Reading Thoughts

Author: Punichan
Genres: Fantasy, isekai, litrpg, adventure
Dates Read: January 5 - February 10, 2025
Format: ebook
Page count: TBD

Thoughts: Ugh I really love this series. I read the pre-pub on J-Novel Club, which is why I've finished it before the release date (March 12). Anyway, things got pretty interesting! I love that she's got Tarte with her now, and she even got Tarte and adventurer bracelet! It makes the story much more fun, though I do have to admit that all of the meows with Tarte's talking kind of get a little... hmm. Tiring? but it's not that big of a deal. Based on the synopsis I kind of assumed that Charlotte would be much further along on becoming a mega healer (I can't remember the class she's going for unfortunately LOL). But! I'm interested to see how it goes, and how the dynamics play out now that she has two new people in her party (jfc sorry I am so bad with names. I usually use a wiki or anilist to refer to names when I write these things but there's nothing on Anilist lol...

Anyway, I'd really like to see them increase their levels and do more dungeons in the next volume. And I hope that Charlotte is able to make some good progress on her class quest. It seems like things are going to start heating up and become more political, so I suppose we'll see what happens! I've already pre-purchased the next volume and chapters are going to start up again on the 24th. I'm pleasantly surprised that there isn't going to be a super long wait between volumes! I fully expected to wait a long time lol.

Author: Yuka Tachibana
Genres: Fantasy, romance, isekai, slice of life
Dates Read: February 6 - 14, 2025
Format: ebook

Thoughts: I watched the anime first and I LOVE the anime. A long time ago I tried to read these books and I couldn't get on with them because I had extremely high standards at the time, and also for some reason I just didn't like the writing style at the time. I'm glad that I gave them another shot though. Overall I don't mind these books. I think the writing could be better and the books could definitely be longer. ~150-180 per book feels really short and I feel like a lot of moments that I would like to see are really glossed over. I want more slice of life!!! The pacing makes it feel like it's moving quickly but slow at the same time? Because a lot of things are glossed over, it feels like a lot of time is passing. Things get skipped over - like we only see her go on two expeditions but at some point we're told that the monster levels have really died down and it sounds like she's been on a few.

Also ugh. I really like her romance with Albert, but I also kind of hate how extreme her shyness in regards to romance is? I guess I have this issue with a lot of anime/manga/light novels. Obviously not all stories are like that, but it's enough to where I just want to scream sometimes lol. I don't need things to move at a lightning pace, but it would also be nice if she didn't turn into an absolute mess whenever he compliments her or gives her a dashing smile.

Despite the complaines I do still enjoy myself most of the time. I just want more!!! And I am also disheartened to see that the author only really releases 1-2 novels a year, even though they're so short. I'm really not looking forward to catching up and waiting. But! I did notice that at the beginning of each novel, the author does a little summary! I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED THIS! Like especially if it's going to take forever between releases, having a summary to remind people what's happened so far is SO NICE. Anyway! I have four more volumes to go so I suppose I'll write my thoughts out for those once I've finished volume 9.

Author: Natsu Hyuuga
Genres: Mystery, historical
Dates Read: January & February 2025
Format: ebook

Thoughts: Man okay it's been like a week and a half since I finished these, and I'm also reading volume 14 right now so I may have forgotten what's in which volume. But!!!! Might I say, the end of volume 8? HOLY SHIT! lol. I mean, great plan on Jinshi's part. To prove that he'll never go against Gyokuyou, and to secure Maomao as his personal doctor (and potential wife) since she's the only one who knows about it. Personally I really like how their dynamic changes over the course of these volumes, and it's really nice to see Maomao realize she has some kind of affection toward Jinshi, but also acknowledge that she probably won't ever feel as passionately about him as he does about her. I really hope we see more developmnents in the coming volumes!

I LOVE Maomao working with the court physicians. It's such a great natural progression for her, and it was really interesting reading about her learning to do surgeries. I'm not sure how I feel about Tianyu. He kind of gets on my nerves a bit lol. But I guess overall he seems okay so far. Yao and En'en have definitely grown on me! I'm glad that Yao has come around and actually has a real friendship with Maomao now. I like seeing the three of them together, though man, things must be tough for En'en lol. A new favorite of mine so far is Lahan's Brother! What a guy lol. I loved the gimmick of not knowing his name for several volumes. Unfortunately I "know" his name now, but I've forgotten it... lol....

