Book Review: Ironskin (Ironskin #1)

Ironskin
Tina Connolly
3/5

For the past five years, Jane Eliot has worn an iron mask over half of her face. She was scarred by fae shrapnel in the Great War, and as such has a terrible curse running through her. Jane feels inexplicable rage, and when she is not wearing her mask, those around her feel that rage too. She takes a post as a governess for a child whom she believes has similar issues to her, but the child is a whole different breed and Jane soon realizes that she has been addressing everything wrong.

I went back and forth on what to rate this, I think it really only barely made a three-star rating. The plot was better than the story, which is always unfortunate. I liked the idea of fae shrapnel and people having curses like Jane's that stem from such wartime scars, but I feel like the acceptance part of all of that was lost to other elements of the story. There were too many things all going on at once and ultimately, it didn't feel like anything was resolved.

The romance was eh. It had a very cliche swing to it from the start but the socialization and chemistry just wasn't there. Like I don't even know if this could be considered a romance, I suppose it is since romance was a centerpiece of Jane's journey, but it felt so random and out of place in her whole quest for enlightenment.

The whole face masks thing confused me. I thought it was cool, it was another interesting plot point, but then the whole situation with Jane's switched face? I didn't really follow why that was happening and it kind of made me dislike Jane and Edward as characters. I feel like the first half of the book was significantly better than the last half and that's always a sad thing.

I don't think I'd recommend it, it was just too confusing and muddled to make a very compelling story. I don't think I'll go on in the series, but I do like the setting and the universe which Connolly created.

Book Review: Fireborne (The Aurelian Cycle #1)

Fireborne
Rosaria Munda
5/5

I'd like to say, before actually reviewing, I love dragons so much and I'm kind of biased towards loving anything with dragons. That being said, this book provides a unique twist on dragons, I saw the author saying that she had been influenced by the events of the French Revolution and she really created a beautiful blend.

Annie and Lee grew up together, I mean after both of their families were destroyed by the events of a revolution, and now they are competing for the leader of the new, citizen-led dragon fleet. They both  have tragic pasts, both of them watched the demise of their families- Annie by the fire of the dragonlord who was supposed to protect them, and Lee, being the son of a dragonlord, as the consequence of their revolution. Now they have a Divergent-style testing system where every citizen is supposed to get an equal chance, with those permitted to be chosen by a dragon at the very top.

There are a lot of political issues here. I love books that examine the intricacies of a post-revolution society, and it was especially interesting because dragons were involved. There were huge questions of morality and characters who were just trying to do the right thing. I think it was great too because even the characters who were mean, I couldn't really hate them because I feel like we were provided a little of everyone's perspective despite it being in the voices of Annie and Lee.

Lee was great and all, but Annie really surprised me because she was just an amazing character. She had issues with public speaking and she pushed through them. She doubted herself, but she didn't wallow in it or allow it to overcome her. She was also intensely loyal and I loved that. There were points when she questioned her loyalty, in a natural way, but she persisted and stood up for what was right. I love that she was so smart and so special but depicted in a way where she came across as average, there was a great mix of extraordinary and ordinary.

I would recommend this book for anyone who loves political drama, and of course, anyone who loves dragons. I do hope that the dragons get some more page-time in the next book in the series, but I'm ok with where it was in this one. I'm so excited to see how things pan out and can't wait for the next one.

Book Review: The Child Finder (Naomi Cottle #1)

The Child Finder
Rene Denfeld
2/5

This book wasn't bad... I just didn't really like it all that much. Naomi Cottle is the Child Finder, she has dedicated her entire life to investigating their disappearances and either getting them home or giving the parent's closure. She has lived a pretty nomadic life in the ten years since she decided to do this, and a lot of the book is her identifying how much of this lifestyle she would like to keep and how much she'd like to change.

I know that this isn't Christian Fiction, but I was getting some weird vibes at a lot of different points in the novel. I also just don't know how Naomi was so good at finding children. It felt paranormal but it wasn't, and she couldn't remember any elements of her own kidnapping so it wasn't as if she was drawing on that. It all felt like a weird mix of different genres trying to be a mystery.

The mystery wasn't much of a mystery for the reader because it was given away right at the beginning with the missing poster for the little boy. There was no suspense on that front, the only thing that kept me reading was Naomi trying to figure out her life, which I don't think she really does but it doesn't really set it up for me to want to read the next one.

