the world through my eyes

This novel began with whimsy and adventure, then took a dark and shocking turn that both horrified me and left me craving a satisfying ending. It delivered on that, but now I want more. I want to see life after the ending, without the threat of death and destruction that followed these characters throughout the novel.

It took me all of 20 pages to start caring for this cast of characters and by the conclusion I was feeling with them, not just for them. The themes of grief and moving on are so strong throughout, and the way Cassie had to learn to live despite it all struck a chord with me. Drummond, too, I wish I could follow more and see where healing takes him.

So I got this as an arc from Netgalley, and it is extremely late to be posting this review, but I have things I need to say. I was actually very pleased to be chosen to review this book, as I very much enjoyed A Dark Inheritance. The writing was fantastic as expected, and the mystery was fun. I found myself liking some of the characters and for once I found characters to be easy to remember.

However. It pains me that there is a however in here, because I so wanted to love it just as much as the last book from this author. It's just that I didn't connect with the story properly, I guessed the twists right as they started being hinted at, and I kept getting jolted out of the story every time Helena talked of her 'mam'. That last one was probably my own fault to be fair for not knowing geography. I totally thought this was set in England and then was very confused when that single little colloquialism. The ending was also unsatisfying to me, but I can see how many people would enjoy a short mystery with some supernatural elements.

Here's to hoping the next book I read from this author grips me just as much as the first did.

What to say about this book? I really got sucked right into the story and was heartbroken to learn that it's the start of a series, because now I'll have to wait until I can read more.

Something about the way the world is made, the magic and the history, just got to me. It took me a while to get used to the idea of the magic system, and there was a bit of info-dumping in the first 20% or so, but when I did grasp everything it was easy to get lost in the story and go with the flow. The combination of dystopia and godly powers filled a gap in my life I didn't even know I had. I actually got a similar feeling as I got while reading Six Of Crows, which I think is high praise.

The mysteries kept me hooked. Of course there's the main murder mystery, but there's also the mystery of what the hell happened to these sisters. Diving into the relationship between the Ora sisters was definitely a favourite part of the book for me. Emotions can make what may be straightforward questions overly complicated and I just loved that aspect.

Actually, all the relationships in this book were set up amazingly. I really believed each and every one of them, and felt they were all unique and had their own challenges. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of everyone in the sequel, which I hope doesn't take too long as I'm absolutely invested!

The first thing I'll say is the artwork in this novel is stunning. The style is that watercolour kind that feels like an old book. It's absolutely timeless. I love how everything has a green undertone to give it that coolness while still having deep, saturated colours. It really makes everything feel warm, like a summer day, even the shadows.

The story itself was interesting. I enjoyed learning the lives of this family through the snapshots we are given. The thing is, snapshots aren't quite enough to become emotionally invested. My interest never got deeper than that. Sad things happened then went by so quickly there was no time to process them. I would have liked to sit with each time a little longer, or see more small moments that help make up a larger, emotional picture. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful story of mother and daughter, immigration, and the struggles of black people in America in the 70s to now.

Oh, and it was a bit difficult to figure out who was talking at times. The pointers were not always clear and the speaker often switched in boxes that had no pointers at all.

This year, I decided to challenge myself to read all 6 Vampire Academy books in 6 weeks. I prepared by finding out the minimum pages I had to read every day to achieve this goal, then prepared myself to probably end up about a quarter of the way through the final book by the end of the 6 weeks, making a good effort that I was proud of. I did it in a month. I had plenty of thoughts while reading and posted reviews as I finished every book, so I'm going to compile them here. Be warned: although none of my reviews have straight up spoilers, each one can easily spoil the book that comes before, so just be careful of that.

Vampire Academy is a series that follows Rose Hathaway, and by connection Lissa Dragomir, as they navigate being thrust back into the politics of vampire high school and life beyond after running away in mysterious circumstances pre-series. Unlike a lot of teen vampire books of this time, this series has swearing, sex, period typical slut shaming, violence, self-harm, and murder. Most of it is handled well, but the slut shaming isn't really addressed as something bad.

Vampire Academy - 4*

I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book so much while not liking the main character basically at all. Rose is annoying for her unearned pride and generally mean actions, and Lissa barely has a personality at all, and yet it was fun to read this book. I’ve surprised myself honestly.

