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| 0373771258
| 9780373771257
| 0373771258
| 4.00
| 2,601
| Nov 1986
| Jan 31, 2006
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really liked it
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*This is a TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion. Y' *This is a TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion. Y'all, how am I picking these insane books for the TBRChallenge every year??? What kind of a gold mine tbr am I sitting on?!? Anyway, this review is a couple days late because this turned out to be 570ish pages of an HBO limited series. I feel wrung-out but less because of emotional wreckage, as I was with The Lotus Palace, and more just my god that was A STORY. I'm not sure how I'm going to talk about this so, long story short, twist and turns spy romance about possible stolen Chinese bronze statues that is a sticky web with multiple parts made by multiple spiders as the People's Republic of China is newish Communists with some liking that and others not and, of course, the United States wanting to stick their noses in there. A museum curator gets thrown in the mix with only a former CIA spy to help her out. Mind games of is it real or not. If you liked something along the lines of HBO's Chernobyl but with Romance!, and want to take reading slower and get immersed in the world, find this and pick it up. Grab a glass of wine, thank your lucky stars you're not in a book club with me, and let the rambling begin... "Is there really a possibility that relations between the U.S. and China could be destroyed over the Qin bronzes?" The story opens with Catlin as he's presented with half an ancient Chinese coin. He's a retired CIA spy who deep undercover went by the name Jacques-Pierre Rousseau. Some think Rousseau is dead and others think he's now involved in a Pacific Rim Foundation. Catlin, real name Jacob MacArthur, is not happy to have the half a coin presented to him. It's a debt he owes for when his life was saved when the woman he thought he loved and loved him almost murdered him on the orders from Tran, a pimp and smuggler in IndoChina. Chen Yi is the one calling in the favor from Catlin, and Comrade Minister of Archaeology, Province of Shaanxi, People's Republic of China. It's come to the attention of the new government that rumors of a charioteer, chariot, and horses inlaid in gold and silver from the, supposed to be reburied, ancient Emperor Qin's grave are going to be up for sale in America. Look, this was published in 1986, so I'll forgive people if they're not up on their history of the political atmosphere at this time (I had to go brush up myself after I read about 30% of this). Suffice to say that not all Chinese are a fan of the Western capitalism or communism turn their country is taking, so we have a pit of Mao purists and Deng progressives, with Chinese Nationalists from Taiwan and the United States wanting to keep an eye on communist China thrown into the overreaching arch of the story. (in case it needs to be said, this is Fiction, so yeah, grain of salt) It all boils down to does the bronze charioteer exist to be sold, who is selling it, and what is the network that got it to the United States. Chen ropes Catlin into this because of his undercover persona and familiarity of the culture. Chen wants Catlin to be a bodyguard for a Lindsay Danner. There were parts of her childhood she had forgotten how to remember. There were other parts that she remembered only in dreams and woke up screaming and wondering why. Lindsay was born in China and raised there until twelve years old by Christian missionary parents. With the recent death of her mother (her father already died years ago) her nightmares of an incident when she was seven are keeping her up at night. She thinks her uncle was killed but she can't really remember anything. As the curator of Ancient Chinese Bronzes for the Museum of the Asias and an uncanny ability to tell real bronze from frauds, her reputation is spotless. It's obvious to the reader that Chen is maneuvering things to have Lindsay picked, by the FBI that is allowing and working with Chen to conduct a mission to find out if there are Qin bronzes for sale and if they're real, but the reader doesn't know why, just that he wants Catlin to prepare and protect her for the quagmire she's about to get involved with. Catlin meets Lindsay and instantly thinks she's too innocent to get involved in having to do what needs to be done for the mission and their connection definitely tells romance readers something could flare up between the two. Lindsay sees the mission as a way to keep relations between China and the US good, so even though she's going to have to ruin her reputation as an honest bronze dealer, pretending to fall so in love with Catlin that she'll buy smuggled bronzes for him, thus getting the possible smugglers to contact them so everyone can find out the truth of who and how of a possible smuggling operation. "If she is hurt, most honorable Chen Yi, you will wish that you had not gone fishing with a dragon." Just know, my quick simplifying of political webs and relations is actually covered in the 500 pages of intricate character relations and building that slowly gets covered and revealed with new players and layers. Catlin does his best to prepare Lindsay for the ramifications of ruining her reputation while trying to keep his eyes on all the players, moves, and getting pulled in with his feelings for Lindsay. The FBI is represented by the head of counterintelligence, Stone, and his Special Agent O'Donnell. They have their own long scenes, especially towards the end where they are trying to keep shadows on Catlin and Lindsay as they are being driven to the ultimate moment to discover if the bronzes are real and who the players are. It's a scene that did heighten the stress and danger but also made me want to skim read. Which is what I battled sometimes in this book. Newer published contemporary, vast majority, just doesn't have this slower meticulous overreaching plot. At times I was celebrating the completeness, adding in and at others I felt like I was warring against the newer genre tone and beat I have been trained in as I thought the story had some bloat. This is a story you're going to have to want to invest in and take slower, it just is. I enjoyed the hell out of that at times and others, yeah, bloat. From now on she would know that she could touch Catlin all the time-and believe him none of the time. Lindsay and Catlin had full backstories but as they're more doled out and almost to the background, sometimes chapters later my mind would be like, oh yeah, they've both been married and divorced, Catlin was involved in the fall of Saigon, and more front and center, Lindsay's incomplete memory of how her uncle died. It's more slow reveals, Lindsay's incomplete memory is one of the strands to the web and Catlin's background, namely his emotional Baggage (and you didn't think I was going to get the TBRChallenge monthly theme in there, shame on you), plays into the romance aspect as they spend all the time together and are slowly falling for each other for real as they pretend. I loved the touching these two had between each other and their bedroom scenes. So much now seems to be slamming to get to the orgasm, the destination, the touching between these two was all about the journey. To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins is a newer publication that I enjoyed the intimacy between leads but because the characters are more slowly developed throughout the story, I would say these two don't start off with intimacy but it builds and their last sex scene was incredibly hot because of this building (thank you for that previous work because otherwise the snap crotch thingy Lindsay was wearing and the why did you have to remind me mustache of Catlin would have been a personal buzzkill). "Christ, Lindsay," he grated, "we'll burn down the night." Around 70% Lindsay remembers the full story of her nightmares and more is learned about some characters, I feel like romance genre readers will have an idea about what's really going on with one of them. The ending brings everyone together, Chen, FBI, a father figure of Lindsay's, and the truth of the bronzes. It's a scene that, after a dangerous decision Lindsay comes to, kind of ends somewhat air out of balloon feeling as Catlin is too good at his job. Catlin then gives into his emotional baggage (ha, again!) and we get a “How could this possibly end in a HEA???” Just kidding, even with only 5% romance readers can't be fooled and I actually loved how this ended. As Lindsay looked down at the small, ancient coin, her breath caught and she went very still. The halves had been welded together, revealing the complete outline of a flying bird. But yeah, I'm wrung-out from all the layers, players, and just general full story, I'm stuffed! The political intrigue, who's lying and maneuvering, the romance, trying to discern the truth behind Catlin's motivations and feelings, and just general tv limited series feel of it all. If you're in for a 1986 published fictional book about political relations with China, told in cover with spies and ancient bronzes in a romance genre world, this book was an experience. *Did Sam Wang ever get his own story??? I Need it. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 06, 2023
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Mar 18, 2023
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Mar 06, 2023
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Paperback
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| 9798987112212
| B0BTJ6JS76
| 4.41
| 377
| unknown
| Feb 06, 2023
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it was ok
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2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. My knowing's neither good nor evil 2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. My knowing's neither good nor evil...it just is. All her life, Madeline has gotten tingling sensations from certain items that lead to intuition that turns out to be eerily accurate. When she buys a box with trinkets from a local estate sale, she suddenly starts to have dreams about a Puritan girl from the 1710s. With the encouragement of her aunt Phoebe and friend Chelsea, she enlists the help of a History professor she had a connection with at a bar one night, Evan, to try and find out who this Maria girl was, and a mysterious old sailor, Noah, helps her explore her unearthly talents. Normal was a boundary I'd worked hard to live within because it meant being accepted by society and loved by my mom. Sea Magic started off as an intriguing fantasy mystery, mentions of the Penbrook Mermaid, Madeline's dreams that start off more watching a film observant but morph into time travel, veered into Historical Fiction, and then ended in the metaphysical. I liked the beginning mystery aspect of searching out who Maria was for Madeline. I am someone who went through a Golden Age of Piracy phase, so when Maria's full name (Hallett) popped up, I got my own tingling sensations and then when her suitor introduced himself as Samuel Bellamy, I knew all the spoilers. I still enjoyed Madeline working with Evan to put the puzzle pieces together and the tidbits about the Whydah incorporated into the story. However, at the midway point, that whole puzzle is parsed out and the second half went more into the metaphysical and began to lose me. What was it about a woman's power that made men vilify her, turn her into something dark, dreadful? There was a lot of co-opting different cultures spiritual practices (Evan's totem is a mermaid, Madeline does Shamanic conscious dreaming) along with characters adopting pseudoscience (astrology). The second half and especially the last 20% went metaphysical with Madeline's goal shepherding Maria's wandering soul into the afterlife, guided by Noah. It tied into Madeline's magical gift of intuition but not really the first half tone of searching out who Maria was mystery. The story was told from Madeline's point-of-view (the dreams start off from Maria's) making her the most filled out character but I felt all the other characters needed to be flushed out more, especially Evan since he had a romance with Madeline. The romance ended up feeling underdeveloped because it was pushed to the side and Evan's character just never developed for me. They kiss and have an open-door scene but it was dry more than emotional. I enjoyed the historical fiction aspects with the Whydah (Screecham sisters get a shout-out, too) and the connection to Madeline searching out the mystery of who Maria was but the romance didn't evolve the emotions I was looking for and the metaphysical turn at the end lost me. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 15, 2023