The romance was weird, I don't feel like you should be able to live with someone for nearly ten years of your adolescence calling them your brother and then just be in love with them. I didn't want to think on that too hard cause uh that's gross but go off I guess. It was also weird that other people were into her, it felt so surface-level because nothing was known about really any of the characters.

Overall, wouldn't really recommend. It was sad, it makes you think about kidnapping and missing children and tragedy, but all of that stuff was general information that is pertinent aside from the story line. Maybe it would've been better as a paranormal thing, as it was it doesn't really feel like much of anything.

Book Review: The Hating Game

The Hating Game
Sally Thorne
5/5

This right here is probably the peak of what I perceive as "hate to love", because Josh and Lucy very clearly hate each other and are enemies, but they're also not out here pretending. Everything about this book was just so perfect and ideal, like there's none of that bs where the characters pretend to care less about each other than they actually do, even when they hate each other they don't actively try to hurt each other beyond their games.

The games are so cute, I know that it was all fitting a little less than what would be realistic, but it was so cute that I couldn't get over it. I like finished this book two days ago and I already want to go back and reread it. I think that the best part is that they start identifying that they have romantic feelings for each other like twenty percent of the way into the book, so there was a nice natural build-up to a relationship that they had been previously interacting through for a year.

This book literally has it all. The hilarious banter back and forth, a female character who won't sell herself short for her male love interest, the obligatory scene where someone's sick and the other character has to take care of them, and the obligatory scene where someone other than the other person in the relationship tries to roast them and so the other goes off. I love it because it's not like overly done, they don't stop roasting each other once they start getting together, and there isn't as much miscommunication as what's typical of these books.

Totally would recommend if you're into these kinds of romances, because it is very well done. I like cannot get over it and I can't wait for it to become a movie so that I can obsess over it some more.

Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens
5/5

It's been two days since I finished this book and I'm not over it yet. I jump from book to book relatively quickly, but this one is really making me think. Kya Clark raised herself. She was abandoned to the marsh by her mother, then her siblings, then her father, all by the age of ten. She tried school, but she never blended in with the other kids, and ends up living off the kindness of only three individuals.

When I was reading it, I don't know if I liked it that much. I was very stressed out the entire time because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Kya's an incredible character though because of her perseverance. It was annoying to me at first because I was like she isn't socializing and she's going to get in trouble and I'm so nervous, but she ends up being better at human interaction and nature than I could have ever anticipated.

We're going to get into spoilers here because I really cannot not talk about what happened at the ending. I had assumed that Tate was going to be revealed as the murderer, just because my small brain was like could Kya really have done it?? But she did it and she was so good at it. She played everyone so well that it's astounding. It was really just symbolic of her entire trial with life, she dealt with everything alone and she constantly succeeded at it. I'm also very glad that she did it without Tate but still ended up with Tate, like that was unexpected as well and I'm so proud of her as a character for overcoming that fear.

I loved the characters, I loved the mystery, and overall it was just very enjoyable and easy to get through. I would recommend it for everyone who loves mystery, or everyone who loves a good plot twist. I'm glad that I followed the hype here because it definitely lived up to it for me.

Book Review: Don't You Forget About Me

Don't You Forget About Me
Mhairi McFarlane
3/5

Georgina can't grow up, or at least that's what everyone in her life is saying to her. She dropped out of university and has worked a series of dead-end jobs since then, the latest of which she was brutally fired from. On that same night, she finds her boyfriend cheating on her, and he really destroys her by saying that he didn't even think they were actually dating. She gets a job at a nice new bar but doesn't know that she'll have to work for her kind of serious but very secret high school boyfriend. Lucas says he doesn't remember her, when prompted he says he vaguely does but generally he does not.

I liked this book but I really just could not understand the him saying he forgot it all. I thought that it would be excused away in something unrealistic, yet possibly more realistic than just everyone accepting him "forgetting". Like I legit thought he would say he had a head injury a couple of years ago or something I don't know. I would have rated it higher if that whole thing had not felt so convenient, he forgot but he didn't but he's been pining and also secretly in love with her.

