maxarcreads's reviews
220 reviews

This was such a fun book I am giving it a 4.25. I will admit, it did start a little slow for me but only the first 25%. As the book progressed, it just got more and more entertaining. It had action, betrayal, steam, comedy and heart not just with the main characters but the side characters as well. I think the part I enjoyed most was how these demons are obviously evolving and don't really recognize it but are still trying to change but it really made for some funny moments that showed them how clueless they are. Like when Asmodeus starts to feel well feelings and he is trying to describe them to Evangeline and reading to him describe them and how clueless he was something I found really funny. Like this group of demons who call each other brothers but say we r demons so we don't actually have feelings for one another, but you can see they obviously care for one another and are a real family was funny and heartwarming. I also liked the author's message is that art can affect the soul of people and just like art evolves so can people and that the author didn't limit what could be termed "art" such as one of the demons talks about how he likes cooking but that isn't art but was corrected by Eva's mother that it was.
This is a book with a lot of POVs but it didn't feel overwhelming but rather really added to the story and my liking of a lot of the characters that makes me really excited for future books because I want their stories too because I am really invested in them as characters.
I really liked the chemistry and relationship between Eva and Asmodeus because even when his curse was lifted in his overwhelmed moments of other women he turned to her. All he really wanted when his curse was and was not in effect was to be with his brothers (though he denies it) and to be with Eva especially if they could be making music together and the fact, they had that to bond over was really sweet. 
Overall, I enjoyed the book, the characters (the side characters almost stole the show especially at the end) and I am excited for the next book as well. 

This book is about Eva who goes one night to a bar for a night out and meets a really hot guy, Asmodeus. But things get crazy, and they have to run out of the bar but then Asmodeus goes back to help his brothers. Well Eva decides to follow him back inside to make sure he is okay. And what she sees gives her the shock of a lifetime because there is no way what she saw is real. She has to be hallucinating right....?
The thing is that there is more to Asmodeus than what meets the eye. He is actually a Prince of hell and a lust demon who has escaped hell because he is just done with it all because the rules and expectations to being a demon just don't feel right anymore. So off to earth with his brothers to live without the rules of hell and discover who they really are. Which for Asmodeus, all he wants is to be left alone and just play music in peace, jazz music specifically. But then he is dragged out to a bar by his brothers he meets a beautiful violinist, who surprisingly sees him and wants to be around him as well. Why is that surprising for a lust demon? Well, he is under a curse that makes it impossible for him to experience his senses fully as well for other people to really see him. Makes for a lonely existence so you can imagine his Suprise when this little human can not only see him but likes him as well. While it may seem too good to be true, you can bet he is not letting this chance go even under the looming threat of hunters coming for them and dragging them back to hell. 

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I gave this a 3 because I finished the book. If this had not been a netgalley book I probably would have DNFed it. No shade to anyone who loves this book. If you love it, I am happy for you, but this was not the book for me and remember reading is subjective. 

I was so excited about this book as it sounded like a really interesting concept. I mean I haven't seen many books inspired by tarot elements, so I was excited for something new. I will admit I am not familiar with tarot and tarot cards so maybe there was more elements inspired by it, but I could not identify them at all. I saw three things that made me thing of tarot cards, the name of the two kingdoms and one character was called four so that made me think that was an important element in tarot. In my opinion when you are going with something like tarot that is nuanced and not widely understood when you use the elements, they have to be a little more in your face otherwise for readers like me it just felt like throw away elements put into the book. Also, this a plot where she is supposedly like the chosen one to save this kingdom but as I was reading the book I completely forgot that was the plot and this was a fantasy magic book because there was little magic or fantasy. If this was a time travel book to the past, I could have equally believed that and the fight to save the kingdom felt like an afterthought at the last 25% of the book and it just felt like a book where this girl is trying to get back to her own time.

I will also say I didn't really like any of the characters except for 2. The butler and the best friend but then the best friend did something in the book that I didn't like but she later apologized for but at the time I was upset because I was like great another unlikable character. The FMC at the start everything just seems to have everything growing wrong with her, but her personality makes her a little grating and desperate especially when she goes to this other realm, and it clashes with her modern mentality and behaviors that come annoying and make her stand out when she is supposed to be trying to fit in so as not to be caught. 

