this is a very short, but powerful, story that starts out on a tuesday at 3 am, with our main character on the railing of a bridge, contemplating waysthis is a very short, but powerful, story that starts out on a tuesday at 3 am, with our main character on the railing of a bridge, contemplating ways to get out of an isolated situation that feels rather impossible. but a guardian angel soon comes, and tells her that she is a magical girl, with a magical unique gift, and they have been searching for the greatest magical girl of them all, who will be able to harness the magic of time. but first, she must join a mission to be a bodyguard / bounty hunter.
this book really talks about some very serious things, in a whimsical way that most of us, who grew up with magical girls, can connect with. and i feel it was really impactfully done. like how predatory credit card companies / banks can be, how climate change feels impossible because of the leaders our world has had (and continues to have), turned even to the unfairness with the distribution of resources. how a pandemic has made things feel so much more isolated, and how hard it can be to keep going when everything feels so very heavy to carry on your own. when a two-thousand dollar debt can ruin your entire life, but we live in a world where billionaires spend over seven-thousand a day for their private jets, back and forth to their multiple million dollar homes.
i understood the magical girl of time, what she was feeling, and just the impossibleness of it all. but i am going to continue to try to be hopeful, despite it being so heartbreaking seeing the ones who pay for it all every time.
trigger + content warnings: depression, thoughts of suicide, loss of parents + grandparents, talk of debt / credit card debt, grief, ocd depiction, mention of domestic violence, pandemic mention, terrorist attack, bomb threat at airport
this sixth installment starts out as wild as the rest of the books in this series, thanks to their insane cliffhanger endings. darcy is heartbroken, lance is in prison, tory is under mind control magic, and darius is having a birthday celebration, thrown by his father. i don’t really know what more i can say six books deep in this series, but i did think this one was a little too repetitive, which ultimately made it feel way too long and drawn out. yet, i can’t stop reading these books so am i really the best judge with my star ratings?
my favorite thing about this book was the heirs actually connecting, bonding, and showing up for the twins. seeing darcy in the hallow with them all, making weapons for the found family she loves, ahhh i was obsessed. and then the dynamic when tory very much needs everyone, too? Simply perfection. i truly could read an entire 800 page book about domestic them and their very fought for found family. and that really made the end of this book even more special, yet even more soul crushing.
other quick things i liked in this installment - i loved just seeing xavier and the other baby heirs try to find their place in zodiac academy. but all the pegasus and all the bedazzled situations had me frightened. again, goofy in the best and worst ways. But the scene with seth, rosalie, and caleb was ...more
please believe me when i say that i wanted to love this so badly. i also do not want to turn anyone away frARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
please believe me when i say that i wanted to love this so badly. i also do not want to turn anyone away from picking up a sapphic gothic story, so please just take this review with a grain of salt, and maybe i just read this at the wrong time. (also, there is a melanie name drop, so if we are friends, you will probably giggle extra when you pick this up.) >.<
we meet salem when she is fleeing from a wedding, and she meets a very beautiful girl at a bar, and they have a really amazing night together. well, flash forward a little bit and now salem is taking a two week getaway, where she will be staying at a gothic manor on an isolated island, and the owner of the house is none other than rayne, the girl who has had that amazing night with. yet, no one stays on the island after november 1st, because something is for sure haunting the forests. but maybe both our mcs end up isolated there together, where they are forced to figure out what is happening on this island… or else.
the set up was great, and i extra love the trope of “omg we had a one night stand prior” so i was extra excited! and the atmosphere is so eerie and paints such lush easy to see and feel settings! and, as always, harley has such wonderful prose, that it always feels like a treat to read a story by them.
but it breaks my heart to say that i just didn’t love these characters, and i felt really not invested in their relationship, romantic or sexual. And i feel insane typing that, becuase if you were to ask me what author is currently writing the sexiest books, id probably say harley! but this one just wasn’t giving me that, which feels horrible to type. and the actual mystery just felt so very obvious from the very start, which led to zero thrilling suspense for me. but maybe it is just because i was overhyping this subconsciously, which is why i still really recommend it and want you all to give this one a try if you are interested!
trigger + content warnings: talk of dead animal (deer), blood, anxiety, “cancer” used as a descriptor, missing people (including young girls), loss of mother in past / loss of loved ones, homophobia (negative light), talk of murder, religious trauma, religious killings, talk of cheating in past (on one of the mcs), human experimentation, domestic abuse in past, guns, fire
“I was trying t to get back to you with every breath, and all the while, you were falling in love with Draco Malfoy”
i don't rate or "review" fanfi
“I was trying t to get back to you with every breath, and all the while, you were falling in love with Draco Malfoy”
i don't rate or "review" fanfic, but i really liked reading this. and because i know you all want to know - it for sure is darker with content, yet lighter with enemies to lovers, than manacled. this does feel very similar in plot, but the thing i can't really wrap my mind around is why i liked hermione so much less in this, yet draco a little more, perhaps. maybe i just really do just like a good guy who is down so extremely bad! yet the end of this fic? eh, it just... it was all too much of everything but the romance. but yeah... i read this in anticipation for rose in chains and i can't wait to see how this is adapted without my cursed internet roots nostalgia ip that i carry very deeply in my heart, apparently. (that i am apparently also carrying alongside all the publishing houses in 2025!)
tldr - if you really liked the scene in acomaf with rhysand and feyre pretending at the court of nightmares? you will probably eat this up.
lastly - something i wasn't expecting was that this fic was being written/updated when the pandemic hit here in the states, so it did feel a little extra wild to read, just because i was not expecting that!
