Susana "Lost in Fantasy Land" susana 2019-07-18T20:59:05+01:00 review: Spelled ( #1) 2018-12-02T02:03:00+00:00 2018-12-02T02:03:00+00:00 susana  

I should've have read this story sooner since I had tons of fun reading it! :D
It has a snotty/privileged heroine who will be confronted throughout the entire book with the consequences of one reckless wish... and one very cumbersome curse.
Luckily for her she will have the aid of two unlikely allies. Honestly at the beginning, they pretty much hate each other guts. So imagine the fun we have reading that! ;)
The writing is filled _ and fueled _ with sarcasm and wit; two of my favorite things. The descriptions are vivid and filled with a wacky imagination.
The characters are interesting. There's even one character who changes heads at discretion! It was hilarious! Really.
The plot is absorbing with non stop action and a bit of romance. So, yes, I pretty much loved it and can't wait to read the follow up.
Let the wacky... ness? continue! :D
review 2018-03-05T00:07:00+00:00 2018-03-05T00:07:00+00:00 susana  

DNF at 68%

I can't keep reading this; Liesl has gotten on my nerves almost since first page with her contempt for her younger sister. More accurately for her younger sister's... developed body. I hate crap like this.
Then there's the fact that Liesl suffers from "I'm different from everyone else"plot , which could result, if the character wasn't so obnoxious.
As for the romance, ye gods, that's what finally killed it for me: Liesl has gotten into her thick head of hers that she will only be validated as a person, if she can get the Goblin King to desire her.
See? I just can't keep reading this; it is really getting on my nerves.
Too bad, because the writing _ the beautiful writing _ is right up my alley.

text: Reading progress update: I've read 200 out of 448 pages. 2018-01-22T03:14:00+00:00 2018-01-22T03:14:00+00:00 susana Despite the beautiful writing, I am not enjoying this. I can't seem to sympathize with Liesl and the whole "romance" feels way too toxic in a new adult way.

I've never seen the movie Labyrinth, and I never felt like doing it... maybe if I was a fan I would enjoy this?

In the end, I haven't read in a couple of days bc every time I think about picking it up, I convince myself to delay the thing.

text: What's up with twitter? 2018-01-18T20:10:00+00:00 2018-01-18T20:10:00+00:00 susana Are you guys able to access it?

I thought I was having problems with my internet connection, but apparently everything's working except for the twitter page.

review 2018-01-16T23:17:00+00:00 2018-01-16T23:17:00+00:00 susana  

The Duchess Deal has everything that normally gets on my nerves:
_It has an insane plot (Ema decides to confront a Duke in order to get paid for a dress she made for his ex-fiancée... but here's the thing, she's a seamstress that works for a modiste -_-?
_It has an alpha douchebag, a scarred alpha douchebag with a LOT of emotional baggage
_The story focus solely on a few number of characters with only a few descriptions of the surroundings... unless we're talking about what drapes Emma is planning to destroy...
_Once again _ because it's Tessa Dare _ we have goats; okay I don't mind the goats...
_ Every single person in the book is slightly deranged; in a endearing kind of way, but still deranged.
_ The main characters spend a great number of pages acting like horny rabbits. o_O
Cute, with a great chemistry, horny rabbits... okay, this may have to go in the positives as well...

As for positives, well the banter is pretty good in a passive aggressive/did I mention insane/ hilarious way.
There's a cat. So bonus point for the cat.
Oh, Ash's sidekick is pretty funny, LOL

Negatives yes, again... oh the drama that lasts a few pages towards the end, but which is so lame. And pointless... and did I mention lame?
But you know what?
Most of the time I did have fun reading it, lol
review 2018-01-16T23:12:00+00:00 2018-01-16T23:12:00+00:00 susana  

DNF at 82%

And it starts...
I really didn't want to start so soon DNFinishing books, but I'm really not into anything in this story, and if I keep this up, it will be 2017 all over again; with me wasting time on books I'm not enjoying.
The worst part about this, is that when I started reading it... I thought I had found another series to follow. The first paragraph is really good:

The first time I encountered Death, I hurled my mother’s medical chart at him.As far as impressions