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Feb 22, 2023
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Feb 13, 2023
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| 9781492683865
| 3.20
| 1,244
| Apr 11, 2023
| Apr 11, 2023
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liked it
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I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. He was different, like her. Someone who mig I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. He was different, like her. Someone who might look human, but was distinctly not. Peeraphan has always known she is different, a Thai mythological kinnaree born in a family of humans. Hiding from outsiders what she is, has made her feel that she can never truly be herself and allow herself to shine. Dancing has been an outlet and when her frenemie Sirin offers her a pair of beautiful red shoes, she wonders why Sirin is being so generous but is compelled to try them on. Bennett is a centuries old vampire and a member of the Darke Consortium, supernaturals and humans who search out magical items to collect and safe guard them. When he arrives too late to stop the red shoes that make their victims dance to their death from being worn, he deadens any feelings he might have for the dancer he can't take his eyes off of. When the dancer manages to stop dancing, Bennett is shocked and is thrown into a battle against an old enemy vampire, while growing closer to the one he's trying to save. “The wearer might be doomed, but at the same time, only the wearer has the chance to break the curse of the red shoes with a true acknowledgment of everything they are, everything they have ever done, everything they have the potential to do. Such honesty would counter pride and vanity and set you free.” With a gorgeous cover that centers the female main character, Peeraphan, Wings Once Cursed and Bound begins the Mythwoven series. To me, this was more of an urban fantasy story that had a romantic element in it, integrating a lot of cool mythological, supernatural, paranormal, and folklore. Peeraphan knows she's kinnaree but not all that means, as far as her abilities and origins. At the end of the book, after the story, there was a Field Notes on the Supernatural and Paranormal and while I liked how it summarized all the beings introduced, I wished more of the kinnaree could have been explored in the story; I liked and cared for Peeraphan and wished this important aspect of her had been filled out more. Through Bennett, we learn that vampires can be made and born, he's born, and some other trademarks but, like with an aspect of Peeraphan, I wished we could have explored more of his background. If this is supposed to be romance genre, I want my two main characters to have more of a center stage for their romance, this felt more like a fantasy story with Peeraphan leading us into this newly discovered world. She needed help to save her own life. As far as world-building, I thought this focused on the right part, all the different supernatural characters and their characteristics. Like I said, I considered this urban fantasy, so the world is as we the reader know it, the fantasy component is through all the different beings existing in the reader's world. We learn that the Darke Consortium is actually one of many groups around the world, they're the good guys with trying to protect humankind by collecting the intentionally dangerous magical artifacts. Bennett's enemy, Francesco is the bad guy and as the story goes on, we learn that he's also tied to a “Babel”, a single or group trying to cause havoc or gain for evil purposes from the artifacts. When Bennett brings back Peeraphan to the sanctuary of the Darke Consortium , we see they have an attraction to each other that could grow and the world gets filled out as we're introduced to all the Darke members, one including a distant cousin of Peeraphan. “I am kinnaree.” There were two really great scenes that stuck out to me, Peeraphan and Bennett dancing in the air and then the sponsor of the Darke turns out to be a dragon and when Peerphan first meets the dragon, it will suck you right in. The dragon informs Peeraphan and Bennett that there is a way to save Peeraphan's life and get the red shoes off, a cave of truth and around the mid-way point, we get a journey to the cave. It was after the cave and Peeraphan doing what needed to be done to save herself, that I thought the story slowed some for me. This was mostly told in Peeraphan and Bennett's pov but we get some from Thomas (Peeraphan's cousin) and a witch named Marie that works for the Darke and while I liked those characters, I did think it slowed some of the momentum as it stole away from Peeraphan and Bennett's romance; first in a series issues. For the first time in not just days, but years— maybe the majority of her life— she had something she wanted to do that was bigger than just herself and the expectations of her immediate family. This felt like a purpose. The last 30% gives a climax scene between Peeraphan, the Darke members, Francesco, and “Babel”. It was after the battle that I thought even more steam was lost, unfortunately, it's when we get back to the romance. Bennett deals with his feelings of possibly outliving Peeraphan (there was some filling out of his character with having loved and lost before), each declaring their love, and then two bedroom scenes. I thought the fully intimate scenes felt both tagged on the end and since their romance didn't have the depth I was looking for, they didn't hit me they way they were supposed to, that tagged on feeling. This is an adult fantasy, Peeraphan is early thirties, but it also had a tone of YA to me at times, the way her learning about herself journey was relayed and most of the romance tone between her and Bennett. To me, this was a good urban fantasy story that just happened to have a little romance in it. I did like how the writing style had a leading me into the story, instead of pushing, feel and with all the cool different supernatural and mythology incorporated, I can see these elements and plot sustaining a series. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 06, 2023
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Mar 23, 2023
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Feb 07, 2023
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Paperback
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| 0515141704
| 9780515141702
| 0515141704
| 3.72
| 128
| Aug 29, 2006
| Aug 29, 2006
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liked it
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3.5 stars A fun Indiana Jones/The Mummy with fun combative leads and adventure in a South American jungle. Enjoyed the byplay between main couple, the 3.5 stars A fun Indiana Jones/The Mummy with fun combative leads and adventure in a South American jungle. Enjoyed the byplay between main couple, the second half brought in more of the adventure and the romance got left behind a little; the "I love yous" felt suddenly said. Fun time overall though, the heroine was a blast with her competence along the hero's befuddlement turned attraction to her capabilities. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 04, 2023
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Feb 15, 2023
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Jan 31, 2023
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Paperback
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| 1728255856
| 9781728255859
| 1728255856
| 4.13
| 10,870
| Mar 07, 2023
| Mar 07, 2023
|
really liked it
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3.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. He smiled, and the dazzling force 3.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. He smiled, and the dazzling force of it close up rocked Gareth in his seat. “You’re London, then? Nice to meet you, London.” Gareth smiled back, hopelessly enthralled. “You too, Kent.” After heated eye contact that lead to a week of secret rendezvouses, Gareth is devastated and hurt when “Kent” tells him he's leaving the London area to go back home. With a father that abandoned him to his uncaring uncle after his mother's death when he was six, Gareth leans into that childhood pain and feels unwanted and unloved all over again. Even though Kent is trying to tell him he still wants to meet up when he's in town, Gareth can't hear him and breaks it off with hurtful words. Two days later, Gareth learns of his father's death and has inherited his Baronet, this has him traveling to Romney Marsh where he discovers his father's mistress, a half-sister, and that he has unwittingly followed Kent. “This is the Marsh,” Catherine had said, and as so often, that was all the explanation there was. The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen was a more quiet and reflective toned story, even though it had mystery, suspense, and open door scenes. When Gareth gets to the Marsh, his feeling as an outsider is exacerbated as everyone looks at him as “outmarsh”. Catherine, his father's mistress is kind to him but she's also dependent on his generosity as she has no where else to go and his half-sister Cecy is an emotional seventeen year old who swings from wanting to build a relationship with him to angry when he doesn't do exactly as she wants. When Gareth unthinkingly tells someone he saw a group of smugglers, especially a female one, he gets pulled into testifying, trying to get on Cecy's good-side as she is seeing a Revenue officer. Ignoring warnings that informing on the Doomsday smuggling group will make him many Marsh enemies, Gareth thinks he's doing the right thing but when Josiah Doomsday steps into the court room and threatens to tell his own secrets, to save his sister Sophy, who Gareth is testifying he saw, Gareth has to back-down in front of everyone, because Josiah is Kent. “You threatened me,” Sir Gareth said, low and savage. “You used—what we did.” He whispered that last. As you can imagine, Gareth is raging angry, this breaks the fragile bond he was starting to build with Cecy and Josiah used an extremely dangerous and emotional secret against him. The hurt, also from Josiah on how Gareth broke things off, and anger do get talked through and Gareth works through his father abandonment issues. The plot also forces these two to have to work together, so by the half-way point, they're together, if still tentative. With the initial breaking apart and coming together mostly dealt with, Gareth learns that his father was receiving mysterious payments every month from somewhere and with Josiah saying that he had no smuggling deals with the man, men coming into Doomsday territory to frighten and harass Gareth and Cecy, and Gareth's uncle and cousin suddenly wanting to stay at his home with him, they start to investigate together to work out what is going on. “Because you’re a smuggler and I’m a baronet. You’re Joss Doomsday and I’m outmarsh. I informed against your sister and you blackmailed me in public!” One argument might have been convincing; three was the opposite. Three was encouraging, even. “Eh, details,” Joss said. “You still haven’t given me a good reason.” This had a large cast of characters, the Doomsday family is many and Josiah also has to deal with some family dynamic business, mainly an uncle who feels he should be in charge. A rival, different territory smuggling group, Sweetwater, also comes into play and you have a good amount of moving pieces to keep track of. While I appreciated the detail to naming the places the characters were going, the place names became too many in conjunction with all the characters I was trying to keep track of. I thought it was a sweet, emotional layer to Gareth's character when he takes his father's incomplete naturalist (book cover tie-in!) studying notes and walks the marsh following in his father's footsteps to try and know the man better but it also gets a little lost in all the other moving pieces. Josiah had a few in depth moments, his talk with his granda, but for the most part, his character was on the move a lot and I wanted more settled moments with him. “I missed you so much.” It was a whisper. The last twenty percent brings all the plot threads together, Josiah having to once and for all deal with his uncle, Gareth also dealing with his uncle, and the mystery of the smuggling business Gareth's father was maybe involved in; the seemingly separate threads all weaved together in the end. There was also a quick, and again, I think got lost in the other going-on, character depth moment of Gareth giving us a third act break-up because of emotional growth he needed to do. As I said, a good amount of moving pieces, some economic class and warfare serving country versus community talk, a romance that was a little too quick developed for me, a few, almost got buried in the mix emotional depth moments, but all told with a care to language that really helped set the atmosphere. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 15, 2023
