Okay, wait, listen. Yes, I did give the Krampus smut 4 stars…but that’s mostly because it has a lot of bad reviews and I enjoyed it way more 3.5 stars
Okay, wait, listen. Yes, I did give the Krampus smut 4 stars…but that’s mostly because it has a lot of bad reviews and I enjoyed it way more than I expected to ...more
This was the longest novella/book in the series so the plot was much more developed. I really enjoyed this one and this series was the perf4-4.5 stars
This was the longest novella/book in the series so the plot was much more developed. I really enjoyed this one and this series was the perfect thing to ease me out of my reading slump so thanks Kati Wilde ...more
Super short little novella, didn’t like it quite as much as the previous, but for what it was it was great. I loved getting to see what happ3.75 stars
Super short little novella, didn’t like it quite as much as the previous, but for what it was it was great. I loved getting to see what happened to Aruk, the twin brother lost at sea in the last novella. Also their wedding night was ...more
For what that was: a short magical little fantasy quest romance that was highly enjoyable. I found the pace to be perfect, the characters interest4.25
For what that was: a short magical little fantasy quest romance that was highly enjoyable. I found the pace to be perfect, the characters interesting and the story/world building was good and just enough for the length of the book. I’m surprised by how much I liked that and excited to read the rest of this series....more
I rounded down for this one because I just really wanted to differentiate that I thought this wasn’t as good as book one. I still really enjo3.5 stars
I rounded down for this one because I just really wanted to differentiate that I thought this wasn’t as good as book one. I still really enjoyed it especially the end, but some of it had me doubting how much I actually loved book one lol. I think starting a series is “easier”, in quotes because I don’t think it’s easy at all and don’t want to downplay it, but the follow through is harder in a series so making things make sense, building on the foundations you laid, etc and I don’t think the follow through was that great. This book felt chaotic and things happened without real explanation, and a lot of it felt very gratuitous and overdone. This was like a mix of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Throne of Glass, just very much Kira is the underdog (THG) with untold powers that even she doesn’t understand the extent of (TOG) and she’s constantly stumbling into trouble, forcing her to show off and scrape out a win by the skin of her teeth (HP). But she’s playing the long game and has plans no one knows about (TOG) and “governments”/enemies are out to get her making her trials she has to pass in Roake harder than they should be (THG)…I could keep going but you get it. Basically I feel like this book needed to chill a tiny bit. There are other ways to progress the plot than Kira constantly finding danger and showing everyone how impossibly amazing she is every second and inadvertently revealing secrets at a trickle along the way. Don’t get me wrong I’m loving the strong, independent heroine who doesn’t need no man to save her, but I wish there weren’t quite so many life or death situations, it just got redundant. Oh and also the traitor in this book was painfully obvious (as in the last one) and I’m still not super solid on why their betrayal went down the way it did given the consequences it had for others and even themselves ...more
Volume 1 was really good. The art is amazing, the modernized gods are interesting and fun. It’s a good mix of serious and playful, but man the end of Volume 1 was really good. The art is amazing, the modernized gods are interesting and fun. It’s a good mix of serious and playful, but man the end of this volume was sad ...more
I feel so sad giving a book in this series such a low rating, but this was all over the place.
These two are the very definition of a toxic 2.75 stars?
I feel so sad giving a book in this series such a low rating, but this was all over the place.
These two are the very definition of a toxic relationship and I gotta say I was not rooting for them to work it out. Primarily because I kind of hate Zanaya? I feel like a sexist hater for placing more of the blame on her, no doubt Alexander has his issues too, but her issues and how they affected Alexander felt cruel. And honestly it’s hard to think of these all powerful angels as all powerful or even smart when they really do not learn as they grow. You're telling me you’re thousands of years old and you still haven’t been able to work through any of this shit by now??…like go to therapy? Move past your childhood trauma and see how you're negatively affecting your relationships? How bout some introspection and growth over the millenia? Anyone? No? I admire what Nalini was trying to do here, giving us the a love story that spans the ages with immortals that are unfathomably old, but it just didn’t really work for me when they’re just obstinately dumb and cruel to each other for so long and it got a bit boring.
Something that did work for me as someone who doesn't like time jumps is that I did really appreciate getting their backstory AND the fact that it was just presented chronologically before we got to the present rather than flipping back and forth between timelines. Praise you, Nalini, for not doing that to me, this was much preferable. I always love seeing an endlessly old immortal as a child, that was good stuff, but because they're so old there was a lot of history to get through. Like A LOT, 10’s of thousands of years sometimes so I feel like time jumps were not communicated super well always making the timeline a bit hard to follow at times, but overall I liked having the full picture of their lives/love story.
