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Sunday, July 14, 2024

Book Review: The Camelot Betrayal (A Camelot Rising Novel) by Kiersten White

The Camelot Betrayal (Camelot Rising, #2)The Camelot Betrayal by Kiersten White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second book was pretty good. I enjoyed watching Guinevere grow in the book and how she was such a badass, but at the same time, she was thinking/worried about her knight Lancelot and how she's always protecting her and is always around her, talking to her and what not, and also thinking and dreaming about Mordred, which she's like, "I really shouldn't be thinking about him, I should be thinking about Arthur and how much I love him." and, to be fair, she does. I'm happy about that, but to be very honest, I feel like her relationship with Arthur is dry, like very dry, very respectable, but at the same time, it feel like love but to me, it doesn't for some reason.

The love between Guinevere and Arthur feels flat and boring, but at the same time, it feel like Arthur really loves and cares for her, but she wants to fall in love and have a kiss. When she brought up children, I'm was surprised and glad that they talked about it, and that Arthur wants to wait until she was ready for it.

At the same time, she was trying to figure out her sister Guinevach. At first, she thought that Guinevach was working with the Dark Queen, and she tried so hard to suss her out, with everything she had, but it turns out that Guinevach, or Lily as she wants to be called, was actually trueful and she knew the real Guinevere, and Guinevere thought and feared that Lily could see right through her, but she didn't, and the two became like sisters.

The relationship between Branigen, Isolde and Tristan was perfect. I really loved the twist on the Tristan and Isolde story and made Isolde gay. I really loved it and I'm glad in the third book they are together. I hope they do stick together forever, because I love them so much.

Now when Morgana le Fay appeared, first as a old maid named Anna who followed Lily to Camelot to her true form...tell me why the first person I thought of IMMEDIATELY was Katie McGrath?? I was wondering what she was doing, as Morgana, in this book, but then as I kept reading and found out what happened with her and Mordred, I was shocked and I wanted to know more. I wanted to see how powerful she was, even though she escaped.

With Hild and the dragon, I was happy about it, seeing Hild for the first time, even though I never heard of her before. But when it came to the dragon and how all of Hild's brothers hunted it down and killed it, I was so mad when they did that....but when they went to free Isolde from her terrible husband King Mark, I was worried that it wasn't going to happen, but when Guinevere tried to escape, the king nearly hurt her, but then she erased his mind and now she feels guilty about it.

Now that she made a barrier to hide Camelot from the Dark Queen, only for it to backlash and for Mordred tell her that the Dark Queen was coming for her, and to make Lancelot mad...how would Guinevere get out of this one?

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Saturday, July 13, 2024

Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss, #1)Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I first started reading this book, I wanted to DNF it-Anna was annoying, she didn't know what she wanted, and she hated her father, a best-selling author who writes terrible romances. But in Paris, the City of Love, it sounded like Anna wasn't going to have a good time and was working hard to go back home to Atlanta, where everything was normal and something she was used to.

Instead, she meets and falls in love with a boy named Etienne St. Clair, who has his own problems. From having a girlfriend, hating his daddy, and wishing he was in California with his mama, but can't because of his father controlling everything he wants, St. Clair sounds like a treat. But with the miscommunication trope huge in this book, and seeing Anna discover her own Paris while she was enjoying her senior year at SOAP (weird name for a school, but I'm going to let it go), this was fun, and I'm so glad that I stuck with it.

I was kind of worried at first that I wasn't going to like this book, because it had the miscommunication trope in the book, with Anna overthinking things and St. Clair running to his girlfriend Ellie what seems like EVERY SINGLE BLOODY TIME, I actually enjoyed myself reading this book, and like I said, I'm glad that I read this book. It was fun, I felt like I was back as a teenager again in my senior year, going through the motions with Anna and St. Clair, and watching them fall in love during the whole year of them in school. I don't know if I'll pick up the rest of the books in the series, but I'm glad that I read this one. It was really fun and I enjoyed myself.

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Friday, July 12, 2024

Book Review: Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent

Six Scorched RosesSix Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book had Castlevania Dracula x Lisa vibes the MOMENT I opened this book, and I'm so glad that I started this book first. I loved every bit of it, and the only thing that I wish would make it perfect is that it was longer, but hey, it's okay. I really enjoyed it and I loved Vale and Lilith so much. I also like the science part of the book, and how the both of them worked to find a cure of her sickness.

I also liked how they fell in love, which was very sweet. The six roses in exchange for blood were cool, and I liked how they tried to keep their relationship on a professional level. When they started to fall in love and it became more, to the point that a god came down and cursed her, and Vale killed some of the god's acolytes in order for Lilith to survive and to also get away from him.

I also thought while I was reading this book that lowkey Lilith wanted to be a vampire so she could go around the world and learn stuff, and also she wants to see the world, and I was hoping for her that it happens, even though it did and I was happy for her. This book didn't disappoint and I loved it, and now I want to read every single book written by Carissa Broadbent because they were that good.

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Thursday, July 11, 2024

Book Review: Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Love, TheoreticallyLove, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hi hello I loved this book.

Was it because of the diabetic rep? Yes.

Was it because of Jack Smith-Turner? Also yes.

Was the romance perfection? Yes.

Basically, this might be my favorite Ali Hazelwood book that I've ever read, and I enjoyed every minute of it. For once, I really didn't care about the romance that happened in this book. All I cared about was Elsie's growth from creating a lot of versions of herself to finally finding the strength to tell people what she really thought. I really did cringe a bit at the Twilight reference, but I pushed them aside. The only thing that nagged me throughout the book was the fact that she wasn't doing the things I was doing with my diabetes, but then when she said that she was Type 1, I let it go and continued reading.

