madeline's Reviews (776)

Dev Deshpenda loves love so much, he's made a career out of it, working as a producer on Ever After, a Bachelor-esque dating show. Billionaire tech guy Charlie Winshaw, on the other hand, isn't so convinced: sure, he's this season's main contestant, but he's really there to rehabilitate his image after a bit of a scene at his old job. Dev's tasked with getting awkward and anxious Charlie to open up to the women competing for his heart, but the more Dev and Charlie get to know each other, the more it seems Charlie's been handing out tiaras to the wrong people all along.

This is an absolutely incredible debut from Cochrun. It's well-paced and the prose is gorgeous -- it's in third person present which I always find to be a Choice, and while it's not as propulsive as it is when Casey McQuiston does it (and it's a clear emulation of their style, I think), it certainly works well for her. Charlie and Dev are beautiful cinnamon rolls and their love is so squee-inducing that I'd like to frame them and hang them on a wall.

I've got a couple quibbles with the book, none of which really detracted majorly from the enjoyment. Primarily, the mental health representation felt pretty heavy-handed at points. I won't speak to the queer rep, but as a Fairly Mentally Ill Person, the discussion of mental illness/neurodivergence sometimes felt a little "kthunk kthunk kthunk I promise I know how depression feels." I think it could have been done with a lighter touch.

Less notably, I didn't love the final 10% -- a very neat wrap up and my personal preference is no grand gestures in public so

the reunion scene was a big ol' ick for me

. Lastly, I wouldn't call this a rip-off of RWRB, but there are a lot of similarities: third person present, as mentioned, interracial relationship, one person realizing they're queer, high profile roles, fear of public outing (although that's not a plot point here, thank GOD). Just made me go "hmmm."

If you liked Red, White, and Royal Blue, I'm going to go ahead and put money on you liking this too. Lots of queer, racial, and mental illness rep, and lots of lovely and kind characters who I now need books for.

the pacing of this book was bizarre and the writing style very unrefined (which i don't remember having an issue with in the first book?).  portrait of a scotsman is doing what a lot of this book is trying to do but better.

yes i will read the third one. 

This book is "John Tucker Must Die" but make it witches and sapphic.  I loved it an unspeakable amount.

Emmy's back in her hometown of Thistle Grove, ready to fulfill a family obligation and then get right back to Chicago before the allure of the return of her magical powers outweighs the feeling of being trapped, her reason for leaving in the first place.  Sitting at the bar, she runs into local hottie Talia -- one of the three witches competing in the tournament Emmy's there to moderate, alongside Emmy's best friend's brother... and Emmy's ex.  Who, as it turns out, is also Talia's ex, and Emmy's best friend's ex, and wouldn't it be nice to come together and get a little revenge by ensuring he doesn't win the competition?  As Emmy and Talia join forces, feelings start brewing, and maybe Emmy's trip won't be so quick after all...

This book was so delicious.  It's being billed as a rom-com, and while I think I'd label it as more women's fiction (blerg, I know) than romance, Emmy and Talia's relationship is still a central focus.  It's absolutely more emotional than I expected -- what right did this book have to make me cry multiple times??  Emmy is exploring what she thinks are the limitations of her identity as a Harlow living in Thistle Grove, and realizing those limits are much weaker than she thought they were.  I also found the scene where she and Linden discuss the way their friendship changed after Emmy moved to be particularly poignant.

I admit to herbs-ing bits of the tournament scenes; my walnut brain is not made for understanding battles or whatever.  But the magic system is really accessible which is definitely my preference.  

This book is like if Emily Henry wrote paranormal adult fiction -- if you like her books but are a seasonal reader and looking for a fall version of some of her work, you will love this.

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the ARC!

 Nine years ago, in a moment of bad decision making fueled by a breakup and some vodka, Vivi and her cousin jokingly hexed Vivi's ex. It was just a joke, right? No way that Bath & Body Works candle actually had any magical oomph to it. Now he's back, though, and when a regular spell goes horribly wrong and the whole town is at risk. They're going to have to work together to break the hex, but try and avoid re-breaking their hearts in the process.

