Review: A Study In Drowning ~ Ava Reid

  

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Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 378
Running Time: 10h:31m
My Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: September 19, 2023

 

This book was very interesting. It was kind of giving me the same vibe that Divine Rivals did. It was a very slow paced book (in my opinion). I was furious on Effy's behalf with the way everyone treated her because she was a woman. I hated the fact that she was abused by whatshisname, and no one would believe her. (Effy's mom was also a piece of work...)

I liked the relationship that Effy and Preston Héloury built with each other. It was far from perfect, but they were both able to grow together.

I was glad that Effy stood her ground and got the things that she wanted towards the end, and I'm glad that Preston supported her through the whole conversation.
 

Did It Make Me Cry? No

 

Favorite notes and highlights:

“You don't have to take up a sword. Survival is bravery, too.”

 

Review: The Boyfriend Candidate ~ Ashley Winstead

 

 

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Format I Used: Combination Audiobook
Pages: 384
Running Time: 10h:52m
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Publication Date: May 9, 2023

 

I LOL'd quite a few times while reading this book. And I enjoyed most of the characters for the most part. I wasn't fond of them bringing in a second love interest 60% into the book for no reason other than to shake things up and make everyone realize their true feelings. (Well, actually only one person, because the other involved party already knew their feelings well in advance.)

I was a little annoyed at the problem that was caused because the characters did things that they KNEW would cause problems. But whatever. Everything all came together for the best in the end, so that's all that matters.

Did It Make Me Cry? No

Some of my favorite notes and highlights:

“I’ve been a book nerd all my life. Escaping into reading’s my happy place, so libraries were always safe."

“Lastly,” Nora said, as my stylist pressed me down into the chair and started snipping, “if you’re trying to avoid answering a question, never say No comment. It makes you look shady. Always say, Thanks for the question. The campaign will get back to you. We never will, but it deflects the heat. Let’s practice.” “Now?” I asked, distracted as the stylist snipped a disturbingly long piece of my hair. Nora lunged in my face. “Alexis Stone, if we searched your browser history right now, would we find your top-visited site is SoftRoundChonks.com, a blog devoted to pictures of chunky circular-shaped animals?” “What?” I yelped. “How do you know that?” “Wrong answer!”

 

Review: Enchanted To Meet You ~ Meg Cabot

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Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 362
Running Time: 10h:7m
My Rating: 2 stars
Publication Date: September 5, 2023

 

 

I was enchanted to meet youuuUUUuUuuUuuuu.

Oh wait, this isn't a Taylor Swift song. My bad.

This was... fine? I've read books by Meg Cabot that were much much better, so I was sad that it was just kind of meh.

I loved the idea of this book, and it was very fall and cozy feeling. But there was just SO much happening, and it was hard to keep up. It felt like every thing you could possibly think of to put into a supernatural series all in one book. It didn't mesh well together at all.

It felt weird to me because magic is supposed to be kept a secret from non-magical people because blah blah blah, but a lot of non magical people knew about it. And it didn't feel like they were trying all that hard to keep it a secret.

The whole book was building up to some great big magical showdown, but when the time finally came things were settled with Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust.

Overall: Not my favorite, but give it a try for yourself and see what you think.

Did It Make Me Cry? No

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Review: Powerless ~ Lauren Roberts

 

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Format I Used: Combination Ebook and Audiobook

Pages: 495

Running Time: 17h: 28m

My Rating 5 Stars

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

I'm upset that I waited an entire year before finally reading this. (although that does mean I have to suffer a slightly shorter wait time for book 2)

This was so good. So. so good. It was like Hunger Games x Shatter Me.

I loved the back and forth between Kai and Paedyn, it was EVERYTHING. The dancing, the witty and sarcastic comments, the hair braiding, the knife to the throat, the WHO DID THIS TO YOU...

Malakai reminds me of Aaron Warner (which is probably why I liked him so much) execpt Kai actually cares. Neither of them do the things they do without a good reason, but Aaron doesn't care about anyone except Juliette, whereas Kai cares too much about a lot of people. He's been hurt and abused and turned into a "monster" enforcer. But despite all that, he's still so amazing.

Paedyn was such an interesting character. It's hard to not root for her to succeed, given the bad lot she's been handed. I was always so impressed with her quick thinking and ability to use what she had to her advantage.

There was a point in the book where something happened to a character and I had to walk away for a minute, because I thought it was going to go the way that fantasy novels have been going for me recently (but spoiler alert, it didn't, crisis averted) Something did happen to another character that made me sad, but it wasn't enough for me to close the book and walk away for good (like I did with Fourth Wing).

The ending has me so super curious to see what's going to happen in book 2, because a lot of drastic things happened, and a lot of new information was discovered. I'm kind of scared to see what's going to happen, because I can't see it ending very well, but I guess I'll just have to wait and find out.

Wish me luck.