I don’t usually read books classified as horror, but something about this book drew me in from the first time I heard about it. The concept just seemed so unique, and I found myself excitedly counting down the days until release (and then waiting for the arrival of my Illumicrate copy).

It doesn’t happen often that a book exactly matches my expectations, but this one did. It was exactly what I wanted and needed from this book, gripping me from early on and keeping me hooked throughout. I’ve had a hard time focusing on books that aren’t audiobooks lately, but I finished this one in only three evenings, and I think that’s entirely because of how interesting and well-written this book was.

For such a short standalone book, Sunyi Dean did a fantastic job of fully enmeshing us into the world of book eaters. There was so much depth to this society, so much history, that it’s honestly remarkable that it was able to fit in a 300-page book without feeling shallow or rushed. I felt like we learned more than enough about this society, from the way the arranged marriages work to the politics between the Families and the Knights. We even get a lot of detail regarding actual book eating, from the taste and impact of certain kinds of books over others, and the general anatomy of a book eater compared to normal humans. Sure, a lot of the big mysteries are left unsolved, but it’s intentionally done and lends an air of mystery to the existence of the ‘eaters, one that affects both the humans that are aware of them and the ‘eaters themselves.

My favorite parts of this book, however, had to be the characters themselves and the writing style. Both of these were quite interconnected, as I wouldn’t have been as connected to the characters if the writing style didn’t force me to feel for them and understand them, and I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate the beauty of some of the written lines if I didn’t already appreciate the characters saying and thinking them. It was all just so beautiful and poignant, and I love how this book explores love and the depths we go to protect and serve those we love. I’ve not read many books with mothers as characters, and while I don’t necessarily seek that kind of future for myself, Sunyi’s portrayal of Devon’s motherhood and her love for Cai was heart-wrenching and raw, and I found myself deeply understanding everything Devon and Cai did, and were willing to do, for each other. Even just writing this out and remembering some of the scenes is giving me goosebumps!

Overall, this book is a new favorite, and a perfect read for this fall (spooky season!) or this winter. I can’t wait to read more from this author, and reread The Book Eaters for years to come!

I think I’m starting to realize that I’m extremely picky about my thrillers/mysteries. If I’m not buddy reading it with someone, it’s a lot harder for these genre books to grip me and thrill me, and unfortunately this book never quite got me. While I was still invested enough to finish the book, I had a hard time forcing myself to continue listening to the audiobook, even though it was a quick read and was narrated by narrators I generally enjoy.

I think the main reason I never fell into this book is that I never connected with Alice. I feel like connecting with the main character(s) of a thriller/mystery novel is extremely important, because otherwise you aren’t affected by the stakes of the novel. If you don’t care for the characters, you have no reason to cheer for them or be invested in the mystery. Sure, I didn’t want Alice to get hurt, but I was never extremely anxious for her safety until the very end, when things really kicked up.

The mystery itself is also essential in books like this, and unfortunately this never gripped me either. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat, desperate to know who was behind the Wednesday attacks. I think this was perhaps because there was just a bit too much going on, too many potential threads for this attacker to come from. There were too many men that could be willing to hurt Alice, too many reasons for wanting to do so (without actually making Alice seem like a bad person, she just appeared extremely unlucky). It wasn’t quite overwhelming, but it still pushed me away all the same. It also didn’t help that the investigation was clearly focused around one individual, building up this background story that ended up not being entirely relevant/needed. This took a lot of page space away from other parts of the mystery, and I think it just didn’t feel cohesive in the end. While it’s probably more realistic in that way, as there’s always so many things going on in the life of a person, it didn’t feel like it was fully brought together in a way that a story like this needs.

Overall, this book wasn’t for me, even if I didn’t necessarily dislike my time spent reading it. It was a good audio companion while I was busy doing chores, travelling to school, or playing Pokemon Go, but I’m not excitedly reaching for another book by this author quite yet.

I was so excited to dive into this book, even if I put off actually finally reading it for so long. It seemed like exactly the type of book I’d love, and for that reason it was one of my most hyped releases for early 2021. Unfortunately, while I did end up enjoying this book, I didn’t end up loving it (though I did give it a bonus star for how diverse it was!)

