Ina Reads > Recent Status Updates

Really enjoying this Graphic Audio production

Reread via Graphic Audiobook — surprisingly good narrator choices for all of the characters! I feel like I had a better time picturing the fighting scenes with the audio, but most of the romantic scenes were almost overacted for me personally and made me laugh. Will keep listening to these for rereads but switch to the original text for the final books in the series I haven’t read yet.

Also, Blake is a gem and I adore him. I’m glad I read Love & Other Inconveniences first or else I would be even more frustrated with Elliot and just ship Noah with Blake.

If I had read this a couple of years ago before I developed an interest in hockey, I really don’t know that I would have stuck with this. I’m enjoying it a lot but also super cognizant of the fact that the romance is almost just a pining blip in the background while the vast majority of it is like six+ years of hockey.

This is has very strong David/Jake vibes, with David’s panic and Jake’s head-over-heels sweetness, and I’m living my best life. Because I loved that dynamic so much but this one (so far) has considerably less angst

Quarter of the way in and we’re starting to see some promising character shifts — I just went from idly interested to locked in on Danny’s character, now I’m just waiting for Mike to click.

Partial reread, starting at about 40%. I just wanted to reread an angsty scene for some reason and that launched into torturing myself with a bunch of angst all day. I really need Dal Maclean to write more books (without infidelity, please, I beg) because I love her writing and find her stories absorbing, but this one wrecks me.

While there are *a lot* of problematic elements in this series, I feel like I’m picking up more on the author’s own critiques of war and factionalism this time. Even as a third reread, I don’t think I’ve come across an unputdownable fantasy series like this one since I first read it, with so many layers to peel back. I still feel like the shock factors are a lot, but no character’s actions are simplistic

I forgot how young these characters are — both in the “present” & when all of the preceding events kick everything into action. They’re only 20 and 26 here, which means they were basically babies (13 and 19) when they first went to war against each other’s families… no wonder they start off emotionally stunted.

I knew this book would break my heart and just totally wreck me, but the hits just keep on coming 😭

Absolutely stellar on audiobook. This is one of those series I know I’m going to end up owning in every format ❤️

The bonus scene just brings this novella to a whole new level. KD Casey is so good at intimate moments and emotional highs that perfectly fit the characters.

The yearning focused romance was lovely and you truly can feel the magnetic pull between Kadou and Evemer by the end. I also even grew to love a secondary character — Tadek — who initially irked me beyond reason. Now I’d really like him to get his own spin off book. Or Melek. Or Tenzin (an iconic scene stealer to rival Tadek). I wish the pacing had been more even to match the thoughtful characterizations.

I read 85% of this (as an ARC) in August 2022 and then got distracted by other things and decided to just wait for the print copy — flash forward to January 2023 and me jumping back several chapters because I remembered so little about where I left off. Overall, this was enjoyable but I think it would have been stronger if it was 100 or so pages shorter — the mystery was not substantial enough for the length.

“But you were always too quick to mourn your own ignorance. You never could have guessed that he had seen me.”

Omg, “me” is Gideon 😭❤️ She’s narrating the book 😭😭

It’s almost comical how different the two writing voices are and which one reads less… forced. Maybe the writing will level out as the story unfolds, but this is reminding me why co-authored books seldom work for me, particularly when I’m already familiar enough with an author to ping their voice/craft.

I’m kinda sad knowing Iris and Grant are going to break up, b/c he seems sweet.

Some of this dialogue feels very American, which is jarring

“No, not everyone. Some people have bad reactions to perfumes after all…” 😭❤️ Kotaro working with fragrances and loving them but being aware and thoughtful enough to not send everyone a scented wedding invite may be the most subtly sweet thing in this whole series for me.

I did grow to like Paris by the end of this and I appreciated the in-depth look at his anxiety, but I overall found the romance in this a little too b-plot. The ending just skirts into across the HFN line.

I’m starting to really struggle with Paris as a character, and I’m hoping this book course corrects *very soon*. I started off deeply relating to Paris’s anxiety, but I’m honestly starting to think Tariq deserves better. Not a great start to a romance that’s only on the first date!

According to the author’s note at the end volume 5 is the final volume??
I’m not ready 🥺😭

Tori 🥺❤️😂

“You gave me a photo of us in the snow, so here’s one of us in the sun.
Love, Charlie xxx”

IT’S RAINING ON MY FACE 😭❤️

This is taking a weird turn

Currently have only read the stories by Kosoko Jackson and KD Casey (both sweet but a bit too short for my tastes), which are the two authors I picked this up for. I may come back to this again later for the remaining stories, but marking this as read for now.

Huh. That escalated very quickly, which I did not anticipate from either of these two, tbh.

This romance is so quiet and soft, and I just keep waiting for a dead body to turn up and ruin everything 😅

Poor Nikias 😭

I wish I had a better sense of Hudson’s character, aside from him just being a rich guy with family drama. I’m not sure I see what Kian sees in him, and given the way Hudson is jerking Kian around, is making this a kind of frustrating read