I found the premise of this book to be incredibly delightful. A little Hocus Pocus, a little Practical Magic, a little Halloweentown -- a perfect fall read. But the whole thing is so woefully underplotted that it doesn't hold up to any real scrutiny. Vivi's reluctance to practice magic is underexplored, Rhys' poor relationship with his father isn't developed out, the cat can suddenly talk and no one goes "huh, how did that happen?", and when confronted with the town's pending demise, the two... take their time figuring out how to break the hex? Get a good night's sleep and then a cup of tea the next day? There's absolutely no sense of urgency to solve what seems to me to be a rather urgent problem and the whole middle suffers for it.

With a few changes, this book would have worked really well; in particular, if Sterling had leaned into the hex breaking being a wacky romp, I think it would have been a really excellent, vaguely absurdist, cozy fall magic mystery. Scooby Doo vibes or something. I think my favorite part was the talking cat, who reminded me of Snaps from Strange Love by Ann Aguirre and correctly evaluated Rhys as a dickbag.

Also, I recognize that this is kind of a ridiculous thing to be frustrated by, but can we move on from Harry Potter references? It is not the only book about magic that has ever been written, and the author is a trash human being!! We know this!! Make another reference!!

Anyways, even though this was ultimately disappointing, it looks to be a series and obviously I am invested. I'll pick up the next one.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC! 

Irish poet and Seamus Heaney, Nobel Prize winner for "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past," presents his translation of the epic poem Beowulf. I did a side-by-side reread of this while reading the Headley translation for the first time.

I'm going to keep this short because I feel like I did a lot of comparison in my Headley review. I know this is a classic, award-winning translation but honestly? It's kind of a slog, and you never forget you're reading an Ye Olde Englishe poem. It's not bad! It's just not how I'd introduce students to Seamus Heaney. Give them "Scaffolding" or the chorus from "The Cure at Troy" in the middle of the poetry unit, give them the good stuff, come on.

keiko has worked at a convenience store for 18 years -- exactly half her life -- and it’s the place she’s always best understood herself.  perceived as an odd child, she never quite fit in, and relied on social cues either told to her directly by her sister or coming from intensive study of friends, family, and coworkers to appear “normal.”  a convenience store doesn’t seem to have long-term job options, and under pressure from her family to grow up and settle down, she strikes up a relationship of convenience with a recently-fired coworker to appease them all.

this book is a really incisive commentary on the way capitalism affects our perception of self.  i read Keiko’s character as being autistic, particularly with her reliance on mimicking the way other people talk and act and shifting who she mimics depending on the situation.  her job has been hugely influential in her behavior, but isn’t that true for most people?  she can’t stop thinking about the job when she’s gone, she can’t stop evaluating the health of her body because it’s a tool for her employer -- all of this hits home, particularly in a pandemic when so many people have been forced to work in incredibly dangerous situations, not least of all convenience store employees. 

i think a lot of readers found keiko to be funny and relatable, and i have to say i didn’t.  but what i am really interested in is keiko as an unreliable narrator: did she really fit in? was her former coworker as bad as everyone made him out to be, or another victim of companies looking for profit over people?  for being such a short book, it’s one that’ll stick with me for a while.

I really did enjoy this book -- the three star rating is because it wasn't quite what I expected, which is more a me problem than a book problem.

It's grounded with a real sense of place, which I always find fascinating; the surrounding forests are as much a character as Vasya and her friends and family.  The region's traditional paganism is being pushed out by Christianity, and the earth is rebelling.  Old gods, spirits, and beings are omnipresent and making their unease apparent, and although the paganism is not quite animism, there's still a feeling that even the rocks and trees are upset.  I really love a "the old gods are angry" premise, and this delivers.

The book starts much earlier in Vasya's life than I thought it would.  It's entirely a fantasy, which I knew, but I'd also seen it billed as "monster/god falls in love with human" and it took a long time to get to that vibe.  It's not a flaw of the book: it's fairly well-paced and although I thought we spent a little too much time in her childhood, I understand why it needs to be included.  

