mspilesofpaper's reviews
856 reviews

The Inland Empire serial killer Benjamin Fisher is finally willing to lead the police to the graves of his countless victims. There's only one catch: he wants his daughter, Reni, on the road trip as well. Reni who still suffers from her traumatic childhood and wants nothing to do with her father anymore. Reni who can't say "no" to Detective Daniel Ellis when he comes knocking on her door. Reni who still feels complicit in her father's crimes as she played the lost little girl to lure the unsuspecting women to their deaths. Reni who suffers from PTSD and starts to doubt her own memory. What if she was more involved than she thought? As Daniel and Reni discover the graves of the missing women, they also uncover the truth about the murders.


Find Me is a psychological mystery thriller although it lacks the typical suspense of psychological thrillers as all the victims are already dead for 30 years. There is a thrill aspect to it (especially later in the book when Reni and Daniel find out more about what happened in the past) but it is minor. The main themes are Reni's struggles with PTSD from her childhood and how her traumatic upbringing influenced her memories of what happened (to the point where she doubts herself) but also Daniel's personal connection to the case as he believes his mother is one of the victims.

The writing style isn't my cup of tea as it lacks engagement with the reader; my mind wandered constantly while reading, which only happens if the book isn't engaging enough for me. If I read a thriller, I want to be on the edge of my seat. There are various POVs (Daniel and Reni are the main ones but there are also chapters from four other characters) and time jumps between past and present. The jumps to the past aren't consistent as they go back to different years. 

From making fun about his twin reading werewolf smut to becoming the love interest in the werewolf romance novel himself, Brad is sure that it is just a trauma response of his brain after getting into a car accident and that he's actually in a coma. Because there's no way that he's an Omega, right? Raul, the Alpha, is rather sure that Brad is one though and, more importantly, is also his mate. While Brad comes to terms that he is indeed the stand-in for the main character of the novel, he realises a few things about himself: maybe he is into men, maybe he is an Omega as well.

Bro and the Beast is a short and fast-paced paranormal romance with an omegaverse setting. It deals with the trope of "What happens if you fall into a book and become the main character?" and it's fun to read. Of course, it won't win any literary awards but it's rather lighthearted and easy to read. There are a few plot holes (e.g., the setting is the 80s, so there aren't any cell phones but Raul's car has a GPS navi) but it's ok. Partly, the book feels like it is making fun of itself, frad boys and the omegaverse (or it's just Brad's personality). 

There is a sex scene at the end (3 🌶️) and suggested mpreg. Likely the mpreg is going to happen in the following books (which I might read if I'm in such pain again that I can't focus on my other books). 

 Gaius Cassius Calvus is a Legate - the special force of the Albastine's military that can use the dead (Attendants) as weapons by commanding them through ancient rites. Forced into early retirement through a received injury, and dealing with survivor's guilt, Gaius struggles as a civilian. Until he is called upon to examine the death of one of Albastine's senators. Quickly, it is revealed that it wasn't suicide like everyone thought but murder and the weapon was an Attendant. Gaius sets out to investigate who killed the senator and discovers a conspiracy that could threaten the entire city if successful. Sworn to defend the Republic and its People with his life, Gaius is quickly drawn into the conspiracy and it might truly cost him his life.


Let's start with the world-building: the book's description compares it/mentions Sanderson's Mistborn novels and oh dear ... The Pale City fell rather flat. The overall world-building is basically "Ancient Rome and Ancient Egypt as one state in a fantasy setting and with necromancy", which would have been cool because you can do a lot with necromancy. It just fell flat for me because a) the world-building is info dumping through Gaius' inner monologue, which I hate as a tool to introduce your reader into your world, and b) it feels incomplete. I always got the feeling that something is missing in the world-building. It feels very superficial at times and partly contradicting. The contradictions might be done on purpose to create plot points in the following two books. Given the fact that the story itself is a murder mystery/detective story that spans around 30 hours, it might explain why parts felt so superficial because the story is very fast-paced. I can understand why there's an urgency to the murder mystery due to the conspiracy but I wish the author would have used 50 pages more to be in-depth with chapters. Also: the use of Ancient Roman and Ancient Egypt as a base ends up with points like: coffee, fireworks, denarii, phoenix statues, ... -- which raises the question if the story plays on Earth/an alternative version. 

