welcome to the cringe zone !!!!

i like to read shiver she/they

[slowdripsunrise]

currently reading: wouldn't you like to know 🤨

pinned eye guess ummmm hi i am shiver i talk about reading here this will probably be mostly my thoughts and fanart smile

PRETTY PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT THE BONE HOUSES... LIKE PLEAAAAASE

follow from my main mostly - @amphitritebaby

f1 blog - @loseraffectionate

[tess-talks-inc]

people saying they love when a character haunts the narrative but they haven’t read The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (OOOOoooooOoooo you wanna read this book so bad OOOOOooooOOO)

[flower-seeks-the-moon]

my favorite ao3 writers be like this

[calm-before-the]

I have evidence that proves Stalin was secretly Québécois

[moon111111]

[slowdripsunrise]

netgalley review for The Iron Garden Sutra by A. D. Sui ! thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending me the e-ARC!

Getting it out of the way, i LOVED this. i loved the characters and their relationships and the horror elements and the space and sci-fi elements and everything in between.

The writing in this book was lovely and interesting and engaging. all of the descriptions of the ship and the greenery surrounding it were amazing.

i thought the romance was cute and not forced or thrown in. i thought the ending made sense and was sweet and i want to know more. AUGH. i'm not gonna say a lot because i don't want to spoil it but the vibes were awesome and i cannot wait for the apparent sequel !

[slowdripsunrise]

netgalley review for Wine for Roses by Emily O'Malley Liu ! thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending me the e-ARC of this book !

Wine for Roses is a very short, cute story about a rose gardener and a trustee of an old victorian mansion whose rose garden hasn't bloomed or grown a single bud in years. Our rose gardener is given an impossible task - make the roses bloom, and he'll be given enough money to cover the cost of his sick father's treatment and keep their rose business afloat.

Overall, i thought the story was fine and cute, if a little silly. the magic went largely unexplained, i would have loved more of that. the romance felt very rushed and i think it would have benefited with more story and plot to back it up and flesh it out.

My favorite parts were all of the gardening and logistics of the project. I very much do not have a green thumb, but i loved hearing about all of the tasks of gardening and the ways to make the flowers bloom. tbh, i thought the ending was cheesy and sweet and the solutions to their problems a bit obvious considering the title however. it was short i read it in basically a day once i got into it. a nice palate cleanser of a story.

i did also like the MS representation. i do not have MS, but i do get vertigo once in a blue moon so when that came up i basically went !!!!!!! throughout the whole scene. i also thought the little third act conflict if you can even call it that was a bit silly like. what actually does it matter but okay whatever sure.

[slowdripsunrise]

netgalley review for Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity ! thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC !

first reactions after immediately finishing the book: WHAT. in all caps posted on my storygraph. because yeah tbh WHAT. like i get it, i like it, but HELLO CLIFFHANGER. and the book isn't even out yet. so the sequel is gonna take forever. oh well she will be on my mind

this is a story about a girl who can see ghosts, and a saint of silence that collects secrets. when the girl goes to the saint to trade for a cure to the plague killing her and her brother, she is roped into the saint's schemes and plans of finding a ghost that haunts an old manor belonging to a rich family.

this story was incredibly interesting and engaging. the writing was lovely and all of the little concepts and such were fascinating. there were elements especially towards the end that were confusing, but i think if i reread them it'll make more sense. i was absolutely swept up in the story with our main character, because i remember her being smart ! and not at all passive in the plot ! so many books these days (not just these days older esp ya books do this a lot) the fmc does absolutely nothing the entire story even though she's supposed to be strong and smart and stuff. our fmc in Weavingshaw is not that at all. she is smart and strong, she does further the plot, and she also knows her limits. none of the whole "i'm the best [blank] in the world blah blah blah] and then we never see her do anything related to that at all. she knows what she's good at and what she isn't. i did also like the saint, not as much as leena, because hes a man, but i remember him being nice and not like. hulking brooding beast of a man. the romance was fun and didn't feel like it was thrown in just for the sake of it.

all in all, i'm excited for the next in the series and i hope this book gets the recognition it deserves !!

