roadtripreader's Reviews (357)

as far as college contemporary reverse harem bully-protector romances go - they're not my jam.  not the whole thing, maybe take them out of college and remove the bully element and I might be more pliable.

This one was not a total disaster especially the revenge against bullies bit.  In fact, I almost enjoyed it as a whole and this might be my only exception to the no CR rule.

Romance Plot/Storyline/Themes (0.5): Syntax, grammar issues kept throwing me out of what was supposed to be some spicy masked adventure.
●The adverbs are all in the wrong place it took me out of the immersion every time:  "he sharply groans" Nooooo "he groans, sharply." yes.  "I emotionally shout" / "he gruffly asks" Bloody nooo for the love of grammar. It felt like a slightly better quality wattpad story but with enough blunders to still feel "wattpad-ish".
●and the anticipating is beyond agonizing. Nooo and the anticipation is beyond agonizing". C'mon!
●Too much brand name-dropping I almost felt like the book was sponsored or something.

I wanted to read to enjoy not put my Educator brain on overdrive.

Character Development/Favorite Character( -1):
I detest childish references to pop culture in an attempt to evoke some euphoric response to something in the book. If that reference is not part of the universal zeitgeist and instead has niches and pockets of fans it could go one of three ways.
●The fans respond positively,
●reader ignores the reference or
●the reader hates the thing you're referencing.

In this case - I don't give flying bat about Elena Gilbert of Vampire Diaries, I got so tired of that dopplegnger bullshit on VD that I stopped watching once The Originalsgot their own show. So, when Quinn compares her situation with two men to that character, the author just fizzled out my interest in the book and the heat of the scene and I began associating the character with that godawful  redundant storyline.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous Unique Scene::
I guess Quinn standing up to her middle school bully, Veronica.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes: 
“I didn’t come to your rescue because I’m your knight in shining armor. I’m the villain, and I want you all to myself." (Ghostface to Quinn)

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts(-1):  Nothing of note.

StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories books by 2025

Some Demigod level debauchery right there.
Yeah, I won't pretend I read this for anything but spice between mortals and gods. But it was so much more than that.  It was written so well, I'm ready for the next installment in the series.

When Jovie asks:
"Could anyone blame me for wanting to belong to a god whose sole purpose is pleasure?"

The only logical answer is no, no darling, no one can blame you.

Romance Plot/Storyline/Themes:
The Valley worldbuilding continues from that infamously hot Easter Bunny debacle. I do love how she can create whole histories and backdrops in a few short paragraphs.

Character Development/Favorite Character:
Jovie is torn between being the one who calls the shots and makes the rules and runs her life to being a toy for a God. She lacks balance in the immediate aftermath of "the bargain".

Diyo, The God of Pleasure is a just god and in the same breath, not quite as ruthless as any old God from any old pagan religion. Humans are toys but Diyo seems to care for their new toy, Jovie. Oh yeah, and Diyo is a hermaphrodite/rebus/double organed - which peaked my interest by at least nine LEVELSof curiosity.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene::
●Mr C maneuvering Jovie into unwitting offering
●...ahem 🔥Day 3 of the Bachannal.
●uhm why does the bachannal smell like camphor? That is not an enticing sexy scent. I mean might as well have said lemongrass or something

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes: 
“Some things are worth selling your soul for, Jovie.” (Mr C to Jovie )
"I made the rules, and I’ve made sure my contracts are as binding as the old gods’ bargains." (Jovie on the wording of a deal)
"Diyo is dangerous. They’re the type of god who could make you stay…the type of god who could just as easily hand you off to one of their less pleasant kin" (Jovie on kissing a God)

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
●The Wishing Well.
●The Realm of The old Gods.
●The dangers of making bargains with gods.

StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Romance Books by 2025

I loved how I had no cooking clue what the hell was happening but I was just vibing and somewhat entertained.

Worldbuilding  Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Oh yeah there is a wild ride I crashed into from the opening  paragraph.  Some stabby elves in armor, Alvira who is some sort of warrior, there's  telepathic communication which may or may not be techological. I was vibing in a whirlpoool of concepts. This is probably what new readers feel when they pick up Discworld or Dune or something of a similar worldbuilding feat. A whole lot of WTF? Okay cool cool cool.

Character Development/Favorite Character:
Alvira is the Archon which sounds a lot like an avatar-like "chosen one" archetype and a she draws on The Spark for different elemental bending - pardon me, magic. I do find myself intrigued. The comparison will probably die down if I read the rest of the series.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene::

A losing battle.
"He watched as Eltoar clenched his fist. All the knights and Aeson were stopped in their tracks and lifted into the air. Kallinvar was about five feet from Eltoar when the elf slammed his fist down into the ground. A wave of concussive force rippled through the chamber, catapulting everyone in multiple directions. .... He summoned his Soulblade and approached Eltoar."

