randi_jo's reviews
358 reviews

Cute, recipes look great and not overly complex, and offer both an entirely from scratch option as well as store bought options (ie. making your own sourdough). The narrative of it being like a culinary travelogue was really cute and fun. 

I'm not the biggest romance fan out there, but I really enjoyed this one with the slight litfic-ness to it with MC's introspection as she handles her challenges, while also bagging a hot guy (or two). Emotional but not too thirsty, this felt like a breath of fresh air to me and was super satisfying, even when the storyline hit all the romance tropes, including but not limited to the third act break-up scene.

The author's note at the back of the book is a great anthem for romance book lovers everywhere.

Jesus, I don't know where to begin. I feel lied to and cheated - whoever marketed this book was probably a court assassin in a past life or something, slipping poison into goblets at celebration feasts.

Anyway there are so many trope icks in this book for me. I feel like the author singled me out, asked everything I hate in a book and then made this book but added playing with period blood. Just to list some of them:

 🚩 Obviously the use of period blood, like ew. But ok plot reasons; don't do blood magic using self harm cuts because it makes you a target for witch hunts. Still ew.

 🚩 Love triangle/hinge. MC must choose, oh no! One is the tall, dark, and brooding with a tragic past - physically strong! The other is lean, blonde, intellectual - her childhood friend! Ahh smell those tropes.

 🚩 Oh yes, those two are brothers! Yes

she kisses them both!! And more!

.

🚩 There is no mention of using protection in the smut scenes! This is YA! She lost her virginity! I don't care if it's not "realistic" it's fantasy! Use fake magic to prevent STDs! Sex safety for the Youth. 

🚩 The fact that brosef Gideon feels the absolute NEED to have sex with someone to PROVE she has no scars is weird. Weirder, and CREEPY is that random ass chick Harrow keeps PUSHING FOR HIM TO HAVE SEX WITH HER? I know it's for PLOT AND ROMANCE reasons, but how fucking creepy?? Peer pressuring people into doing the deed is ew.

🚩 Why is there a duo named Gideon and Harrow, anyway? Is this a hat tilt to Muir's Locked Tomb series? It's distracting as fuck.

🚩 A bro literally

dies

and all people can say is "oopsies" and they leave it at that? Like no one blames anyone for this outright

murder

? Not even a why the fuck did you DO that?? Just "she wasn't paying attention"? Christ.

🚩 The font! It's huge! I thought I had a large print book! Nothing crazy, but what a waste of paper. This book should not be anything over 300 pages. It's THAT large.

🚩 Short chapters. I don't think a single chapter was over 10 pages long. WITH HUGE FONT. I accidentally skipped an entire chapter because two pages got stuck together. Weirdly upsetting.

🚩 The plot was ridiculously easy to predict, and as much as I like to be right, reading for plot heavy books (because let's be honest, the characters here only exist to bang) is not one of them. To go into more spoilery areas...

The ending was ok. . . it left a lot to be answered in book 2, but to be honest I'll probably just mine reviews and summaries for what happens next, if I even remember by the time it comes out. I am just not interested in carving out even another day of time for this series.

I am bereft. I was expecting a lot of western shoot-outs, bandido adventures and debauchery, and more magical elements, but instead was served some heart achingly tragic morality tale about the nature of humans and their ability to become something new, old, good, or evil. The magical realism is subtle in this, even though it seems to start out strong in the prologue, but it boils down to the physical embodiment of a generational curse and its dissolution. 

Godspeed, Peter Ainsley. I wish we had known you longer.

A TW I think might be very important for some people:

There is quite a bit of child death and the mourning over killed children in this one. It hits hard though and is treated like the deplorable act that it is.

This was a fun read with a nice little twist at the end that's not TOO out there (considering it has hyper intelligent animals who can type). Charlie is fun to follow as an MC and Morrison is the ultimate henchwoman. There were a few parts that felt overexplained, but it didn't really detract from the story.

Never underestimate a man and his cat(s).