“Like all true stories, it was a mix of legends and facts, of myths imagined and deeds done, of the heart of darkness and the crown of light, of experiences borne and gaps filled, of things seen and visions that could only be authenticated by the mind's eye.”
this is the closest to a five star four star that you could ever imagine. this is literally so many of my friends’ favorite book of all time! so please do not let this four star rating make you think this isn’t a masterpiece in its own right, because it is, but i fear i did put a little too much hype into starting this and it did impact my reading. but that’s completely my own fault, and here is a little prequel to let you know that!
okay okay okay, this second book does feel a lot like a first book. we had some amazing building blocks of the history for this world and these families with the grace of kings , but in the wall of storms we really get to see the tale in the present day begin. we get to see the emperor, and the women he loved, but this time we get to see what they all have built and done over the years. he has four children, who are all so very different, and has yet to pick a ruler in waiting. but his children very quickly meet another young girl, zomi kidosu, who has truly stolen my heart in every way imaginable. so we follow all of these people, both old and new, and see how the gods are tangled up in their lives, much more than anyone realizes in the story.
this book is beautiful, this book is heartbreaking, and this book is very impressive. this story is so empowering in so many ways, yet also shows all the ways that humans are so very flawed, and can commit atrocities that feel unspeakable. i truly think ken liu is one of the greatest writers of our generation, and his writing is something that feels like magic, even when he’s not writing about gods. this series is a hard read, but a very powerful one, and i am honored that i get to read it.
trigger + content warnings: violence, gore, blood, war, colonization, dead animal (whale), self harm mention, self inflicted wound, sickness, missing parent, loss of parents, fire, slavery, sa / rape, drugging, mention of suicide in past, torture, murder, mass murder, death, grief, battle, talk of extreme torture / also involving children, vomit, talk of plague, cannibalism mention (this book gets pretty dark at times, please use caution)
this is a very powerful story that starts out with forty women trapped in an underground bunker, with no theories on why they are even in captivity. tthis is a very powerful story that starts out with forty women trapped in an underground bunker, with no theories on why they are even in captivity. they have no history with one another, they are not from connected places with one another, and the guards beyond their bars refuse to acknowledge them with more than a threat of a whip. our story is being told from the pov of the youngest women being held captive, and the only one who has no memories from what life was like prior to living inside this bunker. but the story really begins during a mere eleven minutes, and then after those eleven minutes where their new world gets revealed a bit more, and an infinite amount of new questions get asked.
this was really thought provoking and truly did leave an impact on me. i felt like some of the concepts were freely given, where others i might be pondering on forever to be honest. but even as much as i respect this story, and feel like it should be read and honored, i closed the book wishing that we just learned a little more. and let me say, i am a reader who loves an open ending. i love theorycrafting and scouring the internet for different interpretations of text! but i truly came out of this story really wishing for just a breadcrumb of anything, and that is ultimately why i just can’t give this five stars, even though i promise you it is close to that for me.
concentration camps, gender roles, capitalism, education systems, end of life options (this act is what california calls it) - lots of hard things are discussed in such few pages, and without ever using these terms. I highly recommend this book, and in addition to everything else i’ve said, this is a really unique story and i think it really will leave a memorable impact on you.
trigger + content warnings: cancer, grief, talk of pain, talk of menstrual cycles, captivity, talk of suicide, suicide, abandonment, anxiety, ptsd, death, very brief dementia mentions
oh friends, i’m so sorry! I truly did want to love this so badly. and the reason i picked this story up was because so many friends on goodreads have oh friends, i’m so sorry! I truly did want to love this so badly. and the reason i picked this story up was because so many friends on goodreads have given this five stars and put it on their best books of 2024 list (with many having it be their #1 fave of the year)! so if you’re interested in this book, please still pick it up, because i am for sure in the minority with my feelings on this!
saeris lives in a world where water is the most precious resource and is being rationed to only 6oz a day by a seemingly immortal evil queen. she is also trying to give her brother a better life, by secretly being a blacksmith who forges weapons, and by doing anything else she can in secret, too. but at the start of this book, she has an altercation with a guard, and quickly realizes that she is able to manipulate a special blade. and i probably shouldn’t say too much more than that, but she is teleported to a new world with the fae she only knew about from storybooks.
listen, i love anything with a forge and blacksmithing, and you add alchemy to that and being able to transmute some metals? oh, i’m living for it actually. you all also know that i love anything fae! I also have a very big soft spot for magical foxes! and fae gods and their backstories! and the mc’s friend, carrion, was absolutely amazing. but those are truly the only things i really loved about this. like, i feel like so many good and solid building blocks are here, but it just kept getting worse and worse as i would read on.
