A roundup of several smaller reviews I wrote in Spring 2025. Beware of spoilers!
Title: Perfect Fit
Author: Clare Gilmore
Series: n/a
Thank you to Clare Gilmore, RB Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I didn’t intentionally DNF at 82%, but life interrupted and circumstances are preventing me from finishing it. I enjoyed what I did read, though. Josie and Will are wonderful, sympathetic characters with relatable fears and desires, and I cared about them. Josie probably needed to see a doctor for her mental and emotional issues, but it was so heartwarming that Will loved her despite them. Even because of them, a bit. A great romance, even if you aren’t necessarily into fashion or corporate life.
Title: The Journal of a Thousand Years
Author: C. J. Archer
Series: Glass Library #6
I’m surprised no one in production caught Hussey messing up the title at the end. Whoopsy.
A decent conclusion. Series overall felt rather unnecessary, like a small/simple premise that had been overcomplicated and drawn out too thinly, but that’s kind of Archer’s MO. Sylvia’s identity mystery was rather convoluted and underwhelming. But I love these characters and appreciated spending more time with them.
Title: The Hushed
Author: K. R. Blair
Series: ?*
Much thanks to K. R. Blair, Blackstone Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
A very unique premise that I’m not sure I 100% understood, but I understood enough to appreciate the plot. I liked Eerie (sp? I listened to the audiobook) and most of the other characters, though none really stood out as particularly charismatic/super memorable. Unfortunately Eerie and Logan were victims of instalove, and there was an inkling of a triangle with Raelius (sp?)—definitely will be if there’s a sequel—which I was dismayed about, because I hate love triangles. (Yet at the same time, I was excited to see their chemistry, because Raelius feels like a more interesting character and I feel like he and Eerie would have a deeper relationship than Eerie and Logan.) The writing came across as professional and skilled, though Blair had her lazy moments, too, like the ex machina that was Logan’s felony record. I believe Blair executed the plot as well as she could have. Overall I have mad respect for the unique premise, even if the instalove weakened the story.
*There’s story potential for a sequel, but I couldn’t find confirmation of one at time of writing this review.
Title: Enchantra
Author: Kaylie Smith
Series: Wicked Games #2
Much thanks to Kaylie Smith, Bookouture Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review. Also thanks to Noelle Holten from Second Sky for inviting me to access the title.
DNF 45%. I was into it at first as we were discovering the world and setting up the conflict, but I failed to find Genevieve or Rowin likeable and it was taking longer and longer to get into the plot—talking talking talking threats taunts a million wicked siblings blah blah blah…. Once the marriage thing was settled we were hit with the expected orgy and blind lust, which isn’t to my taste. The hunt finally started around 42%, which was way too late, I’d grown impatient and the hunt no longer held much thrill, especially since all we saw was Gen hide. She and Rowin meet up again and all they do is bicker, him domineering and treating her like a stupid child, her spitting with obstinacy and spite, both resenting the hell out of each other. I understand they’re supposed to be hate to love, but that doesn’t mean they can’t act with more maturity and dignity, exhibit some cleverness. I’m just not in the mood to tolerate immature, self-important characters within a lust-soaked plot that’s taking its damn time. I gave the book a shot and it’s not my thing. Moving on.
Title: The Notorious Virtues
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Series: Notorious Virtues #1
Thanks to Alwyn Hamilton, Penguin Group, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Don’t read this for the competition; I kept forgetting there even was a competition until the last quarter or so, when it ramps up and takes more focus. Read this book for the world building—the civil unrest, the political intrigue, the family lore, the history and culture of the people, the magic.
I loved this book, but I didn’t love it until the end. It’s a long book, so naturally the middle gets a bit tedious and started losing my attention, but again, the plot starts coming to a head in the last quarter. I really didn’t want to stop reading then.
At first I thought Nora was just an okay character, not very relatable and her arrogance wasn’t exactly endearing. But when she started to struggle and we got to know her better, alongside August, I really came to admire her. Speaking of, August seemed like a good guy and had some charisma but wasn’t super memorable. His and Nora’s romance was adorable, though.
Lotte and Theo held their own as far as demanding the readers’ attention. Heck, Lotte was more a protagonist than Nora. She had Harry Potter vibes—underdog, everyone wants her dead, holds special power, was shut away and had no idea of the world she truly belonged to but thrived in it once she got there—and Theo was a protector torn between blood and duty. His conflict was the most heart-wrenching; the plight of the knights in general was heart-wrenching.
There were a couple things that I could use clarity on: who the Grims are and how they formed, and how Oscar was a knight without being a knight. The former was probably part of that tedious middle and I just wasn’t paying close enough attention, but I was very tuned in for the latter and I still didn’t quite understand. It was kind of anticlimactic, actually. Also, a big factor in the plot went completely unexplored, the magical being in the woods that came across to me as the secret puppeteer of it all. I can’t remember the name of it. But I’m hoping its role and motivation will be fleshed out in book 2, which I’ll be looking forward to!
