wordsofclover's Reviews (2.16k)

When Izzy decides to break her dry spell by arranging a blind date with the sole purpose of hooking up, she never expects to see her one-night stand again. Except, it turns out he's the newest player of the Sleets - the ice hockey team her dad coaches, and who she herself is very involved in. Izzy has lots of reasons to avoid dating hockey players but can't deny the connection between her and Zach, who is very determined to make Izzy his girl.

I really enjoyed this sports romance and it was a great follow-on book to Sleet Kitten with Jackson and Katelyn being side characters in this one. There are a few spicy scenes in this story but I don't think it was overdone, and the chemistry and connection between Izzy and Zach was really believable and they were easy to root for. I also preferred the nickname of 'Sugar' to 'Kitten' (in Book One) as the latter had given me the ick a bit but I liked how Zach used 'Sugar' with Izzy.

The lack of over the top complications and drama in this story was actually really nice, and I enjoyed that were wasn't a forced or silly 'third act break up' like in many romances. Izzy's initial reservations about dating Zach are very easy to understand from having to see him all the time if it didn't work out, and of course, her dad essentially being his boss and how that could make things difficult. Not to mentions she's had bad experiences with hockey players in the past.

Zach's maturity and emotional depth actually pleasantly surprised me in this one as well. I was really ready to read how Zach's relationship issues with his parents and his hard childhood meant he would never be good enough for Izzy and he could never fall in love as this is the exact formula I've seen with similar male leads in other books but no, Zach was all in for Izzy and ready to love her and I loved it.

This was so easy and enjoyable, and while parts of it were slightly over written at times (I don't think Izzy needed to explain everything in so much detail all the time to her friends, it wasn't a realistic way of talking), I didn't mind it too much. Looking forward to reading Sleet Banshee and see what's in store for Meghan! 

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, is ready to make her next steps to bring her closer to the Great Khan and become Emperor. But to do this, she has to face up against her enemy, the General Ouyang, and convince him to work with her - all while at the same time other players move their own chess pieces to bring themselves closer to power and make it harder for Zhu to succeed.

This is a historical fantasy book that is so deep in character growth and journey as well as lore around the emergence of the Ming Dynasty - yet dipped in a bit of magic and identity exploration that makes it one of the most unique series I've ever read, and it's so well written. She Who Became the Sun and He Who Drowned the World are both books I had to read slowly. I needed to invest time into the world, and the characters and to understand them, their ambitions and their plans. I felt really invested in Zhu and I love her dynamic with many of those closest to her from Xu Da, Ma and Ouyang.

The way sexuality and gender is explored through a variety of characters in this book is excellent as the story looks at what it means to be a 'man' versus a 'woman' and how society can dictate how other look at you but also how you look at yourself if you allow society's ideas box you in.

I really enjoyed this second book - in a way I didn't even realise until I finished it and started to think about it more to review. I'm very excited to see what happens with book three and where Zhu goes from here.

 

When Raquel wakes up one day in college, things feel a bit weird - and get weirder when birds fall from the air, the sky turns a funny colour and it begins raining giant rocks that promptly kill Raquel. When she wakes up, it's two years in the past and she's 16 again. She soon discovers that there are others who experienced the end of the world and sent back in time, and they have to work out what happened and how to save the world.

This was....okay? I thought the time travel the teens discovered they could do and how they looked back at other civilisation ending catastrophes to figure what happened to them was quite interesting, and not something I've read about before. But overall, everything seemed a bit too easy for them and how they figured everything out (the end was a bit anti-climatic too). There wasn't really an explanation as to how they ended up time travelling, and how their powers worked other than 'Memory' as well as why Chris and Raquel were the only ones together and who knew each other from before. I did keep laughing as well in how Raquel kept stressing how much mature and adult she was from her 16 year old friends because she was mentally 18 and had experienced one whole semester in college, and while yes I see her point, there isn't actually that much difference from 16 and 18. It would have made a bit more sense if she was mentally 21 and had to time travel back to her 16 year old self. 

When Violet Sorrengail is forced by her mother to enter the Rider Quadrant at Basgiath War College instead of the Scribe Quadrant which she has been studying for for her entire life, no-one, least of all Violet thinks she will survive the brutal training. But as Violet gets closer and closer to bonding with her own dragon, she begins to believe that maybe she might be able to survive.

This is a traditional fantasy book in many ways - an underdog character with everything against her but a hidden talent to help her survive, shady internal/political moves within the academy and the war leaders and a enemies to lovers romance with chemistry that sizzles.

This book was pure entertainment for me - I enjoyed learning about the world, the dragons and I just very much enjoy a school/training montage/chapters in anything I consume. And even though the romance was extremely predictable, that doesn't mean I ate every bit of it up and loved the sizzling chemistry and sex scenes.

