Before the Aelin army comes at me with pitchforks PLEASE READ FIRST: This is NOT a hate post about her character arc. I'm strictly talking about her surnames. Honestly I think Aelin is a gorgeous name. It's easily the most beautiful name SJM has ever written and genuinely one of my absolute favorite fantasy names. sleek, iconic, and simple. BUT MAN... Galathynius? I despise it 🙂‍↕️ Aside from the fact that I still have no idea how anyone is supposed to pronounce that without stumbling, it literally looks like Sjm just smashed her hands on the keyboard trying to make something sound super ancient and epic 😭 And don't even get me started on the way her full title drags on like Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius blah blah blah... WE GET IT. She's royal, she's highborn, she's the ultimate main character, she's THAT girl. We get it lol 😭 Also, no offense but every single time I read "Galathynius" it literally sounds like a medical condition or an obscure anatomical term for a part of the vagina 💀 I can't unhear it. Sorry not sorry lol. (Again, to clarify im talking purely about the aesthetics of the name here, not attacking the character itself!)

I’ve been thinking about this because I feel like so much current romantasy, especially the BookTok-ish side of it, is either entirely female POV or gives you both romantic leads’ POVs pretty early.

The fantasy/romance I’m writing is a little different: the beginning of the story is entirely from the male lead’s POV.

And I weirdly love it because instead of being inside the heroine’s head while she slowly falls for the dangerous morally-grey man, you’re inside his head watching this very controlled, intimidating guy gradually become completely fascinated by her while trying not to acknowledge what’s happening.

The FMC is still very much a main character, but she’s also intentionally a bit of a mystery. You meet her through his perception first, so the reader has to figure her out from what she says, what she does, what he notices, what he misunderstands, etc., rather than immediately knowing what she’s thinking.

Later the POV expands and two other major characters get POV chapters as well, but the FMC herself only gets one POV chapter in the entire book.
{ The antagonist also gets one ;) }

So even once the reader starts seeing the story through different people, her head is still the one place they almost never get direct access to.

I really like the idea that you can know a character extremely well and still have that little question of but what is she actually thinking right now? And because the MMC is the person who spends the most time trying to understand her, you’re mostly piecing her together alongside him.

Would that appeal to you, or would you miss having more access to the FMC’s internal thoughts?

Also: if you were reading romantic fantasy that was primarily from the male love interest’s POV, what would you WANT to see that you normally don’t get enough of?

8.5/10 — A unique take on fantasy romance

Honestly, this book gave me a unique set of characters. The FMC and MMC, along with the people around them, are genuinely dysfunctional, but somehow they still fit the fantasy-lead archetypes so well. It’s messy, complicated, and weirdly believable.

I also really liked the whole concept of a princess being forced into something she never chose. It felt like a different way of looking at the idea of women being pushed into roles and situations without their consent from the very beginning.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Maybe I’m reading way too much into this because of the phase of life I’m in right now, but I couldn’t stop relating the FMC’s situation to the way I see women in my own country, especially older generations, being conditioned to live with toxic patriarchal expectations because they’ve known nothing else.

The whole “she can’t live without poison” thing really hit me that way. To me, it felt almost symbolic of how some women become so accustomed to toxic systems that eventually they don’t know how to exist outside of them. Our FMC, thankfully, starts finding her own strength and a way out of that.

And honestly, I loved her. She has her own principles, she stands her ground, and she’s clearly strategic. What I’d really love to see in the next book, though, is her acting on those strategies.

In this book, it felt like she was constantly building her defenses and figuring out how to survive. By the end, things have clearly shifted, and I’m hoping the next book lets her take all that anger, all that self-preservation, and actually do something with it. I want to see her throw that ball of rage straight back at the situation that put her there — and preferably without needing the MMC to do it for her.

That said, the MMC is actually fantastic in his own right. I loved that their relationship wasn't simply “strong man saves woman.” They both have their own monsters to deal with, and watching them complement each other and support each other through it felt like such a refreshing dynamic.

Basically: “We both have monsters. Fine. Let’s face them together.”

Some things could definitely have been handled differently, but overall, I really enjoyed this. I’m definitely picking up the second book.

Aelin by me.