saeris was a little insufferable to read from. and i do enjoy a “unlikeable” character, especially one willing to do anything for her family in a fae realm, but she was just so annoying and her banter with everyone made me cringe constantly. and kingfisher was just someone i never wanted to root for until the very end when we were getting 500 reveals of the villains just saying their evils deeds. it was instalove trying to not be instalove, under a wild power dynamic because saeris was forced to stay in the fae realm, with dirty talk that made me want to jump out a window. in my opinion, the plot just kept getting more away from the original cool concept and just pieces of all these really popular romantasy plots. and then the ending…
this next paragraph is going to include a spoiler for the ending of this book, that also discusses a type of trauma related to sa that is implied - please use caution while reading: i am always going to be here for authors writing queer characters, villains for sure included in that, but implying that the villain of this first book is queer, and was sexual assaulting someone over decades in the past as part of a "plot twist", is just something that is always going to make me very uncomfortable to read. i feel like this is a very harmful message that our very real world is constantly trying to criminalize queer people with. also, upon finishing, even though carrion was my favorite character, he is still portrayed as a pan or bi character who wants to have sex with anyone and everyone. and i never want to shame that, especially as a pan person, but it also contributes to a negative real world stereotype! and i normally would look past carrion, because that experience can be a real and valid experience too, but after how malcom’s “my love” and “playground” and many more implications made me feel…., it just feels extremely bad to me. but i also recognize that maybe i am being too sensitive about it, because i haven’t seen anyone else say this in any review, so maybe my reading comprehension just imagined those missing 47 years of abuse being insinuated for the entire ending? but it was loudly giving outlander (in 2025 !!) to me.
yeah, i think that’s all i want to say. I am sorry if this is your favorite book, it just didn’t work for me the way that i wish it did. and please don’t let this review make you completely not read this, because i really am the outlier with these feelings (at the time of writing this, i don’t have a single moot who has given this under three stars)! and if you do pick it up, i just hope you have happier reading than i did, friends!
trigger + content warnings: exploiting resources, extreme dehydration, torture, unwanted touching, talk of sickness, loss of mother in past, loss of children, murder, violence, gore, vomit, blood, self harm to get blood, magical compulsion, anxiety, drinking, assault, kidnapping, threat of sa, talk of rape in past, insinuation of sa in past, genocide, war, slavery, spider-like creature, imbalance of power dynamics
“I always have to choose, and I never get to choose you. I’m so tired of not getting to choose you.”
apparently i wanted to start 2025 off in the m
“I always have to choose, and I never get to choose you. I’m so tired of not getting to choose you.”
apparently i wanted to start 2025 off in the most unhinged way possible (going back to my earliest internet roots reading hp fanfic). but i was very influenced from booktok telling me i had until dec 31th, 2024 to download this (which also made me extra curious to read before this gets reworked and traditionally published).
i do not think i am going to rate fanfiction on here, but this is one of the best i've ever read, truly. senlinyu is a really good writer, and story teller, and i was inhaling this every night unable to stop until way past midnight for the first five nights of the new year. with equal time spent kicking my feet, screaming, and rolling around my bed like a maniac.
i can't wait to read whatever senlinyu does with this story without the cursed nostalgia ip that truly started enemies to lovers for me.
“I never get to choose you. I’m so tired of not getting to choose you.”
this is a story about a holy war between paladins and necromancy magic. the
“I never get to choose you. I’m so tired of not getting to choose you.”
this is a story about a holy war between paladins and necromancy magic. the majority of this book is flashbacks of wartime itself, but it is sandwiched between two parts of the current timeline where the paladins have lost the war and all the ramifications of that. our main character, helena, has been in a stasis captivity with her memory altered/blocked, but she is being given away to the high reeve, kane, who is greatly responsible for winning the war that killed her friends, and we watch as she is trying to piece together everything that happened alongside the reader. i am so sure that by now you all know what this book is about, so i am going to tell you things i really liked about this story.
☆ my favorite theme in this story is how helena is an overqualified immigrant, who was supposed to feel grateful for the opportunities she was given, where she was just isolated and overworked, while constantly being told she was replaceable, while doing the absolute most for the people who didn’t appreciate her.
☆ in general, i just really loved reading a story not only from the perspective of the hero’s best friend, but a healer who is not protected from seeing first hand all the horrors of war. quite literally forced to put back together pieces, over and over, in a losing war where people in power do not care about the cost as long as they are able to feel righteous.
☆ i loved the reworking of this story being a holy war, with gods, and blessings, and paladins with honor oaths. and I absolutely loved the reconciliation of what happens when you open your eyes and no more miracles are able to be created. (and forever a fan of alchemy and transmutation, too!)
☆ other countries not doing anything during a genocide until it impacts them or their people or, more importantly, when it impacts powerful leaders financially
☆ this story has a big emphasis on hands and what our main characters are able to do with them, which honestly brings me to tears to even type this. but how helena uses her hands in the war to heal, yet they kill all the same, and how kane’s hands were made for killing, yet he can so naturally heal with them. through this war, and being used by people all around them as nothing more than a tool for their destruction, both of their hands end up so very broken, and that stillness is forever gone. let me just move on, but my god, this imagery and accentuation throughout this story was really masterfully done, in my opinion.
☆ being forged into something you didn’t want to become, both by war and the people who were supposed to protect you, but also now being stronger for it (and both sides, and all the complicated feelings, that come with that)
☆ i also feel hard pressed to think of a story that utilizes flashbacks better than this one. it is very unique feeling, and so very effective letting this story be told in this manner.
