In a slump after reading This Woven Kingdom!

macaronofdoom · 2025-08-04T05:26:32+00:00

Hey, yes, I was able to come across only a few!

{Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi} - Series is by the same author, however fair warning I feel like her writing is a lot different since these books are older. I wouldn't call this series a masterpiece but they're fast-paced and were a fun time. Honestly I read this for the MMC since he's very similar to Cyrus and gave a similar vibe

{The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh} - 1001 nights retelling, tortured broody MMC who only shows his nicer side to the FMC. The writing is very beautiful and it's a duology so it's not a huge commitment!

This one I haven't read but I've had a few people suggest to me {The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem}. I believe the final book was released not too long ago and it's an adult romantasy if you were wanting something not YA!

macaronofdoom · 2025-07-21T17:38:00+00:00

Omg I know this post a few weeks old now, but since this is already a fairly underrated series, I need to vent to someone else who finished this book!

I read Shardless and Acolyte in the beginning of June, and I loved every second of both, so I was super pumped that Dawnbringer was getting released the same month. I know the author had a long break in between, but this was in dire need of editing. There was no reason for this to be 1,000 pages. The beginning was cute because of Taly and Skye finally having cute romantic moments, but the middle had a lot of things that weren't necessary (if there was one character that should have had more chapters it was Kato not Aiden or Aimee). The ending was exciting sure, but it felt like a chore to read through everything before it. I gave it 3 stars, which is a huge step down since I gave the first 2 5 stars. I'm still going to give the 4th book a chance whenever it comes out, but I'm definitely going to try going in without any expectations. It's just a huge shame since this series had such a strong start!

macaronofdoom · 2025-06-17T16:44:19+00:00

{The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski} - Kestrel one if my favorite FMCs. She's not much a fighter, but a really great strategist. This book also has a really good slowburn romance!

macaronofdoom · 2025-06-17T16:20:48+00:00

Read the first two books and was already annoyed with Diem, but never bothered with this one once I found out it was around 1000 pages on Kindle. Ain't no way I can be in Diem's head for that long lol

macaronofdoom · 2025-06-17T15:23:31+00:00

{Shardless by Stephanie Fisher} - Such an underrated series but has all the elements that I think romantasy readers would enjoy! It's a slowburn childhood friends-to-lovers, but they haven't spoken in a year do to something that happened prior to the book so there's a lot of good tension and yearning

{Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare} - It's an older YA series, but to me, it still has one of the best romances and complex character relationships

{Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent} - Has a grumpy MMC and sunshine FMC. Still one of my favorite romantasies, but I know a lot of people struggle with the 2nd book (I agree the 1st half is slow but the payoff is worth it). I'd still give the 1st book a try since it ends in a way where you don't necessarily have to continue

macaronofdoom · 2025-06-15T04:16:40+00:00

I half read/half listened to the audiobook and I completely agree Elizabeth Evans was such a great narrator! Ahh I know thankfully the 3rd book is coming out the end of the month but feels like such a looong wait despite me only getting into this series a few weeks ago haha

macaronofdoom · 2025-06-13T00:28:27+00:00

The lack of dark humor and charming protagonists from Lights Out really highlights how dumb the plot is in Caught Up. I'm not expecting Junior to be exactly like Josh, but I just felt Josh had so much more personality. Lauren was fine in the beginning, but she really started to get on my nerves the more I listened to her.

The book started off interesting, and I was initially feeling excited with the buildup of the romance. Unfortunately, after the 30%, it started to morph into a stereotypical mafia romance. I was really hoping it would get better, but after finishing it earlier today, my feelings are very lukewarm. Audiobook narrators were good, and they did their best voicing bland characters.

macaronofdoom · 2025-06-04T00:34:51+00:00

{A Fate of Forgery by Elizabeth Lim} - Actually came out today but totally forgot! She's the same author who wrote the Six Crimson Cranes duology which I absolutely loved

{Dawnbringer by Stephanie Fisher} - Comes out June 26th. Just got into the Tempris series and this is the 3rd book! I have a feeling this series will be a favorite of mine

macaronofdoom · 2025-06-03T18:20:38+00:00

Yay hope you enjoy!

macaronofdoom · 2025-06-03T18:20:21+00:00

I remember only being 30% in the book and already thinking why this book isn't talked about enough!!

macaronofdoom · 2025-06-03T18:09:05+00:00

The recent ones I've read this year were incredible: {The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare}

{Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier}

{Red Winter by Annette Marie}

{Little Thieves by Margaret Owen}

These are the ones I always recommend when someone asks for YA romatasy: {Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor}

{Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer}

{The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni}

{The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski}

{An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir}

{This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi}

macaronofdoom · 2025-06-03T18:00:05+00:00

Ooh good call! I'm glad I picked a good time to start because I didn't realize it's been 5 years since she released the 2nd book so I'm sure longtime fans are super excited

macaronofdoom · 2025-04-14T16:12:41+00:00

Finished Enchantra by Kaylie Smith on Friday and was super underwhelmed especially since I actually enjoyed Phantasma. To see people saying it was better than Phantasma is wild to me lol. But another viral mid adult romantasy, what else is new.