All of the i-sei province stuff was.. interesting. I guess overall it was fine? I think I preferred it when they were in the central province still because I was really enjoying Maoamo at the medical office and learning as much as she could before the trip. I sure learned a lot about insects though LOL. If only Shisui could have been there, I'm sure she would have loved it LOL. I got a bit stressed about Gyoku-ou, but I'm glad that things panned out and that Shikyou ended up not being a total failure. I LOVED that Rikuson got his justice in the end, though I sort of wish that he became the leader of i-sei. I think it would have been very good poetic justice, but I suppose it's fine the way it is now. I FEEL SO BAD FOR MISS CHUE! UGH! It really sucks that her right arm is pretty much useless now. I was really hoping for a medical miracle, but ofc I'm glad that she didn't die.

Volume 13 ended up being kinda shitty. I didn't enjoy the stories as much. Though I did appreciate the ones about Jinshi, Gyokuyou, and Maomao. I think those were the ones that redeemed it all for me. Anyway! I'm reading volume 14 weekly now. Which is both good and bad! I can't binge it all in a day anymore but Fridays are officially Maomao days! I watch the anime and then I read the latest chapter lol.

Author: Natsu Hyuuga
Genres: Mystery, historical
Dates Read: January 24 - January 28, 2025
Format: ebook
Page count: Each book is around 290 pages

Thoughts: Okay I'm going to be honest about volume 4 - I actually only read part of it, as I was reading the manga and the manga stopped somewhere in the middle of volume 4. Luckily the chapter names are the same, so I just continued on from there. Anyway! Man, I have really been burning through these. I actually really didn't enjoy the first volume when I tried it, and didn't enjoy the second one much either. I think because at the time I was SO obsessed with Ascendance of a Bookworm and I kept seeing people recommend Apothecary Diaries if you like AoB. So I thought they would be similar and.... they are definitely not lol. I think the only thing they have going for them in terms of similarity is the fact that both Myne and Maomao have obsessions - Myne with books, and Maomao with poison/medicine. I guess Apothecary Diaries sort of has a slice of life feel at times. Other than that...? Noooo. The writing style is totally different too.

The writing style of Natsu Hyuuga feels more detached and tbh I find it harder to feel emotionally invested in what's happening. Sometimes it switches to a quick second person style and then goes back to third person. It's almost like someone is like actually narrating the events of the book, instead of just feeling like I'm observing what's happening like I usually do with third person perspectives. I think I'm finally used to it though! I also like that the book flows nicer. In the first two volumes, it felt like a bunch of random short stories that somehow connected at the end. But now the story feels more coherent and the timeline of events makes more sense.

I will say too, the names confuse me SO MUCH. Maybe because I'm not used to a lot of the names, but also a lot of them are just like... one or two letters off. And sometimes when I read names I only read the first half of the name, but I definitely cannot do that here because I will get everyone confused. Lihua/Lishu/Lihaku/Loulan. Lakan/Lahan. Ayla/Aylin. Suirei/Suiren. ... anyway!! okay on to my thoughts on the actual plot of these books.

So I will say that I didn't love the plot in volume 4. I really wanted Maomao to be present for Gyokuyou's birth, and tbh the politics of what was happening with Loulan's family were a bit confusing to me. It's possible they would have been less confusing if I read the entire novel instead of the manga and then part of the novel, but oh well. I'm glad though that Loumen was brought back to the palace, and that Gyokuyou gave birth without incident. I also thought it was cute that Jinshi and Lakan essentially led an army to rescue Maomao. Poor Lakan never really got to see Maomao, but I'm sure Maomao preferred it that way. I'm also really happy that Suiren was able to be saved, and that Loulan is still alive out there somewhere. I really hope that we are reunited with her at some point.