Then the MMC Kane his interactions at the start with Hannah just felt so awkward to me with all his come Ons and innuendos. It just reminded me of middle school when middle school boys try to be "clever" and talk about their penises and how horny they are. I just didn't feel the chemistry at all, and their interactions just always felt awkward to me. 

Then you combine that with a husband of a character who every single sentence out of his mouth was always had to include a way to put down women. Every single sentence always turned around to demean women, like he could talk about the weather and turn it into talking down to women. Like I get the point you're trying to make but that was a point made by other elements in the book so he added nothing to the book other than to be a douche and if he wasn't in the book that point would still have been made. Also, then out of nowhere he starts sexually harassing the FMC and when she goes to his wife her best friend who I liked up to this point she then turns it around and blames the FMC! Later she apologizes but the whole marriage dynamic between the couple was weird and then for her to blame the FMC like that just turned me off to her at the moment and I just kept thinking damn I don't like a single character left in this book other than the butler who was sweet and funny. 

Overall, this was not the book for me.

This book is about Hannah who is having a rough go at it. She didn't get the promotion she hoped for, she just found out her BF was cheating on her and she can barely make rent. It can't get any worse right.... that is until she finds a tarot card in the snow, and it transports her to another realm in a kingdom where some of the first people she meets try to kill her! She is able to escape with the help of a warrior named Kane who takes her to his hideout to heal. While he is nice and hot she isn't sure she can trust him, but she needs his help to get back home as the card that brought her to this place was lost in the castle and the only way in is with his help. Which is perfect as he is trying to get back into the castle himself to carry out his own mission to help save the kingdom, he loves but seems to be rotting from within. So, win win right, but how to get in??? Well, a fake marriage and assuming the identities of foreign dignitaries seems to be their best bet, and it works. Now if they can just stay on task and keep their hands off one another while they figure out how to save the kingdom and get Hannah home while keeping up their charade. Should be easy right???

I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. 

this is a 4.5 for me. I really enjoyed this! The author wrote a really fun well-rounded story that had my heart pounding during one of the races, me getting choked up during some of the family moments and overall, I had a fun time reading it. I loved the MCs with Marie-Louise and Alexandre who were complex individuals. You had Marie-Louise who is a single mother from a one-night stand trying to balance being an athlete and trying to rise back to the top in her field after having to take time off from having a kid while also trying to be a mother to her daughter. You have Alexandre who has his own issues after being abandoned as a teen by his mother and it has really affected him and his life, but he falls hard for Marie-Louise, and she ends being the one that gets away. But the moment he sees her again he is not letting her get away. But the whole time Marie-Louise is struggling with the fact that she had their child, the man she also can't forget is right in front of her and this is all during the most important races of her career. I just really enjoyed Tember's writing of these characters as they seemed very real, and I enjoyed reading the story and seeing it all play out. This is part of a series, and each book is a standalone and I didn't feel like I was missing anything by not reading the other books, but I am curious about their stories that I will probably check out the rest of the books. 

This book is about Marie-Louise who is about run in some of the most important races of her career after having to take time off for personal matters. So, the question is can she do it... She thinks she can as long as she stays focus and not let anything distract her. Like her biggest rival's coach for example who is none other than the exotic dancer who she had a one-night stand with a few years back. She never forgot that night for a couple of reasons one being the insane chemistry the other the positive pregnancy test she had a few weeks later. She never meant to keep his child a secret from him, but he never responded to her emergency message so what was she to do? Well all these later their chemistry is still there, and he wants to pick up where they left off, but she can't afford any distractions right now and is there really a future for them when he finds out the truth that he has a child?

I received an ARC Copy in exchange for an honest review. 