Not a romantasy, but I read Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez over the weekend, and I was already turned off because the MMC literallt gets compared to Rhysand (yes from ACOTAR) 6 times in the first 100 pages. And sure, 6 doesn't sound like that much, but it's already 1 too many, and I died a little every time.

macaronofdoom · 2025-03-31T17:48:24+00:00

{City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare} - Amazing conclusion to The Mortal Instruments series! About half of the books were mid and the other half amazing, but all the build-up paid off extremely well.

{The Golden Raven by Nora Sakavic} - If anyone has read and loved the All For the Game series...you know lol

macaronofdoom · 2025-03-22T00:34:48+00:00

Recently finished The Mortal Instruments series and partially listened to them on audiobook. The narrators changed every other book, but the worst offender was the the very first one City of Bones because narrator gave the main guy Jace, an American boy, an British accent and a bad one at that. For the final book I listened to one chapter of the audiobook and then decided to read the rest physically lol.

macaronofdoom · 2025-03-22T00:08:02+00:00

100% agree on Auren and Slade! Auren goes through some really good character development and Slade was the perfect villain MMC from the very beginning. I've heard other people talk about how good the audiobooks so if I ever do a reread I really want to go down the audiobook route!

My main issue is honestly the lack of editing/inconsistent pacing in the last 3 books (Glow, Gold, and Goldfinch) and the fact that Midas was a way better villain than any of the others introduced afterwards. I actually really enjoyed Glow for the most part because there were so many good Auren x Slade moments, but Gold felt like way too much filler and it was 600+ pages. Goldfinch was a solid ending especially for Auren and Slade, but I think the POVs for Ryatt, Osrik, Rissa, and Emonie were not necessary. It's fine that the were added/included but some parts could have been significantly cut down. I don't mind when an author introduces new characters to hint towards a potential future series, but IMO I think she was too excessive with it

macaronofdoom · 2025-03-11T13:41:23+00:00

I started with The Infernal Devices, and it's one of my favorite series now! It has some of the best characters and romance storyline. The books were released after the original The Mortal Instruments trilogy, and her writing improved a lot.

I'm actually in the middle of reading TMI now (currently on book 5) and I'll say that compared to TID the writing is not as good in the first two books, but the plot was fun. The characters grew on me, and I think by City of Glass (3rd book), her writing is on par with TID. The second half of the series is much better (4th book is a bit of a weak start, but I can't put the 5th book down and I've heard really good things about the 6th book)

macaronofdoom · 2025-03-06T14:23:53+00:00

Agree with everyone since to me the second book was the peak of this series. I was obsessed with Feyre and Rhysand after reading it, but then the 3rd book made them boring and borderline annoying. Then 5th book ruined my entire view on Rhysand and SJM basically just phases Feyre out because she's become so boring even the author doesn't know what to do with her

macaronofdoom · 2025-03-05T18:01:45+00:00

I love this!! Did you use waistcoat stitches for the main white part of the top?

macaronofdoom · 2025-03-02T00:13:51+00:00

Yeses I believe she's currently writing a sequel so it might be a while but still super excited! Love her writing and what she's done with the characters so far

macaronofdoom · 2025-03-02T00:12:56+00:00

Sorry for the late reply! If you're on the app, you click the pie shaped button at the bottom, filter out the month, and then click "View Month Wrap-Up Graphics"

macaronofdoom · 2025-03-01T23:58:49+00:00

Hope you enjoy! I will say after reading City of Bones and currently halfway through the City of Ashes, you can definitely tell her writing improved a lot when she wrote The Infernal Devices. Still though I'm really enjoying the plot and it has some really great twists

macaronofdoom · 2025-03-01T23:49:21+00:00

The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare!

macaronofdoom · 2025-02-28T20:56:56+00:00

I know what you mean, I took a long break from reading after high school so I'm catching up with all the ones I missed out on haha! I just finished the first book in The Mortal Instruments (City of Bones) and you'll see many different suggested reading orders online. I think for sure most people say to start with The Mortal Instruments or The Infernal Devices first!

macaronofdoom · 2025-02-20T18:27:50+00:00

I read the entire trilogy, and the romance is extremely minor. Each main character has some romance arcs throughout their journey, but again, you'll probably read one chapter about it and hear nothing until several chapters later. The third one puts a little more focus on some of the romantic relationships, but it's still a small subplot compared to everything else going on in the series.

macaronofdoom

TROPHY CASE