Props for dealing with stereotypes. Georgina saw a therapist, she didn't let herself be brought down by men, or family members, who try to tell her she's nothing. The reveal at the end was nice and again, dealt with some hard issues, but Lucas was let off the hook way too easily for my liking. It was twelve years ago so I understand not getting mad about that, yet everything he did was reflective of that same avoidance in communication that made the relationship feel a little problematic.

I'm still a sucker for romance though so his speech at the end kind of got me. I'd still recommend it cause it's something that I finished in a day and just read very easily, it's not anything that astounds you with it's depth but it's deeper than you think it is.

Book Review: Bloodfire (Blood Destiny #1)

Bloodfire
Helen Harper
2/5

Two stars feels a little mean but the more that I think about it, the less I like this book. I like dragons, which this is kind of about, and I like shapeshifters, but like all the powers are so poorly defined that it gets really annoying. Mack is just a regular human living with shapeshifters, which is highly illegal, but they've all just been covering for her cause her mom put a spell on them or something. I want to know why if they all believed that she was just accepted as human? The witches.. aren't human? I don't know what they define as human here it was all weird.

Also, Mack is stupid. If you have bloodfire or whatever, you aren't normal. I don't know why she would think she's normal? She's just not very smart at all and I need a character who I can support. I don't connect with her because she's not separating herself in any way aside from the powers that she can't use for anything all that special.

It's just an urban fantasy in a non-urban setting. Characters that I can't get behind, powers that are kind of lame, and just generally kind of boring. Wouldn't recommend, don't think I'll continue the series.

Book Review: The Girl in the Tower (Winternight Trilogy #2)

The Girl in the Tower
Katherine Arden
4/5

The Girl in the Tower is the second book in the Winternight Trilogy, continuing the tale of Vasya and her journey to break away from the societal norms and accomplish her destiny- whatever that may be. I think that I liked this one better than I liked the first despite my numerical ratings, it had less of the confusing chronological things and the perspective shifts. Vasya has finally made it to Moscow, disguised as a boy and in a lot of trouble, but she's done what everyone said she couldn't.

I think I've liked the main character of every book I've ever finished. Like even if I don't like their decisions, I can't like willingly put myself in someone's head without liking them and like I'm constantly rooting for them. I love Vasya, I think that she's brave and she says what's on her mind and won't let the limitations of the time limit her. But sometimes I just wish that she would do what she should do rather than what she wants to do. I was so stressed out the whole time because she kept making such rash decisions. I can accept it to a certain point, but one after another was just giving me high blood pressure. I know that's her whole thing and all, yet there were so many situations where her decisions were destroying the lives of others and just making me feel bad.

Like I said, I love Vasya, and she's growing and I have a lot of confidence that she'll eventually get where she should be. I also liked Morozko I just didn't understand his connection to Vasya, felt very surface-level and I'd like to see it more fleshed out if it's something that's really going to develop. I'm still excited to see how the trilogy ends, hopefully it comes full-circle.

Book Review: Fight or Flight

Fight or Flight
Samantha Young
4/5

Not going to lie, the synopsis of this book didn't really interest me. I was about to get onto an airplane though and panicked because I didn't have enough to read and there was no wait list for it on the library app. It may have been partly due to my low expectations, but I really enjoyed it! I don't like books that advertise as like "oh we're just going to be friends with benefits" cause I don't really care for detailed sex-scenes, they're kind of uncomfortable, but other than a couple of scenes it was pretty mild.

Ava has had kind of a rough life, not in a traditional oh-she's-suffered-so-much, but more of a like she's upper middle-class and she didn't like her life but it wasn't that bad. I appreciate her as a character for that, because she acknowledges that her life was bad she doesn't try to excuse it away, but she doesn't make that the central part of who she is. Also, people assume so much from these contemporary romances, like they can have a romance and still make the female protagonist into a strong independent person, and that's what Ava is! She dresses the way she wants to dress, doesn't do it for guys and deliberately tells guys off who thinks that's what she's doing. Samantha Young doesn't cram it down our throats, but like we all wish we had the confidence to dress the way we want, whether in Jimmy Choo's or normal skinny jeans.

I did think that the commitment-phobia got a little excessive and then kind of fizzled out. We spend a whole book with him being a jerk whenever a relationship is mentioned and then he's just totally forgiven? I guess that speaks to Ava's confidence, but how could you ever trust someone after all of that? He did do a pretty nice apology I guess.

