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lisashelves's Reviews (976)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 stars
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
Foul Lady Fortune is a companion book to These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends. It takes place four years later and we follow Rosalind, who is an assassin and spy, on a mission to find out who is behind the recent killings.
“Lady Fortune, you play foul.”
I have loved reading These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends a lot and had a hard time getting over the ending, even though it hadn’t come as a surprise. Knowing we would get to revisit Shanghai and some of the characters made me so excited! At first, I thought Alisa would be the main character haha. I was surprised it was Rosalind, but super eager to start reading the story as soon as possible!
The story starts in 1931, four years after the events which led to the deaths of many in Shanghai. A major backbone for the story is the political instability present in Shanghai and the different parties, Nationalist, Communists and the Japanese being major players in the civil war brewing. In the beginning it was a little difficult to follow along all the politics and different parties, but it didn’t take away from the story itself.
The plot was very fun to be honest, even though it was grim as well. It is a bit similar to These Violent Delights, with killings happening and two people trying to figure out why. A difference is that Rosalind and Orion are on the same side and not opposites haha. Those from the other side are closely connected to them though, so we see characters from both sides.
I really liked the characters, both known and new! Rosalind seemed a bit more subdued than before, but that also isn’t surprising when you know what she’s gone through. I loved seeing her coming more out of her shell when around Orion. Guarded as she was, it was super sweet seeing him break through the walls she put up. Orion as well is a character with layers. I loved his mannerism and how he went about the whole operation.
I loved the chemistry between Rosalind and Orion! While they started off bickering a lot, I sometimes missed a bit of humor or something at the start. Nonetheless, they were very amusing and sweet as the story progressed. I loved how slow and real their relationship grew. From the little sweet conversations they had when they opened up more, to the scheme they had to keep up where the lines between real and fake blurred more and more.
It might’ve also been just me, but I honestly took so long to finally connect the Oliver from Celia to Oliver from Orion…
The plot twist and the end, while fully anticipating one coming, still blew me away! The same with the ending! I love the way Chloe writes her books in a way that is super engaging and addicting to read! With the way she ends them as well! I so want to read the sequel, and not even its title is currently known… I am also super intrigued by who -JM is! My BTS loving mind jumped to Jimin hahahaha, but that is kinda impossible. My second guess went to Juliette! I honestly don’t think they would be in the books even if they were alive, but if she and Roma married and she took his name, that would be her initials! I guess we’ll find out next year.
Overall, an intriguing, fun book which was a blast to read! I loved the characters, their development and the overall plot.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
Foul Lady Fortune is a companion book to These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends. It takes place four years later and we follow Rosalind, who is an assassin and spy, on a mission to find out who is behind the recent killings.
“Lady Fortune, you play foul.”
I have loved reading These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends a lot and had a hard time getting over the ending, even though it hadn’t come as a surprise. Knowing we would get to revisit Shanghai and some of the characters made me so excited! At first, I thought Alisa would be the main character haha. I was surprised it was Rosalind, but super eager to start reading the story as soon as possible!
The story starts in 1931, four years after the events which led to the deaths of many in Shanghai. A major backbone for the story is the political instability present in Shanghai and the different parties, Nationalist, Communists and the Japanese being major players in the civil war brewing. In the beginning it was a little difficult to follow along all the politics and different parties, but it didn’t take away from the story itself.
The plot was very fun to be honest, even though it was grim as well. It is a bit similar to These Violent Delights, with killings happening and two people trying to figure out why. A difference is that Rosalind and Orion are on the same side and not opposites haha. Those from the other side are closely connected to them though, so we see characters from both sides.
I really liked the characters, both known and new! Rosalind seemed a bit more subdued than before, but that also isn’t surprising when you know what she’s gone through. I loved seeing her coming more out of her shell when around Orion. Guarded as she was, it was super sweet seeing him break through the walls she put up. Orion as well is a character with layers. I loved his mannerism and how he went about the whole operation.
I loved the chemistry between Rosalind and Orion! While they started off bickering a lot, I sometimes missed a bit of humor or something at the start. Nonetheless, they were very amusing and sweet as the story progressed. I loved how slow and real their relationship grew. From the little sweet conversations they had when they opened up more, to the scheme they had to keep up where the lines between real and fake blurred more and more.
It might’ve also been just me, but I honestly took so long to finally connect the Oliver from Celia to Oliver from Orion…
The plot twist and the end, while fully anticipating one coming, still blew me away! The same with the ending! I love the way Chloe writes her books in a way that is super engaging and addicting to read! With the way she ends them as well! I so want to read the sequel, and not even its title is currently known… I am also super intrigued by who -JM is! My BTS loving mind jumped to Jimin hahahaha, but that is kinda impossible. My second guess went to Juliette! I honestly don’t think they would be in the books even if they were alive, but if she and Roma married and she took his name, that would be her initials! I guess we’ll find out next year.
