I could not get into "All the Light We Cannot See"! And I put off ACOTAR for a long time too but I read it earlier this year and really enjoyed it and I'm not a fantasy reader! Opinions are really mixed on the first one but personally I couldn't put it down. 🤷
I just finished The Love Of My Afterlife literally 10 mins ago and it was so cute! Also really enjoyed The Inheritance Games series and excited for The Grandest Game coming out in 2 days. Also just take your time with Acotar the first book is like the gateway into the series lol bc it's the shortest one. But it's so fantastic! I also really want to read Lovely War too heard such great things.
My suggestion for ACOTAR is to listen to it while reading it. This was my first romantasy series and I was also intimidated by it… but listening to the book while reading helped me understand it more… and low and behold after like 2 months, I finished the series lol!
YESSSS!!! I literally clapped so loud when you said ACOTAR! hahaha Wahooo!! You won't regret it! Don't give up, it takes a little bit to get into but push through and you'll soon be obsessed!! :)
On your recommendation I read Just For The Summer, which was my first Abby Jiminez and loved it. Similarly I read Exs and O’s and just did not like it at all.
I wasn't a big fantasy girl & my friend begged me to read acotar. I did in January & I was so hooked! It's such an easy way to introduce some to fantasy & all the negative reviews are wrong. I see too many people claim it's 99% smut which is very incorrect cause there's not much. My personal favorite is book 2- a court of mist & fury.
Historical Recommendation: The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn; Based on a true story about a single mother who becomes an assassin during World War II. It started off slow but picked up when she’s in the thick of things and there’s even a little romance. ACOTAR: I started reading it and then put it down a couple of times and then last month I saw that it was in the audible plus catalogue and started the book over again. Then went on to buy and listen to the next one, which was even better than the first. Now I’m almost half way through book three. I definitely recommend start by listening and then reading a long. August Reads: Beating Heart by Laura Pavlov (Magnolia Falls #4) Those Two Words by Ronnie Matthews Delicate Escape by Catherine Cowles (Sparrow Falls #2)
I made my August TBR today too and flooded it with all the summery books I can cram in before fall. Fall is my favorite season for everything but especially cozy reads & fantasy again. You With a View was so so good and I hope you love it as much as I did.
My birthday is August 8 and I’m a human that adores Halloween and lives for college football. When I say lives for college football, my child is named something unconventional that has to do with our preferred school. So I have a crisis of identity in August. I hate that Summer break is over for my kid but it means Spooky Season and college football. It affects my reading but not like it use to. I finally figured out I’m a mood reader that likes to make TBR lists. I make them and promptly read whatever I want anyway. My next crisis is scheduled for the last week in October when I’m still reading Spooky books and I turn off a horror movie to go watch a couple of Hallmark Christmas movies with my mom. One of my favorite memories of my mom is her turning out the porch light for trick or treaters, locking the door, walking to the island in the kitchen and putting a small pre lit Christmas tree on the bar and plugging it in. 😂 Same, Mom, same.
Now I’m here to hype you for ACOTAR. It was the first book I ever DNF’d back in 2016. My exact words were “violently DNFing.” I decided to give it another go with the MaasUniverse. I used the audio to get me into ACOTAR and devoured doesn’t even properly convey. Read through the novella and then decided to hold off on ACOSF because it was a departure from the others. Finally picked it up and was blown away with what she was able to do with those characters. I’ve already reread or read all of ToG and rereread CC1, reread CC2, and read CC3 this year. So I’m thinking I’ll reread all of ACOTAR just so I can say I read all of her available work in a calendar year. Well, except the super hero book. There’s no reason to be intimidated. None. You’ll be into it and you’ll wonder how and why you were ever putting this series off. And you’ll be so glad to finally be in the club and understanding all the things you see and hear about it. Happy Reading. ❤
My suggestion for ACOTAR is to read and listen at the same time. That way you can see the character names/locations, etc and also learn how to pronounce everything! I did that for the first book and it helped so much. Finished the series and now I’m in the Throne of Glass universe!
The book I'm hoping to read is gone with the wind by Margaret Mitchell I have tried to get into more classic books luckily the library has copies in paperback
If you are looking for some good, easy to read historical fiction books, you should check out some of Ruta Sepetys book! I’ve read Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray and they were both amazing and easy to follow 💙💙💙
So excited for you to read acotar! I read it as a new fantasy reader and it’s easy to understand and get into. The second book is where it really takes off! ❤
as a female Veteran, I loved every part of The Women. It was so beautifully written - a great story and plot while also addressing what our veterans endured post-Vietnam. As you said, I have seen zero negative feedback on it and nothing but 4-5 stars from the bookish folks I follow! My TBR is so long but by end of year I want to re-read Fourth Wing & Iron Flame in preparation for Onyx Storm, as well as start the CC series in November with the It Gets Good Podcast book club!
Okay but the first book in the ACOTAR series doesn’t do it justice!!! Please please push through at least till the second one!! (A court of mist and fury).
I seriously cannot believe that the year is already more than halfway over! It goes so fast when there's a never-ending TBR list you want to get through 😅 Darling Girls & The Great Alone are both on my TBR, i'm hoping to Darling Girls this summer, since the US cover is giving summertime to me. Currently reading Wild Love and I'm LOVING it so far 💗
I read love redesigned and never read dreamland billionaires! They’re spin off series of each other so you get mentions of people in dreamland billionaires but it’s not important to know who they are imo
I really enjoyed You With A View, however her latest "The Ex Vows" is phenomenal! Had me giggling kicking my feet, I can't describe how much I loved it. Absolute magic. Definitely a favourite of the year.