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Feb 26, 2023
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Jan 25, 2023
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Paperback
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| 1959776010
| 9781959776017
| 1959776010
| 3.89
| 107
| unknown
| Oct 30, 2022
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it was ok
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1.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. How she wished she had asked for h 1.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. How she wished she had asked for his name, as no one had ever saved her life before---no one would ever have cared to either. H(a)unt is the first book in the Loveletting series that follows a twenty-six year old woman named Charlotte. Born to a sex worker in the late 1800s wild west, Charlotte never knew her father, learned men only want one thing, and had a tough mother. When her mother is murdered, Charlotte decides to take off with her only friend in the world, her horse Finn to the West Rockies. Riding through a town, a man gets thrown out of a saloon and spooks her horse, they lock eyes but the tall man in black with blue eyes rides away. Charlotte later learns from a Wanted poster that it was the infamous Mac Kinnon, wanted for over a decade for numerous murders. A sheriff obsessed with catching Mac, enlists Charlotte to help draw Mac out and from there Charlotte is drawn into danger, adventures, and romances. “Ain't no Lord out there, princess.” he finally said, and she froze upon his remark. A book of over seven hundred pages, this was written in a lyrical and poetic style that at times made it a little hard to stick with. I liked the beginning of Charlotte starting off in the west alone and then meeting up with a notorious wanted man but the story started to utilize a rinse and repeat formula that started to get exhausting. Charlotte gets saved from a rape by Mac and they both think about how they are drawn to the other but Charlotte then meets another man, Will, who is a rich “elite” and ridiculously talked with some kind of chivalrous knight of old parlance, calling Charlotte “my lady”. The story then gives us a love triangle and Charlotte thinks she is in love with Will but can't get Mac out of her mind, Will loves Charlotte but has some kind of secret, and Mac thinks he isn't good enough for Charlotte. She hardly knew him, yet she craved to know more of him. While our characters are running, falling in love, Mac saving Charlotte from a grizzly, and generally be-bopping around, there would sometimes be flashbacks and inside a character's head passages. The flashbacks were to tell Mac's backstory, he was an orphan who was adopted by a mentally, physically, and sexually abusive farmer who claimed to be a man of God. They worked to show how and why Mac has become the man he is today. The passages that came from inside a character's head, didn't work as well for me, there was some working out who it was supposed to be in the beginning. The passages would follow a man committing murders from almost a trance or outside himself. The “serial killer” aspect didn't really work for me and that was the only part of the story I felt could come even close to giving this a “horror” tag. One was a cold-blooded murderer that pretended to care about her, or rather took pride in rescuing helpless women in all his heroic ways, then disappearing like a phantom into thin air; and the other---a one-of-a-kind gentleman that any woman would give anything for, yet, carrying a deep secret within him. Charlotte is mostly who we follow but there were numerous povs from other characters to give a wide look at the world. Later in the book, Will's secret becomes known and he has to leave Charlotte to deal with it. Charlotte then meets a bounty hunter on Mac's trail named Levi and our love triangle becomes a square. Will has his own adventure and we then go back and forth showing Charlotte with Levi and Mac. It eventually all comes to ahead with Mac, Charlotte, the obsessed sheriff, and Levi. As this is book one in a series, the ending is not final and Charlotte has more adventures ahead of her. “There lies kindness within your hear, Mac Kinnon. Ya just don't know it yet.” I wouldn't read this for the horror and while there is romance in it, it wouldn't be considered romance genre as the ending doesn't give an HEA or HFN. I lost a lot steam to keep reading the story around page three hundred, was briefly awakened when out of nowhere, inbred hillbillies made an appearance, and then tired of the rinse and repeat of Charlotte feeling drawn to Mac but getting entranced with kisses with first Will and then Levi; the story felt like a drawn out trip to see if Charlotte could hang on to her virginity and/or who she would “give” it to. (view spoiler)[ Charlotte gets rapped by Levi towards the end (hide spoiler)]. There was some interesting story here but the overly descriptive, lyrical prose cloyed it up, Will's character honestly felt like a waste of time, too many character's “soughing” too many times, emotions/characters felt overly immature, and the ending felt more disappointing than emotional (view spoiler)[ Mac dies (hide spoiler)] and didn't really leave me itching to continue Charlotte's story. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 31, 2023
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Feb 12, 2023
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Jan 22, 2023
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0369720326
| 9780369720320
| 0369720326
| 3.88
| 459
| Jun 27, 2023
| Jun 27, 2023
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liked it
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3.3 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review To save the woman he loved, he woul 3.3 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review To save the woman he loved, he would have to give her up. A Rogue at Stonecliffe stars two characters that were introduced in the first of the series, An Affair at Stonecliffe. While you'd be a little lost understanding some family and friendship dynamics, I do think you could jump into the series here. Annabeth and Sloane were two characters that instantly caught my attention when I was reading the first. Annabeth the quieter friend and Sloane the black sheep cousin, and when it was hinted at that these two had a past, I was highly anticipating their book. I was locked into the beginning of this with a prologue that showed these two madly in love, only to have it come to a screeching halt when Sloane is approached by a spymaster for England's foreign office and blackmailed to become a spy and smuggler. Turns out that Annabeth's father has been dealing with his own blackmail and is in danger of being outed as a turncoat, giving English secrets to the French. Sloane, not wanting Annabeth to have to reap the emotional and societal repercussions of having her father revealed as a traitor, breaks off their engagement and leaves to go be a spy in the war. “I didn't lie to you.” His eyes burned into hers, and he moved closer. Twelve years go by and Sloane's looked down in society as a smuggler and traitor to England, so even though the war is over and he's made money, he still stays away from Annabeth. If you read the first, you'll remember that Annabeth finally agreed to become engaged to her childhood friend Nathan when he was on his deathbed. When she starts cleaning out the home her father left her in his will for them to move into after they're married, it stirs up a hornet's nest. Like I said, I loved the beginning of this, with seeing how happy and in love Annabeth and Sloane were to the heartbreaking decision Sloane had to make to not tell Annabeth why he was abruptly leaving her. When these two finally talked after the twelve years separation, you could feel the love and hurt. It was teeth gritting emotion that I anticipated burning up the pages but the story took a little bit of a pivot with concentrating more on the spy mystery. He'd been chasing the wrong villain. Annabeth gets kidnapped with her maid and when Nathan goes to Sloane, thinking he's behind it, it alerts Sloane to the danger Annabeth is now in. Sloane realizes that Annabeth's maid is really an old spy buddy he worked with during the war, Verity. Verity was hired by a P.I. to find a document that was supposedly written by Annabeth's father outing, not only himself as a traitor, but the person that blackmailed him into committing his acts and is a traitor themselves and one the foreign office has been searching for. The plot pulls in the spymaster Sloane and Verity worked for and some of Annabeth's family and friends as they become redherrings, along with Annabeth's grandmother and her not to be messed with pug readers will remember from the first. The mystery plot gets a bit loose with having to search out puzzle boxes Annabeth's father made and hoping the document is in one of them and they begin to travel around sort of searching for them. Really though, it's to deliver the forced proximity for our second chance couple. Was it because she wanted to prove that she could resist Sloane? Or because she wanted to give into the temptation? I thought this couple had the chemistry in the beginning and the potential for amazing explosive emotion to revel in throughout the story and when they were together and focusing on their issues, I did feel pulled back in but the mystery just takes over too much in the second half. It gave the story kind of an uneven pace, heating up when Annabeth and Sloane focus on them and then slowing when the mystery plot dragged out too much with it's going in circles. There was also too much stagnated repetitiveness with some of the relationship, I wanted Annabeth and Sloane to get into it earlier and develop from there instead of saying some of the same stuff over and over. Sloane was not the boy she had loved. But she had the uneasy feeling that she was falling in love with the man he'd become. I did enjoy how Annabeth's character did show some growth, she realizes that she has just been letting other people dictate her life, she didn't fight for Sloane when he first left her. I liked how this had Annabeth taking more agency at the end and fired up her character. I'm not sure I saw the same in Sloane, he has some of that self-righteousness attitude, saying he left and took all the blame when he was trying to protect Annabeth but gets called out on it some when it becomes clear he never truly felt good enough for her and was always waiting for the other shoe to drop in their beginning relationship. I would have liked Sloane to show more actionable want for Annabeth at the end, that we got glimpses of in the beginning. A groan sounded deep in his throat and he turned, setting her on the dresser, sweeping away the objects atop it and sending them tumbling to the floor. The ending reveal of who was behind the traitorous deeds was somewhat predictable but delivered with some last second danger. I was a little disappointed in how quickly and a bit ho-hum, with the oft used, “she almost died!” so now I'm going to go for her declaration of love we got from Sloane at the very end. I wanted a bit more of the beginning's teeth gritting emotion instead of the focus on the spy mystery but I still think this was a couple that people will enjoy reading about. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 02, 2023
