Oh dear lord, this book made me feel! I may have had water eyes and gasped for most of the last few chapters.

I thought Daughter of Smoke and Bone was okay but nothing special...that book PALES in comparison to this one. It's a thick book but it's so well written and the world building and character development and magic was fantastic. I didn't totally understand all the paranormal rules but that did not take away from it. The writing was so beautiful. I just kept zoning out while reading it...al.ost like it was a lullaby.

Wow! This was incredibly well done! A character typically villanized gets their own POV and every one in here has completely different characteristics and their own story. I also really appreciated the focus being on motherly love rather than a romantic love betrayal!

Actual rating is 3.5 but 3 stars is too low.

I am pleasantly surprised by this book. It's a cute murder mystery that feels like historical fiction but is actually fantasy. I absolutely loved that Freya used science and logic to solve her problems (a rarity in North America). There's a little bit of romance but it's super low key. It's a little too Disney-fied of an ending for my liking but a decent fantasy stand alone.

It does really lack (and by lack I mean there really isn't any) world building. It doesn't necessarily hurt the story since the focus is the murder but it was kinda disappointing. I expect world building in a fantasy. I also wish there would've been more information or a bigger role of the Gustafson rebels. The author kinda forgot about them or gave them way too large of a role without any real wrap up.

Omg yes! This is a fucking revenge story! The romance doesn't come off as lazily done but rather shows a lot of growth, learning and communication/forgiveness. I laughed since the main girl tends to enter a room, count her enemies and think of how and how fast she can kill them which was quite refreshing every once and a while. Really excited to purchase the sequel...and the covers are awesome! Her sister is going to be interesting to watch and I have a feeling she's gonna need to be contained or killed off.i really wanna see where the forbidden romance takes the leads and the story (I'm a sucker for Romeo and Juliet style romance). I loved how the magic and powers were described and displayed--i hope there will be more of a focus on them now that we've got our characters, world and politics established

Oh man, Olivia is such a good crazy bitch. I love Kaz and Em but the villains are so freaking I and amusing to watch. Olivia is a full-blown psycho and it's amazing to see how she justifies everything.

Sometimes I find barriers to relationships kind of annoying in books but I really like how it tugs Kaz and Em towards and away from each other. I'm super excited for the conclusion and the betrayal to come...and Amy Tintera is now an instant buy

Pg 20: ugh, not a cheesy romance
Pg 40: LET HIM LOVE YOU, GIRL! 🤣🤣🤣

I think Tintera's writing really grew between this series and Ruined. The book and concept isn't particularly unique or amazingly written BUT that being said...I freaking loved this book.

This book reminds me kind of Darkest Minds and Divergent.

I loved the attitude of Wren (she's kind of a badass) and Callum's straight forwardness with Wren. I'm a sucker for sci-fi/medical dystopian with rebel groups so this was perfect for me! I'm hoping Rebel will get a little more political with HARC and/or the rebellion.

The pace, writing and plot of this book was so much better than Reboot!

The plot expanded to include two villains and really challenged the idea that Wren had nothing human about her. I liked that Tintera offered POV from Wren and Callum but Callum came off very robotic. The romance got a little cheesy for me but I still liked that ship.

THANK👏 YOU👏 for having a character say "it's her choice" when referring to a woman taking birth control!

I think this dystopian suffers from what all other YA dystopians seem to. The ending is too clean. There's not enough loss. I thought Tintera was going there when Callum got shot but then he came back and I got some frustrated and annoyed and disappointed. Take that step!

3.5 / 5 stars

An interesting book and concept/plot for sure. I am absolutely obsessed with fiction books related to mermaids and pirates and sea-life. Because of that, I did really enjoy the book. I found it plotted a little weirdly since I didn't feel like there was a climax or a conclusion yet neither was there a cliffhanger. This wasn't bad, just odd and it may be because this is a debut piece for the author.

I was really fascinated by the relationships of everyone (romance, family, friends, etc.). I enjoyed the slow burn/not insta-love with Caroline. I really liked the magic and spirits/gods element of the story and I hope we definitely get more of that in the next book.

Finally, the cover is gorgeus and I am really happy I picked this book up. I will absolutely be getting the sequel when it comes out. The narration of the audiobook was great (however, the version available on Audible Canada is incomplete! The book has 31 chapters yet the audiobook just stops at chapter 26).

This was such an interesting and cute little book with some funny jokes ("Yes, Einstein was a bad ass."). I definitely didn't understand all of it but it's something you can read in 2 hours every few years and always learn something new. I wish I had gotten a science teacher this passionate and who could make these topics so accessible. I live in a stupidly Conservative (science fearing) province and I wish Tyson could come here and talk.

It's official. This book just broke me.

Video review - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVF-hDU-al0