[second read, December 2022]
With the way I dragged my feet through this book, you’d never guess it was one of my absolute favorites. Meph might actually be the most unbearable character I’ve ever encountered, and is definitely the source of everything wrong in the world. Every time he opens his mouth, I want to punch him in the face. And kick him between the legs. And feed him to the sharks. In that order.

I don’t think I really have anything to add to this except yet more creative ways of saying how much I despise Meph, so… yeah. Cressworth supremacy. That’s that.

[first read, February 2022]
I’m going to need 7-10 business days to recover from this book, maybe more. It absolutely WRECKED me.

I kept having to pause while reading to regain at least some composure because my heart was breaking, particularly in the second half. There were also times I had to pause because I was angry, which I don’t think has ever happened to me before?? I’ve definitely never hated a character (villains aside) as much as I hate Mephistopheles. The rage I felt nearly every time he opened is mouth is truly unparalleled.

Fun fact: I compiled an assortment of nicknames for him to use when I was cursing him out in my Kindle annotations. Some of my favorites include Mephistopplease, Mephistofleas, Mephistofeces, and Mephistofilet. XD

On a (somewhat) happier note, I still adore Audrey Rose and Thomas—maybe even more than I already did, if that’s possible. I say “somewhat” because, for every cute or amusing scene between them, there were three more that made me feel like my heart was being ripped from my chest. The angst in this book nearly killed me, I swear to the gods. Also, every time Thomas cried, a small part of my soul shriveled up and died. I’m joking but also not. 🥲🥲🥲

Emotions, my ship and newest nemesis aside, Maniscalco once again crafted a brilliant, unpredictable, high-stakes mystery. Unlike the first book—which I’d seen spoilers for—and the second—in which I accidentally figured out their identity—I had no clue who the killer was. Of course, I suspected Houdini because of the title, and I suspected Mephistofleas because he’s basically the reason for everything wrong in the world, but as for whether or not they were actually involved… read the book and find out. ;))

Regarding the common criticism that “Audrey Rose’s character was destroyed,” I want to say this. In the author’s note, Kerri explained that she was inspired by a family friend to explore the dangers of becoming too immersed in an undercover operation. In my opinion, not only is this an interesting plot point, but it also allows for *more* character growth. Audrey Rose realized the error of her ways, how she almost lost Thomas and how badly she hurt him, and was thus determined to fix her mistakes, to stay truthful to herself and those she loves. Also, she’s seventeen; while plenty of teenagers are mature and excellent and communication, not all are, and even those that are likely aren’t so all the time. Everyone makes mistakes, including teens, yet it seems we judge them more harshly. Give Audrey Rose a break.

Continuing the above thought, there’s no reason to insult Thomas, either. I’ve seen some people saying that he was spineless, he followed Audrey Rose around like a mindless puppy, they resolved their issues too quickly and without a proper conversation. Did we read the same books? Thomas is bold and full of personality, for starters, as well as completely capable of thinking and acting as an individual. That’s evident from the very beginning, and still true in this book.

Not to mention, he broke up with her after the lion incident, and they were not a couple AT ALL for the second half of the book.

He’s torn between protecting himself and trusting Audrey Rose, who he loves despite everything, and even though he’s not one to outwardly display emotions, there are plenty of times where it’s easy to see how heartbroken he is. For most of the remaining story, they’re both forced to put their personal issues aside in order to focus on the increasingly stressful case, and in the epilogue, they’re both coping with how horrible the last few days have been. It’s very possible, and in my opinion likely, that they sought each other out for comfort and familiarity, and will talk more thoroughly later, when they’re both ready to. It’s not like the series ended with this book; there’s a novella and one more book yet.

So, in conclusion: Kerri did what she did for a reason, and I believe both Audrey Rose and Thomas are completely in-character. They’re doing the best they can with the hand they were dealt (haha) and, while y’all are entitled to your own opinions, don’t deserve so much hate.

Lastly, I wanted to mention the ending. Specifically, it’s been two hours since I finished the book and I’m STILL reeling. The theme with this series has been each book is more intense than the last, and after this… I’m excited but completely terrified for the finale.

