Kendare BlakeBesprekingen

Ugh. I returned this one.....

While not every book needs a happy ending to be good, this ending felt a little rushed and felt a bit like, "I've lost everything so I guess I'll just give up." Kind of like a dramatic high schooler who just broke up with their first boyfriend. Nothing else matters so whatever.

WARNING: I have no sense of what is a spoiler and what isn't, so this review may contain spoilers. I also cuss like a sailor, so read at your own risk. I am not a professional, I just like to read and share my thoughts on them.

Why are half stars not an option?? I feel bad giving it 3 stars, but I can't bring myself to give it 4. I want to give 3.5 stars, but since half stars are not an option, this will have to do. I received the Advanced Reader's Copy via a giveaway and I wish I was being paid to review it, but I'm not lol

Now, I'm not very big on vampire stories, it's just not really my thing, but I figured as long as they don't sparkle, I can handle it. The cover is nice - it's simple, not overcrowded but also not boring. It draws you in and makes you wonder what's going to happen. The intro letter in the book is also pretty cool and I like the author's personality. She seems really interesting.

The book started off as a real page-turner and I was intrigued. It didn't get boring, but it felt like it dragged on longer than it needed to like it was being stretched to hit a page goal which was kind of annoying.

My biggest annoyance with this book is the fact that they keep bringing up the fact that she is a girl.

"Nobody's going to execute a girl, no matter what she did."

Um, excuse me? She can literally commit murder and get away with it JUST because she's a chick? Mkay. Sure. It was fine the first couple of times they mentioned this, but it was repeated so much that it got really annoying and frustrating to read. If the girl is guilty of a crime, she deserves to be punished for it whether she has a D or a V. She can't be guilty because she's a girl? Bullshit.

I mean, this book feels like it goes out of its way to make us realize that Marie is a girl. Like yeah, she's a girl. We get it. Girls do no wrong. It's impossible. All women are innocent and should never be punished even when they commit mass murder.

One thing that stood out to me is when Marie said that the killer drinks the blood. Maybe it's because Jensen is young, but I feel like MOST people wouldn't immediately jump to the idea of a vampire when they hear that. Would they not just think it's a sick person? Or someone who thinks/wants to be a vampire? This boy just straight up jumps to the conclusion of vampire even though that's not what she said. She didn't DENY it, but when she first mentioned it, she simply said "he drank it" and HE is the one that said vampire. I don't know why but this part irked me.

[No jury would buy that once they saw Marie, so young and so little. So female.]

I - efhbsjndkl WHAT. I never thought one sentence could bring me so much pain, so much cringe. "So female"... what the fuck does that even mean? You're kidding, right? That's a joke, right? Are you dead ass right now? Either the author is a serious feminist or she's trying to capitalize on how butthurt women are these days which, honestly, isn't a bad play if you're wanting to make money. Nothing against the author here, but I honestly hate it. This gave me flashbacks to the feminist mess that was The Lost Apothecary. I will never recover from that book.

I'm not sure if this copy has been edited since it's an ARC, but the line breaks for their conversations confused me on more than one occasion. Now, I understand when someone is literally speaking a fucking novel that you have to line break so it's not this huge wall of text, but the line breaks were happening after just one sentence and you know my dumbass didn't notice the lack of end quotes so I just assumed it was the next person talking but it wasn't and my brain had to stop multiple times to reread it trying to figure out who the fuck was talking.

Percy was my favorite character and really the only character I liked in this story. I didn't hate the other characters, but they just didn't really stand out to me in any way. Except for Pilson, fuck that guy. He's a douche.

I didn't like the ending, either. It felt... I'm not sure how to explain it but it felt as if it just ending too abruptly, I guess? It made the story feel pointless which I get - life doesn't always have happy endings where everything is tied up all nice and neat, but this isn't real life. It's based on a real-life case, but it's still fiction and I like my fiction to wrap up because I linger on the questions for fucking ages before finally moving on.

Overall, this book wasn't terrible, but it wasn't an enjoyable read for me. It just felt very bland.

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/ZrgjZ1eUG-A

Enjoy!½

See more reviews here!

Its a pretty quick and easy read. It's nothing that's blowing me away, but I'm definitely enjoying reading it and finding that I can't anticipate what will happen as I usually do, which is a delight. I also love some of the dark ironies in the book's plot, and am morbidly fascinated with what will go wrong for each girl next. The writing also just has some interesting moments in a linguistic sense, when I just pause to re-read a sentence and enjoy the way it sounds or how it is written. The characters have an impressive amount of depth for having to split the book between three of them with rotating perspective chapters.