Concerning the characters: Gaius is black, short and built like a boxer (though he lacks physical prowess as it wasn't part of his education), which is very different from the average white 6", dark-haired male lead who's built like a bodybuilder with chiselled muscles and a jawline to cut through butter. It's a nice change and I wished I could continue with positive aspects about him but the man is stupid. Yes, he's described as intelligent and gets offered multiple times a job in the government but technically, he's stupid. He charges into everything (including the questioning of the murder suspects) and isn't even subtle about it. It got rather quickly on my nerves. Thankfully, he only survives because a) he's clearly favoured by luck and b) his enemies are just as stupid (and by far too arrogant). Unfortunately, the side characters are just flat and underdeveloped. There are a total of five named female characters (three major side characters and two minor side characters); the rest are men. The three major side characters are the villain, the ex-wife, and the potential love interest and their importance is pretty much in this order. The ex-wife and the potential love interest only appear if they can help the hero in a way, which I found icky as they don't really have an agenda otherwise. The potential love interest gets a bit more story at the end but it's still rather superficial then. A general issue of all characters: their ages. Aside from two old characters, the author never mentions the characters' names. They feel very adult but Amazon categories the book as 15 - 18 (aka YA), so it's rather confusing.

The writing style feels a bit stilted as well and I think it might be a side effect of getting the plot into a specific amount of pages. My university essays can suffer from a similar effect if I have to shorten them to be within a word limit. 

Ein Schloss aus Silber und Scherben ist das ideale Beispiel für "Werbung hui, Realität pfui". Die Autorin hat fantastische Werbevideos für das Buch, welche mich, in Kombination einer Plus Size Prinzessin/weiblichen Hauptfigur, dazu bewegt hatten das Buch via Kindle Unlimited auszuleihen.

Die Realität ist leider, dass die Autorin in jedem dritten Satz beschreibt wie furchtbar hässlich Maren ist, weil sie übergewichtig, rothaarig ist und eine Gehbehinderung hat. Zudem leidet sie definitiv an einer Essstörung, da Maren immer zu Süßigkeiten und Gebäck greift, wenn sie traurig/nervös/... ist. Die Kombination per se hätte gut sein können, wenn man sie gut behandelt und dem Leser (der in der eigentlichen Zielgruppe "Jugendlich" sein sollte) es ordentlich vermittelt. Leider vergeht Maren im absoluten Selbsthass; sie selbst beschreibt sich als hässlich, unattraktiv, ... weil sie übergewichtig und eine Gehbehinderung hat. Dazu kommen dann noch die anderen Figuren, wie Will und seine Freunde, die sie ständig beleidigen, triezen und mobben mit ihrem Aussehen, ihrer Herkunft, etc. Will nimmt ihr zudem den Gehstock weg, weil "sie ist einfach zu faul an sich selbst zu arbeiten und ihre Behinderung ist keine echte Behinderung". You have to love the ableism ... In der Hochzeitsnacht gibt es dann die unterschwellige Andeutung, dass er vor hat sie zu vergewaltigen (obwohl sie vorher abgemacht hatten, dass sie nicht das Ehebett teilen werden) und er wäre auch handgreiflich ihr gegenüber geworden, wenn sie nicht in der Öffentlichkeit gewesen wären. Übrigens sind Will und seine Freunde natürlich alle wunderschön, weil sie groß und schlank sind. Geile Message an Jugendliche.

Wahrscheinlich war der Plan der Autorin einen gesellschaftskritischen Roman für Jugendliche zu schreiben, der sich mit dem Thema Mobbing und Fat Shaming auseinander setzt, aber der Plan ist komplett in die Hose gegangen. Die komplette Geschichte ist eine Red Flag, die "Beziehung" (die ist weder authentisch noch schön) ist 100% toxisch, Will ist einfach ein arrogantes Arschloch, und Maren ist wahrscheinlich kurz vor dem Selbstmord. Zudem haben wir noch das Thema "Krieg und wie es Gesellschaften geschadet" und unterschwelligen Kolonialismus. 

