simonlorden's Reviews (1.38k)

I love this world so much and I hunger for more.

God, I have so many thoughts and emotions. This was a scorching hot taboo romance with an age gap, underage relationship, and some very toxic relationship elements. I nearly screamed when Ria threatened to accuse him of rape, like she did not just go there!! Girl!!

Avery and Ria's friendly relationship was great. I really liked Hayden, the "secondary" love interest, although I'm not really a fan of love triangles.

I wasn't a fan with the mean girl rivalry with Reagan.

And finally, damn, these two are SO BAD at hiding an illegal relationship. They have so many close calls because they are dumbasses who keep having relations in semi-public spaces or with the doors unlocked. She has her own apartment where she lives alone!! I'm begging you to use it!!

Overall, I loved this, and the sex was scorching hot. But man, I beg them to wise up.

Additional content warnings: gymnastics is fucking brutal, and it comes with a diet that is bordering on an eating disorder. There's backstory mentions of rape and incest (to a character who isn't one of the mains).

A very twisty and interesting story.

cw: Fatphobia. there is an overweight character who is described in very disgusting terms over the book.

i might be too old for this book. the main character's style is kind of obnoxious

unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this. there were too many POVs that felt redundant, and two different female characters whose entire personality was being a judgmental bitch, which was just unpleasant to read. also, all this "you Hamiltons are a plague to this town" was excessive. it's been 17 years, you're a grown ass adult and you're still holding a grudge against three people who were teenagers at the time? just a lot of unpleasant characterization.

this was a fascinating story about living ships, religion and propaganda. I was unsure about all the Catholicism at first, but the Sisters in this are good people who want to do good.

I received a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit I didn't read the original novel, but you certainly don't need it for this reimagining. And this book certainly didn't disappoint. Moreno-Garcia's writing is lush and imaginative, and I loved the descriptions and the characters. I have a soft spot for cat-hybrids, and Cachito and Lupe and their sibling relationship with Carlota were amazing.

Carlota's character arc was a bit predictable, but that didn't take away from the enjoyment of reading it. The ending and the question of romance didn't end like I expected, but I felt that the ending suited the book and was better for it.

I gave this book a fair chance, but I found the main characters and the writing style both obnoxious, and the plot is far too slow-paced. I feel like I spent most of it waiting for things to happen, and I just can't read several hundred pages like that.

content warnings: in the part I read, there was a very graphic rape scene and a graphic murder

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Melita is a witch with a chronic illness who swallows bones in order to do her magic. When her village is attacked, she has to flee with her friend into the underground city full of monsters to find help. I liked the worldbuilding, the magic and the ruin exploring parts. The Capper was a truly terrifying villain, and the descriptions of the dark threatening to eat everyone were also delightfully creepy.

Unfortunately, I found most of the characters flat. Melita's constant self-loathing and pacifism even to the point of letting herself nearly be killed was frustrating. The traps were all laughably bad at their jobs, but I feel like a lot of open questions remained there. Also, so many questions about Kinta!! And once they make it to the city they've been chasing for the whole book, it's... underwhelming. I am also not quite sure how to feel about the ending.

Overall this was an okay read, but it felt lacking.

I really liked the ending of this book, and Penny and Miranda were both great. That being said, I found it a little strange that Penny, who was pretty young

was so eager to accept an adult woman as her "daughter"

. The fact that Kin has already raised an entire teenage daughter and was suddenly like 15 years older than Penny experience-wise - I'm not sure how a relationship survives that. But I suppose things are different in the future.

Sadly, the Hungarian translation was full of unnatural phrases translated literally from English that were distracting, but I tried to judge the book regardless of that.