☆ i swear, every time a ring was activated, i felt like i could feel it too >.< lol
☆ who gets to tell stories after wars are won, and who gets to be remembered and immortalized
☆ ivy, i love you
☆ i saw haunted house instead of clowns tiktok that said “it’s kane searching every place except for the one that mattered” ;___________; brb jumping out a window
i truly kept going back and forth if i wanted to write a review and if i wanted to give this a star rating, but i really did like this and i think a lot of the themes are very powerful. this was a little too long, and you very much felt that during a lot of parts of this book, so i can’t give it five stars, but i still very much enjoyed my reading experience for this, and i truly cannot wait to see what senlinyu does next.
content notes from the author in the back of the book:Alchemised is a work of dark fantasy containing wartime violence, religious abuse, depictions of complex trauma, suicidal ideation, self-harm, human experimentation, medical torture, eugenics, cannibalism, sexual assault, rape, and allusions to necrophilia. Please remember that depiction is not authorial endorsement. Because Alchemised is told in third-person limited point of view, it necessarily involves some distortions of vision as well as missed or misconstrued events. Reader discretion is advised.
additional content and trigger warning i found while reading: slavery, captivity, isolation, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, fear of deportation, needles, drugging, forced medication, blood, death / mass murder / genocide, ptsd, nightmares, gore, loss of loved ones, loss of parents, grief, body control magic, vomit, drinking / intoxication, talk of infertility, talk of pregnancy, birthing scene, talk of abortion, talk of starvation / malnourishment, predatory behavior / insinuation of behind weird with young girls, loss of patients, hospital settings, lack of medical supplies, panic attacks, possession, fire, bombing / explosions, gendered language “female womb”, and i just want to add an extra emphasis on how much suicide ideation is portrayed and how much suicide is talked about in this story.
“She believed that if you worked at the system and followed its rules and played the game as it was supposed to be played, you would get the result
“She believed that if you worked at the system and followed its rules and played the game as it was supposed to be played, you would get the result you wanted. If you made enough pretty speeches and marched enough times down the National Mall and bled enough and prayed enough and said you loved this country enough times, people would embrace you and tell you that you belonged and hand you the keys to the mansion with the feather bed, where you could dream the American dream to the accompaniment of “This Land Is Your Land.” What a crock of shit. America was corrupt and steeped in sin. The powerful had rigged the game for themselves and turned the country into a panopticon to imprison the rest of us.”
julia z is a hacker living in boston, truly to stay under the radar in a future where cameras are watching us near constantly. she is on a campus finding a worm that is stealing student data, when a man comes asking for her help, because his wife has gone missing. his wife has a very big social media presence as a dream guide, where people link personal ais and do group vivid dreaming together, yet someone with a lot of tech industry power may have noticed her and now she is missing. and maybe this same individual could be noticing julia now.
the title of this book is from a line in the poem a dream within a dream by edgar allan poe, and it really does encapsulate the vibe of what this story is perfectly. yet, also with so many complicated feelings of being an immigrant, or having parents or grandparents who have immigrated to the states, in hopes to receive “a better” dream. but it’s hard to believe in that dream, especially in our real world in 2025, with how immigrants are treated by our government alone. it is really hard to keep any hope of that dream alive.
but this also really is a heartbreaking story about being a creative, where sometimes validation does come in the form of numbers - both with followings that allow you better opportunities, and with making actual money off of your art so you can live your life. it is so easy to tie your worth into selling, sometimes not realizing you are selling your own peace. especially when we remember that the algorithms we are expected to chase are being controlled by billionaires who will never have the artist's best interests at heart. (including my main platform where you are probably reading this review)
this really is a heavy book, and discusses a lot more horrors than i am talking about in this review. the technology in this is truly so scary, and I wouldn't be surprised if so much of this story does come to fruition. ken liu is so smart, while being such a masterful writer and storyteller, he leaves me in awe in all the ways. but i also feel like all of ken liu’s stories also remind me how much art will always connect us, and how hopeless our world really would be without it.
this is a hard book to rate, but it is very close to a five stars for me. truly just filled with so many complicated feelings, especially if you are asian american and extra if you’re a content creator (is this play about us), but i really highly recommend it. lastly, i have truly never read anything like this before!
trigger + content warnings: talk of thoughts of suicide, talk of the horrors of children on the internet, talk of debt, mention of murdered pet (dog or cat >.< i can’t remember, i’m sorry!), murder, xenophobia, racism / use of slurs (negative light, obv), misogyny, stalking, deep fakes, immense bullying / horrible harassment online, violence, loss of mom in past, grief, stalking, blackmail, abuse, power dynamics, manipulation, drowning, kidnapping, forced labor, slavery, torture
“Everyone wants Asian girls to look pretty. No one wants them to talk.”
before i type anything - please ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
“Everyone wants Asian girls to look pretty. No one wants them to talk.”
before i type anything - please know that this is a dark story, and i do believe that if you are asian this book is going to be even more difficult to read. this book (and review) discusses hate crimes against asian people during the peak of covid here in the states. just please use caution going into this book and make sure you are in an okay headspace to read about that. and i hope you are able to pick this one up, because it is for sure a favorite of 2025 for me.
this story is about a biracial girl named cora zeng, who has always felt not “chinese enough”, yet people have always shown her that she also isn’t white enough. and in april 2020, on a subway platform, when the world is feeling already empty, her sister is murdered right in front of her. then the story jumps to august of 2020, where cora is trying to learn how to live without her sister and how to carry her grief when she feels so extra alone. she does get a job to be part of a crime scene cleanup crew in chinatown, and soon starts to see a pattern with asian women being brutally murdered, and wonders if there is potentially a serial killer doing this. and on top of it all, she thinks she could potentially be seeing her sister’s ghost, who seems very hungry for something.
