Author Archives: Musings of a Middle Child

Verity – Colleen Hoover

Release date: December 7, 2018

Rating: 5 out of 5.

What you read will taste so bad at times, you’ll want to spit it out, but you’ll swallow these words and they will become part of you, part of your gut, and you will hurt because of them.

Colleen Hoover, Verity

I’ve been hearing so much about Colleen Hoover on BookTok lately so I decided to finally pick up one of her books, and to start I chose Verity. I honestly didn’t read much into what the book was about, I just knew that Colleen Hoover writes a lot of really great romance novels. If you’ve read Verity, you must know how shocked I was when I read this and quickly discovered it was a thriller. I was pleasantly surprised with this. Verity was so good, and perfect if you’re looking for your next spooky book for October!

Synopsis

Verity follows Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer who receives a job offer from a man named Jeremy Crawford at just the right time. She’s asked to finish the series of famous author Verity Crawford (Jeremy’s wife), who is no longer able to write due to injury. Lowen writes these novels at Jeremy and Verity’s home, where she finds more than she expected, including an autobiography by Verity herself which no one else has seen. The chapters get more and more terrifying as Lowen continues reading, unable to stop, and she learns all sorts of horrors about the Crawfords. On top of all this, Lowen develops feelings for Jeremy – making quite a chaotic story.

The writing

I’ll start by saying that Colleen Hoover’s writing had me hooked from the very first page – first line even! She’s really able to get into the minds of her characters and make you believe what she is writing. After learning that Verity is more on the thriller side than romance, I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it as much, since I was expecting something different, but I was proven wrong. The writing is so gripping and terrifying, and just like Lowen can’t put down the autobiography despite its horrors, I couldn’t put this down – I absolutely devoured it.

Plot

There was never a slow point in this book, and I think that was in part due the back and forth between the plot of Verity and the chapters of Verity’s autobiography. This made the book fly by so quick, as every chapter offered something new and the horrors only intensified. It was so interesting to read the autobiography – which could’ve been a whole book itself – and then also read about how Lowen reacted to the new developments she learned about the person she was supposed to be writing for, the person laying in the bed a few doors down. We got to see two completely different forms of Verity, while never really knowing who the real one was.

And that ending – wow.

So, just how scary was it?

This isn’t a horror novel, but I always find mind-bending thrillers to be much more real, and as a result, scarier. I had to start reading two books at once because I wasn’t able to read this book at night without going to bed feeling uneasy. That being said, if you get scared easily, you’ll be fine. It’s not so much scary as it is disturbing, and I think this is such a great read and you should definitely pick it up (what’s the point of reading in October if not to pick up a creepy book?!).

Final thoughts

It’s been a while since I enjoyed a book this much – hence why I haven’t made a review in a while (sorry!). Pick this up, read it with a friend and make your guesses as you go – it’s really fun. This is a must read for October, and for those of you who have read this make sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Also, check out my most recent TikTok about Verity. 🙂

Malibu Rising – Taylor Jenkins Reid

Release date: May 27, 2021

Rating: 4 out of 5.

No, you have to be so sorry that I know you’ll never lie to me again, so that I know I can still trust you forever. Like nothing has changed.

Taylor Jenkins Reid, Malibu Rising

I had such high hopes for Malibu Rising, since Taylor Jenkins Reid has been one of my favourite authors for a while now. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & the Six are both on my favourites list, and it was Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing that really got me interested in historical fiction novels. Her stories are always so believable, and are always impossible for me to put down; they are filled with drama and gripping narratives of the past. When Malibu Rising was released, I knew I needed to read it right away.

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Malibu Rising follows the four Riva siblings, Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit as they prepare for Nina’s annual summer party – which sounded like the perfect summer read to me. The siblings are famous, both because their father is Mick Riva (a singer who makes an appearance in Evelyn Hugo), and because they themselves are surfers, Nina a supermodel, and Hud a photographer. The book goes back and forth from the past, during Mick Riva’s younger days, to the present, where all four siblings are more grown up. This type of setup is quite typical of Taylor Jenkins Reid, and has been a favourite of mine as well.

Unfortunately, this book did fall short for me, and I’ll get into it what I liked and disliked from it. Let me know if you’ve read Malibu Rising and share your thoughts in the comments!

