sueread2030's reviews
626 reviews

 I love all books that involve "trapping a bunch of people in a restricted place to see how would they act"...would they let their animalistic nature take control or would they submit to human rationality, logic and compassion?

Stephen King mastered this storyline in his The Mist and Under the Dome
so reading another writer presenting the art of Dystopian Psychological Thriller was exciting

I do not want to spoil this book because it is best going into it blind
I will just say that I loved the questions it poses

Are humans better than any other species or creations?
When push comes to pull, would you kill few to preserve the many?
How much influence and control are we willing to give to machines?
Is it sometimes better to trust blindly or posing questions can be dangerous?
When does the line between Machines and the Subconscious blur?

I knew I loved the book when I was reading every word and every paragraph 

 "I’m not trying to hurt any of you, but you have to know that in my story, you’ve all been my hero and my villain.”

Ms Green, what are doing to me? 🥺🥺🥺❤❤

I am on a binge read of S.E Green books cause I finally found another RH author I can vibe with

⚜ rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
⚜Genre: Contemporary Romance
⚜Theme: RH Ranch Romance
⚜Targeted audience: Adults
⚜Characters: Edith, Mason, Griffon, Jaxon
⚜Representation: none
⚜Pace: medium
⚜TW: BIG ONE for DV
⚜ tropes: age-gap, Why-choose, Enemies to Lovers, Grumpy/Sunshine, grovel, Friends to lovers, Strong-willed FMC, found-family
⚜ POV: multiple first-person
⚜ spice 🌶🌶🌶🌶
⚜standalone: yes
⚜Ending: HEA
⚜Book read: KU

I always wonder when I read a book with outstanding character arcs and intense emotions whether the author intended this or came naturally as the story went. Either case, I hope Ms Green continues writing such beautiful character development.

Let me start with what I didn't like

NOTHING.... There is nothing I didn't like .. even the "oops we didn't use protection" worked in the book.

Now let me tell you why this was perfect

1- I was always a believer that for an RH romance to work, the men should have a very strong connection to be able to look past the jealousy and accept the sharing. Their bond must be irrefutable. So to read a book where the men started out hating each other was a shock! How would this work??? Let me tell you that the way the story progressed paved it for a strong bond. Edith became the reason and the glue for these three men coming together as a family.

2- The interaction between Edith and each of the men separately was phenomenal. You can see their connection building. Each had to lower their walls to accept her and she wiggled her way into their lives.
In a way each gave her what she needed, the Savior, the Friend, The Lover. And in turn, she completed their lives and gave them a purpose and a sense of belonging.

3- I absolutely love a character that starts out looking as if she is weak, submissive, and accepting of her fate only to find her determined and planning to get herself out. Edith has been the victim of her circumstances all her life. She was daily abused and misused by the person who was supposed to love and protect her. And yet, she is kind, helpful, and resourceful. She was looking for a way out when she met the three men. When their harshness hit, she did not fall quickly back into their arms. She showed them that she is worth fighting for.

4- And of course the major reason I read this book in the first place, the betrayal and the grovel. I am not gonna spoil much, just that each one put in the effort to win her back.

I have definitely pre-ordered the next book in the series. 

That Ending Destroyed All the Build up of this Trilogy
<img src="https://31.media.tumblr.com/9f520e0708213d8ffdf7efe3b49feee5/tumblr_nh7rn0ZyhM1sfoav0o1_500.gif"/>

To tell you that book 1, the Fifth Season, is my ultimate favorite cultural fantasy and my obsession is an understatement
I have never read anything like it, and probably won't
The writing style is superb
but that is not what drew me in
it's how the story takes you in reverse

usually, dystopian books start with the catastrophe and then show you how the people are coping.
The Broken Earth started with people already coped and worked itself back to the cause.

The third book started strong, giving backstory reasons and "happened long ago" retelling. 
You can sense that everyone is angry and everyone is  wrong and everyone did something terrible

So you are preparing yourself for this Grand Finale, especially when Essun meets her daughter Nessun, whom she has been looking for for two years!!!

So what was that ending????????
and Hoa! I was intrigued by him throughout the series especially since I discovered that he is Essun's narrator. He is always there to guide and protect her, but

suddenly lets her die that easily??