I'm sad though that having Jinshi be recognized as the emperor's brother means that he spends less time with Maomao, and thus less time in the story. I really wonder if their romance is going to develop. I like that Jinshi is a bit more blatant with his feelings and his desire to actually wed Maomao, though um.. some scenes he's a bit.... pushy. I'm glad that Maomao knows how to stand up for herself in her own way though. I wonder if her feelings will change? She essentially said she feels some kind of affection for him, but doesn't really feel anything more than that. I guess we'll see how things develop. I really can't see her enjoying a life where she has a bunch of ladies in waiting and is basically forced to stay in one place. She's too much of a free spirited freak for that (and I say that lovingly lol).

I feel so bad for Lady Lishu and how much bad luck she's endured throughout her life. I'm glad Maomao has been there for her and has helped her, and same with Lady Ah-Duo (who is probably my favorite!). I love that Basen and Lishu basically fell in love at first sight, and I thought it was so heroic how he saved her! I REALLY hope that they end up getting married in a year!!! Anyway hmm... I think the white lady's name is Sotei if I remember correctly? Either way, I don't like her lol. Especially since she almost killed Lishu and for what?!?!? I'm really interested to see how things end up with her plot line, as I'm in the middle of book 7 and it's still connecting to even more stuff going on. I wonder too if it has something to do with the incoming insect plague?? I guess we'll find out!

Author: Akumi Agitogi
Genres: Fantasy, historical, romance
Dates Read: January 16 - January 24, 2025
Format: ebook
Page count: 170

Thoughts: Man I didn't love this one. I mean, I liked it enough, but it sure was stressful. I really didn't like what they did with Kaoruko's plot. I really wanted Miyo to have a friend that was a woman, and for them to understand each other and for her to remain Miyo's bodyguard/friend. It sucked finding out that she was trying to make Miyo jealous the entire time (even though there was really nothing to be jealous of because we all know that Kiyoka doesn't give a shit about other women except Miyo), and I hated that she was the one who rigged the defenses so that Usui could get in. It just felt like idk.. a waste? Like the author spent all this time trying to build up that it's unfair that women are treated poorly even though their unit is supposed to be a meritocracy. And showing how much that they both had to endure in terms of the other soldiers treating them like shit and making comments about how they should be cleaning or whatever the fuck. And then to have the ONE female soldier betray them all? Idk. I know she felt like she "had" to, but it still sucked.

I guess it was nice of Miyo to still feel for her and still want to be her friend after it all. And I'm glad that the other soldiers at least acknowledged that Miyo wasn't useless and that she was willing to sacrifice herself for all of the other soldiers. But still... meh. Idk. Maybe I just related to Miyo too much for this whole book. Just like... agonizing about whether or not you really know someone, feeling so depressed and jealous about someone else having a relationship with them that you feel is better than yours or stronger or something. Feeling like maybe they're better off with them and not with you... ugh. It didn't even occur to me that Kaoruko was purposely trying to make Miyo jealous, and it just made me so mad when that was revealed. I get that Miyo forgiving her shows how "strong" Miyo is and how Kaoruko wasn't all bad (and to be clear I don't hate Kaoruko herself - overall I like her character and her demeanor), but there's part of me that also can't help but feel like Miyo's trauma has affected her so deeply that she basically has to fight for scraps in a friendship instead of being able to choose people who won't hurt her. But who knows, I'm probably just projecting, since I'm sort of dealing with a similarISH situation myself LOL.

Author: Yuji Yuji
Genres: Fantasy, romance
Dates Read: January 22, 2025
Format: ebook
Page count: 209

Thoughts: Bleh. This one started out interesting and then just turned more and more annoying as it went on for me. I liked the premise a lot - a girl is falsely accused of plotting to kill the saint, so every time she's executed, time rewinds for her. When it's the 100th time she's killed, she suddenly gains the power to hear people's inner voice and it turns out that everyone likes her and their inner voices don't match their actions or what they're saying out loud. She then finds out that the saint is actually controlling everyone with her light magic. So yeah... that sounds like a really cool plot! But then it just turns... idk cartoony. None of the characters, including Alphina (the main character), feel three dimensional. All of the men feel cartoonishly in love with Alphina, and none of the jokes landed for me at all. I also just didn't enjoy the writing style. We had the present moment, but then they kept doing interludes of different characters that loved Alphina and the moment they were affected by her or whatever. Which is fine, but again idk... none of it felt truly interesting to me, except maybe Prince Lionett. I kept wanting to skip those sections because I didn't care.