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Jul 08, 2023
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Jan 15, 2023
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ebook
| ||||||||||||||
| 0008600481
| 9780008600488
| 0008600481
| 3.68
| 25,950
| Apr 03, 2023
| Apr 11, 2023
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liked it
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2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review The colour palette of death is real 2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review The colour palette of death is really rather pretty. With a little bit of Dexter and Promising Young Woman, How to Kill Men and Get Away with It was a pop culture filled fictional tale of an Instagram influencer murdering men who sexually assault women as a cathartic release. Kitty Collins is the heiress of her family's slaughterhouse business but shuns that legacy as she makes money from posting about her brunches, traveling, and vegan lifestyle on Instagram. The beginning has her commenting on brands and how many followers her friends have, setting her up to appear vacuous. Told all from her point-of-view, there's a definite tint of cynicism and bubbling anger and hurt underneath it all and when a creep follows her home from the bar and winds up dead, her reaction makes it obvious the title isn't just click bait. Perfect boobs. Perfect life. I guess that's my 'brand'. The beginning of this kept me locked in as I was trying to figure Kitty out, was she a Dexter like character that had been warped and shaped by her trauma, an unreliable narrator, or a simple sociopath that reveled in their means and opportunity? The story leads you a couple ways and used certain characters, like a love interest named Charlie that comes in around midway and not revealing an obvious more to the story about Kitty's missing father, to keep the reader never quite certain about some things. It was a little after the halfway mark and ending that I thought the wheels kind of came off and I thought the story lost the plot of what it might have been trying. He cannot know that I'm the hunter here. He needs to believe he's in control. Bringing Charlie in, did bring out a different layer of Kitty and I think probably humanized her to readers that were less willing to go along with the macabre farce of Kitty's extracurricular activities but I think he ultimately ended up falling flat after a couple late ending reveals. There was also a later sexual scene that had him questioning if they got hot over some sexual assault stories that didn't land right for me, not hitting the mark of early dark humor that worked. I also thought the stalker messaging Kitty throughout the story had a very wheels fell off reveal and ending. Sexual assault is a tough one to approach with dark humor and while I thought the beginning got it, the ending went south (what was with having a late, quick, oh the character lied about her assault??). There's an unspoken rule between us that we don't talk about The Thing. Talking could crack the veneer. This took place in London and had a ton of pop culture references, as an American I still understood the majority but there were a few that went on by me; the contemporary additives feel like this story is going to get dated very quickly. You'll also have to go along with the supposed to be dark humor and not question how things like cellphone GPS doesn't apparently exist in this world and Kitty has been able to get away with her side gig. I liked the first half with it's ghoulish poking humor but the second half's tone didn't land right and some of the reveals had the plot's wheels falling off. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 18, 2023
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Jun 30, 2023
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Dec 17, 2022
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Paperback
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| 0008512612
| 9780008512613
| 0008512612
| 3.74
| 398
| Dec 08, 2022
| Mar 28, 2023
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it was ok
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I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. The sprawling Kazan Cathedral, the symbol o I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. The sprawling Kazan Cathedral, the symbol of Russia’s victory over Napoleon, of freedom and sacrifice, of bravery and spirit, sported a red revolutionary flag. Count Dmitry Orlov is throwing his Countess Sophia Orlova a lavish twenty-third birthday party but it's March of 1917 in Petrograd and the only people who show up are the Bolsheviks. Arrogance kept Dmitry from leaving the city when Sophia wanted to leave with their friends and now their home is being ransacked and the men surrounding them are calling for their blood. Before Sophia is struck down, a man enters and with his authority he saves them. Nikolai, Dmitry's younger banished brother because of his ideals, is a Bolshevik and manages to keep them alive in the home that isn't their own anymore. However, revolutions are never easy and Russia is not done with her turmoil, as the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and Imperial Army all vie for power, Sophia, Dmitry, and Nikolai are all tossed around by the winds of fate and love. Her crime was having everything while they had nothing, having been born into luxury while their whole lives they had struggled to put bread on the table. Told from Sophia's point-of-view, this hit some of the big moments and followed along the broad strokes of the revolution during 1917-18. Sophia was younger and previously very privileged, as the story goes on, reader's get to know Sophia and see that ennui was starting to creep into her life and she wanted to care more about things other than balls and jewels. She had worked as a nurse and helped Russian soldiers coming home injured from World War I, so she has some taste of the outside world. It seemed pretty instant her attraction to Nikolai (there are a lot of “twinkling” eyes in this) and what pulls her to him is his caring and passion for something that seems big and important. Dmitry seems to only care about his cigars and keeping up appearances, so when Nikolai talks about his vision for the new Russia, he seems more interesting and her attraction to her brother-in-law grows. ‘Tsar Nicholas abdicated in favour of his brother, who refused the throne and surrendered the power to the Provisional Government. As of today, there is a new order in Russia.’ The danger of the revolution and the forbidden love developing sets the story up for some great emotional dramatics but Nikolai never developed beyond a good-looking guy who writes speeches and while the historical events and people are mentioned and Sophia has to run and sometimes interacts with them, I never completely felt the depth of it all. The story and characters read like New Adult historical fiction to me, not quite delivering the emotional depth for me. Sophia likes that Nikolai cares about something important but it's more from a fangirl pov, she doesn't necessarily agree, disagree, or thinking deeply about it all and Nikolai seems to just travel around saving her at moments and write speeches; we never see what he is doing for the Bolsheviks. The romance between the two was pretty weak for me. The newly established regime saw danger everywhere. And it endeavoured to eliminate this danger at all cost. The story did have Sophia traveling from Petrograd, to Kislovodsk, and then to Tambievskii in the mountains to be with the Cossacks and we get a glimpse of Andrei Shkuro. With the war, we of course get the drama of her trying to hide her feelings for Nikolai from Dmitry and her bestfriend Regina. Regina develops a liking for Nikolai too and is convinced he is going to ask her to marry him. For a long time, the reader isn't sure if Regina is making something up in her own mind or if Sophia's feelings are one-sided. It's around the half-way point that Nikolai makes his feelings known but then he's captured as the Mensheviks are taking power and his fate becomes unknown to Sophia for a while. He was her husband’s brother. The second half has things deteriorating between Sophia and Dmitry and it becomes harder for her to hide her feelings for Nikolai. The last twenty percent hurried along with betrayals, seemingly betrayals, and Sophia finally making a choice. The chaotic and dangerous atmosphere of Russia at this time was felt, all the running from city to city, Nikolai getting arrested and then Dmitry and Sophia getting arrested, the changing regimes in power but the romance between Sophia and Nikolai felt like teenagers in the throes of hormonal first love, which didn't really fit with the real life dangerous times. The epilogue also didn't fit for me as it was from Dmitry's point-of-view and while it gave an update on how things worked out for Sophia, the tone of it didn't work as the story had previously been all from Sophia. This had some interesting moments but the overall mood felt more like, easier, on the surface New Adult historical fiction. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 26, 2023
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Mar 04, 2023
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Dec 17, 2022
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| B09Y45YJJ6
| 3.92
| 27,388
| Feb 28, 2023
| Feb 28, 2023
|
liked it
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*Ugh, accidentally deleted original review, so repost I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my r *Ugh, accidentally deleted original review, so repost I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Hazel was almost entirely alone at Hawthornden Castle. Immortality is the sequel to Anatomy and I highly suggest that you read the first in this duology before picking up this one. In the first, we were introduced to late teenagers Hazel and Jack. Hazel comes from a titled family, however, her older brother died from Roman Fever sending her mother into perpetual grief and her father is off guarding Napoleon. Hazel wanted to be a surgeon, so she dressed as a boy to get into the Anatomists school and from there she meets Jack, a resurrection man and Dr. Beecham. The first ends with Jack getting hung for being judged guilty of being the Kirkland Killer and Dr. Beecham disappearing after he gives Hazel a tincture that he claims if drunk, makes you immortal. Hazel gave the tincture to Jack but readers were left with only an unsigned letter saying: “Come find me in America.” The envelope was thick and blood red, and sealed with red wax stamped in the shape of a human brain. It was addressed, in red ink almost invisible on the envelope but for the way it glistened in the candlelight. Her name was on the front of the envelope, written in perfect script: Miss Hazel Sinnett. This one starts readers off with a jump back in the past to 1794 Paris and the famous chemists Antoine and Marie-Anne Lavoisier. Antoine is being lead to the guillotine and Marie-Anne is surging forward to give him a tincture. This was a good little insight to the origins of the tincture before we jump back to the present of 1818 in Edinburgh and see how Hazel is doing after Jack's hanging and breaking off her engagement with her cousin. Although Hazel never took the doctor's exam, she's thought of as a surgeon and people, rich and poor, go to her for ailments. She's a curiosity barely clinging to propriety. When a woman comes to her after trying to abort her baby, Hazel's maid warns her she's putting herself in danger but Hazel brushes her off. This first half has us seeing Hazel mourning Jack, not certain if that one sentence letter was from him and getting imprisoned under the charge of helping a woman with abortion. She felt guilty, as if she had betrayed Jack by kissing Simon, and betrayed him again by enjoying her kiss with Simon so much. In Calton Gaol, Hazel spends a few weeks realizing the consequences of chasing her dream of being a surgeon, losing friends and family. After a sham of a trial and found guilty, Hazel is thinking she is being lead out to her hanging but instead a carriage is