Thomas Cresswell has some of the most romantic lines, and that’s not an exaggeration. 🥺🥺💙💙

Their banter >>> 😂😂😂

I absolutely love that Kerri put their ship name in the book. Pure gold. 😂👏🏻

(Okay I’ll stop now.)

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[I won an ARC in a giveaway. This doesn’t affect my opinion/review.]

I didn’t know much about this book or what to expect from it when I started, but was, ultimately, pleasantly surprised by Fire Becomes Her.

Thor created an intriguing world with Jazz Age vibes and magic unlike any I’d seen before, fraught with political turmoil. While I did find the politics interesting to an extent, I feel a little too much emphasis was placed on them and not enough of one on other aspects of Candesce. I would’ve liked to learn more about the history and culture of this world.

Thor’s strong suit is definitely their characters. Each one is a star of the show, shining in their own way. I will say, though, I found myself more attached to the side characters than the protagonist. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Ingrid, only that I didn’t care as much about her as I did others. I loved Alex the most, and Louise and Charlotte also grew on me.

My favorite parts of the story, though, were the found family and abundance of queer representation, especially the exploration of identities I haven’t seen much of on page prior, like aromanticism and asexuality. The latter in particular made me happy, as I’m also ace and found it very relatable.

Instead of an emphasis on romantic love, one is placed on platonic love, resulting in a queer platonic partnership, which isn’t something I’ve ever seen before in a book. I really liked the discussions of how love takes multiple forms, and different people love in different ways, and romantic love isn’t the only sort that’s valid.

Though not a favorite, I did quite like this book, and would recommend it to fans of slow-burn fantasy and political world-building, as well as queers taking on the world. Literally a power move for the gays; I love to see it. I can’t wait to read more of Rosiee Thor’s work.

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[second read, December 2022]
These books will never not be entertaining. Audrey Rose and Thomas might actually be the most iconic duo ever. Their slow-burn friends to lovers arc is agonizing but absolutely delicious, and the fact that they’re so horny along the way is hilarious; it makes a great thing even better.

On that note—props to Kerri for some top-tier parallels. This one’s my favorite:
“What would it feel like to have my hair gently knotted in his fist, my back pressed against a wall, him tangled around me like vines wrapped around brick?” // “He didn’t hesitate to bring his mouth to mine. We stumbled against the wall, the entire length of him encompassing me in his warmth. His hands slid up my frame, knotting themselves in my hair as he deepened our kiss.”
It’s clever!! It’s brilliant!! It’s spectacular!!

And you know what else brilliant and spectacular?? THIS:
“‘You’ve got a dress with orchid blossoms embroidered on it. Ribbons in the deepest purple. You favor the color, but not nearly as much as I find myself favoring you. As to the stars? Those are what I prefer. For there are no limits to the stars; their numbers are infinite. Which is precisely why I measure my love for you by them. An amount too boundless to count.’”
Thomas Cresswell INVENTED romance and no one can tell me otherwise!! He might be an idiot sometimes, but he’s the smoothest idiot to ever walk this earth, I swear!! And the way he unequivocally adores Audrey Rose is just >>>> 🥹🥹🥹

Now it’s time for me to procrastinate starting the third book for as long as humanly possible because I don’t want to deal with Meph’s obnoxious face. :’)))

[first read, January 2022]
This series has me by the throat and I’m not even mad about it. I’ve only read the first two books, too; I can’t imagine how obsessed I’ll be when I’m finished.

Because that’s exactly what I am: obsessed. Hunting Prince Dracula is, somehow, even more amazing than Stalking Jack the Ripper. Even though both the plot and the romance had me incredibly stressed—especially the romance—I loved every page. In fact, I think most of them are highlighted, most even multiple times. I don’t think I’ve ever annotated a book as heavily as I did this one, or laughed as much while reading. Between Thomas’s witty jokes and flirty comments and the banter from him and Audrey Rose, I spent a large portion of the story audibly cackling or making other indescribable (and honestly unflattering) sounds.