The World

Taylor Jenkins Reid writes historical fiction so believably that I often have to remind myself that it’s historical fiction. After I read Daisy Jones & The Six, I found myself researching the band and all their songs thinking to myself, “Wait, was this an actual band?”, because I was so convinced by her writing. What I loved about this book were the references to her other novels and characters – I mean Mick Riva himself is from The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. She builds this world of celebrities through the decades, and her characters refer to older ones as icons or recall headlines from the past that were key moments in her other works. Taylor Jenkins Reid makes you truly believe that Daisy Jones existed, The Six existed, Mick Riva and his four children existed, Evelyn Hugo existed, Celia St. James, existed, etc. That, of course, I loved about Malibu Rising as well, but I didn’t feel that it was to the same extent.

Characters

Taylor Jenkins Reid never fails with her characters, and as someone who reads for the characters more than the plot, that factors into how I rate a book. If I didn’t love Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit as much as I did, this book would definitely get 3 stars, but I loved these characters so much, and a story about close siblings was really refreshing.

I genuinely liked reading about all four of the siblings, but Nina and Kit were definitely my favourites. Kit was the younger relatable one who seems always to be a little left out, but I feel she had the most character development and I really enjoyed that aspect. I loved Nina the most, and reading about the sacrifices she had to make and issues she had to endure being the oldest sibling.

This book made me pretty emotional – again not uncommon with Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books – especially reading about the relationship between the siblings and everything they went through as a family. I don’t want to spoil too much about their lives, but just know that the dynamic of these four siblings will bring you to tears.

Why I Didn’t Give it 5 Stars

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & the Six were two books that just completely blew my mind, and I think I had those high expectations going into Malibu Rising, which it just didn’t live up to. I was expecting a book where secrets and drama were in no short supply, but I felt this was really lacking the wow factor, and I didn’t have any moments where i was truly shocked. With Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books, I find they are books that I just completely fly through out of a desperation to keep reading and find out what will happen. With Malibu Rising, I took over a month to read it, because I kept putting it down and picking up other books; there wasn’t really anything making me feel like I needed to keep reading.

I also wish surfing was a bigger topic because I thought that would’ve been really interesting, and I loved the backstory of how the siblings got their first boards. As for the big party, I didn’t feel that it lived up to it’s name of “party of the year” and I wish there was a little bit less random seemingly unrelated things be focused on.

Final Thoughts

Read this book. It’s not my favourite of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books, but it’s still a really moving book with some of the best characters I’ve read about. It’s the perfect summer book, so go read it because Fall is just around the corner!

The Henna Wars – Adiba Jaigirdar

Release date: May 12, 2020

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Of course Muslims can be gay. How can anyone think otherwise? The two aren’t mutually exclusive. I am the living, breathing proof.

Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

The Henna Wars is a book I heard of more recently through BookTok, and after seeing the long waitlist at my local library, I decided to listen to the audiobook. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about it, since I usually prefer fantasy books, but I absolutely loved it! It follows Nishat, a Bengali Irish lesbian girl, as her life begins to re-intertwine with a girl from her elementary school, Flávia.

This book ended up being a lot more than I expected, and 100% worth the read! It’s a great romance, and an important own voices narrative with cultural, religious, and wlw representation. Please make sure to read content/trigger warnings before reading this.

(Also this cover is amazing!)

Plot

This book deals with quite a lot, but it surrounds Nishat’s business class project, which is for each student – or group of students – to create their own business. After putting henna on her sister at a wedding and receiving positive feedback on Instagram, Nishat decides to start her own henna business. However, she learns that Flávia, who is biracial (Brazilian and Irish), teams up with her cousin Chyna and also decides to do henna for her project. Nishat, who really likes Flávia, is angered by the fact that they are appropriating her culture. She tells her this on several occasions, but Flávia doesn’t quite seem to understand why there is something wrong with what she is doing, nor does she see henna as anything other than art.

The Henna Wars also deals with the “trendiness” of cultures. Chyna is quite a popular person at her school, and so many people want to hop on the “trend” that she’s “created” with henna. While henna becomes seen as something cool, especially when done by Chyna and Flávia, other parts of Nishat’s culture are not, such as food, which is never spoken of in high regards by Nishat’s classmates.

Characters

I absolutely loved Nishat. She was such a strong character who was really comfortable with who she was and not afraid to defend herself. As a Muslim, and as a teenager going to an all girls Catholic school, Nishat doesn’t have a lot of support when it comes to her sexuality. Through all the scrutinization and conversations where she is told “Muslim girls aren’t lesbian” or that she needs help, Nishat stands strong. However, this obviously takes a toll on her, especially with her family’s views. Nishat’s sister Priti is her #1 support, and their relationship is one of my favourite parts of this book, and so important in the story.