I think I'd recommend, as a kind of fast and non-committal kind of book, which I feel is what I'm kind of doing these days. I appreciate it because it deals with real-world issues, or what you'd face in a real-relationship, and does so in a mostly sweet way.

Book Review: The Princess and the Hound

The Princess and the Hound
Mette Ivie Harrison
2/5

I'm very confused by this book. First of all, the title is confusing. The book isn't about the princess and her hound, the book is about Prince George as he meets the princess and her hound and struggles to solve their mystery via his illegal animal magic.

Everyone was switching bodies and I really had no idea what was going on for half the book. Like the naming and the emotional connections and the powers made everything so confusing and difficult to follow. The ultimate conclusion made no sense for me, maybe because I was having such a hard time following who was talking to who and the real emotional connections of it all.

I like Prince George well enough but I also don't think he really knows what he wants. The book felt like it was coming to a conclusion and he was figuring it out, but then there was some other random element added and I was just confused again.

It was too confusing for me to really find it enjoyable. Because it wasn't like confusing in a wow this is so interesting and trippy, it was confusing in a what is going on and why is this happening kind of way. Wouldn't really recommend it, because the characters weren't strong enough to warrant a deeper connection and the plot was just weird.

Book Review: Firebug (Firebug #1)

Firebug
Lish McBride
2/5

This wasn't a very interesting read. Ava can start fires with her mind, she works for a woman who's the head of a supernatural mafia who also killed her mother. The whole premise is that she's making things right by getting even, but honestly there's not a lot of action there. It's mostly just Ava being roasted for being too impulsive and too powerful?

I hate books where the narrator has to tell you how powerful they are. Ava can't stop going on about how dangerous it is for her to go nova, and yet she gets caught or defeated at every turn. She's just not a very strong protagonist, I don't like her emotionally and I don't like her powers, so it's difficult for me to like anything else about the book.

I don't even have much to write about it. I didn't really like reading it at all. The only reason it's not one star is because it had enough action that I was at least motivated to finish reading it. I like books where people have fire powers, but there really wasn't much else interesting in this one.

Book Review: Well Met (Well Met #1)

Well Met
Jen DeLuca
4/5

I think I maybe rated this book a little higher than my overall experience, but like in terms of hardcore vicariously living through the protagonist, this book is a 10/10. If that makes sense, it's not the best book to read ever, but it's definitely the life that I think all of us want to live. Emily is helping her older sister and her niece out after a car accident makes driving kind of difficult for them. As part of this helping out, Emily volunteers to work at the Renaissance Faire in the small town so that her niece can also volunteer there. The guy who organizes it all, Simon, is kind of a stickler for the rules and he and Emily get off on the wrong foot. But as time goes on, rom-comesque shenanigans ensue and they realize that maybe they don't really hate each other.

Like all of these contemporary books that I've read this year, it's highly predictable. It's like I said, not the best to read if you want a book that transports you to a place you've never been, it's very realistic and not really even over-dramatized like a typical rom-com. I mean sure, some of this stuff would only happen in a book, but honestly it's mostly stuff that I can see happening in a day-to-day setting.

It has a lot on mourning though, how much of something you should keep when you're only doing it to satisfy the dead. I thought that was a sweet topic, and I really appreciate that Emily didn't let the dead control her life. Ultimately, Simon didn't either, but it was a great way for a relationship to work through a problem in a way that was mutually beneficial.

I think I'd recommend it if you want to see a couple work out- which is basically why I read these books. It's cute, it's nerdy, and it's something that everyone wishes there was more of in the real world.

Book Review: The Blacksmith Queen (The Scarred Earth Saga #1)

The Blacksmith Queen
G.A. Aiken
5/5

This book was so good! There was just something about it that I really loved. I think it was probably that the main protagonist, Keeley, was strong without it being a huge deal. Like, the premise of the book is that the Old King died without leaving a legitimate heir, and now there's a war for the throne. The witches predicted that a random peasant girl would take the throne, and the world thinks that it's Keeley's sister, Beatrix. That enters their entire family into a major political battle for power featuring dwarves, elves, dragons, and centaurs of course.

I feel like authors can so easily miss the strong-woman target. Like they make it way too annoying for me, like Aelin in ToG, when she just has to go on and on about loving dresses and how tough girls can love pretty things. I need it to feel more natural than that. I think this book is about as natural as it comes with strong female characters. We have evil women and good women, smart and stupid, but all of them are strong women who could exist without any male counterparts.

