Book reviews (by me)
Items in this hypelist
Stand alones
I Am Not Jessica Chen
Ann Liang • 2025 • A really wellwritten book, nice plot and pacing, amazing characters. I loved the premise, and it was really fun to read about. Only complaint is some of the dialog that didnt sit right with me.
The Reappearance of Rachel Price
Holly Jackson • 2024 - 4 stars
All That's Left in the World
Erik J. Brown • 2022 - 5 stars
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (series)
Kill Joy: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder Novella
Holly Jackson • 2023 - 3 stars
You're invited to the murder mystery party of the year! Fans of the hit series A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder will love Pip’s final detective case in this mystery novella from #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Jackson.<br/><br/>Six suspects. Three hours. One murder…<br/><br/>Pip is not in the mood for her friend’s murder mystery party. Especially one that involves 1920’s fancy dress and pretending that their town is an island called Joy. But when the game begins, Pip finds herself drawn into the make-believe world of intrigue, deception and murder.<br/><br/>But as Pip plays detective, teasing out the identity of the killer clue-by-clue, the murder of the fictional Reginald Remy isn’t the only case on her mind …
As Good as Dead: The Finale to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Holly Jackson • 2023 - 5 stars
Good Girl, Bad Blood: The Sequel to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Holly Jackson • 2022 - 4 stars
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Holly Jackson • 2020 - 3.5 stars
The Folk of The Air (triology)
The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air Book 3)
Holly Black • 2019 - 5 stars
<b>A powerful curse forces the exiled Queen of Faerie to choose between ambition and humanity in this highly anticipated and jaw-dropping finale to The Folk of the Air trilogy from a #1 <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author.</b><br><br><i>He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne</i><br><br>Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.<br><br>Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan's betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her twin sister, Taryn, whose life is in peril.<br><br>Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict's bloody politics.<br><br>And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity . . .<br>
The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air Book 2)
Holly Black • 2019 - 4 stars
<b>The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the <i>New York Times </i>bestselling novel <i>The Cruel Prince.</i></b><br><i>You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.</i><i><br></i><i>The first lesson is to make yourself strong.</i><i><br></i>After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.<br>When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.
The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air Book 1)
Holly Black • 2018 - 5 stars
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, comes the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue. Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever. And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe. Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him--and face the consequences. In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
Once upon a Broken Heart (Unfinished)
Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart)
Stephanie Garber • 2023 - 4 stars
The Empyrean (unfinished - will stay that way)
Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, 1)
Rebecca Yarros • 2023 - 2 stars
<p><b>A #1 <i>New York Times</i> bestseller • TV series in development at MGM Amazon Studios with Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society • Amazon Best Books of the Year, #4 • Apple Best Books of the Year 2023 • Barnes & Noble Best Fantasy Book of 2023 • NPR “Books We Love” 2023 • Audible Best Books of 2023 • Hudson Book of the Year • Google Play Best Books of 2023 • Indigo Best Books of 2023 • Waterstones Book of the Year finalist • Goodreads Choice Award Winner • Newsweek Staffers’ Favorite Books of 2023 • Paste Magazine's Best Books of 2023</b><br><br><i>"Suspenseful, sexy, and with incredibly entertaining storytelling, the first in Yarros' Empyrean series will delight fans of romantic, adventure-filled fantasy."</i> —<i><b>Booklist</b></i><b>, starred review</b><br><br><i>"</i>Fourth Wing<i> will have your heart pounding from beginning to end... A fantasy like you've never read before."</i> <b>―#1 <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout</b><br><br><br><b>Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from #1 <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author Rebecca Yarros</b><br><br>Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: <i>dragon riders</i>.<br><br>But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.<br><br>With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.<br><br>She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.<br><br>Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.<br><br>Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: <i>graduate or die</i>.<br><br>The Empyrean series is best enjoyed in order.<br>Reading Order:<br>Book #1 Fourth Wing<br>Book #2 Iron Flame<br>Book #3 Onyx Storm</p>