I think the main deterrent to me loving this book was that I never felt fully connected to the characters, especially Rovan. There was just some distance kept between me and the characters + their relationships, which also removed most of the urgency from the plot for me. I can’t quite pinpoint why I wasn’t able to fully connect with Rovan, but I just found it harder to support her specifically as the book went on (it was easy to hate her oppressors and want them dead, and the entire system overturned, but less easy to specifically want Rovan to succeed in her plans, especially when they became selfish). I also went into this book extremely excited about the romance (there’s very little poly + pansexual rep in books, and I was excited about that aspect of the story), but even that felt shallow and underwhelming. It was a bit too fast and sudden, and even if the romance came in later, it still didn’t get enough build-up beforehand.

As the book went on, my interest seemed to wane, and I found it harder and harder to get excited about continuing. I think overall my main issue with the book is that it just wasn’t quite enough, of anything. The world building wasn’t deep enough, and it felt like we got most of it right away, with very little being added on later. The romances and characters, while interesting at surface level, never quite felt fully finished. It was a book that could’ve been better if priorities were shifted towards fleshing out the characters + relationships and the world a bit more.

Overall, I did still enjoy my time with this and book and do want to try other books by this author, as the concept was unique, and I adored how diverse the characters were. I can definitely see myself enjoying other books by A. M. Strickland, even if this particular one wasn’t a favorite.

I first heard about this book because of an author I love raving about it, and from then on it was one of my most anticipated releases for early 2022. While it didn’t quite live up to those lofty heights, I did still generally enjoy my time with this book, and I’m quite excited to see where things will go after how it ended!

This book was fairly slow, and it ended up taking a while for me to properly get into it, unfortunately. For the first half of this book, I was worried if it was going to live up to my excitement, and it wasn’t until the last third of the book that I finally was fully drawn in. If this were a book I was less excited for, I might not have been able to push myself through, but I am really glad I did! I do still think this book suffers a bit from this, which is why it never quite reached the 5-star rating I had hoped for.

My main issue with this book was that it took me quite a while to feel connected or know any of the characters. For a long time, this book felt very plot and world heavy, without spending enough time with the characters to really build them up. While I love interesting plots and intriguing worlds, my main source of connection to a book will always be through the characters, and if not enough time is spent here early on, it’s harder to draw me fully into that book. This was this book’s main weak point, I didn’t feel as if enough time was spent on the characters and building them up until way too late into this first book, and it made me feel disconnected from the story at the beginning. However, unlike many books where this is an issue, I was able to connect with them much later in the story, and found myself much more invested in the latter half of this book!

I also adored the world itself, especially how it felt wrapped in stories and myth and magic. It felt like a world full of possibilities and cruelties, and I can’t wait to explore more of this in the second book now that I’m fully enmeshed in the plot. There’s so much potential here, and I find myself extremely excited for The Ashfire King!

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I’ve been excited about this book since it was just a choose your own Twitter adventure, and I was ecstatic to be a part of the physical ARC tour and to be approved for an e-arc! I’m not usually a big urban fantasy fan/reader, but I love Susan Dennard and had so much fun with this story back on Twitter that I couldn’t help but be excited about this!

To begin with, I quite enjoyed all the nods to the original twitter adventures, and appreciated that they were still well-hidden enough within the narrative that it wouldn’t bother people who didn’t get the references. It felt like such a fun bonus, and it did help draw me back into this story and world a bit faster. I also really liked how quick and breezy of a read this was, and it was honestly a great break to have in the middle of a busy exam period for me. It was also comforting, returning to this world I’d technically been a part of before, even if the book itself is quite different from the original story we saw on Twitter. It meant I didn’t feel like I was rereading an old favorite, but more experiencing a new, cleaner version of something I’d loved before.

In some cases, it did feel a bit simpler and younger than I had originally been expecting, though at the same time this is a YA book, and does slot perfectly within those expectations. I would say it’s a bit on the younger side of YA compared with some other books (and from what I remember of Truthwitch), and I feel like this is mainly due to the main character. She’s clearly young and naive at points, though this did endear me to her a bit! She’s still extremely driven and passionate about her dream, but she does make mistakes that many teenagers would, and while this can sometimes be frustrating, it does feel extremely realistic for her!

