Book Review: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've always wanted to read this book since Cemetery Boys came out, and it was on my radar for a long time, until a book challenge on tumblr challenged me to read it...and I'm so glad I did. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas surprised me, thrilled me in many ways possible, and I also loved the world buliding so so much. This book told me things I didn't even know, but I'm so glad I did, because now I want to sit and read about the Meso-American/latinx history more and read more books by trans authors.

The only thing that made me mad throughout the book was the way they misgendered him. I understand (or maybe not, but I'm still learning) that when someone comes out a transgender, misgendering comes out (I know, I've done that before and someone had to correct me), but to do it almost all the time just made me mad.

But I have to say, my favorite character is Julian. He's funny, witty, always loyal to his friends and will protect anyone. I loved how he encouraged Yadriel to go to the boys restroom when he was in school, and I also loved how, when Yads sacrificed himself, he jumped up and protected him while waiting for the paramedics to come. Even though it took them a long time to get together, I'm glad they did it at the end.

My other favorite part was when Yadriel and his father finally, finally talked and his father FINALLY recognized him as a true brujo, as he fucking deserves. I got real angry at the father and the grandmother for misgendering him, but the more I read this book, the less mad I got, and the ending when he was FINALLY recognized as a brujo (I know I said it twice) for what he did, saving the town from the rising of the jaguar god and stopping his Tio from doing any harm to the brujx community. But secretly, my favorite was when Julian spoke spanish and it threw me, yelling 'EXCUSE ME, SIR, DON'T THROW ME MY THAT SIR (and Yads, for the love of god KISS HIM)'.

I highly highly highly reconmend this book, ten out of ten stars if I could because this is soo good and I love this book so, so much.

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Book Review: Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When you read this book two times and you haven't even written a book review the first time...(whoops)

Okay, so hello people, young and old, here's a book review that I haven't written in about five years.

Fantasy Lover is about Mr. Julian of Macedon, first of his name, King of the Andals, so on and so fourth, who is stuck in a book thanks to a curse by fucking Priapus, all because he slept with a virgin that was supposed to sleep with him. Oof. Julian is an old Macedonian general, and whenever he's summoned, all he's supposed to do was please whoever it summoned him, and after a month he's back in the book....

Until he met Grace Alexander, a twenty-something year old sex therapist who summons him and...treats him like a human!? (*le gasp*). Grace teaches him many things-about Peter Pan, about the Hard Rock cafe, she even teaches him about TV (see, if I summoned him, I would've told him about the wide world of anime). Julian, who has been in the book for 2,000 years and is summoned every full moon, has to do whatever his summoner does, which is please them. But he's learning how to be human, and that's when he realizes "oh no, I'm in love with her oh no" BUT BUT the one thing that ticked me off was the ONE TIME he made that damned deal with Athena and says, 'yeah, I'll go back to Macedon, my own time, I don't belong here' which made me mad because he was learning new things, learning how to love...he even told Grace his life story and even went down the elevator hatch to save her from Rodney Carmichael, a creep that stalked the hell out of Grace and thinking that she was his, and he even sold his general ring so he can give her all her books back (my kind of man).

Then at the end, he went back in the book after not spending that night with Grace, and Grace begged and pleaded for someone to bring him back, and the most shocking thing ever is that Aphrodite, Julian's mother, actually reversed time and they had that wonderful, magical night, breaking the curse (hooray). But then...at the end...Priapus appears and went 'nope, since you slept with the girl I was supposed to be with, I'm going to be Mr. Steal Your Girl and steal your girl' and that didn't end well (I mean, Athena AND Aphrodite showed up to help Julian). Julian beats Priapus, and Priapus ends up being in the book, replacing Julian, and then at the end, one year later, Julian and Grace has two twins (yay).

I really loved this book and jumping back in this world made me miss it so much, and Julian of Macedon made it to the *very long list* of boyfriends that I really, really love so much. And if I did summon him through a book, you goddamn right I'm going to introduce him to Jujistu Kaisen, The Folk of the Air series and the Court of Thorns and Roses. Oh and tea. Lots and lots of tea. And coffee. Maybe pinot grigio and the Housewives (I'm going to WRECK his mind if I did all of that)

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Book Review: Once a Moretti Wife by Michelle Smart

Once a Moretti Wife by Michelle Smart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book, even though it was short (about twelve chapters) made me mad as hell. For once, the hero of the book, Stefano, wanted to get revenge on his wife, Anna, but the problem is that she tripped and fell hard, losing her memories (she has retrograde memories) where she lost eightteen months of memories, so she doesn't remember what she did to make Stefano hate her. But honestly, thoughout this whole book, I got really irritated by Stefano. He really wanted to embrass her throughout this whole entire book while taking care of her, coming up with a plan: he's going to make love to her, and then humiliate her, which, in my case, is fucking stupid.

