Book Review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So...I've heard so many things about this book, and I've been putting this book aside for so long, but then I pulled it from my TBR pile to read, and I'm so glad that I read this book, because this just became one of my favorite books of all time. I'm glad I have the next two books. After all, I'm going to read them both, along with Threshing Day, because oh my me, I loved this.

Now, did I think Vi would be able to train hard enough to get her tail on a dragon? Not...really. But the more I read and see her journey-dealing with a bully like Jack, training with her friends to build up muscle so she can ride her dragon Tairn, and also fall in love with the wingleader while your best friend is trying...trying so damned hard to get you to leave the Rider's Quadrant and to go to the Scribe's Quadrant because 'you'll see safe there," and all that good stuff (like bro no her mama will drag her back to the Rider's Quad, why do you keep doing that?) and while you keep telling him that you cant, but you bond with not one, but two dragons? You are now my new favorite character.

Violet is trying so hard not to fall for Xaden Deshawn Riorson (yup, I gave him a middle name, darn it), but since Tairn is mated to his dragon, Sgaeyl, well....poopy pants. So Xaden pretty much takes over everything y'all gotta do, even teaming up with her dragon to make her a saddle so she wouldn't fall off. And the small dragon, Andarna, was so cute! I loved her so much! She and Violet having a bond as well, and her sharing her powers of stopping time, even if it's just a little bit, was so darn cute. I'm glad that she's okay, but now I need to know what happens now since she's not a golden little dragon anymore.

Oh...I'm not done yet.

Xaden Deshawn Riorson, come up to the front; we need to have a VERY LONG TALK, SIR.

Close to the end, I thought that you were betraying Violet and me. I wanted to knock you into the middle of next week because of what you did. I was opting not to let you talk to us anymore until you repent and get back on the good list (ask Rhysand, he'll tell you). But you stepped up, became the wingleader that you are, and you kicked so much ass that I love you, even finally getting Violet the help she needs.

BUT THAT ENDING?!

I'm dead. No, I'm sincerely dead. Because WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HE'S ALIVE?!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, MRS. YARROS?!

Loved it, will read the whole series, I loved it so much.

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Book Review: Spellcaster (Weatherstone College #1) by Jaymin Eve

Spellcaster by Jaymin Eve
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Spellcaster by Jaymin Eve was a really fun time. I enjoyed reading the story and seeing where it was going, but that ENDING?! DIABOLICAL. How dare you leave me like that when I was having fun?! I was hoping that the ending was gonna be fine, but the more I thought about it, the more I saw that it was setting up for the next book, in which I need it right now, because I was on the EDGE of my seat to the end.

My favorite character throughout the book was Paisley. Paisley is finally going to the college her siblings are going to, and they spend this time at college getting to know each other and seeing how each other is at school. I also like how she made friends and kept seeing them, even though she tried to escape Logan Kingston, and how there's a family curse against her family, the Hallistars. I really liked that part, where she fights to find out what happened to her mother, then herself, when monsters are appearing at the school, only to find out at the end that she's the one creating them.

...how? I don't know, but she is.

Logan, as the MC, Paisley is falling for...eh. He's okay. Yes, I may have stood up a bit when I saw that he had tattoos all over his arms and stuff, and on top of that, he knows about consent (the one major thing I really liked about this book), and the fact that he knows (kind of) that she's creating the monsters, but he knew how to get rid of them. I also liked how he's protecting her, oddly, from when she got attacked and when she was almost killed by a monster in the hallway.

The father being let go because of the fire that happened was really stupid, and it felt intentional that someone would pull it, and it made me wonder of who pulled that crap, until that ending. THAT DIABOLICAL ENDING. Hunt my soul, mind you. Now I can't wait for the second book to come out, to see what happens next.

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Book Review: A Wicked Bargain for the Duke by Megan Frampton

A Wicked Bargain for the Duke by Megan Frampton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thad and Lavinia's relationship in this book was so cute, but also very frustrating as a reader. For Thaddeus, all he wants is a soft, pliant wife who will bear him an heir, and he won't see her anymore. Nope, nope, nope, not him. He had his sights on Lady Jane, Lavina's sister, and thought that she was the perfect wife who would give him everything he wanted.

...or so he thought.