waiting for her. It turns out that Princess Charlotte has some mysterious disease and the Prince Regent has sent for Hazel thinking Charlotte will let a female surgeon near her. The story then moves to London and we get Hazel trying to treat the princess, starting a friendship, that maybe could be more, with the King's personal doctor Simon von Ferris, and the introduction of the secret society, Companions to the Death. The princess' illness was obviously to get Hazel to London and the secret society. At first, it was pretty wishy-washy with Hazel and the princess, it takes a while for the princess to even allow Hazel in the room with her and until the later second half, this thread was more to the side. The Companions to the Death was a intriguing addition and I wish we could have spent more time there. In a sort of Death Becomes Her thread, Hazel is introduced to the society that includes the likes of the Lavoisiers, Lord Bryon, and Voltaire. They're all missing their pinky and claim to be immortal. After someone gets shot and Hazel sees how their body responds, she believes them and after seeing her skill as a surgeon, they want her to drink the tincture and join their ranks. However, like Bruce Willis, Hazel doesn't want eternal life and she becomes an honorary member. Jack Currer, the boy Hazel had loved and lost, made eye contact from across the room. With the fleshing out of the immortality thread starting in the first, there was a little political talk/atmosphere of the day with the mad King George and the people pinning their hopes on Princess Charlotte. This political atmosphere gets tied in with the Companions to the Death but I can't say if was fully, clearly done and felt somewhat rushed cobbled together at the end. What I know a lot of readers are waiting for, at around 60%, yes, Jack makes an appearance. We get a flashback from Jack's point-of-view and learn what happened to him. There's some hurt from Hazel about him not contacting her, Jack thinking they had no future, and some questioning of what Hazel wants out of life as Simon and Jack both seem like roads she could travel. “My heart is yours,” he said. “Beating or still.” This had more of those Gothic feeling tones of the first and leaning towards gruesome with some of the ailments Hazel treats, some political messaging, deciding what matters to you most in life, and some late danger and heroics. There were some meandering moments that I thought could have been edited for expediency and the storytelling didn't feel as tight as it could of but Hazel and Jack got an ending I think readers will be happy with. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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not set
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Nov 12, 2022
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| 9781538725597
| B09V2N9ZFR
| 3.81
| 4,130
| Mar 28, 2023
| Mar 28, 2023
|
it was ok
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2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. “A friend? I don’t believe a duke 2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. “A friend? I don’t believe a duke can ever be friends with an impecunious spinster, Your Grace.” Third in the Ladies Most Scandalous series, this stars two characters that were introduced in the previous two books. An assistant to the other books heroines, Flora, and Duke of Langham, a friend to the other two heroes. Right away we learn that Flora is actually Poppy Delamare and she is on her way back home, the home she ran away from two years ago and changed her name to avoid a betrothal that her step-father had engaged her in. Poppy read in the paper that her step-sister Violet has been accused of murder, the murder of her husband and the man Poppy was supposed to marry. Feeling guilty that Violet had to marry the man in her place, Poppy wants to save Violet and prove that she didn't commit the murder. At the train station, she gets pick-pocketed and trying to chase the man down, runs into Langham, a man she's had a contentious relationship with. After losing her money, Langham, on the way home to his grandmother's birthday party, decides to help Poppy with the murder investigation, if she'll pose as his fiancee, saving him from the debutantes he knows his grandmother invited to her party. One of the reasons he was so amused by Miss Deaver, he realized, was that she didn’t treat him like he pissed gold. She gave him a hard time of it, and it was refreshing. I started the series here and didn't have a problem, there's obvious some emotional groundwork done already between Poppy and Langham in the previous two books but their courting and friendship is done here. Their situation is set-up in the first ten percent with them sharing confidences of how they're in the situations they need help in, basically the cards are on the table. This leaves room and time for them to simply be their true selves in each other's company. I liked this and thought this had the general tone of a Grace Burrowes, sweet babbling brook tone and pace, but I thought the murder mystery would have them actively Sherlock-ing more than they were. It took until around forty percent before the case actually gets going and we start to get sides of story of what happened and a couple clues in the tellings. Poppy's sister Violet is being kept away or disappeared for a lot of the story to keep some of the true story of what happened to her husband in the dark and there were some interesting red-herrings but I was missing Poppy and Langham more actively searching for clues. We do get one big scene of them trapped in cave and a, close to gruesome, danger element from a Lucifer's Society (think Hellfire Club) that could be involved in the murder. This arrangement with the duke wasn’t a game; it was a necessity for gaining her sister’s freedom, and she would do well to remember it. Our leads were given plot elements of family issues, Langham not as close to his younger brother as he'd like and Poppy's dislike of her step-father and how that affects her relationship with her mother and the obvious worry over her sister Violet but they didn't spend enough time with those characters or flesh out the issues to give those elements depth and thus, add layers to the characters for me. Poppy and Langham also had a more sweet friendship to growing love relationship for the majority of the story, so when they had their open (cave) door sex scene I didn't feel the passion between them as much as I would have liked; it felt a bit abrupt after how physically calm things were between them prior. There were, he realized suddenly, few things he wouldn’t do in order to make Poppy happy. The later last bit ramps things up with Violet appearing and revealing some information that eliminates and shines a brighter spotlight on some characters in regards to their guiltiness. We also get the previous two main couples making an appearance that I'm sure series readers will enjoy and a danger scene that has both Poppy and Langham realizing that time is too short not to go for the one you love. I thought the story took a while to get going, I wanted more Sherlock-ing, and the characters and elements had kind of a nothing new here feel but the friendship tone between Poppy and Langham was sweet. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 20, 2022
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Jan 19, 2023
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Oct 15, 2022
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ebook
| |||||||||||||||
| 1728248787
| 9781728248783
| 1728248787
| 4.35
| 387
| unknown
| Jan 10, 2023
|
liked it
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2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. There was no way out. They were tra 2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. There was no way out. They were trapped. A paranormal series about werewolves that work for the Houston SWAT team, The Wolf is Mine gives us Officer Connor Malone and Kat Davenport's romance. I'm new to the series and while I was surprised at how easy it was to pick up here, I think I did miss some world-building regarding the supernatural aspects of being a werewolf. There's obviously a wide cast of characters, this is book thirteen in the series, but I never felt overwhelmed with some issues and moments looking at past couples. This starts off, I imagine, right where the last book ended, with a couple from the pack missing and Connor and a few other pack members going to look for them. Paranormal can be fun with it's wild aspects and we definitely get that here with Kat, literally, having been a cat adopted by Connor and the pack after coming up to them at a scene they were working nine months ago. Kat is a witch who has been binded as a familiar by a power hungry warlock, Marko, after he killed her whole coven and only changes back to a human for fourteen days out of the year. When her change is coming up, she doesn't want Connor to see and leaves for three days. Magic simply existed. It wasn’t good or evil. But the people who used magic could sure as hell be good or evil. Kat's story gets intertwined with Connor and the pack's as Marko is responsible for the missing pack couple and a string of teenager kidnappings they have also been working. When Kat turns back into a human, she decides it's time to tell Connor the truth and suddenly she's saving him and other pack members with magic, revealing that she was the cat all along and a witch. The falling in love here was very rushed, it could make sense from Kat's point-of-view, she had her human mind in her cat body, so every time Connor was sweet to her and her falling asleep on his chest every night, gave her time and substance to fall in love with him, I found the speed of Connor falling in love with her less so. For the nine months, Connor has only saw her as a cat (I tried not to keep thinking about him cleaning her litter box, lol), so in a few days, this story takes place over fourteen days, when he's claiming she's his soulmate, I can't say I felt it. There was talk of The One for werewolves, so maybe I'm missing some previous paranormal world-building here but just using The One felt like a cop-out for putting in the work to give us the emotional building blocks to their romance. Taking a few careful steps forward, Kat threw herself into his arms, dragged his head down, and captured his lips with hers. The battling between the werewolves and witches and warlocks filled this with a good amount of action scenes. The scenes at times had cool descriptions, werewolves claws coming out, the magic creating sims monsters (magical stones in the middle of debris built up monsters) that provided some details that created visually dazzling scenes in my mind. There was also a lot of, what I call, tv show Supernatural-ish scenes of Connor and the others just being hit in the chest with magical blows that sent them flying off their feet over and over again, making you wonder if Marko and his coven are so powerful, why don't they do more than just throw them around? She refused to let the man she loved get hurt. By half-way through, Kat and Connor both consider each other soulmates and it's really just about the skirmishes they have with Marko and his witches and warlocks working for him as they kidnap kids and putting together Marko's final plan. Connor's sister Jenna shows up and we get some backstory about how when he was younger his sisters went missing for a time and only Jenna was found, she couldn't remember what happened to her older sister Hannah but talked about monsters, causing no one to believer her and call her crazy. It's a storyline that I thought might be incorporated with Marko but it looks like it was all set-up to bring Jenna and, who I'm pretty sure is going to be her love interest, Connor's packmate Trevor together. The ending gives us a final action scene and then a wrap-up with more than one happily after. I missed some supernatural world-building, both of the werewolves and witches, it seemed like witches and magic were new to the werewolves by how they reacted when Kat revealed herself and when she used her magic but then later in the story a character called Davina who was a witch who worked with the SWAT team occasionally gets called in to help them, so they knew about witches already, I'm not sure that all made sense to me. I enjoyed the action scenes but there wasn't enough to the falling in love for me. Even though I was new to the world, I had fun jumping in here and I'm sure readers of the series will enjoy the reveal of the SWAT team's cat being a human Kat. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 19, 2023