This is a 4.25 for me. As always, I love the Dust walkers the Opal writes, but I think Faunus is my favorite of the ones I have read so far. Faunus was so sweet but still possessive and overprotective. I mean he was willing in what he thinks are his last days to just watch Mayumi and keep her safe without her ever knowing. He just never thought especially since she was a demon slayer than she would even be receptive to talking to him let alone letting him live though I am sure if anyone was too unalive him, he would have been fine if it was Mayumi. Then when you read how excited he was to just talk to her and be around her and even play games was just so sweet. 
I will say I liked Mayumi at the start of the book. I liked how unapologetic and brash she was. She was who she was, and she made no apologies. I admired that about her. But at about 50% of the book, she did something that really turned me off to her. Up to that point in the book Faunus had verbally and non-verbally (by moving her hand away) to not touch the crack in his skull that it hurt and to not do it. While he is sleeping, she touches it, and it triggers his fight or flight response, and he fights. How she reacted really pissed me off as Faunus set a clear boundary and then she pushed and pushed and eventually it came to bite her in the butt, and he reacted and then she blames him and tells him essentially to get out unless he tells her exactly what happened. NO ONE OWES YOU AN EXPLANATION FOR THEIR TRAUMA BEFORE THEY ARE READY TO SHARE IT AND THEY DON'T EVER HAVE TO SHARE IT ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY SET A CLEAR BOUNDARY. Yes, he is a Dust walker, and he reacted violently and is a dangerous creature but how he reacted is not his fault and the way she treated him was really poorly in my opinion because then she is like I will not become someone's punching bag for their trauma when that isn't what happened and is not how their relationship is. Maybe it's because I relate to Faunus in this way as I have a similar trauma and if someone violated my boundary like that, I would be reconsidering my relationship with THEM as opposed to them reconsidering their relationship with me because maybe I am not safe with them. But that is maybe a me thing. I will say all that she goes through in the end and what she does for Faunus redeems her in my eyes but at one point I did not like her at all. 
In the end I did enjoy the plot and Faunus and got all my monster needs met and I loved the little surprise at the end with Faunus's father being introduced. I have always been curious about him. I am excited to see where the story and next book goes. With the FMC I liked her at the start, lost my faith in her in the middle but she earned it back in the end. It was a fun ride. 

This book is about Mayumi who after being discharged from the demon slayer guild is a little lost as all she has ever wanted to do was hunt demons. In response she has isolated herself living in her family's cabin in the middle of the forest, but this is perfect as it allows her on a smaller scale to hunt demons even if she doesn't have the support of the guild anymore. Because in the end one less demon is one less demon and that is all that matters. That is until when her baits draw in not just a regular demon but a dust walker one of the most dangerous types of demons. But as she prepares her arrow to take a shot, she sees he is the skull feline faced one and she recognizes it as it is the one who rescued he as a child a moment that while blurred in her mind until now has always stuck with her. But it wasn't just her who was impacted by that moment but Kitty as well who has always remembered her and kept watch over her whenever he was nearby. Which is why after suffering a horrible injury from the demon king that left his skull damaged to where is life is shortened; he wants to spend what time he has left watching over the girl now woman who means so much to him. When he made the choice to watch over her, he never imagines revealing himself and that she would not only befriend him but DESIRE HIM! While his time left is short, he can think of no better thank than spending it with the fiery woman he wishes he could have as his bride but would never doom her to his fate. 

this was a 4.25 for me. I really enjoyed it, and I LOVED that this was an obsessive, possessive, unhinged, morally black, stalker FMC which I don't see a lot of but wish there were more of. I love unhinged characters, but I ADORE unhinged FMCs. Maybe because I feel like I am one annoyance away from becoming really unhinged myself. lol
Another thing I really loved was this book was under 100 pages, but it didn't feel like that to me. I felt like I got a whole plot/story line that wasn't rushed but was something that could be finished in one sitting for sure but still pack a punch.
I will say I really enjoyed Yuri especially once he became more aware of the situation because then he let out his unhinged side out too and at the start, he was a little clueless to what was right in front of him. 
Overall, an enjoyable, quick, spicy, unhinged read that I would recommend.
This book is about Rimma who is set to be married soon as she is the eldest daughter one of the heads that leads the Bratva. The thing is she already has her mind set on someone who she has wanted her whole life and now she just needs to convince her family that blood is thicker than water and why bring a stranger in when there is no better option than her cousin Yuri. But in the meantime, she needs to make sure these other women know to keep their hands off her man even if he doesn't yet realize it. Because anyone who touches what is hers will not only lose their hands but their life as well. 

This was a fun short read. I don't know why Bekah keeps saying all smut 0 plot bc her books have a plot even if it's a small one and what was there, I enjoyed. It was definitely one of her spicier bloodier reads, but it was still a fun time. I really enjoyed Corbin who was intense and obsessive and wasn't going to let anyone get in his way to claiming his mate no matter how bloody it gets.