the hungry ghost festival / ghost month is celebrated sometime between july, august, and september, and it is the first day of the festival when she sees this ghost. with the help of her friends, and her amazing aunt, she tries to figure out what is going on in nyc and what is going on inside her mind, too. and hopefully she can before the last day of the hungry ghost festival.
again, this is a really hard book to read at times, but i really loved it. i think it’s powerful, i think it’s so beautifully written, i think it’s going to help a lot of people see what it can feel like to be a child of immigrants, especially when you’re trapped in a country that will never let you forget it, during a pandemic they blame on you to excuse their racism and hate. to me, this book is ultimately a story about a girl who is just trying to find peace. peace with her grief, peace with her family + identity, peace for her sister and all these other asian women who never deserved what happened to them.
cora’s identity meant a lot to me, because my dad is asian and my mom is white, and that really is a rare asian american biracial experience for me to read about, even in 2025. also, it has gotten a lot better as of 2025, but i was really struggling with health anxiety induced ocd after 2020. the scene with cora going to the optometrist? that was truly me the last couple of years, with so many different kinds of doctors, and i would never wish it on anyone. so i just really wanted to write a little extra paragraph saying that i loved this book for so many reasons, but i also felt seen in many different ways that i was not anticipating.
in 2021 the world read about (and watched) a filipino elder being brutally beaten in new york while she was just trying to get to church. and i know that’s just one heartbreaking real story among so many during this time of a surge in these racially charged hate crimes, but i read that story over and over, while feeling so nauseous, with so much fear, for my devout grandma, who is also an immigrant from the philippines. and while being across the country from her, and the rest of my family, unable to do anything, unable to even pretend i could protect them. and i know so many asian americans have stories like this, some that have stories like cora’s and yuxi’s. and i wish i had better words to use here, but i don’t. especially with the racially charged escalation from our leaders, because of the protests going on in la right now, that are terrorizing and breaking apart more immigrant families and communities. but some people would rather close a glass door, look out, and pretend not to see the blood right in front of them. and then also pretend that their hands are now not covered in blood, too.
trigger + content warnings: graphic and detailed descriptions of violent hate crimes against asian women, racism, slurs, fetishization of asian women, grief, loss of loved ones, covid, the pandemic, murder, death, gore, unwanted touching, assault, health anxiety / ocd, intrusive thoughts, spider imagery, abandonment, cult mentions, drinking, talk of zionists, talk of nazis (in a negative light // of of these things in a negative light!), police brutality mentions, gun violence, talk of institutionalization, snuff videos and pictures of really graphic and disturbing crimes against asians, car crash, talk of child abuse and death, fire - this book gets really dark, please use caution and make sure you’re in a okay headspace
a party, a poem, and one really heartfelt dedication to dandelions later…
i finally am reading this very beloved series, and i am so very excited, buta party, a poem, and one really heartfelt dedication to dandelions later…
i finally am reading this very beloved series, and i am so very excited, but i will admit that i was unexpectedly surprised by this first book. a lot of friends have told me to think of this first book as a prequel, that really sets the tone for the story to actually come! so i was expecting that a little bit, but i was not expecting this to read so much like a historical and so not like an sff story. yet, i think there are few authors are talented as ken liu, and his storycrafting and telling are truly god tier. and even though my reading experience was not what i was expecting, i still had a really good time with this one. and also, i just deeply respect what this book is.
this is essentially a reimagining of the fall of the qin dynasty and the rise of the han dynasty. and it reads very much like many different stories, from a few different povs, from all over the land during this time, that all come together and weaves one big story! i truly don’t want to say much more than that, but the major theme that i ultimately took from this first installment is how heavy the price of power always was, always is, and always will be. and how it changes you, shapes you and your life, even if you never asked for that power in the first place.
friends’ reviews that i love a lot: mogsy, petrik, ts
trigger + content warnings: war, battle, violence, gore, blood, death, torture, mention of cannibalism, a lot of suicide mentions, slavery, human trafficking, loss of a child, torture of a child, loss of loved ones, abuse, assault, sa, conscription, killing animals for food, animal abuse (horse), captivity, prison, occupation, colorism, starvation, infidelity
“When the sun shines at night, he who will bring an end to war on this land shall be victorious. He shal
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
“When the sun shines at night, he who will bring an end to war on this land shall be victorious. He shall be an heir, twice over, and a rightful sovereign over the continent.”
this is a story about a 25 year old princess who has grown up in a world that feels like her twin brother is the prophesized hero. yet, our princess, briony, has had to help him with his magic all throughout their lives. in this world there is mind magic and heart magic, and depending where you pull your source from, you can form a bond to help give magic. and this is something that the magic users on the other side would like to weaponize for themselves, but there are laws in place to make that illegal. there are also magical animals that you can bond with to help your magic powers, too! and this book truly starts out with the world learning about a new leader, who has bonded with a dragon who hasn’t bonded with anyone in 600 years, and she brings war to the land, and allows her followers to lay claim to power that was never intended for them. through slavery, captivity, and immense abuse.
and briony is very sought after for being the daughter of the king and for having a great well of magic inside her. her family is killed inside the walls of her castle, she is captured, and auctioned off to wealthy magical men, alongside her friends whom she has grown up with. and toven, who she has had a bit of a rival infatuation throughout school with, is one of those men in the audience bidding on her, her body, and her magic.
