Books I really thought I was going to love… but didn’t 😭

The Shield of Sparrows
I listened to the dramatized version on Hoopla, and it was okay. A solid romantasy, but nothing spectacular to me.

People were foaming at the mouth for this book on Tiktok!!! It's a good book for sure, but idk it just didn't connect with me.

The middle dragged a lot, and it honestly felt like the author kind of forgot the plot. It read like a slice-of-life anime for about 100 pages instead of the heart-pounding, tension-filled, corrupt political system, plot-driven romantasy I was expecting.

I’m on book two now (on audio), and it’s decent… but yeah.

Just Our Luck
This one just didn’t do it for me at all. It felt unrealistic, it dragged, and I ended up skimming the last 100 pages.

I didn’t really like the MMC, he came off as mean and even though the beginning had potential, the story lacked real tension.

Heat of the Everflame
Okay… books 1 and 2? AMAZING.

If you want high-stakes, crazy plot, slow-burn romantasy, this was IT. I was obsessed. Blown away.

Then book 3…

The author flattened all the characters. Our FMC is insanely powerful, but then she allows a man to literally spit in her face??? No, like that's literally a scene.

She can wipe out entire continents, but she lets herself get bullied constantly. It just didn’t make sense.

And the plot?? The solution is RIGHT THERE, but the characters can’t see it. It made me question their intelligence, honestly.

Not to mention, the MMC turned into a sappy, love-sick puppy instead of the powerful prince we got before.

Hated it.

Plated Prisoner series
I made it to book 4… and yeah, it was time to wrap it up.

Looking back at my Goodreads reviews actually makes me laugh, because by book 3 I was already like “I don’t know about this…” and by book 4 I was DONE.

The pacing slowed to a complete halt while the FMC processed her trauma. And I understand the themes, feminine rage, how patriarchy hurts everyone, but it was so heavy-handed.

It wasn’t woven into the story. It took over the story.

At a certain point, I was like… where is the plot? Where is the action?

It felt less like high-stakes fantasy and more like a very long trauma-healing narrative with magic in the background.

Fate of the Sun King
This series gave everything but the kitchen sink.

What started as high-fae fantasy somehow turned into a space odyssey… like there are literally aliens involved.

The first book was so good, and then slowly but surely… we lost the plot.

It started to feel like those old CW shows where anything goes by the end. Like… Dan Humphrey and Blair Waldorf dating.

Just chaos 😭

I really wanted to love these… but yeah.