This book is about Corbin a shadow prince who is not able to claim his mate as she is a fairy princess, and her father will only let her marry one of their own. But not to worry Corbin has a plan to claim his princess but in the meantime that doesn't mean they can't still have some fun.

I received an ARC Copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Not vibing w the writing or plot

I am just not the targeted reader. I do wish there had been more world building as to the conflict there was some insight into it at 33%. I am primarily a romance reader so I need some type of romance and I was informed there was a romance subplot and the slight romance in the book was very very minimal that I personally wouldn’t call it a sub plot. I am just not the targeted reader reader. 

 

I am giving this a 4.5. I found this book to be interesting as it takes thinks I already know and broadening the definition of them and also looking at policies and terms from multiple angles. One such example is we must think beyond being “Not Racist” a neutral term that lets people off because you can be not racist but support racist policies because it serves yourself interest (a point that I will bring up next) and that instead we should strive to be Anti Racist which is going beyond being not racists and instead taking a look at the policies, structures and even personal beliefs and what we are doing to challenge them. 

I think the biggest take away from the book for me was I always placed the emphasis of essentially educating the racism away but at the end of the book there was a very valid point made that I personally think should work in conjunction with the education route. It should be a two-prong approach but the point the author was making stood out and made me think and rethink my approach. “A lot of us see ignorance as the source of racist ideas and we see racist ideas as the course of racists policies and we have to change the mind, to change the person to change the policy”” but in the author’s research is showed “that racists ideas are not based out of ignorance/hate but self-interest. History shows powerful policy makers instituting racists’ policies out of self interest then producing racists ideas to defend and rationalize the racists effects of their policies while everyday people are consuming those racist ideas which bleeds into their ignorance & hate”. 

 

There are a lot of points made in this book the resonate with me and some I think I will have revisit at a later point as my knowledge expands. 

This is a 4.25 for me. I really really enjoyed this book. The reason I didn't give it a 5 was because there are areas where I do wish there had been more depth to what the situation. They felt a little glossed over and I feel like they were missed opportunities to really deepen the story. It was still a really enjoyable book, and I know this is a newer indi author and I think this is the first book she wrote. I think as she writes more and more this is an area that she will only grow and excel in. I think personally she should revisit this book and maybe rerelease it as an updated copy. 
I think this is an author to keep an eye on as I think she will only get better with each book she puts out and I am really excited to see where this series goes because I enjoyed all the characters. I also enjoyed the way she portrayed the Greek Gods as not only the fallible beings we know them to be but the fact they acknowledge it and try to change and be better. It was a refreshing change. 
I enjoyed Brianna who is thrown for a loop after she realizes not only is her world different from what she knew but her family and thus herself as well. She is literally shaken to the core that everyone closest to her lied to her and what the world is really like, and she still took everything in stride for the most part (understandable resentment of aside of course) I mean I personally would be off in a corner crying if I experienced only 10% of the shock she went through. But she took what was in front of her and did her best to acclimate but not lose herself in the mix of it all. I also enjoyed Gabriel especially as the story progressed and his personality really came out. Before that he was so focused on not letting peoples perceived notions of him get him down that with Brianna he could see that she truly saw him he was able to be himself around her and the snarky wise ass came out and I loved it. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I think this is an author/series to keep an eye on as I think it will only get better the more she writes. 

This book is about Brianna who decides to attend a party with some friends only for it to take a deadly turn when monsters attack. The only reason it wasn't a massacred and she and others were able to survive was due to the actions Brianna took because a voice in her head told her how to fight back. After this night her life is not the same, so her mother transfers her to an exclusive school to give her a fresh start. While she has so many unanswered questions about what happened she is excited for the fresh start that is until she experiences another monster attack her first night there. It is finally then she gets the answers she has been looking for but learns that her family and life is not what it seems. Shaken to the core it she learns of there is a prophecy about her and the dangers she will face. But she won't be alone as she will have her dragon shifter guardian Gabriel who others shun for his family but for who she is drawn too. Together they will take on the danger foretold to prevent a war that will could bring about not just the end of the Gods but could also mean the end for one of them. 

I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.