The Moroi vampires are glorified witches who have to drink blood, the Dhampirs are just stronger humans with a genetic flaw, and from what we’ve seen of the Strigoi they are very traditional vampires and I really want to see more of them because I feel there’s a mystery there.

Speaking of mystery, this was technically a reread but it’s been so long and I cared so little the first time that I barely remembered anything and what I did was from the film, and yet I still figured out who was doing all the animal cruelty pretty early on (already knowing the major player).

I was pleased to see that aside from general cattiness between characters there was basically nothing offensive despite attitudes when this book was written. It’s like a breath of fresh air compared to all the little remarks that pop up in other books from the same time.

Frostbite - 4*

If not for the setting being at a ski slope this might have been 5 stars. I really just don’t care for skiing.

I enjoyed the character growth in this book. Rose acknowledges her faults and tries to fix them, with little success but still she tries. Her relationship with her mother is very interesting to see and the way it changes as Rose grows as a person and gains new experiences is really quite nice to read.

The thing with Dimitri is still not icking me out like I thought it would. It’s a tiny bit uncomfortable but the reasons are discussed in the book and they do make an effort to move on.

Lissa remains largely personality-less though there are hints to her caring about Rose every so often. She’s very caught up in her boyfriend though and that’s most of her personality.

I was surprised at how this book does not shy away from the inherent horror and trauma of the situations these characters find themselves in. It’s very heavy and Rose most certainly has some sort of ptsd that is shown through flashbacks. Truly, this was darker than I expected it to be and the larger mystery and action had me quite hooked.

Shadow Kiss - 4*

I felt a lot of things while reading this book, and most of them were frustration and sympathy. A lot of things seem stacked against Rose in this one, from her instructors being biased to literal ghosts stalking her. It’s definitely a story for character growth more than anything, and a lot was spent on setting things up for the next book.

I’ve started to realise that Rose isn’t that bright. We as readers get exactly the same information she does and yet I figured out almost exactly what was happening to her as soon as it started, while she takes nearly the whole book. Some things I knew from the last book. I love the growth for her though. Finally she gets to be selfish for a change and put her wants first. There is however an aspect I didn’t like very much and that is that she gets a bit overpowered seemingly out of nowhere. Taking down the 2 Strigoi in the last book was a great achievement, but the way she could suddenly do so much more less than 2 months later? Not a very clear progression of abilities.

As to the Rose/Dimitri relationship, I definitely felt more icky reading it here. Until certain things happen it was lovely that they were getting to know each other better and trusting each other, but it crossed some boundaries and I was uncomfortable. I had the barest knowledge of Dimitri’s overall storyline in this series so other events didn’t hit me quite as hard as they might have but I did feel a lot of feelings.

On a surprising note, I’ve found myself rooting for Adrian. I like him better than Dimitri even, and really although Rose treats him not the greatest they could’ve been a more acceptable forbidden romance in other circumstances. He’s never been Rose’s teacher after all.

On a final note, another aspect of Lissa’s personality has been unlocked and that is selfishness. She’s spoiled. She takes Rose for granted and it takes being shouted at for her to be more understanding of everything Rose has gone through. So to recap, we have loves animals, is often sad (because of magic), has boyfriend, sometimes shows caring for Rose, and has a selfish side. That’s more than what we started with but I still can’t figure her out.

Blood Promise - 4*

I’m having a lot of emotions right now so bear with. That ending had me shrieking and swearing is all I’ll say about that.

Anyway, this book is very much leading into an expanding world I would say. We get a new category of people, find out more about Dhampir life outside the academies, and get a closer look at Strigoi behaviour. At the same time we are still getting looks back into the Academy through Lissa, which at times felt very much like the author wanted to write dual POV but didn’t want to fully commit, which I noticed in previous books but was definitely more obvious here. This gets slightly corrected later on in the book but I don’t see that lasting long.

Most of this book is about Rose and her personal journey, and with this we get to see flashbacks of her time with Dimitri. Those moments were very sweet and actually felt like Rose and Dimitri had been in love and not just lust. We also get to see Rose meeting and interacting with Dimitri’s family, which considering from the very beginning she’s looking for their town shouldn’t come as much surprise. I really enjoyed those moments, especially as Rose’s views on Dhampir communes changed and became more informed. These more peaceful moments makes it all the more jarring later on when Rose gets slammed back into the action as she always does.

