Sunkitty

I have such a huge problem with this magic system. It's simply not nice to me, and believe me, I am not one to really dive into magic systems and world building. So why can't a house magic fix wine stains? There is ambiguity in the cost of the magic system - was it pain? But how much pain, what is the cost of a spell, how to counter a spell, etc? I simply do not understand. The magic system has never seemed to challenge any characters, except for maybe some events that had little to no effect on the plot. And the fighting, like, I don't know. The set of the characters during fighting scenes just felt... unrealistic.

FMC was useless. I prefer demure, shy, obedient characters - true feminine energy - but she did nothing to affect the so called 'rebellion' that was brewing, aside from beg MMC to attend parties for information. She was supposed to have such an incredible power but she never showcased it in a high stakes setting.

MMC seemed to be this looming, rich, political force, but every time he is challenged to rise to this assumption, he fails.

Plot was incredibly slow. I was interested mostly for the content - how would our FMC survive such horrid conditions? - but she was saved soooo easily by MMC, then kept like a caged princess. I guess that's literally what FMC is. Regardless, every attempt she had to 'step it up' was overlooked, so she never really did anything. Anyways, I suspect this will be a trilogy, because this book was so painfully slow. There was a lot of talking about other characters but not enough action from the protagonists. There weren't any twists, and if there were I hardly noticed them because the understanding of the stakes never seemed to change. Like, what was the midpoint??? what??? idek

This was just stuff happening to the characters as the reader waited patiently for new information from the brewing rebellion. The epilogue seemed to pose plenty of other questions - as if the FMC didn't have enough pointless questions to ask MMC in this book... In terms of a trilogy and story structure, the first book is meant to set up the action for the second book. But all this book did was play around with the characters. The FMC hardly did any thinking. The introspection was flat, unintelligent.

BTW everyone is always so horny in these books. Like, what. Is that all you people think about? Is that what it's always about when it comes to women and men? Sex? How can these women be staunchly pro-women and then the only thing they can use are their sexual faculties? Don't get me wrong, I'm no feminist, not in the modern sense; women are strong in a different way than men are. But to exploit a woman's sexuality is literally evil. LOL.

I can understand the interest between the characters' romance though. MMC cultivating magic outlawed in his native land, FMC finds him. Now she's got blackmail. FMC helping her bro cheat in school, MMC finds out. Now he's got blackmail. There are questions that loom between them. And, for the record, romance can spark from infatuation, and continue because of compatibility obviously. The compatibility here is... I guess questionable, I don't see how these characters compliment each other aside from having blackmail, but idk, I can see their mutual interest in each other.

I did not like the switch to the past, like the memories when they were in school. I just wanted to progress with the plot. At the same time, they were also helpful because they provided SOME kind of romantic tension, which is what kept me interested.

So much info dumping at the beginning. So many characters I did not care about, who held little to no weight. So much master-and-servant dialogue exchanged. Question, answer. Question, answer. Question, answer... zzz. Towards the end I skipped soooo much because it's all useless, at least it felt very useless. I do not need to know about these characters unless they will cause an inflection point of sorts.

Idk if I'll read a book 2. This first book was 464 pages, and there was so much uselessness in the scenes that I started skipping over stuff. I literally just wanted to see how close the FMC and MMC would get. I wanted them to have more romantic tension, because it's there, but idk. Neither of them rose to the occassion. I thought MMC was super cool, which is probs why I kept reading.

But is he cool enough for me to read a book 2? nope.

did not finish dnf (3%)

ok maybe I'll try to read more but this is so badly written. Author is still talking about how the protagonist 'should not be participating in the trials because she's meant to be a scribe' on page 24. Like, alright, I get it, don't need to repeat the same information again and again, it doesn't add any value to the story.

Hardly any introspection by the protag, like, we know how your sister feels about your participation, what about you? so far all you've done is listen to your sister and mom bickering...

The mom is like, idk, a psycho? and I don't mean that because she's sending her 'weak daughter to the trials' for her reputation, but because she flip flops between standing by that, then sapping that her daughter is so much like her mother. Like... what?

and the profanities. the more you use profaniities, the less they hold any weight. you increase value by the tension of the story... and that are stakes and character introspection.

how this is so highly rated is beyond me. it sounds like a kid wrote this book. it's insane how the content of a book, no matter how poorly written, is able to snag a five-star rating. I might try to continue reading the book, but idk, it's so juvenile. and I don't mean that by the content that the book provides, but I mean that in the way that it is written.

story is about a girl Holland who took a secret class about myths and legends and winds up interacting one of those myths, then has 24 hours to find the super powerful item called the Alchemical Heart or else she'll die.

What I love about this author is that she pulls the reader into so many different directions. It's always so much fun. There was a lot going on in this book, and truthfully, I'm not 100% sure I kept up with everything, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I wasn't too floored by some of the reveals and twists and the ending, I'm not sure why. Maybe because I didn't have too much attachment to the characterse. I was curious to see how the book ended, but I was left feeling vacant.

Yeah, the characters... I just did not care about. They fit the purpose of the plot, but I felt no connection to them. Nothing made them relatable or likeable to me. The protagonist Holland St. James was just a curious person who followed in her father's footsteps of clue hunting; she was literally Eva from Once Upon a Broken Heart but in modern day form. Adam Bishop felt like a weird version of Jacks with charm, but no back story was added to make him sympathetic in the slightest. Gabe Carbal was like... well, he fit the role he was meant to fill, with just a snippet of his backstory too, but idk, he was so stiff that... idk lol just didn't like him. January St. James was just a character in Holland's mind, she was present in different ways but no character to show for. Also, the Professor, who felt like a familiar face, but was sorta untrustworthy.

