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Releasing The Gods (The Titan's Saga #1)
Releasing The Gods (The Titan's Saga #1)
Leia Stone | 2019
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This review and more can be found at my blog

https://aromancereadersreviews.blogspot.com

A Romance Reader's Reviews

This has been borrowed from the Kindle Unlimited Library.

So this has a pretty quick start. Maisy is celebrating her twenty first birthday with her work colleagues on the beach and is double dared to go up the cliff to the haunted cave at its top, cutting her hand on a sharp rock on the way up. Tripping as she enters the cave, her bloody hand presses against the rock wall and the wall opens to reveal an almost seven foot mountain of a man - Cronus, a Titan - who's been imprisoned for the last 1000 years. After freeing the Titan she now finds herself with a complicated life bond connecting them together meaning they can't be more than five feet apart without agonizing pain which leads to some fun scenes.

I like how the authors integrated social media into this. It is a very big thing in the world today so to see a character who uses it regularly and wants to use it to become famous was rather realistic but I have to admit the self proclaimed hashtag queen used far too many hashtags mentally for me.

Also I think Maisy's name changes how it's spelt somewhere in this book. According to the description above it's spelt Maisy but I couldn't truly tell you if it begins like that and changes to Maisey but since about the 50%-ish mark that's how I've noticed it's been written.

I enjoyed this despite the #hashtags and will be continuing the series when more have been released.
  
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
2019 | Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Beautiful to look at
I never got to see this film on the big screen, which I'm rather sad about now considering how visually stunning it is. The effects in this are beautiful and simply amazing, and I really think this film is worth watching purely for these alone. It's just a shame the story is a little weak.

You can't fault a film that has Christoph Waltz in it, who is wonderful as always. The rest of the cast too are good although I think some of their characters are let down by the story. And this is the big problem - the story is rather weak. It makes sense to a point, but it seems rather lacklustre and is full of silly character actions and blink and you'll miss it deaths. The romance side too is very OTT and cheesy.

The story is also majorly letdown by the anticlimactic ending and this is my biggest issue. The film seems to build up to wait promises to be an exciting ending and instead just falters and winds down unnecessarily, where they've obviously decided to do a sequel baiting ending rather than giving us all the ending we probably wanted to see. Personally I was rather enjoying this film and would've happily watched another half an hour of them wrapping the story up satisfactorily rather than cut short with disappointment. Even the star name cameo couldn't make the ending better.

This is undoubtedly an amazing looking film and rather entertaining, it's just a huge shame about the ending. If it had been different I would've scored this higher.
  
Dark (Blood Moon, Texas Shifters #1)
Dark (Blood Moon, Texas Shifters #1)
Kat Kinney | 2019 | Paranormal, Romance
8
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Dark is the first book in the Blood Moon, Texas Shifters series and it introduces us to a world where shifters and vampires are not the best of friends, where you can be turned by sex or a bite, and where the thunderstorms are FIERCE!

The story itself is a simple one. Unrequited love, up-and-coming band, kidnappings, stalkers, silver addiction, did I say simple? The world-building is fulfilling enough as it is set in contemporary Texas (as you might have guessed from the series title!). Although I have never been, it was easy enough to 'see' this world.

If I had any complaints, I would mention the transitions in some of the scenes. A couple of times, I was confused between what was actually happening and what had already happened but was being remembered. Another time was right at the start. Was Hayden speaking to Ellie in the car or was she remembering the conversation?

Told from the first perspective from both Hayden and Ethan, this was a fast-paced story with plenty of action to balance out the blooming second-chance romance between our two main characters. I would love to know more about Ethan's brothers as I wasn't sure at the end just what was happening but that's probably just me.

A great start to a new series by a new-to-me author but one that I hope to continue with. Definitely recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
A River of Crows
A River of Crows
Shanessa Gluhm | 2023 | Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Being kept on my toes here was a very good thing!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Once in a rare while, I step out of my comfort zone and read something that isn't romance of any description. And once in an even rarer while, that step is a very good thing.

Because THIS surprised me, and I can't pinpoint why!

For a long time, I could not see where this was going, and the path it did take was very much how I did NOT see it going! Being kept on my toes here is a very VERY good thing!

What happened to Slaon's brother all those years ago is made perfectly clear, just not for a time, and something one of the minor characters said pinged my radar. Wrongly, as it turns out, but still.

I can't go into too much detail, because it would spoil this for you and I really don't want to do that!

I really enjoyed the way it all came together, both then and now. I liked hearing from all the important characters, even the bad guys, before, during and after.
I really enjoyed the way this was written, told in 1988 and 2008. Each time change is clearly headed, and titled with the person it is talking about.

This appears to be the author's second book. At some point I'd like to go back and read their first book. I shall certainly read MORE of this author in due course.

4 very VERY good stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere