beccaannekent's reviews
555 reviews

Reflections of Silence by Raven Hush

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dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The first in a paranormal romance, Reflections of Silence has a very Dracula-esque vibe to it. Based around the Casket Girls history from the 1700s, we get a small introduction to this within the prologue, which is essential to understanding Giselle’s story. 

The writing was beautiful, almost poetic. It flowed wonderfully and was easy to read. However, my understanding of the plot and characters faltered about 50-60% of the way through, around the time Amy was reintroduced. 

It’s such a short book, that we didn’t get much time with each of the characters to flesh out their stories, their personalities and their history. What we do learn is brief, and not in great detail. Due to this, I struggled to connect with the main characters. Particularly the villain, Amy. I have no idea what she was (this might have been purposefully ambiguous but it felt more like a missing plot point), I didn’t understand her motives fully (particularly around Sebastian and why he existed and what role she had in his past). 

Sebastian is flawed, clearly has some trauma from his past and struggles with human interaction due to his nature but there is minimal development of this. By the end of the book, I am unsure if Giselle and Sebastian have a relationship at all. The majority of her time seems to be spent with Dolion and an unnamed character by the grave of Minette. 

I feel like this book could be spectacular if longer, the characters were developed more fully (potentially with additional POVs from Sebastian to understand his past and how he came to be) and a deeper connection forged between the reader and the plot of this book. 

I want to thank NetGalley and Raven Hush for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. The review is my own opinion and I have given this freely. 
Wildblood by A.J. Vrana

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Wildblood is marketed as a book that either can be read as a Standalone or as a companion novel in The Chaos Cycle duology. I haven’t read through duology prior to this, so I can confirm that this was very easy to read as a standalone, and incredibly enjoyable to do so. There are references to what happened within the previous two books, easily enough to follow and well explained to let this continue being a standalone, but intriguing enough to make me want to read those two books sooner rather than later. 

We follow Kai, a very hotheaded character with more childhood trauma than one man should be allowed to have and his girlfriend, Miya. Both are paranormal living on the outskirts of the human world, in Boston’s darkest and dirtiest mobster ran streets.  

Making a living as a cage fighter, which are clearly prearranged to help with betting, Kai loses a match he shouldn’t have and now owes a huge debt to those he really doesn’t want to owe anything, a Russian Mobster. 

Given a task to resolve the issue he’s created, he finds himself embroiled in a much bigger problem which is traversing worlds. Whilst dealing with his traumatic past, his potentially crumbling relationship and the chaos that is his found family, Kai must work out how to save a life which may be impossible. 

This book is gripping from the get go, full of gore and violence I would confirm the TW first before reading. There is spice, but applicable to the plot and not presented for the sake of it. There is fantastic representation of the benefits of therapy, and how sometimes the family you need is the family you have chosen. 

I want to thank NetGalley and A.J Vrana for the opportunity to read this as an ARC - this was my first introduction to this author and I can safely say it will not be my last book I choose to read by them! 
Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This took me a long time to get involved in the characters and story. Saoirse was a really interesting, well developed FMC with quite morally grey attributes but unfortunately none of the other characters came close to her level, which is such a shame as they easily could’ve been fleshed out and more interesting. 

I also felt like the romance subplot of this book was giving “insta-love” and originally I assumed this was due to her Siren gifts, but actually it turns out she never used them on Hayes and I realised the “relationship” was falling quite flat for me.

Enjoyable enough for a YA, but maybe I’m starting to realise that YA just isn’t a genre I enjoy anymore. 
Black Holes: The key to understanding everything by Jeff Forshaw, Brian Cox

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challenging informative slow-paced

3.0

I must preface this by stating that unless you have the companion document or book itself, you will struggle with this as it does rely on a lot of diagrams to explain the theories throughout.

However, even with this the detail of this book is complex and not for beginners interested in astrophysics or astronomy. Wonderfully read and worth listening to as an audio book, I’d recommend this to anyone who may be looking at more advanced info on this subject. 
A Court of Silver Flames (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’m a firm believer in that all audiobooks should be Graphic Audio, you just immerse yourself in the world so quickly and absorb the information given so easily. 

Anyway. I love Nesta (controversial opinion), I LOVE how she’s broken, bruised and aching and how we watch her battle through her addictions, her pain and come through stronger and better as a person. She’s a very real, very relatable FMC and SJM will never quite write another character like her again. 

P.S. still seething we never got the Az/Nes/Cas sandwich we all deserved. 
Wild Wolf by Caroline Peckham, Susanne Valenti

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It’s taken me a while to come back and write this review as I just felt overwhelming disappointment for a book I’ve waited literal years for.

It does wrap up the story, and the world of Solaria nicely. Bringing an end to not only this series, but Zodiac Academy and Ruthless Boys. But there were just so many inconsistencies and what felt like a rush job to close this chapter. 

This series had the potential to be the best of the 3, its previous books easily topping the list of some of my favourite twisted sister stories. However, please tell me how Rosalie, friend of the Queens, a hero of the war and family to Dante (and therefore the Queens themselves) couldn’t reach out to them to help with the police issue, and pretty much every issue within this book. Please tell me how the Vegas wouldn’t want to know what experiments were being done, and how fae were being treated and murdered? PLEASE TELL ME HOW they wouldn’t want to know WHO was behind it all along (I’ll not spoil, but if you’ve read, you know). 

If there’s one thing that is done well, is the epilogues. I couldn’t think of a more fitting found family for her. 
The Dread Queen's Bargain: A Greek Gods Romance by Molly Tullis

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adventurous challenging emotional informative lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Does this stick to the original Greek mythology of Persephone and Hades? No.

But does any of Molly Tullis’ books do that? No.

What Molly does is write incredible, strong characters. Particularly female ones, who own their mistakes, and are entirely powerful in their own right. I much preferred this version, where Persephone took charge of her own destiny and fate. 

I could easily have read a full sized novel of this. 
Carnage by Shantel Tessier

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

From the minute they were introduced I’ve wanted to know more about the brothers and Carnage, and this did NOT disappoint. 

I knew there was a backstory to Saint and his missing girl, as hinted at throughout the LORDs books, and it was fantastic to finally see what caused such turmoil and angst among them. 

I absolutely love Ashlyn as a FMC, she knows what she wants and doesn’t hold back getting it. Saint is also a fantastic MMC, everything you want in a dark romance man. 

But, for me, Haidyn steals the show here. From the small amount of information provided about him I was instantly intrigued. I only just found out the next book about is about him and I am ecstatic!! 
Sabotage by Shantel Tessier

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I don’t think I connected with these characters as much as I have done with her previous books in this series.

I think that this has potentially stemmed from not exactly being sure why they hate each other so much, it was never explained and it never came across as actual proper hate.

The spice is top tier however, and it is dark. Strongly recommend TW for this one! Particularly around the nature of their relationship. 
The Sacrifice by Shantel Tessier

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I had on good authority that Tyson’s book is the best, and I can safely say I 100% agree.

I literally cannot put this series down and I am obsessed.