Thank you to the author for gifting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I quite enjoyed this book, but it wasn't as engaging as I hoped for it to be. Morgan is a good storyteller, their writing style was really pretty and I liked the brief flashback showing Saros' past and it made the pacing to be much better than if the information was just said. I also want to highlight the ending.

It's not often that a book has a very open ending, unless it's a series, and it can be a bit frustrating, but it worked with Faded Moon very well.  As the infographic I saw before requesting this ARC promised, all the characters are doomed by the narrative and it was so good, honestly I loved this aspect of the book the most. Doomed, raised from the dead, locked away to be part of a sentient forest, it's perfect.

The way Saros experienced exclusion from his family and loneliness his whole life just because of who he was gave his character a fantastic backstory and his 'relationship' with Rune and how it developed through a few days after years of separation after not only falling apart but also the painful conflict imaginable was great. Lovers to enemies, everyone, that's the stuff. Of the other characters, I liked Atheris the most. Her vibes were divine and I loved her snakes.

Unfortunately, I struggled to connect to the story, but I don't think it stopped me from liking this book.

 This was such a great book and I enjoyed reading it. How Ada and her thoughts were written made her a fantastic character. I liked her relationships with other people, especially Augusta and Nikola.
I loved the word building and especially the magic system. Using linguistics as the main part of magic was a great idea and I liked how Ada's study at the Tresor Institute so closely connected her to it. But it was also fascinating to see the other ways the magic was incorporated into everyday life in the book.
The writing style was so pretty, and I enjoyed all the twists as the plot started uncovering the mysteries. And as someone who enjoys queer (and especially trans) body horror in literature, I honestly can not properly describe how great it was... like, this book handles gore, monsters and all the horrors of having a body so beautifully.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book's pacing and the story's major plot point were two things that made this book not work for me. I feel like the break-up between the two main characters could be handled much better, it felt too drastic and maybe even pointless. And while I liked Mishima enough and found his relationship with his work and with his late grandfather to be an interesting point in the story, I couldn't find myself caring about Hozumi and their relationship for at least 3/4 of the book. As I mentioned in the beginning, if the pacing was better and the story focused more on the way they mended their relationship instead of focusing on their high school years, I would be more invested. 
If there's something I liked, it would be Hozumi's brother and the lighthouse. The art style was good, but I wouldn't say it felt too exceptional compared to other mangas.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed by this story, but I wouldn't say it was catastrophic.

When I first came across this book, I wondered how it could have both coziness and monsterfucking, but lo and behold, it's 100% possible. And in the best ways too. There's enough worldbuilding for this novella to feel like a full story and the characters are so sweet! I loved both of them and their backstories, Jillian's feelings about her purpose in the world and how she feels about her worth, and Lyle's xyr job and the way xe was made for a single thing and nothing more were really nicely shown in the story.

Their mutual bond was so sweet, like it's so nice to see a relationship that's not exclusively based on romantic feelings! And the way they moved in together... it was such a great ending.

Thank you to the author for gifting me an ARC in exchange for a review!

From the first page, this book yanked all my attention and I had such a great time reading it.
What I want to highlight first are the tropes and how they are used to form an engaging story. They are familiar, tropes that many people me included know from mainly adventurous fantasy novels, yet still fresh and moulded into their best versions. A teen is discovering they have unimaginable powers, but the way Gem's personality and their desires crash with the new reality brings a really interesting point of view on the whole thing. They want to finally move away from their small town, and live with Enzo, and the need to keep these felt so emotional. Gem’s whole character and their relationships with others were one of my favourite parts of the book. Because Gem is not one of the likeable characters I expected to read about, they are messy and make decisions that are not good, but the way their point of view moved the story and their emotions were written was genuinely one of the best ways I’ve ever read.
The world-building is also impressive, The choice of godly powers each of the deities possessed was interesting and I also liked the way Gem experienced memories of their past lives one by one. The other characters themselves all had so much depth to them, even the ones who had less time during the story were nicely developed.
I loved this book, the twists and the humour too, and I am so excited to read the second book as soon as possible.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

 

 This was one of the sweetest stories and I am so glad I read this book. The romance between the two main characters was so lovely, as well as the romances between the side characters. There were enough backstories to make me really invested in the characters, as well as enough plot for the book to be a quick and enjoyable read.
Especially Evie and her struggles felt so real, her fear of not being queer enough as a bisexual woman in an m/f relationship when her friends are in same-sex relationships, her writing career and the mortifying ordeal of opening up your mind to others by letting them read your stories, she was such an amazing character and I loved her. Matthias and his family were so sweet too and while I wasn't as invested in his side of the story as Evie's, I liked him too.
If there's one thing I struggle with when it comes to romances, it's the third-act conflict/break-up, but this one was good and reasonable. And the way they reunited was so good!

Thank you to the author for gifting me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review, I really appreciate it!