Speaking of our two leads, I absolutely adore them, more than I can say. My love for them knows no bounds. I love Audrey Rose and Thomas like Thomas loves Audrey Rose, and I’m not ashamed. Add “Cressworth trash” to my list of personality traits. The angst!! The pining!! The almost-but-not-quite kisses!! The actual kisses!! I sped through the last third of the book between 2 and 3 a.m., and let me say this: the number of times I had to bite my lip to keep from squealing and/or shrieking and waking up my family was ABSURD. When it comes to my favorite ships, I have zero chill, and this is now one of my favorite ships, so… 💖💖💖

Also, Daciana and Ileana? MY SAPPHIC QUEENS. I didn’t expect to love either of them quite as much as I do, but I’m nearly as obsessed with them as I am with Audrey Rose and Thomas. And now that I’ve met Daciana, I can say that both Cresswell siblings are completely iconic, both as individuals and a duo. I want him to be my friend, and I’m crushing unbelievably hard on her. 👀

Oh, right, I should probably mention the actual plot and whatnot. I really enjoyed the Romanian setting, as that’s not a place I’ve ever read about, and the story was very well-written. Even though both this book and its predecessor feature a string of murders where the victims have been, in some way, violated, the story in this one never felt redundant. On the contrary, it was equally nerve-wracking and very suspenseful. The castle’s shadowy halls and creepy passages made the whole thing very atmospheric, too.

Whereas normally I don’t have the brain cells to put together the puzzle pieces in a mystery novel before the characters do, I did, surprisingly, manage to guess who the killer was. It was actually due to a random theory that slowly started to make an unexpected amount of sense, and then ended up being correct. Yet nothing felt predictable, as there were so many other details both large and small that I never saw coming. I’m still not over that room of spiders (*shudders*) or certain characters’ secret involvement. When I say my eyes widened and my jaw dropped, I’m not even slightly joking.

After the stress of everything else, the final chapters were so unbelievably perfect!!! I won’t spoil, but know that even as I write this review two hours after finishing the book, I’m still grinning like a fool.

I’m pretty sure I could go on about this book for a while yet, but I’m tired of typing so I’ll stop here. I’ve made my thoughts clear anyway. ;))

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THIS WAS SO CUTE. I stayed up all night to marathon this and I regret nothing. Michelle and Gabe’s chemistry is off the charts, and I adored their banter. Also, that fanfic they wrote as teens? 10/10, would read if it was an actual book.

I love Michelle, Jasmine and Ava. Their dynamic gives me similar vibes to that of Chloe, Dani and Eve in the Brown sisters books, a.k.a. some of my absolute favorite romances. After this book, I can say Alexis Daria is one of my favorite romance writers, and the Primas of Power one of my favorite romance series. I don’t know when Ava’s book is coming out, but I’M SO EXCITED FOR IT.

So yeah, this book was exactly what I needed. We can always count on romance books for serotonin, and this gave me plenty of that. 💛

I absolutely noticed that casual lil tease in the epilogue, where Gabe referred to Ashton as Jasmine’s fiancé. To that I say, WHERE ARE MY DETAILS??? I would’ve liked to see a bit more of them in this book because I live for couple cameos, but if we get a wedding in the next book, I’ll be happy. Scratch that, I’ll be over the damn moon. Please, Alexis Daria. P L E A S E. 🙏🏻

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The best books are the ones that surprise you, and that’s exactly what this was. The Temperature of Me and You is a unique blend of contemporary and science fiction with a great cast of characters and an adorable romance. I devoured it in just two sittings—a matter of hours—and would definitely recommend it!

The only reason I didn’t give it five stars was that I felt a few things weren’t explained as well as they could’ve been. I wanted to know more about how both Jordan and Dylan got their abilities, as well as HydroPro’s experiments.

(I’d originally written a longer review, but my app glitched and I lost it all. I don’t have the energy to rewrite it so here’s the mini version.)

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[Early copy provided by Netgalley. This doesn’t affect my opinions/review.]

Historical murder mystery with a dash of romance is my new favorite, oddly specific genre. I didn’t really have any expectations going into this, but The Red Palace absolutely blew me away. Hur’s writing, though never bad, has improved since her debut, and she excels at writing clever female characters you can’t help but root for.

