I'm pretty new to the romance genre, and I picked this one up for two reasons: one, it's based on a Reylo fanfic, and two, it was insanely hyped up on BookTube and BookTok.

I'll be blunt here—I don't think the book deserved the hype. I am by no means trying to take away from others' sincere enjoyment of this book, but for me, this felt like a rather run-of-the-mill contemporary romance novel. I didn't emotionally connect with our protagonist, Olive, as much as I would've liked, and I found the progression of her attraction to Adam to be a bit quicker than is my preference.

There was nothing inherently wrong with the book, and it did keep me entertained the entire time I was reading it! I just wished I'd liked the main characters better. I'm still interested in seeing what this author puts out in the future, so we'll see where that takes me.

This book was cute and a super-easy read. I picked it up and read it in one sitting if that tells you anything.

I don't generally read much of the YA romance genre, but I saw a TikTok describing this as the fake-dating trope where the boy buys the girl books to convince her to help him. Having finished the book, I can say that was a minuscule aspect of the true story told here, but it got me to read the book, so I can't knock it!

Ironically enough, if there was one thing I liked the least about this book, it was the romance. It felt a bit insta-love-ish on both sides, although it was believable enough to be enjoyable. That could be my preference for insanely slow-burned relationships speaking.

I don't have much to say about this one. It was cute! I'd recommend anyone interested to read it, but it didn't quite check all of the boxes for me.

I liked this sequel a bit less than the first, but I still enjoyed my time reading it.

This book is, very loosely, a retelling of Cinderella, which (even on the best of days) isn't my favorite fairytale. I'm more of a Beauty and the Beast kind of gal, thus the first statement. I liked Ember more as a side character in the previous book than the main character, which should tell you quite a bit. She didn't have any substantial emotional depth that connected me to her character.

I could talk a bit more in-depth about what I liked and disliked about this book, but I honestly just want to move on to brighter prospects. I wouldn't deter anyone from reading this, but I don't think I'd recommend it.

Almost to the end of this series, I've gone all the way through to the end. How will this end?

Just as good as the other books, no better, no worse. Perhaps there was a little more talking and interrogating than fighting, but it was still well balanced with action and development.

Just finished this. It was a very satisfying read, and I'm glad that I've read this series. There aren't many books left in the series, so that's a bummer. I'm not sure if I should read book 10 immediately after this one, or should I space myself out? Oh well, ignore my rambling please, let me get to the reviewing part. The characters were just as brilliant as ever, and it was very nice to see Malcolm again. The next book looks a little dull in comparison, just telling from the summary. Will and Halt were, as always, my favorites. I just love the close master/apprentice like bond between them. Although, between you and me, they're more like father/son. All in all, a very satisfying read, thinking on it more, I think I will read the next book straight away. Wish me luck. ta and ciao for now!

I absolutely LOVED this book! It was everything I look for and more, with action, adventure, questions waiting to be answered, and romance. A thing I loved/hated was that I liked Tobin much more than I liked Dai, he was just so gentle and sweet, it was horrible when she chose Dai (Then he had to run off and betray her) but that's just one of the things that makes this a good read. I'm super excited for the second, and I hope the author won't have us waiting too long!

This is the end of Harry Potter............. well, on to the next, and hopefully better, book.

The Hero and the Crown was what I needed it to be, which in my case, was something similar to Tamora Pierce and Mercedes Lackey's books. I've been in a weird place with my reading lately, where I don't want to consume anything outside of fantasy yet crave an insanely specific style of writing: That old-fantasy, coming-of-age, simple, and straightforward style of writing that I've come to know and love in Pierce and (to a much lesser extent) Lackey's books. McKinley provided that in this book, and (hopefully) I can turn to her bibliography for a similar feeling in future reading slumps.

Aerin was a lovely character to follow. Her (albeit imposed) self-reliance, gradual development, and growing confidence were gratifying to watch, though

how McKinley decided to express it was peculiar. We begin the story at a turning point in Aerin's life, then spend a good chunk of the book in an extended flashback, showing her childhood and eventual development into the character we first met. That odd timeline choice didn't turn me off from the book, but I see how it could.

A good chunk of this book was rather mundane, though still incredibly engaging. Even the moments of action and adventure we get are brief and told in a way that doesn't entirely feel real — perhaps because it doesn't to Aerin. For a book following a dragon hunter, we saw remarkably little of her escapades over the years. I would've loved to see more of that. I would've loved to see her develop her confidence through her successes, to learn more about herself through her failures. That might've made it an entirely different book, however. Perhaps one I might not have liked as much.

The ending was my one distinct disappointment. Considering the altered nature of Aerin's life through the events of her adventure, I would've loved to see at

least an epilogue that hinted at the events of her life after Damar. The lack of emotional weight or finality in the ending is why I rated this book four stars instead of five. It left me feeling as though I were ripped from a story left incomplete — one that would never be whole. Despite that, this book was a lovely ride and came at the perfect time to help me through this funk.

So, I gave this series another shot, and I can't say it was more effective than the last time I tried. I rated the first book in the series three stars, and Intrigues was much the same. I still don't connect to Mags as much as I have with previous Lackey protagonists, although he admittedly grew on me more through reading this book.

My main complaint is how this story started as something fun and light-hearted, then devolved into chaos and baffling events as the story progressed. Having finished the book, I must say: I hate both Bear and Lena! That is the most unexpected development of this novel, but I can't understand how they could've said such horrible things to Mags, yet, in the end, HE was the one who had to apologize!? Perhaps I'm suffering from a case of illogical protagonist sympathy: but if Bear exploded on me the way he did on Mags — Lena further twisting the knife by kicking me while I'm down (figuratively, of course) — I would never speak to them again unless the groveled. And that's not even accounting for the end portion of the book, where he had to PROVE HIMSELF to someone that had no reason to mistrust him!

Honestly, the whole thing was just a mess. I truly felt for Mags and what he went through, but the resolution of those struggles was unbelievable and left a bad taste in my mouth. Most miraculous of all, I still want to continue this series despite my disappointment in this book in the last. The only obstacle to that is that I quite literally HATE Bear and Lena, and I don't know if I can stomach Mags's continued friendship with them in the coming books. Time will tell, I suppose. Maybe I'll pop a Dramamine and hope for the best.

Update: I sat on it some more and decided this book doesn't even deserve three stars. It has now been relegated to two.