Thanks to a little scandal, Thaddeus actually married Lavinia, the other sister, the loud, strong, know what she wants sister, and he starts to regret it for a while-for heaven's sake, he didn't want a woman like that! But as he got to know her in and out of the bedroom, her found that he was falling for her, even to the point that he loved her. When he finds out that she's actually the scandalous writer Percy Wittlesford-by some clues in one of the readings at an engagement party that didn't happen-he did get mad about it...because she didn't tell him.

Like, y'all built y'alls marriage on the fact that the only thing y'all get to do is make an heir and he raises it, and she goes off to the country (which she hated the moment she found out about it.)

But I was glad that Thad married Lavinia, because now his life is so much fun and better-she taught him how to open up to people, how to care for people, and to actually stop having a stick wedged up his own ass and have fun-which he does. A lot. And the two actually went out to go to each other, only to have that time in the rain, which was so cute and i did squeal, in my head, a little bit.

I really did enjoy this book and I wanna read more by this author.

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Book Review: The Golden Hustla by Wahida Clark

The Golden Hustla: A Novel by Wahida Clark
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Golden Hustla was a book I thought I would like...the beginning was fun, but then the name Cream stopped me in my tracks...and it went downhill from there. Nina is a hustla through and through. But seeing her best friend Michelle and her brother (whose name I've totally forgotten) got shot by the Bloods, she calls up her friend, tells him to get the 10 kilos of coke that's in the back of her car, give it to someone he knows, and she can leave and get out of Jersey, which she does, leaving her children.

Years later, she's working in Atlanta at a place called WMM...and my god, I would've upped and quit the moment Rinaldo starts to demand and take up to 1,000 from me because I didn't show up and make a sale. Basically, where she's working is a scam place, and all they're doing is getting money from people. Well before she could even come to work, Nina went to the police station and was offered to rat out Rinaldo, but she vehemently said no, muttering to herself that "Nina isn't a snitch".

The story does go back to when she first came to Atlanta and was looking for a job, and somehow, magically, Cream (I really disliked this man) appeared and told her that he could pull some strings to get her a job...working on the phones. Selling people American Eagle gold coins and other business things that they need to keep the money going. I felt like they were scamming people, and on top of that, they got busted TWICE, and Rinaldo's like, "We're going back to work tomorrow, I want everyone there, no ifs ands or butts about it."

...sorry, what? When your lawyers told you to SHUT THE WHOLE OPERATION DOWN?!

Yeah, nah, I definitely would've quit IMMEDIATELY when he said that.

But they went back, and they got busted AGAIN-but Nina wasn't there, especially when she refused to get pimped out by Rinaldo (good for her), but the others did it. To me, this whole entire book was just stupid people making stupid decisions, even when Nina started dating a cop and thought that he was a biker named King. Also, Rinaldo's wife was cheating on him with Shawn, and when Nina went back to get her kids and learned what a pastor did to her daughter....and had slapped her dear mother for what happened, then turned around and killed the poor pastor, who swore he didn't do it...

Okay, bro, anyway...

I did enjoy it from the beginning, but then I found that I really didn't like the book as much as I thought, which is very sad because I was enjoying this book. 2.25 stars for me.

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Book Review: Dragonlance: Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The end of the War of the Lance...in which I cussed out both Raistlin and Tanis, like, fifty times. Kitiara was a part of why I was cussing both Raistlin and Tanis, because in parts of this book, Tanis was acting like a gosh darn idiot because he did so many stupid things that I wanted to reach out and strangle him. Everyone else is doing well--Tas and Flint riding on dragons, Laurana became the Golden General after leading the Whitestone Army in the last book, Caramon, Tika, Riverwind and Goldmoon traveling and waiting on Tanis to get back from Kitiara, which fair. Still, Kit was up to something, and it felt like I had to wait for the reveal to find out why.

That "why" turned out to be Lord Soth, a dead knight that Kitiara somehow has under control, which is very weird to me (don't ask me why), and then at the end, she got the Crown she wanted, and had to let Tanis go. I thought she was going to fight Laurana more for Tanis, but I guess she didn't have the time or energy to do so, so she let him go because now she has what she wants, and she only wants Tanis to be happy, I guess?

