Well, this is the first book by Rin Chupeco that I didn't DNF, so there's that. Still, I clearly need to stop succumbing to the peer pressure and the lure of awesome concepts and admit they're simply not the author for me. It's a pity, though, because this novel sounded right up my alley. Castlevania vibe! Vampires! Poly relationship! What's not to love? Eh... 

I did enjoy what I've grasped about the lore, but the way it was delivered left something to be desired. The plot felt like, idk, just a string of things that kept happening at breakneck speed while simultaneously every scene feeling too long. I don't even know. Maybe this is the kind of story that would work better on screen than as a novel. I think my favorite parts were all those badass action scenes, but I would have preferred watching them to reading about them. I found it very hard to care about any of the characters because none of them felt properly developed, and Remy in particular annoyed me despite having exactly the kind of backstory and struggles I'm usually a sucker for. But he was just so flat, and so, so slow on the uptake. And while this book's marketed as an adult novel, the feel is just so YA, except with gorey "adult" things thrown in. 

I really wanted to like this book, and I still like the idea of it. But, alas, not the execution.

This book/series has been on my TBR for such a long time. Everyone around me seems to love it, it's been mentioned positively on a few podcasts and book blogs I'm subscribed to, and so I've formed these high expectations and started fearing a disappointment if the story doesn't live up to them. :D Well, I'm happy to say I've enjoyed it very very much, even if it didn't turn out to be quite what I expected! 

For some reason (maybe because of the series covers? shouldn't I know better by now than to judge a book by its cover?) I was preparing a very different vibe. Something slower-paced, perhaps, mooodier, maybe even darkly lyrical—a book for a rainy day. Instead, the tone is snarky, in that highly relatable self-deprecating sort of way, the narrative moves reasonably fast, and in many ways I would describe the book as a fairly gritty murder mystery.

As much as the investigation is at the heart of the plot, it is really well-balanced with the romantic storyline and the protagonist's character arc. I absolutely loved Dayton's arc, by the way! He's exactly the kind of protagonist I find instantly likable, even though I recognize my reaction could be really different if he wasn't the POV character. He surely doesn't act likable a lot of the time, what with his emotional constipation and his tendency to accidentally send weird mixed signals instead of talking, but the author does an excellent job of showing why he's that way. Besides, he grows and learns, even though sometimes it's in baby steps! I loved his dynamic with Park and the way they gradually established trust and how the steamy scenes genuinely contributed to character development. Park himself is an awesome character and so well-written—even though the reader never gets his POV and there are plenty of secrets about his backstory, it's so easy to see how his feelings and his views of the situations shift, change, and develop over the course of the story. Easy for the reader, but not at all for Dayton, and considering Park's every appearance on the page is filtered through Dayton's POV, I'd say it's a testament to the author's skill!

The mystery plot was also rather well-done; I strongly suspected the bad guys from rather early in the book, but the author kept throwing me off and making me think I got it wrong with at least one of them, and the exact way things played out definitely turned out to be a surprise. It was exciting to read, and I can't wait to learn more about the werewolf society in the sequels. The tropes it's built around seem fairly traditional so far, but I have a feeling there might be a few surprises and twists down the line.

The book isn't without its flaws. There are a few sections that could definitely benefit from more editing, either because the prose bets awkward or because the author tries to get too many things done on one page and the pacing gets out of whack. Funnily enough, both of those things were more prominent around the beginning and toward the end, while the middle part mostly flows smoothly. (My reason to find it funny: I've always found middles the hardest to handle when I write, and I know it's a thing for many others.) Still, those hiccups didn't take a thing away from my overall enjoyment and I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the series!

This is one of those books that leaves me with a lot of mixed feelings. On one hand, I liked plenty of things about it! Everything that usually draws me into Courtney Milan's novels is here: the wonderful character development, the descriptive prose, the strong sense of setting. I  was enamored by the racially and culturally diverse village of Wedgeford with all of its wonderful people and interesting traditions. I loved learning a few new things about Chinese culture and Chinese immigrants in England at the end of the 19th century. Chloe is now firmly among my favorite characters ever (her lists! her striving for a perfectly complete list! so relatable!), and I adored her father, as well. All the food descriptions? To die for. The subplot with the Nameless Sauce? I was completely engrossed. Really, reading this book was quite an enjoyable experience!