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Jan 31, 2023
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Oct 06, 2022
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Mass Market Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 4.47
| 177,341
| Oct 19, 2021
| Oct 19, 2021
|
really liked it
|
3.5 stars Roped me in with the fantasy world in the beginning, started to lose me in the middle with every stupid time Sera put herself in obvious dang 3.5 stars Roped me in with the fantasy world in the beginning, started to lose me in the middle with every stupid time Sera put herself in obvious danger, recaptured my attention with those scorching sex scenes, and then pulled me back in with those reveals that will make the series. Probably needs a little more filling out of the outside fantasy world Does it feel like their talking slips into too casual for a fantasy world setting? Sera needs to stop being purposefully TSTL so Ash can smoke in to save the day Felt a little stretched out in the middle Ok, I looked to see how long the series is, 4 books at 600 pgs each???? Y'all. Who rec'd this book to me? I just want to talk. I'll probably read the next in the series, because I do feel interested after those revealed plot points but for friends that have read this series, is there really enough story here for 600 pgs in each book? I don't want to dragged through endless filler. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 28, 2024
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Jun 06, 2024
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Oct 05, 2022
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Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||||
| 1250857430
| 9781250857439
| 1250857430
| 4.19
| 513,143
| Apr 04, 2023
| Apr 04, 2023
|
it was ok
|
I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Two centuries ago, the Skyward and Underlings I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Two centuries ago, the Skyward and Underlings Gods had been defeated and buried but the underling god, Dacre, mysteriously awakened seven months ago and now there's a war between him and another awakened god, the Skyward Enva. Enva's music calls people to war for her and Iris Winnow's brother Forest has heard the call. He makes her promise to stay in school and says he'll be back in a few months when the war is won but after months of not hearing from him, Iris is worried. She's also had to drop out of school, try and take care of her alcoholic mother, and battle for the promotion at the Oath Gazette where she's worked for three months. Roman Kitt comes from privilege but Iris still can't help being drawn to him. As their rivalry has them clashing and bonding, the war on the horizon gets all too real. She unfolded and read the letter. She felt her breath catch. This isn’t Forest. Divine Rivals is the first in series about war, gods, and love. This didn't have quite the explanation or world-building that I was looking for in it's fantasy aspects. I think this was due in part to keeping some mystery, why the gods awakened and the true story of Dacre and Enva has obviously been held back to stretch into a series and the development of the romance between Iris and Roman was more of the focus here. I felt the romance was a little weak, there's a lot of dragged out high emotion, that probably does fit the YA tag, but not a lot of relationship substance to hold onto. I also felt that the second half had this edging more into New Adult, Iris is eighteen and Roman nineteen, with their thoughts and actions and a sex scene; wasn't graphic, more “skin-to-skin” and “luminous” talk. He deserved this, though. It was his fault that he was his father’s sole heir. He deserved to be miserable. The time period felt World War I-ish, trams, typewriters, slicked back hair, and braces and piggy-backed on that known atmosphere of war breaking out and how it was real for the countries involved but felt so far away to other countries and they weren't concerned. With Iris and Roman working at a newspaper, there was some good connection to how propaganda works and why papers print and don't print what they do. With Iris feeling frustrated at the paper and wanting to discover what has happened to her brother, it set her up nicely to become a war correspondent and bring her and the reader to the action at the front lines. In the first half, the only fantasy we really get is talk of the gods, a magical grocery store, and the magic behind Iris typing out a letter that she wishes she could send to her brother Forest, sticking it in her closet, having it mysteriously disappear, and someone writing her a letter back. I'm sure it's not a big mystery who is getting the letter and writing back. Magic, wanting to escape from an engagement his father set-up, and missing Iris, Roman takes the steps to join Iris at the front. He would always be grateful for his decision that night, not so long ago. The night when he decided to write her back. The second half moved faster with some action, we get to meet some other secondary characters, Dacre's monsters make appearances, and we get Iris and Roman living through some trench warfare. The latter second half has Iris finding out who was writing her, her correspondent knew the whole time, working through those feelings, and then the last twenty percent has Iris and Roman making a commitment. The ending also has Dacre showing up, along with someone from Iris' past, and we get Iris and Roman separated to have to find each other in the next book. The brief myth we got of the five gods sounds interesting but there just wasn't enough invested in the fantasy elements in this to necessarily make me want to read the second, the same with the romance between Iris and Roman. Enva and Dacre had a very Persephone and Hades vibe but, again, they didn't really show up. This basically had the dragged out to stretch into a series slowness and even though I have questions, I'm not sure my attention was grabbed enough to want answers. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 19, 2023
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Jan 25, 2023
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Sep 27, 2022
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Hardcover
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| 0063291703
| 9780063291706
| 0063291703
| 3.91
| 3,232
| Oct 25, 2022
| Oct 25, 2022
|
really liked it
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3.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. The Western Court Queen is dead. T 3.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. The Western Court Queen is dead. Third in the Five Crowns of Okrith series, The Rogue Crown, follows Briata Catullus as she travels to the Western Court after being called for help by her friend and casual lover Delta. Delta is the Captain of the Queen's Guard and has been injured after a fatal attack on the Queen. Delta wants Bri to help find out who orchestrated the attack and protect the heir, Princess Abalina. I know third in a fantasy series can seem like an intimating place to start and I was nervous but the author smoothly incorporated details of the world and character relationships that didn't use info dumping but worked to catch me up and place me in the world. New readers could start here but as I enjoyed this one so much, I'm definitely going back to the beginning and reading how this all started. The Eagle will seize the crown from its sovereign. After reading and gaining a foothold in this story, one of the aspects I found myself getting excited about is how this series seems to be laid out overall. The five crowns series title calls out the five courts that make up Okrith. The High Mountain Court (book 1 – Remy and Hale), Northern Court (2 – Rua and Renwick), Western Court (3 – Bri and Lina), Southern Court (possible 4 with possible Talhan and Neelo), and Eastern Court (possible 5 with possible Carys and ?). I've been dying for an adult fantasy romance series that is laid out like this, each individual book focuses on a main couple but the books link together through a continuous story thread. From what I can gather from starting in book 3, a Northern King fell leaving all five courts in disarray and each court is trying to stabilize while one of our main villains, Augustus Norwood is trying to get any and all crowns he can. It's a fantasy world of witches (their different colored magic signifies what kind of witch they are, healer, gardener, seer, etc.), fae, and humans set in a Medieval-ish time. And since this is fantasy, we've got to have our prophecies. When Bri was born with her twin brother Talhan, it was prophesied that the “Eagle will seize the crown”. This freaked out the Western Queen, Bri's birthplace, and the Queen banished Bri's family, making Bri's mother extremely bitter and for the rest of Bri's life trying to shape her into someone who would eventually destroy the Western Queen and return her family to glory in the West. They were hunting masked assassins and a deranged prince with violet witch magic. The first half of this definitely leaned more into the fantasy and setting up the micro singular book issue of Bri trying to fret out who the witch hunters in the lion masks were that attacked and killed the Western Queen with some kind of violet poison and guarding Lina. The macro issue being the overall series thread of Norwood's villainy hovering around and if he's connected to the Queen's death. There's credible red-herrings with secondary characters, possible jilted wife, the head brown witch healer, council members, fiancé, guards, and Norwood for Bri to investigate. Of course, we also get the romance sparking up as Bri has to guard Lina and it starts off as a slow burn. I thought the investigation sputtered around some as there was a good amount of other minor story threads going around, Lina being a sort of Robin Hood (did we really need this?), and I wish the investigation plot could have been focused on with more concrete action. When the search for answers takes them to a library in the Southern Court, I really felt the sputtering as the pace slowed some but in this second half the romance heats up and we get open door (in the stables! in the library!) payoff to that slow burn. “I wish you didn't make it so hard to hate you.” “I wish you'd stop hating me,” Bri countered, her eyes dropping to Lina's parted, breathless lips. The later second half brings in Bri's brother and friends that were in the previous books and we get a gang is all together again that I'm sure series readers will enjoy; it made this newbie want to immediately read Remy and Hale's book. Bri and Lina have their late act angst breakup and then we get some battle scenes that I was waiting for in an otherwise more quiet story. Not having read the previous books, I'm not sure if they were more battle/action heavy and this book's tone would be a welcome calm reprieve in the series overall, or if they're all more toned quietly. For a fantasy story, I was expecting more battle action and while there were some action skirmishes, I can see some finding this too quiet for a book that has a battleaxe on the cover. I'll be curious when I go back to read the previous books how this fits into the series. “Isn't it obvious? You've seen that purple smoke.” His eyebrows lifted as he flashed an unsettling grin. “The violet witches are back.” I thought the ending reveal of this story's villain was a bit too fast, I like to savor moments that have been the story's main lead-up, but fit into the overall series thread. It connected the hovering Norwood while also bringing in some answers about the violet witches that have been thought long dead. There was also a great lead-in to, what I think is going to be book 4, concerning Bri's brother Talhan and the heir to the Southern Court. “Why are the best things the ones we're too afraid to get right?” There was repeated usage of “smirked” and “snickered” in the beginning that was almost starting to drive me crazy but, thankfully, died off deeper in the book, so hang on if that bothers you. The first half leaned more fantasy and the second half delivered on the promise of the slow burn between Bri and Lina. I wish there could have been more balance between the two elements of fantasy and romance throughout, instead of the halved feeling but I greatly enjoyed their story and the overall series world-building. It's not urban fantasy but I can see the cross-over love from Ilona Andrews' fans to this sword and sorcery fantasy series. Each book delivering a romance while the series follows a continuing world-building and story thread, sign me up. “I don't care what the Fates whisper; all I hear is your name.” ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 18, 2022
