sarai0410's Reviews (404)

You ever read a book so good that it makes you question all previously awarded 5 ⭐ reviews? Because When the Moon Hatched did exactly that for me - so much so that I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts and feelings into words for a review. So instead, here is my rambling thoughts:

The world and characters that Parker created immediately sucked me in - the glossary at the beginning is meant to be used, and I appreciate that we are thrown into it rather than having every new term/phrase described within the story. Raeve is a character that I found compelling, saddening, and hilarious and it was easy to root for her and her journey. Kaan was everything that I look for in a bookish romantic interest and he quickly became my favorite out of any romantasy I've read so far. Not only were the characters amazing, the plot was top tier and I found myself wanting to know more and more about the world and its politics. 

There is currently no release date listed for the next in the Moonfall series and I will be (im)patiently waiting to fall back into this world. 

3.75 ⭐ I was really hesitant when I first started this because I am mostly definitely not the target audience and I'm not much of a Young Adult reader, but as a D&D/board game nerd I had to give it a chance. The first couple of chapters, I really wasn't finding myself enjoying the story, but once we got into the meat of the story between Riley and Nathan, I started to warm up to it. The relationship between them is very much the epitome of young love (in a good way) and I enjoyed the fake dating trope more than I was expecting. Also, watching Riley and Joel's relationship strengthen throughout the story really warmed my heart - you could tell throughout how proud Joel is of his daughter and how badly he wants a good relationship with her. What bugged me the most about the book, however, was Riley's mom -

it felt exactly like what Joel said, they built a wall around themselves (Riley and her mom) and didn't let Joel in, which made having a relationship with his daughter difficult. On top of that, her mom essentially talks crap about Joel to Riley, which made Riley feel like she had to take sides and negatively impacted the father/daughter dynamic. As a parent, this is a huge red flag and really brought the story down for me when she was involved.

Cute, quick read that hopefully brings more tweens and teens into the world of TTRPG and board games. 

Welp...it was something that's for sure. Before I get to far ahead of myself, I think the author had an interesting concept in mind for the plot and the characters. However, the execution was unbelievably lacking - I almost DNFed this 4+ times before I finally decided to power through it for a buddy read.

So my biggest issues...

Writing: This needed to go through a minimum of 5 more edits before being published. The writing was choppy throughout with unclear scene switches, characters falling out of conversation seemingly out of nowhere, inconsistent formatting, and a slew of other issues. One of my biggest pet peeves in dual-POV is the re-writing of a scene from a different point of view when it lends absolutely nothing to the story - it feels very bad fanficy. Of course the author choose to do this in the one scene that should have been kept a mystery, it legitimately could have been used later in the story or in the sequel as a cool reveal. But no. We find about what happens immediately, losing any kind of mystery and suspense.
Characters: How many times can you read the same description of a character or a repeated phrase from them before you want to smack them through a screen? Damn this tested my limits on that. It truly felt like the author wanted to make sure you understood that the one thing semi interesting about the character was super super important but also thought the reader was an idiot so needed to spell it out over 355 pages. The characters were bland, their relationship completely unbelievable and forced, and the MMC's personality switch towards the end...what was that??
Plot: Again, I think the author had a decently interesting plot concept for this, but the writing and characters lent nothing to it actually being good. While predictable, the twist and ending were decent enough but I found that I couldn't care about anything other than being done with the book by then because the characters did nothing but make me irritated and the writing was making my head hurt. 

This had/has potential. I see where the author wanted to go with it, but it felt rushed, confusing, and ultimately disappointing. 

Yeah idk. Did it make me feel something? Yes. Was that feeling confusion 94% of the time? Also yes.

Typically I love books about the death industry, but this one was just not clicking with me. I'm not sure if it was the pacing, narrator, or what. I do plan to try this again in the future. 

