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A Curse for True Love by Stephaine Garber

"Happily ever afters were notoriously boring. They did not make for very good stories"

This series will haunt me for the rest of my life. 

Stephanie really played us like Tamiln plays his fiddle with how "The Ballad of Never After" ended, but she redeemed herself with "A Curse for True Love," albeit it took a while. This book was DEVASTATING. Having to experience Evangeline navigating the Magnificant North and court politics (Apollo :l) without her memories was maddening. But what was worse was having Evangeline meet Jacks again, feeling their bond despite not knowing him or their history. IT WAS TORTURE reading the interactions between Jacks and Evangeline, knowing how absolutely in love he is with her and how much she loves him too (BUT DOESN'T REMEMBER). As Taylor Swift said, "hell was the journey, but it brought me heaven." Because we got a HAPPY ENDING!!!! Honestly, I was happier that Apollo d*ed than Evenagline and Jacks getting together because he officially is the worst character ever. I literally wanted to strangle him throughout the entire book. 

This book is beautiful. Everything from Stephanie's prose to the characters and love story is just stunning. I am absolutely obsessed with Stephanie's way of writing Evangeline. She is such a whimsically romantic character, and her view of the world surrounding her reflects that. Evangeline's descriptions of the world are just so fantastical and completely out of a fairytale. The description that stood out to me the most was "as if the world were a cake and the snow was dollops of thick white frosting." UGH, so beautiful and unique! Evangeline remains one of my favorite female protagonists because she isn't afraid to stay true to herself and follow her heart. She is soft and feminine and sometimes a little naive while also being clever, strong, and funny. Evangeline is a badass in her own right and entirely relatable: "Hoping and imagining and believing in magic had always been like breathing to Evangeline." I just adore her. I have far too much to say about Jacks. He is a top 3 book boyfriend for me, and I just am so in love with him. Jacks was just absolutely devastating in this book and even though Stephanie gave us a happy ending, I will never forgive her for making Jacks cry multiple times. He is pookiebear. 

I cannot wait for what comes next from Stephanie, especially since "other stories were brewing in the Magnecifant North." Hopefully, Lala and Choas (I really like their short moments together). 

"the star-crossed lovers, who were star-crossed no more," and thank the freaking gods for that.

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Glow of the Everflame by Penn Cole

This book….I straight-up devoured it. This book is so good. Everything about it was top-tier. The drama and action never ended, everyone schemed and planned, and BIG things were revealed. The ending left me with my mouth hanging wide open and frustration coursing through my veins. That is probably the one thing about this book that I wasn't a huge fan about; the frustration. Like obviously, a book is good if it makes me feel, but some of these characters DROVE ME CRAZY—especially Diem. There were so many moments when I wanted to grab Diem and shake some sense into her. I'm not sure she has ANY critical thinking skills at this point. It's not that Diem is stupid; she is very smart. It is just the fact that she STILL is determined to expect the worst from Luther and the Descended even after EVERYTHING they have done for her. Also, her whole thing with Henri made me want to gouge my eyeballs out. I almost screamed at one point. Diem WAS being stupid when it came to Henri, and I understand that to an extent, but GIRL, how many times does he have to disappoint you for you to realize he NEVER truly loved you? PLUS, the fact that multiple other characters told Diem girl this dude is bad news. UGH. Besides Diem being an actual mess, the other characters completely stole my heart. I am absolutely in love with Luther (he can do no wrong), Eleanor, Taran, Alixe, and of course, Lily and Teller (my baby angels). But why was Sorae my favorite character? Probably because she acts like a puppy, lol. Overall, this plot is BONKERS; the magic is wild, and the worldbuilding just keeps on getting better and better. I literally can't believe the ending, and I NEED to find out WTF Diem's mom is up to and why Diem's blood was gray.

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A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

ACOTAR is a good first book to the series, but it definitely isn't the best by any means. I'd honestly consider this book a prologue to the series because it does a good job of introducing the world, magic, characters, and politics. However, the real meat of the story takes place in the following books. Perhaps, I just have read this book so many times, but I found myself getting bored towards the middle. It may sound horrible, but when Feyre is getting comfortable in the Spring Court and falling in love with Tamlin is just BORING. Honestly, the best moments in the Spring Court are Feyre meeting the Suriel, Calanmai, when Rhys interrupts their meal, and when Tamlin sends Feyre back to the human realm. Besides Lucien being the best, the rest of the Spring Court storyline is blah (that's why when I first read this book, I wasn't convinced of Tamlin and Feyre's relationship). I forgot how wild the end of the book gets and how traumatic? Under the Moutain is a nightmare, and honestly Feyre is so much better than me because I would not put myself through that hell to save the guy I love and his people (sorry). Of course, Rhys is a highlight from UTM, and the foreshadowing is beautiful. I was surprised that Beron is the first High Lord to give Feyre a drop of his power (totally forgot that detail). I wish Feyre or Rhys could have killed Amarantha instead of Tamlin. Clare Beddor deserved so much better. Honestly, the last part of the book is where stuff REALLY starts, and the series begins. You honestly just have to get through this book first to get the jist of everything before the plot picks up. Without comparing this book to the next ones in the series, it is a decent book, perhaps a little overhyped, but definitely not terrible by any means.