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Oct 21, 2022
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Sep 20, 2022
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1728257441
| 9781728257440
| 1728257441
| 3.10
| 3,959
| Oct 04, 2022
| Oct 04, 2022
|
it was ok
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I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I'm sorry, but how is it even possible that I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I'm sorry, but how is it even possible that I'm absolutely jonesing for a big, tall glass of A positive? When Lily wakes up after having slept through the day, craving blood, no reflection in the mirror, and no memory of what happened after she went out with her bestfriend Cat, they both can only think, vampire. When Cat takes her to a blood bank that she volunteers at to feed, Lily gets her memory back from the energy the blood gives her. Suddenly Lily's dealing with being one of the undead, a 400 year old hottie that acts like he likes her, and a Grand Master of the North American Vampire Council wanting to exact revenge on her. He moves closer, getting in my face. “Why do you insist on being the prickly heroine who pushes everyone away? Told all from Lily's point-of-view and in a stream of conscious that felt chaotic and uneven, Lily worries more about her weight than being turned into a vampire, this didn't quite capture me into the story. We get the flashback of Lily meeting Tristan in a bar and then when he walks her home, he thinks he's using his Influence on her and starts to drink from her neck. Lily, aware of what is happening, decides to bite him back and accidentally performs the ceremony needed to change her into a vampire. She runs from Tristan, goes to Cat the next night and then Tristan catches back up with her to give her some information. It's against the vampire council rules to create a “newborn” without their say so and the Grand Master, Gideon, just so happens to be Tristan's enemy, so it's on with Gideon hunting them to kill them both. Tristan Newberry bit me two nights ago. But when, exactly, did he start getting under my skin? For being the male main character and the whole catalyst for what happens and changes Lily's life, Tristan actually felt like a nonentity for a lot of the story. The story being from Lily's pov didn't help getting to know him, we don't get a lot about him or his past, and the way his character didn't really do much had him feeling barely sketched out. After Lily drinks from him, which causes insatiable desire and has them having a bedroom scene around the 65% mark, Lily also learns from Tristan's blood that he had a great love that died. Since Lily has strong insecurities stemming from her weight, she just can't believe Tristan loves her and has her constantly pushing or running from him. Maybe I like him...a little. Gideon hunting Lily and Tristan consisted of two threatening notes to Lily and then kidnapping her mother, Gideon was a pretty off to the side villain. We got a little world-building with Tristan explaining the vampire council and then how when a newborn is created a vampire slayer is automatically made, usually the newborn's nemesis in someway. Lily's nemesis was a work colleague and he makes a small appearance to bring in some danger and a little secondary romance with Cat. Maybe my power was there all along. And I just needed to embrace it. The last 15% has the big showdown between Gideon, Lily and Tristan. It was an ok battle scene but since Gideon was off screen so much, I'm not sure I really felt the stakes. Lily's mom has a 180 degree character change, she'd been big in fat shaming Lily all her life and even reveals the big secret about Lily's father. I really never felt the emotional development between Lily and Tristan, he's hot and Lily thinks he does caring things here and there between being too protective and Tristan says here and there that he likes Lily. Since I didn't feel there was substance between them, I didn't believe in the I love yous that were thrown out in the end and this couple ended up feeling pretty meh. Lily does bring up her insecurities repeatedly throughout the book and the nonchalant way she took becoming a vampire, her personal weight issues more on her mind at times than becoming undead, just didn't personally jive with me. The tone is supposed to feel fast paced and frivolous but it felt off and chaotic in a way to me that just didn't have the story landing with me. For the first time, I see that I am so much more. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 20, 2022
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Nov 29, 2022
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Sep 07, 2022
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0735269068
| 9780735269064
| 0735269068
| 3.75
| 558
| Aug 31, 2021
| Aug 31, 2021
|
liked it
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2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. But I had a bad habit of getting l 2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. But I had a bad habit of getting lost in my imagination. Sometimes it got me into trouble. Alice is twelve years old when her parents have drifted so far apart that her mother decides that her father will never put his family ahead of his work. As a nurse that works on contract, Alice's mother decides to take a job that will have her and Alice staying with an elder lady who has just broken her leg and will take care of her until it heals. Alice already has an overactive imagination, so when the residence they are staying at turns to be a turn of the century Victorian house that comes equipped with secret passages and, possibly, ghosts, she starts to question her reality. The ghost bed. The ghost girl. Now I was sure. It wasn't a nightmare. The Dollhouse was a young adult story that started off acknowledging the story's point-of-view was from an unreliable narrator, Alice. Readers are given multiple examples of how Alice spun instances out of control, her mother being late home one night has Alice thinking she died in a car cash and imagining her father dating and marrying a woman who hates Alice. So, when Alice arrives at the Victorian house, readers aren't sure if they should trust how Alice is “seeing” circumstances and events, thus, giving the story a mystery, thriller, and spooky feel without having to give truly scary moments for younger readers. There was nothing else there except---a dollhouse. On the way to the house, Alice and her mother take a train and when the train makes an abrupt stop, Alice hits her head hard. She starts to think there was a big train accident and even though her mother tells her she just bumped her head, the question of was there a dangerous accident, floats through the story. Is Alice trying to be a unreliable narrator, is her concussion playing a part in her foggy mind, or is there something supernatural going on that ties into the house they're staying at? Things pick up pretty quick as on the first night Alice stays at the house, she wakes up to a girl in her bed, thinking she is a ghost, she of course freaks out but her mother and the older woman, work to convince her it was a just a dream. A secondary character that plays a big part is the housekeeper's daughter, an intellectual disabled girl named Lily. Lily claims to see the ghost girl too and the two end up playing off each other. When they discover an exact replica dollhouse of the Victorian home in the attic, things start to feel like they are spinning out of control when they notice that wherever and however they dress the dolls, affects how Alice sees the ghost girl and her sister when she visits them when she falls asleep. The story had a little bit of The Others and Last Night in Soho movies. I thought the addition of Alice's parents divorce felt shoehorned in at times but it had it's moments of playing into the theme of don't keep your emotions locked away; a theme I'm not sure middle-schoolers would completely get. This would be a fun book for a parent to share with their child for the Halloween season and discuss the issues and keep each other guessing if Alice is getting lost to her imagination or if something supernatural is going on. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 27, 2022
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Nov 05, 2022
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Aug 28, 2022
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Hardcover
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| 9780062878410
| B07H551RBH
| 4.24
| 23,690
| Nov 06, 2018
| Nov 06, 2018
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liked it
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None
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Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jan 2022
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Aug 17, 2022
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Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
| 0062878409
| 9780062878403
| B09MDB1DLT
| 4.43
| 17,477
| Aug 23, 2022
| Aug 23, 2022
|
really liked it
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I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. He would ne I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. He would never let us alone. Catalina, Alessandro, and the Baylor family have battled and defeated all the enemies that have come for them, but there has always been one still lurking in the shadows ready to attack, Arkan. Once a Russian Imperium agent, Arkan killed Alessandro's father and stole a sample of the forbidden Osiris serum. If you've read the previous two books, Sapphire Flames and Emerald Blaze, which I highly recommend you do as these three books make up the mini-series of Catalina and Alessandro in the overreaching Hidden Legacy series, Arkan has been a villain lingering in the shadows and testing the waters for when he should come for the Baylors and Alessandro. In Ruby Fever he makes his move while also disabling one of Catalina's best assets, Linus. A trail of dark blood stretched from his nose, staining his lips and his shirt. His eyes were shut. He looked dead. In the previous book, I missed more of the Baylor family dynamics as some of the character relationships were pushed to the side in favor of battle scenes. I think this one got the balance more right, as we get action but heartfelt emotion with the danger and reveals. Catalina finds Linus catatonic in his home after he injected himself with styxine to protect his mind from a powerful mental mage, this corresponds with the murder of the Speaker of Texas State Assembly, our old friend Xavier (Diamond Fire) showing back for some revenge, and a Prince Konstantin Berezin, the Russian Emperor's nephew, swanning in claiming to help but also having his own agenda. Catalina has the who and why of Linus' attack fairly early, around 20%, but she doesn't have the how, which as the now acting Deputy Warden of Texas because of Linus' state, she needs in order to act. “Linus was betrayed,” Alessandro said. There were the usual many moving parts and battle scenes but the human connections I felt were missing some in the second got more life and I thought helped me stay emotionally connected to the story more. I still think Catalina and Alessandro's romance sits passenger seat to the driving action, fantasy, and suspense but we get more of Alessandro's background here, and another fiancée that his grandfather “sold” him to, and that helped flush out his character and make him feel more dimensional and layered, thus, more interesting. We also get the heavily hinted reveal of how much more of a part Linus plays in the Baylor sister's lives and Evil Grandmother Victoria gets a strong appearance, and dare I say, gets a somewhat, tiny, little redemption arc. I put my fingers into his and we slipped from the table into the night. The ending finally brings in Arkan, I wish we could have gotten more scenes of him because he felt too much of a distant character for how important of a big baddie he was supposed to be, and we get the usual ending Big Battle Scene. It takes all the Baylors and the assorted friends to try and win the day. It was good and delivered on some great magical fantasy scenes with Catalina and Alessandro using some newly discovered powers and infused just enough tense moments to make readers fear for some of their favorite characters. The epilogue gave us Arabella's voice and that seems like the clear path for where the overreaching Hidden Legacy series could go as Catalina and Alessandro have defeated their main enemies and are off for a deserved vacation. There's still a lot of characters and side plots to wonder about, Linus seems to have made a deal with someone, was it with Russian royalty or Record Keepers? Does the deal involve Arabella and Prince Konstantin, Prince Mihail, or mysteriously powerful record keeper Michael? The Hidden Legacy fantasy world is vast and ever growing with plot threads and I would love to see the last Baylor sister Arabella get her happily ever after, of course, after a battle or two. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 17, 2022
