WordsofJoy

Decent Pacing and Characters

Revisado: 04-20-25

The world building could have been so much more immersive. Part of it was the character dialogue felt so American along with other mannerisms so it felt like the world was a prop. The magic system was interesting. The dialogue was decent. The main character was annoying at times in her ability to make stupid mistakes and choices.

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Solid writing and decent story

Revisado: 04-10-25

My main complaint is that the characters felt young to be dealing with adult roles. I didn't love this story, but I also didn't hate it. The writing mechanics were solid. I'm not dying to read the second book, and that in itself says a lot, but decent story overall.

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Good Until Thin Character Motivations

Revisado: 07-16-24

This is a 3.5 ⭐ for me. It got a lot of hype and didn't deliver quite as expected. I enjoyed the descriptive writing, and I enjoyed the characters overall. Livie was a little flat for me, and the story started off a little slow, but as a lifelong fantasy reader who enjoys Sanderson and Jordan, I can stick with it as the plot builds. However, there were some story mechanics issues. One of the first scenes is where Livie dives into the water to see the barrier, and it just seemed that was a bit far-fetched, but I was willing to give it a pass. When the author transitioned from enemies to lovers, it was a flip of a switch, and had some fairly thin reasoning and explainations. Erik lied to her about a major event and suddenly she finds out the truth and simply disregards it because he says he's lived with anger for so long that he denied the truth. Sorry. That was so thin, it was ridiculous. Compounding that was we get dual first person POVs. We're in Eric's head, and yet we never see all these secrets he's been hiding from her? It instantly places him as an unreliable narrator. Sometimes, this can be used purposely and carefully, but this clearly wasn't the case. This was a paper thin explanation for the author to have the physical relationship progress. I was at the 70% mark and this pulled me up so short, I would have actually been fine with DNFing right there. The story ends in a cliffhanger, and I can't muster the desire to care to read the second book even though there were so many other good things about the story. It also cheapened the FMC and the physical relationship for me as well.

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One Of My Favorites!

Revisado: 07-07-24

Ilona Andrews has become one of my go-to authors. A husband and wife team, they write a tight knit, fast-paced story with lots of great dialogue, banter, humor, mystery, action, fantasy creatures, magic, and extensive worldbuilding. There's almost always some good romance, but the plot is never sacrificed for the sake of spice.

I rarely re-read books, but I re-read these books and their other series. Just great writing all the way around.

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Struggle Bus

Revisado: 06-29-24

I'm torn on this story. I did finish it, but I found myself rolling my eyes, and groaning at the character motivations. Some of them seemed paper thin. The plot also felt thin in places, and I struggle to actually put my finger on just exactly what it was. I had a very hard time suspending my disbelief with this one (and I read A LOT of fantasy). In doing some reading on StackExchange on what breaks the suspension of disbelief, there were some implausible aspects to the story within the established world, specifically, the coincidences in plot development ultimately lending to a contrived feeling. The writing itself wasn't bad, the prose and dialogue was smooth, with good use of similies and metaphores and some decent wordsmithing on occasion. Also, even though the FMC was mid-twenties, she felt very juvenile and glib. I felt like I was reading a YA novel instead of a NA or adult novel. The narrator probably lended to this feel and she's not my favorite. Ultimately, I will not be reading the second book even though this one left it on a bit of a cliffhanger.

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Great Writing!

Revisado: 06-21-24

Don't let this story fall by the wayside. Story is excellent, characters are likeable and have good arcs, dialogue is well written.

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Snarky, One-Liner Fun

Revisado: 05-01-24

The covers on these books are a bit misleading. They imitate most of today's current Rom-Com and Contemporary Romance books. These books are far from either. While they do certainly contain a romance subplot, it's a slow moving arc that extends over more than two books.

The writing is *chef's kiss* and the author has a penchant for great and unique similies, and metaphores, with descriptive and evocative prose. The biggest nit I have is for the FMC. While funny, and constantly producing great one-liners, her efforts often extend too far and land solidly in the eye role section. In the second book, we have more of the same and I found myself wanting to strangle the character at certain moments. Outside of that, they're a fun and entertaining read.

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Fun and engaging story

Revisado: 04-24-24

The characters are unique as is the story. I like the premise. Looking forward to seeing the development of the romance.

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Decent, but a little cheesy.

Revisado: 03-29-24

Decent, but a little cheesy. Writing is solid. voice actors are great. Not as amazing as the Wolf Hotel Series, but MMC is sweet.

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Lackluster compared to her other stories.

Revisado: 03-07-24

The story was a slogfest to get through. I didn't outright hate it, but I also didn't like it. I read plenty of fantasy and romantasy, from Sanderson to Yarros. This didn't have good pacing. It never created the question of what's going to happen next in the reader's mind that keeps you turning the page. I didn't truly care for the characters. Everything just came across as bland. Not terrible, but not enough to keep me engaged and wanting to read more. The Wolf Hotel Series though... That one had me up until the crack of dawn.

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