sup3r_xn0va_maya's reviews
387 reviews

X-Men: Dark Mirror is a standalone X-Men story by Marjorie M. Liu that features some of the more well known members. Rouge, Jean Grey, Scott Summers, and Kurt Wagner have all been body swapped with patients from a mental hospital. They are all unsure of who or what body swapped them. 

This story was really exciting in some parts and really disappointing in others. I wish the mental hospital scenes weren't just people talking about how "insane and crazy" mental hospital patients are. I also didn't like how

two of the women from the mental hospital died in the final fight, Mindy dying really bothered me because she didn't do anything or harm anyone, she didn't even talk and she was killed off as another mental patient casualty.

I would have rated this four stars because I really liked the story but the treatment of the mental patients was just borderline ableist and I really didn't like that. 

I'm giving this story 3 out of 5 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️  3/5 Stars

I listened to this for free on [HooplaDigital.com]

Wild Invitation by Nalini Singh is an anthology of short stories from the Pys/Changeling Universe, using a few characters spanning from books 1 to 10. I enjoyed most of the stories, though there was one in particular that I didn't like very much

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1. Beat of Temptation - 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tamsyn/DarkRiver healer & Nathan/DarkRiver sentinel

This was a cute story, although Nathan made me unhappy because

at one point he made Tamsyn thing that he didn't want to complete their mating bond. She went through rejection and all that pain for nothing.

The spicy scene was okay, I'll give it three 🌶️🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies


2. In Stroke of Enticement- 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Annie/Human & Zack/Changeling

This was an okay story, I didn't like how

Zack askes Annie about her physical disabilities right after meeting her, that was sort of rude. I also didn't like how Annie's mother was racist and she wasn't dealt with, she was just ended up being impressed by Zack so she stopped being an asshole.

Aside from the two things, I think the story is good.

The spice was okay, I'm giving it three chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies worth of spice.

3. Declaration of Courtship - 2 ⭐️⭐️
Grace/SnowDancer Wolf  and Cooper/SnowDancer Wolf Lieutenant

I really didn't like Cooper at all.

At one point Annie's siblings accuse Cooper of being abusive and he gets angry and decides to almost physically attack them as a response. I just found him to be irresponsible and rude.

I didn't care for the spice in this one because I didn't like Cooper, so I'll give it two chilies 🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies


4. Texture of Intimacy - 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Walker/Psy and Lara/SnowDancer healer

I really loved Walker and Lara the first time I read about them, I honestly love their relationship so much so when I found out that this short story was about them, I was excited! This story did not disappoint

I really loved the spice in this short story, not only was it sexy but it was also romantic 
I'm giving it four chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies

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Overall I liked most of the stories in this short anthology, I'm going to give it three stars out of five
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 Stars

I listened to this for free on the library app hoopladigital.com

Attack on Titan volume 2 by Hajime Isayama continues the story of Mikasa, Eren, and Armin (as well as some other military troops in the same squad). Volume two is just as good as the first one, I really enjoyed all the twists. This is my second time reading this volume but I still enjoyed the pacing and surprises. 

I don't want to say too much because that would spoil volumes one and two so I'll just rate the manga. 

Overall, this was enjoyable and I'm excited to continue the series. I'm giving this volume 5 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 Stars

I read this for free on [Libbyapp.com]

The Awakening by L.A. Banks is the second book in the Vampire Huntress Legend series. I enjoyed this book a lot more than I enjoyed the first book in the series, but there were still some "WTF?!" moments when it came to the plot. 

The main character Damali is The Neteru, a very powerful female being that's capable of birthing an even more powerful being. At the moment Damali works on the side of the light with The Guardians, beings who fight supernatural creatures in the name of the light (AKA the lord?)

On the Neteru's 21st birthday 

she begins to ovulate and emit a very powerful pheromones that entices male Guardians and male Vampires alike. The dark side or the side of evil will try to kidnap and mate with Damali and she will welcome "the challenge" because she's basically in heat.


"But if he doesn’t deliver the vampire huntress in three days when she ovulates, or during the fragile period … and we miss this lunar cycle of fertility, her womb will be immune to our seed. An opportunity will not present itself again for years—till her next Vulnerability. Even if he brings her to us, after her twenty-first birthday, later in the month during this first ripening, for every successive day that passes her antibodies will build, and the heir will be at risk of spontaneous abortion. Or, Mr. Chairman … even if our seed takes, it could be deformed—it could be human, or worse. Part Neteru human.”

 It's all very ridiculous. 

The ending half of this was so good, I really loved the action sequences! I like the way L.A Banks describes things and I especially love her fight scenes. I'm unsure of how I feel about Carlos though, he's the first grey character that I've read that I might actually kind of like. Having "firsts" in reading can sometimes be enjoyable. 

There was not spice in this at all but the main character and her love interest lusting after one another was cute 🌶️🌶️ two chilies out of five chilies worth of spice. 

Overall this was exciting during certain parts and silly during others, and I don't think "silly" was the goal. I'm giving this 3.5 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.5/5 Stars

I read this for free on [Libbyapp.com]

My Love Story Volume 6 by Kazune Kawahara is hilarious and heart warming, just like MOST of the previous volumes that came before it. The first part of the manga is about Takeo's mother/family and the second part of the manga is about Valentine's Day and White Day (on March 14th, in Japan, guys give gifts to the people who gave them a gift on Valentine's Day).