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Aug 22, 2022
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Aug 12, 2022
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 0062878360
| 9780062878366
| 0062878360
| 4.46
| 25,624
| Aug 25, 2020
| Aug 25, 2020
|
liked it
|
2.7 stars I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. “ 2.7 stars I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. “One of these fuckers killed my boy,” he told me in a hoarse whisper loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. “You find which one of them did it.” Emerald Blaze continues the focus on Catalina Baylor in the overall urban fantasy world of the Hidden Legacy series. Continued readers will know that Catalina is a Prime and the Head of House Baylor while also being the Deputy Warden of Texas. Catalina's power is a siren, her singing can lure beings to do her bidding but is a double edged sword as it can also make them deadly obsessed with her. While her love interest Alessandro, an antistasi Prime, one of the most powerful, with the power to conjure a copy of any weapon within a certain amount of distant to him, shows up earlier in this story, their romance still took a backseat to the action and political maneuverings. Sometimes I felt like a spider who'd spun a web across a bottomless drop. My family was walking across, balancing on hair-thin strands, and it was my job to keep them from falling. Like the first, Catalina and Alessandro must work together again to solve and stop murders and villainous beings. Linus, the Warden of Texas and a possible closer connection to Catalina than she realizes, assigns Catalina the task of finding out who murdered Felix, a man on the board of five who are working to clean up the Pit. The Pit is a section of Houston that was abandoned after Hurricane Ike destroyed it years ago. Sapphire Flames left off with Alessandro leaving to continue his search and revenge on an assassin named Arkan, the man who killed his father, but he suddenly shows up at a business meeting Catalina has with the remaining four board members and suspects of Felix's murder. Turns out that Felix's father hired Alessandro to find Felix's murderer and kill them. It works to bring Catalina and Alessandro together and set them off on another mystery solving adventure. “Catalina,” he repeated. His voice told me he wasn't going to budge on that point. “I'm sorry I hurt you.” I started late in the series, and thus world-building, so while I get the general aspects of the fantasy elements, I'm can still get a little lost. This story focused a lot on the weapons, magical beings, and battles. Through their investigation, they learn that The Pit has creatures they've never seen before, some called constructs that were made and some that possibly came from the arcane realm. The biggest issue is the constructs and the main monster that Catalina calls the Abyss. The Abyss was obviously created with the help of some of the missing Osiris serum (a continued plot thread) and it appears to be unstoppable and all it wants to do is grow and destroy all human life. So, our leads are trying to solve a murder, find out who created the Abyss while trying to figure out how to destroy it, fend of Arkan's killers he keeps throwing at them, keep one step ahead of Catalina's grandmother Victoria who while jailed is still dangerous with all her seeds and plots, and oh, maintain family, friend, and love relationships. The Abyss stole humans, killed them, and used their bodies and minds to create hybrid constructs. This was a nightmare. There were a couple times where my mind started to wander when all the weapons talk got going and there were a lot of little battles in this. I would have liked to see more depth developed between Catalina and Alessandro, it still feels like they just woke up one day and were like “I love you!”. Alessandro was a little different in this one with a more subdued personality and we get to know more about him. We learn more about why he's set on killing Arkan, his family, and his relationship with them. His background sets him perfectly to fit in with Catalina and her promise to her grandmother, so with that conflict out of the way in this book, I'm curious what their relationship will be like in their third and final book. He looked at me like I was everything that anchored him to life. Even with all the action, we still get a good look at the Baylor family. Nevada comes back into the picture in this one and I loved the scenes she had with Catalina and it made me really wish for more scenes of all three of the sisters together. This was so focused on the action that I wanted more of the human element and their relationships to bring in the feels more. The tone wasn't quite cold and empty but it did feel emotionally distant at times, which I found a shame because at it's essence, this is a story about family. “I'm not leaving.” The ending gave us a consummation between Catalina and Alessandro and a huge explosive battle scene. This specific case of finding out who murdered Felix and the trouble at The Pit has been solved but the dangling threads of Arkan, the other missing samples of the Osiris serum, and devious grandmother Victoria are still left hanging. I'm looking forward to the conclusion of Catalina and Alessandro's series but I also hope the last story brings in more of the heart of the series and it's characters. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 17, 2022
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Aug 21, 2022
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Aug 12, 2022
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Mass Market Paperback
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WhiskeyintheJar
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mystery-suspense
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| 4.00
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really liked it
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Mar 18, 2023
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Mar 06, 2023
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| 4.41
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it was ok
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Feb 22, 2023
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Feb 13, 2023
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| 3.20
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liked it
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Mar 23, 2023
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Feb 07, 2023
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| 3.72
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liked it
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Feb 15, 2023
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Jan 31, 2023
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| 4.13
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really liked it
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Feb 26, 2023
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Jan 25, 2023
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| 3.89
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it was ok
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Feb 12, 2023
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Jan 22, 2023
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| 3.88
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liked it
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Jul 08, 2023
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Jan 15, 2023
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| 3.68
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liked it
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Jun 30, 2023
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Dec 17, 2022
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| 3.74
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it was ok
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Mar 04, 2023
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Dec 17, 2022
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| 3.92
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liked it
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not set
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Nov 12, 2022
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| 3.81
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it was ok
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Jan 19, 2023
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Oct 15, 2022
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| 4.35
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liked it
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Jan 31, 2023
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Oct 06, 2022
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| 4.47
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really liked it
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Jun 06, 2024
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Oct 05, 2022
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| 4.19
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it was ok
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Jan 25, 2023
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Sep 27, 2022
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| 3.91
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really liked it
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Oct 21, 2022
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Sep 20, 2022
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| 3.10
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it was ok
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Nov 29, 2022
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Sep 07, 2022
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| 3.75
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liked it
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Nov 05, 2022
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Aug 28, 2022
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| 4.24
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liked it
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Jan 2022
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Aug 17, 2022
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| 4.43
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really liked it
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Aug 22, 2022
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Aug 12, 2022
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| 4.46
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liked it
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Aug 21, 2022
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Aug 12, 2022
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