Thing is, when I'm reading an urban fantasy series I need to... you know, understand the world I'm reading, and why things are the way they are... and basically what makes the magic work for the characters?
For instance, Alex Craft taps some reservoir of power in a ring she uses; a ring that needs to be recharged and did I miss that? Did she connect an usb cable to the thing and to a power outlet?
Because I was left wondering how the hell the thing was charged!
Sorry peeps, but I need to know these things; otherwise my brain just disconnects.
Then the world building...
Eh... so magical beings came out of hiding seventy years ago because humans were start to forgetting about them, and their power was diminishing as a result of that...
Honestly when I read 'that', my first thought was, "what, no blaming tomatoes?" *see Rachel Morgan for answer to that*
Look, I still haven't read all my Rachel Morgan books mainly because some vampire gets on my fucking nerves with her stalking, but Kim Harrison's books are way better than this; they give the reader answers, and everything is perfectly detailed. This, as I have been saying over and over, is not.
Then there's this douche-bag character with long blond hair and Fae origins and I was like, two Trentons? -_- No
Fallon, unlike Trenton, reads as this one dimensional douche-bag, with the respective sports car and a tendency to boss Alex around.
As for Alex, it's like she doesn't know the world she's living in, so she's always making mistakes.
It was frustrating to read about.
As for another character, Death, he reads as a fluffy kitten.
I give up.


review 2018-01-16T23:08:00+00:00 2018-01-16T23:08:00+00:00 susana  

Loved it! Another well written and developed story by author Lucy Parker.
I loved the characters, especially the fact that Sophie is an introvert; a courageous introvert that doesn't let that stop her from living her life. At the same time, the author doesn't shies from showing us the particulars of what make us introverts. It was nice to read a story in which love isn't shown as "all healing".
Her relationship with Mick was sweet and cute...except when it was HOT, lol
There were a number of moments that made me laugh out loud; like the moment when Sophie gives Mick a cup of tea _ black tea! _ in a Snoopy cup.
Trust me; you have to read it to see why it was so funny.
Sophie's clumsiness and Mick's good heart will surely stay with me for a long time.

Definitely recommended to readers who want to read romances that take their own sweet time, without feeling the urge to kill an overbearing, asshole alpha "douche".

review 2018-01-16T22:59:00+00:00 2018-01-16T22:59:00+00:00 susana  

This story has all the things that I like:
_No insta love;
_No insta attraction;
_No pointless drama;


I am done with brutes and alpha jerks.


review 2018-01-16T22:52:00+00:00 2018-01-16T22:52:00+00:00 susana A cute compilation of absurd excuses; also the illustrations are adorable.


review: First re-read of the year 2018-01-16T22:47:00+00:00 2018-01-16T22:47:00+00:00 susana Still a four star read; and surprisingly enough, this time around I didn't hate Vere all that much! Guess I'm going to have to stop calling him 'the rat guy'. ;)

review 2017-10-20T00:28:00+01:00 2017-10-20T00:28:00+01:00 susana  

The thing with book comparisons is that sometimes you are left wondering if they didn't get the wrong book... like when someone decided to say that the Star Touched Queen, was the perfect read for people who loved Calaena, "I am going to kill you all... not"

Look, I am a avid Star Touched Queen fan. I loved the writing, the story, the whole Indian mythology; that means that I had sky rock expectations for this story which as you guys can see for the rating, were completely crushed.

I understand that the writer wanted to keep Amrita faithful to her background; as such she sounds very naive and young... well, at certain things, but with the consistency of a mousse, the girl became extremely annoying to "deal" with.
Also, almost right from the start, the author decides to get the girl a romance with her bff, so there can be some cannoodling.

The passage from best friends to best friends with benefits was extremely fast, which made it even more difficult for me to care about those two.
In fact, the whole "romance" felt more new adult than actual YA, something that I found strange.

The writing...well it is readable, but not that great. Not Star Touched Queen great, so if you didn't like STQ's writing, maybe you'll like this one :D

The plot
Evil dictator _ pleonasm much?_ visits Amrita's kingdom with the intention of gaining control of some obscure substance ; honestly, I could have used more info here.
Soon enough, Amrita decides to be a bargain chip between her father's kingdom and evil dude, Sikander (actually an old friend of her father), gifts are exchanged, and Thala appears.
Thala is what made me keep reading, she is a seer and a slave owned by Sikander. Maybe if the story had been all about her, I wouldn't have felt like I had eaten some sour lemons by the end of the story...
As for Amrita, most of the times I just wanted to shake her and tell the girl to start moving!
But with no actual plot,


the whole library of fates quest ends up being a faded dream


 everything just dwindled to "special ones"characters Amrita of course, guys, because apparently the bff


just wasn't the one... not compared with reincarnation bs, which once again makes romance development unnecessary!