Anyway, idk. This was one of those light novels that makes me question the quality of light novels in general and whether or not they're all shit. Obviously they're not - I love light novels. But man, it's ones like these that sour my mood lol. I wonder if it's the translation or if I just truly don't enjoy the author's voice/story. Either way, I won't be continuing on with this series.

Author: Akumi Agitogi
Genres: Fantasy, romance, historical
Dates Read: January 14 - January 16, 2025
Format: ebook
Page count: 214

Thoughts: In typical me fashion, I decided to read ahead because I couldn't stand where the anime left things and I absolutely needed to know what happened lol. Tbh I don't really have many thoughts on this. It was fine! I skipped over the second volume and decided to read the third, and that worked out fine for me. From what I remember, I feel like the writing has improved from the first volume? For some reason I remember not liking it very much. It could also be Miyo herself though lol. She's changed a lot and has grown a lot in her confidence and her powers, though she still has a long way to go in both departments lol. It's a little frustrating how slow on the uptake she is though, even in this volume (and in vol. 4 which I'm currently reading). But she's trying her best, it's fun seeing her change little by little.

I'm glad that her experience at the Kudo villa ended up being overall positive, even if meeting Kiyoka's mom was a bit.... awful. While at first I didn't like how she ended up doing chores and following along with whatever her mother in law (MIL) said, I think it really illustrated how different the situations were. Miyo was so much more confident in her abilities, and the servants were all so kind to her. She was doing chores by choice and out of a desire to get through to MIL, not because she was fearing punishment or harm. I am glad too that FIL stopped MIL from hitting Miyo, because that would have taken it to a much harsher level and also I don't think Kiyoka would ever forgive her.

Author: syuu
Genres: Fantasy, cozy, slice of life, romance, iyashikei
Dates Read: January 7 - January 14, 2025
Format: ebook
Page count: 284

Thoughts: This second installment was just as cute as the first one! I loved the addition of Lara to their little family, as well as Dale and Winter. I also really liked the focus on Olivia being an apothecary in this volume, and the stories of her helping cure/heal other humans and not just animals (though of course I do love the animal stories as well). I'm glad that the golden deer came back, and the fox helping Dale was so sweet, even if his intentions were purely motivated by food lol. I was really sad to see Louise go, so I'm a little aprehensive of whoever replaces her. I hope that they continue to support Olivia and help her when she needs it.

I really wish that there were more volumes out, but so far there's only two... I really hope that they continue publishing this because it's so healing. Some of the stories are bittersweet, but they are all still filled with warmth and coziness.

Author: syuu
Genres: Fantasy, cozy, slice of life, romance
Dates Read: January 5 - January 7, 2025
Format: ebook
Page count: 241

Thoughts: This was such a sweet story. I cried several times and just found it extremely heartwarming. The romance and subsequent marriage were a bit too fast for my liking, but honestly I feel like we get so few books where the main love interests get together and then we actually see their relationship afterwards, that this is welcome. I've already started the second book, so I definitely liked it! The chapters felt very episodic and for some reason the vibes and everything reminded me of Mushishi, even though I haven't seen that anime in a million years so I'm not actually sure if they are similar. I just remember Mushishi being contemplative and peaceful, and that's what this book felt like to me. A quiet, cozy book about a woman who can hear the inner voices of people and animals. There are a couple stressful moments, but they are quickly handled and aren't looming over the story for significant chunks of time. That to me is an important feature of coziness - there are a couple books I've read that people say are cozy, but then the main characters have some large thing they are avoiding/hiding from or some overarching problem that's always in the back of their minds, and it ends up stressing me the fuck out. I already deal with that enough irl!!! I don't want it in my cozy books!!!! Anyway lmao, yeah. Unfortunately there are only two volumes of this out in English, and tbh I'm not sure if there are more in Japanese either that are waiting to be translated. But I can only hope!