Overall, an intriguing, fun book which was a blast to read! I loved the characters, their development and the overall plot.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 stars
XOXO is a story about Jenny, a Korean-American student From LA. At her family’s karaoke bar, she meets Jaewoo, an Idol from South-Korea. Later on, she moves to South-Korea for the semester because her grandmother is sick and ends up on the same school as Jaewoo.
“Have new experiences, make new friends. I promise you can get the life you want now, if you just live in it.”
I’ve had the beautiful edition from Fairyloot on my shelves for a while and it just kept staring at me as if saying “READ ME!”, so I finally did… well sort of, I listened to the audiobook for this one hahaha. First off, listening to the audiobook was a blast! The narrator is such a good voice actress and as she is part Korean as well, she really nailed all the Korean in the book hahaha! So authentic, I loved it!
The story mostly takes place in Seoul, but starts of in Los Angeles, where the two main characters first meet. I really enjoyed the discriptions given in the book, as it made it super easy to visualize all that was happening and the surroundings.
The characters were super sweet to be honest. Jenny is someone who is dedicated, to her future as well as to her family. Jaewoo is also just super sweet! He looks out for those he loves and will always put them first.
The romance was adorable and super sweet! I am a fan of the forbidden romance trope, and it is one often shown in K-Drama’s hahaha. It was executed super well and I enjoyed seeing the two grow towards each other. I also really liked the friendship that bloomed with the other characters, such as Nathaniel and Jenny and Sori, who started off on the wrong foot but became such good friends!
The whole book is just so much like a K-Drama! I would love to see it filmed someday hahahaha. The characters meet, fall in love, have a fall out and of course happily ever after. Since knowing how K-Drama’s work, the fall-out wasn’t unexpected, but still broke my heart!
Overall, this whole book was just adorable and it made me smile the whole time listening to it!
XOXO is a story about Jenny, a Korean-American student From LA. At her family’s karaoke bar, she meets Jaewoo, an Idol from South-Korea. Later on, she moves to South-Korea for the semester because her grandmother is sick and ends up on the same school as Jaewoo.
“Have new experiences, make new friends. I promise you can get the life you want now, if you just live in it.”
I’ve had the beautiful edition from Fairyloot on my shelves for a while and it just kept staring at me as if saying “READ ME!”, so I finally did… well sort of, I listened to the audiobook for this one hahaha. First off, listening to the audiobook was a blast! The narrator is such a good voice actress and as she is part Korean as well, she really nailed all the Korean in the book hahaha! So authentic, I loved it!
The story mostly takes place in Seoul, but starts of in Los Angeles, where the two main characters first meet. I really enjoyed the discriptions given in the book, as it made it super easy to visualize all that was happening and the surroundings.
The characters were super sweet to be honest. Jenny is someone who is dedicated, to her future as well as to her family. Jaewoo is also just super sweet! He looks out for those he loves and will always put them first.
The romance was adorable and super sweet! I am a fan of the forbidden romance trope, and it is one often shown in K-Drama’s hahaha. It was executed super well and I enjoyed seeing the two grow towards each other. I also really liked the friendship that bloomed with the other characters, such as Nathaniel and Jenny and Sori, who started off on the wrong foot but became such good friends!
The whole book is just so much like a K-Drama! I would love to see it filmed someday hahahaha. The characters meet, fall in love, have a fall out and of course happily ever after. Since knowing how K-Drama’s work, the fall-out wasn’t unexpected, but still broke my heart!
Overall, this whole book was just adorable and it made me smile the whole time listening to it!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 4 stars
Daughter of the Siren Queen is the sequel to Daughter of the Pirate King. It starts with Alosa’s going after the last piece of the map to get to the treasure she and her father want.
“I may not have been born in the sea, but I was born to rule it.
I am the daughter of the siren queen.”
Daughter of the Pirate King Review|⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
After having read the first book I immediately bought the sequel, but then left in on my shelf and didn’t start it hehe. Honestly, this is a known problem for me. I often read a book, love it, buy the rest of the series, but won’t read it until much later.
I liked the plot, but not as much as I enjoyed the first book. The plot for the first, finding the treasure map, was more engaging that going to find the treasure. It felt a bit dragged out. I still enjoyed reading the book very much.
The world-building is bigger, or feels like this, since the siren part is explored more and of course they travel to new places in search of the treasure.
I still loved Alosa in this book, still very confident and unapologetically herself. She is just as fun to read about. The hilarious bit about Enwen was less this book, but Alosa being super sarcastic made up for that haha.
The relationship with Riden was a bit stalled at the beginning, but they still bantered a lot. I also really liked how their relation developed into something more and stronger and how they started to better communicate hahaha.
The ending did seem a bit rushed I think it could’ve been executed a bit better. I did like how it all wrapped up, but the "big battle" felt rushed.