Keeley especially, she bashes stuff with her giant hammer, like so strong that she can literally crush rocks. But she also saves animals and has a sensitivity that people would call weak. Aiken does a great job balancing what could be considered weakness, like crying and hugging, with the strength of her female characters. I absolutely loved it.

The relationships were also amazing. Keeley's parents? Great. Caid's parents? Also great. Keeley and Caid? So great. It wasn't like the central plot line either, it's definitely important to the story line but it doesn't take the story over. I don't know how I feel about the whole centaur thing, but like it's fine for now and I'm excited to see where it all goes.

Overall, I'm super excited for a whole saga of these books. Aiken did a great job setting up a world that I want to know more about, a war that doesn't feel too heavy or too unrealistic. I would totally recommend this series to anyone who's a fan of high fantasy or just great characters.

Book Review: The Cold King

The Cold King
Amber Jaeger
3/5

Another reread? I usually don't reread anything, and if I do there'll be like at least a three year gap. This one I read last year but for some reason some of the details were fuzzy. I'm pretty good at book plots, so I needed to check and make sure everything was the same as what I had in my head. I was also reminded cause I watched the Beauty and the Beast Christmas special and I was like hello throwback.

It's not a great book. Plot-wise, I think it's interesting and different enough from the original Beauty and the Beast to like justify calling itself a new book. Unfortunately, there were also quite a few spelling/grammatical issues that really hinder the quality of it. I understand working within budgets and all, but there were some things that were so simple that it'd only take a couple of arc readers to snag.

It's Beauty and the Beast, so you expect some rude behaviors from the male protagonists but this guy was pretty rude. I think it was a realistic portrayal of the insecurities someone who had been dealing with scars like that for three hundred years could display, I like books like this because the Disney movie obviously never deals with the emotional-stress of losing so much of your life to a curse.

I guess it's about what you expect from the cover, not bad but not great. I liked it enough to get through it a second time, so while you're reading it it really hooks you.

Book Review: The Friend Zone

The Friend Zone
Abby Jimenez
2/5

I've done a lot more contemporary romances this year than I've done in the past, I'm on a slight binge, but like I'm pretty disappointed with this one. Kristen is a young entrepreneur about to move in with her long time boyfriend, who she hasn't been together with for more than two weeks since they started dating two years ago. Josh just had a bad (or at least it was supposed to seem bad) break up and has written women off as problematic and not worth the trouble. So obviously neither of them should feel the insane chemistry of their meet-cute, followed by the prolonged period of time they spend as the best man and maid of honor to their respective best friends, but they obviously do.

I was already having trouble with major plot elements. Mainly the "not like other girls" trope, and the whole idolizing a man that just does what I feel like anyone should do for their partner in need. Literally, Josh calls Kristen a unicorn for drinking beer and eating what she wants and not being into the typical romantic bs. I hate that because like, let's not generalize women and force them to adopt typically male characteristics in order to be tolerable. Just let her be a character without forcing us to hear about how special she is for doing what she wants to do.

I can't exactly say one star, I did finish it and there were some parts that were funny. I also think it's important to talk about reproductive health and making choices and not settling for something just based on the limitations you feel. But oh my gosh, for a book advertised on these premises it all just went so surface-level. Half the book was probably Kristen just complaining about how Josh could never be with her, like how he couldn't make that choice right now. Yet she could make the choice to ditch him entirely? I guess it's understandable, being such a sensitive topic and so personal, but also what a waste.

I'm going to go hardcore spoilers right now. If you want to read the book at all just stop here. The ending was messed up. They used a character's death to push their plot forwards and it was cheap and honestly horrible. There are better ways of pushing revelations than just dramatically killing people off, it was frankly so tacky. They didn't deal with Sloane's grief, they just pushed on to their happy little miracle family. They got married after literally no dating, they just dove right in. They let the abusive mother back into their lives and the life of their child and that was also so horrible. Like I said, deep issues were just treated as surface level and it felt like nothing was truly ever closed.

Anyways, not a great book. Cute premise, potential for dealing with serious issues that a lot of us deal with, but just totally missed the mark in the end. Wouldn't recommend at all.