Unfortunately, the romance fell really short for me, and I can't say I liked Jeremy very much. He had his moments in isolation, but I couldn't root for him and Chloe at all. Don't get me wrong, I like mistaken identity romances very much, but they have to be done right, and this one just... wasn't. Not for my tastes. While I can empathize with Jeremy's problem—"I started lying by omission when I was a kid striving to belong, and now I'm so far gone I don't know how to stop"—I can't help but scrunch up my nose at the method he chose to tackle it. Because it can basically be summed up as, "...So I'll keep lying until I maybe accidentally lie myself out toward the truth," and because the whole thing with hiring Chloe to make a list of her qualities under the pretense of needing to find a wife who is her carbon copy is just eeky somehow. He's basically playing a prank on her and toying with her feelings and makes it her job to figure out what he wants from her, when she has very clearly communicated to him that she needs him to be serious. Throw in the class/power imbalance the extent of which Chloe isn't even aware of, and there are too many aspects of the situation that make me uncomfortable. Some of them are kind of tackled and discussed in the second half, but mostly, this felt like a mindfuck described as cuteness, and I'm not a fan.

A beautiful story about life extending past the legend, brimming with atmosphere and heart. I loved all the Locksley kids, and the relationship between Robin and Marian now that they had a family to look after, and all the shadows and secrets of Sherwood. Something about this tiny book felt like coming home.

I did feel there was too much set-up for the story this size, which also made me feel like there was too little resolution although now that I look back, I think all the threads that needed wrapping got wrapped, or brought to the point where it's clear there's more to come but a pause is logical. But all the flashbacks and asides that continued well past the midpoint really had that vibe of the first few chapters of a novel building up to the inciting incident. Against that backdrop, the actual action felt rushed and underdeveloped.

So all the stars to this book for the vibe, the heart, the characters, and the setting, but I have to take away at least one because of how the story's constructed.

I loved Rosiee Thor's debut novel, Tarnished Are the Stars, so I fully expected to love Fire Becomes Her, as well. Especially since the gorgeous cover and the blurb made that expectation so easy to form. Unfortunately, I was left rather disappointed.

This book has a beautiful first chapter that delivers on so much of what the vibe promises. The Jazz Age speakeasy atmosphere, the free flow of magic, all the character-focused moments hinting at many exciting secrets—I think with a few tweaks and a bit of expansion, this chapter alone could make for a wonderful short story. But the rest of book falls sadly short of this dazzling first impression. The plot is rather predictable and best not examined too closely because there are plenty of plotholes. Ingrid, the MC, is pretty much the only character who feels anywhere close to developed, and even her arc is occasionally swingy and inconsistent. The magic is so important to the plot, but for the life of me I can't explain the magic system after reading the book. There is... magical stuff... and it is used to make things happen by, um, ingesting it, but also by putting it into things, and anyone can achieve the magic effects with enough stuff, but also no, not just anyone? It's confusing. The magic just seems to do whatever would be cool for the plot at any given moment.

I will say that there were a bunch of nice moments that were almost cinematic in how they were written, as well as a lot of witty banter. And I very much appreciated the overall queerness of the cast/world and the inclusion of so many types of love, attraction, and human interaction in general. I just wish all the characters involved in this beautiful web of connections were more three-dimensional.

Oh wow. This book is so much better than I expected, and I fully expected it to be excellent. I fell completely in love with the setting, so lush and descriptive and full of cozy gothic vibes. The marsh with its dykes and ponds, the cold sea beyond the Wall, the tiny towns and watcher huts and church ruins scattered around the wilderness, the bugs and the birds—I think this is exactly what people mean when they say the setting feels like a character in its own right.

Speaking of actual characters, both Joss and Gareth captured my heart so fast and clearly won't ever let go. I loved all the incredible growth they'd gone through over the course of the story, and how they made each other better people by being in each other's lives. And yes, as each of them figured out their respective struggles, they inevitably clashed, but even those clashes were... productive, somehow? Like, it was evident they were both learning, coming into their own, drawing from past experiences. That made for such a beautiful and fulfilling romance.