i do think this start of this story does stand on its own, and has taken a lot of care to attempt to divest itself from the cursed nostalgia ip. i truly think there will be people who will pick this up and have no idea that it started as a fanfic, especially the last half of this first book. But it does follow, almost story beat for beat, scene for scene, the original material (especially that first 50%) - which i think can be a positive or negative for readers who have previously read the fic. For me, it didn’t feel as much fun to read as i wish it did, and i think that obviously impacted my reading, but i for sure left this story how i felt leaving the fic at this point, which was just meh. so, for better or for worse, i think you should go into this book expecting that.
the only thing i will say that felt lesser to the fanfic was that i cared a lot less about the side characters. even though julie soto has really made strides at rewriting this world, the big bad, and the conflicts within this story, there just isn’t enough time or pages to write about every relationship with the main characters and their time with the side characters. which, with the fic, you extra didn’t need because most of us have grown up alongside these original characters.
overall, this really feels like a true 2.5 read for me, just right in the middle where i didn’t really dislike anything, but i also didn’t really love anything. and i won’t be continuing on with this series. i didn’t love the fic, so i really should have known better, but i was curious, and received an arc in my email, and here we are with a lackluster review. but the epilogue was for sure the best part of this story, and felt very new and fresh, so hopefully for the last book you all won’t have to read 100+ pages of courtroom discussions.
trigger + content warnings from the author: explicit sexual content, mentions of non-consensual sex, sexual assault, sexual assault of a POV character, buying and selling of humans into captivity, forced sterilization, forced termination of a pregnancy, minor character deaths, suspense and violence, torture and gore
additional trigger + content warnings i found while reading: loss of family / loved ones in past, talk of loss of mother during childbirth in past, insinuation of magical animals being experimented on and death, blood, forced medical examinations, murder, misogyny + sexism, talk of weight / body image very briefly, grief, depression, slavery, captivity, self starvation, drugging, execution (which is still as insane as it was in the fic), self harm to get blood, injured animal companion (fox)
i just watched this movie a couple weeks ago while i was in michigan, and it was just everything. I was so c
“My best friend did. My one and only.”
i just watched this movie a couple weeks ago while i was in michigan, and it was just everything. I was so curious to get to know yuta after being caught up with s1 and s2 of the animation, but i did not expect, not in my wildest dreams, to get so much gojo and geto backstory. but yeah, i am back in vegas now and i really wanted to pick up the manga, and here i am crying over gojo, geto, yuta, and even maki all over again! (this is a long preamble to say, i might be a little biased from just watching this adaptation, but i promise, this volume zero is so good!)
this prequel introduces us to yuta okkotsu who is a special grade jujutsu sorcerer, who is attached to a special grade cursed spirit and… i can’t say anything else without rebreaking my heart, but that is his very basic set up. But gojo comes and gets him, and brings him back to jujutsu high, where he trains alongside maki, toge, and panda (and forms special bonds with them all).
and one lost id card and one promised battle at kyoto on christmas eve later…
this volume is just… really sad. It’s also really beautiful, and so very touching, but oh my gosh it is heartbreaking on two counts. yet, a good reminder that you are worthy of living life, and sometimes people are lucky enough to have some really good people around them that will help remind them of that. (and i am reminding you of that right now, too.)
lastly, 1.) give maki the world and 2.) (even though it’s not in a manga) what the hell did he whisper…
“It hurt so much, and I wanted the pain to end. But more than that, I wanted someone else to pay for it.
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
“It hurt so much, and I wanted the pain to end. But more than that, I wanted someone else to pay for it.”
this book opens up with alma being only 11 year old, living in immense poverty, trying to help take care of her sick mother, and she only has her imaginary prince friend to keep her company. but her father is a powerful aristocrat, who had alma out of wedlock, and agrees to help her and her mother, as long as she comes and lives with him. in this part of the world, there are four houses, with four gods, that people worship and give their prayers to. and alma is whisked away by her father, and brought into this world and his house of the beast, where she is offered up to his god at a sacred temple. and that is the start of alma’s eight year journey of revenge against her father and this family, and alongside her is the imaginary prince, who maybe isn’t as imaginary as alma originally believed.
i don’t want to say anything else, and maybe even that opener is a little more than you needed, but i really enjoyed this debut with my whole heart. i loved the discussions of power, and the cost of power, and how some people are really willing to pay anything. i really respected the themes of abuse and revenge and how those two things can shape us, in so many different ways - especially with the depictions of different types of manipulation throughout this story. and i was really moved by the reminder that we will always be so much more than a vessel for someone else.
also, the author is an illustrator, and oh my gosh the illustrations throughout this are just perfection and add so much to this dark powerful tale.
trigger + content warnings: sick mother, loss of mother, grief, abuse, gore, blood, forced amputation, violence, drugging, child sacrifice, abandonment, killing of animal (bird) in past, manipulation, grooming, power imbalances, spiders, attempted forced surgery, battle, vomit, death, murder
full disclosure: navessa is a friend of mine (and she was/is such a huge inspiration to me on goodreads, and i will always be very thankful for her infull disclosure: navessa is a friend of mine (and she was/is such a huge inspiration to me on goodreads, and i will always be very thankful for her in my life). i did purchase this book with my own money, she doesn't even know i'm reading it, but i am just so immensely proud of her and really wanted to support and read her newest book. yet, i am aware there might be some subconscious biases while i was reading, so here is my longwinded caveat making you aware too!