Davon abgesehen ist der Schreibstil furchtbar. Sehr hölzern und die Autorin überschreibt ständig, wenn es um Beschreibungen von Gegenständen, Menschen, Gefühlen, ... geht. "Stahlgraue Stranddünen", "feuerlilienfarbene Kürbisfelder", "Lachtränen, die wie eiskalte Kristalle funkeln", ... - solche Beschreibungen sind ok, wenn sie vielleicht ein- oder zweimal vorkommen, aber nicht ständig.

Zum Punkt Kolonialismus: die ganze Welt ist eine lose Anspielung auf Nordeuropa (Wikinger Zeitalter) mit ihren Göttern, der gegen die Missionierung durch den Süden kämpft. Die Niutak sind im Grunde nur Inuit (das Wort "Niutak" ist schon aus der Sprache Inuktitut entnommen worden) und die Autorin hat sich deren Glauben und Folklore einfach zu nutze gemacht, um zu erklären warum das Winterschloss des Adels auf der Insel Beli verflucht ist. Die Insel Beli ist im Grunde nur Grönland, welches von den Nordmännern (aka Wikinger) "entdeckt" wurde und im Zuge dessen wurden die Niutak, die hier einheimisch sind, vertrieben und später auch ausgeraubt und ermordet. You gotta love the unreflected colonialism. 

 There aren't enough words in the world to describe how much I disliked what I read and I will never understand the 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐.

Up to 28% it is boring as fuck. There's nothing really happening plotwise and I doubt that there is even a plot in Consort of Fire. If I would have to give it an AO3 tag, it would be "porn without plot". After my decision to stop reading at 28% (beginning of Chapter 12), I just decided to skip a few pages to see if the plot is going to pick up but no ... there's just porn. Granted Ash/The Dragon seems to know boundaries but I would have expected that he respects boundaries since he's several thousand years old.

Aside from porn in written form: why the fuck does every chapter needs to start with:

It's not like the book is happening across several years or even months. It all happens within one moon (and a few days of the previous moon) due to the time constraint of the curse. 

Zita is an aerial performer in a circus in Albion who is hellbent on revenge on her sister's murderer: the Prince of Monsters, a shape-shifter and Fae. After honing her body and craft for 10 years, she has finally her chance to kill him. Yet, things don't go as planned and Zita finds herself as the prince's pet in the Fae realm. He is keen to break her, she still wants her revenge. Yet, as time goes by, feelings get twisted and the truth comes out.


Apparently, Slaying The Shifter Prince is a dark Beauty and The Beast retelling with additional spice. I still fail to see where it's such a retelling because he's just a shape-shifting Fae who is stuck with animal features (basically just claws, a tail and stripes) due to a curse, while she is nothing like Belle. I found the entire plot to be rather predictable at times although there's certainly more plot involved than I thought it would have. I liked that her sister's death was more than just a tool to get them together, and there's some mystery around it as to who really killed her (even if it was predictable).

I found both characters rather flat. Sepher, the Prince, is supposed to be a villain and I fail to see where he is one. Is it enemies-to-lovers? Partly as they're enemies to each other in some way but he isn't the villain and it's certainly not morally grey just because he degrades her. Tbh: he's more a bully than a villain. Yes, he has some friends and a sister-like character but he rarely interacts with them in any natural way. While he bemoans that Zita has no hobbies, he doesn't have any either. There's nothing unique or original in his portrayal aside from the long red hair (with cream-coloured streaks), which is different from the average black/dark hair that love interests normally have. Zita is equally flat as she formed herself into her sister's copy instead of becoming her own person; even art is just an outlet for her obsession with the prince instead of an actual hobby.

As for their romance: it is rather toxic in my opinion (though compared to other romantasy couples, it is less toxic because they learn to talk with each other). The spice is based on BDSM with a sub/dom relationship, collars, punishments, "good girl/pet", ... - I found their relationship is just based on lust. Zita is portrayed as a strong independent woman who endures torture, humiliation and various threats by Sepher for the majority of the book until they fuck. Suddenly she's in love with him because the sex is too good to resist? It is rather similar for Sepher as well -- he's bent on breaking her because she tried to kill him

(Plus is the one who cursed him and he swore to kill the person who did it.)

but suddenly, he realises that he loves her after a near-death experience for her. Their romance might have worked if it would have been a "hate-to-love" but it's more a "I hate you but I'm also incredibly horny, and you're hot, so let's fuck and we might learn to tolerate each other".