Jack Smith-Turner kind of reminded me of a sciencey Nanami Kento without the whole "WORK I SHIT!" vibes that I love very much. He's sweet, kind, and focuses all on Elsie and wants to protect her and help her create who she is and help her be as honest as she can, which is a huge plus for me, because I'm starting to like heroes like that. And Elsie going through so many emotions and then going through five stages of grief is kind of fun to read and I enjoyed myself reading this book and need to Ali Hazelwood as usual. Thank you.

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Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Book Review: Star Wars: The High Republic: Path of Vengeance by Cavan Scott

Path of Vengeance (Star Wars: The High Republic)Path of Vengeance by Cavan Scott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"I don't understand your reference, but vengeance is my shit."-Shoto Todoroki, probably

Sadly this book was a bit of a miss for me. I was prepared for the vengeance to happen, and the Stars to start Warring...instead, it was a space opera about two cousins, Marda Ro and Yana Ro, and they are trying to figure out what to do about the Path of the Open Hand and how the Mother is very charismatic and is making herself sick with a four-legged animal named the Leveler and is pretty much telling people what to do. Marda is called the Guide, and she keeps disappointing the Mother and the group, so Marda goes out and proves herself by going on a little trip to get some eggs for the Mother so she can be back in her good graces. When that doesn't work and the people Marda starts to love start to die, she kicks off a war between the Jedi and the people on Dalna to either please the Mother or prove to herself that she doesn't need her.

Her cousin, Yana Ro, starts to get suspicious about the Mother and tries to confide in her cousin, but Marda doesn't want to listen. So Yana does her own investigation, teaming up with the Jedi to find out what's going on. When the battle breaks out, Yana tries to stop whatever the Mother is planning, and yes, the two cousins do come to blows, but they set their differences aside and they fight the Mother, which, turns out, was a Jedi's sister. Once the Battle was over, the two decided to go their separate ways, and that was...it.

I did like the battle, that was probably my favorite battles that I'll ever read. But it kinda felt slow for me, and it was almost a struggle to read it, but I'm glad that I read it and enjoyed myself.

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Tuesday, July 9, 2024

Book Review: The Bump in Their Forbidden Reunion by Amanda Cinelli

The Bump in Their Forbidden Reunion (The Fast Track Billionaires' Club, #1)The Bump in Their Forbidden Reunion by Amanda Cinelli
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was alright, tbh. I thought he was a NASCAR driver, and she wanted to artificially inseminate herself with her dead husband's baby, only to find out that it wasn't her dead husband's sperm, but Grayson's sperm he donated or something like that? Which was completely fucked up, tbh. Then she left the hospital to go to the chalet her dead husband gave an address too, turns out it was owned by Grayson Koh himself, and the two of them spent time there, coming up with an arrangement: sleep with me, and I'll give you a baby.

O...Okay, bro? I guess....how are you gonna do that?

The spice was good in this book, nothing to run home and tell Mama about. Then there was a race in here that I thought was a NASCAR race, but sadly it wasn't-I think it was one of those Formula One races? I think? And the nickname 'The Golden Lion' was weird AF too, but honestly, I just enjoyed myself, it was a fun time, tbh. Not my favorite book, but it was okay.

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Monday, July 8, 2024

Book Review: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation volumes 4 & 5 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 4Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 4 by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Good lord this miscommunication trope nearly KILLED me in this volume, but OMG the (view spoiler) and how painful it was...I nearly cried. And WEN NING IS BABY, he deserves everything, including A-Yuan. And I did crack up laughing when they meet up again, and also Lan Zhan got drunk and did everything Wei Wuxian did when he was younger was also very funny. I truly enjoyed this so much.

View all my reviews *~*~*~*~*~* Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 5Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 5 by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book hurt my soul in ways I didn't think it would hurt my soul.

I tried to prepare myself when it comes to this book. I tried so hard to prepare myself. Instead, I jumped in, knowing that I would be in pain the moment I opened the book, because the Guanyin Temple Arc was painful. I was even thinking about the show in my head as I read this book. But I really enjoyed myself. The sex scenes didn't take me out, even though it almost did. I was honestly giggling and kicking each time they got together.

The short stories that were in the book were actually pretty damn fun. I liked "The Incense Burner", "Gate Crasher", "Iron Hook" and "Yunmeng". Even though the eight stories were pretty great, those stories just stand out in my mind because I really liked reading them and I felt like I was there. "The Incense Burner" made me laugh because they were going through each other's dreams and they were getting much spicer and spicer the more I read it.

"Gate Crasher" and "Iron Hook" were my absolute favorites, mostly because of the juniors in it and how they were solving the mystery of these two ghosts and trying to figure out the origins and how they can solve the mystery, with both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian or just Wei Wuxian, which I thought was pretty fun to read and to see the juniors solve a mystery with help from the both of them. If you ask me which mystery I liked the most, I have to say "Iron Hook", though "Gate Crasher" was pretty funny.

"Yunmeng" nearly made me cry because we get to see Yanli again, and Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng at home, along with "Lotus Pods"-that one might be my favorite as well because of the ending, when Lan Zhan started asking Xichen about things that Wei Wuxian likes to do, like eat lotus pods from the lotus roots with the longest stems or leaves or eat a watermelon rind.

I'm sad that this series is over, but at the same time I'll be thinking about these books as I move on to a new series, Heaven Official's Blessing.

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