A fantasy YA book that I can't predict is a dream! Immediately starting the second book---so you know it's good.

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/IPtwN3yrEjI

Enjoy!

* I got this book for review from the publisher for my hoset thoughts* I would give this story 4.5 stars for review*
I really did love this book. It is a such a fun book and i really this take on the tie in elements. I have always been a big buffy fan. This book was exactly what I wanted. Willow was my favorite character in the OG series. I really loved that becasue this book was so stteped in history and the OG character were really intergral to this story. I loved that it folowed willow daughter. I also loved how frankie was such a diffeerent main character from buffy and really enjoyed how this scooby gangs deveoped thoughtoutt his read. i loved seeing past characters and I am so curious to see where the rest of this series goes!!

I really loved this read. I loved that it was a unique murder mystery with a paranormal possibility. It was a so refershing to have a sole male character and loved the structure of this read looking back on a past. I also love the muder mystery protocal elements and also the teasing of the paranormal elements. It was a super quick read. It was a quite story focusing on only two main characters and the relationship that captured the novel. But I also really did enjoy the side characters. It was super fun and prefect fall read!!

I really enjoyed this read. It was not the book i expected to read, I am really loved the male main character and this so rare to find in a ya read. I also really liked the haunted house and ghost elements. I also really liked the trio of characters that was the hear of this read. I also loved the realtionship between him and anna it gave me eerie vibes that i saw in her newest book all their bodies. It had a horror elements but was more spooky and not scary. I really loved this quick read and really want to read book 2!

I really wound up liking this concluding book in this series. I thought it was able to wrap up this story so well. It was such a fast pace read. I loved how the dynamics between the characters shifted between the characters throughout this whole novel. I really loved the how the magic system, developed in this world. I really liked how this book tackled both found family and sister dynamics. This book was a super well paced read and enjoyed the fewer locations and how tight this book was in structure. I am excited to re-read this series in the future.

I really did enjoy this read a lot. I thought it was such a solid third book in this series. I liked how this book had three very different stories that at the end did come to one explosive conclusion. I really also did like the focus on Jules in this book and also how all the characters had to find ways to work together but still had some much tension. I also really liked how the past how a larger role in this book. I also the end was fast pace but still explained and I am so excited for the last book in this series.

I was super helpful to read this book before I dived back into the main books in this series. I found the first novella about the young queens to be the more engaging story. I really loved the background history that was given and loved seeing the young sister dynamics. I found the second story to be less compelling and less engaging. I felt like the story was because it had a been explained was less compelling and just less interesting. I was happy for that story information but it did not wow me.

I really loved the second book in this series. I wish i had re-read book one and def re-read book one and two before three. I loved the wild ride in this story and the paths of all the leads. I loved also how the sister realtionships developed because that is the one part of book one that I wanted so more of and this book gave me that. I also loved how much we learned about Jules and she def became one of my favorite character. This book is wild ride with so many unexpected twists and turns. I will def re-listen to this book. Any major problems I had with this book was because I did not read book 1 directly before and that lead to some confusion on my end. But if you liked book one, you will adore book 1. I still don't know what queen i am rooting for but i am excited to see what comes next.

* I got this book for review from the publisher for my hoset thoughts* I would give this story 4.5 stars for review*
I really did love this book. It is a such a fun book and i really this take on the tie in elements. I have always been a big buffy fan. This book was exactly what I wanted. Willow was my favorite character in the OG series. I really loved that becasue this book was so stteped in history and the OG character were really intergral to this story. I loved that it folowed willow daughter. I also loved how frankie was such a diffeerent main character from buffy and really enjoyed how this scooby gangs deveoped thoughtoutt his read. i loved seeing past characters and I am so curious to see where the rest of this series goes!!

I really enjoyed this read. It was not the book i expected to read, I am really loved the male main character and this so rare to find in a ya read. I also really liked the haunted house and ghost elements. I also really liked the trio of characters that was the hear of this read. I also loved the realtionship between him and anna it gave me eerie vibes that i saw in her newest book all their bodies. It had a horror elements but was more spooky and not scary. I really loved this quick read and really want to read book 2!

I really loved this read. I loved that it was a unique murder mystery with a paranormal possibility. It was a so refershing to have a sole male character and loved the structure of this read looking back on a past. I also love the muder mystery protocal elements and also the teasing of the paranormal elements. It was a super quick read. It was a quite story focusing on only two main characters and the relationship that captured the novel. But I also really did enjoy the side characters. It was super fun and prefect fall read!!