Overall, it was a fun, enjoyable and easy read! It is on par with the first book, but personally I liked the first book better haha.
Daughter of the Siren Queen is the sequel to Daughter of the Pirate King. It starts with Alosa’s going after the last piece of the map to get to the treasure she and her father want.
“I may not have been born in the sea, but I was born to rule it.
I am the daughter of the siren queen.”
Daughter of the Pirate King Review|⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
After having read the first book I immediately bought the sequel, but then left in on my shelf and didn’t start it hehe. Honestly, this is a known problem for me. I often read a book, love it, buy the rest of the series, but won’t read it until much later.
I liked the plot, but not as much as I enjoyed the first book. The plot for the first, finding the treasure map, was more engaging that going to find the treasure. It felt a bit dragged out. I still enjoyed reading the book very much.
The world-building is bigger, or feels like this, since the siren part is explored more and of course they travel to new places in search of the treasure.
I still loved Alosa in this book, still very confident and unapologetically herself. She is just as fun to read about. The hilarious bit about Enwen was less this book, but Alosa being super sarcastic made up for that haha.
The relationship with Riden was a bit stalled at the beginning, but they still bantered a lot. I also really liked how their relation developed into something more and stronger and how they started to better communicate hahaha.
The ending did seem a bit rushed I think it could’ve been executed a bit better. I did like how it all wrapped up, but the "big battle" felt rushed.
Overall, it was a fun, enjoyable and easy read! It is on par with the first book, but personally I liked the first book better haha.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 4 stars
The Drowned Woods is a Welsh inspired fantasy story with a heist. It is a story about Mererid, a water diviner, who joins in to steal from the prince she ran from years ago.
“Things are only immortal until you kill them.”
I had sort of forgetting this book was inspired by Welsh mythology hehe. I started the book as part of Owlcrate’s read along that they organize every month for their monthly books.
The introduction for the book was very long. I afterwards learned that the story takes place in the same world as The Bone Houses, but seeing as I haven’t read that I didn’t see the connection. I would expect the introduction to not be as long as it was, when it isn’t the first book in that world. While the world-building wasn’t necessarily the things that took so long to introduce, the characters did. It felt like the introduction was “done” around 35% in, which seems long to me. it did give me ample time to get to know the characters.
Learning it is inspired by Welsh mythology, it didn’t stop me from stumbling over the names. While I don’t want to bash on the Welsh names, not knowing how to read the names made the reading a bit slower for me. Of course, it didn’t take away from the story and its plot!
I am a big fan of the plot and the world! I really enjoyed the magic system that was in place, the “other-people” and the heist. I really want more books with heists hahaha, as I really enjoy the planning, execution and everything that comes with it.
The characters were nice and I liked them. Mer was an awesome girl who was really strong. I liked how she didn’t apologize for who she was and knew what she wanted. She was really stoic, but not in an annoying was. Fane as well was someone who had his goal in mind and worked towards it. The character I enjoyed most was Ifanna. I enjoyed her a lot, especially because she was so different from how serious Mer and Fane were! I also really liked that all characters were morally grey!
The chemistry between Mer and Fane was really well done! I liked how they connected over their pasts and their grief. The fact that Fane was only comfortable around Mer, because she could kill him, was a bit funny. At the same time their growing relationship is very subtle, and thus the coming together felt a bit sudden. Almost as if some passages were the growth was better shown were removed.
The part at the well, towards the end, was very confusing to me. I read the pages multiple times, but still don’t really grasp what had gone on. I did really like the plot twist though! It was written really well and I hadn’t seen it coming! The epilogue was also super sweet!
Overall, I really enjoyed the story which had an amazing plot and worldbuilding. It took some time to get the story going, and some confusing events happened, but I really liked how the story ended.
The Drowned Woods is a Welsh inspired fantasy story with a heist. It is a story about Mererid, a water diviner, who joins in to steal from the prince she ran from years ago.
“Things are only immortal until you kill them.”
I had sort of forgetting this book was inspired by Welsh mythology hehe. I started the book as part of Owlcrate’s read along that they organize every month for their monthly books.
The introduction for the book was very long. I afterwards learned that the story takes place in the same world as The Bone Houses, but seeing as I haven’t read that I didn’t see the connection. I would expect the introduction to not be as long as it was, when it isn’t the first book in that world. While the world-building wasn’t necessarily the things that took so long to introduce, the characters did. It felt like the introduction was “done” around 35% in, which seems long to me. it did give me ample time to get to know the characters.
Learning it is inspired by Welsh mythology, it didn’t stop me from stumbling over the names. While I don’t want to bash on the Welsh names, not knowing how to read the names made the reading a bit slower for me. Of course, it didn’t take away from the story and its plot!