And Raistlin appears in half of the book, then shows up at the end of the book to help Caramon, only to turn around and tell him that he can't go this time...I have one thousand questions, sir. Like one: Where the hell were you while hell was being pounded on by our heroes? Oh, you were becoming the person who can now see the past and the future...really...that's where you've been? Really? I was looking for you when things were going down, but you showed up and did your thing...I guess...and then left....

I did enjoy this book, and it was sad when it was time for me to leave this world of Ansalon (I don't want to). It was a really fun time reading about the heroes and seeing where they end up at the end. I wanted more at the end, as it fell a bit flat for me, and that's okay. This is my favorite series, and I'm sad that it's over.

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Book Review: Our Infinite Fates by Lauren Steven

Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my words.

I didn't cry when I read this book, but I did, however, have so many feelings about this book that I almost cried. I normally don't cry when I read, but I do get close.

This is the story of Evelyn and Arden-two people who are in love, who keep dying over and over again and are always being reincarnated without even knowing why. In Wales of 2022, Evelyn is Branwen, and Arden is Dylan. Evelyn wants to stay alive so she can save her sister, who has cancer. Branwen works at a bookstore and wants to give her sister her bone marrow, so when her eighteenth birthday comes, her sister can heal, and she can die knowing that her sister in this life is perfectly fine.

Sadly, before any of this happened, she kept having a feeling that Arden was around to kill her, thinking that he was a boy named Cenric...only to find out that he was actually Dylan.

Yikes on bikes.

Evelyn pleaded with Arden/Dylan to keep her alive, to make sure that she gave her sister Gracie her bone marrow, and then she could die. Arden agrees, and Evelyn goes through a pro-bono operation to get her bone marrow...but not before she recorded her conversation with Cenric and Arden on her phone, sending it to Cenric and hoping that he'd go to the police so Arden could get arrested. He does, but Arden escapes.

Then, when they finally find each other, they go to the hill, and when they both die...

...they go to the Underrealm.

To meet The Mother, a woman who did this to them.

Thanks to all their love, it killed The Mother, but not before they made a new deal with her. Even though both of them said no at first, they thought about it and did it, even though Arden told her that Evelyn was a devil.

The ending of this book...was chef's kiss. I loved every bit of it, including how it led up to them meeting again, but the one thing I loved most was that, in each lifetime, they were in different places at different times. This felt like a movie to me, and I didn't want to stop.

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Book Review: Highland Wolf by Lynsay Sands

Highland Wolf by Lynsay Sands
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lady Claray MacFarlane was about to marry someone she really didn't love, until her real betrothed swooped in and saved-well, more of he got off his horse and snatched her up-and off they went to her father's home. Claray was confused for a moment, but then she got the spirit as they kept traveling. The man who snatched her from her so-called husband, she was about to marry? They call him the Wolf, a mercenary who has courage and powess in battle and his handsome face and black-as-sin-hair....

Breaking the review to say that I pictured Drew McIntyre as Conall/Bryson MacDonald because that's who kept popping up in my head while I was reading this book.

Anyway, it turns out that Conall is Claray's betrothed. He was thought to be dead when he was a boy when his family was killed, but thanks to his uncle, he survived, and now he's back to claim Claray and to rebuild his home and reclaim his birthright. She thought so too, and her family thought to keep it that way, until he came to take her to wife.

Throughout the ride to the castle, Claray had picked up some furry friends, like a bunny, a fox whose ears were eaten off, a stoat, a baby deer, and a pet wolf she named Lovey. One time she was riding her horse, and she yelled, "Stubborn Bastard!" and I started to laugh, mostly because Conall looked at her like, "I haven't done anything to be called a stubborn bastard, why are you calling me that?!" but it turns out that it's the horse's name, which was funny af.

But the one thing that made this book go down a star was the ending. It reminded me of a really old In The Heat of the Night episode that was about sin and how the woman wanted to cleanse the world of sin, and that's what this lady Mhiri tried to do, harping on one verse the preacherman said about sex and how it was disgusting, so she poisoned the whole MacDonald clan because of it.

Which....I can kind of understand why, but TBH, if people wanna smash, it's their business, not hers, definitely not her son, who had threatened to do harm on Claray, which made me so dang mad...

But I'm glad they knew that it was someone close to Conall, so they could get rid of them, and then the two of them got their HEA. This might be my favorite highland romance I've read, and I might read more soon.

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