charlene ✿ > Recent Status Updates

One of my favourite tropes is a blacksmith fmc!! I am so seated for this!

Its midnight. It’s 20 degrees celsius (70F). The ceiling fan is on high. I have 100 pages left. And I’m sweating not from heat but from what is to come…
Nothing good is going to happen in the next 100 pages. I’m going to bed so I can read the rest in the daylight so when I inevitably sob my eyes out, the sun will help sooth my spirit when the depression sets in.

okay I've slept on it and I've prayed on it and I have decided that if I still kinda don't give a shit about anything by Chapter 21 (page 324) I will dnf 🫠😞

I need a break from Katabasis. Let me read an arc that I know I will love 😌

Not to be a bitch but Alice kinda sucks.
I’m trying to be a cool girl who doesn’t mind that the main character is unlikable as long the book is good but Alice is so unlikable idk if I can ignore that or accept her as she is.
I am 40% in. I have 5hrs left in the audiobook. I will survive this.

Alice is so American 🤢

I need to finish this book. If i tell the internet than maybe I’ll hold myself accountable and do it in a reasonable time.

she’s just an oppressed girl
he’s just a guy doing the oppressing
can it be any more obviousssss
she’s a healer but also has magic
he’s the heir but also progressive
what more can I say

i mean it feels like books I’ve read before but worse and with bad dialogue. idk I hope it gets better. 🫥

oh no I’m not convinced by this Carmilla. She doesn’t move me. 😔

wait why did no one tell me this was a Carmilla retelling?! Carmilla was one of my fav books of 2024!!
gatekeeping has gotten real out of hand.

I love this book. It’s gothic, atmosphere and bloody. It’s really unfortunate (and quite hilarious) that this book has very little to do with Macbeth.
Great gowns. Beautiful gowns. Macbeth this is not lol.

half way, not convinced yet.
the plot is convoluted, i dont really like the main romance between Fox and Brandt, and i dont feel excited to keep reading.
i can see this as a tv show and that would be a cool
as a novel, it hasn't wowed me like Atlas Six.

my first problem is that i dont like Brandt. I dont want him to end up with Fox. I want them to never see each other again, and for Fox to feel happy and have love in his life outside of that man.
my second problem is that this book is marketed as a vampire who has a ghost problem and asks a medium (Fox) for help. it is barely about the vampire with the ghost problem. it is really about Fox, his missing daddy, Death.

everything is ramping up. the end is near.

agendas are now slowly being revealed, lives are at stake and Lennon finally has a purpose, and feels significant and needed.

sweet baby Dante is still lying. The school is probably going to use Lennon like a juice box and suck all her magic dry for the school.

I’m worried that this feels like it’s maybe not a standalone.

current rating: 4
prediction rating: 3

once again i am reading a book because its almost due at my library. will i ever change? no. am i excited? yes.

i think that if i didn't read and love Carmilla, that i wouldn't love this book as much as i do now. im annotating the shit of my physical copy

ive read the first two sherlock holmes stories, i have watched all episodes of Elementary, Sherlock and House and the two robert downey jr movies so i feel very prepared for this sherlock-y story.
also my library book is due in two days

I found a signed copy at the op shop which fees like an omen of this book being shite 🫣
The reserves at my library are up to 40 people deep so I am just blessed this fell into my hands at the bargain price of $6.
Currently this book reads like an episode of Midsomer murders which is an hilarious comparison and exactly my type of bullshit 😌

spooky szn starts with a nightmare bi girl with sharp knives and sharper teeth 🖤

i was so ready for this to be dogshite but i am so sorry im locked in!! i love it! its giving whimsy! and you bitches hate whimsy!! but not me!!

I really hope this doesn’t end like Good Girls Guide to Murder when the answer to the mystery is to do crime omg pls no

The British accents in this audiobook are so bad that I forgot they were meant to be British accents. Why they got a voice actor who can’t do both American and British accents is so funny and also insane

i am struggling to figure out why this book is labelled as adult fantasy.
I think this should have been marketed as YA not adult. The language is too simplistic, its not violent nor sexual, and swearing seem minimal. Even the plot is reminiscent of a YA story, not interact or complex like an adult high fantasy novel.

Ophelia might be annoying but I would be too if I was raised in her family. Also the older sister rep is so accurate. She reminds me of my older sister and how she handles confrontation. I would have said the most scathing rude things to these people but she is mostly calm and professional lol good for you but also pls tear them new arseholes they all deserve it.

dont u fucking dare mrs. blake. DONT U DARE TOUCH A HAIR HIS HEAD omg i will never emotionally recover from this if she does what i think she will do....

at halfway
my current (updated rankings)
#1. Callum 🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾
#2. Nico 🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾
#3. Gideon 🫶🏾
#4. Dalton
#5. Libby 🍅
#6. Parisa 🍅
#7. Tristan 🍅🍅🍅
#8. Reina 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅

current rankings:
#1 Callum
#2 Nico
#3 Gideon
#4 Libby
#5 Dalton
#6 Parisia 🍅
#7 Atlas 🍅🍅
#8 Tristan 🍅🍅🍅
#9 Reina 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅

*🍅 = my level of disdain and anger when they show up or it’s their chapter. just imagine a lot of me booing in my room.