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this book, even if it was a little be less than I was expecting. I still can’t wait for the next installment, and to see what Illumicrate does with their special edition!

This is my second book by Emma Mills, and I loved this one just about as much as the first. There's just something so genuine about her books, and it always makes them such a fun and pleasant read. They're short but still so full of depth, and I love the nuances of friendships, family relationships, and romantic relationships that are usually showcased, especially in this book. It felt a bit weird to be reading this at the same time as If We Were Villains, because this one also features a Shakespeare play but on an entirely different level, but I still loved seeing how that centered the book and brought everyone together, in a way! Overall, I really adored this, and will definitely be continuing making my way through Mills' backlog!

This has been one of those series that has been constantly running through my mind ever since I read the first book, and it's honestly wild to see it coming to a close! Even though I'm sad this is it for the series, I found it to be an absolutely fantastic final installment. Everything was wrapped up well, but not too far wrapped up (which would've been unrealistic considering how much had gone wrong throughout the series), and I loved how the ending left things open, but brought enough closure to leave me happy and satisfied.

This series broke me so many times, and this book was no different, but it was so worth the journey. The Aurelian Cycle is criminally underhyped, and now that I know that the whole series remains impactful and well-written, I'll only start recommending this series more! It's a series that hurts, but it's honestly so worth it! I can't wait to see what Munda writes next.

“Actors are by nature volatile—alchemic creatures composed of incendiary elements, emotion and ego and envy. Heat them up, stir them together, and sometimes you get gold. Sometimes disaster.”

If We Were Villains is M. L. Rio’s debut, and a fantastic one at that. It follows a cast of 7 fourth-year theatre students at the prestigious Dellecher Classical Conservatory. Told in alternating perspectives of the past and present, it follows the fatal fourth year of these 7 students and the aftermath of one fateful November night.

It’s been a few months since I’ve read this book now and the story still sticks so strongly with me. This is more than just a murder mystery, an investigation of a friend group and how it all goes so wrong one night. It’s an exploration of emotion and identity, of the effect of playing a stereotype has on a character’s perception of themselves. It shows how volatile change can be, how upsets in power and hierarchy can cause even the tightest of bonds to crumble, the most innocuous of people to snap. It is utterly glorious and the addition of drama, both from the Shakespearean aesthetic and the setting of the characters, only heightens the study of these characters and emotions.

But this story is fantastic beyond the intriguing aspect of the story, it is more than just an investigation, more than just a peek into the world. You are immersed in the stories and characters as well, you become part of their world and their drama. Things stop seeming overdramatic, exaggerated, and you come to understand why these people act and why they talk mainly in Shakespeare. You create a bond with them, especially Oliver and James, and it will surprise you how strong this bond will be. The characters are far from perfect, they are utterly flawed and fragile, yet you will come to understand these flaws and love them more for it. This book is fantastic at transferring the emotions of the characters to the reader almost directly.

This is a book that I devoured in very few hours on a very long flight. I can’t usually read well on flights, always distracted by checking the time remaining or games on my phone. This book seems to have changed that in me. Never have I been so utterly absorbed and lost in a story while flying, and this story has stuck with me beyond that travel. I was lost in my thoughts while walking along security, waiting in lines, buying food. It was a book that I frantically texted to my friends about in the few hours I had for a flight transfer. It was a book that astounded me, and honestly still does.

It feels wrong to break the book down into its parts, as I feel that won’t do it any true justice. But I feel I must mention more than just the characters, as the plot, setting, and writing were all fantastic as well. While some might think they can figure out the plot quite quickly, the ramifications of these truths, of this answer, keeps you always second-guessing yourself on whether you actually believe this is possible, that this is the answer. The setting, an elite, competitive school, only enhances the drama and shines a light on the fractures happening the story, both between people and deep inside them. And lastly, the writing style wraps all of these parts up in a beautiful package, leaving you hooked even if you didn’t care about the rest.

