Review: Duke, Actually ~ Jenny Holiday

                                        Image from Goodreads. Click on cover to read more about the book.

Format I used: Audiobook
Pages: 348
Running Time: 10h:29m
My Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: November 16, 2021 

I really enjoyed this one. I thought it was super funny and gave off Hallmark Movie vibes (but a little more PG-13 because there were some spicy moments) 

My favorite part about this book was the relationship that Dani and Max had. I absolutely adored the relationship/conversations between Max and Dani, because they were absolutely hilarious together. I also adored Sebastien.

I went into reading this one, not realizing that it was book 2 in the series... Really I went into this book knowing pretty much nothing about this book other than I liked the cover... I do think they can be read as a standalone, I don't feel like I was too lost on anything that happened, but now I want to get my hands on the first book to see how Max and Dani got their introduction. Because I'm sure it's just as hilarious as this story was.

Did it make me cry? No

Review: Nina The Starry Bride ~ Rikachi

 

Gorgeous pictures all from GoodReads, Click on the cover to see more about the series

Format: E-book

Pages: 174 pages each

My Rating: 5 Thousand Beautiful Starry Stars

Publication Date: April-June 2021

 

 

My oh my.

The cover and the artwork throughout the series (thus far) is absolutely beautiful. Just look at it. I have hearts in my eyes looking at the covers of these books.

I already read books 1 and 2 earlier this year, and I was trying to wait to read the rest of the available volumes if my library bought them, because I'm trying to be a responsible adult and save money.

HOWEVER!

I was in the midst of a bad mental health day a few days ago, and decided ehhhh Imma do what I want right now, and what I want is to buy the books that I can't stop thinking about. (Which is my way of coping, and I guess it could be worse.)

And guess what?

These books like, soothed my soul. (I also read these right after reading all 16 volumes of Demon Prince of Momochi House, which also helped to soothe my soul...But I had those from my library, so it's FINE) I was up until a little after 2 in the morning reading #AllTheManga. And then the very next day, I re-read all of Nina because I enjoyed it so much. It had my head spinning thinking about what could possibly happen next, especially since book 5 ended in a cliffhanger, and I have no idea when book 6 is going to release in English.

And now's where we're at the part where I remind you that my reviews get spoilery and ramble-y so you should be careful reading anything past this point.

I am literally so in love with this series, it isn't even funny. I really liked seeing how much Nina grew as a character and how determined she was even when things were scary as all-get-out. Yeah, she didn't actually have all that much choice in the matter, because a lot of times it was "deal with it or die" but she has so much determination and she's such a strong character no matter what gets thrown at her.

I've also got a conundrum... Like, I'm always falling for Mr. Tall Dark, and Handsome. Which I did. But there's also Mr. Tall, Blonde, and extra Morally Grey. And even though I didn't want to like him at first, he's proven that he's not as merciless and horrible as he first appeared to be. He's also got a lot of depth and layers, and my heart is just as confused as Nina's.

I'm real concerned about what's going to happen in book 6, especially because of where book 5 left off. Is Sett going to kill Az (No, I don't really think that's going to happen, I think Nina will intervene) but what's going to happen to Sett and Nina? Especially because of the person who was like TheY DoN't HaVE ChilDhooD NameS in ForTna. (although I knew that was going to be problematic when Nina was musing about it shortly after she lied to Sett about her name) How is this going to be played off? Will she tell him the truth? Something else? Will she or they be imprisoned? Is the Real Alisha somehow still alive (because Nina fell in a carriage and was basically fine)

I can't stop thinking about it, and now I'll be stalking GoodReads and Kodansha's website until an English release date is announced.

Did It Make Me Cry?: Yes. It did. And it gave me happy fluttery butterflies, so that's also a plus

My End Of The Year Reading Wrap Up 2021

Okay, okay, I know what you're saying: "But Kait, it's like, not even technically the end of the year yet, you have about a whole week left."