I also loved how the individual arcs were constructed. Joss initially came across as so put together and confident, with only maybe a few kinks in his life to work out, but then the further his story unfolded, the clearer it became how much pressure he put on himself and how much he needed to alter some of his approaches to his life. Gareth's arc of learning to stand up for himself and stand on his own was perhaps a bit more predictable, but it was still so well done, and there was a certain narrative decision that really struck me hard: how he stood up to his uncle *before* the whole situation with Luke that clearly reminded him of his own upbringing. In so many stories, Gareth's standing up for Luke could have turned into some learning experience empowering him to stand up for himself, too. Here, both parts hit differently and worked much better and said much better things about Gareth, I feel.

I'd be remiss not to mention all the side characters that populated the setting, especially the female ones. Catherine, Cecy, Sophie, Ma Doomsday are all so distinct and alive on the page. And the smuggling plot that surrounds the romance? So tense and exciting and full of intrigue. And then there are all the historical details, and the kind of discussion of class difference that I'm always here for, and the beautiful descriptive prose, and the witty dialogue. K.J. Charles is just getting better and better.

Literally the only flaw I can find here comes in the form of a few editing hiccups, like weird capitalization and missing words and a couple of typos. Most of those are weirdly gathered in the first couple of chapters, although it's possible that later on I got so engrossed into the story I stopped noticing them. Anyway, this definitely isn't on the story, it's on the editor.

A raw and honest portrayal of the struggles we face in our thirties while the world keeps telling us that we're now supposed to have at least some of it figured out and to mostly get our shit together. I liked how the narrative was constructed; at first, it's all, look, a heartwarming, only moderately dysfunctional queer found family! They're looking out for each other! They're always there! They're throwing a party together! But then all the grudges and secrets and toxicities start rising to the surface, and by the midpoint, you're no longer sure why these four people are still keeping each other in their lives. Except the answer is also rather clear: because they've always been there for each other, because they're supposed to be friends, and because the idea of reassessing relationships, adjusting some of them and letting go of others is all well and good, but when your life is a mess and there are bills to pay and babysitters to find, where do you even find the energy?

There were moments here that made me smile, and moments that made me sad, and the art has such a great vibe although I couldn't help to notice that half of the characters look kinda same-ish. I appreciated the genuine exploration of human connection here, and the ending felt satisfying and bittersweet, although I wish the author lingered a bit longer on some of the storylines. In particular, Alex's story didn't feel fully wrapped up. I wish there was more of his own perspective.

I came for the romance; I stayed for literally everything else.

Honestly, I'm in awe of K.J. Charles' plotting skills. The entire mystery/intrigue at the heart of the story is so intricate, and so beautifully delivered, and there are multiple details I really want to yell about, but I'll restrain myself, because all of them are spoilers. I'll just say that it's a wonderful story full of nail-biting tension, and there was at least one reveal that had me audibly gasping. And the beauty here isn't simply in what transpires, but in how it unfolds.

I also strongly enjoyed the setting: the multiple-days-long Christmas party full of needlessly lavish entertainment and awful, awful high society people. Every detail was so vivid—I felt like I really was there! And the character cast! Much bigger than I would expect from a story this size, and yet everyone had such a distinct personality. I honestly envy this author's ability to really get a character's deal across with a single pointed sentence or two.

Unfortunately, the romance kind of... got lost in all of it, or faded into the background. I didn't particularly mind John and Barnaby's story; the premise made it seem like the kind of relationship I was likely to get rather invested in. And there were a few scenes packed with all the right feels. However, the emphasis was so firmly on the mystery, and honestly, these two leads didn't feel any more compelling than the rest of the cast, even before a certain Lilywhite Boy came into the plot and stole the show. (By the way, I want to very randomly say that I love John's cousin Ivy. I could read a whole trilogy about Ivy making smile-shaped expressions at people). So while overall this novella was a big hit for me, it was also a miss, specifically in the romance department.