Flávia was really hard to like at some times, especially with the comments she makes about Nishat not being an artist, and her unwillingness to listen to Nishat tell her about why henna is more than just art. Nishat is pretty conflicted when it comes to her feelings for Flávia, but as Flávia opens up, we really see a different side to her and her story.

Final Thoughts

I really loved this book. There is so much to discuss with this book, but I also want to keep it spoiler-free, so please go pick up this book, and if you’ve read it, leave me a comment with your thoughts! 🙂

Instructions for Dancing – Nicola Yoon

Release date: June 1, 2021

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Despite how it might seem, this is not a love story.

Instructions for Dancing, Nicola Yoon

I picked up Instructions for Dancing as soon as I heard of its release, and I was very excited to read it. Not only am I a fan of Nicola Yoon‘s work, but I thought the premise of the book sounded really interesting as well. The story follows Evie Thomas, who doesn’t believe in love anymore, but suddenly she gains the ability to see the entire course of a couple’s relationship when seeing them kiss. The book warns that this is not a love story, but going into it I still expected a light and fun romance. It ended up being a lot more than that, so much so that I put this book on my favourites list. Definitely go give it a read!

Characters

I think I loved all the characters in this book (save for maybe Evie’s dad) because they all offered different thoughts and ideas. I loved Evie, who tends to think and prepare a lot, and as a reader, I loved that the protagonist was a reader as well. Evie’s family and friends were really fun to read about as well, and I especially enjoyed the segments of text messages between them. They really made me laugh, and I felt they were accurate representations of teenagers texting – sometimes it made me think of my own silly texts with friends.

My favourite part of this book was definitely the dynamic between X and Evie. X, who is quite the opposite of Evie, is her love interest, and I really enjoyed reading about the growth of their relationship and what they were able to share with each other. Their relationship was interesting right from the start, and I knew they’d be great together, and that they’d make quite an impact on each other.

Plot

The plot took me completely by surprise. I don’t normally gravitate towards YA romance or contemporary novels, but I genuinely loved this one. It’s a fairly quick read (I was able to read it in one night) and the plot is fast-moving and doesn’t have any boring filler bits. Evie’s friend Martin compares this plot to the movie Big, a comparison I agree with as well, and I also really loved that movie.

I loved the little bit of magic that was incorporated into the book, and I thought it was just enough to make it seem believable and keep readers intrigued. I was hooked the moment Evie received her book, Instructions for Dancing, and knew this plot was going interesting places. It was really cool to be able to see Evie learn the relationship course of various people in the story, as it offered insight into these characters as well, even though these revelations were often heartbreaking too.

I thought this happy fun plot would continue through the rest of the book, but that isn’t quite the case, so be prepared for that. This book will make you cry – and not happy tears – but nevertheless, it’s a really impactful read.

Acknowledgements

In the acknowledgments of this book, Nicola Yoon shares a very personal story about losing parents to terminal illnesses at the time of writing this book. This hit really close to home for me, and made me cherish this book even more, as I am currently losing my grandfather to an illness as well. Nicola Yoon wrote about late night lonely car rides to the hospital and “how illness and death remakes the world,” and it really resonated with me at this time. I feel really appreciative that she was able to share that with readers, as I know her words will impact many and change the way they view this book. It’s easy to skip over the acknowledgments or author’s note at the end of the book, but maybe this time give it a read.

Final Thoughts

I loved this book, and after reading the acknowledgments, I loved it even more. Thank you to Nicola Yoon for writing this book and for sharing your story, and to everyone else, please go read this!

Mister Impossible – Maggie Stiefvater

Release Date: May 18, 2021

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I don’t look like a dream, do I?

Maggie Stiefvater, Mister Impossible

I’ll start this review off by saying this was hands-down the book I was most excited for in 2021. However, this did not quite live up to the expectations I had. Mister Impossible is the second work in the Dreamer Trilogy, which follows Ronan Lynch, who was in Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle series. I absolutely adored Call Down the Hawk, it even made my favourites list, but I have some thoughts about Mister Possible that I want to discuss in this post.

Plot

The plot was a little confusing for me, which could be because it’s been over a year since I read the first book in the series, but I really wasn’t very intrigued. It picked up in the very last few pages, and the book ended on a cliffhanger. This book focused on multiple plots: one with Ronan, Hennessy, and Bryde; and another with Declan, Jordan, and Matthew.

