Laurens.Little.Library > Recent Status Updates

Good god is this shit repetitive

Perhaps it’s silly to continue this series after being underwhelmed by the opening novel.

I’m not even expecting brilliance after doing a quick scan of the reviews (which are by and large extremely positive) — I just want to get a whiff of what everyone else seems to see

Y’all I can’t even make this up:

The devil: What’s happening? I’m not moving until it’s worth my trouble.

Assistant: It’s the housewives. They’re causing trouble again.

The devil: You’re joking. Please tell me you’re joking. If I have to listen to one more of those women demanding a glass Pinot Grigio…

Narration: He hated those damned selfish women

💀💀💀

Hello internalized misogyny

“Females” instead of women 🚩🚩🚩

There’s a line about “bitchy girls” and now I’m completely convinced this author doesn’t know how to form female friendships and is deeply resentful.

This really is terrible 😣

I’ll give it 5% more before I bail

Damn that plot was speedy. I can’t say I was ever bored

FYI I’m listening to an ALC of the new audiobook.

Both narrators are excellent! I wish there were different male narrators for each characters, though I get that’s quite expensive.

Nevertheless, Kel Carpenter does a very solid job making each sound different

Good surprises:
- a solid amount of worldbuilding (it’s magical realism, heavy on the magical)
- I quite like the FMC. She’s mature, caring, tough when she needs to be, soft & approachable the rest of the time
- no insta love!

😕:
- white witches + black witches (good ones vs bad ones who practise v corrupting magic) I get that this is actually a spin off, but I wish this could have been named something else

*pausing here because I’ll now be buddy reading this with Kierstan and Hannah*

Thoughts in no particular order:
- I greatly appreciate how the author drops in details as and when we need to know them
- despite being written in first person, we’re never subjected to repetitive, rambling internal thought. Instead, that narration showcases Vis’ highly strategic reasoning, which is a joy

I’ll be 100% honest: I don’t read that many paranormal romance novels because I just cannot get past the terrible covers 💀

So why pick this up? The blurb intrigued me and I’m always looking for quality why-choose. Let’s see how it goes 👀

I appreciate all the worldbuilding while simultaneously it feels like the plot should be further along than it is 🧐

Did anyone else who’s read this struggle to picture what’s described??

It’s giving…The Poppy War. I’m here for it.

Pro: excellent disability rep

Con: painfully predictable

I can’t fault a book for not having bite if it was never supposed to have any. I can, however, tell you how I feel about that

I have very few triggers. One of them *can be* discussions of motherhood, depending on how it’s done.

Fingers crossed 🤞🏼

I’ve only heard good things, so let’s see how it goes 🫶🏼

Do Your Worst is a marked improvement from her debut. You’ll see an improvement in the writing (some solid figurative language) and none of the false sex-positive nonsense that runs throughout The Roommate.

However, it’s still mediocre.

Ostensibly, the individual parts should add up to an excellent paranormal romcom. Should being the operative word 😕

Giving this author a second chance 👀

When the spice is well written 🤌🏼🤌🏼

This really is an excellent fantasy romance, and there’s more than enough meat on the bones for fantasy die-hards to chew on

Uh oh. There’s one line (I won’t say) that I’m positive is foreshadowing despite *when* it’s said (during sex) and now I’m nervous

Also, I really wish I read some sort of refresher before diving in because holy hell it’s like I remembered nothing 😅

The female narrator is fantastic; I wish the male narrator spoke smoothly instead of stilted and his female voice wasn’t so cringe

This has been on my audible wish list for ages.

All it took to press “Buy with 1 credit” was a couple really bad depression days 😅

Early thoughts: I didn’t know the FMC was bi and now I’m even more excited

From the very first page, the author makes it abundantly clear that this hasn’t been edited. The unnecessary repetition is almost impressive.

It’s annoying how poorly explained/explored the FMC’s magic is, to the point where I’m almost sure the author doesn’t know the answer to my questions

Re: the narrators

I’ve never been a Tim Paige girlie. Blasphemy, I’m aware. I just don’t like his voice acting. It’s weird ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Meg Sylvan, on the other hand, is fabulous! I like her work in the Witch Walker audiobooks, too

I’m convinced that you could put the exact same spice scene in two different books, one book being well-written and with a highly compelling romance, the other the opposite, and I’d still respond positively to one and negatively to the other.
This is an example of the latter. I should find this hot. I should be all 😮‍💨 over the things they say. But without the foundation? 👎

What makes this book special? I’m lost as to the reason ACTCAL has captured so many readers who’ve in turn rated it 5⭐️

Aside from the rare moments of sexual desire, the writing is VERY mediocre YA. You’re chugging along, reading boring ass sentences like “something in my chest wrenched” (soooo your heart lol?) when BAM 🐓. Perplexing.

I snapped this puppy up the second it was added to my library 😈

I’d say that I’m gently interested. I’ve enjoyed the plot progression; in a time where everyone and their mother is writing fantasy romance, ACTCAL seems to find kernels uniqueness amid well-trodden ground.

Although I’m not exactly bored, and I’m a sucker for forced proximity, there are niggles with the writing that hold me back from truly enjoying the read.

I wished an editor encouraged the author to add more life to the dialogue, because anything that isn’t a quip or banter is short and very automaton sounding

This feels very comparable to Wildfire

I like it. I thoroughly enjoy Luke’s filthy mouth.

Regarding the explorations of mental health challenges: although appreciated, it’s pretty shallow (thus unsatisfactory)

Sold from the author’s note at the start of the book 🥰