However, pretty important for a romance book, I didn’t really believe in their love/attraction. Maybe partly because this love story spanned so many thousands of years, but I feel like Nalini could've built their attraction up way better in the past timeline. Instead it was mostly just "we had an instant connection" when they lock eyes/know nothing about each other and that's it. They deny it for hundreds and hundreds of years because she’s too young, but then they finally decide to act on that long ago momentary attraction and that's it they’re lover/soulmates forever. I wanted to feel much more for them and their love and I was unfortunately pretty ambivalent with a side of anger at how fucked up their relationship was/is. And I honestly feel like Zanaya and Alexander were pretty ambivalent about it too. They proclaim to be the great loves of each others lives, but over the millennia they constantly break up for hugely long amounts of time and then get back together for hugely long amounts of time, but inevitably break up again once their toxic shit inevitably reemerges because neither of them will make any concessions or work on themselves. And again I place more of the blame at Zanaya’s feet because before she ascended she was the only one that could make any concessions for their love to work out and she didn’t (see past trauma she never worked through above). In present day Zanaya wakes up to find out that Alexander had a child and now has a grandchild and she’s just happy for him. I get that they’re not humans, they’ve lived so long, they think differently, blahblahblah, but like NO, that should’ve been their child, Zander should be their grandchild, it’s fucked up. She should feel a little sad, not just ‘yeah makes sense you procreated while I was gone for so long’. So yeah idk if Nalini was just reaching too hard to try and tell the love story of these ancients, but for me I didn’t really connect with them, didn’t fully feel their love and honestly think they’d be better off apart lol. That said this is still a Guild Hunter novel, I loved checking in with everyone, the history/backstories we got, new perspectives, etc. so it wasn’t all bad, but definitely not my favorite....more
I'd give this 3-4 stars. I can't decide so I'm just gonna round up.
For a novella this had quite a lot going on. The world building was interesting andI'd give this 3-4 stars. I can't decide so I'm just gonna round up.
For a novella this had quite a lot going on. The world building was interesting and quite fleshed out. Kael and Anja were both interesting characters. Kael is this brutal king that's actually the sweetest of all time and Anja is this innocent, independent, brave woman trying to find a place for herself in the world. The tension between them was great, but omg them constantly misinterpreting each other and assuming shit because they never had a conversation got real old. I was expecting a much smuttier novella lol and although they both wanted to fuck each other from their first meeting a whole bunch of shit gets in the way of that and IMO it went on for too long ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but maybe that's just me. ...more
I really wanted to like this, but I found it so boring. I should've just DNF'd, but I felt compelled to finish it.
Part of this could just be my fault,I really wanted to like this, but I found it so boring. I should've just DNF'd, but I felt compelled to finish it.
Part of this could just be my fault, maybe I'm not that into (upper?)YA fantasy, anymore? But truly I feel like I can be captivated by anything if it's got a good plot, writing, characters, etc. This just left a lot to be desired and while I have no doubt lots of people will love it, it just didn't work for me at all.
I found the story very unoriginal, there was nothing unique or exciting. I felt no connection to either of the main characters nor did I feel their connection to each other, the romance was so, so lackluster. The plot didn't make a lot of sense and was very predictable. For a book filled with magic it lacked any sort of magical feeling. The world-building was really weak and unimaginative. I'm going to expand more on all of this with spoilers below...
*Spoilers below*
It's been 101 years since the last human queen and no one knows why they can't find the new one. Each and every queen for 3,000 years has lived 100 years after going to Midscape when they die then like clockwork? Not really explained why they die so precisely, but they must die for a new queen to come every 100 years exactly. So we start off with Luella and her childhood friend, Luke, confessing their love to each other and it turns out Luke is the reason they can't find the new queen because he's hidden Luella's magic and gets punished... that whole storyline just felt unnecessary (more on that later).
Once Luella gets to Midscape it's explained that she's the weakest queen yet and they've been getting weaker progressively. But she's totally committed to being queen, helping Capton and Midscape, and doing her duty. Yet after one day and sitting on the throne once she completely changes her mind and decides she needs to escape back home? She's making this sacrifice for everyone then all of the sudden she decides there can't be any reason these queens stay for 100 years, all she needs to do is feed the throne once, spring is back, she's done... REALLY? On what basis are you making this stupid decision?
