Take a photo of a barcode or cover
nerdinthelibrary's Reviews (926)
Literally just 22 pages of filthy sex and, for what it was, it was absolutely wonderful.
2nd read - 23/12/20: Reread this to make sure that it is actually my favourite thing I've read all year. It is. I love absolutely everything about this. So many incredible quotes, but two of my favourites are:
Afterward, she asked, “Would you do anything I wanted?”
“No,” I lied.
“I love her,” I say. “You wouldn’t be the first man I was willing to kill to make her smile.”
1st read - 28/04/20:
content warnings: murder, toxic relationships
representation: lesbian protagonist, f/f main relationship
An hour ago I didn't even know it existed, and suddenly this short story has maybe become my favourite book of the year. Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series is a favourite of mine so my expectations were already pretty high but she blew them out of the water.
Of Roses and Kings is a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland wherein Alice becomes the Red Queen. The protagonist of this tale, Rose/Beatrice, is also from our world and became Alice's maid, then lover.
If you're a fan of twisted, fucked up relationship dynamics (or if you just watched the most recent episode of Killing Eve and want more of those Vibes) then this is absolutely the story for you. There is nothing remotely healthy about the relationship Rose and Alice have, and you wouldn't have it any other way. Choosing my quote for this review was torturous because there are so many amazing lines that are just Rose despairing at how much she loves her queen and would kill for her, and honestly it made me swoon.
Asides from the deliciously fucked up relationship, the plot progression of this was also amazing. It's super short but the turns it takes are brilliant, giving me one of the best endings to anything I've ever read. The writing is also wonderful. I know that dark Alice in Wonderland is extremely overdone and generally feels extremely hacky, but the way that Marr has written her darker version of this world is incredible. In a lesser writer's hands this wouldn't work at all and it's owed entirely to her strength as a writer that this is as wonderful as it is.
It's free, it's on Tor.com right now, take ten minutes out of your day to read it because I promise you will not regret it.
Afterward, she asked, “Would you do anything I wanted?”
“No,” I lied.
“I love her,” I say. “You wouldn’t be the first man I was willing to kill to make her smile.”
1st read - 28/04/20:
content warnings: murder, toxic relationships
representation: lesbian protagonist, f/f main relationship
“The first time I stood before the queen, I knew she was why I’d fallen into Wonderland. She is my reason. I was meant for her.”
An hour ago I didn't even know it existed, and suddenly this short story has maybe become my favourite book of the year. Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series is a favourite of mine so my expectations were already pretty high but she blew them out of the water.
Of Roses and Kings is a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland wherein Alice becomes the Red Queen. The protagonist of this tale, Rose/Beatrice, is also from our world and became Alice's maid, then lover.
If you're a fan of twisted, fucked up relationship dynamics (or if you just watched the most recent episode of Killing Eve and want more of those Vibes) then this is absolutely the story for you. There is nothing remotely healthy about the relationship Rose and Alice have, and you wouldn't have it any other way. Choosing my quote for this review was torturous because there are so many amazing lines that are just Rose despairing at how much she loves her queen and would kill for her, and honestly it made me swoon.
Asides from the deliciously fucked up relationship, the plot progression of this was also amazing. It's super short but the turns it takes are brilliant, giving me one of the best endings to anything I've ever read. The writing is also wonderful. I know that dark Alice in Wonderland is extremely overdone and generally feels extremely hacky, but the way that Marr has written her darker version of this world is incredible. In a lesser writer's hands this wouldn't work at all and it's owed entirely to her strength as a writer that this is as wonderful as it is.
It's free, it's on Tor.com right now, take ten minutes out of your day to read it because I promise you will not regret it.
1) Kissing the Coronavirus
Somehow even more wild than the first book because not only does the main character fuck Covid, she also fucks Cure. It's also somehow twice as long as the first book. Every single word choice is wrong and yet perfect. Covid and Cure are both queer which I honestly didn't expect. I'm not going to recommend it but if anything about these books intrigue you and you already have Kindle Unlimited then go for it.