Somehow, I felt that this should have had a fourth book. So many things were added in this book that created more questions

What I gathered mostly is "Anger". Everyone is Angry
The author is angry at the world so she wrote that ending
Father Earth was angry at the loss of the moon 
Essun was angry because...well, she was always angry
and Nessun??? I was angry at a 12 year old!!! how did this book manage that????

just disappointed. 





I postponed reading this for so long because I did not want to be finished with this masterpiece series
But It is Time
Doing it as audio this time

Ah! The End is the Beginning and the Beginni g is the End

 I liked it???? Yeah I guess

I am on a binge read of S.E Green books cause I finally found another RH author I can vibe with

3.75🌟stars: just for Betsy kicking the three ManBoys in their balls

⚜ rating 🌟🌟🌟🔅
⚜Genre: Contemporary Romance
⚜Theme: RH Ranch Romance
⚜Targeted audience: Adults
⚜Characters: Betsy, Remy, Clyde, Wilder
⚜Representation: none
⚜Pace: medium
⚜TW: not much to mention
⚜ tropes: Why-choose, falsely accused, grovel, Friends to lovers, Strong FMC
⚜ POV: multiple first-person
⚜ spice 🌶🌶🌶🌶
⚜standalone: yes
⚜Ending: HEA
⚜Book read: KU

The best thing about this book is Betsy. She is strong, smart decisive and resourceful to be able to handle two ranches. And by God she has the patience of an ant climbing a wall with a cookie to be able to tolerate those boys. Why is she in love with them again? Ah! Love is blind I guess.

There is grovel in a sense but in no way it matched the betrayal. It needed more than lassoing her like a cow to make her listen and stay. Forcing yourself into someone's life is not enough. And after that "stop being so emotional" line, I would have washed my hands off them.

The Man-boys were intolerable. The epitome of Red-flag guys and the reason why Betsy should have chosen the BEAR. But it is what it is. 

 I am on a binge read of S.E Green books cause I finally found another RH author I can vibe with

3.5🌟stars: good but not great

⚜ rating 🌟🌟🌟🔅
⚜Genre: Contemporary Romance
⚜Theme: RH Thriller Romance
⚜Targeted audience: Adults
⚜Characters: Susu (Suzannah), Vavcs, Chester, Theo
⚜Representation: mental disorder (selective mutism)
⚜Pace: medium
⚜TW: child abandonment, stalking, murder, kidnapping, violence,
⚜ tropes: Why-choose, falsely accused, grovel
⚜ POV: multiple first-person
⚜ spice 🌶🌶🌶🌶
⚜standalone: yes
⚜Ending: HEA
⚜Book read: KU

Suzannah suffers tremendous trauma as a child, so she goes into the mentality of selective mutism (please read about it. This is not a light matter). She works as a book accountant and pianist at Chester's bar and develops a crush on the three guys working there.
Susu (as they call her) has a dark secret, someone is after her.
misunderstanding happens that leads to Susu being harmed. The guys grovel for a bit and all is well

I was feeling discomfort at the way Selective Mutism was handled. I personally worked with a student who had that and I had to read a lot on the matter and contact a therapist to know the correct way to approach such a student. I cannot tell you why this situation bothered me but something felt off.

Susu forgave Chester easily. I think we needed more work on the grovel.
I liked that Susu is not that perfect character. She made a mistake and owned it, but it was a stupid mistake and it shouldn't have been done in the first place.

Though the book is over 500 pages, I still felt that it was rushed.
but it was a good read 

 I am on a binge read of S.E Green books cause I finally found another RH author I can vibe with

1000000🌟stars: absolutely my favorite

⚜ rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
⚜Genre: Contemporary RH Romance
⚜Theme: Second-Chance Bully Romance
⚜Targeted audience: Adults
⚜Characters: Mira, Max, Vincent, Ethan.... and the Son of a billion bitch Danny
⚜Representation: mental health (coping mechanism)
⚜Pace: medium
⚜TW: domestic abuse, marital rape, bullying, gaslighting, violence, kidnapping
⚜ tropes: Why-choose, redemption
⚜ POV: multiple first-person BUT ONLY FROM THE MEN'S POV
⚜ spice 🌶🌶🌶
⚜standalone: yes
⚜Ending: HEA
⚜Book read: KU