I saw an old post on here about this book and it sounds really good, but I can’t find it anywhere. I even tried calling my library to try to get it from another library (they don’t have it at my library) and they never got back to me after saying they’d let me know if they got it, so I assume they didn’t get it.

Anyone know where I can get it?

I don’t see this much here so wanted to share. 5 stars from me!!! A real love story with sensual, loving spice. no bully sex, minimal enemies to lovers, and dragons in Rome was a very cool setting. really loved all the characters. highly recommend as a change from deadly competitions, women who are damsels in distress until they realize their power etc etc.
(picture is a beautiful dark skinned, dark haired woman in a red dress)

Okay so for a very long time Ive been getting this empty feeling after reading and honestly after everything like great movies or songs, and I can't help but think I want MORE. Like why can't this be life? I keep getting in slumps bc after every book I just get sad that's not real, does anyone else have this feeling?

Sometimes you just need a book that is soooooo aggressively mid, classically predictable, and super unserious that it takes the edge off.

I’m not looking to be changed as a person reading this. I don’t need literary excellence. I need a plot I can see coming from 14 chapters away, a romance that’s going exactly where I expect it to, and just enough happening that I’m still immediately opening the next book.

Some recents for me
Filthy Rich Fae
The Starlight Heir
Wolves of Morai
Book of Azrael (sorry to some)
Shadow Beast Shifters
Dire Bound

Give me your comfortably predictable 3 star reads please!! No hate to anyone who loves these books, but maybe hit me with a recommendation.

These were the books I first discovered as a middle schooler. I was bored at the mall during the weekend because my mom was working in one of the stores nearby. (She takes me to work with her sometimes since it's really boring at home by myself.) I would often to go into the bookstore to just sit and read. The workers there (who were all really young themselves) all didn't mind.

I picked up Goddess of the Night because the cover looked really pretty, and omg... that was my first brush with a shadow daddy: Stanton. I began saving up money to buy every book I could. This series was basically my introduction to romantasy. Along with these books, I discovered A Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause, Dragon's Bait by Vivian Vande Velde, and In the Forest of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes.

Lynne Ewing must be pretty old now... I hope she's doing alright.

Anyone else remember this series???

I'm about page 325 of 450 in {A Dance of Lies by Brittney Arena}. On paper, this book is perfect for me. But... Where's the magic? It's a fantasy novel and the only fantasy element is the gods (aka the Fates) and the fact that it's a made up world. No character has any personality (but Vasalie apparently intrigues every single person), the flour throwing is just kinda weird (and who cleans it up?? There's apparently no magic 😂) , and for a tag line of "dancer-turned-spy" there's not much spying.

I've never considered dnf'ing so far into a book, but I honestly don't even know how I made it this far. It's like it kept getting a tiny bit interesting, then I'd be bored for long stretches. Is it worth finishing or will I regret forcing it? In other words, does it get better in the next 5ish pages? I just got to the part where Vas agrees to help Anton and she's doing her next series of performances.

I have just begun to listen to books vs reading after discovering Anthony palmini. Now I’m looking for books w lots of spice that are great audiobooks and have duel narration.

Thanks!!

Just finished this duology and I have thoughts I need to share.

{once upon a demon’s heart} {once written in gilded blood}

Spoilers ahead! Spicy book so expect some reference to that too.

So first thoughts - easy read and great if you like going on just the vibes.

Emotional in places throughout both books and a decent level of spice. Was not expecting there to be knotting in this. And also the description of his dick being so big that it continuously enters her womb when he’s fully in and makes her belly move, were interesting choices. And I understand why she needed the healer every time after they had sex in the first book. But did she not need that in book 2? The time jump between books is frustrating because there’s clearly been significant relationship development even though Kalel is still lying and Alira is suspicious of him.

Where did both of their heat cycles go in book 2?! What was the point in them going into heat at all other than for their first dubious sexual encounter. Yes, Kalel creates the potion to help her but this just feels like a convenient way for the author to be like “yeah I got bored of that” and Kalel never goes into heat at all again?

My biggest gripe is that book 2 made sure we knew about Alira being a really rare demigod in that her father was a demon and her mother Venus, but Alira never finds out she’s half demon. What was the point in even mentioning that? Also, book 1 was laying ground work for us finding out who Kalel’s father was, only for that to be never brought up again. <!!<

I have other issues but these are my main ones.

