thelibraryoft's Reviews (477)

 This book immediately had me hooked! Unlike so many fantasy books, there isn't 200 pages of plotless world building to finally get to the good stuff. I did not know a single thing about Norse mythology before reading this book and everything was easy to follow.

Our FMC Freya is a hot headed, sassy woman in a man's world. She starts the book in a bad situation that honestly doesn't get much better. Freya is a strong character, who lets herself be taken advantage of a few too many times. I was really enjoyed her struggles with being loyal and loving her family when they didn't always show the same in return.

Bjorn is your typical super hot (literally) strong, grumpy MMC, but who's complaining, THAT'S HOW WE LIKE THEM. He was super flirty and brought the banter despite his constantly discussed childhood trauma.

This book is the definition of romantasy, so if you go in expecting that balance of genres, I think you'll like this.

Why does this get 4 stars instead of 5?. . . because the plot "twist" was so obvious that it was basically a straight line. 

. . . I think I loved this.
This was a beautiful ending to the series. There are so many good characters coming from different backgrounds viewing revolution and equality differently. I really liked the way this ended, happy enough, but not in a "everyone is fine everything is perfect" way.  This book specifically had a great balance of plot, romance, politics, friendship, and heartbreak. This series is the SLOWEST of burns in the romance department, but I loved it. 


This is listed as YA, but this one does get dark. As an adult I don't think it was unmanageable, but for a young person especially, I would check content warnings.  

From the start of this series I knew I was going to love Sawyer’s story. He is such a good dad, a caring brother & supportive partner. I have not read a single dad x single mom romance before this and I think I found a new favorite trope. 

Ava was a dream FMC for me. I love a story of a woman finding her strength again. I loved how she was unapologetically herself and how she knew what she wanted and was going to get it. 

Sawyer & Ava had such ridiculous chemistry I was rooting for them from the jump. I really loved that once they were reintroduced they were so open about their feelings, not just with each other, but their families. I would have been so easy to do the "pretend we don't know each other" thing but this was so much more honest. Watching them take turns supporting each other and taking care of the girls was so sweet. Ella & June just stole my heart. Every girl growing up wants their bestie to be their sister and I just love this for them.

Some moments felt a little too similar to the previous book in this series, but I did read them back to back on the same day so I might not have noticed otherwise.

LOVING this series so far! Thanks to the author & Valentine PR for the ARC.

I am so deep in my cowboy romance era. Wyatt is a new top book boyfriend for me. A tattooed cowboy who is good with some rope? Hot Damn.
I am typically a friends to lovers hater but I really enjoyed this (even more than the first book). Minor complaint, the ending was JARRING. I knew the conflict with her father was going to be an issues, but I wasn't expecting THAT.

 

This was okay. I think most of my complaints stem from this being a novella trying to cover too much ground. Because the plot had to move so fast to fit in 111 pages, we missed out on a lot of character growth. I would have loved to see Destry work through his feeling about riding & his career. Savvy also could have benefited from conversations with her parents and there was room for discussions about financial status & privilege. This book had good bones and I didn't hate dislike anything on the page, I just wish it was 3x as long. 

I love sports romances and I was so excited when I saw that this book was going to include fencing. I know nothing about the sport, but I was excited to read something different! I loved the good girl x bad boy dynamic. Dante did a great job of breaking Reese out of her public persona but not pushing her too hard to a place that would be dangerous or unrealistic. A lot of the story was focused on Reese's character growth and it was good, but I was actually more into Dante's story. I really liked the way his dyslexia was explored and accommodated. I also loved his storyline with Em, it was funny & wholesome in a way I was not expecting. 

I did have a few little negatives. I felt like the story was a little too long. I was loving Reese & Dante's chemistry for the first 2/3rds but once they were kinda solid, they stalled and It dragged a bit for me. The 3rd act conflict was minor and it was so obvious they'd get through it, I lost interest for a bit. Also there were SO MANY real life celeb name drops, especially in the beginning. I just never like that. And the Taylor Swift ish character at the end just felt out of place. 

Overall, I did really enjoy this. I am always a big fan of interconnected standalones with sibling groups so I am excited to see this series continue. GIVE US FRANKIE NEXT PLEASE!

I was excited to read this one, but nervous because the Friends to Lovers trope is not normally my thing. BUT this was really good. In chapter one I was preparing myself to really hate Javi but the flashback chapters won me over. Javi & Mari have instant chemistry and their friendship is obviously struggling to be platonic the whole time. Mia Sosa does a great job of instantly making us hate Mari's fiance, Alex, and without that I don't think this book would have worked. Javi makes some big mistakes and has to overcome a lot of internalized shame, but I found myself rooting for him anyway. I loved the wedding shenanigans and Mari's crazy friends. Overall, this was a surprising win for me!