Really enjoyed this one!
What I liked:
– The characters
– The themes of accepting yourself and braving failure
– Lots of well-executed romance tropes
What I didn’t like:
– Self-awareness of tropes (I’ve seen this a lot recently and it always takes me out of the story)
– A little cheesiness in the dialogue between the couple and… that final scene between them was a little cringe for me.
Recommended for anyone looking for a solid romance!
⭐⭐⭐⭐¾
Thanks for reading!
I got this audiobook NetGalley widget in my email and decided to give it a shot on a bit of a whim. Sally Hepworth is a new-to-me author but I was feeling in the mood for a bit of a mystery or a thriller. Full disclosure, I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump and the narration wasn’t my favorite, but this story held my attention from beginning to end. I wouldn’t say it was particularly fast-paced, and I don’t think I would classify it as my usual read, but the *characters* absolutely hooked me.
The characters are all deeply flawed, and yet somehow I still loved them all. The incredible bond between the three main characters and the history between them had me rooting for them the entire time. The side characters popped, and I even found the villain to be riveting in her slow-burn, sadistic kind of way. While I think this was on the slower side for a thriller (I would call it more of a mystery) the reveals were perfectly paced to keep my attention fully in the world and made me look forward to my commute.
And despite the darkness of this novel (definitely check the content warnings), I loved the hopeful ending that was just incredibly satisfying. Definitely recommended for anyone looking for a solid character-driven mystery!
⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Thanks for reading!
Since I flew through this series, I combined the reviews for five books currently out into one post.
Book One
So… I saw the Netflix show when it first came out and loved it. Finally got around to reading the graphic novel, and my god, how is it EVEN BETTER THAN THE SHOW?! (I mean, really, I should’ve expected this, the book is almost always better than the show/movie, but the show set such a high bar!)
Sweet, YA romance perfection I would recommend to literally everyone. My only warning is there’s totally a cliffhanger (thank goodness I have seen the show for that reason,) and I cannot WAIT to read the rest of the series. (5 stars)
Book Two
Just as adorable as book one and I’m honestly blown away by how faithful an adaption the Netflix show is! Onward to book 3! (5 stars)
Book Three
Cutest series ever continues to be the cutest series ever. I can’t believe I didn’t read these sooner! (5 stars)
Book Four
Another cute installment of the Heartstopper series! I really appreciate how they took on mental health issues in this one, and there were some really sweet moments, but I felt like the majority of this volume was told through journal entries in a narrative flashback style instead of experiencing the events in the moment with the characters. I’m not a huge flashback fan, so I didn’t love this one quite as much as the first three. Overall though, definitely recommend for fans of the series, and I’m definitely excited to read vol 5! (4 stars)
Book Five
Another cute installment of the Heartstopper series that tackles hurdles (in per the usual, an amazingly sweet and tactful manner) like applying to college, long distance, and physical intimacy. I read this in one sitting and definitely recommend for all Heartstopper fans. Can’t wait to see what volume six brings, and hoping for more seasons of the show as well!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thanks for reading!
Since these audiobook books were bundled together (along with book 3), I’ve combined the reviews into one post.
Book One’s Review:
This was a cozy mystery with all your usual flavors of paranormal in a magical library.
What I liked:
– The premise. I mean, who wouldn’t love to find out you’re a witch and go live in a magical library?
– Easy read, very short, and super chill vibes.
What I didn’t like:
– The tension and character depth just weren’t there for me. Though they’re dealing with a murder, everyone seems to take it rather in stride, and I didn’t feel like we really cracked the surface of most of the characters.
So no quite for me, however, if you like your mysteries with MAXIMUM cozy, this might be for you!
Book Two’s Review:
I read this one because the first three audiobooks were bundled together. I could probably copy and paste my review for the first book for this one. Super cozy mystery. Quick easy read. But not quite enough tension or character development for me. However, book 1 and book 2 are so consistent in formula and tone, I definitely think if you enjoyed the first book, you would enjoy the second. As for me, I think I’m going to stop myself here since these aren’t super up my alley.
⭐⭐⭐¼
Thanks for reading!
I have big mixed feelings on this one. Regency romance isn’t really my thing generally, but I found a “most popular series” list and I’d tried nearly all of them, so my completionist self is now exploring the last few I missed.
I really liked the comedic sense of the gossip papers and the light-hearted writing style. But honestly there’s two big plot points (see spoilers below) that were (and I don’t use this word lightly) problematic and definitely not romantic.
Highlight to See Spoiler
I mean the brothers forcing Simon to marry Daphne at gunpoint, and Daphne herself manipulating him just felt so… ugh. And then… Daphne makes it her mission to *change* Simon even after he’s very explicit with her about what he does and does not want. When he doesn’t bend, she forces herself on him while he’s drunk and asleep. O_O
If not for those things, I think I could’ve enjoyed this or might read the sequels one day, but those two big elements just left my skin crawling. So… yeah. Not for me. But if you’re a regency romance fan or a fan of the Netflix seris, it could be for you!
