morganthebee's Reviews (489)

Ode to My First Car is a coming of age story written in verse. A series of poems written as odes first to Claire’s car, Lars (who unfortunately meets his demise at the start of the book), and then expanding as we get further along in the story. It bounces around a bit, with bursts of stories interrupted by other thoughts and continuing further along, and is more about Claire exploring her feelings than a deep plot. I really liked all of the characters, but Claire and Lena in particular stood out as favorites. 

I listened to the audiobook, which is harder to distinguish as poem instead of story. I keep going back and forth with myself about liking the more natural conversational reading, and wishing that it had read more like poetry in the narration that made the writing style more obvious. It’s messy, but I enjoyed the mess.

I wanted to like this one, I just…didn't. I'm not sure if it was something getting lost in the translation, or the story, or my struggle to like Dayana as a person. It's YA, which I knew going in (I typically like YA), but it felt more like middle grade. I do think the grief and typical teenage behavior was handled in a realistic way, but a lot of the plot made me roll my eyes. 

On a technical note, I really didn't like how the ebook was formatted. It may be due to me having an ARC, but there weren't any real breaks between chapters and everything felt super compressed. 

I received a free ARC from NetGalley, but my review is unbiased.

My friend Katy suggested Legends & Lattes to me ages ago and said I’d love it. It felt like it took for me to get it from my local library through Libby, but she was so right! I already knew Viv from having read the prequel a while ago, but this story of a former battle orc turned coffee shop owner is so sweet and wholesome, and fun to boot. I loved all of the other characters in this cozy fantasy, too (Tandri and Thimble were my faves). Is it deep? Hell no. But it’s definitely worth the read if you like fantasy and cozy stories—and maybe even if you don’t.

Act Two is a short but sweet as pie second chance story about Gabriella, a tech manager, and Jenna, an actress who has returned to Toronto after a year away. The story is told from Gabriella’s perspective, and her best friends, the side characters, are wonderful. Gabriella and Jenna clearly care for each other and have a desire to reconnect and communicate with each other in ways they weren’t able to during their first go around.

It’s a little short (it is a novella after all), but I found myself wishing it was a bit longer and more fleshed out. It also would have benefitted from one final pass through a proofreader, as there are a few errors throughout. There are places where there’s a word missing, one place where there are two words where it seems Wolf wasn’t sure what to go with and both were left, that sort of thing. That said, all of my very minor complaints are things that are fixable or can be developed, and the quality and natural flow of the writing overall was great. I look forward to reading the next story!

I received a free ARC from the author through BookSirens, but my review is unbiased.

They’re not kidding when they say this is for adults only, this is a graphic novel with some steamy scenes throughout. I really enjoyed the art, and Patience and Esther were so sweet with each other and that was lovely, but I felt like the main story ended very abruptly and I wished there was more to it.

This is a delightfully sweet, wholesome romance with a few twists and a lot of puns. I adored Reyna and Kianthe, their relationship was lovely, and the side characters were great. The audiobook was such a fun listen with all of the different voices and accents for the characters. I’m definitely looking forward to the next part of their story!

No Strings Attached was just okay for me. It was a bit too insta-love for my taste, and not just for Micky and Robin. Honestly it’s the side characters that make the book so I’ll continue with the series for now, but I found myself not really caring much about Micky or Robin, and the rigid straight or lesbian identities were a bit off-putting (and that’s coming from a lesbian).

I listened to the audiobook and found myself extremely disappointed that a story set in Australia, with a “loud-spoken American” love interest, had a decidedly American narrator. I’ve loved other Angela Dawe readings so it’s definitely not the quality of the narration, but it just didn’t fit. There was no attempt to voice any of the Australians with an accent, and it made some of the dialogue and story a bit nonsensical.