For the sake of avoiding spoilers I can’t share my thoughts on certain sections of the book specifically, but I did find it a bit disappointing that the Strigoi are basically all they’ve been said to be. I was hoping for a bit of a commentary about how Strigoi can have feelings too and they aren’t automatically evil if they didn’t choose to kill but that did not happen. To be vague and if you know you know, I knew as it happened that a certain thing was a red herring and felt all the more vindicated when that was confirmed.

As to Lissa, her plot line seemed more obvious as to where it was gonna go. Basically she gets a new friend and is also acting weird and flying off the handle a lot. Hmm I wonder what could be the cause? I didn’t really enjoy her sections until the end of them where things got a bit more fun for me. Really feel bad for her though.

The ending was a lot but in a good way. I think I gave myself a bruise in my excitement at having guessed something directly before it was revealed. I loved the payoff of all the character development too, it was just a bit overshadowed by me screaming into my duvet. I just love a big reveal.

Spirit Bound - 3*

I was pretty bored for the first half of this book but it picked up about half way. So many things happened it felt like I was bopping about from plot line to plot line without much emotion for a while. There was relationship drama, political drama, a heist, and this whole thing with Dimitri turning into a comic book villain as a Strigoi.

Despite all these many dramas, the most messed up part of the book was Lissa being jealous of a literal 14 year old girl. Like stop, she’s not going to steal your boyfriend, she’s 14. On a similar note, why does Christian blame her for kissing that guy while compelled in the last book? She was being MIND CONTROLLED. It’s stupid and I’m mad about it.

I wasn’t mad about the thing that happens about halfway through though. I loved that. Perfect way to get both hurt and comfort in large doses. Another thing I kinda loved was Rose’s relationship with Abe. There’s a lot that could be done with that after the information the end of the last book gave us.

The heist bored me. It felt too easy and lacked real consequences.

I’m going to be purposefully as vague as possible for the next paragraph but be warned this is VAGUELY SPOILERY.

I feel that despite how far Rose has come concerning her growth as a person, she’s still unbelievably selfish. She is more concerned about her feelings for Dimitri than about the horrible things he’s gone through and his trauma from that. He needs major therapy and she’s like wah wah wah my poor broken heart. Like girl give him space and focus on your actual boyfriend please. She uses all the people around her with little to no thought about how they are being affected by her actions.

Last Sacrifice - 3*

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book as a conclusion to a series. It's not that I was completely unsatisfied with how it all ended, but I didn't really like some of the ways we got there.

The whole dual POV thing got super convenient there to let Rose suddenly be able to read past thoughts as though she has always been able to when that could've been achieved through just adding in a little tidbit of information since it comes up like once and then is never used again.

I found the whole concept of vampire communes interesting and there were some hilarious moments, but it seemed thrown in there as a way to get the characters from a to b. I kept waiting for it to come into play later and it never did.

The mystery aspect kept me on my toes. The 'who is the secret Dragomir?' mystery that is. I had no idea until they turned up at the door and I liked that because it made sense to not know. For the murder mystery I had an idea of who the killer was for a while that got proved completely wrong, and I'm not so sure even if I read this book through again I'd be able to figure out who it really was. I like to be able to put the pieces together so I wasn't really satisfied with how that turned out or how it really took a backseat to the rest of the story even while being the driving force for the rest of the plot to happen.

I can't complain about Dimitri, he's done nothing wrong, but Rose irritated me. She cheats on Adrian. This isn't a spoiler. She's been emotionally cheating on him this entire time they've been together. I'm mad at her for what she did in this book and I feel bad for Adrian. He honestly deserves so much better.

I kind of want a novella about Rose's parents because I like them a lot. Their relationships with Rose are actually nice to see.

Can I just say this is the Lissa redemption book. She's acting like a person and doing things for herself! She's experiencing more thoughts than just 'boyfriend' 'jealous over a child' and 'boohoo I'm supernaturally sad'. My feelings have actually flipped to where I was more interested in what Lissa was doing than Rose most of the time. Love that. It's what I've been waiting for.

I can't be mad about the ending but I wish something had remained the same as it was. It was such a defining thing for the entire series and I think it would have meant more if it had still been there. I'm being vague on purpose but if you've read the book you can easily guess what I mean.