“‘She is mine,’ said Cure.
‘No,’ said Covid, his voice deep and gravelly. ‘I will fuck her.’”
Somehow even more wild than the first book because not only does the main character fuck Covid, she also fucks Cure. It's also somehow twice as long as the first book. Every single word choice is wrong and yet perfect. Covid and Cure are both queer which I honestly didn't expect. I'm not going to recommend it but if anything about these books intrigue you and you already have Kindle Unlimited then go for it.
1) Son of the Dawn ★★★
2) Cast Long Shadows ★★
3) Every Exquisite Thing ★★★★★
4) Learn About Loss ★★
5) A Deeper Love ★★★★
6) The Wicked Ones ★★★★
7) The Land I Lost ★★★★★
8) Through Blood, Through Fire ★★★★
9) The Lost World ★★★★
10) Forever Fallen ★★★★½
content warnings: violence, murder, references to homophobia, bigotry
representation: british-chinese main character, mexican aro/ace side character, biracial (japanese-chinese) side character, gay side character
“All of these people were struggling not to feel, trying to freeze their hearts inside their chests until the cold fractured and broke them. While Jem would have given every cold tomorrow he had for one more day with a warm heart, to love them as he once had.”
Queen of Air and Darkness comes out in a week(!!!!) so I'm going to binge as many of these unread ones as I can. Son of the Dawn is about Jace arriving in New York from Idris on a boat where werewolves are attempting to smuggle some yin-fen. Lily and Raphael recruit Jem to help them convince the Lightwoods to help them apprehend the werewolves and ensure that none of the drug gets released into the black market.
Plot-wise, this honestly did nothing for me, hence the three stars. It was interesting enough, but it was the characters that really saved it for me. Jem is his usual perfect, smol bean self, even when slicing and dicing drug-dealing werewolves. Him constantly remembering Will and Tessa made me super emo, and I nearly cried when he was talking about parabatai and the W.H. initials on his staff.
Little Izzy, Alec and Jace (yes, even Jace) were a complete delight, in particular Alec just Losing His Mind every time a pretty boy paid attention to him bc Mood. I also loved seeing the family dynamics with Jace already start to unfold, with Maryse mothering him, Izzy being super competitive, Alec being half in love, Max adoring him, and Robert being a well-meaning dick.
Holy god, I love Lily and Raphael so much. The jazz baby and greaser team are the new best duo in the entire Shadowhunter world and I want a full-length novel of their escapades throughout the decades (look, I've already come up with a title!). Raphael pretending to not care but then fist-bumping Ragnor and taking a blow to save Lily, and him just being so done with romance and love. Lily coming up with the most ridiculous names to call Jem, a few personal favourites being Brother Hop-in-the-sack-ariah and Brother Zacharide-him-like-a-bad-pony (not having Brother Snackariah was a missed opportunity, btw), while also caring so much about Raphael and trying to make sure that he's okay. They're both icons who deserve the world.
If you love these characters, then you'll definitely get a level of enjoyment out of this; how much depends mostly on how much you like the characters and how much the plot grabs you.
2) Cast Long Shadows ★★
3) Every Exquisite Thing ★★★★★
4) Learn About Loss ★★
5) A Deeper Love ★★★★
6) The Wicked Ones ★★★★
7) The Land I Lost ★★★★★
8) Through Blood, Through Fire ★★★★
9) The Lost World ★★★★
10) Forever Fallen ★★★★½
content warnings: violence, murder, references to homophobia, bigotry
representation: british-chinese main character, mexican aro/ace side character, biracial (japanese-chinese) side character, gay side character
“All of these people were struggling not to feel, trying to freeze their hearts inside their chests until the cold fractured and broke them. While Jem would have given every cold tomorrow he had for one more day with a warm heart, to love them as he once had.”