I found Ronan’s chapters to be quite boring and irritating at times, as I really enjoyed seeing the way Ronan interacted with his brothers and with his old friends, but they did not have many scenes together, and some of his favourites didn’t appear at all. What I did enjoy was that Ronan’s chapters involved a lot of going into his head and seeing things from the past, which were always really interesting to learn. Quick Spoiler Alert: We got to read the scene from Ronan’s childhood in which he dreamed his brother Matthew which was very cool, since it was always something that was just fact, but not actually explained or shown. However, oddly, I seemed to enjoy Declan Lynch’s chapters even more.

Characters

I’ve mentioned on this blog that Ronan Lynch is one of my favourite characters of all time, but I feel as though this book changed my opinion a bit. When I was younger I used to find him really funny and appealing; he was that cool character who always swore and was angry. Now it’s a little different for me, and this is the case for Hennessy as well. In this book, I found that I gravitated towards the characters of Declan, Matthew, and Jordan more. Stiefvater really gave us insight into the thoughts and lives of the oldest and youngest Lynch brothers, which we never got in The Raven Cycle, and I absolutely loved them. It’s easier to understand Declan’s difficult personality when you’re reading his thoughts and concerns about his brother, and when he finally has a likeable love interest who isn’t named Ashley, Ashleigh, or Ashlee. As for Matthew, unlike in Call Down the Hawk, we really got a lot of insight into his character, and it absolutely broke my heart (read page 244). I think Stiefvater just really has a way with her characters, and there’s something about the Lynch brothers that just pulls me in.

Final Thoughts

This review in short: I love Matthew Lynch.

Seriously though, I didn’t love this book, but I didn’t hate it either. This is one of my favourite worlds/characters/stories, and while this book wasn’t as good as the first in my opinion, it’s still worth the read, and of course necessary if you want to read the final book in 2022!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Lost in the Never Woods – Aiden Thomas

Release Date: March 23, 2021

Rating: 4 out of 5.

It’s been five years since Wendy and her two brothers went missing in the woods, but when the town’s children start to disappear, the questions surrounding her brothers’ mysterious circumstances are brought back into light.

Lost in the Never Woods– Aiden Thomas

Lost in the Never Woods is Aiden Thomas’s second book, and newest release. As someone who enjoyed Cemetery Boys, I was really looking forward to reading their new novel, especially as it’s about one of my favourite stories: Peter Pan. Hope this review convinces you to read this 🙂

Peter Pan Retelling-ish

This story is a retelling of Peter Pan which takes place five years after Wendy and her brothers travel to Neverland. However, in this story, Wendy’s brothers never return – their whereabouts are unknown – and Wendy remembers nothing about her time in Neverland. The premise of this story was super intriguing to me, and I knew this was something I had to get my hands on this year. I love retellings, especially The Lunar Chronicles, and Heartless by Marissa Meyer, so I was excited for this one.

Characters

Wendy was a pretty dull character for much of the novel, which definitely let me down a bit. She went from a girl who believed and loved the idea of magic to a girl who was skeptical and not so willing to work with Peter Pan, but of course this is because she inevitably grew up. I liked Wendy’s best friend Jordan, but her character became less and less prevalent as the story progressed, which was kind of disappointing. I loved Wendy’s parents, and I felt like they really reflected the characters from the old film and book. Peter was quite fun as well, and definitely had the kid-like boyish presence he is so well-known for. He was playful, silly, and down-to-earth, and had qualities which made him human and likeable. The characters were great, I just think some needed more substance and like-ability.

Plot

The plot was definitely a lot slower than I imagined. I was expecting magic and action-filled scenes, like those in Peter Pan, but this seemed to be mostly a contemporary book rather than fantasy, and Wendy was a regular girl doing regular teenage things. The first half of the book was pretty difficult to get through, as not much happened other than the introduction of characters and their lives intertwining. However, things picked up quite a bit later on, and I was even shocked as revelations came to light. Certain things about it did seem kind of off and strange to me, and of course unrealistic, since this takes place in our normal world, but it was still enjoyable.

Final Thoughts

This was an overall good book. It was not the best, but it had qualities I enjoyed. Unlike Cemetery Boys, this is not the kind of story that ends completely happy with all issues resolved and people happy, but I think that’s what made me like this more than Cemetery Boys, since it was more unpredictable. Be prepared to cry! For fans of Peter Pan or any fairytale retelling, definitely pick up this book!

Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo

Release Date: June 5, 2012

Rating: 4 out of 5.

“The Darkling slumped back in his chair. ‘Fine,’ he said with a weary shrug. ‘Make me your villain.’”

Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone

So Shadow and Bone is becoming a TV show on April 23, 2021, and I wanted to prepare for this by reading and re-reading the Grisha Trilogy, Six of Crows duology, King of Scars, and Rule of Wolves. I began by re-reading Shadow and Bone. While I didn’t enjoy it the first time, I found my thoughts changed quite a bit the second time around.

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Reading Order

First let me start by saying that originally, I picked up the Six of Crows duology before reading the Grisha trilogy, and it definitely made it far more confusing to read. The trilogy has a lot of world-building and explanations, which are helpful to read before the duology, which is meant to take place two years later. Also, Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom mentioned a lot of the characters and storylines from this trilogy, so it’s nice to be able to catch those things. Here’s what I suggest: Read Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, Ruin and Rising, followed by Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. Then go on to King of Scars and Rule of Wolves.

World

The Grisha world is so well-developed it blows my mind. Leigh Bardugo’s work is absolutely amazing, and I love what she’s created. In this book in particular, it’s a little hard to follow at times, with all the explanations of the different kinds of Grisha, but it gets easier as it continues. This is one of my favourite fantasy worlds of all time.

Plot

As someone who read Six of Crows first, I definitely wasn’t expecting this plot to focus so much on one character. Six of Crows follows six vastly different people very closely, but this focuses mainly on sole protagonist Alina. This is a fairly quick read, and quite fast-paced as well, with the plot being easy to follow and interesting as well. I’d definitely suggest people to continue on with this story, because it only gets better, with Bardugo adding more twists and turns in the plot. This also focused far more on romance, which I wasn’t so used to. It was definitely a good addition, just really differently written than her other books.

Characters

Characters was one point which I struggled with in this book. I didn’t love Alina, which is difficult because she’s the main character, and I definitely didn’t love Mal either. Alina was lacking he confidence I love in characters, and Mal was pretty annoying at times. Side characters such as Genya were okay, but there was no one I was crazy about. My favourite was probably The Darkling, but of course he has his problems as well. However, again, as the series continued, more characters were introduced or given more prominent roles, and they really began to grow on me.

Final Thoughts

Read this book! If you love Leigh Bardugo or the Grishaverse or you just want to prepare for the show, I would definitely recommend picking up this book!

Happy reading!

March Reads

March – another great month of reading! This month involved some books that I typically wouldn’t gravitate towards, one for my book club, some for class, a couple re-reads, and more. I really enjoyed these reads, and am excited for next months books as well!

Six Angry GirlsAdrienne Kisner

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Read Mar. 2 – Mar. 3

This book was a bit of a let-down for me. It’s fairly new, and I was really looking forward to it. However, I’m not always the biggest fan of contemporaries, because sometimes I get caught up in disliking dialogue if I find it unrealistic. This was definitely the case here, and I wasn’t able to enjoy this very much. However, I loved the characters, and I feel that this is a very important story to read, and I would still suggest fans of YA read this.

I Wish You All the Best – Mason Deaver

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Read Mar. 4 – Mar. 5

This book was so unbelievably amazing. It was very emotional and impactful, and I loved the characters so much. The story follows Ben as they come out as non-binary, and navigate life after their parents kicked them out. I wasn’t expecting to love this as much as I did, but I 100% think everyone should read this. This was another read for my YA Culture class, and it was really great to look at it from this learning perspective.

In the Dream House –  Carmen Maria Machado

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Read Mar. 5. – Mar. 5

I picked this book up on a whim after hearing about it in a BookTube video by “A Clockwork Reader”. This is another book that is a must-read for all, and truly an important read. It is a memoir, and follows an abusive relationship between two women, a topic that is not often spoken about. Definitely read the trigger warnings before reading this, but if it is something you’d be okay reading, I’d definitely suggest picking it up.

The Gilded Ones – Namina Forna

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Read Mar. 5 – Mar. 7

This is a new 2021 YA fantasy book, and I went into it really knowing nothing about it. This wasn’t my favourite fantasy, as I wasn’t too attached to the characters, which is very important for me. However, what I liked was that it was fairly easy to follow, which isn’t always the case for a first book in a fantasy series, and the plot was fast-moving and really engaging. Some parts were a bit predictable, but it was overall really great, and if you’re looking for a new fantasy to read, definitely go with this!