⭐⭐⭐
Thanks for reading!
So this a dark, witchy tale with a dual-POV romance where sides are unclear in a mix of gray. I feel like this should’ve been straight up my alley, but for some reason, it really just didn’t grab me, and the religious hypocrisy and misogyny themes were a little thick for my taste. Around the 60% mark, I started rooting for the characters, and there some nice reveals between 60%-80%, but overall I think the pacing was a little slow for me and I thought the relationship and plot just didn’t quite develop as naturally as I would’ve liked. The narration on the audiobook is great though, and this one’s extremely popular so if you’re looking for a dark fantasy with marriage of convenience / forced proximity / enemies to lovers tropes, this might be for you!
⭐⭐⭐¼
Thanks for reading!
So I loved book 1 of this series, I thought book 2 was okay, and I think I feel about the same about book 3. Though I really like the quick-flowing writing style, over the course of the series, I feel like we just kept adding characters to the Scooby Doo crew and in this one they all kind of blended together. The only one that popped for me is Nate, and while I enjoyed getting more of his story, I felt like the climax felt a just little flat. However if you enjoyed book 2, I’d definitely recommend giving this a try!
⭐⭐⭐½
Thanks for reading!
I knew it would be hard to follow up the first book after I loved it so much, but this wasn’t the sequel I hoped for.
I felt like in so many ways, we were re-treading the ground covered in book one, and I didn’t see as much magical world-building as in the first book. While the writing was wonderful and I still loved the characters, I feel like we didn’t dive deep enough into them in this book. I think all of those elements combined really slowed the pace down. And yet the ending felt weirdly rushed?
Overall, this left me with mixed feelings about this duology, but of course, if you loved the first one, I’d still recommend picking this one up and seeing what you think. (And the audiobook narration is fantastic!)
⭐⭐⭐¾
Thanks for reading!
What I liked:
Wes. I totally wished this had been a dual POV! Wes is so obviously head over heels with Liz from the beginning, but he does what he can to help her get what she wants. And he had so many clutch saves when she was in a bind.
What I didn’t like:
Liz. The clueless heroine is one of my least favorite tropes and I got pretty impatient with her. She goes through a big lying phase, treats her best friend poorly, does the whole “makeover for a guy” thing, gives the “it’s complicated” excuse for not communicating, and doesn’t treat Wes very well.
Neutral:
This book was chock FULL of pop culture, movie, and song references. I don’t really have any strong feelings about them, but I know some do so I’m throwing it in here.
I don’t think this one was really for me, but if you’re interested in a classic-feeling YA romance, it might be for you!
⭐⭐⭐¼
Thanks for reading!
Okay, so obviously, this is going to vary greatly depending on the author. Processes and writing speeds vary tremendously from person to person and actually my own process and writing speed has evolved a ton since I first started. Mostly, I just wanted to post this because I get a lot of people who become very confused when I write a book and then it pops into a black hole before getting published (insert non-zero number here) months or years later.
So I made this chart of all the books I’ve written to date, when I wrote them, and their published date or status (if they are still unpublished.)
My first book, Odriel’s Heirs, too the longest by far with 8 years between finishing the first draft (which took three months) and publishing it. But for 5 of those years, I never thought I would take it beyond that first draft. Then it took me a lot of time to figure out how to revise effectively, write consistently around all the other life demands, and stumble through the querying learning curve.
My second book, The Gatekeeper of Pericael, with three years from draft to publishing, also had a long wait for a lot of the same reasons.
Then, I actually started to figure out what I was doing! Once I had a go-to writing process, everything became so much smoother. And since I didn’t query any of the Odriel’s Heirs sequels, I was able to churn those out fairly quickly (especially the novellas.)
However, the querying process was still slowing everything down. I queried the Whimsical TBA title for two years😱 (of which, I had full requests out that entire time) before it was acquired. And once the Into the Churn series had a home with Whimsical, it sped the process up again for those sequels because I no longer had to query for an indeterminate amount of time.
Then I signed with my wonderful agent, Kristen Terrette, in 2023, and everything changed for me again! Now I have entered an entirely new era: On Submission. Which, much like querying, is an indeterminate amount of time in which the literary agent pitches the manuscript to editors. And even when/if it’s picked up by a publisher, the amount of time between getting acquired and being published could be over a year!
So—when will Inky & Heater, Ninth Circle, and Midnight Falls be published? At this point, the earliest I could imagine would be 2025, and it could very well be beyond. But I still have a super exciting line-up with ITC #2.5 coming in December, ITC #3 in March, and the Whimsical TBA title coming in September 2025.
For everything else, I’ll just keep my fingers crossed for as soon as possible!
Hayley Reese Chow 