The big draw for this book for me was the dragons. I love books with dragons but I'm also fussy about how I like dragons being portrayed in novels - especially ones when they have riders and bonds. I'm glad to say I really liked the bond in this book, and how entwined the lives of dragon and rider are with one another.

A lot happened near the end of the book - there were a lot of reveals (that wouldn't be too much of a surprise if you were picking up what was being laid down throughout the novel) that were exciting, deadly and resulting in some tragic circumstances. The ending was exciting, and made me look forward to the next book a lot. 

Nella is the only Black person working in Wagner publishing house and she's sick of being the token person of colouring and dealing with the microaggressions she encounters every day. So she's delighted when new girl Hazel, a Black girl from Harlem, starts and they become friends. But soon Nella notices that Hazel is acting differently, and in ways is making Nella look bad and her job performance is suffering. As things get tenser, and creepier, can Nella figure out what' up with Hazel?

I liked the writing style of this book and the atmosphere that was slight intense, unsettling and creepy at times. The environment of Wagner was created really well I think, and learning more about the publishing world in many ways from difficult authors and temperamental cover artists was quite fun at times, as well as getting a look at what's like to be a Black woman in a predominantly white environment and how some people behave and the microaggressions she has to deal with and sometimes ignore for an easier time with her colleagues.

I do feel like so much of this story was build up, and when we really start figuring out what is happening, the book is already 90% finished so I was a bit disappointed with the conclusion feeling very rushed then, and then the epilogue was twisty and fun but also slightly depressing and not the ending I would have wanted for Nella obviously. 

It's Senior year at the Scholomance for El and her friends, and the fight to survive graduation has begun. But El has changed in the past year as her friendships and blossoming romance has made her think differently about the students around her, and now she's determined to do whatever she can to make sure everyone makes it out safely - even if she has to face off the biggest monsters that live inside the school.

Another really fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I thought this book was much faster paced than the first book, as we really flew through the year as El figures out why the school is challenging her the way it is, and then everything really ramps up once the gym runs begins and El comes up with her master plan (save everyone).

I really liked how the plot in this book meant we got to know some of the other students besides El's core group of friends and some of the New York enclave. I really liked getting to know Alfie and Liesel, as well as some of the first years that end up under El's protective wing. One of the things I love about this world is how multi-cultural this book is - the students in the school are from all over the world and various different cultures and languages are studied and used throughout the book. However, in this book we see how this wasn't always the case and there is an unfair system of privilege attached to the Scholomance that needs to change.

The Graduation Day chapter was really great in this one, with so many things happening and so much depending on El and her friends. I'm glad I had the third book ready to go when I finished this one, as it really is a devastating cliff hanger and I just needed to continue asap.

I'm looking forward to the third and final book and seeing what the outside world has in store for our students! 

In 1806, Eliza Raine has settled into a solitary life in the Manor school - born in India, and moved to England when she was six, Eliza feels different in many ways from the other girls, not least because of her darker skin. When new student Anne Lister arrives and becomes Eliza's dorm mate the two bond quickly and friendship turns to a love, that for Eliza, will last a lifetime.

This was a well written and I would believe thoroughly researched book. I really enjoyed reading Emma Donoghue's author note at the end in which she spoke about her own relationship with Anne Lister and then her study into Eliza Raine - as well as the world's relationship with Eliza Raine who remained more of a mystery than her famous lover.

This book takes place in the school that Eliza and Anne met, in their nine months as dormmates and lovers, and I liked this setting as I always enjoy school settings (I think because of my childhood reading of Mallory Towers). The hardships of living in a school that thought being cold was good for the constitution but also the frequent kindness of the teachers who despite all, cared for the girls and then just the innocence in certain conversations and youthful joy in hijinks was always fun to read.

The mood of the book definitely changed every time the story switched from the school in 1806, to Raine's letters to Lister in 1815 as we understand what has happened to her, and that she has seemingly being dropped in a cruel way by Lister.

I liked how Emma Donoghue explored Raine's relationship with her own cultural identity. While I can't speak from an own voices perspective, I believe (hope) it was sensitively done as Eliza thought about her mother who was left behind in India, her father who perished on the journey and her sister whom she doesn't have much of a relationship with. Realistically and tragically, Eliza is very much on her own in the world other than Lister and that is more painfully obvious in 1815 when as a reader you're desperate for someone to save her. I'm also not sure I completely believed in Lister, even as a young girl, as she seemed a little too interested in Eliza's inheritance for my liking.

I liked this book but didn't love it - however, I do think this is a me thing as this book stems from a love and appreciation of Anne Lister as a historical queer figure and while I knew who she was, I didn't know much about her or Eliza Raine. I say if you go into this book with a knowledge and a passion for Anne Lister, this book would probably be a fantastic interpretation of her young life.