Lauren's Boookshelf: broken bonds

Showing posts with label broken bonds. Show all posts

Monday, October 9, 2023

BookTok Hit or Miss? Part 2

It's been a couple years since I did my first BookTok Hit or Miss challenge and I've been wanting to do another one ever since. I've read quite a few BookTok darlings since then and I figure that now is the time for part 2 of this new series, with part 3 coming in the next few months most likely. The last time I did this it was mostly just romances and I'd definitely say my tastes have changed a bit since then. For today, I've got a few misses and a few hits to talk about so let's go ahead and dive right in!

Priest by Sierra Simone: Miss

I read this a while ago and the longer it goes from reading it, the more my disappointment in this book grows. I was really anticipating this one as I'd heard nothing but amazing things for years about how good it was. Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I think the way this book was marketed to me and the actual way this book went were completely different. This isn't a bad book per se, but it was a miss for me.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood: Hit

Now, like many people, I read this when it was at the height of its popularity. It's still very popular and Ali's books continue to perform well on BookTok, though this is the only one of her full novels I've read so far. I absolutely loved this book. Fake dating, an academic setting, good side characters...it was so fun and addicting, which is really the main thing I look for in a romcom. Even some tropes I don't typically enjoy were ones I enjoyed in this one. Because of this one, I'm also excited to continue reading Ali's other books.

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace: Miss

Icebreaker is a more recent read and it's a sad miss for me. Now, unlike with Priest, I actually did enjoy parts of this book. Overall I would say I didn't dislike it but it fell flat. It was so much longer than it needed to be and I felt like there wasn't much of an actual plot. For example, this is supposed to be a story about a hockey player and an ice skater teaming up to skate and...yet...there's not much actual skating in this story. I liked the characters a lot but overall it was a bit of a disappointing read.

The Mindf*ck Series by S.T. Abby: Hit

I read this last summer and then reread it this summer and it remains a massive hit for me. It's a new all-time favorite series that I absolutely love. It's about a serial killer who starts dating the FBI agent who's hunting her. Of course, it's about more than just that and throughout the series we really dig deep into the cruelties of humanity. Mindf*ck is not for the faint of heart and it's got an extensive list of trigger warnings but it's so good. It's heartbreaking and addicting and I couldn't stop reading.

Twisted Love by Ana Huang: Miss

This is mostly a miss for me. Twisted Love was enjoyable at first, but when I finished it I realized it was nothing memorable for me. I think it's mainly because even though I enjoy romances, I struggle with finding romances memorable when the only plot is the romance. There's only a few over the years that have made my overall favorites and, unfortunately, this wasn't one of them. However, I am interested in continuing the series with some side characters we met in this one that have their own spotlight.

Broken Bonds series by J. Bree: Hit

I've dubbed 2023 the year of J. Bree for a reason...her books just hit all the boxes for me. Of the 62 books I've read at the time of writing this post, 20 of them have been J. Bree books. This series is huge on BookTok and I can definitely see why. It's a paranormal why choose enemies-to-lovers romance series that's just completely addicting. I blew through the series. While I do think the last two books were a bit long and unnecessary, overall the series is a hit for me and I will be rereading it in the future.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Series Review: "The Bonds That Tie" by J. Bree

Series: The Bonds That Tie

Author: J. Bree

Reading Order & Individual Ratings:

Broken Bonds - 4.5 // 5 stars
Savage Bonds - 4 // 5 stars
Blood Bonds - 4.5 // 5 stars
Forced Bonds - 4 // 5 stars
Tragic Bonds - 4 // 5 stars
Unbroken Bonds - 3.5 // 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Between this series and all of the books set in the Mounts Bay world, I'm pretty sure J. Bree is a new favorite author of mine. While this series did not surpass the Hannaford Prep, Queens Crow, or Butcher of the Bay series for me, I still really enjoyed it. It was the series that introduced me to J. Bree.

So I first started this series back in December, just a little after the publication of the last book. I binged the first five books in just a couple weeks. I was obsessed with Oli and her boys. I finally got to the last book in April and finished the series.

My overall thoughts for this series are basically that it was good but that it didn't need to be that long. Each book was quite long and then the series overall was six books. I think for the overall plot and romance arc, it could have been done in four or five books. My favorites were the earlier books but I am also quite satisfied by the ending.