The Folklore 517 passages were meant as worldbuilding snippets of the Professor's class, but I literally skipped over them. Didn't care. They were written in second person which also felt weird. I think it was meant to invite the reader as one of the Professor's students, but... idk, I skipped 'em because I am not a fairytale person. (Which is ironic because I like the author who weaves this into her books lol)

I picked this book up because of the author, but I was not a fan of the setting. I literally live under a rock and do not understand many pop culture references. So the fact that this book took place in LA and that it had sooo many movie references was the biggest turn off for me. Again, that is purely subjective, and does not factor into my rating. But I'll put it here because it makes me feel better. lol. I would like to say, I think it's one reason why I admire the author so much, is because she is sooo different than me, and I really, truly respect her for that.

So it is apparent to me now that the author is probably not a romance writer. The book did have romantic stuff happening, but it was sparse and not predicated on emotional bonds. It was like, kissing for the sake of throwing the protagonist off her game or to cause a diversion of sorts, but no emotion. To call this romantasy is... not true. And while romance does not make a book, I guess I was expecting a 'lil something more.

so yeah, definitely not my favorite book. I may read the second one, but I feel like the cliff hanger in the epilogue was just... not really worth reading another book.

did not finish (dnf) 41%

Diverse set of characters, interesting setting of a prison without parole. The story was interesting, but honestly, it was way too slow for my liking. The atmosphere is great, very dreary. But I feel like we didn't see much of the brutality as we're told, so we just have to assume it's there. Things seemed too convenient for the characters. Romance is incredibly slow burn, for good reason, but not enough to hold my interest.

My current favorite book series... geeeez!

Plot was great. Some underdeveloped ends though. For example, book 1 talks about a group called the Protectorlerate, and how it was a team to protect the Valory Arch from opening, but we only see a few scenes where this group seems threatening. The tension ended in the first book, which surprised me, because I thought they would be more of a problem. Next example is the vampire guy (totally forgot his name), Death, I think? And his only threat was the mentioning of his massacring of a town for like, one chapter. The Valors were also underwhelming, since they were tauted to be some powerful family, but they weren't exactly active in the story; they were more of an undercurrent.

And then Apollo's arc at the end, it was alright, but his chapters were a little lackluster. The author said she was worried about writing a male POV, but the gender didn't have much to do with it. Apollo felt a little one dimenstional, like he was a means to an end without much emotion. The chapter in Jacks' POV was a little lackluster too, and I felt as though this was the author's concern all along with writing a male POV.

But the reason these problems don't bother me too much is because the tension in the series is great. The characters are thrown into impossible situations, but still manage to make it through - and it isn't as simple as, 'my savior bailed me out at the right time.' Evangeline, the protagonist, was able to find a way out of tough situations on her own with her wits and courage rather than dependance on others. I really loved reading the series, and it had me thinking for days and days. I had to read a different book before it consumed me... lol.

The theme was 'Happy endings.' It is frequently mentioned in the book, and the main character Evangeline is constantly searching for her own happily ever after, and is hopeful to make that a reality for others. I thought this was a difficult theme to pull off because it can be taken in a lot of different directions. The author made up for this by explicitly stating Evangeline's wishes and that which countered her - Jacks.

But honestly, Jacks, the male love interest, was absolutely amazing lol. His arc, his personality, everything seemed so believable and enjoyable. Especially in the first book. He was just such a jerk, but had softie moments that made me swoon with, 'I CAN SAVE HIM!!' Literally amazing.

Plot was cohesive and well constructed. Fast paced. Well-contained; each character was established and came full circle in some way or another. Very easy to understand. The series had me turning the pages, wondering how the author could make the situations worse and then fix the problems. There was a lot to learn in this book, and for that alone, I appreciated it a lot.

Book 2 took off with a boom, but the 25%-50% mark felt like it dragged on. Romance was just constant bickering: "do I trust you, do I hate you, IDK WHAT TO DO!" and I think we got enough of that in the first book.

The theme is that love rules all. What I didn't appreciate was the sudden shoehorning of gays towards the end of the second book. Like, what? That's how you decide to reinforce the theme, by shoving the gays in at last minute?

My next problem was that each character seemed to solve their problems by flaunting their sexual faculties. Alright, yes, when you're young and good looking, you can get away with a lot. But to solve literally every single problem this way got old and appeared quite shallow. Is this really the only way to get out of a foul predicament, by fluttering your lashes, touching someone in a seductive way, and humoring them? I don't think so.

Which leads me to a character analysis... The female lead, Rune, was quite shallow in comparison to the male lead, Gideon. Rune had absolutely no heartwarming trait about her, aside from her thirst for adrenaline, which is a very unfeminine trait. The only thing feminine about her was that she abused her youth and sexual faculties. If you can even call that feminine... her skill is being an aristocrat, if that's a skill at all. And sure, she was a witch, who used the most basic spells that never challenged her.

Whereas Gideon, coined as a cold-blooded killer, had a heart, had a family he took care of, and had skills that weren't just killing - he was a tailor. Oh yeah, and he could cook. So basically, you had a lackluster female, and a guy who could do it all, folks! He was also great with children in this book. LOL...

So yeah. Book was well written, I had a lot of fun reading it, hence the five star rating.