Hur did an incredible job with this mystery, with feeding the reader scraps of evidence periodically, but evidence that only answered questions with more questions. The clock is ticking for our protagonist, as if Hyeon can’t figure out who’s behind these heinous murders, her mentor will be killed as a scapegoat, the case closed while the true killer goes free. Every theory I came up with was wrong; I never suspected who was behind it all, and was positively floored when Hyeon and Eojin put the pieces together.

Speaking of Hyeon and Eojin, be still my heart. They!! Are!! Adorable!! The slow-burn drove me up the wall in the very best way, with all the small gestures and self-doubt and will-they-won’t-they. One minute I was squealing because there was FINALLY a romantic moment, the next, my heart was in my throat because I had no clue what the hell was going on. That’s not an exaggeration, either.

Props to June Hur for balancing both the mystery and romance storylines; neither ever overshadowed the other. Even with the latter being secondary, being less prominent, it was still very well-written.

Props, too, for making the setting so immersive, despite it being a real place. Her descriptions and attention to detail only added to what was already a brilliant story, and everything was also easily understandable to those (like me) not very familiar with Korean history and culture.

Honestly, I don’t think any review I write can do this book justice, as is almost always the case with my favorite books. But The Red Palace is definitely a new favorite, one I’ll be shouting about far and wide, because it deserves all the hype. I can’t wait to see what Hur does next!

[Buddy read with Shar 🖤]

I was so excited to read this, and in the first half, I honestly thought it would end up a new favorite. The story had similar vibes to my favorite series—His Fair Assassin—and the protagonist had so much in common with Sybella—one of the HFA protagonists and my absolute favorite character. I loved Artemisia and her revenant, and I thought the world-building, specifically the orders of spirits and how they could be bound with relics, was fascinating and well-done. I also loved seeing Artemisia come out of her shell more in the second half of the book, and realize that she does, in fact, have friends.

So what went wrong?

The pacing was dreadfully slow; in the first half I didn’t mind so much, because I was getting to know the characters and the world. But when I passed the 50% mark, I became aware of just how little had happened, and as I kept reading, still, hardly anything happened. I thought the antagonist was poorly written and didn’t really have any motivation to do what they did, and when the final hand was dealt, the true antagonist revealed, even though I didn’t see it coming, I wasn’t impressed. The last quarter of the book felt very anticlimactic, despite the stakes being at their highest yet.

One thing in this book’s favor, though, is that Artemisia is asexual, something I haven’t seen in many fantasies. There was no romance, and instead, the focus was on platonic relationships and her own character growth. It was refreshing, and I liked it.

Overall, despite finding this somewhat disappointing, I would recommend it. Rogerson spun a good story, and I do plan to read more from her in the future.

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[second read, December 2022]
So, um. I lasted eleven months before rereading. Ten, technically, since I finished the last book in February. What can I say? I’m Cressworth trash. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It feels weird to say a book about the Jack the Ripper murders is a serotonin boost, but like… it’s true. Not because I find the murders amusing—I don’t, I swear—but because I find Audrey Rose and Thomas’s dynamic amusing. Hilarious, actually. It’s literally impossible to read this and not cackle at their banter. I was up all night reading this and cackling; if my neighbors heard me, they probably thought I’d lost my marbles. Which isn’t wrong tbh.

Rereading this has convinced me of one thing: no boy has ever simped for his girl more than Thomas Cresswell simps for Audrey Rose Wadsworth. He’s actually the biggest simp ever™️ and I will die on this hill. He fell fast and he fell hard and it’s THE CUTEST THING EVER. 🥹💗

And their chemistry??? OFF THE GODDAMN CHARTS. Emilia and Wrath could NEVER. I said what I said.