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes -2: 
Not a fan of the style of prose. It felt long, wordy and a bit verbose. Quoteable lines started out well and devolved into cringe.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
●The Spark as a source of elemental magic
●Blood runes, Blood Magic, Bloodmarking

StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy books by 2025

 One of those "The Cover got me good" choices that did not disappoint  

I did not expect Ghouls and Vengeance to go so well together. But to be fair, I didn't know what to expect. The cover was a renaissance house with tentacles emerging and two humanoid silhouettes bathed in white light. Haunted house with a cosmic Lovecraftian feel was probably somewhere in my considerations. The story took me by pleasant surprise.

Also, I bet I'm actually a Marcheur myself. Let's see: a dreamless fugue state once every couple of days - sounds suspiciously like my insomnia.

Worldbuilding Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Two contract killers - one Human and one a ghoul. They hightail it out of New York and head for LA after reneging on a hit  (with good reason) and double tapping Garrick their client who ordered the hit.  They may not say it but there is a comfortable fraternal brotherly love between them and their whole vibe somehow reminds me of the best of Sam and Dean Winchester so essentially not all the whiny variations after season 4.

Character Development/Favorite Character:
Ford and Neuland summed up in one interaction:
●"Oh no. Are we fathers now?”
“Uncles at best. And don’t ever say that to her or me again.” (Neuland and Ford on Tilda)
In a word, loveable, fiercely loyal, weirdly chivalrous and exist in an easy understanding of each other.  In short - they're my kind of morally gray antiheroes.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene::
The tender nature in which they interacted with sweet innocent naive Tilda Rosenbaum when they first meet. So, the beach sounds like a great idea right about  now. Ford and Neuland are darkly relatable.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes: 
●This isn’t killing money, ” he said. “This is stern-talking-to money. ” (Neuland on the cost of a Hit )

●“Like you’re magic?”
Neuland thought about it.
“I’m not sure I’m magic. ”
“What would you call a walking, talking dead man?”
.....“Neuland.” (Tilda on Magic )

●"Strong emotions were for the living, like Ford. He could fly into a rage at a moment’s notice and it accomplished nothing. The undead were supposed to be above such things" (Neuland on the curse of feeling)


Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts: 
●Southern Voudo/Neuland's rebirth
●Goofer Juice
● Set-Taq Jihanuut, the All-Consuming Eye

StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy books by 2025 

*Sigh* Reality is boring. Give me flower blooming music sorcery any day  

The Phantom Of the opera captivated me as a child and quite possibly nothing could live up to it.  The entire time I read this I kept humming the songs and found myself randomly singing the chorus.

The author definitely uses this call and response  phrase that is evocative of Loyd Webber's Phantom "....Of the night" it is often the end of a sentence at the end of a paragraph and it is an effective tool.

Romance Plot/Storyline/Themes:
The worldbuilding is atmospheric, misty and foggy and feels like you aren't seeing something that's right infront of you.

I enjoyed how music was so integral to the story it was literally magic. I also loved how there were no lyrics, you could hear your own song in the moment and not have to read cringey lyrica. I haven't found magic in lyrical music in such a long time but just imagining the phantom singing siren songs sensually brought about all the blushes.

Ford uses some clever euphemisms to describe people and things. One of my favorite is the description of Madame Blu:
"Her stature was generous, and she often lamented about how much she loved the sweets from the kitchen," which is so much better than saying she was overweight or fat or voluptuous etc and so forth.

A couple of missed spelling errors and misused words and an actual missed word somehow do not take away the enjoyment from this story.

Character Development/Favorite Character (-1) :
Uriah' pov is so scarce, perhaps a 60:40 ratio would have been better. He either needed more chapters in his pov but really it would have been alright if the chapters he had were fleshed out more.

As a wonderful character he deserved the 3 dimensional treatment. As it stands it feels as though he is not quite full of his story and is just beyond 2 dimensional.

Favorite/Curious//Ludicrous/Unique Scene::
Uriah and Aria on stage together finally

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes: 
●“You are mine,” he whispered. “My angel of music, my savior and I will ruin you for all others.”. (Uriah on Aria)
●“Oh. I was in trouble. I wanted, craved, needed him in a way I’d never desired a man
before. (Aria on Uriah)
●"Never make a promise without knowing the details" (Sage advice from Aria's father )
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts: Music as a Weapon
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Romance books by 2025

Okay new bucketlist item just dropped:  

Runaway bride roadtrip to the Scottish Highlands with a handsome bestman and a cute little goat. Tea and sponge cake at a quaint little tearoom non-negotiable.