Yeah,  I KNOW. But for the last few years I've posted this to my friends on The Facebook on the 26th, so we shall continue with the trend. You can stop looking at me like that right now, thank you.

If you want to see allllll of the specific titles of the books that I finished you can click to see my Year in Books over on Goodreads

Otherwise, here are the important deets:

I finished a total of 319 books

133 were audio books

140 were manga/graphic novel volumes

46 were a combination of traditional e-books and physical books

I read a total of 86,657 pages which averaged about 271 pages per book

 

The shortest book I read was Home Is Where The Heart Is at 24 pages

 

 

 

The longest book I read was A Court Of Silver Flames at 757 pages

 

 

My average rating for the year is 3.6

The first book I read in 2021 was Kingdom Of The Wicked

 

 

 

The LAST book I read in 2021 was Duke, Actually

I was going to add in my favorite and least favorite books for the year, but now I'm thinking that I will wait and do that in a completely separate post.

Stay tuned!

 

Review: These Hollow Vows ~ Lexi Ryan

 

                                Image from GoodReads. Click on the cover to read more about this book.

Format: E-book & Audiobook Hybrid

Pages: 464

Running Time: 13h:8m

My Rating: 5 Stars

Publication Date: July 20, 2021

Ohhhh boy. I really really enjoyed this one. Like a lot. I did a mix of listening/reading this one, and y'all. It made me CRY. There was an interaction between Brie and one of the other characters, and it hit me in my feels and all of a sudden there were tears running down my face. That hasn't happened to me in a long while. So I think that speaks volumes.

It wasn't perfect by any means, and I'll admit that. It was pretty much your typical YA (although it tipped into NA a few times) Fantasy novel. A little predictable, and it moved rather slow at times. But it checked all the right boxes for the reading mood that I was in at the moment.

I really liked the whole idea of the shadow powers that Brie has. I, personally, have not read a lot of books with that as the focal point before, so I was here for it.

I wasn't really that fond of Tamlin wait, sorry Sebastian from pretty much the get-go. At first there wasn't anything specific, he was just rather plain and boring and for some reason reminded me of Tamlin The Tool and I was not here for it. I didn't like how he pretended to be a good guy but then turned out to be something so much worse.

Not that I'm saying that Finn isn't just as bad... But at least he never pretended that he was a good guy. You knew from the start that he's done some sketchy shh.

I'm curious to see what happens in book 2, especially with the way that book one ended (I totally called that it was going to be a cliffhanger)

Did It Make Me Cry?: Yes. Yes, it definitely did.

ARC Review: All The Feels ~ Olivia Dade

 

 

                                  Image from Goodreads. Click on cover to read more about the book.

Format: Ebook
Pages: 385
My Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: November 16, 2021

This book was soooo funny. I loved Alex, but at the same time, some of the things he said came off as kind of mean, even though he meant them in a not mean way. I don't know. Maybe I'm just sensitive to bullying...And there were times in the book where I didn't appreciate the way he described her. Either to someone else or while he was thinking about her. But he was also so protective, and was harder on himself than anyone else could ever be

Lauren was such a strong and amazing character. I loved how tough and resilient she was, and how she didn't let a lot of things rattle her. I enjoyed the banter back and forth between Lauren and Alex, and how Lauren could give just as much as she got.

There was a point where I was a bit confused, because I was trying to figure out why part of the book was giving me VERY much deja vu... AND THAT'S because it shows part of the ending of Spoiler alert, but from a different POV, and I loved it.

Did it make me cry? No

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon & Harper Voyager for allowing me to read an ARC!

Review: A Shadow In The Ember ~ Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

 

Image from Goodreads. Click on cover to read more about the book.

Format: Audiobook

Pages: 647

Running Time: 25h:7m

My Rating: 3 stars

Publication Date: October 19, 2021

*deep breath in*

I'm not sure that these books are for me *Hides behind wall for unpopular opinion*

I mean, I didn't hate it or anything, I just felt very blah about it. I wasn't fully invested in what was happening until almost all the way through the book. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, because I am hot and cold about the FBAA series... I was having a hard time remembering what series I was actually reading because things felt very same to me. Like. VERY same. It was a little bit disorienting how hard it was for me to keep some of the things straight. However, I do think that I like Sera and Ash better as characters.