The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Read Feb. 20 – Mar. 13

This one is a bit difficult to review. I read this as part of my book club, and this is one of the most highly talked of and hyped up books on BookTok, with raving reviews and emotional responses. However, I did not view The Song of Achilles in this way. There was a lot of nothing going on, and huge leaps in time, which I didn’t enjoy. Also, I really disliked one of the protagonists, Achilles, so that definitely ruined it for me too. I won’t say don’t read it, because a majority love this book, but it just wasn’t for me.

Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo (Re-read)

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Read Mar. 14 – Mar. 15

This is my second time reading this, and surprisingly I liked it far more than the first time I read it. I am re-reading and reading several of Leigh Bardugo’s books in preparation for Shadow and Bone coming to Netflix. It is definitely not great in comparison to Bardugo’s other series, Six of Crows, but it was still fairly good. Here are some more thoughts I put into a short TikTok:

Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts) – A.C. Rosen

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Read Mar. 15 – Mar. 17

This book truly surprised me. It was another book I read solely because of my YA Culture class, and I had never heard of it before. However, I was surprised by how much I absolutely loved this book. It was fun to read, and the mystery gave me Pretty Little Liars vibes, which made it even better. Read this!

The Silver Chair – C.S. Lewis

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Read Mar. 17 – Mar. 19

This series is going on a bit of a downhill slope in my opinion, with me not enjoying any as much as I did the first, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I’m finding that it’s difficult to stay engaged in the story, and I don’t really have an attachment to the new characters. However, I’m going to continue on with it just because of the sentimental value this series has to me, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this. I like the way that C.S. Lewis writes to his readers, and the magic of his words, but it’s a bit different than I expected.

Hamlet – William Shakespeare (Re-read)

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Read Mar. 8 – Mar. 24

I’ll just start by saying I’ve never been a fan of Shakespeare’s works, so I don’t have much to say about this. This is one of the better plays in my opinion, but still I just can’t make myself enjoy these; I only read them when I have to.

Thanks for reading!

A Vow So Bold and Deadly – Brigid Kemmerer

Release Date: January 26, 2021

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I wish I could undo so many things.

Brigid Kemmerer, A Vow So Bold and Deadly

Finally getting around to doing a review of Brigid Kemmerer’s 2021 conclusion to the Cursebreakers trilogy, A Vow So Bold and Deadly. I said my reviews were going to be honest, and I’m keeping my word on that, so I have to say this was quite a let-down, and honestly just not worth the read at all.

Plot

When I think final book in a series, I think of A Conjuring of Light, or The Deathly Hallows, which is to say I think action-packed. This was the complete opposite of that, as there was a constant build-up as to a huge event that was anticipated since the second book, and SPOILER ALERT, it never happened. This book was a whole lot of nothing, with a side of relationship development with the couples of the story. However, as it progressed, I was really only fond of one couple, and I was really waiting for something dangerous to happen within the plot instead.

Characters

Morally grey characters are the absolute best. Think Kaz Brekker (though there are so many in YA books). Though he does a lot of violent and “evil” things, many readers love him, and they do get to see that he has a heart. In A Vow So Bold and Deadly, Grey (the name fits too) is a morally grey character in my opinion, even a bit on the softer side, and I do really love him. However, Rhen is also a supposedly morally grey character, but I think there’s a certain point where I just came to view him as a villain. I loved him in the first book, since he couldn’t control his behaviour, but SPOILER ALERT when he tortures Grey and Tycho (who is only fifteen), I just genuinely could not like him anymore. Slowly following this, I started to dislike Harper as well, and it was pretty much downhill with the characters from there.

Quick little side note: Lets’ talk about the quote at the beginning of this post: “I wish I could undo so many things.” That was said by Rhen, and while I understand that he feels remorse, I don’t feel bad in any way, unlike my thoughts in book one. He made these decisions on his own and felt seemingly no remorse when they were taking place. This definitely stems from my problem with the characters who truly act as though their kingdom comes before all else.

Spoilers Ahead!

Happily Ever After

Although I do love when characters get to have their happy endings, I don’t necessarily like the perfect happily ever after ending, where nothing dramatic or sad happens. In this case, the end was truly just cheesy. I was expecting a full-on battle with action and fighting and sadness and betrayal, but in the end it was just two brothers reconciling and drinking together, which may have been fine if the beginning or middle of the book had any substance, but again, it didn’t.

Final Thoughts

I don’t have much to say about this book solely because I can’t even recall anything interesting that happened, aside from the relationship development which, depending on the couple in focus, I didn’t mind. This book was unnecessary in my opinion, though I think it had so much potential to be a killer final book in a series. I really don’t think this book is worth the read, and it might even be better if you just stop after the first book.