Let's start with the characters. One thing I like about J. Bree's "why choose" romances is that the characters are very distinct from one another. Sometimes with "why choose" books, it can be easy to fall into the trap of all the love interests being very similar and hard to tell apart. But this series, and the Hannaford Prep series, shows that is not the case with J. Bree. I could tell who was who just by how they were speaking and I loved that. The slow burn was deliciously slow. I love J. Bree's books for that. But it was worth the payoff in the end. I liked that the different relationships between Oli and her boys also developed at different speeds. It felt more realistic. The steamy scenes were also well worth the wait.

In terms of plot, I thought it was very intriguing. The world inside our own that J. Bree built in this series was fascinating to learn about and read about. I think the plot was fun and addicting, though again I think that the books could have been condensed and that the plot was stretched too long.

Overall, these books were addicting and I had a lot of fun reading them. I will definitely be returning to them in the future and I hope to one day get the physical copies for my bookshelf when I have the space and money to do so. I'm also just grateful to this series for introducing me to J. Bree. Without it, I wouldn't have found any of her other books that have become some of my favorites of all time.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Thursday, January 5, 2023

My Favorite Books of 2022

In many ways, 2022 was one of my most successful reading years. While the number of books I read might not be as high as usual, this reading year was successful for other reasons. I finally got out of a reading slump that had lasted over a year. I finished multiple series. I reread some long-time favorites. I discovered new favorites. Most of all, I enjoyed the vast majority of books that I read. My average star rating this year was 4.7/5 which is the highest it has ever been. A lot of that is definitely attributed to rereads of favorites but a lot is also due to embracing being a mood reader and only reading books when I was really excited for them.

I read 63 books this year. I was hoping to get that number up to 70 but the holiday season snuck up on me. I'm hoping to start January off strong and keep that momentum through the year and all the stress that is ahead of me. Of the 63 books I read, 26 were rereads, which I typically exclude from this list as it's unfair to consider past favorites as new. Of the 37 remaining books, a lot of them were a part of series which I only give one spot each on this list. All in all, it wasn't too hard to make this favorites list.

I've got my top 10 new reads of the year here. If you'd asked me for my top 10 predictions at the beginning of 2022, I would have had a drastically different list for you. But I discovered new authors and new series that have brought me a lot of joy and hours spent on the couch reading. So, without further ado, here are my top 10 of 2022...

Coming in at number 10, we have Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong. This is the first book in a spin-off/sequel duology to These Violent Delights, which was a series that featured on my top book of 2021 list. Foul Lady Fortune was definitely one of my most anticipated books of this year and I was lucky enough to read an advance copy over the summer.

This book surprised me in many ways. I wasn't sure where the story was going to go when I started it, but the path it took me on was nothing I could have imagined. I loved the characters, though that's unsurprising as many of them were side characters in These Violent Delights. I don't want to ramble too long, so if you want more of my thoughts you can check out my non-spoiler review here. I am very much looking forward to the sequel and a companion novella bind-up in the new year!

At number 9, I have Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. From even before this was released, I was excited to read it. Everything about this book sounded epic, from the characters to the plot to the sci-fi/fantasy world. It feels like it's been so long since I read this (almost a year at the time of writing this post) and I long to return to this story.

The sequel is coming in 2023 (finally!) and I am so excited to see how things progress. The way this first book ended absolutely shook me to my core and with the release coming over a year and a half after the first book, the wait has been intense. There's still eight months of waiting but I'm very much looking forward to Heavenly Tyrant. For my full non-spoiler thoughts, check out my review here.

Coming in at number 8, we have House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas. This may be a surprising placement, seeing as her books are usually my top books of the year when they release. But even though I enjoyed it overall, I did have some issues with this book that have knocked it out of the top spot. You can find my immediate non-spoiler thoughts in my review here, though I will have to say I've thought a lot about it over the past few months and my thoughts have definitely changed a little.

All in all, the majority of the book I enjoyed. The characters, specifically, are what earned it a spot on this list as I loved being reunited with them. Through all the secrecy and the spying and the drama, this book is definitely a new move for Sarah and I am eagerly anticipating the next book's release (hopefully in 2023 though it may be 2024). Most of all, I'm still just caught up by the ending and how it shook me to my core.

The number 7 spot goes to The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood. I loved it. There's not much else to say other than it was just fun and light and warmth in a time when I was stressed and just down. The actual story was so fun and enjoyable and I couldn't put the book down. I most loved the focus on science and STEM and badass girls doing badass academic things. I am eagerly looking forward to reading more books by Ali as, so far, I've enjoyed everything I've read. Plus, here's my full review if you want to know more of my thoughts!