I straight up adored this novella.
Wish it was a novel or we got to read their happily ever after.

Romance Plot/Storyline/Themes: For a novella the burn is slow and sweet and then the heat is turned up to scoffield levels and then a rush of syrupy sweetness. I was rooting for you two crazy kids all the way!

Character Development/Favorite Character:
●Diane is smothered by well-meaning family members who really do have this annoying habit of not listening to her, passing comments over her and taking responsibility, agency of her body without so much as a "hey Diane, how does your heart stammer actually feel?". She is a passive character in her own life. I found myself railing against that wedding to Martin from the get go. Plus she's an erotic artist and man I wanted her to live out her fantasies.
● Even I was afraid to "look him in the eyes" in much the same way as Diane which makes sense, Liam is the golden lionhead adonis in Diane's story and he holds the smolder. The most attractive thing about him - he doesn't treat her like an invalid. That and his mischievous streak, tilting frame pictures. And he might have PTSD.
●Martin is a posh wanker, pompous, ill-humored, power hungry tosser. He'd be better suited to someone else and that's being generous.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene::
Diane attempting the role of runaway bride- well, runaway carriage with a bride and a best man. And a fainting goat following closely.
" The decision was this: they weren’t turning around, because she didn’t
know how to make the carriage do that." (Diane on resolve)

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes: 
"Love meant that no matter how plain a person’s face was, you grew to like its features. Love softened them. Made them wondrous" (lol okay Diane. Martin is just levels of NO)
"Liam proved that a scarred face did not make one ugly. If anything, his scars drew attention to the sharpness of his jaw and made one wonder what ferocious thing he'd fought to receive them." (Diane on Liam the ever-present hottie)
"Each time he tried to back seat drive, she tried to yank out of his reach, half sure to touch him would feel the way it did to look at him — blinding, burning, and world-shifting". (Runaway bride, Fainting Goat and Liam)

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
The Fainting Goat and The Fainting Girl

StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Romance books by 2025

The breathtaking beauty of ice  - is it weird that I just want to go skiing after reading this? I mean I fully intend to spend the next few hours on youtube watching travel vloggers go on ski trips to the Swiss Alps.

It's evoctive and a snowy white world of mesmerizing terror. At a pivotal point in the retelling, we get to dimension hop into the underworld via Mara and it's quite the treat.

Worldbuilding/Plot/Storyline/Themes:
In about a page, the dangerous world of winter search and rescue is laid out bare in some excellent foreshadowing. I had forgotten about that disturbing Dyatlov Pass story and immediately felt some disaster was on the way at the mere suggestion of that hellish experience. But none of that compares to the ice world we eventually stumble into. Despite being somewhat formulaic a tad bit predictable - I was engaged and intrigued. I like Taylor's writing style.

Character Development/Favorite Character:
●Jack comes across as dependable and charismatic, a tower one can lean on and his team clearly trusts him. He also comes across as hot and a little haunted, so there's that.
●Frost is all carnal and monstrous and impatient.
●Marais living the dream though. Cheers girl.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene::
Frost and all his arms take Mara. Who knew four arms were goals?

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes: 
●There is something so flawless, beautiful, and unforgiving about ice (Jack descending into mystery)
●And Jack…well, Jack is convinced
he loses everything he loves.(Mara on Jack )
●“If it’s not safe for me, it’s not safe for you.” (Mara on Jack's moment of insanity)

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
Teddy The Golden Retriever Rescue Dog - I defy anyone to say otherwise. Who's a good boy! You are Teddy!
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025

you don't get fired, you get sacrificed   - it's Dark Reign HR policy and I love it.

This is way way better than the Warts and Claws series - I read two of those and although it opened up my interest in the dynamic of bringing monsters into bureaucracy, tax returns and office drama - the writing was stilted,sometimes childish and repetitive. So I was weary of starting a new series in the workplace - but I really wanted to. My curiosity won me over and I'm glad it did.

This series is clever, well written and scandalously spicy.

Romance Plot/Storyline/Themes:  Evil has won and instead of destroying th world ...it's improbong it. Better business practices, Dark Reign and humans working side by side.

