Review: Lover Eternal

Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this so much! It's sooooo sweet, and it entertained me very much!

What can I say that hasn't been said already? There isn't much worldbuilding nor many characters, only enough to know what happens in the Brotherhood worlds. You get to know a little bit of each brother, and I just loved how it went back and forth between Mary, Rhage, John and even sometimes Zsadist and Bella. There's only one thing I didn't like that much, and it was that Mr O's scenes always seemed pretty boring to me, especially when they happened in the middle of an important moment for Rhage and Mary. I mean, I know it's made to keep you on edge but come ooooooooon I just want to skip it and go read what happens to the lovely main characters, but I never skipped it (and I'm proud). This also leads me to a very sweet surprise for me. I got myself more entertained with Bella and Zsadist than with Mary and Rhage by the last part of the book, maybe because we had so much of them on the book. Rhage is the sweetest vampire ever! Hollywood and with all the bad boy vibes but he's just so... innocent? Innocent is not the right word, but he's just so cute so akdhadkahf. Mary is so strong, I love her, and I usually don't like the female main character of vampire romances because of obvious reasons. But Mary is so indepented, just so strong, for all she went through! She's awesome, and Rhage is awesome, and they're so good together.

The strong point of this book is, obviously, the dialogue. You don't have much character development except for the main characters, and there's not much going on besides them and the work of the Omega. All in all, this is a very good read, even with all the erotica it has, it just adds to their relationship even more. I really want to read the third, especially because I think it's about Zsadist and Bella and I can't wait.

If you're wondering why I only gave it four stars, it was mainly because of how I just wanted to skip some parts, and because of how sometimes I got bored of Mary and Rhage. But then right way the next scene was of someone else's POV, so it always made me come back to the book.

I'm so sorry for this review and because of how scattered around it is, but I literally just finished reading this and am so excited, I wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did.

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Review: Prince's Gambit

Prince's Gambit by C.S. Pacat
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

FIVE FULL STARS FROM ME! Why? Because this is awesome.

Let's start with the obvious. This is a completely character-driven story, and so the characters have to be exceptional, which they are. All characters have a purpose to be in this story, and they keep on propelling our main character's story forward. Laurent is as cold and brilliant as ever, but this time you actually see another side of him, a human side. And Laurent is so human it almost hurts. The cold layer around him is being shattered, by Damen, and we get to see it. Also, we can also see the extents he's willing to go just to make his plans work. Damen, on the other hand, is finally given the spotlight. Before, it was always Laurent who shined, who was the most intelligent, smart and bright one. But here, Damen finally shows us why he was fit be a king himself. He's falling in love, hard, but that doesn't keep him from displaying his brilliant mind. Seeing his emotions and his internal conflict make us ache for him and it gets ourselves conflicted as well. As for the side characters, the Regent keeps on being the Regent, Gouvard keeps on being Gouvard, and Jord keeps on being Jord. But poor Jord... I can honestly say he's the third most important character in this story, at least from a certain point of view. Jord is in the middle of everything, and that's why he's probably the one who suffers the most.

But don't get me wrong, we DO get world building in this one. Just enough to understand what's going on, and it never feels lacking. C.S. Pacat has a way of telling stories where you get completely enthralled and almost forget how little you know of the world. But you don't need to know anything else for this to work out.

Also, I saw some negative reviews of people saying this book was full of sex? I have to disagree. As the world of Captive Prince, you'll obviously read sex, but it's mostly for the first part of the book. All of the sex scenes and mentions of it are still important to the plot, they have a way in the plot that doesn't make them feel unnecessary. They're there for a reason, just like in the first book they were there to show how the Veretian court functioned. This time, it's not to show us how the court works, but to show us the emotions of the characters, and one mention of it even to save Laurent and Damen while making them laugh about it (I laughed too). I must also be honest, I am under the impression that Captive Prince was a lot more sexual than Prince's Gambit.

Once again, C.S. Pacat has completely won me over and I can't wait, I really can't wait to read the third, especially after that ending. EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE, EVERYONE IS GOING TO SUFFER, AND WE WILL SUFFER ALONG WITH THEM, AND I DON'T THINK MY HEART WILL BE ABLE TO HANDLE IT (it won't even be able to handle the wait). This one ended in such a plot twist, with such a revelation that we all knew that was coming, just like Damen, but we don't know what's going to happen, once again just like Damen. Also, for everything I just explained above, for all the politics and movement in the plot, I think I actually like this one more than the first, but they're both so so so good. C.S. Pacat, I adore you for creating this awesome world with awesome characters that shows politics in a way that is nowhere close to be boring, and that makes us feel real emotion, even when we're just reading. I honestly love this series, and will read it a lot more times.

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Review: City of Glass

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SHADOWHUNTEEEEEEEEEEERS!!!

Yeeess, I know I'm pretty late in reading this but I finally did it! And it was a lovely ride! In spite of feeling it was too fast. I could barely read these days and I still went by it really quickly. That's one of the main reasons why my rating is actually 4 stars and not 5 full stars.

But I'll start with the story. It starts with a turning point, an attack on the Institute, and Simon crosse the portal do Idris together with Jace, Alec, Isabelle, BUT they leave Clary behind, and she really wanted to go. Pissed off, she finds a way to go with Luke, a werewolf! So a vampire and werewolf are in Idris, in Alicante, to be more precise, and a new mysterious character appears, Sebastian! I can't say anything else, otherwise I'd be giving away the whole story.

The characters are, as always, well-written, but I feel Sebastian gives away who he is too easily, it could have been harder to spot him (and I would've enjoyed it much more). Magnus and Alec's development made me delighted, I just wish those two showed up more, I think there wasn't enough Alec in the book. Jocelyn is also a nice surprise, although it just felt rushed to me, much like the whole book. (view spoiler)[Clary's reunion with Jocelyn felt really hollow to me, it lacked emotion, and there wasn't much between them throughout the whole book, even when Jocelyn told her about her past. There could have been much more emotion, and I do get Clary's reaction, but afterwards, I was expecting a tear-jerking moment and it wasn't delivered, at least to me. (hide spoiler)]

Everything went by so fast, and so little characters had a light shined upon. Alec and Magnus, important characters, showed up very little, Jocelyn and Sebastian felt rushed and Valentine sometimes felt out of character for me, but I think that was the point with him.

It's still well-written, Clary's and Jace's relationship develops nicely, Amatis is well introduced, the scenarios are always written in depth and all the plots make sense. What Luke and Clary proposed was really brave, and it really shows a new vision for all Shadowhunters.

But, with such an ending, and because I haven't seen the spoilers yet... how are there three more books?? Guess I just have to read them to find out, don't want spoilers. I just hope the others aren't as rushed as I felt this one was.

(As a side note, I can feel her writing style improving, even if it was rushed, and I think she almost perfected it with her The Infernal Devices trilogy.)

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