All in all, If We Were Villains is a book that I will forever highly recommend. It’s great for fans of Shakespeare, for fans of thrillers/murder mysteries, for fans of flawed characters, and for fans of so much more. If this isn’t on your tbr, it definitely should be.

When I started this, I honestly wasn't sure why it had such a low rating. I knew there was some controversy, but the book seemed generally fine, not necessarily bad enough to warrant the low rating. Unfortunately, the closer I got to the end of the book, the mediocrity got to me and I started becoming more and more frustrating with how predictable the book was, while also starting to dislike Kat more and more.

I picked up this book for one main reason: sapphic vampires. I've been less into the high school setting recently, though I do still love many books in this setting, and I was hoping this book would be one of those. In the end, I didn't even end up minding the high school setting, because my true letdown was romance/relationship. There was just way too much muddling it, on top of a strong air of insta-love. By the end, my indifference towards the romance turned into just straight dislike, and I don't even think I wanted Kat and Taylor to be end-game by the time I finished. I think this is largely due to the book just not spending anywhere near enough time building up this part of the book.

There was just too much fit into this book. The closer I got to the end, the more like it felt like this book needed a sequel to wrap everything properly up. Instead, all the reveals are rapid-fired at the end (though I mean, it was pretty easy to predict what these reveals would be), meaning there wasn't actually any space left in the book to fully digest and process these reveals, and what it meant for the characters and their vampire society overall. While I was actually surprised that the ending didn't feel too incredibly rushed, I feel like we lost a lot of the space to discuss the reveals and their impact, which could've made the book as a whole hit a lot harder. This book tried to tackle a lot of societal issues (both vampire-themed and things like diversity and racism), but the ending made a lot of these potential discussions disappear. I don't necessarily think this book would've been the place for most of those discussions to flourish anyway, but I would've liked a deeper look into the vampire society and the ramifications of these reveals, as well as a bit more surrounding the queer issues that this book starts to bring up.

Overall, while this book wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting from some of the bad reviews I've seen and the goodreads rating, it just wasn't all that good either unfortunately.

This was one of those books I was tentatively excited for, because while it seemed loved by many, my friends didn't necessarily end up enjoying it, and my tastes usually align with theirs. Unfortunately, this did hold true in the end, as this book just wasn't for me at all.

I read through a few other reviews in order to help me understand what exactly wasn't working for me, and I found myself agreeing with many of the 2-3 star reviews of my friends and other reviewers on here. I think it really comes down to this book just not being interesting. It was frustrating because it had all the aspects I normally adore in books, and all the pieces that made up the story were ones I've loved before in many other books. The execution of each of these pieces, however, just never caught my interest at all, for various reaons.

The characters seemed like they could be ones I could quickly fall in love with, but I always felt like I was kept at a distance from them. Their motivations and backgrounds felt dumped on me without first building an emotional connection (or weren't used to build that emotional connection). It just felt like shadows of characters and dynamics I loved before, but without the unique spin to make me love these characters as individuals. This meant that I never really felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster like heist books usually contain: I wasn't worried for their safety, I wasn't elated when they succeeded, and I wasn't even sad when

Spoiler

one of the characters died, because it was so obvious it was going to happen by the end of the first book somewhere

.

Even without characters I love, sometimes the plot is enough to still save it. I adore puzzles and riddles in this book, so you'd think a story entirely chock-full of them would be exactly my sort of book. However, the way the puzzles were handled and solved felt almost clinical, I was never afraid they weren't going to solve the puzzle, and I was never pulled in enough to actually want to try and figure it out myself too. It was also incredibly repetitive, worsened by one of the aspects of the world-building that made it so every Forged item has a secret fail-safe that somehow this group always found right in time, with seemingly little effort sometimes. It was just constant: find Forged item, accidentally trigger the trap, realize it has to have an off switch, find the off switch. It took all the fun out of riddles.

I also just found the way the book ended really weird, with a string of time-skips that each contained 1-2 chapters before skipping forward again. It's what finalized my 2 star rating, instead of 3 stars. It felt like it was trying harder to set-up book 2 rather than properly round off book 1.

Overall, while I still want to try other books by this author, this series just isn't for me!