I am a big fan of the plot and the world! I really enjoyed the magic system that was in place, the “other-people” and the heist. I really want more books with heists hahaha, as I really enjoy the planning, execution and everything that comes with it.
The characters were nice and I liked them. Mer was an awesome girl who was really strong. I liked how she didn’t apologize for who she was and knew what she wanted. She was really stoic, but not in an annoying was. Fane as well was someone who had his goal in mind and worked towards it. The character I enjoyed most was Ifanna. I enjoyed her a lot, especially because she was so different from how serious Mer and Fane were! I also really liked that all characters were morally grey!
The chemistry between Mer and Fane was really well done! I liked how they connected over their pasts and their grief. The fact that Fane was only comfortable around Mer, because she could kill him, was a bit funny. At the same time their growing relationship is very subtle, and thus the coming together felt a bit sudden. Almost as if some passages were the growth was better shown were removed.
The part at the well, towards the end, was very confusing to me. I read the pages multiple times, but still don’t really grasp what had gone on.
Spoiler
Like why Mer didn’t just kill Renfrew and stopped the whole well from exploding, as was their whole point after finding out that he betrayed themOverall, I really enjoyed the story which had an amazing plot and worldbuilding. It took some time to get the story going, and some confusing events happened, but I really liked how the story ended.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 4 stars
Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC of this book via TBR and Beyond Tours in exchange for an honest review!
Flight 171 is a horror story about a senior class on its way to a sky resort, when the plane is taken over by a supernatural being who needs a new body. It is up to the class to pick a sacrifice among them for this.
“I am done trying to be a hero.”
I have been aiming to only read horror and/or spooky reads for October this year, and this story is a perfect way to start the month with! It is creepy, eerie, haunting and perfect for the spooky season!
The story starts off with the class at the airport about to board to place that will bring them to the resort. From the get-go the mysterious feeling is present, and it helps getting into the story a lot. You immediately notice some hostility and weird vibes between classmates and the big question of what happened on Halloween is also one that keeps popping up.
The way the feeling of being haunted and something being wrong is really a great way to start this read. I loved immediately getting that feeling and wanting to know what would happen. I kept reading the book while dark, in the evenings, to help along with the feelings haha.
The characters are quite different from each other, and you know all of them have something to hide. The way they all reacted when the woman made herself known and it really kicked-off showed that. I liked Devon a lot, but her trying to be more like her sister seemed like a struggle for her. Towards the end, when she is just herself and not pretending to be more like Emily, I liked her more. She was more authentic then. I couldn’t really get a good grasp on the other characters to be honest. I liked them and they were needed for the story, but somehow, they didn’t seem as well developed as Devon was.
Knowing it was partially supernatural really helped the story along. It gave it another dimension and not just a hijacking of the plane or something. It also made it very interesting, and I wanted to learn all the secrets. It made me really invested haha. The ending/solution did seem a bit straight forward and there are still somethings that I don’t understand. They seem a bit like plot holes, to be honest. I did love the very last few pages, as it really gave me an idea that the story isn’t over. A sort of eerie and ominous ending haha.
Overall, it was a good supernatural horror story with an overall eerie and creepy feel to it!
Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC of this book via TBR and Beyond Tours in exchange for an honest review!
Flight 171 is a horror story about a senior class on its way to a sky resort, when the plane is taken over by a supernatural being who needs a new body. It is up to the class to pick a sacrifice among them for this.
“I am done trying to be a hero.”
I have been aiming to only read horror and/or spooky reads for October this year, and this story is a perfect way to start the month with! It is creepy, eerie, haunting and perfect for the spooky season!
The story starts off with the class at the airport about to board to place that will bring them to the resort. From the get-go the mysterious feeling is present, and it helps getting into the story a lot. You immediately notice some hostility and weird vibes between classmates and the big question of what happened on Halloween is also one that keeps popping up.
The way the feeling of being haunted and something being wrong is really a great way to start this read. I loved immediately getting that feeling and wanting to know what would happen. I kept reading the book while dark, in the evenings, to help along with the feelings haha.
The characters are quite different from each other, and you know all of them have something to hide. The way they all reacted when the woman made herself known and it really kicked-off showed that. I liked Devon a lot, but her trying to be more like her sister seemed like a struggle for her. Towards the end, when she is just herself and not pretending to be more like Emily, I liked her more. She was more authentic then. I couldn’t really get a good grasp on the other characters to be honest. I liked them and they were needed for the story, but somehow, they didn’t seem as well developed as Devon was.
Knowing it was partially supernatural really helped the story along. It gave it another dimension and not just a hijacking of the plane or something. It also made it very interesting, and I wanted to learn all the secrets. It made me really invested haha. The ending/solution did seem a bit straight forward and there are still somethings that I don’t understand.
Spoiler
Like why Devon could hear Emily and how Emily knew how to help.Overall, it was a good supernatural horror story with an overall eerie and creepy feel to it!