Honestly though, seeing all of the little hints of his feelings—him almost but not quite reaching for her hand, sneaking in cheek kisses, holding her when she’s scared, wanting to buy her a new bottle of the perfume she likes—is adorable. That last one also gives “Dimitri buying Rose lip gloss just to make her happy,” which is one of my favorite scenes ever, so of course I love it just as much. <3

MY HEART!!! 🥹🥹🥹

I could ramble about these two for ages, if my reading updates are any indication, so I’m gonna stop now. Starting the next book seems like a much better use of my time, since that’s the one where we meet Thomas’s hotter older sister. ;)) (I’m sorry, Thomas, I’m just a lesbian!! I still love you, but… not like that.)

[first read, January 2022]
I tried reading this a few years ago, but stopped after just a couple pages because I was, at the time, too squeamish. Now that I’ve read more books (*cough*These Violent Delights*cough*) and gotten significantly less squeamish, I decided to give it another try, due entirely to bookstagram hype, as my experience with Maniscalco’s sophomore series was less than ideal.

And, twist of all twists, I absolutely loved it. I did not see that coming AT ALL, but here I am. I love Audrey Rose and Thomas so much. I admire Audrey Rose’s dedication and perseverance, as well as her willingness to get her hands dirty. As for Thomas, honestly, he’s the sort of character I either love to pieces or despise with my entire being, and luckily, the former is true here. He’s charming and witty, and I don’t even know how many times I laughed or cackled while reading.

And the banter between the two of them?? OHMYGOD PURE BRILLIANCE. I didn’t expect such a dark book to have so many humorous moments, but I’m glad that ended up being the case. It helped balance the book out and, in my opinion, improved it overall. Honestly, I want these two to be my friends. I couldn’t help dissect any cadavers—because ew—but I’m sure we could still have fun somehow, ideally in ways that don’t involve quite so much blood.

One more thing. Audrey Rose and Thomas have brilliant, nearly palpable chemistry, and I ship them SO FREAKING HARD. Part of me kind of thinks that their feelings escalated rather quickly, but the rest of me thinks those initial feelings Audrey had seemed more like infatuation and begrudging admiration than love. That aside, I liked their transition from rivals to colleagues to friends, and I’m very much looking forward to their eventual transition to lovers. 👀

THEM >>> 🥺🥺

Okay, now I’m actually gonna talk about the plot. The thing is, last year when I thought I’d never read this book, I looked up how it ended. Going in, I was pretty sure I remembered who the killer was, and even though I ended up being right, that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. The reveal was so clever, and the killer’s motive made sense. (Although, obviously, that doesn’t excuse their atrocious actions.) Maniscalco had me hooked from the very beginning, and I enjoyed the ride even when I knew what was coming. I feel like that says a lot about how well-written the book is.

I think I’ve said all I wanted to say. Now I’m going to look up fan art, listen to my Audrey Rose and Thomas playlist—yes, I’ve already got one—and attempt to read other books while I wait impatiently for my hold on the second book to be ready. 😌 (I DON’T WANNA WAIT TWO WEEKS DAMN IT :’))

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This wasn’t a bad book, but good grief, I was bored. I tried the ebook and the audiobook, but the format didn’t make a difference. Nothing ever pulled me in, either characters or story. Though the synopsis promised a spooky, queer dark academia story, what I actually got was a few ghosts and way too many scenes where the characters got really drunk and high. There were multiple chapters I skimmed because they felt like filler, like the same thing with a slightly different coat of paint.

If my friend Cel didn’t love this book so much, I probably would’ve DNFed around—if not before—the halfway point. Now that I’ve finished I can say, unfortunately, it wasn’t worth it, at least not to me. It was way too easy to figure out the antagonist, and one of the subplots felt pointless.

Also—this is minor and irrelevant but—there was one scene toward the end of the book where the protagonist had sex in his roommate’s bedroom, even though his was in the same hallway. I’ve never had a roommate, but even I know that’s crossing a line. You just don’t do that.

It’s even worse because the other person was said roommate’s cousin.

So yeah. Not a bad book, but definitely not my cup of tea. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Overall, this was a perfectly good romance, and I appreciated the emphasis on queer sex positivity. The romance itself was also sweet. My issue was that I never really got attached to either of the protagonists, or invested in the story. While I did like and would recommend Satisfaction Guaranteed, I liked Stetz-Waters’ other book, Worth the Wait, more and would suggest prioritizing that one. :)

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