Look, I know what I said about Lissa literally in every other book except this one, but I kind of want to see everything from her perspective instead now. Maybe there's a fanfiction...

I'm rather torn over this book. On the one hand, I really liked it for its readability and I got on well with the characters, but on the other hand it was so fast paced I lost the threads of plot a couple times.

I enjoyed many aspects of this book, starting with the content warnings at the very beginning. I really appreciate the author for warning us as readers about the subject of intense anxiety present in the book; it very much helped prepare me for the journey.

Felix is a great main character. Being in his head felt very familiar. He's doing his best without any real answers and is just trying to keep it all together. The realistic exploration of anxiety and the way it influenced Felix's thoughts and actions really clicked with me and I saw myself in him. I adored his relationship with his younger brother, Nick, too. It was very sweet the way he looked after him. His relationship with his best friend Lois took longer to grow on me. At first she annoyed me but I felt she got a bit more understanding as the book went on and by the end I was rooting for them both.

The overarching mystery was nicely done. I was surprised at how dark and graphic it got. I wish it could've been a slower sort of mystery but I was surprised at what was really going on, barring one specific person which I guessed from the vibes I was getting from them and then promptly second guessed myself. I've seen a similar sort of magic system in a book before, and it was no less horrifying here than it was there, which was very fun and added to the tension.

I'm going to put this next bit rather bluntly. The book was too short for all that happened, and I say this with the certainty that I felt when I thought it was trying to set up a series and had to check twice from my disbelief that it wasn't. I understand that a time limit builds tension, but approximately 25% from the end I realised that there wouldn't be enough time for the next arc to happen. The ending felt rushed and I had to read the last few chapters twice because I missed what happened. If this book were even 100 pages longer or perhaps split into 2 books with enough time devoted to each section, I would have probably felt more satisfied. That being said, I did find the waiting unbearable despite how fast the book went, so it didn't do too badly in that regard.

To end on a more positive note, while I was reading I found myself on several occasions wishing I could watch it as a movie. The descriptions and the way everything was set out really had me imagining it as if it were already a movie.

What a delightful, whimsical, fantastical romance. For someone who rarely picks up a book for the romance plot, it was my favourite part of this book. Dora is an amusing main character. Her lack of social awareness, as well as her disregard for what she knows is polite at times, had me laughing often. Her romance with Elias kicks off with grumpiness and an insult, and I find that's the best way for these things to go. Elias is a compelling character all on his own, but we only get to discover that due to his opening up to Dora. I loved every moment they shared together. Their chemistry is amazing, and I rooted for them all through the book.

Dora is missing half her soul and feels things very vaguely, but over the course of the novel she begins to feel more strongly, or maybe that isn't the right word. It's more that she feels more deeply, about more things. This was a joy to explore, and it got me thinking perhaps if she hadn't been so sheltered she would've felt these things before.

There is a deeper mystery running through this novel, which carries the characters along beautifully. Everything that happens interconnects in such unexpected ways, and brings the perfect amount of growth the characters need to become the best versions of themselves. It's rare that I love every part of a book I read, but I did here. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

This book reminds me of every book I read as a kid where the adults are horribly unfair for seemingly no reason. I felt just as trapped as the students, which is I guess the point but made me put the book down for a few days to get in the right headspace. I would describe this as a creeping horror.

This one felt more like a personal journey than the other books in the series. A LOT of character growth goes on, and not just for Cora. I really enjoyed the callbacks to the previous books, and the way Cora is still being affected by the things she has lived through. I like it when the heroes of stories get to have real consequences for their heroics, because not everything is fixed after the saving people thing is done.

Oh my god. Oh my god.

Tarisai frustrated me in this book. She’s an unreliable narrator because of her emotional turmoil, and makes some dumb decisions that she wouldn’t have if not for her being haunted by the ghost children. I still rooted for her though, and I guess that means she’s a very good character with lots of depth.

So many new characters were introduced and old ones too, and I loved them all. No one felt like a side character even if they were only there for a single page. I especially loved little Adukeh and her songs.

And the world building was just fantastic. I talked about this in my Raybearer review but it’s just so so good and I love it and it kinda made me want to go live in a palace somewhere in Africa because the descriptions were just so beautiful.