Queen of Air and Darkness comes out in a week(!!!!) so I'm going to binge as many of these unread ones as I can. Son of the Dawn is about Jace arriving in New York from Idris on a boat where werewolves are attempting to smuggle some yin-fen. Lily and Raphael recruit Jem to help them convince the Lightwoods to help them apprehend the werewolves and ensure that none of the drug gets released into the black market.
Plot-wise, this honestly did nothing for me, hence the three stars. It was interesting enough, but it was the characters that really saved it for me. Jem is his usual perfect, smol bean self, even when slicing and dicing drug-dealing werewolves. Him constantly remembering Will and Tessa made me super emo, and I nearly cried when he was talking about parabatai and the W.H. initials on his staff.
Little Izzy, Alec and Jace (yes, even Jace) were a complete delight, in particular Alec just Losing His Mind every time a pretty boy paid attention to him bc Mood. I also loved seeing the family dynamics with Jace already start to unfold, with Maryse mothering him, Izzy being super competitive, Alec being half in love, Max adoring him, and Robert being a well-meaning dick.
Holy god, I love Lily and Raphael so much. The jazz baby and greaser team are the new best duo in the entire Shadowhunter world and I want a full-length novel of their escapades throughout the decades (look, I've already come up with a title!). Raphael pretending to not care but then fist-bumping Ragnor and taking a blow to save Lily, and him just being so done with romance and love. Lily coming up with the most ridiculous names to call Jem, a few personal favourites being Brother Hop-in-the-sack-ariah and Brother Zacharide-him-like-a-bad-pony (not having Brother Snackariah was a missed opportunity, btw), while also caring so much about Raphael and trying to make sure that he's okay. They're both icons who deserve the world.
If you love these characters, then you'll definitely get a level of enjoyment out of this; how much depends mostly on how much you like the characters and how much the plot grabs you.
1) Son of the Dawn ★★★
2) Cast Long Shadows ★★
3) Every Exquisite Thing ★★★★★
4) Learn About Loss ★★
5) A Deeper Love ★★★★
6) The Wicked Ones ★★★★
7) The Land I Lost ★★★★★
8) Through Blood, Through Fire ★★★★
9) The Lost World ★★★★
10) Forever Fallen ★★★★½
content warnings: violence
representation: british-chinese main character
“There was a lightness in Jem's chest that Jem realised, finally, was joy... The face of the one you love is the best mirror of all. It shows you your own happiness and your own pain and it helps you bear both, because to bear either alone is to be overwhelmed by the flood.”
This is going to be a super short review because I skimmed nearly 80% of this, apart from the very start and the very end. I genuinely couldn't tell you the concrete plot of this; Jem is going to a carnival with an Iron Sister for some reason and there's a demon, I guess.
I was bored for almost all of this, hence the skimming. BUT the reason why this is a 2 instead of a 1 is because of that end scene involving Jem and Will. It was so sweet and I genuinely got really emotional reading it. Unfortunately, it's only a couple pages and the rest made me want to cry from boredom.
2) Cast Long Shadows ★★
3) Every Exquisite Thing ★★★★★
4) Learn About Loss ★★
5) A Deeper Love ★★★★
6) The Wicked Ones ★★★★
7) The Land I Lost ★★★★★
8) Through Blood, Through Fire ★★★★
9) The Lost World ★★★★
10) Forever Fallen ★★★★½
content warnings: violence
representation: british-chinese main character
“There was a lightness in Jem's chest that Jem realised, finally, was joy... The face of the one you love is the best mirror of all. It shows you your own happiness and your own pain and it helps you bear both, because to bear either alone is to be overwhelmed by the flood.”
This is going to be a super short review because I skimmed nearly 80% of this, apart from the very start and the very end. I genuinely couldn't tell you the concrete plot of this; Jem is going to a carnival with an Iron Sister for some reason and there's a demon, I guess.
I was bored for almost all of this, hence the skimming. BUT the reason why this is a 2 instead of a 1 is because of that end scene involving Jem and Will. It was so sweet and I genuinely got really emotional reading it. Unfortunately, it's only a couple pages and the rest made me want to cry from boredom.