Character Development/Favorite Character:
●Soven seems both sweet and terrifying. Makes sense people throw themselves at him.
●Lily go on and get that Lich!
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene::
The First Kiss
●"I'm fighting the instinct to put my hands around his horns and wrap my legs around his waist" (Excuse me waiter, I need some ice chips posthaste).
●Ahem ... The uhm...preparation at end chapter 6 into chapter 7.🔥

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes: 
●Every second in the hourglass slipping by makes me think my suggestion was perhaps really dumb. Maybe he needed a professional to shiver for him. Maybe professionally rendered shivers are higher quality? (On Soven's unique spell ingredients)
●"We've broken a boundry that can'tbe rebuilt, whether it was that kiss, that shiver or that glimpse (Oh the sweetness of infatuation)

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
Evil rises up and goes to a boardroom for some global mergers, acquisitions.
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories books by 2025

 Not one, not two, But THREE ...and a half secret identities what an adventure. 

I don't want this series to end. There has to be another Spinster (defying societal expectations)or a Rakeish Rogue (all loyal and loveable and reformed and heroic) somewhere out there. 🎵I know you're out there, somewhere out there🎵(insert guitar solo here)

Romance Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Character Development/Favorite Character:
●Avery was wildly adultified as child and clearly left its mark on her. She never stood a chance. She is equal parts fretful, responsible and adventurous - she would definitely thrive in the 21st century the era of anxiety and bravery. Strange bedfellows.

●Jerkins he of many faces is mysterious and oozes this appeal that you just know is hidden beneath the weird butler disguise. I mean we all knew he was the highwayman, so much foreshadowing couldn't miss it.

"There was no point in arguing with Jerkins. He was as inflexible as an iron bar." (Avery on Jerkins and he sounds sintintilatingly dominant with all that formality)

"She looked at his face and quickly averted her eyes. He looked like thunder." (Jerkins is my hero)

●Belinda "The Beautiful Charlatan maybe Cousin"- I too enjoy sleeping as much as you. Wish I could sleep all day though, alas Life has got to be lived ... and paid for.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene::
Jerkins tender and quiet demeanor in the opening chapters in particular, Avery's moment of drunken self discovery as she makes that list and promptly passes out in a drunken stupor. Jerkins is so chivalrous and strong he's practically edible.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes: 
You have the makings of an eccentric, and that is a breed of woman who is not only strong, but independent and, while no one likes to admit it, secretly admired, if not feared, because they have managed to rise above the strictures of society." (A fancy Duchess meets Avery )
"it had been a relief to have him save her from a predicament at Lady Jersey's rout, and she was indeed grateful for his intervention, she would
prefer to go to a ball without her horribly efficient, omnipresent butler watching her." (Mooom! can I get a hot butler like Jerkins for Christmas?)

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts: Oh the times were unkind to women but then again when have the times been anything but?
One shan't attend the ridiculous ball without a chaperone, one shan't dance without introductions, one shan't attend fancy balls without a lady companion - reminds me of a scene in Enola Holmes 2.
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Romance books by 2025 

 If you can't be bothered to string your thoughts into a coherent book should I bother to review it?

This was a piss poor effort at coherent structure for a story that started out great and could have been thoroughly enjoyable.

The author should barely be called an author. Listen; if I wanted to stream your consciousness and see the story in your mind in the way you see it, I'd wait around for the next Nikola Tesla to be born and invent such a thing - for now, we rely on the story you tell us through this medium. How can we enjoy it when your character errors and grammar amount to literary whiplash? This is middle school level basics. Hell I edit all my textbooks before they go out to print but that's academic curriculum development nonfiction so editors are GOD in that realm. Still, the editor on this is MIA or just phoning it in.

Romance Plot/Storyline/Themes: It's a pity. I was looking for a stupid but sappy and sinful, short story or novella to wind down the evening. I wasn't looking for the tome of timeor the greatest scroll on earth - just easy and fun. This was everything up until it was not.
Character Development/Favorite Character: Why bother investing and keeping track of the characters when Castle herself couldn't be bothered to do the same. So while I initially loved Nular and Moooordoook or Moordick or whatever (Castle herself misspells it a couple of times so I'm in good company) and Mukkia Muxia whatever the other Zukia - My love for them evaporated when she changed couple pairings literally mid page multiple times. No excuses - Stephen King wrote some of his best work while blitzed and high as a kite and yet it still went through rigorous editing until it became passable as something "not the result" of a drug fueled binge. If he can do that, surely you can spare 90 minutes to review each page before publishing.
Favorite/Curious//Ludicrous/Unique Scene:: Not worth investing in a scene
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes: No quotes worth annotating
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts: The idea that you can produce work like this and be taken seriously.

StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Romance books by 2025