are ok. Opposite of Delilah, who was openly distant from everyone due to, as we learn by the end, misunderstanding and presumptions in her teenage years, after her father died.

Would I recommend it?  - Yes, I would. This bоок had good writing and a good story, it just wasn't vibing with me.
Will I read the next in the series?  - I'll give it some time for now...maybe at some point.

 I have received an eARC from the Author and this is my honest opinion.

This was a fun and quick read. There were things that I liked and some things that I liked less.

Let me tell you the good part first :)
What I love, love, love about this book is the platonic relationship between Eme and Ace. You could feel that they would move mountains for each other but then again, when needed, they would gladly let each other go in order to find their happiness. That was just amazing! I have to admit, not something that I have seen in a fantasy romance book (or in any book that I have read so far) and, again, I loooove that. This is a refreshing perspective of the heroine's story and is still highly debated whether a woman and a man can be just friends...we'll see :)
What is also interesting is how we get to the love interest, Emes' journey to him is pretty wavy and just when you think "yeah, here he is'' ... nope ... next :) so that part was very on edge :) but then again there is a lot more to happen in the next book, so....I don't know... maybe I`m still wrong guessing here :)

Also, the diversity and the inclusivity in the story are soooo heart-warming. Ace's character (his kind) uses sign language, which is such a strong moment in the book. The representation of the separate language and the acceptance of it as a part of the highly functional system was just - chefs kiss. Loved it.

Element based magic system and the "chosen one" part of the story reminds a lot of the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender intertwined with the fae world, so if you liked Avatar, you will like this one :)

Now, what I liked less...
I can't say that the story is the most original one, we even have the Fire fae as the enemies. Most of the tropes that are in the fantasy romance genre are checked. I don't mind a retelling or an inspired story (Avatar is one of my favorite shows), the thing that was missing was 50-100 pages more, so the story could have been a bit longer and with a bit more of character development. The story is fast-paced, mainly plot-driven, and interesting to read, but for me, because of the fast pace and the shortness, some of the characters lacked a bit more depth, and connecting to them was a bit of a challenge in some of the parts. I couldn't connect with them with a few short dialogues, especially where the love tension is set. Generally, the whole story is fast-paced and some of the scenes and the tropes felt rushed.

There is a prequel to this book and it would be useful reading it before this one, but still, you could do without it, you can catch up.

Now, this is just the start of the series and the cliffhanger set my expectations high for the next book which I will gladly read as soon as we see it published :) 

This book has so many reviews so I won't go into that this time.

I just want to put my opinion regarding the reading order of the series and whether you should read it or just skip it.

I've seen that some people are commenting that they skipped reading this book and that it is not important but I would disagree.

This book is important for the world-building and the understanding of Celaena and her young years and her finding herself. One of the most important sentences comes from this book and reading it gives so much depth to the same sentence in the Heir of fire.. It is not important that you know the ending already, it gives so much more into the world-building and a base for the further character arc of Celaena.

So I would highly recommend not skipping this one and reading it before the Heir of fire.