divineauthor's reviews
354 reviews

“[Y]ou became my only and secret delight.  I became consumed with you, and then I genuinely fell in love with you, and then you became mine.” —Alisander de Balon

this was not particularly extraordinary, but i had fun. the entire setting being a fantasy land and the characters being somewhat anachronistic did take me out. alisander’s pov did that as well because he’s not like a true alpha male, but he’s flitting across the lines of it and i’m not the biggest fan of that archetype though i did find the characters’ backgrounds interesting! perhaps i’ll try another coldbreath book in the future 

“No one tells you it’s all about to change, to be taken away. There’s no proximity alert, no indication that you’re standing on the precipice. And maybe that’s what makes tragedy so tragic. Not just what happens, but how it happens: a sucker punch that comes at you out of nowhere, when you’re least expecting it. No time to flinch or brace.” —Jason Dessen, page 1

oh this was fun, fast, and philosophical (odd combination for sure). i love quantum physics, guys, like genuinely—i just wish i had the STEM brain to study it, you know? anyway, the science in this book is easy to comprehend, the stakes are high, the tension’s crazy sometimes. i had a blast! (but also, like, this was definitely written by a [white] man iykwim)

“When it came to Emmy, I was playing with fire, but I would happily walk into the flames for her.” —Luke Brooks

it’s been about a decade since my stint in (historical) western romances, so this was dipping my toe back in! this was cute, and all these characters have some of my favorite names fr. i do think this was really quick, but more in the sense that everything happened a little too fast rather than a normal quick-paced comment you know? but a fun enough read regardless

“Bodies are just the worst, cruelest things. They make promises, and they lie.” —Mary, page 17

i did like this. i did! loved the cultish energy of the desert town, the sinister undervoice, the biting prose. it’s entertaining, gory, and, funnily enough, is better about shedding light on menopause than any medical professional, ha-fucking-ha! 

that being said: the pacing felt . . . off. the chapters are short but everything felt dragged out to a degree that was both over-and-underwhelming. for a book whose description already says that she experiences “echoes of an infamous serial killer” and then suddenly “the killings begin again,” the path to that self-discovery for her was long-winded. even near the end, it wasn’t one of those punchy gotcha! endings. just when i felt like the story should end, there seemed to be even more to be told. 

anyway, regardless: i did enjoy this. if you have the time and like middle-aged women, blood and guts, and, frankly, a bit of a quirky narrator, you should read this. 

“For to translate is to look into a mirror and see someone other than oneself.” —“In Praise of Echo,” page 59

lahiri’s voice—in conjunction with o’brien and vourvoulias-bush as translators—is sonically, lyrically, narratively rich with meaning. the breadth of knowledge seeps through the text with each word; anyone who reads this knows that lahiri has been rolling each word / idea / theme in her mind for quite some time, letting it marinate and cook to near perfection. some of my favorites of her essays are “containers” and “in praise of echo,” though all are worth reading despite the others’ density! i know i’ll find myself flipping through this collection just to glimpse her prose again in the future. 

“[…] this is what it’s like to die, isn’t it? You hurt and you hurt, and then you don’t. It’s soft at the end. Not just the pain, but the world.” —page 298-299

this did take me about a good fifty or so pages to really get into it, but i love a revenge horror, and i love a Creature getting their revenge on the humans that hurt them. the audiobook really enhanced the experience of reading this too, so i recommend giving it a listen if you can! 

“They have been here before. Another staircase. Another hall.” —Orpheus

reading this was like watching orpheus and eurydice, tale as old as time, like refracted light through water. still the same characters, but changed. distorted. in valente’s retelling, orpheus succeeds in bringing eurydice back from the dead, but it still leaves her in the same condition as she left earth: a corpse. she’s dead weight that orpheus lugs around from room to room, metaphorically most of the time (sometimes literally). i do think people who don’t read this and just see the premise would think, “oh, this isn’t them, not really. orpheus loves eurydice! eurydice loves orpheus!” and that’s true. on a surface level, i do understand why people would turn away from this kind of retelling (a marriage on the outs, a couple falling out of love), but valente understands their myth so well that she writes how skewed they would be, how their characters—them as people—wouldn’t be the same ones we’ve heard for millennia. valente understands that we know orpheus loves eurydice, and vice versa, because he turns around. this is just an exploration of a dim shade of what they would be if they got their “happy ending,” if they weren’t one of the most well-known tragedies to exist. UGH. last note is that valente’s prose has been, and continues to be, so fucking delicious. anyway. bye. 

“Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.” —Victor Vale, page 289

oh this is crazy, i read this before i got an account to put my reviews, so VENGEFUL has been sitting alone . . . now we’re here! i remember this book taking me a few months for me to read (a feat considering i read fairly quickly), and, looking back, i don’t understand. the pacing is so tight and the timelines meld so well together. anyway, i had a fucking blast this time around as well. victor and eli’s dynamic is just as indescribable as it is delicious. thank you v.e. schwab for making them 🙏 

“Porque así fue la suerte. Nothing worth wanting came easy; nothing worth wanting was ever given to men of dust and sweat.” —Néstor Duarte, page 34

so surprise of all surprises, i came in here expecting a historical horror with a subplot of romance but came out with such a delicious romance with a subplot of historical horror. and, honestly, i LOVED it. that might put others off who were expecting more horror, but i am a lover at heart. nena and néstor’s deep love that grew from childhood and sprawled messily into adulthood is as juicy as it sounds. their relationship carried so well amidst the background of the texas-mexico border and the things that lurk in the night. literally so much of this was geared toward ME!!!

okay, enough fawning (i say with pleading eyes). cañas’ prose is beautiful, but, on a craft level, she uses the same similes too much in a way that leans more to cliché. another round of line edits would’ve strengthened and tightened up the prose a lot! 

anyway, that’s all i can think of. beautiful, gorgeous book. romance in horror you can never make me hate you!!!!

“Nobody could resist the glamour of a love story.” —Win Tagore, chapter one

oh this was fucking DELICIOUS. i was prowling the inside of my cage trying to be normal about win and leo . . . like are you KIDDING ME !!!! WHAT !!!! their chemistry is off-the-walls insane, their physical intimacy makes it feel like i’m staring into the sun, and you have two deeply complex individuals who are so in love with each other that it’s CRAZY to read. anyway, one thing about me is that i love cunty, repressed women. win tagore you could do little wrong to ME. i probably have other thoughts, but they’re escaping me. i had fun (i was in agony for every page) <3