Author: Hisaya Amagishi
Genres: Fantasy, slice of life, reincarnation
Dates Read: January 3 - January 5, 2025
Format: ebook
Page count: 280

Thoughts: Another Dahlia installment! Tbh it took me forever to start this one. I kept putting it off and trying and not feeling it, but I was finally in the mood the other day! I think I'll read this one weekly too since volume 9 is currently publishing on J-Novel club. Anyway, this one is my favorite one yet! Now that it seems like Dahlia has more and more people at her side, her inventions are increasing at a pretty alarming rate. Honestly I'm having trouble keeping track of all of the characters, but it's still fun nonetheless. It seems like we finally got A LITTLE more progress on her romance with Volf, although not really. Poor Volf lol. I feel so bad for him, and yet I also think that things would move a lot faster if he actually said something more direct. I feel like Dahlia would never bring up romantic feelings for Volf (even if she was aware of them) because she's seen how rough his life has been with women harrassing him.

I really liked the addition of bringing up the medical uses for some of her inventions. We're introduced to Lord Bernigi in this volume and he has a prosthetic leg, and it was really cool seeing Dahlia immediately help him (and also put some of her newest inventions to work). It really shows how far she's come and how much more confident she is! It's really cool comparing how she was at the beginning of the series to how she is now. I'm really interested to see if we actually get introduced to real dangers that keep being brought up as possibilities. I wonder if one of those dangers will finally force Volf into action lol. It's almost cute how he thinks he can stay with her forever if she was his sister, as opposed to his wife lmao....

Author: Punichan
Genres: Fantasy, isekai, litrpg, adventure
Dates Read: January 5, 2025
Format: ebook
Page count: 207

Thoughts: Okay so I really loved this one! It starts out with main character, who is obsessed with an MMO in her real life and is very knowledgable about the game. Then there's a fade to black moment and she basically finds herself as the villainess of the MMO's spin-off dating sim, and regains her past life's memories. She uses her knowledge of the game to do all sorts of stuff! And yeah! I basically binged the first volume and the second one is releasing on J-Novel Club right now, so I get to read it weekly on Mondays, ohoho. But yeah, this one is great because while she does remember a lot about the game so she can move through the world doing the game's "quests" and stuff, there are also a lot of things that she doesn't remember or didn't experience before. So there's still new and fresh things for her to see and do. It's also nice seeing her help the people around her, and make friends, and avoid her ex-fiance. In typical otome villainess story fashion, it starts out with her fiance (who is the prince) dumping her for a commoner. The commoner in question is also just... cartoonishly horrible. I really hope we don't see much of them because I just... am not interested lol. But yeah! I'm really excited about where this goes. Oh, the unfortunate thing is that she gives up her name Charlotte for the name Sharon.... lmao. No hate against people named Sharon, but it just.... doesn't feel very fantasy T_T

Author: Honobonoru500
Genres: Fantasy, isekai, slice of life,
Dates Read: January 2 - January 3, 2025
Format: ebook
Page count: 386 in Vol. 7 and 316 in Vol. 8

Thoughts: Okay first of all I learned that I can subscribe to new volumes in a series via google books, so I'm doing that instead of buying these on amazon! Woo! (not that google is much better but like... I hate how horrible amazon is getting with ebooks and DRMs and shit).

Okay so to the story - the reason I'm combining these two volumes is that I read them back to back and idk it's just easier for me to talk about it all in one go. Though Honobonoru made these two volumes very distinct, there are smaller things that I'm not sure belong to which volume. Anyway... Volume 7 is a more cozy story that just follows Ivy, Druid, and co. as they prepare for and participate in what's basically a take/twist on Holi. There weren't any antagonists, and it was very sweet. I think this is the volume where Ivy and Druid officially become family, which was so so so sweet and definitely made me cry. We also got to see what happened to Ivy's family, and I'm really curious if Ivy is ever going to meet up with her sister, or at least let her know she's alive. Volume 8 goes back to having a bigger plot again. Ivy, Druid, & co. are in a new city with a summoning circle somewhere that removes everyone's fear, and has also altered their memories a little. I really like the new people that they meet (though there are so many that I'm having trouble keeping track of who is who and remembering everyone's names...) and I love seeing Ivy's slimes help people.

I really love the tamer plot point where we find out that slimes are becoming less powerful, and they think it's because tamers are used to controlling/taming their monsters by force instead of building up a bond of mutual trust and respect with their slimes. I think it'll be really cool to see how that changes in the future, and hopefully there's more research done and Ivy gets to find out more about her slimes! I always feel so bad for her because she and druid are basically winging it lol.