so, i do not have any kind of tiktok mask kink. i respect it, but it’s just not for me. and truly, when i think about it, i think of brittany broski and ghost from cod lol. (and i love that for her! and all of you, too!) but this story was so unexpectedly sexy to me. like, i was eating it up from start to finish. and i think, deep down, i also knew if anyone was going to write a story like this, with a lot of care evening out the power dynamics, it would be navessa!
this first book in a series follows aly, who is a trauma nurse, who overworks herself to attempt to cope and heal trauma in her past, and josh, who is the masked tiktok cosplayer, and who also is trying to do everything in his power to hide the trauma in his past, for him and his family. Ii know this is a steamy romance, but there is a lot of discussions surrounding their traumatizing past and the therapy and work they’ve put in to try to live happier lives. and the effort they are putting in with each other, using care because of their good communication, and i absolutely loved everything about it.
i will say, this went a little bit into a direction i wasn’t expecting, once the relationship gets more established, but i still had such an amazing time with this. and again, this was really sexy - and the use of toys was super highlighted and super hot every time. these mcs for sure matched each other's freak, and i deeply respected it, and cannot wait to read the next book.
content warnings at the start of the book: Lights Out is a dark stalker rom-com with heavy themes. Reader discretion is advised as this book contains: Sexually explicit discussion and scenes (including anal play), Alcohol consumption, Mention of (off-page) rape, Child abuse (remembered), Medical content, Blood and gore (in a hospital setting), Discussion of mental health, Mention of serial killers and their crimes, Limited description of a mass shooting, Stalking, Invasion of privacy, Home invasion, Hidden cameras, Hacking, Theft, Unintentional cannibalism (remembered), Death, Car accident (remembered), Description of a violent death (remembered), Death of a parent, Breath play, Knife play, Gun play, Fear play, Primal play, Mask play, Consensual dubious consent
other trigger + content warnings i wrote down while reading: grief, abandonment, drugging, vomit, misdiagnosis (bad doctor taking advantage)
sunrise on the reaping is for sure going to be a favorite book of 2025 for me. but before i get into anything, let me talk about my relationship with this series, because one thing about me - i do love to yap when i have a lot of love for a new book in an already beloved series. in 2020, during lockdown, i reread the hunger games series and i really loved the experience of reading them all over again and being able to appreciate them so much more. especially during a global pandemic, and while we lived under a wannabe dictator for a leader here in the us. well sadly, not as much as i wish has changed in 2025. but for a happier nostalgic bonus: the last book i ever remember buying with my mom at borders was the hunger games...more
“Welcome to Cambridge, Alice. We're going to take apart the world.”
i have been putting off this rARC provided by HarperCollins - thank you so much
“Welcome to Cambridge, Alice. We're going to take apart the world.”
i have been putting off this review, simply because i do not know how to rate this book. some days i feel like it's a five, then some a three, then some days (like today, i guess) i believe four is the perfect arbitrary star rating. this was my least favorite rf kuang book, mostly because i feel like the pacing really led it to be a bit boring in the middle, but i still really respect what was being said within these pages, and i really enjoyed the journey with alice for the most part.
the very basic premise is that on an october day, on the first day of classes at cambridge university, phd student, alice, who is focused on linguistic magic, is forced to use her magic to travel to hell to rescue her very prolific academic advisor. yet, when starting the chalk magic to enter the underworld, she is forced to bring along her academic rival, peter. and together, they enter purgatory and start descending into the levels of hell itself, and each level presents a new challenge, while they try to locate the professor who they have invested so much into before he is reincarnated.
to me, this is a book about the darkness of academia, especially when you are an asian immigrant feeling like you have to be better than the best in a world that has systems in place to keep you out. believing that you have to suffer for your success, believing you have to be pitted against your peers, and then believing the isolation and abuse are your fault because you believed it was the only way to be exemplary in the deeply racist, misogynistic, ableist institution(s) that is higher education. (and this is all more amplified by being set in the 80s.) how you still have to punish yourself, double down on the pain, continue to give up so much of yourself, traveling literally through all of hell even, or all that suffering was for nothing.
lastly, i feel obliged to say this, and i really hope i don’t regret it, but you don’t have to like anything rf kuang writes, and you obviously should be honest with your opinions on your platforms, but some of these very excessive takes (with this book and all her other works) do make me question if it is because people could be subconsciously uncomfortable that she is a very successful, very educated, queer asian immigrant who has a guaranteed spot at the table. a table which has so many systems in place to make it truly feel unattainable to most marginalized authors. this wasn’t my favorite story, but i still had a good time, especially at the start and end, and i really respect what it was saying throughout. i felt it was very powerful, it read very unique, i absolutely loved the chalk magic, and i will be preordering any and everything she creates. :]
trigger + content warnings: racism, misogyny, ableism, death, gore, vomit, talk of fire, talk of mass murder, panic attacks, mental heath depictions in general, beastiality mention, talk of not eating / starvation in a way that could be triggering, blood, self harm for blood, animal experimentation (that is also including death), animal cruelty and death in general, death of a cat and eating it afterwards, talk of needles, a lot of mentions of thoughts of suicide, one sentence mention of a stroke and cancer, chronic illness (ibs / crohn's) and flare ups, a lot of talk of abuse (in all the ways) and power dynamics being abused, predatory professors
“It was sick, but back then she had liked the power of punishing people with her absence. Of making herself disappear only to turn up again, like s
“It was sick, but back then she had liked the power of punishing people with her absence. Of making herself disappear only to turn up again, like some twisted little magic trick.”
