Book Rec - The Renegades Series By Cara Dee

I thought Rhun was the love interest. I was very confused

So I just started reading Crescent City after seeing it being recommended here and there. I knew basically nothing about it though other than getting the sound bite Ruhn Danaan crown prince of the Valbaran Fae on tik tok a lot. Tik tok made it seem like he would be the love interest and I got so confused when he was just introduced as Bryce’s half brother😂

I was like either this is a fake brother situation or this is a whole different book than I thought😅

The Graham Effect by Elle Kennedy

I devoured this in like two days. It was a great read and I love that it was more about the couple growing as people together and that the problems were mostly external. Like no stupid third act breakup just for the sake of it like I feel like too many romance books do.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fun to get the little cameos from the OG generation too.

Also, Ryder was top tear! I’m obsessed with him. He’s just my type of book guy.

I had like one thong that annoyed me, which was the fight between Gigi and Ryder where she pushed him to talk about why he was upset and he didn’t want to and then she proceeded to not tell him why she was upset. Like he’d snapped at her which he apologised for, but she was still angry with him for not opening up and just expecting him to know that was the reason she was mad.

She should’ve just communicated that to him. Like dude, come on. She knows he’s not a talker. That he’s not used to sharing shit. Don’t expect him to be a mind reader.

The talk he had with his teammates girlfriend should have been had with Gigi.

But other than that I didn’t have any major annoyances or anything.

I just get frustrated when there’s poor communication😅

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)

Fourth Wing - Graphic audio|I have some.. thoughts

So I’ve been listening to Fourth Wing and will do Iron Flame too in preparation for the Onyx Storm release next week and I chose the graphic audio version since it sounded like a cool concept and I also didn’t vibe with the narrator of the normal audiobook from the sample.

Overall I’m really enjoying it, but there are some things that definitely takes me right out of the story every now and then

- Xaden’s voice actor is not great. He has moments where lines are delivered very well, but mostly he sounds kinda obnoxious and flat. Like he said “I’m on my way” or something to that effect in which the narrator says he had an edge of panic in his voice right after and he definitely did not. Like he had no emotional inflection in his voice at all and this tends to happen often.

Xaden is supposed to be cocky and arrogant, yes, but he’s also charismatic and confident and the voice actor doesn’t really pull that off. Like I said he just aounds obnoxious a lot of the time, like one of those trustfund baby stereotypes… makes me cringe a lot. He does have some moments here and there that he really delivers a line well though, so it’s not all bad

- The excessive moaning when they’re just kissing. And Violet low key sounding like she’s being tortured when they’re doing the deed.

I was so taken aback when I got to their first kiss because the moaning was just too much. The second the kiss started they sounded like they were about to finish if you know what I mean… it just was so weird to me.

And their first time, as mentioned Violet mostly just sounded like she was in pain. She did have some parts that sounded like she was enjoying herself, but mostly it sounded like a torture scene and that made things very weird for me

- Lastly, Tairn. I’m disappointed in his voice. I wish it was grittier, like a bit more like the voice actor for Professor Kaori (don’t remember if that’s the correct spelling), but at least he delivers his lines pretty well. Like my only issue is the sound of the voice, not the voice acting itself.

All this being said, I still am enjoying it a lot (I’m almost at the end now) and I will be doing the graphic audio version of Iron Flame too.

Have you listened to the graphic audio version? What did you think about it?

Just finished Quicksilver by Callie Hart and my god it was good! Why do I keep finding these great unfinished series so I have to wait for more?😅

I forgot how much there was I got frustrated by in Iron Flame, like Varrish who fills me with rage in every scene he is in and Jack fucking Barlow.

I also do get fed up with both Violet and Xaden with their communication issues, but I try to remind myself of how young they are and that helps. Although Violet is the one who annoys me the most with all the hypocrisy and the full disclosure bullshit.

I think it bothers me the most because she has grown up in a military environment so she should know that some things aren’t for everyone to know. She is fine with Mira telling her “you can’t know that, it’s classified”, but it’s not fine when it’s Xaden, like because she’s in love with him she should get to know things that aren’t his to tell?

He also has a bunch of things that he could have told her, but he has his whole you have to ask thing going on which is also annoying.

It’s kinda hard for them to know how to be in a relationship with healthy communication though cause they don’t exactly have a lot of great examples around them😅

Still love this book though and I’m beyond excited for the release of Onyx Storm next week!

Every time Violet says full disclosure I get so angry😂

Currently Reading

I just plowed through the first two books in this series and am just staring this third one. I’m obsessed!

The Hunt by Z W Taylor, to buy or not to buy?

I’m so conflicted. Book 2 comes out pretty soon and I don’t know if I want to get it or not.

Here’s the thing, I read the original trilogy when they were wattpad book and the third one was still being released.

I loved them, and have read them several times. The world and the characters just felt so immersive and the story line was so good! Yes there were parts that maybe needed a bit of editing, like grammar and just redundant sentences and stuff, but it was good!

When it was announced that it would become real published books I was so excited. I thought it would be the books just polished, you know? I pre ordered the paperback and couldn’t wait to dive back into this world.

It was like I wasn’t even reading the same story. It felt flat, drawn out and like nothing really happened in the whole book. And apparently it’s going to be a whole long series now instead of a trilogy which it was originally.

I found it hard to care about any of the characters, it was like all the life was gone from them. I just felt so disappointed. And I was honestly kind of bored the whole time. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I’d never read the originals, but alas.

I’m hoping the second book will be better, that I will like it more, but I don’t know. I’m so conflicted!

Anyone else have the same experience? Did you read the original wattpad series? What are your thoughts on the new version?

Ridoc is precious and must be protected at all costs!🥺❤️

Anyone else feel so hard for Ridoc when he felt the need to mention twice that just because he's the "funny friend" it doesn't make him any less capable for standing for the squad and also doesn't make him any less smart?

It actually absolutely broke me both the times he mentioned it

Life’s been a little rough lately and I wanted a comfort read, but also to crochet so I thought, I’ll get the audio book. The book in question being Red, white and royal blue. Listened to the preview and my god that is the worst choice of narrator I’ve heard in a while.

The dude sounded like he was bored out of his mind and way too old. I was expecting someone to sound like they were Alex’s age, but no, some middle aged sounding dude is what we got?

I was so disappointed, like I couldn’t even sit through the dull preview because the voice annoyed me so much.