titalindaslibrary's Reviews (687)

Man…I really wanted to love this more. But by the end I was frustrated at what point this novel was trying to string together. The ending is so abrupt and it feels as if we never got any sort of character development with Queenie. This book also featured harmful stereotypes that got zero pushback from the characters. 

I did like how quick the chapters are, and there are certainly some thoughtful passages on the immigrant experience - especially when it comes to the intersection of racism and misogyny. Mel might be a terrible mom, but this book did make me pause and wonder at how differently these two women experienced America. One found her freedom and one became lost. 

As a Filipino American I always want to seek out and uplift Filipino stories, but unfortunately this just didn’t work for me. 

I fear this will ruin me for any other mafia romance. Because how dare the very first one I try be THIS GOOD?? 

Nate and Vanessa are dynamic together and I was instantly arrested by their chemistry. Having Vanessa be the badass mob boss and Nate the adorable, bumbling middle school teacher was delicious. I loved the slow burn, the side characters, their development…everything! 

The twist was obvious to me, but that certainly did not detract from my enjoyment! After this I’m 100% committed to reading more in this series!

Damn, this girl clicks her teeth a lot.

Honestly, it's not bad but it just didn't stand out too much to me. It felt like Divergent meets witches and a sentient forest. It's fast paced and short enough I was able to blaze through it quickly! 

Oh this was DELIGHTFUL!!!
I started and finished this in a single day, I just couldn’t stop. 

The banter between Cara and Zach was top notch and I giggled aloud multiple times. Although I was initially put off by Zach’s privileged rich boy routine, he won me over once he died. Nothing like brushing against your mortality to humble you. 

What I really loved was watching Cara’s stubbornness morph into a determination to find her own way as a ghost speaker. This was a phenomenal coming-of-age tale, mixed with a paranormal quest and some fantastic side characters (Brittany the ghost hunter was the PERFECT addition)!

This felt like Cemetery Boys meets PJO, with a Chinese-American spin. I really hope Miranda writes more stories with these characters, which based on the epilogue seems like a strong possibility??? 

All I do is read romance books that are actually about grief and cry 🥲✌🏼

First of all, the Mesoamerican fantasy and mythology present in this was so rich and exciting to learn about! Plus, we love when women get over their hesitancy to kill and start wielding a sword against colonizers! That’ll always hit. I liked this genderbent Zorro-inspired fantasy…but there were also some critical things that I couldn’t overlook.

Namely, the wild last half. It feels so disjointed from the first half. It was fascinating to meet mythological beings, but some of the “twists” I saw coming a mile away and felt lackluster as a reveal. We lose the even pacing in the first half as well, and I fear too much was packed into the end. Also, the romantic connection between Leonora and Andres felt incredibly forced, their chemistry was stilted, and by the end I had no idea why she would even be interested in him. 

Oh…oh yeah I liked this. Psychological gothic horror set in space? Fantastic, give me more! 

This was just incredibly short and once the reveals started dropping it unraveled AND wrapped up extremely quickly. But for a novella I found on KU, I’m quite impressed! Definitely checking out more by this author now.

Reading this as a FilAm is difficult to stomach. Evangelista did her due diligence in gathering stories and emphasizing the importance of words and how they are used. This is a painful and frustrating read, but I am so proud of Evangelista for writing it. 

THE PAPER RINGS???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? *sobs*

What a stunning second-chance romance. As someone who wasn't a huge fan of Happy Place, The Ex Vows took those themes and executed it better (imo, plz don't crucify me for it). This worked so well for me, and I'm eagerly looking up what else Jessica Joyce has written!

I’m late to this, but what can I say besides it was 1000% worth the hype? IT WAS 1000% WORTH THE HYPE! The perfect, gothic, soft horror to kick off my fall reading and hands down my fave Moreno-Garcia novel so far!