I'm really excited to get to the second and third books in this series!  I think they're going to be great fall/winter reads.  

Plots that revolve around swapping places or secret identities give me a lot of anxiety. Oftentimes I spend the whole book just waiting for the other shoe to drop, because obviously it has to be coming. I was notably less anxious while reading this book, though, in part because I think Dent really conveys Birdy's desperation so well. The reader understands just how badly Birdy longs for family and acceptance, and I found the reason that she can't tell everyone who she really is compelling as well.

I'm also not a huge fan of the helpless adult as a character -- at some point you've got to get your act together, right? -- and was very gratified to see how Birdy throws herself into learning wine, protecting Heather's reputation and also demonstrating the ability to grow. This went a long way towards redeeming her for me.

In the end, I found some plot points tenuous, and some fatphobia the author would do well to reflect on. There's discussion here and there about Birdy's relationship with her body, particularly in comparison to Heather's smaller one, as well as dietary choices and restrictions. At one point, James encourages Birdy to rethink her relationship with food, but it really goes nowhere. Thoughts about Birdy's body go nowhere but could have been utilized really effectively as she develops a better understanding of herself and who she is as an independent human being. This bit should have been fleshed out or eliminated.

The dog does not die.

I was super into Whiteout, and really looking forward to the next installment in this series.  I love a romantic suspense that's not just "someone wants to murder the girl," and the overarching plot line is decidedly not that.

Uncharted, unfortunately, just didn't work for me as well as Whiteout.  Like a lot of other reviewers, I felt like their relationship was second to their survival -- it was a lot of falling into cold bodies of water and then waiting to warm up.  And unlike Whiteout, it didn't seem all that impossible that they'd survive?  I mean, I am on the record as never wanting to sleep somewhere lower on the amenities rating than a Motel 6, so take this with a grain of salt, but all they had to do was keep moving, as opposed to Whiteout where they're literally in ANTARCTICA.

My secondary issue is that Elias, our hero, has been set up to take the fall for what is described as "the largest massacre in America since 9/11."  It's probably more a timing flaw than a book flaw, but reading this on the heels of the US pulling out of Afghanistan and the 20th anniversary of 9/11, I could have done without that.  

Anyways, this wasn't it for me.  BUT, I really like Adriana's work overall and I am very invested in this series, so I will of course be picking up the second one.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the ARC!

CW:

PTSD, death of a parent by suicide, parent with Alzheimer's, murdered parents, false accusations, general gun trauma, near-drowning, blood, pet in danger

The perfect second book in what promises to be an epic series from Robert.  

Neon Gods thrust readers into the high stakes world of Olympus, where the Thirteen rule the city and will do just about anything to keep that power -- and Electric Idol shows us exactly what that “anything” can mean.

The chemistry between Eros and Psyche is so sweet and undeniable: I have a soft spot for a hero who’s a fixer-upper, and boy howdy does Psyche help Eros fix himself up. Which, like, of course, because Psyche is a boss-ass woman who knows just how to play a crowd to maintain her power and her facade.  How can we not fall for Eros, a morally-gray bad boy who accidentally really loves his super hot marriage-of-convenience wife and who thinks her career as an influencer is both valid and also impressive?

The strong sense of place that I got from Neon Gods is necessarily sacrificed here in favor of deepening our understanding of the machinations of the Thirteen: we no longer need to be convinced that some of them are the bad guys and that there are innocent people worth protecting, and so we can focus more on how deeply these power structures run throughout the city, and the way that alliances seem to shift with the breeze.  It’s deeply engrossing and Robert lays down plotlines for several more books for which I am on the edge of my seat.

Just like Neon Gods, Electric Idol has the gritty coziness of a film noir, making it the perfect winter read; you can almost feel the rain pounding against the window, and it begs for a steaming cup of coffee or a whiskey on the rocks.  Strong heroes fall in love with beautiful, cunning heroines, and we follow right along, happily.  What an engrossing read.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the ARC!

CW:

fat shaming, attempted homicide, shooting