As for the sex scenes: ok-ish? Partly extremely cringy. Especially since the author always used pussy to describe Zita's intime region in general. Normally, I'm not so picky when it comes to vocab in sex scenes (as German is much worse for it; it's either extremely vulgar or reads academical) but pussy really ranks low on my list. I would give the spice in general 3 🌶️ because it's graphic and descriptive but not as well graphical or descriptive as I thought it would be. (But then, I might just be numb due to FFs by now.) As for the BDSM influence: he does respect her "no". There's no safe word involved but he stopped fingering her as soon as she said "no" and did a bit of aftercare. 

Gossip Girl but British and with a BIPOC (Muslim) cast.

I will likely write a more extensive review in the next days but let's keep it at: it was rough, annoying and badly written for the moment. I know it's an ARC but it reads like a first or second draft at the moment. 

England - 1184: Anna knows hardship ever since she was taken as a child from her homeland. She also knows hunger since she was cast out with 17 years because her vitiligo was mistaken for leprosy. She has known hunger for over a decade when she struggles to survive in exile - always with the fear of being found again. A single act of kindness towards a stranger and a táo changes everything though. Time doesn't touch her anymore. Fire and weapons can't hurt her anymore. So, she spends the next 800 years to put some good into a world that is hellbent on hating her, on hating women, on destroying itself. While trying to do so, she does not only learn the difference between surviving and living but also what it means to love and how love can heal. There's only one constant in all those years for her: the beautiful stranger, the shape-shifting god, who gave her the táo.


Peaches & Honey (Book One in a Duology) is a slow-burn romance in a historical fiction setting that borderlines on magical realism as includes known historical events and figures (e.g., the colonisation of the US, the 1st World War and the 2nd World War, but also Joan d'Arc), a shape-shifting god who can travel between points in an instant, other immortals and Anna - the latest immortal. The historical settings range from the 12th century to the 20th century and Anna is always actively involved in them, not merely a witness to them, which makes everything tangible for the reader. From hunger and famine, plagues like the Black Death, to the cruelty of men and the horrors that we unleash on ourselves - she lives through all of it and tries to offer help to whoever needs it. She is very much the embodiment of 'saves everyone but herself' for the majority of the book.

 

What truly wrecked me is the grief that Anna experienced in the 800 years because the price of immortality is to be alone. Anna has to start anew every few years - either to avoid suspicion by neighbours as she doesn't age or because someone noticed her vitiligo which is always mistaken as a sickness. Of course, she finds love as well but even the love comes with grief because they will be ghosts of her past within years. It leads to the point where she is utterly depressed because it takes strength to keep your heart intact if you are an immortal. The novel features a lot of trauma and healing (and what it takes to heal).

 

The romance is a slow-burn that builds up over the 800 years but the majority happens within the last 30% of the novel. So, don't expect a fast romance that happens within the first pages. Each chapter has a diary-like header from the shapeshifting god, which shows his own change in feelings for Anna. I consider it as a good indicator of the romance development. I think you will love Khiran if you love a protective male love interest (and the hints for Book 2 on the author's Instagram ... oh yes, he's going to be even more protective) whose love language is acts of service! In terms of spice 🌶️: 1/5 chillies because it's very much in the vein of 'fade to black' and not something extensive like SJM & Co.

 

It is a very slow-paced novel (especially the first chapters when there's no large jump between decades as Anna learns how to heal, how to read and write, ...) and so utterly beautifully written. The prose is very poetic and lyrical.

 

The book wrecked me in the best possible way and I think it will hunt me for the upcoming days - months (maybe even years after reading Book 2, which will be published later this year). It's painfully beautiful in the best possible way and is everything I ever wanted from a novel with immortal characters because it includes the pain, grief and trauma that comes with immortality. There's a price for it and the author included it, which is different from what's normally the case with immortal characters. 

