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)

books-sampled‎ (105)
favorites‎ (38)

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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

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

tags: mindfulness, miracles

1145 likes

“You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world.”
― Woodrow Wilson

tags: change-the-world, purpose

92 likes