1) Son of the Dawn ★★★
2) Cast Long Shadows ★★
3) Every Exquisite Thing ★★★★★
4) Learn About Loss ★★
5) A Deeper Love ★★★★
6) The Wicked Ones ★★★★
7) The Land I Lost ★★★★★
8) Through Blood, Through Fire ★★★★
9) The Lost World ★★★★
10) Forever Fallen ★★★★½
content warnings: violence, loss of a loved one, attempted murder, set during wartime, bombing, grief
representation: british-chinese main character, side character of colour
“If she lived until the sun died, there would never be any other for her besides Will and Jem, those two twin souls, the only souls she had ever loved.”
I never would have expected one of my favourites from this anthology to be a story about Jem and Tessa set during WWII, but here we are. This is easily the most emotional of all the ones I've read thus far, being melancholy the whole way through. Part of that comes from the fact that Will died a few years earlier and Tessa is still grieving her late husband, and part of that comes from the grim realities of WWII and the destruction of London.
Catarina and Tessa are both nurses at a war hospital, and one night Brother Zachariah has gotten fatally injured after an altercation with a faerie and knows his best chance of survival is to go to the two warlocks.
As I said, this novella is incredibly melancholy. The loss of Will is felt the entire time, both from Tessa and Jem, and them reconnecting in the first significant way since his passing brings up a lot of emotions. That was so wonderful and saddening to read about, as sometimes who loves the entirety of that trio, and I would genuinely read a full-length novel about Tessa and Jem grieving.
Also, the biggest shout out in the world to Catarina Loss. This woman has gotten so much shit over her life, from Shadowhunters for being a warlock and from mundanes for appearing to be a woman of colour, and yet she is still determined to heal everyone, bigots included. That's not even mentioning what we find out she did for Diana in LoS. Just, this woman deserves the entire world, and she is the most underrated character in the entire Shadowhunter world.
Overall, this was a much better story than I thought it would be, albeit a sadder one.
2) Cast Long Shadows ★★
3) Every Exquisite Thing ★★★★★
4) Learn About Loss ★★
5) A Deeper Love ★★★★
6) The Wicked Ones ★★★★
7) The Land I Lost ★★★★★
8) Through Blood, Through Fire ★★★★
9) The Lost World ★★★★
10) Forever Fallen ★★★★½
content warnings: violence, loss of a loved one, attempted murder, set during wartime, bombing, grief
representation: british-chinese main character, side character of colour
“If she lived until the sun died, there would never be any other for her besides Will and Jem, those two twin souls, the only souls she had ever loved.”
I never would have expected one of my favourites from this anthology to be a story about Jem and Tessa set during WWII, but here we are. This is easily the most emotional of all the ones I've read thus far, being melancholy the whole way through. Part of that comes from the fact that Will died a few years earlier and Tessa is still grieving her late husband, and part of that comes from the grim realities of WWII and the destruction of London.
Catarina and Tessa are both nurses at a war hospital, and one night Brother Zachariah has gotten fatally injured after an altercation with a faerie and knows his best chance of survival is to go to the two warlocks.
As I said, this novella is incredibly melancholy. The loss of Will is felt the entire time, both from Tessa and Jem, and them reconnecting in the first significant way since his passing brings up a lot of emotions. That was so wonderful and saddening to read about, as sometimes who loves the entirety of that trio, and I would genuinely read a full-length novel about Tessa and Jem grieving.
Also, the biggest shout out in the world to Catarina Loss. This woman has gotten so much shit over her life, from Shadowhunters for being a warlock and from mundanes for appearing to be a woman of colour, and yet she is still determined to heal everyone, bigots included. That's not even mentioning what we find out she did for Diana in LoS. Just, this woman deserves the entire world, and she is the most underrated character in the entire Shadowhunter world.
Overall, this was a much better story than I thought it would be, albeit a sadder one.