I'm moving!

 My blog that is. If you happen across this post and would like to continue to follow my reviews and other ramblings, I will be over at RandomlyKait on Wordpress.

 

 

 

Review: Practice Makes Perfect ~ Sarah Adams

  

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Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 368
Running Time: 10h:13m
My Rating:  3 Stars

Publication Date: May 2, 2023

 

 

 SPOILER ALERT

I enjoyed the relationship with Annie and Will. Their chemistry and banter made me smile. A LOT. And I loved how respectful he was to Annie and how he would take a step back and give Annie space when she was uncomfortable with what was going on. He told her not to apologize for saying no and being uncomfortable, and that she didn't owe him--or anyone--anything... Yes. A million times yes. Though I was REALLY annoyed with him by when he was boo hooing about Annie talking to another guy, EVEN THOUGH he agreed to help her, and spent SO MUCH TIME telling her that he was absolutely not going to stick around. Ever.

Did It Make Me Cry? No. 

Review: Lightlark ~ Alex Aster

 

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Format I Used: Combination Audiobook/Ebook
Pages: 416
Running Time: 12h:57m
My Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: August 23, 2022

 

I actually quite enjoyed this book. It kept my attention the whole time, although the last 10% of the book is where it's at. It had a couple of twists and turns and betrayals that I didn't expect to happen, and it's made me very curious to see what's going to happen next.

This is a good fantasy novel for someone who is just starting out with the genre or for someone (like me) who is there for the vibes only. If you're a super serious heavy fantasy reader and are very particular about the content, this one is probably not going to be one that you enjoy.

Something (or some things) that kind of threw me off a little, was the way that it felt like this was written in a very young voice. It felt like it was aimed towards a Jr. High audience, except for when it all of a sudden wasn't.

Also, I was doing a combination of reading/listening to this book, and I didn't really care for how much older the narrator made the Male characters sound when Isla was talking to them (I get the WHY, it just felt really weird to me. That's not a slam on the book, but my opinion on how the narrator chose to voice the characters.) 

Did It Make Me Cry? No

Review: The Graham Effect ~ Elle Kennedy

 

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Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 498
Running Time: 14h:3m
My Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: October 31, 2023

 

*SIGH* This was fine. Nothing was wrong with it.

It's just that I want every single sports book I read to give me the same feelings as Mariana Zapata sports books do. Where is the tension? The ridiculously slow slow burn? The conversations that have me bawling at 3 am? Or even more specific I want every hockey romance to be like My Unicorn Girl and have me giggling and my stomach full of butterflies at the cuteness overload. I don't mind some spice, but I would like the build up instead of jumping straight into it.

I also thought our main love interest was named Graham (he is not) my bad for jumping into it without knowing anything about it. 🙃

It does get bonus points for our couple not getting into a big misunderstanding fight that takes a Great Big Grand Gesture to fix. I probably have more to say, but for now that's all.

 

Did It Make Me Cry? No 

Review: Destroy The Day ~ Brigid Kemmerer

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Format I Used: Ebook
Pages: 448
Running Time: 17h:47m
My Rating: 5 stars
Publication Date: January 23, 2024

TL;DR This book was good, it felt a lot like a filler story with more focus on side characters than the main characters. It had an acceptable ending that made me BAWL. Rocco and Quint are the BEST, and I will take no arguments about it.

There ARE spoilers. And some of them come out of nowhere, so PLEASE don't read any further unless you want #AllTheSpoilers.

So the story by itself gets 3 stars, but because of Quint, Rocco, and all the other {side} characters I'm rounding it allllll the way up to 5 stars.

This was a #BookBanditsBuddyRead to keep up with the tradition of reading the first two books together!

For a long time, this felt like it should have been book 2.5 instead of book 3. There was a lot of focus on developing side characters, and every single one of them wormed their way into my heart, which made me absolutely a nervous WRECK

There are 3 POVs that we cycle through in this book, which WOULD be fine except for the fact that it didn't change every chapter. You go two or three or four chapters with the same person and all of a sudden it switches. And by the time we cycle all the way back around, I've forgotten everything that's happened to those chacracters. But that's more of a personal beef than there actually being anything wrong with the book itself.

Corrick: If you remember, at the end of book 2, they're all on a ship and there's a cannon and Corrick gets blown up and into the water with Lochlan and they get unalived... except they're not. Other bad people fish them out of the water, and Corrick dawns the moniker Weston Lark once again. In book 3 Lochlan and Corrick find themselves unlikely allies as they try to figure out how to get out of the hands of the bad guys. If I'm being completely honest, this was the POV I cared about the least... although I was here for the back and forth between Lochlan and Corrick. Like, I thought the biggest plot twist of the book was going to be that it was going to be a BL love story and Corrick/Lochlan would forget about Tessa/Karri (which is ridiculous, because they both talked and worried about the two girls nonstop) and end up with each other instead. BECAUSE there was so much tension and flirty banter, and blushing and the ONE BED TROPE, and honestly? I was here for it.

Harristan: It was interesting to see Harristan get a little more character development. He spends a lot of time learning more about his kingdom, and trying to win over the rebels, and figuring out what exactly is happening. He's learning who to trust and getting betrayed, and it's heart wrenching if I'm being honest. But he also has Quint by his side, as steady and sure as ever. Quint is still so precious to meeeee, and his little book with those dates, and I cried when he talked about when he was younger and WHY he writes everything down. And this was the new love story. And it made me so happy that they were together and figured out their feelings for each other. I swooned a lot anytime these two were together. I'm getting cold chills just thinking about it. I also really liked the rest of Harristan's guards who stayed loyal to him. 

 

Tessa: is still mourning what she thinks is the loss of Corrick. She's in Ostriary, in a house that Rian has provided to her, and isn't doing too well. Luckily, she has Erik Rocco with her still, who is guarding her and doing his best to keep her safe. What ends up snapping her out of (mostly) her doom spiral is meeting Olive and Ellmo. She decides to put her apothecary knowledge to good work and starts helping people on the island. My boy Rocco sure stepped up his game. I love him SO MUCH. He ties with Quint for favorite. Watching him with Tessa was so endearing, and then his little flirtations with Olive were adorable. AND how much he and Ellmo antagonized each other was hilarious. It did, however, make me immediately think of Elmo and Rocco from Sesame Street, so in my head Ellmo looked like Elmo....

I was trying to figure out how things were going to all come back around and get fixed. Because there were a heck of a lot of things that I wasn't sure COULD be fixed. But it all ended up working out in the end I'm glad that Olive was around to step into place and work things out with Corrick and get everything set up for a good future. It kept me guessing to the very end and I'm glad that I read it! I really would like to see spin offs for some of the other guards (specifically Rocco, but actually any of them would be good) and also I want to know more about Lochlan and Karri, because they also didn't get to spend any time together.

Did It Make Me Cry? 

 

Yes. But probably not when you think it would have. Because it WAS NOT when Quint and Harristan blew themselves up. It was right before that when Harristan was trying to leave Quint and then convince him that he should stay because Corrick needed him, and Quint was like, no, YOU need me. And then again when Sullivan and Miller appear. Big Ugly tears were streaming down my face in the middle of the night.

Favorite Notes & Highlights:

 

Ellmo picks up a handful of pebbles and chucks them at the guardsman. To my absolute shock, Rocco picks up a small handful of his own and lightly flings them right back. Ellmo yelps in surprise and skitters away, which makes Olive glare at them both—but the boy bursts out laughing. “Are you five?” I say to Rocco. “He started it.” “So the answer is yes then?”

 

But before the door falls closed, I notice Quint flip open the little book, just turning back the cover to that list of dates. At the bottom, he adds one more. (Iykyk) 

 

 Erik isn’t done. “It’s well past nightfall. How could the two of you even see on the road? What if you’d encountered thieves? I knew I should have gone with—” He stops short as Olive steps in front of him and takes hold of his shirt. She rises up on her toes and kisses him on the cheek. “Thank you for your concern. We won’t worry you again.”

 

“Your determination and tenacity are rather inspiring.” “Well now.” He blushes, though he seems pleased. “I shall add that to my treasure trove along with the knowledge that I am ‘very pleasing to look at.’ ”

Review: Defend The Dawn ~ Brigid Kemmerer

 

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Format I Used: Ebook
Pages: 496
Running Time: 13h:9m
My Rating: 4 Stars
Publication Date: September 20, 2022

 

Funny that I left this as a draft instead of publishing it. Because now I have a review for book 2 AND book 3 coming out so super close together.