I really wound up liking this concluding book in this series. I thought it was able to wrap up this story so well. It was such a fast pace read. I loved how the dynamics between the characters shifted between the characters throughout this whole novel. I really loved the how the magic system, developed in this world. I really liked how this book tackled both found family and sister dynamics. This book was a super well paced read and enjoyed the fewer locations and how tight this book was in structure. I am excited to re-read this series in the future.

I really did enjoy this read a lot. I thought it was such a solid third book in this series. I liked how this book had three very different stories that at the end did come to one explosive conclusion. I really also did like the focus on Jules in this book and also how all the characters had to find ways to work together but still had some much tension. I also really liked how the past how a larger role in this book. I also the end was fast pace but still explained and I am so excited for the last book in this series.

I was super helpful to read this book before I dived back into the main books in this series. I found the first novella about the young queens to be the more engaging story. I really loved the background history that was given and loved seeing the young sister dynamics. I found the second story to be less compelling and less engaging. I felt like the story was because it had a been explained was less compelling and just less interesting. I was happy for that story information but it did not wow me.

I really loved the second book in this series. I wish i had re-read book one and def re-read book one and two before three. I loved the wild ride in this story and the paths of all the leads. I loved also how the sister realtionships developed because that is the one part of book one that I wanted so more of and this book gave me that. I also loved how much we learned about Jules and she def became one of my favorite character. This book is wild ride with so many unexpected twists and turns. I will def re-listen to this book. Any major problems I had with this book was because I did not read book 1 directly before and that lead to some confusion on my end. But if you liked book one, you will adore book 1. I still don't know what queen i am rooting for but i am excited to see what comes next.

Well after reading Stephen's review I was intrigued and moved this to the top of my TBR stack. I was not disappointed - obviously since I devoured it pausing only for breakfast this morning. Have to love holiday mornings when you can do what you'd like!

For me this was a swift read but oh so savory. The characters are well *um* fleshed out and there is an interesting twist at the end. I enjoyed Anna very much, Cas as well. Although I did not detect the flaws Stephen mentioned - which might be gender related, or from the fact I expect young boys/men to have those opinions/thoughts. Personally I didn't find him as over the top as I expected. Oh and I agree about Tybalt.

The story was mostly tightly plotted and left the path open to a possible sequel without leaving any major plot strings for the main story undone. Kudos to the Author for that. Coming in today I see that this is probably the first in a series so that makes sense in one way but not another; which I can't elaborate upon because it gives the end of the story away (aka spoilers!)

I'll give this a solid 4 stars for being enjoyable, well-written, entertaining, and slipping in a nice mention of [a:Bret Easton Ellis|2751|Bret Easton Ellis|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1274408405p2/2751.jpg]' work! Hopefully the majority of my reading this year will be of the same quality!

I don't think the romance was necessary and I could have done without it but overall I enjoyed this. Cas reminded me of what a 17-year-old Dean Winchester (Supernatural) might have been like. He's just as impulsive and reckless as Dean, though I'm not sure if Dean would have ever fallen for a ghost, Sam maybe, not sure about Dean.

I enjoyed the first book but I honestly didn't think there needed to be a sequel. I could have done without it.

I think it's best going into this book not knowing much at all. I had kind of the same issue with this one as I did with Heartless. There's one main event that I was looking forward to and seeing what happens but of course that doesn't happen till the end and so until we got to that part, I felt things moved a little slow. It was a lot of build up, which I understand why but I just really wanted to get to the main event. The one downside was there were a lot of characters in here and it sometimes got confusing trying to keep straight who is on whose side and their relationship with each other. There was a twist at the end that I didn't expect and I loved it. I really enjoyed the ending and the surprises, can't wait to get to the next book.

Abandoned after 50% read.

After reading literally half the book, I finally admitted to myself that I just don't care what happens. All three queens could die for all I care.

This book was incredibly slow and boring, overall. I also felt like Blake was trying to do too much with all of her characters - three unique protagonists, raised separately, so they also have their various mentors and close friends that we have to learn about. It was just difficult to try to keep these boring, indistinct characters straight.

And there are way too many sexual references for my taste - while the author wasn't overly descriptive, she was very suggestive. So unnecessary, especially in a book for teenagers.

There is quite a bit of language, including the name of God taken in vain. (Which is interesting, also, considering that in the book, the existence of gods are never mentioned, only goddesses. So why wouldn't the characters be saying, 'Oh my goddess,' instead?)