Number 6 goes to the The Bonds That Tie series by J. Bree. I've finished the first three books, Broken Bonds, Savage Bonds, and Blood Bonds and am currently reading the fourth. This is a "why choose?" urban fantasy romance and I'm obsessed. It's very much enemies-to-lovers and very slow-burn, which is one of my favorite breeds of "why choose?" romances.

I've not yet posted an official review as I'm waiting to do a full series review when I'm done but all I can say for now is that I'm obsessed. The main character is so much fun to read from and I adore the slow-burn romances and the conflict that comes with it all. I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the series, which means you might see the rest on my favorite books of 2023 list next year!

At number 5 I have the Fable duology by Adrienne Young. These are not the first books I've read by Adrienne and I've enjoyed all the ones I've read previously. But this duology was completely different than her other books I've read thus far yet still the same comforting writing. What made me enjoy these books so much was the escapism I got from them. I experience escapism with most books and it's why I love reading so much. But there are some books that just suck you in so hard that you can barely remember you're reading.

This duology was that for me. The world, specifically, was so vivid and bright. I felt like I was swimming in the ocean and baking under the sun. It was so amazing. I love swimming and I love nautical stories. I think a strong plot combined with those elements featuring heavily made me love these books so much. You can find my full gushing review here. What's even better is that there's two spin-offs that I haven't gotten to yet that I am so eagerly looking forward to.

The number 4 spot goes to the Dragonwatch series by Brandon Mull. This series is a spin-off/sequel series to Fablehaven, which is probably my favorite middle-grade series from when I was a kid. I've known about this sequel series for ages but hadn't really felt the urge to finally dive in until this year. I reread Fablehaven this year, which was so much fun, and knew that this series had finally released the last book. So, when I finished Fablehaven, I decided to keep the momentum going and just dive straight into Dragonwatch.

This series felt like returning home. It felt like a warm hug. I'm sure that so much of my enjoyment came from nostalgia but it was just so much fun getting to revisit these characters and go on new adventures. We visited a lot of new parts of the world, encountered new magical creatures, and made new friends that I loved. It was just so much fun and I'm looking forward to revisiting it in the future yet again. You can find my full review here.

The number 3 spot goes to Triply Duty Bodyguards by Lily Gold. This is a why choose romance standalone and I am obsessed with it. I was wanting a bodyguard romance and this one with multiple love interests fit the bill. I was hoping for an enjoyable story to pass the time and satisfy my bodyguard-trope craving. But this book absolutely blew me away.

I loved the characters, I loved the slow-burn, I loved the story...it was just great. I think what made it amazing for me was that there was conflict and plot that was outside of the romance alone. I always like when there's conflict the protagonists have to work against together and this was one of those. Plus, the love interests were swoony and it was just so much fun seeing them all figure things out. You can find a mini-review here.

Coming in at number 2 is a new all-time favorite that I haven't stopped thinking about since I finished it: the Mindf*ck Series by S.T. Abby. Now, I've read other books by this author (may she rest-in-peace) under her other pen-name Kristy Cunning and enjoyed them. But this has to be my favorite of them all.

This is a dark (and when I say dark I mean dark) story about a serial killer who falls in love with an FBI agent (who's hunting her). The romance is a big driving point of the story, but honestly it's not even remotely why I loved it so much. Before I get into a long ramble, you can find my review here. All that to say, I stayed up literally all night (until 8 AM) to finish this series and I loved every moment.

And for my number 1 read of the year we have City of Gods and Monsters by Kayla Edwards. Rarely does a day go by the I don't think about this book, honestly. It's a fantasy romance set in a modern urban city with the bodyguard trope, slow-burn romance, and found family. Honestly, as much as I enjoyed Crescent City this book is actually what I wanted from it and I'm so glad I got it in this one.

I loved every moment of this book. I didn't want to put it down. And this book, like many on this list, was a stellar reminder of why I love reading so much. It's because of stories like these...the ones that suck you in and grip you tight and don't let you go. Honestly, having to put the book down and go to work was one of the hardest things I'd done. I loved it so so much and I'm just so happy that the sequel is out in January as I need MORE. You can find my full review here.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Sunday, January 1, 2023

December 2022 Wrap-Up

The final wrap-up of 2022 is here! December was an interesting reading month for me. I read more books than in previous months and I loved everything I read but there were also long portions of the month where I didn't read anything (due to holidays and work). It was an overall good month, but still full of the stress of life.

I read five books in December, two of which were rereads of some favorites. I also discovered a new favorite series that I'm currently continuing in the new year. I was tempted to try and binge a bunch at the end but I figured I'd rather start 2023 off on a strong start and relax in the last few days. Anyway, without further ado, here's the five books I read in December!