Ash feels like an even more morally grey version of Rhysand (and we all know I hearts Rhysand)

I planned on writing a longer review, but that's all I have for now.

I'll probably pick up book two to see if my feelings change about the series, especially with the way that book 1 ended.

Did It Make Me Cry? No 

Review: 5 Total Strangers ~ Natalie D. Richards

                                     Image from Goodreads. Click on the cover to read more about the book.

Format: E-book/Audiobook Combination

Pages: 302

Running Time: 7h:56m

My Rating: 2 stars (ope)

Publication Date: October 6th, 2020

Here's a review that I originally posted on Goodreads because I'm a slacker and just recently decided to get back into posting reviews on my blog again like the professional reader I am...

Ahem.

For sure spoilers ahead so if you're planning on reading the book then.....

thou shall not continue reading the review.

This kind of book is way way outside of my comfort reading genres. I like to feel warm and fuzzy when reading, not stressed and paranoid.

"Kait why the heckity heck are you reading this then?!?! Makes no sense."

Well I'm glad you asked. It's for work. Like, for realsies. And I like to try to read outside my comfort zone on occasion, but man oh man.

So let's talk about it. First, why the H E DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS are you getting in the car with not one, not two, not three, but FOUR complete strangers (I really don't understand how she thought they knew each other). And on a super sketchy, blizzardy night?! You've clearly never driven in that kind of weather. Bad bad idea.... Like the whole story was literally a sequence of reeealllly dumb decisions, one right after another.

But I digress.

I called who the bad person was from the beginning. Even when sketchy things were happening and trying to divert your attention towards someone else, I was like nah *name redacted for spoilers* is pretty sus. Guess my Nancy Drew and Diagnosis Murder binging when I was younger actually paid off.

And the guy in the yellow hat?? Huh? Am I missing something? I don't think so, at least not according to the reddit thread I was reading where a bunch of people were discussing the same things. How the heck did he keep finding them? In that blizzard? And not only was he finding them, he was there BEFORE they were. And what of the smell that she described. The "Popular in Pennsylvania cleaner" is that all it was? Was there something bigger?? Kayla literally just walks away. Do they find her? Does she freeze to death? Something worse? And despite the fact that it was Josh The Gaslighter's fault, Breckin still ran over someone and probs killed him. What happens there? I understand that this is just a book, but I need answers and gaps filled.

I didn't hate it, I guess, it just isn't my thing. But if you like YA and thrillers, this would be a good one to read.

Did It Make Me Cry? No, but it made me want to scream with frustration. UGH.

Review: Demon Prince of Momochi House ~ Aya Shouoto

Image from Goodreads. Click on the cover to read more about the book.

Format: E-book

Pages: About 172 per book

My Rating: 5 Stars

Publication Date: Various 2015-2019

 So I actually started this book series many many moons ago, and then kind of lost track of it. But it popped up as a new item on my library’s Overdrive page, and boy howdy I jumped at the chance to read all 16 volumes. It made me feel rather nostalgic.

So of course I stayed up until 2 in the morning binging the entire series. It was time well spent and I regret nothing… And now I’m going to review of the series as a whole

I absolutely adored the artwork/illustrations throughout the whole series. It was absolutely beautiful. Which wasn’t actually all that surprising because I felt the same way about Stray Love Hearts and Kiss of the Rose Princess, all by the same author.

I enjoyed the relationship that Himari had with Aoi, Nue, Yukari, Ise, Hakka, Hidaka, and literally every other character. I especially loved watching Himari and Aoi figure out their feelings for each other and it gave me happy little butterflies.

Did it make me cry? (which is usually how I judge how well I like a manga series) Not quite. But it came close a time or two.