Anyway, I really think either Honobonoru's writing has improved, their editor/translators have improved, or maybe a combination. Because these last two volumes were so much more enjoyable. While there are still a bunch of repetitive things in the story (like someone will say something and then it basically gets dumbed down/simplified even more in the very next sentence), it didn't feel as overbearing as it usually does. I suppose it could also be my mood lol... but I'm just going to pretend like the writing is getting better. Ugh, I really can't wait for the next volume. The author usually does two book arcs so hopefully everything gets fixed up in the next one. On that note though, we've started to hear more about the capital city and the more it gets brought up, the more it sounds like an incredibly unappealing and unsafe place. I know it's Ivy's goal but man... I hope that they can add someone else to their party, or idk Ivy gets much stronger or something. I'm worried for her with how things are right now.

Author: Riko Saiki
Genres: Fantasy, isekai
Dates Read: December 25, 2024 - January 1, 2025
Format: ebook
Page count: 260

Thoughts: Henceforth I'm not doing ratings anymore! I'm adding genres instead, and I'm just going to continue on. Some books are just hard to rate because the writing might be worse than another book but I like the story a lot, or idk shit like that. ANYWAY.

I really didn't love this one. I was browsing through J-Novel Club and saw that this one had the "inventions" tag or something, so I was like wow, great! Maybe it'll be like Ascendance of a Bookworm, m favorite series ever!! W R O N G. They basically skipped all the good shit! The main character, Tafelina, has basically already invented everything. So the main story is basically her going to school and being overpowered, but not even in a fun way. The antagonists are cartoonishly bad, there's like literally nothing Tafelina is working toward overall. There are a couple fun scenes, like her setting up her attic room, or her searching for the kidnapped children. But other than that, the story felt bland and all of the characters felt very bland. I would have liked it better if it was set before school and we got to see her actually invent/do things, or even just beating up monsters in the forest. Instead we got.... a shitty school setting and her and everyone just talking about the cool things she did.

Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Rating: ★★★★★
Dates Read: December 12 - December 22, 2024
Format: ebook
Page count: 385

Thoughts: I loved this so much! I for some reason thought that there would be something "wrong" with it because I had seen some negative reviews, but I'm glad that I ignored them and pushed on. This book is exactly the kind of book I love to read. Peaceful (mostly), found family, setting up a cute shop in a small town, romance, etc. etc. etc. There were a couple stressful events around the 60% mark and a bit later on, but I'm glad that they resolved themselves peacefully, because oh man did those parts get my heart rate up a bit! This is so great as a standalone, but ugh I honestly just want to spend more time with the characters and seeing everyone heal the island further and watch everything change for the better. It was just very lovely. In the author's note she says that she wanted the book to feel like drinking a mug of hot chocolate, and I really think she captured that feeling.

Also, the cover is just SO gorgeous. Hmmm. So goodreads categorized this as romantasy for the 2024 choice awards and idk, I don't really think of it as romantasy? It felt more like a cozy fantasy with a (bigish) romantic subplot. More like, I think that if you deleted the romance aspect of it and just made Kiela and Larran friends, the story would have still worked very well.

Anyway, I was going to write a bunch of caveats about how yeah, some of the characters aren't super three dimensional and blah blah blah plots and whatever (I was just skimming a review while writing this). But you know what? Fuck that. No caveats! I really had a great time other than the few stressful moments! I would like to live on this island please. Thank you.

Author: Nathan Lowell
Rating: ★★★★✭
Dates Read: September 29 - December 19, 2024
Format: Audiobook
Page count: 12 hours, 10 minutes

Thoughts: So! I listened to this over a long period of time, mostly when I went around my neighborhood walkies lol, but I still feel like I actually remember a lot more about this than I typically do about books. Overall I enjoyed the narrator and I liked the different voices he did for the different characters. He was very good at doing Shackleford's voice, lol. But yeah! This was a relaxing book for the most part. There were some times where I think I felt a bit stressed out (basically every experience with Naomi), but luckily they were a bit spread out. I think the only thing that really bothered me about this book was how Naomi was introduced. I wasn't a fan of how the author described her, but she seems to be the only woman described that way in the book, so I suppose it's fine?