Spoilers ahead, read on with caution.

Immediately after finishing the book:

*deeeeeep breath in*

NOW LISTEN HERE

 

Thoughts after I've taken the time to digest everything that's happened:

NOW LISTEN HERE!!!!

lol, but really

My darling Quint is still the star of the show, and I swear that if something bad happens to him in the next book I will R I O T.

I wasn't fully invested in the story until a good chunk of the book was already finished. There was a lot of building up to something. And that something still hasn't really happened yet. (which makes sense, because there's still at least one more book left.) I was so confused by Tessa's sudden reaction to Corrick and her constant obsessing over how he's done bad things to people. YES TESSA WE ALREADY KNEW THAT. It's not new, it's not unexpected. Why now? (I know why, she kept having people whispering in her ear about how bad he was blah blah blah.) But again, SHE KNEW ALL OF THESE THINGS ABOUT HIM BEFORE. He didn't just randomly become a bad guy.

Ugh, anyways.

I'm curious to see whether we get more character development from Corrick and Tessa (I mean, we pretty much have to with Corrick and Lochlan getting washed away to sea and ending up ON THE ENEMY'S BOAT. AND NOW CORRICK IS PRETENDING TO be someone that he's not.)

Did It Make Me Cry?

Honestly? It's been so long since I read it, I don't remember.

Favorite Notes & Highlights:

I look at Quint. “We’re going to leap out. Be ready to run.” He glances at my injured leg. “Can you run?” No. Even leaping is going to be a challenge. But I don’t say that. “Just be ready.” “I’m not leaving our injured king—” “I’m ordering you.” The carriage slows further, but his eyes don’t leave mine. “Then I suppose you’ll have to have Corrick issue a decree of punishment, Your Majesty.” “Quint!” The carriage stops. He tightens his grip on the dagger and finally drags his eyes away from mine, but he doesn’t move. Lord. I grit my teeth. The door is flung open, and sunlight floods the gap, but I can’t see much more than that because Quint launches himself forward. (Excuse me while I go cry about this again.) 

 

“I have always loved you,” he says. “I love your brilliance and your courage. I love your faith in me, and your faith in my brother, and your faith in Kandala.” His hand slides to my cheek, and his blue eyes soften, filling my vision. “I don’t ever want to frighten you. I want to take actions that will make you proud.”

 

 

Review: BTS: Beyond The Story

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Format I Used: Combination Physical Book/Audiobook
Pages: 544
Running Time: 11h:18m
My Rating:  No stars because I feel weird giving bios/memoirs a star rating, but I liked it a lot.

Publication Date: July 9, 2023

 

I was one of the delulu people who preordered this book back when people were still debating whether or not it was going to be a Taylor Swift or BTS (because I just KNEW lol). It was interesting seeing all of the "clues" that people were pulling out of nowhere. Like, there was a strong case for both sides.

And I FINALLY finished it. (well, a while ago. I'm actually just now getting around to writing a review)

After reading this book, it makes me look at all of the videos of BTS interacting with other idols (and people in general) differently. They're so genuinely kind to everyone they meet, and I think it's because they don't want anyone else to feel the way they did when they were in the baby stages of their career. Because people were SO mean to them for no good reason.

I really enjoyed this book, and that is probably because they're all serving their military time, and I need all the content I can get from them.

It was interesting to see what they included in this book, and what they chose NOT to put in the book.

Like, they included The Dumpling Incident between V and Jimin, but not the fight between JK and Jimin that led to them walking their separate ways and JK getting lost.

Or they talked a little bit about how Suga hurt his shoulder, but not how J-Hope almost left the group before they debuted, but stayed because JK begged him to, and RM told Big Hit that they needed J-Hope and that they couldn't do it without him.

ORRRRR how Mr. Worldwide Handsome Jin was scouted for his looks, or how Jimin was being trained to be a rapper not a vocalist, but Suga was like "hey he likes singing, not rapping, and he's GOOD at it... let him sing instead.

Borahae <3