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635 reviews by:
ourxstorybegins
I really wanted to like this book. I did!
Anyway, here are the sins the author committed in the first half of the book:
Anyway, here are the sins the author committed in the first half of the book:
- Skye is supposed to be fat. Like, “I shop at plus size stores” level fat. I could forgive the cover if it weren’t for…everything else.
- There’s this thing with romances where the woman is fat that I cannot stand, and that is the man’s obsession with her boobs, and when I tell you that Forest would not. stop. thinking. about her boobs! His top 3 things about her from what I could tell: tits, eyes, hands. 🤢🤢🤢
- Everything about Holden, Forest’s brother. There’s having no filter and then there’s NOT KNOWING WHEN TO SHUT UP. Like, I’m talking this dude could have hundreds of sexual harassment charges against him.
- Speaking of Holden, why is he hanging out with a 17 year old and why is everyone just joking about this grown man wanting to sleep with a minor instead of idk, showing actual concern? Like they talk about the fact that Daisy is a teen MULTIPLE TIMES, really lean into it. And yet????? It’s a weird way to set up their love story (book 2, apparently), that’s all I’m saying.
- Every time someone nodded, shook their head, shrugged, or raised an eyebrow, the author decided to explain exactly what they were trying to say with those movements. EX. “He shakes his head this is a real tragedy.” Or, a PARAGRAPH later: “He shrugs Holden is Holden.”
- Every other sentence was a new paragraph. Which is super helpful for trying to emphasize a point or something, but not when it happens more than once per chapter.
- Forest is…kind of an ass? Very full of himself and seems to have this idea that every woman who makes eye contact with him wants to fuck him. And if this was the vibe of the character, cool, but it’s simply not. His whole thing he needs to get over is his ex, not his ego. Maybe it would’ve come up later, but from what I could tell, that wasn’t thought to be a concern at all.
- I decided I’d give it till the first sex scene. They talked and thought about sex so much, I thought it wouldn’t be too far in! Here I am at 56% going….it is truly not worth the wait.
I’m really annoyed because I got invested in the characters and I wanna know what happened, but not enough to put myself through the rest of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Racism
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It will SHOCK you to hear that this book is more porn than plot, lol
It was a great time for sure, but I would've loved just an extra one or two chapters with a little more exploration into their relationship before jumping straight to the ending.
It was a great time for sure, but I would've loved just an extra one or two chapters with a little more exploration into their relationship before jumping straight to the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Death of parent
Minor: Suicide, Pregnancy
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thanks to the publisher for sending copies of the Singing Hills Cycle books in exchange for an honest review!
Into The Riverlands is the third of a trilogy of novellas that can be read in any order, and this is the first one that I read. I definitely felt like I was a bit thrown into things with no real introduction to Cleric Chih and Almost Brilliant, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing! Chih is a historian, going to different locations to learn the stories of the areas, and in this particular book they are thrown into action almost immediately. I do wonder if this book would have read differently for me if I’d started from the beginning of the series, but i still definitely enjoyed it.
My favorite part of this book is the ensemble of characters that Chih and Almost Brilliant end up traveling with. They are all so interesting and end up surprising the reader (and Chih) throughout the novella.
One thing I will say is that the first half of the book was giving really strong “cozy fantasy” vibes, which is my exact jam when it comes to fantasy. That said, the book did end up becoming a bit more high-stakes and action-packed in the second half. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I expected. That said, I do look forward to reading the rest of the series!
Into The Riverlands is the third of a trilogy of novellas that can be read in any order, and this is the first one that I read. I definitely felt like I was a bit thrown into things with no real introduction to Cleric Chih and Almost Brilliant, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing! Chih is a historian, going to different locations to learn the stories of the areas, and in this particular book they are thrown into action almost immediately. I do wonder if this book would have read differently for me if I’d started from the beginning of the series, but i still definitely enjoyed it.
My favorite part of this book is the ensemble of characters that Chih and Almost Brilliant end up traveling with. They are all so interesting and end up surprising the reader (and Chih) throughout the novella.
One thing I will say is that the first half of the book was giving really strong “cozy fantasy” vibes, which is my exact jam when it comes to fantasy. That said, the book did end up becoming a bit more high-stakes and action-packed in the second half. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I expected. That said, I do look forward to reading the rest of the series!