I have no words to describe how beautifully written this book was
Donny, Max, Vincent, and Ethan grew up friends next to Mira's house. For some reason, Danny had it for Mira and encouraged the guys to bully her. The bullying continued throughout the years. Suddenly, Danny marries Mira and the guys fall out of touch. Five years later, Max and Ethan has an organization that helps DA women (ironic), and Vincent is a cop (another irony). Mira is trying to get out of her marriage, the 3 guys are helping her, discover how shitty they were when they were kids and queue in the groveling and redemption.

There was one thing I wished we got an answer to and that is "Why was Danny so obsessed with Mira that he forced her to marry him?" We get hints and speculations, but it is all theory

However, this minor thing did not take away from the exquisite story

1- To begin with, it was written solely from the Men's POV. I am a firm beleval that Romance of any kind should be dual POV. But since we rarely get books from the men's POV and because we needed to see the results of their actions and how they are redeeming itself, it worked to have only their POVs. This did not diminish Mira's part. We still get her personality.

2- Mira: although she did not get a POV (she did get the epilogue), we totally understand her background and reasons for her actions. Mira, though manipulated by her parents and Danny, is not a weak female. The fact that she was gathering evidence and photos and documentation to build a case against her husband proves how strong-spirited she is.
Why did she marry her bully? she was raised in a strict religious house. Her father forced her to marry. Danny was obsessed and manipulated her. She was helpless as a child and teen. But she reached a point where enough is enough. I loved how she did not fall for the guys immediately, how she stood up to them, and how she made them work for her love.

4- The background: We get a step-by-step from the past to the present of all the terrible things the boys did to Mira. We understand her trauma and some of their reasoning (none is excusable). When we reach the present, it is logical then that the guys had to work hard for Mira.

5- The mentality of a bully: I would like to fehemently state that there is NO EXCUSE FOR BULLYING. having said that, the book presents bullying as not a Black/White state but a grey one.
Some bullies are pure evil, like Danny. You can sense his hostile nature and his desire to physically harm since he was a kid. This type of bully is encouraged by their supportive parents and their deceptive friendly nature with others. Danny easily gains friends and can manipulate them to do his bedding. The bullying turns to abuse as adults. He was able to make two cops help him.
On the other hand, not all bullies are evil, some are good but resolve to bullying by peer pressure and their domestic circumstances. They are kids doing stupid things dictated by others. These typically reach a point where they know what they are doing is bad and stop. We can see that later they seek ways to redeem their past.

6- The spice: If you go into this book thinking it is full of spice just because it is RH, then stop. The spice scenes happen after the 81% mark. I absolutely loved that because the author did not sacrifice the plot, character development, or the medium-burn build up to get to the smut. 

 I am on a binge read of S.E Green books cause I finally found another RH author I can vibe with

2 🌟🌟stars: this was my least favorite in the series
thank God it wasn't my first read otherwise I would have stopped reading the author
and thankfully the other books are better

⚜ rating 🌟🌟
⚜Genre: Contemporary RH Romance
⚜Theme: Second-Chance Romance
⚜Targeted audience: Adults
⚜Characters: Hazeley, Anthony, Bryant, Corey
⚜Representation: trauma survival, mental health
⚜Pace: medium
⚜TW: rape, violence, abandonment, panic attacks, self-loathing (Please note that there is a very disturbing on-page rape scene)
⚜ tropes: Why-choose, redemption
⚜ POV: multiple first person
⚜ spice 🌶🌶
⚜standalone: yes
⚜Ending: HEA
⚜Book read: KU

I wanted to go into details for why this was my least favorite but I found a review that totally said everything I said

Review by Claire
 

 

All Hail the Mother of All Dragon Books

I want you to take a minute and admire the fact that in the 60s, a woman brought in the concept of Dragons, Dragon bonding, Dragon Lust, Mating, Dragon War and made a Woman her main lead.

Anne McCaffrey set the foundation for ALL DRAGON BOOKS

And she was the first woman to win a Hugo for her series 😍😍😍