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Rachel

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https://www.goodreads.com/rachellynn2010

Rachel’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (221)
currently-reading‎ (2)

read‎ (296)
did-not-finish‎ (1)

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Rachel is Currently Reading

Rachel is currently reading

House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3)

by Sarah J. Maas (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading, re-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in March 2024

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Rachel said: " ️⭐⭐ ️1/2
This hurts. 😕
I finished this nearly a month ago and it's taken me this long to find the courage/resolution to post this review.

This rating has been devised from my own system where HOEAB is basically 1,000 ️⭐s. 😆 The first book of this seri ️⭐⭐ ️1/2
This hurts. 😕
I finished this nearly a month ago and it's taken me this long to find the courage/resolution to post this review.

This rating has been devised from my own system where HOEAB is basically 1,000 ️⭐s. 😆 The first book of this series is incredible. INCREDIBLE. And so the bar has been set high.
This book unfortunately missed the mark.

I want to acknowledge that SJM is a talented and fun writer who is able to do things I could only dream about, so it feels terrible to give less-than-stellar praise. However, it also feels wrong not to acknowledge all the times throughout reading this book that I felt:
1. Like I just wanted to get it over with. 😬
2. WTF moments at sudden info reveals that felt toooo convenient and kind of made up on-the-fly just to fill or fix an immediate situation or help wrap it up.
3. Characters were just being abandoned (✋ Fury and Juniper here) or not fully fleshed out. Were there just too many players on the field to adequately tie up all the loose ends nice and neat in 3 books? Not sure... 😐 but did not enjoy...
4. The crossover was RIDICULOUSLY underutilized. I think that pissed me off more than most things. We get this awesome tease at the end of HOSAB, and then we spend (I forget the exact percentage, but it was A LOT) what felt like FOREVER wandering around underground with only Nesta and Azriel (not really complaining, but kind of) and that's it??! Why????! Do I feel that all of this is setting up future crossovers in future books in other series? Of course I do. But that doesn't excuse leaving us high and dry here.
5. Bryce was vacant. I didn't feel connected to her snarky character at all. I get it. She's super powerful and smart and has Hunt and her friends and always has a plan yadda yadda. I just couldn't feel any depth or growth in this one.
6. That I read a lot of the same passages OVER AND OVER. I skimmed A LOT. BECAUSE I COULD! There was nothing to lose except time from my life that I could be using on my TBR pile.

Overall, I'm glad I read this series. I'm glad I got to know these characters. I'm also glad it's over. 😊 I wish this last novel had gone in different directions plot-wise, and I wish the characters had been handled differently. I think my time in the SJM universe(s) may be over. I've enjoyed her stories and style of writing up until this point but for this book I just....really struggled, and no one is more upset and surprised by that than I am. I'll still suggest this series to people because the first book by itself is worth everything. And if you like her writing you will enjoy this series in some fashion. 🥰
...more "

Mar 19, 2024 09:20AM · see review

Rachel is currently reading

Of Darkness and Light (The Bound and the Broken, #2)

by Ryan Cahill (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jan 07, 2026 04:24AM

Rachel’s Quotes

“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

tags: humor

1324 likes

“Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

tags: dreams

2485 likes

“Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.”
― Rabindranath Tagore

433 likes

“Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

tags: greatness

3746 likes

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

tags: inspirational, life, philosophy

5951 likes

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