Wait—I just remembered I wanted to mention, how old are these characters, exactly? I believe Lotte was 17, but I’m not sure about Nora; I feel like I remember 15 for her? Maybe? Yet she and her similarly-aged cousins were out partying and drinking alcohol like its water and having blase attitudes about lovers . . . and no one thought anything of it. Maybe that was normal for their culture, and undoubtedly it was normal for their family, but it really filled me with dismay every time alcohol was casually offered to these teenagers. The author’s Canadian, where the drinking age is 18 or 19, so it’s not like she’s from a culture with a low drinking age like Europe. I wonder how old the boys were supposed to be, too—August lived with his mom but was earning a living and worried a lot about bills, like he was an adult. Should I find it creepy that he was developing a romantic relationship with a girl who, if I understood correctly, was 15? No one was still in school, which, now that I think about it, is strange. It’s easy to get caught up in the drama and lore and forget how young these characters are supposed to be when they’re acting like adults, but when you think about it . . . it’s shady. If any of these matters were addressed in the story, I didn’t catch it.
Title: Rebel of the Sands
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Series: Rebels of the Sands #1
After reading Notorious Virtues, I was curious about Hamilton’s other work, namely this book. It happened to be available at the library, so ba-da-bing, I gave it a shot. I didn’t expect to like it much less finish it, but I did! I can’t wait to start book 2.
I’m a little confused, though. One edition has a cover (the one I included with this review) that shows a girl, who I assume is Amani, wreathed in fire and holding a flame in her hand. So when it was revealed she had an unknown power, I assumed she could wield fire (fuck you, cover, for potentially spoiling that). But that was wrong. Soooo is that cover graphic just wrong or spoiling a future development? I guess I’ll find out.
Edit after finishing the series: Yep, nope, it’s just wrong. Amani never wields fire. Stupid cover.
My thoughts on Book 2, Traitor to the Throne: Why didn’t Amani make sand bullets like she did in the last book? Way more effective and less taxing than a sandstorm. Why can’t she go all Yondu and his arrow on their enemies? Brilliant book regardless.
On Book 3, Hero at the Fall: I hated all the deaths, but it WAS war. Hamilton threw every complication she could think of at the rebels, which got a little exasperating, but ya can’t say it lacked conflict. Amani was no Mary Sue. The middle sagged a bit more in this one than the last while the rebels tried to get their shit together; it picked up once Amani met the sin maker. Jin and Amani’s long awaited lovemaking was romantic until I remembered neither of them had bathed in days if not weeks and they were on the bare ground in the desert. Ick. But it was nice that their relationship was relatively mature and steady and dramaless, aside from the stress of warring and nearly dying all the time. Overall, this was a satisfying conclusion and I am all the more interested in seeing where Hamilton takes the Virtues.
Title: A Legend in the Baking
Author: Jamie Wesley
Series: Sugar Blitz #2
Thanks to Jamie Wesley, Spotify Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately unforeseeable circumstances caused me to miss the window for listening to the audiobook, and I instead borrowed the ebook from the library, so I can’t comment on the narration.
DNF 52%. The characters are likeable and have some charisma, and Wesley tries to give them depth. But the writing is not great, and I’m calling it.
There’s weird punctuation at times, the TV show name wasn’t consistent, the banter is clunky and not at all witty, and there’s really weird references. Some examples:
• “It’s giving Beast when Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, and Cogsworth decided he needed to woo Belle and told him to stop scowling” to describe August’s awkward smile.
• “Chrissy Teigen ‘yikes’ face” because apparently that expression is exclusive to her
• “like they were individual frames in the Zapruder film”—wtf is the Zapruder film? *looks up* Why in the world would you make an obscure reference related to the JFK assassination in a fluffy romance about cupcakes? Just say “like they were individual frames in 8mm film.”
August’s inciting incident rant was an out-of-character emotional ramble that made me roll my eyes and sounded more like something a woman would say than a man, and altogether sounded manufactured.
A lot about their jobs didn’t make sense to me either. Sloane’s supposed to be a social media coordinator but she seemed to be doing a lot of general publicity work. Maybe that’s accurate, but she also didn’t seem to be doing good work. And three football players running a cupcake shop? Fine, but who runs it the other half of the year while they’re playing ball? And their start-up story wasn’t solid. One moment it sounds like they all love baking cupcakes, the next moment it sounds like they just like a tasty cupcake sometimes and decided to start a shop on a whim, the next it sounds like they started a shop to honor their mothers who loved to bake, but the reality actually seems to be one does the baking, one does the accounting, and one just putzes around doing whatever’s needed.
And I’m supposed to believe that a young man in college playing football and who has a girlfriend is going to have the desire and time to help the little sister of his relatively new friend with her homework? Then pursue a private phone friendship? Without having met each other? That circumstance seemed like a stretch to me as well.
Yeah, not great writing. Moving on.
Title: Behooved
Author: M. Stevenson
Series: n/a?
Much thanks to M. Stevenson, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I had fun with this book! The blurb says it’s a slow burn, and I can maybe see that, but I thought the pace was pretty steady. I loved sweet, nerdy Aric and badass Bianca and their arcs, which might be the most well-written aspect. The plot’s trite and predictable, the world building is lacking, the magic could use some exploration and clarification, and the semi-graphic sex didn’t suit the tone. Points of the plot are a bit questionable, like the fact that her sister thought turning an assailant into a huge powerful animal was going to keep Bianca UNharmed? I mean, horses’ ability to kill people has been well documented, especially frightened ones.
But if you can roll with the janky bits and appreciate the characters, this story is a pleasant way to pass some time. I’m not sure if this is meant to be the start of a series, but I’d spend more time with Aric and Bianca without hesitation.
The narrator, Natalie Naudus, did an excellent job. She gave each character a distinctive voice. She has a low, husky, intense quality that might be better suited to erotic romance, but it worked okay here.