Navessa Allen absolutely knocked it out of the park with this 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Characters - brilliant
Plot - exceptional and believable
Humor - top tier and giggle worthy
Smut - 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🥵

I loved this so much. I'd been waiting for this since it was first teased on social media months ago and the wait was absolutely worth it. It's totally worth going into this without knowing much but definitely check the trigger warnings at the start of the book because this is very spicy (in the best ways). 

It may have taken me 19 years to read this little treasure, but I sure did enjoy it! The story was wonderful, the Greek mythology was on point, and the characters were precious (I'm looking at you Grover).

I think if I had read this at age 13 (when it came out) I would have liked it, but reading this now at 31 and knowing the myths made me enjoy it even more than I expect I would have in 2005. The references to the deities and their stories were so charming and thought they were done quite tastefully for a young audience considering 99% of Greek mythology is definitely not child friendly. 

I finally see what all the hype is about and I can't wait to continue with the series!

Absolutely not. 

The third installment of the Whimbrel House series was a delightful read/listen and this series has quickly become one of my favorites for its cozy, low stakes vibe. In this story, Owein's journey of growing up and becoming a 'real boy' again is explored, as well as the developing relationship between Hulda and Merritt with their wedding day quickly approaching. While Boy of Chaotic Making lacks in the 'creepy' elements of magic and antagonists, I felt like it was a good balance between life threatening and just plain character development - had the story featured more 'high stakes' problems like the previous installments, I think it would have been both unbelievable and too similar to Keeper of Enchanted Rooms and Heir of Uncertain Magic. Instead, we were able to breath in more of the character work and watch them grow as individuals and as a family. 

Spoilery and character development thoughts: 

• I loved seeing how Owein tackled his nightmares and fears that have prevented him from growing up over the last 200+ years. I do wish there were a little more depth, but like most pre-teen boys, hearing advice from someone other than close family/friends (Merritt and Hulda) can quickly change a viewpoint - his nightmare and fears in this case. I was genuinely scared that we were going to lose Owein at the end, and while it wasn't the first time the series has made me cry, I could feel Merritt's emotions through the page during the wind scene and while he and Hulda were waiting to hear news. I'm very excited to see how his character changes in the final installment. 
• Hulda and Merritt's relationship is absolutely precious and the elopement was perfect for them. Watching Hulda relax her armor and open up to Merritt about her feelings and fears, and Merritt being ready to accept and love her with her insecurities was beautiful. I love this little family and want more and more of them!

The next, and last, installment of the Whimbrel House series, Wizard of Most Wicked Ways, does not have a release date as of this review, but I am both looking forward to it and sad that this will be the last we see of the Whimbrel crew. As we ended #3 with a letter regarding the Ohio facility, I think the final book will focus on

Myra

, but I could be way off base. Whatever comes next, this series is fantastic and definitely worth the read. 

3.75 ⭐ (rounded up). Having absolutely loved Keeper of Enchanted Rooms, I was really excited to continue into the second book and follow Merritt along his journey of self-discovery in both his magic and what family truly is. While points of this felt like it was suffering from second book syndrome, I thought the character development for Merritt was strong and he grew into himself while also building a stronger relationship with Hulda. I really loved Hulda's character and personality in the first of the series, but in this she seemed to regress a bit in her confidence and strength, especially when dealing with our antagonist and the problems at hand in BIKER but I think this could be attributed to the trauma she suffered at the end of the first book -

her loss of Myra as a confidant and the death of Silas

- so I really can't fault her for that. Towards the middle-end, Hulda did start to grow that confidence back and then some, especially with her interactions with Merritt (which were adorable and squeal worthy).

My biggest disappointment in the second of the Whimbrel House series was the lack of depth for our villain. While I loved the way our protagonists handled the situation - it felt like we didn't really get any answers about why they were pursuing BIKER leadership. Another 20-30 pages to wrap that up would have rounded out the story in my opinion.

I love this series and the cozy fantasy/mystery vibes (plus the romance is so cute). I'm really looking forward to getting a Owein centric story next with Boy of Chaotic Making.