I loved The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller, so I bought this duology. I love her fast-paced writing style, her charming characters, and the worlds she builds. I’m reading book 2 in this series right now. The cover advertises the main character, Alosa, as Lady Jack Sparrow, and they are right.
I bought this because it kept showing up on my Amazon “you might like…” page, and then on BookTok, and it has a crown on it, and it’s a completed series that people generally seem to enjoy. I did not know it was dystopian, or I might not have read it. I’m not a fan of those types of worlds, but I liked this one. It feels like a fantasy novel, with superhuman powers, royalty, betrayal, and romance. The romance felt a bit forced and very post-Twilight YA, but overall the book was fast-paced and enjoyable. I did skip over some of the longer fight scenes, but that’s normal for me.
I bought this one because Stephanie Garber said it was good, and I loved Caraval and trust her opinion. The cover was also beautiful. The story itself was great. I loved the plot and the characters. The writing style wasn’t quite my tastes, it felt drawn-out at times, and there was a lot of narration about the setting and colors and her feelings.
This is the sequel to The Bridge Kingdom, which I loved. I loved this book just as much. It doesn’t have quite the same feel, but it is has the perfect amount of action and romance and character development. I love this series, and yes, I will be reading The Inadequate Heir.
I bought this one because it was everything on BookTok. I mean EVERYWHERE. Everyone raved about it, how good it was, how spicy it was. I had a very difference experience with this book. It started out with plot. That plot dissolved into instant lust. I’ve read a few of these erotic romances, but they’ve had PLOT.
It had the gay best friend trope, and to be honest, I found him to be obnoxious AF. The writing was terrible. The author used “kinda” instead of “kind of,” and the whole thing felt like a fanfiction written by a preteen. The world building was all over the place, there were blacksmiths and kingdoms, yet the male love interest wore ripped jeans. What? The main character also did this weird thing were she would talk to herself, like she was talking to a studio audience, and it was extremely off-putting. Just make your character sarcastic, don’t make it weird. I won’t be reading any more of this series, or likely this author.
This book has been on my TBR for a while, but I didn’t care for Cinder, book 1 of the Lunar Chronicles, so I put it off. I loved this book. It feels like an adventure through Wonderland, with all the charm and whimsy and tea parties. Even knowing that Cath would become the mean Queen of Hearts, I found this story utterly delightful. Highly recommend for anyone wishing for a little more Wonderland.
Beatrice B. Morgan 