[slowdripsunrise]

book review time !! gonna do separates posts for each of the netgalley books, going under the cut !

first is hot for slayer by ali hazelwood and i do not remember this novella at all. it was fine 2 stars tbh. my first and probably my last ali hazelwood SORRY.

next is when the tides held the moon by vanessa vida kelley ! tbh i also don't remember a lot about this one but i did like it a lot ! the romance was cute, the writing was lush, the illustrations were beautiful ! i liked all of the characters and i thought the ending was sweet if a bit predictable but i got what i wanted and what i came for - a cute, fantastical, historical love story with real world themes and a happy ending

[v11chel]

Happy birthday to Junior over here

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netgalley book review time !!!! thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending me the e-ARC of Siren Says by Jennifer Herrera!

Siren Says is a lush story inspired and heavily influenced by Celtic myths and legends as well as all things plants! A cursed woman, estranged family members, and magical horticulture make up the core of this story in a fun mix of adventure and romance.

Honestly, this should have been right up my alley, and yet something about it fell flat. I didn't quite connect to the characters at any point, the feminism felt extremely surface level, and while i have absolutely no problem with ~questionable~ scenes in fiction, there was one that rubbed me the wrong way with how characters handled it/how the characterization was done. Not sure how spoilery i can get in here, but there aren't any content warnings on storygraph so a brief description for those curious and or wary - skip this next paragraph if you don't want to hear anything about it !

(Basically, FMC is given a drug she thinks is used for loosening up on a night out, similar to alcohol, but is actually an aphrodisiac and unknowingly drugs LI into a hot and heavy scene - this could have been fine if the character who had tricked the FMC into taking it had any real consequences other than the cold shoulder from FMC.... like. what was the purpose of having that other than weird unaddressed drama and some light smut)

The magic was super cool and yet wildly unexplained. Maybe I missed something, idk. The writing was beautiful at some points, and lackluster at most other points. Didn't really care for the FMCs obsession with LI almost immediately.

Also, minor thing, but there were WAYYYYYYY too many. not paragraph breaks but scene breaks.

...

like this. girl that shit is not necessary it seemed almost random. i probably had more to say right after i finished it (yesterday) but i've honestly already moved on and forgotten. sad. I do have a lot of other books to review i just figured it's almost easier to give less than positive reviews cuz i have more to say so i started with this one. meow

[dykekarkat]

neil almost getting killed on an exy court twice while being televised sounds like a lot until you remember who he is and u think “damn only twice?”

[p2ep]

Well i think the short guy should top

[partywithponies]

[partywithponies]

[caz-the-yarncromancer]

First time I see the full lyrics without it being take me to snurch (snail church)

[darrenpillowscriss]

What really makes this for me is that OP could have phoned it in on the chorus and just repeated the same fics, but no. They found a unique one every time. Class act.

[catmask]

tbh i do think that the concept of other people being viewed as "NPCs" and the growing inability to recognize other human beings as living things with thoughts and motivations is linked to the capitalistic need to scrub everything of what makes it challenging and alive, to turn everything into a consumable, to baby proof the entirety of the world and make it into the largest, coldest nest of individualist comforts where you never need to feel bad but you'll never feel warmth either

[jangling-girl]

i just became a brand ambassador for a 1,000 year old sacred grove

[jangling-girl]

who tf is adam parrish

[dementeddaddydexter]

Same energy

[slowdripsunrise]

DID I NOT REVIEW TO CLUTCH A RAZOR ????? bruh

under the cut

a while ago, i received a netgalley audiobook arc of To Clutch a Razor, the sequel to When Among Crows by Veronica Roth !

Loved this. obviously. its hard not to love it tbh i really loved the continued exploration of ala, niko, and dmitr !! this is probs gonna be short because its been a while and also what else should i say but just read it.

i thought the conversations around family and blood versus friendships and what you do with family members that you love, but you know would hate you and your friends because of their beliefs. very relevant to the current times and well. the book does answer this question !

5/5 stars from me !!!!!!