I can’t say I loved this as much as We Were Liars. I’m not even sure if the reason I enjoyed it so much was because of my love of the first book or if it is just a genuinely good book. I loved finding out about the history on the Sinclair family, seeing the little nuggets of information that we weren’t privy to in the first book, the tension of wondering what exactly this big, terrible secret was going to be. I’m not so sure the writing style of the first book was entirely effective when used here, though. I didn’t really like the use of fairytales like I did in We Were Liars, and the weird line breaks didn’t make me feel the words more strongly like they did before. I do love a good plot twist though, a big reveals are very much my kind of thing.

The only thing I felt a bit icky about was the whole thing of using sexuality as some plot twist or excuse for bad behaviour. It felt very sudden and slapdash, like there needed to be an excuse and then once it was used it was barely mentioned again.

All in all, I did enjoy this book and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who loved We Were Liars.

If my rating were based on the quality of the writing, I would give this a very high rating. Unfortunately my rating is based on enjoyment and I found that average. It was a good story with some interesting mysteries, but I didn’t feel connected to the characters. There were 4 main character POVs and another main we didn’t see from and none of them had me really rooting for them. There were multiple sibling relationships and none of them felt like they had ever been close or could be in the future. Characters are very important to me but that’s not the case for everyone. It was a solid start to a series, just one I will not be continuing.

I find myself with not an awful lot to say about this book. It started off promising but around the halfway mark I realised it wasn’t going to go where I had thought. I enjoyed the mystery of why Jack had run from his home, and what exactly Gwen was up to when they met, but then a conflict came in that I wasn’t a fan of. For such a long book, I expected Jack’s return to actually contain some of the romance I’d been promised by the description, but I found it lacking. The moments with Jack and Tom were sweet, the moments with Jack and Gwen less so. In complete honesty I didn’t enjoy Gwen as a main character. She’s very naive and a bit dumb even after the time skip and it’s frustrating. After the mysteries were revealed I found the remaining conflicts either boring or uncomfortable to read, and the ending convenient. I suppose all this adds up to wanting to have seen more from the book, and getting less. All in all it was an average experience.

It's very hard to describe this book because it has so many interlinking plots, but I think it's a character study. I think the point of this book is that nobody is perfectly morally correct; even the most kind and seemingly upstanding person has a moment where they do something potentially wrong, perceived or true, whether it be lying, angry outbursts, decisions about their bodies and futures, or any other action or inaction that could be seen as morally corrupt. They do and think these things contrary to their normal character, but it is their character. Nobody is perfectly right or completely wrong here, despite the things they do. It's also a look at privilege, especially white privilege, and the ways it can play out without people realising it's even there.

I'll be honest, this isn't usually my thing and I picked it up only because of booktube talk. This has affected my rating a bit. I definitely thought it was very good I just prefer books with a clearer plot. I really enjoyed the friendship aspect with the kids and their individual stories, and the mystery of Mia's past was super interesting though I felt icky with the way it was discovered.

The baby situation, the one with the adoption, was very hard to read. I never made up my mind who I thought was supposed to have custody, and I really think that was the point. It all comes back to there being no black and white answers. Whatever the verdict, someone would have been hurting, and it wouldn't have been fair. These things rarely are fair, but I found this story to be particularly heartbreaking.

I've only read a few mystery/thrillers but this is not the usual. This book is a slow, creeping sort of horror, like a nightmare wrapped in sunshine. There’s an oppressive atmosphere that feels sweaty and tired and sluggish, like it’s hard to breathe even while reading, and paired with such a mystery this is an odd but oddly effective way to tell a story. I’ll admit, I was impatient with the first half of the book; I’m the kind of person who wants to get straight into the thick of it and find out all the answers at once. This book doesn’t jump into the action, it meanders its way through it and sticks to its own pace. This isn’t just a mystery, it’s a conversation on race, feminism, wealth disparity, and mental health, wrapped up in a beautifully poetic writing style and a setting that leaves one feeling unsettled and distrustful.

That being said, there were no trigger warnings on the NetGalley arc, and there needs to be on the final copy. The summary has no real indication of these extremely triggering topics, including but not limited to:

* Domestic Violence

* Child Sexual Abuse

* Child Death

* Murder

* Racism

Despite these topics being common in books such as this, it’s very important to warn for them in a place where people who need trigger warnings can quickly and easily access them.