And then when the time came for him to embrass him-calling some reporter and called a cab for her to leave his life-that part pissed me off-and then when she remembered everything (and I mean everything), she told him why she called him multiple times and why when she came to visit him she thought he was cheating on her: she was pregnant with his baby, and then she had a miscarrage (woof). Stefano was stunned, just stunned as she told him this, and then when she left to see her sister, he found 2 wedding bands...2 WEDDING BANDS, Y'ALL....and Anna found out a lot of things about herself (she loves shoes, really good wine, and she uses Stefano's birthday as the password). Even though this was a three out a five star book, I just really wasn't feeling it and the hero of the book just made me mad.

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Book Review: Rock Hard by Nalini Singh

Rock Hard by Nalini Singh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my first time ever reading one of Nalini Singh’s novels-I know people had said that her psy-changeling novels are the best-but since my library didn’t have one (and I really don’t feel like buying them somewhere) I decided to check out Rock Hard from her Rock Kiss novels...and I have to say, her writing did not disappoint me. This book was so damned good-it was my first office romance novel and on top of that, it had to deal with trauma and abuse, which I took care of myself after I read this book, and it also touched on second chances at love, and, of course, letting the characters work out the relationship slowly.

So what is this book about?

This book is about Charlotte Baird who works at a failing business with a really crappy boss (um, who does this remind you of?), who meets her new boss. Gabriel Bishop (before we go any further…)

Gabriel Bishop is drop dead sexy as hell and the nickname T-Rex suits him to a G (yes, I said G. MOVING ON….).

..by throwing a stapler at his head. Yes, that’s right, stapler. Then over the course of the book, we see the mouse (Charlotte) grow as a character, from being all shy and timid, to learning how to handle her rugby player boss/boyfriend (my new book boyfriend) and to overcome her trauma of what happened to her by the hands of her ex, who was in jail before he got out and tried to hurt her again. I loved loved loved the fact that Gabriel was slow and steady with her, not wanting to do anything to her that she was not ready for. I did also love the growling and the dirty talk too, but I think this book just shows that if you have someone who understands you and learns what you’re going through, then I think y’all can have a really good relationship, especially when said man is a T-Rex that thinks he can have his way, and a mouse that teaches him and pretty much fights with him the whole entire time, but then lets him do things to her-like take her to therapy, take her to a rugby game-and slowly but surely learn to love her, even when they got engaged she said “I’m not getting married to you after I learn how to sleep with you (in bed together instead of apart).” and he agreed to those terms.

All in all, Nalini Singh did a really good job with this book, ten ten across the board.

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Book Review: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.

Thus this sentence took you on a short rollercoaster about a Chinese American family who's trying to grieve over their sixteen year old Lydia, who killed herself. The book opens to her funeral, and then we take the ride there, learning about how James, a Chinese man, learning about his life and where he came from and how he met Marilyn, a Caucasian woman. The two met at the first class James was teaching, and went on to get married, have three kids, and then go through the trauma and pain of losing a child, especially their middle child.

Once Lydia died, that's when things start to come to light-Nath, the brother, blames Jack for his sister's death. James is having an affair with Louisa but didn't go far. Marylin is trying to figure out what was it that she'd done to make Lydia kill herself. And poor, small Hannah, who knows everything and doesn't even say a word.

This book drew me in and I devoured every single word that Celeste Ng wrote, but the one thing that got me was the going in the head and coming out of the characters' head, almost like it was running together, but I enjoyed nontheless, and I wanted more, but I think this is a really good short to stop with and then read more of her stories. I hope that one day we can go back to them, but until then, I love and hate the Lee family, only because of the small cheating part and how they handled Lydia's death, like she's still there but she's gone, and now they're regretting how they feel and how they treated her when she was alive when it was clearly shown that she had depression and just wanted to have one friend that didn't treat her like shit, but I guess that didn't happen (well, there's Jack, but he treated her like a human fucking being).

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Book Review: Pretty Things by Janelle Brown

Pretty Things by Janelle Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pretty Things by Janelle Brown is my first suspense novel I've ever read, and I have to say...I enjoyed this book. Shockingly, I thought I would hate it, mostly because I don't read suspense novels like this. But the more I read it and fell in love with the characters Vanessa and Nina, and also Lachlan/Michael before he was killed. I also thought that I was going to hate the mother, but after the things she lied about and what she did to her own daughter made me hate her so, so much. So what is this book about?

This book is about a heist of a lifetime-Nina Ross and Lachlan, going out to Stonehaven to loot the very rich family the Lieblings. Only problem is...the Lieblings are broke bitches. Vanessa became an influencer on Instagram, her brother Benny became a schizophrenic, mother killed herself on her boat, and her father died in bed. At the same time all of that was going on, Nina and Benny were seeing each other as teenagers, and one day while they were making love, Mr. Liebling walked in on them and threw Nina out, thus sending her on this 'revenge' heist, looking at Vanessa's instagram and plotting on how to make her pay for what her father did, all the while stealing from other rich kids "that deserve it".