Oh, and one more thing: I absolutely LOVED that guest appearance of my favorite character, as well as the small hint about how a couple of other characters from earlier in the series are doing.

Well. I expected to have mixed feelings about this book, and here I am now, with all the mixed feelings. :D

Good stuff first: I enjoyed how easily the story flowed and the overall fanfic feel of it (I know the book used to be a fanfic before the serial numbers got filed off, and honestly, it still reads like one, which I'm not complaining of, not even in the slightest). There were multiple really heartwarming and wholesome moments with family and friends taking care of each other. There were a few lines of dialogue here and there that had me laughing in earnest. Also, I appreciated that while there were no prominent trans or nonbinary characters here, somehow the story managed to feel extremely trans-inclusive, with all the characters explicitly acting like people like me very much exist, like they're aware of our existence and welcome it. This was really heartwarming.

Now, for the stuff that is not so good: I'll be honest, the romance eeked me out a bit. I'm not against age gaps on principle and I do think that there might be ways to handle a "parent / their child's best friend" pairing in a way that is not so disturbing. The way this book handles it definitely isn't one of them. I did like the initial one-night stand part where Cassie and Erin didn't yet know how they're connected through Parker. There was no weirdness about the power dynamic there, Cassie was very much in control in the situation, and it was clear both women were making their own choices. But everything that followed made me cringe harder and harder with each chapter, for both of them. The narrative tries sometimes to present Cassie as someone mature, but the truth is, she's really not. She leads exactly the same life that Parker, Erin's daughter, does, despite being a few years older, she has the same circle of friends, goes to the same parties, struggles with very similar challenges, and generally has a lot more in common with Parker than Erin. Honestly, the only reason I remembered she was actually older than Parker was because Parker often randomly acted like she was 15-16 at most. How do you look at someone who's in many ways just like your kid you're struggling to reconnect with and go, "Ooh, let's have sex?" As for Cassie, she was really really bad at hearing "no" and maintaining any of the borders Erin occasionally did try to draw, and that was making me rather uncomfortable, too. 

Also, this thing between them was dishonest and awful toward Parker, whom they both are supposed to care for very much, and like, why did either of them decide what they shared was worth it? For a very long time, neither of them displayed any actual feelings for each other, only an intense sexual attraction. Is this truly how allosexuals feel? "Let me put an important friendship/my entire relationship with my kid I'm desperately trying to reconnect with on the line for the sake of getting off together, because that first time one-night stand was so hot?" Come on, it's not like you're each other's only chance at having good sex.

On a semi-related note, that entire part where the big reveal was met with Parker already knowing, having known for a while and having successfully coped with it all on her own? That really felt like a cop-out. That also made me feel a lot more interested in that "hidden storyline" than in what I got. I think I would rather have read a book about Parker and her dealing with college, her parents' divorce, and one of her best friends getting it on with her mom in secret.

OMG, what have I just read 
😂

I mean, well. This was a really quick and easy read! And a good way to pass a few hours of annoying insomnia. And there were plenty of fun moments that were vivid and hilarious in isolation, and I guess if you just go with the flow and take this for a slapstick comedy where stuff just keeps happening and who cares how it all fits together, it can be... pretty enjoyable, probably? Also, some of the merfolk lore was rather interesting, and diversity is always good.

But, honestly, the amount of drama and cheesiness was simply through the roof, and I'm kinda offended on the behalf of Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas for that comparison to it in the blurb. Because Cemetery Boys is actually coherent. And has three-dimensional characters, consistent development, and reasonable arcs. As well as a plot that makes sense. All of those things are tragically absent here, and the book doesn't even have the decency to go fully into the "so bad it's good" territory. Every character is a hot mess with no indication of ever hoping to sort themselves out, and they all have like a couple of personality traits that feel like gimmicks. As for the plot, random dramatic stuff just keeps happening until it culminates in an ending that feels like it's from a whole different version of the story because of how sharply it steers away from all those romcom tropes that have been helpfully highlighted throughout the novel.

I feel kind of bad for being this disappointed and frustrated, but... I'm this disappointed and frustrated.