 

Adara is already an oddity: a water fae who lives in the earth fae realm. Unfortunately, she cannot even access her water magic, which forces her to train to join the military. During the tryouts, everything goes wrong and she ends up on the run from famous General Slaugh, and her ex-boyfriend Dune, who want her very badly for rather different reasons. Waking up the last dragon was certainly not on her agenda either ... a dragon who just wants to go back to his eternal sleep as the fae are responsible for the erasure of his kin.


I wish I could show you my WhatsApp thread with my bestie because she had to endure all my anger about Promised in Fire. It isn't pretty, believe me. TL;DR: Imagine someone combined all existing romantasy novels with fae and dragons and poured the mixture into a shape. The result would be the Of Dragons and Fae series. It includes every cliche and trope for the type possible, which is rarely a good thing.

The World-building is described in the marketing text as 'unmatched' and 'unique'. Personally, I still try to find the world-building because there's barely a scrap of it available. It starts with the fact that there's no map despite the book playing in a fantasy world. If you write a fantasy novel that is not set on planet Earth as we know it: CREATE A FUCKING MAP AND INCLUDE IT! So, the reader has zero idea what the world looks like. The author says that there are four realms, a volcano, and a mountain range but that's it. Aside from the lack of a map, there's a hint of history for the world but it's extremely vague. The author always goes back on what she wrote as well, which is utterly annoying.

(E.g.: At the beginning, it is mentioned several times that the fae believe that the dragons were responsible for the shadow-cursed lands and shadow magic, and that the king fights the shadow magic with all his power because he also killed all the dragons. Around 40%, it is already known to one fae that the shadow magic is wielded by the General. In the end, it is suddenly known that the king wields shadow magic and that it isn't a secret as he uses it to destroy any rebellion.)

Please do not get me started on the fact that dragons lay eggs but are born in their human form and have to give themselves a tattoo to become dragons.

The magic system made me weap. It is taken from Avatar - The Last Airbender as Walt includes not just the four main elements but also metal, ice, ... - and I'm pretty sure that the rule "No fae can rule elements that aren't complementary" is taken from some other novel because it feels familiar. It would have been fine to use elemental magic if it had been done correctly but it's just a mess that made me upset. It is stated that the elements have to be complementary to each other to allow a fae to wield two elements, which is why Adara's elements (fire and water) are such a big issue. Walt even mentions the combinations that are ok:  Fire & Air; Fire & Earth; Air & Water; Air & Earth; Earth & Water. I would like to argue that air and earth aren't complementary elements and should cancel each other out like fire and water.

The main characters ... Adara is a Mary Sue. I don't have another word for it because she fits into all the categories: special hair colour, unique powers, extremely beautiful while she doesn't consider herself as beautiful, special necklace with a rare stone, "superior intelligence" (although she doesn't consider herself as intelligent enough for university), ... - it's rather exhausting. Especially since she isn't even intelligent. She ignores every warning and throws a tantrum when she learns the truth about her heritage. Einar is just an ass. I can understand his hate and anger towards the fae because they are responsible for the death of hundreds of dragons (including his own family) but he sits on a rather high horse as the dragons also killed countless of fae. Of course, everything changes once he realises who Adara really is. Both characters are underdeveloped and flat. There's no personality here.

General Issues:
1. The predictability of the plot is extremely high, which is due to the fact that it's just a mash-up of previous romantasy fae/dragon novels. It doesn't help that the main characters are rather flat and underdeveloped, and the side characters are just a joke, so they don't even add anything new to the known plot. All the involved tropes/characteristics just underline the predictability of the book. There's a prophecy (Fun fact: everyone but Adara knows about it but yet, she still has to go to the oracle to hear it.), fated mates/mating bond, and stereotypical villains, ... -- I don't expect romantasy authors to invent the genre again but please, put more efforts into your novels. I have read better fanfictions on Wattpad.

2. The romance is a joke. It's described as steamy and a slow burn when it's insta-lust/love and there's no spice. There's one longer kiss with a bit groping but that's it. The insta-lust/love is extremely one-sided due to the mating bond between Einar and Adara (of course they are fated mates, we need to have the trope), which forces Einar to be close to Adara (and try to mate her) while Adara is not affected by it.