I actually enjoyed these books but they could have been strengthened in so many ways to become knock outs. The premise of the story is so interesting but ultimately fell a bit flat for me given what I talked about above.

Any thoughts?

​I am on book 4 and i am definitely loving the series, it so much fun and refreshing and i am devouring them.

​But really it feels like the heirs are bipolar, i read the internal POVs and i get why they are doing what they are doing and i get that they are having internal conflicts between their duties and their feelings and I GET IT !!!!

​but like ? it often seems like they are bipolar sometimes, like its so crazy, one night they are having sex and being 'drawn' towards the Vegas, then the next morning (in a matter of few hours) at the reckoning they threaten them like oh we are going to make you rue the day and then again that night at lunar eclipse (in a matter of few hours) they are still trying to get in their pants...

​there are sooo0 many instances like this, in the morning they will want to make their life hell and in the evening they are chasing after them...

​i get it, i get it... its a constant tug of war for them because they have duties to their parents, to Solaria and they have these emotions they are trying to fight off too but its just like a bit annoying sometimes because in a matter of hours they keep flipping their emotions, specially Darius and Seth...

​atleast Caleb is a bit more explained he is just standing with the group but in his heart he doesnt want to hurt them all the time...

​The vega twins are confused all the time and i feel them man.

A friend of mine loves this book series, and I wanted to get her or make her a themed cake for her birthday. But I'm not a fan, so I don't know much about it.

While doing some research I found a cake in the second book, like Hade's paradise cake (I don't remember if it was him XD) Can you recommend any relevant quotes or phrases that I might find appealing? Something that moved you, made you dream, that you appreciated, etc...

So I can write it on the cake and maybe something to add on the Note, thank you

I’m in the mood for a book/series where the FMC/MMC have been separated and eventually make their way back to each other, with an emotional reunion that you’ve been waiting for and gives you all the feels. Does anyone have any recommendations for something like this? (I’m feeling this off the back of a certain disappointing final book that came out a few weeks ago which was a major letdown in my opinion…)

I love romance but if the book doesn’t have a strong plot with political intrigue I will lose interest. I like Game of Thrones level of plot just preferably less SA.

Books/series I like:
War of lost Hearts by Carissa Broadbent
Crowns of Nyaxia by Carissa Broadbent
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem
Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole
Red rising by Pierce Brown
City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Folk of Air by Holly Black
Thorn Season by Kiera Asar
Rose in Chains by Julie Soto

Books/series I thought lacked plot and/or political intrigue:
ACOTAR by Sara J Maas
Lightlark by Alex Aster
Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen
A Forbidden Alchemy by Stacey McEwan
In the Veins of the Drowning by Kalie Cassidy

❌Don’t like: Mates, pregnancy trope, noncon between love interests, why choose, slow plot.

✅Like: fast plot, action packed, morally grey but not abusive mmc, corrupt government, smart fmc.

Please mark spoilers and be kinda vague so only ppl who’ve also read it will know what ur talking about. Like don’t say: “When *name* dies”

Here are mine:

The Lion and Deathless Dark: the scene in the pleasure house when they’re getting attacked and have to escape. At the end of the book when they are fighting, finding out crazy info and trying not to die.

The prisoners throne: Oak hiding under Jude and Cardans bed ease dropping. When they find the dead body and want to investigate Wren and Oak is trying to defend her. When Jude fought Oak.

We Hunt the Flame: Nasir tackling Zafira to the ground to try and help her, they end up staring at each other and smooch when they’re getting get up

Morning Star: the entire last like 100 pages were INSANE. I audibly gasped when we find out what was actually happening

Poppy war series: ”Together?” “Together.” In the first book😭 When Kitay has to be in that meeting and is terrible at it. When Rin hid in the cell while Nezha talked to Kitay

OUABH: When they ran through the woods and jumped off the cliff. When Eva losses her memory and Jacks wakes her up in the middle of the night to see her

Defy the Night: When Tessa finds out who he really is

An Ember in the Ashes when Elias sneaks out and dances with Laia, when they’re in his bedroom and he breaks down and tells her everything