matmatmatty's Reviews (128)

This was a bit of a disappointment honestly.

This seemed to me like a story about a witch would reached her 30th birthday and has to undergo a trial to determine whether she should keep her magic or lose it forever, and in the process of that trial, she discovers herself etc etc.

There were elements of that, but the end became something completely different and I'm very confused about what actually happened.

Things I liked:

Things I didn't like (will go into detail, so beware of spoilers):

Overall, there are things about this book that I liked, but I think the character's motivations were confusing, the plot was strangely complicated, and the ending was a bit of a let-down for me. 

Not the cozy fantasy I was expecting for sure.

This is a sort-of retelling of the story of Eros and Psyche, but with a focus on female love (of all kinds).

Eirene is terrified that she will lose her sister to the wealthiest man in the village (a descendant of the gods who supplies the town with a substance called Desire) so strikes a deal with him to keep him away from her. Since he is a descendant of Eros, he decides to test her by giving her four tasks to complete (just as Psyche had to), and if she complete them, he will agree to leave her sister alone.

Working on these tasks, she meets and grows close to his daughter, Lamia, and together they work out the secret of Desire and other mysteries in the house.

Enjoyed listening to this! This was a very light greek retelling - if you're not familiar with Eros and Psyche, i think you will enjoy this story, and the same if you are well-versed in it.

I loved Eirene's character, and how much she loved her sister and was willing to go above and beyond for her. The stakes of the story was set up well, and made you immediately root for Eirene and feel for Lamia.

Really happy I got the chance to listen to this one!

Extra content warning:

contains depictions of mind control, specifically on women

This story builds on the story of Pygmalion - in short, a sculptor sculpts the perfect woman out of stone and falls in love with her, and hearing his pleas, she is turned into a human by Venus and they get married etc.

This story follows what happens next and Miller has done a good job dissecting what is quite a sexist story into a short story about the woman in the centre of the story.

I really liked how some of the issues where addressed, and really felt for Galatea, despite the length of the story.

I do feel like more could have been said and the story could have been longer but as it is, I enjoyed it.

If you enjoyed Miller's previous work, check this one out!

I am so glad I took the time to read this, and I am kind of sad that I won't get to experience it for the first time again.

This is the story of Sam and Sadie, who meet in hospital as kids and start playing games together. Eventually they decide to start making games together.

This is the story about the games they make, but more importantly their lives together and apart. 

The characters that Zevin has created feel so realistic and like they are actual people and the games she has made are incredible - I would absolutely love to play one of them for myself (and will just have to do with playing Stardew Valley for now)

This book is hyped up a lot, but I would recommend picking this one up, even if you think it might be overhyped. I am so glad I finally read this.

This read was a very pleasant surprise!

I really wasn't sure what to make of this - I was a bit worried that I would be going to find some of it a bit problematic, but instead it really surprised me.

This story explores gender identity in a really good way, and exploring the concepts of cross-dressing (or dressing as a different gender) and being transgender separately.

I really liked how our main characters each had their own reasons for cross-dressing and it explained it in a way that really made you understand their point of view and sympathise with them.

There were no jokes at the expense of our main characters' choices and identities, which I found really refreshing. The editor's note at the end explaining the use of pronouns was really interesting to read, and it was clear that care was put into not only this story but the translation to ensure it is representative.

I did find it a little confusing at first, since three of the main characters seemed very similar in appearance, so kept getting them confused, but once I got to understand their characters a bit more, it was easier to tell them apart.

I actually really loved reading this, and I'm actually really excited to continue the story and keep reading!

This is a really pleasant read, with some lovable characters that taught me a little bit about gender expression. A really sweet read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC and the chance to read it in exchange for an honest review.

A seasonal second-chance sapphic romance!

Five years after Charlotte was left at the altar, she is invited to spend Christmas with her colleague and friend at her family home. Not a fan of December, she wants to get through the Christmas period as quickly as possible then go on her music tour through Europe. But she realised that Christmas might be a lot harder when she realises another guest has been invited - none other than her ex-fiancée Brighton. The two of them now need to navigate the Christmas holiday, with all their baggage.

This was a really sweet story about second chances - really made me think about sometimes it really is 'right person, wrong time'. I loved hearing about Charlotte and Brighton's relationship through the years (we saw flashbacks to various points in their life, where we go to understand their backstory and what happened between them). I really felt for Charlotte but over the course of the story grew to understand Brighton's point of view and ended up feeling for her too. The dynamic between the two (both in the past and in the present) was handled quite well, and made them feel like well-developed characters with a lot going on.

The sex scenes also felt really natural - not just shoed in to have a sex scene, but rather they flowed with the story. They were also very well-written!

There were times where the story felt a little sitcomy and wacky, especially at the Turtledove events, but overall that didn't distract from my enjoyment. I think for a Christmas story, scenes like that are expected and they weren't as outrageous as they could be.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this - Ashley Herring Blake has not let me down so far and I'm glad that this was another enjoyable story from them!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC and the opportunity to read this early!

This was beautifully written and very emotional - as someone who watched iCarly, it is really interesting to find out more about what happened behind the scenes and made me reflect on a lot of the assumptions I made (and still make).

I wish Jennette all the best ❤️

This is so beautifully written, I genuinely am in awe.

It is slightly difficult to explain what this story is about - this is the story of two people, black and living in London. 

This both is and isn't a love story, but i feel this has a lot to say about the black experience and does it so well. I found some of the writing difficult at points, but so much of it was so beautiful it flowed off the page, almost like poetry. I bet listening to the audiobook would be a great experience.

Would recommend this one for sure!

Beautifully written, you can feel the grief from the pages.

A really interesting read on how grief affects us.