Then there was the


time travel thing


, that felt... strange, lacking and lazy.
Honestly this was just too much of a mess for me.

review: Not for me 2017-10-18T23:38:00+01:00 2017-10-18T23:38:00+01:00 susana  

TW's: cutting

DNF at 68%

I give up. It's not that the book is badly written _ it isn't _, but for the life of me I can't listen to Imogene's whining anymore. Yes, she has clinical depression. Yes, her mother died seven years ago when she was about ten years old... I'm not a sociopath, that made me sad, BUT, she has had so much support that I've reached a point in which I just want to scream at her, as well as to keep her from binge eating junk food until she throws up...
<s>Some people at this point will probably want to point out that I shouldn't talk like that, that depression doesn't work like that, and that I'm being a bitch. I don't care.</s>
This is not a book about a criminal, I'm reading a story about a troubled teen, so as a reader I'm supposed to feel some empathy for her plights... since I'm not, I think it's better if I just stop.
"Objectively" speaking, this story is leaving me all kinds of depressed, stressed and angry.
Oh poor "kid" with a father who cares about her, even if he has his faults. Poor kid with access to psychological help. Poor kid with a bff who has been there since always... *breathes*
With a friend out of a Dawson's creek plot who decides to be her guardian angel; since he was ten.
Did I mention how incredible mature these kids are?
Because,wow, also aren't Grant's parents, the best?!
Honestly, I kept thinking about that. His best friend is depressed so, "hey mom and dad _ I'm presuming the guy isn't a clone_ I'm going to spend the night with my depressed friend, who is a child just like me."
"Oh, sure honey."
I hate soap operas, and I hate how judgemental, narrow minded and egotistical Imogene is.
As for the Cinderella wanna be retelling, what can I say?
Her stepmother isn't an ogre. Her father isn't dead. Her stepsister is a sociopath just because, and the Grant the <i>Prince</i> has the soul of a dog; clearly, Grant is just way too good for all us mortals.
Also, you wouldn't believe the amount of dialogues and plot involving a high school musical.

As for the secondary characters _ see, incredible mature peeps _ they're good people: As I mentioned before, there's the bff, the cute gay couple (one of them a wonderful tailor because... why not?!), and the new girl who is actually a good person.
All of you deserved more.
Susana out; I'm mentally drained.

text: Title: I still Dream About you 2017-10-16T23:19:00+01:00 2017-10-16T23:19:00+01:00 susana This started out whimsical enough that it caught my interest, but then the avalanche of characters, insanity, and the poor way depression and suicide is dealt with, made me lose interest in it.

I'll try to read a few more pages to see if it improves because I'm tired of dnf'ing books.

photo 2017-08-27T01:35:00+01:00 2017-08-27T01:35:00+01:00 susana ]]> review 2017-08-21T17:12:00+01:00 2017-08-21T17:12:00+01:00 susana
Here's my two cents about this book: I normally don't fall for a book that is being hyped; in fact I normally go the other way, because I'm stubborn and I don't like media telling me what I should read.

With this one, I guess that the title, add the cover, plus the fact that this seemed to be a stand alone (AND I DO LOVE STAND ALONE STORIES), made me decide to risk it and request it...
... not a good decision.
Going by the title, and with goblins to the mix, I was hoping for something dark, urban fantasy type.
Which I didn't get, because this is actually a new adult story with _poorly_ developed traces of paranormal.
Unfortunately once again it seems that the new adult genre is synonymous to very basic writing, stupid and underdeveloped characters and a plot that is only there to get the characters together.
Not my thing.
Like I said, the characters are so undeveloped that when the author decides to create two couples and having them perform sexual acts; the thing reads as awkward and uncomfortable as this phrase. They feel as puppets, and maybe that was what the author was reaching for, but she forgot their souls!
In forgetting that, the whole thing reads as an awkward and boring story about four _ really uninspired _ people.
 Arc provided through Netgalley