alexis henderson is really out here with some of the most beautiful writing i’ve ever read in my life. every book i pick up by her just amazes me with her prose. and this story has one of the most unique premises i’ve ever read, as well.
lennon carter is at her engagement party when she realizes that maybe this is not the life she is meant to have, regardless how much she wants to be worthy of love, even with a shitty partner. one escape and payphone later, she is swept into a world of academics she never knew existed - filled with gates and shadows and a different set of expectations. and i loved it so very much.
i feel like this story might be better to go in not knowing anything more than that, but i will say that this has one of the best endings i’ve read in a very long time. just haunting and perfect and i feel like alexis really went for it, and it really paid off for me and my reading tastes.i also love how this author talks about different biracial experiences in her books, and this was no different. this book also really discusses mental health and prioritizing healing - both by yourself and with the help of others. and how that journey can be a really hard one to navigate, especially alone, or with people who will maybe not make the best choices alongside you. this was just expertly crafted and i never wanted to stop flipping these pages. and i hope that if you’re reading this, you open all the gates you want to open, regardless of anyone else’s feelings and wants, ever.
trigger + content warnings: racism, panic attacks, talk of rehab / psychiatric hospital, cheating, suicidal thoughts, student + advisor relationship (with uneven power dynamics), drug use, smoking, blood, vomit, seizures, asthma attacks, magical experimentation on rats, talk of domestic abuse in past, suicide, one sentence mention of cancer, talk of loss of sibling in past, statutory rape in past, crown crush, talk of overdose, dark compulsion thoughts / ocd, violence, grief, death of animals (fish, birds, maybe rats), magical compulsion, gore, ptsd, sex shaming (negative light), drowning, one brief scene involving a white supremist. This story can get pretty dark at times, especially with mental health and some dark thoughts that can come during hard times, so please use caution!
when i heard sapphic medusa reimagining with a dark academia setting, i knew i couldn’t resist reading this for tosalted pasta water is still crazy...
when i heard sapphic medusa reimagining with a dark academia setting, i knew i couldn’t resist reading this for too long. and this book is that! and i really loved the romance! and i will always love seeing women getting revenge and healing the way they want to heal against horrible acts committed against them!! but this is a dark book that really centers on sexual assault at this college, so please use caution and take care of yourselves while reading. (i would say just skip chapter 2 when the on page rape happens, but different assaults happen and are discussed throughout this entire story.)
after chapter two, we get to see lex almost a year later, back at the university that did nothing to protect her and everything to protect her rapist, and she is ready to get that revenge that she deserves. she is also ready, with the help of her sister, to take revenge for people who feel voiceless and put fear in the men who walk around campus feeling untouchable after making people feel voiceless. but when a girl who is supposed to be part of lex’s personal revenge starts to feel like something she has always wanted, things get a little more complicated.
i really liked the romance in this. going into this book, i was scared because i knew it had a revenge element, but i didn’t feel any weird power dynamics, there was no bullying towards one another, and i felt like both girls just truly liked each other from the very start. i also felt like luna’s journey in realizing she is bi was really thoughtfully done and realistic. and i also really respected and enjoyed lex’s portrayal for always knowing she is a lesbian. i know the salted pasta water is still crazy, but the sex scenes were actually extremely well done - maybe some of the best i've read. and i just really enjoyed watching this romance unfold.
i just really respected what this book and story is, and i wish we got more books like this. i wish we got more empowering books about women getting revenge on the people who have committed these acts that our broken systems don’t accurately punish them for. And i also wish we got more books of just girls falling in love, girls discovering their sexuality, and girls having all different kinds of relationships - some quiet, some loud, some slow, some fast, some light, some heavy. (i feel like some of the comments i am seeing about the romance/sex in this book… you all are not saying this to the 500 m/m romances we get every year. i really appreciate this story and what it is doing for so many reasons, but also the reason the baseline fact that we need more sapphic stories of all kinds.)
i also “enjoyed” (it feels weird to say that for this but…. i just think it's an important conversation) seeing the discussion on how men/society can treat lesbians because the world cannot fathom someone not being attracted to men in some shape or form or way. How people will say you're just confused, or you just haven't had a good experience with a man yet, because it is impossible for some people to wrap their minds around their own unimportance (and their misogyny). i am pan, but i really respected that being shown in this book, because i sadly do think that is a reality for so many people who aren’t interested in men romantically or sexually and it should be talked about (and unlearned) more.
overall, i just really am happy this book exists for many reasons. i loved the sapphic romance and seeing these two girls heal and realize that they deserve good and safe things, maybe even with the unconditional help and support from one another. and i also really respected what the author did with these darker themes and the helplessness people often feel. i'm not saying this was a perfect book by any means, but i am thankful for it and i really hope this author writes more sapphic romance in the future, because i will be preordering.
trigger + content warnings: rape and sexual assault (on page, many different depictions, and talked about through the entirety of this book), not being believed after sa, predatory behavior, drugging, vomit, misogyny, snakes, blood, bullying, child abuse mentions, abusive parents, graphic physical abuse, ptsd, nightmares, harry potter mentions, torture, gore, violence, homophobia (in a negative light always), use of slur for lesbians, suicidal thoughts in past, murder
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