When at the same time, Vanessa's life is anything but peachy. She kinda blames herself for the schizophenia, though she really blames her father for it. She actually did meet Nina at the coffee shop, but then again she didn't even notice her, just looked down at her phone. But when she got the email from a couple named Ashley and Michael, after being so alone in Stonehaven, of course she invited them in.

The first few days Vanessa spills her guts to Ashley/Nina, telling her that "I am very...alone...right now." after telling her her whole story to her...and then afterwards Nina says (not to her face) "She thinks we are friends?" like...come on, bro. She spilled her life and that's what you think? Ooof. But the worst part was when Vanessa thought of a plan to get rid of "Ashley" after learning her true identity, drugging her drink and making her leave, having "Michael" all to herself. But not before Nina goes into the vault and finds a letter Lily wrote to William Liebling, thus setting off a chain of events that lands her in jail.

And Michael? And Vanessa?

They got married and they're staying in Stonehaven. Vanessa picks up sketching while Michael is writing. But it turns out Michael is a big fat liar, and Vanessa's happy little marriage starts to not sound right, even when she finds out that she's pregnant with his child. So she goes to see Nina in jail, after finding little clues that helped her figure out that Michael isn't who he says he is, and the two girls go to his house after Vanessa pays for bail and...they found out that Vanessa's husband's real name is actually Michael O'Brien, he's not from Ireland, and also that he pulled the same con on so many women that it made even Nina sick to her stomach.

Oh and when Nina learned that her mama set up the whole entire thing, the whole she bang, it shocked her and me, because that's a huge yikes in my book. And when it was time to confront Michael, they did everything he said before Nina kicked him down the stairs, and then, at the end, Vanessa killed him. Nina served her years and worked for Vanessa as a house editor, getting things organized and ready to sell, Vanessa had a little girl named Daisy and moved Benny back in, and also Vanessa's a mommy blogger. Awe. She she even got a clothing line coming out.

So all in all, this book was really good, and it inspired me to try and write my own suspense (or try to). I just didn't like the whole Michael keeping the secret and how he pretty much plagerized famous poems and didn't write his own.

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Book Review: Kingdom of Ash, a Throne of Glass novel by Sarah J. Maas

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kingdom of Ash..aka Kingdom of Pain, Kingdom of Tears, Kingdom of pretty much EVERY BLOODY THING THAT HAPPENED HAS LEAVED ME IN TEARS. This book was so good, and it was a pretty good ending for them, and I want so much more ToG, but I understand that this was the end. I even took a bunch of notes in my book journal so I can remember everything I read.

So that one thing that caught my eye as I read was the line Once Upon a Time, in a land since burned to ash, there lived a young princess who loved her kingdom, and it was so beautiful. I had to write that line down, and as I read though Aelin's torture, to her escaping with Fenrys, and then training all over again to get her back to fighting shape to fight Erawan and Maeve again, to get her kingdom back...I loved every moment of it. She was trying to get back to Rowan and her friends so she can fight, but the moments when she was locked in the coffin and only getting out to get tortured every single day by Cairn, but she got out, and fought her way back to her, even though she had to fake some of it before she became her true self again.

Rowan. My poor baby boy. He is looking EVERYWHERE for Aelin, his wife. When Aelin's mama told her to fight, and he felt something down the mating bond, he's like 'Aelin's in the North'...in Dorainelle or however you spell it....and before they can ever get there, tragedy strikes. Fenrys's brother, Connall, was basically forced to kill himself thanks to Maeve, in front of Fenrys, and when Cairn was talking about doing so many horrible things to Aelin, Fenrys got up, attacked Cairn while breaking the blood bond, and had to take a new one with Aelin so he can live, and then the two left (after tormenting and killing Cairn, which I was really happy about).

Let's shift the tides from Rowaelin to the others. Manon and Dorian, whom I love so, so much, is looking for the Corchan witches, while secretly Dorian is going to look for the last and final Wyrdkey, summoning spirits like Gavriel and Kaltain. Of course Manon finds out and they have a fight, but not before a stygian spider named Cyrene comes along and help, but then Dorian finds out that Cyrene is actually Valg born, and he killed her and took her shifting ability, and went in to take the third Wyrdkey...but not after making me want to throw up when he asked Maeve to marry him and take the throne, but thank god it was a fake after he found a way to destroy the tower and the collars.

Then Aedion and Lysandra...honestly, these two I wanted to shove into a room and let them fight and then get back together, though I'm gonna die on the 'Aedion is a bitch for talking to Lysandra like that' hill and he deserves it, talking that way. But close to the end, they get together, and they got married and he became the Lord of Terrassen. AND DON'T GET ME STARTED WITH ELIDE AND LORCAN GOODNESS. Those two made me cry after the huge fight. And Chaol and Yrene, and YRENE DOING THAT WHILE SHE WAS PREGNANT. Beautiful, I tell ya, beautiful.

Honestly, I loved every bit of this book and I know this isn't the end of my Sarah J. Maas read-a-thon (gonna have to take a tiny break from that, though) but I loved this series so much that I'm sad that Throne of Glass is over.

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