I don't want to say too much because I don't want to spoil it but this manga was very funny and really enjoyable. I finished it in about 45 minutes.

Overall, I enjoyed most of the manga so I'm giving it 5 stars out of 5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I read this for free on [Libbyapp.com]

Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler is book two in the Xenogenesis series, it's a direct sequel to the first book in the series, Dawn. Adulthood Rites takes place almost 30 years after Dawn and although Lilith, the main character from Dawn, is in Adulthood Rites, the main character of this book is not Lilith. 

This story was really interesting, it follows

Lilith's first son

. I really loved the world building and the character development. 

There was only one part that I didn't like in this book and that was part three. It just wasn't as exciting as the rest of the book so I'm going to knock off .5 stars. I plan on reading every piece of work Butler has written at least 10 times each, so I might appreciate part three of this book during a later read. 


Overall this was an amazing sequel to Dawn, I can't wait to finish the trilogy! I'm giving this 4.5 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  4.5/5 Stars

I read this for free on [Libbyapp.com]

Neo Parastye M published by Kodansha is a manga by various mangakas around Japan. It's comprised of short stories all taking place in the Parasyte world, originally created by Hitoshi Iwaaki. This manga had some stories that were a hit and some that were a miss, most of them were a hit.  

My favorite stories were "Through Yara's Gate" by Moto Hagio, "Eat It Tonight, Too" by Moare Ohta, "Granny's Regrets" by Takayuki Takeya, "The Strange One" by Takatoshi Kumakura, "The Perfect Soldier" Ryouji Minagawa, "Edible" Hiroki Endo, and "Chinless Gen and I are Parasites" by Akria Hiramoto.

There were a few stories that I didn't like at all, but overall I liked most of the stories in this anthology. The few stories I didn't like focused on sex and I just didn't find them interesting or entertaining in the least bit. 

Overall this was an enjoyable read, I'm giving this 4 stars out of 5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 Stars

I read this for free on [Libbyapp.com]

A Few Rules for Predicting the Future: An Essay is a short essay and new book by Octavia E. Butler accompanied with beautiful artwork by Manzel Bowman. This is an older essay by Octavia Butler that was republished in this book and it's about how and why we as people predict the future. Butler uses references to her books "Parable of the Sower" and "Parable of the Talents" when discussing examples of how to predict the future. She also uses read world examples like The Space Race and The Cold War. 

Overall this was a really pleasant reading experience and this essay seems very relevant when viewing today's world issues. I'm giving this 4 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc (advanced readers copy) that I was able to read <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/">[Netgalley.com]</a>

Archangel's Consort is the third book in the paranormal romance Guild Hunter series by Nalini Singh. I think the base story was interesting enough but I'm just not sure if I liked to execution of it. 

In book three Raphael's archangel mother, Calian, is rising from her long slumber and that's causing vampires feel bloodlust, and thus they start attacking innocents. The skies have also darkened and storms have been summoned. Elena does her best to investigate the crimes with The Guild, but now that she's an archangel's consort she can't give The Guild all the information she has, she has to keep some of it to herself. So essentially, the only people on the case who know the most pertinent information happens to be Elena and her archangel, Raphael. Elena and Raphael basically end up working together on this case because of how connected Raphael is.

The ending was a bit disappointing, I wish there had been more description when it came to the climax of the story, and I'm not talking about one of the many times someone orgasmed in this. 

It seems like every time the main characters would do something, there would be a spicy scene afterwards. So, go on an investigation, and then a spicy scene. Train with your guild hunter friend, then a spicy scene. Elena visits her father and he upsets her so afterwards her and Raphael, you guessed it! They have another spicy scene! Now I love my spicy scenes but there was definitely more spice than I expected. I wished there as a little more story at the end instead of more spicy scenes. I want

the fight scene at the end to have longer of an explanation.

There were quite a few spicy scenes in here and they were all okay, none of them were bad but none of them were amazing but there were a lot, so I'm giving this 3.5 chilies out out 5 chilies 🌶️ worth of spice. 

Overall this story was okay, I'm not really a fan of the rushed ending. I'm giving this three and a half stars because this was interesting but the overall story and ending didn't blow me away. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 Stars

I read this for free on libbyapp.com

Attack on Titan volume 1 by Hajime Isayama is a horror/action manga about giant titans that want to eat everyone. This is my second time reading this manga, the first time I read this was back in 2010 when it was first published. Having read this a second time, I can really appreciate the electric start to this story. 

The main characters, Eren, Mikasa, and Armin live in a town that is walled off from the titans that are dangerous. The manga starts off with the three characters as pre teens and they're having a discussion about the wall to their town being breached.

Right as they say that, a giant titan comes and busts the wall down. The three survive but the end up becoming personnel for the military five years later.

The manga ends on a cliff hanger, like most of the Attack on Titan mangas do. It doesn't bother me now, in the year 2023 because the series is finally complete. When the second volume wasn't available, I was a little pressed. 

Overall this was interesting and there are a lot of questions that I have and I'm excited for them to finally get answered. I'm giving this volume 5 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 Stars

I read this for free on libbyapp.com