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Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Wow. Okay. I don't even know where to start with this book because SO much happened. But it also feels like nothing happened at the same time? IDK, pacing was definitely an issue in this book, and I don't think a lot of the middle part needed to occur. Most of the scenes between Violet and Xaden were just them repeatedly fighting over the SAME THING (drove me bonkers). I was about to throttle Violet, but I understood why Yarros made the two of them fight because if they were in a good place when Xaden confirmed he was an Inntinnsic, Violet's reaction wouldn't have been so harsh. Her obsession with secrets and truth regarding Xaden just screams insecurity and distrust despite Xaden being open to her when she wanted him to be. I honestly hope they break up in the next book because Violet needs to go to some therapy before she can give Xaden the love he deserves. To me, the secondary characters really made this book. Violet and Xaden just didn't work this time around (literally just bc of Violet; Xaden is an angel). Rhi, Ridoic, Sawyer, Jesinia, Aaric, Sloane, Cat, Imogen, and Maren were the stars of the show. Ridioc and Sawyer killed me. Their loyalty and devotion to Violet made me tear up. Rhi is the bestest friend ever, and Violet should have just told her the truth from the start (I was gonna kill Violet, I swear. She doesn't deserve Rhi). Jesinia is the baddest bitch ever. Sloane and Aaric are definitely going to become even more important. I hope Cat and Violet become BFFs bc I really liked their dynamic when they were working together. I'm beyond pissed at the ending of this book. I have so much more to say, but I'm a little scattered bc the ending threw me for a loop. Rebecca Yarros will pay for this.

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To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang

This book was enjoyable and exciting. The premise reminded me a lot of "The Foxglove King," as a random girl with powers of death uses said powers and gets thrown into the world of politics and princes. However, this book focuses heavily on colonialism rather than religion. I really liked the characters, especially Ruying (our protagonist), because she is unlike any female main character I have read before. She is very realistic and approaches conflict in a similar way as I would. She is smart, but survival comes first for her, which I enjoyed reading. Anthony is complicated….I'm unsure how I feel about him, which I think is the point.

I really appreciate Chang making this story symbolize what happened in Manchuria during WWII. However, I think her way of going about this was a bit too ambitious. It was confusing that the empire inspired by Manchuria was fictional, but the empire inspired by Japan was Rome. I couldn't figure out if this "Rome" was inspired by historical Rome or if this was a world where historical Rome was still around. The characters refer to their empires as being in different worlds, but I didn't know if that was literal. There is a portal and Veil, but those are never explained. Is this "Rome" on a different planet or dimension? No clue. I think it would have been more beneficial if Chang had taken the Roman inspiration and created another fictional empire to clear up some confusion.

Overall, this was a quick read for me. I wasn't entirely absorbed into the story, but I enjoyed it. I think this is a pretty solid debut novel with only a few issues that can easily be resolved/explained in the next book! I'm unsure if I will pick up book two, but I want to find out who Ruying ends up with, so we will see!

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House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

HOFAS was my least favorite of the Crescent City books, and that is such a disappointment because I was looking SO forward to this book. That being said, I still really enjoyed HOFAS; it just didn't quite live up to my expectations. I was expecting Bryce to do more in the Night Court besides just wandering through tunnels with Nesta and Azriel. However, I really adored seeing Nesta from an outsider's point of view and her friendship with Az. The info dump with Silene was blah…it confirmed everything we already theorized, and it seemed too convenient. Bryce traveling through worlds also felt really easy? idk. Maybe it is because she is a "world-walker" or whatever, but in HOSAB, it was so dramatic. Bryce, in general, really irked me. IDK what was up with her treating Hunt like shit, but I didn't like it, and it was totally out of character for her. However, I did appreciate that we were more in the know about her plans, unlike in HOSAB.

The pacing was typical for a Sarah J. Maas book, especially a Crescent City one, as most of the big stuff happened in the last 100 pages or so. It was strange because I found myself getting into reading slumps throughout this book, which never happens for me with Maas, but that is why it took me so long to read. At one point, I found myself skipping ahead just to read Lidia's POV (oops).

This book definitely sets up characters for a spin-off because so many people were just not important at all. Aridane? Hello, I forgot about her for about 400 pages. Sigrid? Baxian? Sathia? The Viper Queen? There is a lot more that Maas needs to tidy up before she is completely done with this world, and I don't think she is.

Lidia, my love. She ended up being my absolute favorite character in this book/series. I just adore her and Ruhn, and I was SO GLAD that I bought their bonus chapter because it was really important and should have been included in the actual book.

Anyway, I have so much to say about this book, but in short, it just wasn't as epic as I thought it would be. But it was fun for the most part, even if the middle was kind of slow. It was definitely not Maas' best, but it was a decent enough conclusion to Bryce and Hunt's story.

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Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

Ouch. This book has the most beautiful, passionate, soul-crushing love story I have ever read. I'm not even lying. The angst, yearning, irony, tension chef's kiss I literally squealed, gasped, giggled, and blushed while reading this book. Romance aside, this book has gods and goddesses, a godly war, enchanted buildings, magic, violence, a found family, and so much more. Romance is not the only thing that drives the plot; at its core, this is a book about war (the good, ugly, and downright evil). Ross creates such a compelling world without giving too much away, so I was left craving more (i can't wait to find out more about this world!). I absolutely adored all of the characters and was terrified the entire time something bad was going to happen to them. The prose was really beautiful (especially in the letters between Iris and her secret pen-pal), and as a writer myself, I was almost moved to tears a few times when the power/magic of words was discussed. I can tell Ross has big things planned for this series.

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"The Foxglove King" by Hannah Whitten

"The Foxglove King" is definitely going to be in my top books of 2024. I picked up this book because it seemed to include everything I like: necromancers, charming, handsome princes, corrupt political and religious officials, mysterious gods, and I was blown away! This book really had everything I love in a story. The world is just fascinating with godly magic and dead gods that don't seem too dead and kingdom politics. I adored our main protagonist, Lore, who was so funny and relatable but also powerful and brave. Bastain is the absolute love of my life, and Gabriel…idk how I feel about him. The characters, mysteries, magic, and tension propel the plot, and I am absolutely in love.