durrareadsstuff's reviews
154 reviews

MIND = BLOWN 🤯🤯🤯

I did not expect to love it it this much. The first half was a little hard to get into, truth be told. It was kind of slow and it took some time for me to wrap my head around the world-building, but I stayed for the wonderful and just genius writing. I mean how does she come up with these sentence structures and proses?? The plot was also just amazing. Towards the end, the twists just kept coming and I feel a little mad at myself for not seeing it but WOW all those betrayals and secrets and whatnots were hidden so well. The romance was not a big part of the story, but I actually didn't really mind that. It kind of gave way to discuss a whole other array of more important themes like mental health, grief, and just very well done character development. However I do feel like the side characters weren't given that much spotlight. Although that probably adds to the "alone-ness" of the characters and how they kind of separate themselves from other people as a defense mechanism, only discovering in the end that they do need help and that they're only human. 

Oh man, THE CHARACTERS!! I love Karina and Malik so much! I feel like they're not your average ya protagonists (can't really explain that, it just feels that way) they're both so broken and raw and the way they were written, with Malik having panic attacks and Karina with the constant breakdowns and migraines, was so vulnerable. And yet they found strength within themselves and discovered their true powers. Very relatable which I think is so powerful of a quality to have in characters. 

Besides that, the atmosphere and the world-building was truly magical. I think it's amazing how so many real-life themes were so effortlessly incorporated into a fantasy book. I mean, racism, mental health, oppression, immigration, abandonment, to name a few.

This book absolutely blew my mind. I'm surprised people don't talk about it as much as other books. I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs how fantastic this book was. I'll leave you with my favourite quotes 😌💗

WOW it's been so long since I've felt this way about a book and for that I say thank you, thank you, thank you. I can't stop thinking about this book. It exceeded all my expectations and the hype I saw on instagram. To be honest, I was quite skeptical about this book cause I'm not too big a fan of beauty and the beast, so I had pretty low expectations going into this, but I loved it so much!!

First of all, I LOVE Brigid Kemmerer's writing style. It's utterly mind-blowing. I mean, just look at this:

HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH THAT?? And the way she so effortlessly alternates between the "modern" and "old" povs like Harper vs. Rhen was just amazing. The way you can tell who's speaking even if she didn't put the name in there. I think that's really well done. 

In terms of the characters, I loved them all. I like how Brigid didn't make having cerebral palsy as Harper's dominating personality trait. I love how Harper acknowledges it and isn't ashamed of it and doesn't let it get in her away and she's just so strong and smart. And another thing I find sort of refreshing is that Harper isn't a "natural" badass you know? Like she's not like Inej or Aelin or Zoya who, when we read their stories, they're already "men-killers" and super skilled assassins, but in this case, Harper is still in her learning phase and she's so resilient and I just love that.

I also loved Rhen's character. I like how he seems like a self-indulgent arrogant prince in the beginning and we get to see him shed his layers. I love how he cares so much about his people and tries time and again to sacrifice himself to save them. His story is so, so sad and he's had to go through all that grief and pain and confusion all alone. Grey was such a good friend/loyal commander. I think he's my favourite character. 

Also something worth noting - how both Rhen and Harper were scared to fall in love with each other cause neither of them could tell if it was for real. I MEAN--bye I'll be staring at the ceiling for the next few hours.

Some of the themes covered in this book are 
- cerebral palsy
- abandonment (Harper's father) 
- guilt
- grief 

Some of the political intrigue was lost on me, but that's just a me-thing. I think this book was so close to perfection but for some reason I just can't give it a 5 star. But yeah, awesome read.

I have mixed feelings about this book. First off, the writing is so beautiful that I can't bring myself to hate this book. But at the same time, a lot of times I was confused and did not understand what the hell was happening. I don't know if that's the goal of the story, since it is a horror book to kind of disorient you or I'm just not smart enough to comprehend it or the plot was just poorly executed.

I see this book recommended a lot in the horror genre, but there's not much horror to it. I don't get why the house was haunted or why Eleanor was targeted. And the characters seemed so likeable in the beginning at yet somehow they turned out to be awful people? And sometimes they're not? Like I really don't understand what's happening with Theodora here. I mean, is she a friend? Is she just faking it? And is Eleanor a ghost from the beginning or is she possessed by the house after the storm incident or what? Are Luke and Theo in a relationship? I mean, I don't think it's ideal to leave a reader with a ton of questions after reading your book, but what do I know?

However,I do commend that despite it being listed as a classic, the writing was quite easy on my brain. It didn't feel that old of a book if you know what I mean. I also appreciate the "haunted house" vibes in the book, and maybe I'll read it again in the future for the sole purpose of enjoying the lyrical writing, but I just feel like it could have been better, you know?

And I guess I liked Mrs Montague and Arthur's characters. I felt they were very much necessary to add some humour to the story. I really enjoyed them and all the others teasing them. 

I don't get it? I'm guessing there's like a hidden meaning to it but I just can't see it. 

 Quick, fun, spooky and cute too. I love Cass and Jacob's friendship. 

This book deserves a 0.5 star more than the previous one just because Frank didn't die lol.

Quite a ride. I really liked how Reyna's character developed, and how we got to see some sibling love in here too. My heart 💓

I loved this book! Normally I'm not too fond of slow-paced books, but I felt like it was necessary to build up tension and sort of provide a backgrounds for the conflicts. Most of all, I like how the characters are so well developed in here cause I feel like in the case of stand-alone novels, usually authors don't get that much room to develop their characters. But I love these characters so much!! Lira is such a strong and tenacious (girl?siren?) and despite growing up and primed to be a ruthless monster, she's learned to embrace the "humanity" inside of her and found out it's not so bad being human. I mean, CHARACTER ARC YALLSS. I also really really appreciate the dual pov in here. Prince Elian is also a well-constructed character; he's charming, brilliant, confident and he's a prince/pirate which I'm sorry, but he reminds me a tiny bit of Nikolai. I LOVE Madrid's character and also her "relationship" with Kye. Cracks me up. And I love the loyalty and the respect and love between Lira and Kahlia, however I do think she was just left out of the picture after the "happy ending". I mean, WHAT HAPPENED TO KAHLIA?? I need more family love content.

I think the enemies to lovers trope was executed quite well in here, I'm not too crazy of the trope but I really liked it in here. The romance was slow burn and at times a little heartbreaking, although, did they really have to make out during a war?? I mean, that scene was weird. But I do love the banter between them. The writing was okay, it was not above average I guess, but not that beautiful. But yeah, it's easy to read. For me, the plot twists weren't all that shocking, but I still enjoyed it. The whole world building and how it's sort of surrounded by legends was so cool. I loved the whole pirate-y atmosphere. 

Overall, loved reading this, but there were some parts where I was like, um okay. Maybe not? But those were not common occurrences across the book, so good read. 

This book was hella cheesy but I actually enjoyed it. Plus, I'm a sucker for the childhood-friends-to-lovers trope. It also covers social anxiety disorder, which is cool, but I can't help but feel like it was sloppy? It doesn't feel that well done. I liked the friendship between Evie, Caleb and Becks and all the smart stuff too. Overall, fun read. And the first audiobook I ever finished.