ANYWAY, back to why the Luke plotline was stupid if the Queen's are really getting weaker and have been for hundreds of years how do they all last the 100 years? Why is Luella basically dying after she is convinced to stay and sits on the throne for two weeks? They've made it very clear she won't be able to sustain the throne for long so they must figure out how to end this and save both Capton and Midscape because Luella is definitely the last human queen. Okay, sure... What would've made this way better to me is erase the Luke plotline, that was boring and dumb he literally never comes up again once we leave Capton. What would make this whole "the queen's are getting weaker, you're so weak, blah blah blah" plotline a whole lot more believable is if, say, a human queen died way earlier than they were supposed to, maybe after 20 or 50 years. Then since Midscape can't survive without a human queen the Elf King has to come and steal a human girl before the 100 year agreement. That way we have a reason the new human queen is untrained and unprepared, like Luella is, and an explanation about why she might be the weakest of all queens. The Elf King would just be selfishly sacrificing this human girl to sustain his lands. That would've made way more sense IMO.
Also. On to Elf Kings and Human Queens... Elf Kings are like any other royal monarchy, the 'power' passes from father to firstborn son. Human Queens are random... just some random human specifically from the town of Capton on the other side of the Fade that randomly shows powers as a late teenager. Why? Why is the human magic not passed down generationally as well? The world-building was just so like 'this happens, no reason why, I'm just saying things with no basis or support'. Also, 'The Viel' that Elf Kings maintain that traps...the dead?... is mentioned, but never elaborated on. Why the Fade is even really necessary is a mystery...humans used to co-exist with all the Midscape creatures thousands of years ago, seems like if they're dying they should just agree to not kill all the humans? Wasn't really explained why that couldn't have been an option.
The elves were portrayed as so bad as "they come for queens and bring death" or something like that... Eldas was so lame. He seemed kind of cool and badass when he came for her, but he was like a little marshmallow when we start to get to know him, a marshmallow that occasionally kills people, but still.
When I read the blurb and saw she was forced to marry an Elf King I was expecting forced proximity, living together, maybe in the same rooms, some pretending to be romantic at the very least in front of the people of Midscape, but there was none of that. Zero expectation from this King/Queen union for romantic relationships in the thousands of years it's been going on, so the romance in this was sooo slow to get going and not very believable or exciting.
The 'answer' to ending the human queen requirement seemed weird, like why not make it more clear that there was a way to end it? It didn't seem like a 'sacrifice' of sending a human girl was necessary for any reason. Everyone would've been happier to just have the mirror of the redwood throne in Capton creating seasons in Midscape without having to marry a dumb human and the people of Capton would've loved not having to give away a girl every 100 years. But no, the first queen knew that "when the time was right" some human queen would figure it out... okay...
Also, why is Capton so small? Why wouldn't other humans be flocking to a place that lets you live longer? Why is there only one healer? So.many.questions.
Anyway, I could literally rant and ramble about every aspect of this book and plot, but I'm going to be done now. I just think this could've been a whole lot better. It's not a terrible idea, it just needed better editing, more creativity in regards to plot and world-building, and more romantic tension between the leads. Oh well, on to the next....more
I started the sample for this book 3 years ago and immediately realized it would be really good, but the next books in the series weren’t out4.5 stars
I started the sample for this book 3 years ago and immediately realized it would be really good, but the next books in the series weren’t out yet so I decided to hold off. The other day this book came back to me, but all I remembered was the first chapter and a vague idea of what the cover looked like. After lots of searching I finally found it and got to read it and it was just as good as I thought it would be.
I love sci-fi/alien romance, but it’s often pretty trashy and gimmicky, which has it’s place and I enjoy that too, but this was refreshing. This was alien romance with good writing, a complex plot, robust world building, interesting characters and a kickass heroine with a complicated, tragic past and mysterious, formidable powers (my fave). Kira is constantly underestimated, and mostly happy with that because she’s always thinking ahead and working towards a goal that feels several books off so this is definitely going to be an intricate story. I liked the info that was revealed so far about her past and heritage, but there’s obviously a lot more to go.
I also love a genetically superior humanoid alien race and the Tuann definitely fit that mold. We’ve barely scratched the surface about their planets, powers and culture so I’d like to know more about them and especially Graydon. He’s still pretty mysterious and we don’t know much about his power or abilities quite yet. As far as romance it’s definitely super slow burn and I don’t feel a huge connection between her Graydon or to them as a couple yet which is why I didn’t give the full five stars. As a romance reader that’s super important to me and that aspect was definitely left on the back burner and the brief romantic interludes were lacking in tension and passion for me, idk it’s upsetting honestly lol so hopefully that improves in the coming books. But that’s a testament to how interesting I found this book as a whole because usually it’s the romance driving me and here it was definitely not that lol
Overall though I’m super impressed by this first book and excited to see where the author takes us in the next installments.
PS this is a pet peeve of mine but Kira is described as having “burgundy” shoulder length hair that’s distinctly not straight so imagine my surprise when the woman on the cover has long straight black hair? ...more
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