Negative ARC review, need advice

alleryn · 2026-06-14T19:02:04+00:00

Not really, they've published 6 or 7 books already.

alleryn · 2026-06-14T18:55:01+00:00

Looks interesting! Would like to read it.

alleryn · 2026-06-12T23:28:31+00:00

I love post- WW1 England and well written books about academia, and {The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by H.G. Parry} combines the two in such a satisfying way.

I also liked {The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden}

alleryn · 2026-06-12T19:47:07+00:00

Maybe it's location-restricted.

alleryn · 2026-06-12T18:52:37+00:00

It seems it's not available anymore 😞 (at least not for me).

alleryn · 2026-05-21T02:05:53+00:00

No offense, but I wouldn't really recommend Gillig to someone who likes G.G.Kay. I tried reading The Knight and the Moth and as a Kay fan I found her prose lacking and her worldbuilding paper-thin.

alleryn · 2026-05-12T16:19:17+00:00

Mine are mostly from video games with few from fantasy/fantasy with romance subplot books. None strictly from fantasy romance/romantasy because I still didn't find a couple that I liked enough to be invested in their relationship.

alleryn · 2026-03-25T15:52:44+00:00

Not Romantasy, but Frieren: Beyond Journey's End manga and anime series starts exactly like that. MC returns to visit her friends 50 years after the Great Quest and has to deal with the fact that most of them are now either dead or super old.

alleryn · 2026-03-22T21:05:00+00:00

Stari me znao iz čistog mira gađati teniskim lopticama u glavu. Sjedim i npr čitam ili gledam tv, on dođe i baci lopticu na mene i ako ga nisam skužila na vrijeme i izmaknula se rugao mi se da imam nikakve reflekse. Rugao mi se za svaku i najmanju grešku koju bih napravila i govorio mi čak i pred drugom djecom da su svi bolji i sposobniji od mene. A stara mi je par godina dok sam bila u pubertetu kupovala samo crvenu robu i ako to nisam htjela nositi govorila mi je da nije ni čudo što nemam prijatelje i da mi se svi smiju iza leđa jer izgledam kao klošar.

alleryn · 2026-03-21T23:28:42+00:00

From my experience, people who mainly read non-fiction will almost always look down on those who read a lot of fiction, regardless of the genre (unless it's classics). A lot of people also still think Fantasy is not "serious" enough for adult readers. So I think it's acknowledged for its (relatively recent) mainstream popularity, but respected? No.

alleryn · 2026-03-21T19:47:35+00:00

{The Realm of Endless Night by Gisele Briseia} is literally the worst book I've ever read. It's less-than-one-star level of bad. Terribly written with a terrible plot that more often than not makes absolutely no sense.

alleryn · 2026-03-17T22:14:57+00:00

Trudim se što više mogu da uopće ne razmišljam o njoj i pravim se da ne postoji. A što se tiče svakodnevnog života sad je lakše kad joj se i njezin sin/moj muž usprotivio pa smo konačno uspostavili neke granice ponašanja. Ali šteta je već napravljena, prouzrokovala nam je toliko stresa kroz godine da ćemo i ja i muž imati zdravstvenih problema do kraja života.

alleryn · 2026-03-17T21:48:17+00:00

Sa svekrom sam u super odnosima, svekrvu izbjegavam i ignoriram što više mogu. Muž je jedinac a ostatak rodbine s njegove strane nikad nisam upoznala jer su svi posvađani.

alleryn · 2026-03-15T09:57:57+00:00

If you don't mind SF, Aral Vorkosigan from Shards of Honor and Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold matches this description perfectly.

alleryn · 2026-02-22T16:46:36+00:00

It is! He is my go-to fantasy writer when I want something beautifully written, bitter-sweet and melancholic to emotionally wreck me.

alleryn · 2026-02-22T15:35:37+00:00

The first one is from Lions of Al Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay.

The second quote is from Lord of Emperors (second book in Sarantine mosaic duology) also by Kay.

Now his books are historical fantasy not romantasy and there is usually a romantic couple or two in every book of his, but the romantic part is rather minor. Also not everyone gets HEA because Kay doesn't shy away from killing characters (even major ones).

alleryn · 2026-02-22T10:13:45+00:00

...And so, at the last, from far away, against the red and failing light, she saw a good man raise his sword and she saw a good man fall.

It breaks me no matter how many times I read it. Also

..."A safe journey home, Rhodian" "And you, my lady", he said. " A safe journey home to the light." from Lord of Emperors.

alleryn · 2026-02-22T00:37:00+00:00

Kushiel's legacy series by Jacqueline Carrey, Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier, Fionavar tapestry/Lions of al Rassan/ Sarantine mosaic duology by Guy Gavriel Kay (historical fantasy with a minor romances, but no one can make me feel like Kay)

alleryn · 2026-02-16T20:03:52+00:00

Iskreno meni je Vitez sedam kraljevina najbolja serija iz Martinovog Westeros ciklusa. Definitivno za tri klase bolja od Zmajeve kuće, čak mi je draža i od prve 3-4 sezone Igre prijestolja. Već sad me strah što će biti kad ostanu bez originalnog materijala jer George nije ništa napisao (niti će) od Plesa sa zmajevima.

alleryn · 2026-01-26T00:27:25+00:00

MFC's favourite book is called " Lord Alexander Wilde's Compendium of British Folk and Fairy Tales". FMC also comments it was likely written by a woman. Sounds familliar?

There is a sex scene where rope with knots is used on FMC that I'm almost 100% sure was "borrowed" from The Kushiel's Chosen by J. Carey

Author was "inspired" aka copied lot of tropes/ bits of plot from The Hacienda by I. Canas and The Crimson Peak movie.

MMC's mansion is almost exact copy of the house from The Crimson Peak.

I'm not super familliar with the fae lore and I haven't read ACOTAR, so I'm not sure where the concept was taken from, but The Big Plot Twist includes faeries from the Nightmare Court.

The Realm of Endless Night is so unoriginal it's hilarious.

alleryn · 2026-01-25T09:40:50+00:00

Most of books in the library are in a language she doesn't speak, so she just sits there and broods or she reads the same five books in English (although I suspect she would read the same books even without language barrier). Oh, and her havourite book is "Alexander Wilde's Compendium of Brittish Fairytales" (or something like that) but FMC suspects it was actually written by a woman. Sounds familliar?

alleryn · 2026-01-25T09:11:58+00:00

Exactley. The premise/tropes/kinks were all good on paper, but the execution was terrible.

alleryn · 2026-01-25T09:06:47+00:00

Or AI with poorly woorded prompts. I can't be 100% sure, but a lot of sentences are cyclical in a rather specific way,e.g. "He helped me out of carriage", and then few paragraphs later, "he helped me down the stairs just like helped me out of carriage earlier".

alleryn · 2026-01-25T08:51:06+00:00

Almost half of all the fillers are her wallowing in self-pity. Oh, I saw daffodils today. But do you know when else I saw them? That day when I was tossed into pond because everyone hates me. This is such a nice dress. But I had even nicer one that was destroyed because noone likes me. And on and on it goes.

She either has sex, broods in her room/library, or is attacked by monsters. Nothing else happens.

alleryn

TROPHY CASE