3. The diversity. Everyone of relevance is white. Adara gets whiter with each chapter and all descriptions for her skin colour involve purity in a way (e.g., snow-white, like alabaster, ...) because she's a virgin and it has to be underlined. Her name also means "noble"/"pure" and "beautiful" (depending on the website), which fits into her character story and skin colour descriptions. Einar is vaguely described in terms of skin colour (which is so typical for romantasy) and could be read as white, light-skinned BIPOC or even as dark-skinned BIPOC because compared to Adara, he's "dark". I call it the SJM syndrome as all her male main characters are always vague in skin colour description. The best friend has nut-brown skin (Hazelnut brown? Walnut brown? Coconut? Almond? Who knows ... it's just 'nut-brown'.) and is the only character of colour who appears in more than two sentences. Every other BIPOC character is the kind of side character that just appears in two sentences. As for gender diversity, of course everyone is male/female and hetero. There's a hint of bisexuality/sapphic representation with Adara's best friend Mavlyn as she flirts with another female character in two lines but that's it. I would have expected more from a BIPOC author.

4. The writing is very corny and reads like YA when the book is marketed as New Adult. I can do without lines like "If you want to get to my friends, you'll have to go through me first". I would expect such lines in a TV series from the 90s but not from a book that's from 2023. Of course, the villain doesn't take Adara seriously when she says such bullshit. In addition, the entire novel reads like a first draft. There are plot holes, the author is inconsistent in terms of established 

 

 Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc.


Tiankawi is one of the last "true" cities of humankind in a flooded world. The semi-flooded city houses humans and fathomfolk alike, acting as a safe haven for fathomfolk fleeing from civil unrest in underwater havens. Though not everything is as great as it seems, and the three main characters, a half-siren, a sea witch and a young water dragon, get pulled further into the maelstrom of political intrigue, secrets and violence that works beneath the shining surface of the city. When will it be enough?


Fathomfolk has a rather interesting premise as it is set in a world after a climate change that caused the sea levels to rise so much that only scattered islands, cities on stilts, and underwater havens exist. It incorporates several Asian mythological creatures (mostly South East Asian and East Asian as far as I can tell) as well as British/European creatures like Kelpies. As interesting as the premise is, though, the entire story just falls flat because of the pacing. The first 35% are by far the worst because they drag on, involve tons of world-building, and are - frankly - just boring. Afterwards, the pacing picks up and draws the reader into the story. Unfortunately, the end (the last ~20%) are so rushed and unsatisfying in the resolve of the conflict. It also ends with a cliffhanger as well, so the reader has to continue the series if they want to know how the conflict looming at the horizon will be solved. Also, Kai deserves better.

The book has four POVs

Well, technically just three POVs as one character shapeshifts and is the same person that has their own POV.

and God, I hated all POVs aside from Mira's. Mostly because I disliked the characters so much. Nami is impulsive, stupid and utterly annoying because she never thinks before doing something, and her tongue becomes a knot as soon as a pretty man is involved. For all her education and upbringing, she's rather useless. She's very extreme in her political views, which feels like a thinly veiled criticism of politically active teenagers/young adults? It was weird. Her romantic relationship is icky as hell as it reeks of grooming and includes gaslighting. Mira is a goody-two-shoes who becomes more tired with each chapter, which is something that I can understand because she works herself to the bone and is still portrayed as a monster. Though, her relationship with Kai is also ... unsatisfying. Cordelia is just vain and a snob. The idea of her being a morally grey character is constantly harpooned by her own behaviour. Though, I still wonder about her purpose

(due to her dual character with Serena)

as she just sews chaos between humans and fathomfolk.

Fathomfolk is very political as it involves the themes of immigration (forced due to civil wars and pollution by others, but also immigration out of their own free will) and its effect on an established society, including racism and differences in classes. For a book that is labelled as 'adult' due to these themes, it felt like a YA novel with a dash of anime/manga, which is just disappointing. To be honest, the entire book feels like it's just a criticism of certain political POVs (aka left-leaning) because the end ... I'm so upset about the end. If the book would have been a physical book, I would have thrown it against the wall.

The ending is very much: who cares about moral dilemmas and actual action to solve immigration issues, racism and class differences. Everyone has gills now! Even if it was already noticeable that a majority of the humans hate it because they looked down on fathomfolk for their entire lives.