I remember reading a tiny bit of a review before I finished the book that said that a lot of the "action" happens when Roger isn't in the room. And that's definitely true, but it also didn't bother me that much. I think the book would have maybe been a bit more convoluted that way, and this way just felt much more "accurate" to what Roger's experience would actually be like. One thing that delighted me every time was when Roger would do his "Jeeves bow." It just made me chuckle lol.

I really like how they wrapped up the issue with the amulet. Though the ending of the entire book felt a bit rushed to me. I would have liked to see a more satisfying conclusion to them updating Shackleford house and seeing what they do with it.

But yeah, all in all, I enjoyed this one! I didn't expect to feel captivated the entire time but I really was. Very cozy, very slice of life. I'll probably add this into my regular rotation of audiobooks to play when falling asleep.

Author:Deborah Harkness
Rating: ★★★✭☆
Dates Read: November 18 - December 11, 2024
Format: ebook
Page count: 594 pages

Thoughts: Man, this one took me forever to read. I feel like I read it in bursts, depending on how interested I was in what was happening. There was a point about 60% of the way through where I thought, "fuck, should I even keep reading?" but I'm glad I stuck with it because right after that, things got really juicy again lol. Anyway, this felt like a more interesting and mature version of Twilight. And I make that comparison not just because this book is about vampires (and witches, and daemons), but because there are scenes that feel like they were lifted straight from Twilight lol. I don't know if this is one of those books that started off as fanfiction or if the author just really liked Twilight and took heavy inspiration from it. Either way, they amused me more than they annoyed me, so whatever I suppose.

I think the pacing felt a bit off on this one, though it wasn't the worst thing in the world. There are just a lot of places where the plot slows down heavily and there's a lot of academic talk and a lot of not doing much. Which is fine! I don't mind when things slow down and we get a chance to know the characters. There were just times when that felt a bit heavy handed and it just felt... sooooo slow lol.

I'm glad I didn't read any reviews before reading this because it seems like a lot of the ones on the main page of goodreads are all bad lol. I do think a lot of them make good points, but overall I did enjoy myself. I think the world is interesting, the magic is really interesting, and I really like the characters. I think what helped me like it too is that I actually decided to read this book because I watched two episodes of the tv show and thought it looked cool. Then I decided that I wanted to read the book before finishing the TV show lol. So it helped having some visuals of characters and the setting already in my head when I started reading, and it just made it feel a bit more immersive for me (I do have imagery in my head when I read but it's not as detailed if I don't have specific images ahead of time).

All in all I will probably try out the sequels! I'm interested to see where this goes and to see Diana get stronger. Although looking at the synopsis of the second book, it looks like it's going to be less of a training arc and more Matthew stuff so... idk that's a little disappointing, but I guess we'll see. I'm not sure when I'll read it - I have it on hold at the library and the next one isn't available for 5 more weeks. Not sure if I'm curious enough yet to buy it.

Author:: Mashimesa Emoto
Rating: ★★★✭☆
Dates read: November 12 - November 17, 2024
Format: ebook
Page count: 256

Thoughts: So, my main issue with this is how I feel with most light novels I've tried to read, aside from Ascendance of a Bookworm, and that is that the writing just feels simplistic and repetitive. The author will write something in a pretty simple way, and then "explain" it in the next sentence. Sometimes it's something I can overlook, and sometimes it feels irritating. During this particular volume there were definitely parts where it annoyed me and parts where I didn't mind at all.

That all being said, I feel like there was a tiny bit of relationship progress between Mell and Zara, which was good to see. I saw on Anilist that this series only has 7 volumes, so I'm curious to see if they're actually going to get together by the end of it or if they'll just live as besties forever lol. Mell is one of those characters who is totally oblivious to her own feelings so... I guess we'll see. At the rate that things are happening right now, it doesn't really feel likely.

This volume introduced a new character, Ciel Aiskoletta. And a cute little radish freak named Komerv who I love. Anyway, Ciel is... interesting? He doesn't particularly stand out aside from never taking his helmet off, so I'm not sure how to feel about him. His presence feels very temporary to me, and I was really surprised that he moved in with Mell and Zara. It felt very random, so, idk. I hope he becomes more of a staple character, because right now he just feels like he's just... there.