Author: Brodi Ashton

Review Round Up | Aurora Burning, My Calamity Jane, and The Fell of Dark

Posted August 17, 2020 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 Comments

In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-4 books I’ve read or listened to recently. Sometimes they’re newer releases and sometimes they’re all backlist titles. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! I enjoyed AURORA RISING enough, but I found myself constantly comparing it to ILLUMINAE. I really loved that format and despite that “disconnected” style (messaging longs, transcripts, etc.), really fell hard for the characters. Unfortunately I continue to feel disconnected from the AURORA series. It just doesn’t resonate with me like I expected or like I keep hoping. I really enjoy the characters and LIKE them, but I’m just not as emotionally connected to anyone or what’s happening. This book had some great twists though – there were a few moments that surprised and intrigued me. Even though I enjoy the audiobooks and think they’re really well done, I think that they don’t help me feel connected. The twists felt smaller hearing them instead of reading them? I don’t know why! The ending of the book was a pretty wild cliffhanger and I still was like… hmm okay I guess I’ll read the next one. And I definitely will! I’m happy to continue reading this even though it’s not my favorite series. I really did enjoy this, despite the fact that it look me two full months to read. I don’t know the last time that happened lol. I’ll blame it on the length, obviously, and my […]

ARC Reviews: My Plain Jane and To Catch a Killer

Posted June 25, 2018 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

After absolutely loving MY LADY JANE (despite not knowing much about the actual history/true story inolved), I was incredibly excited and optimistic about MY PLAIN JANE. Like the first book, I’m actually not well-versed in Jane Eyre, the heroine for this retelling. I’ve never read the book and actually, in hindsight, it would have been nice to read that beforehand (considering it’s on my “classics I might want to read soon” list). I can’t speak to how it compares to the original source. I can’t lie – this book was a bit disappointing compared to MLJ. I know it had big shoes to fill since I loved it so much, but I found myself slogging through it sometimes (mostly in the first half). I had to start and stop this one quite a few times for other reading commitments, but when I did have time to read it, I was never really compelled to pick it up. It wasn’t as funny for engaging as MY LADY JANE was. I started to get into it a little more in the second half of the book but this definitely felt too long. I never read JANE EYRE so I have no idea how it compares but I have to say I’m a little more interested in reading it now. Jane, Charlotte, and Alexander were interesting main characters and I liked being inside each of their heads. Despite all of those complaints, MPJ got more interesting as it went on and I really enjoyed the […]

ARC Review: Diplomatic Immunity

Posted August 31, 2016 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I liked this one overall I guess. When I saw the synopsis, it definitely went onto my “jazzed up for this shelf” right away. I love reading about rich kids doing bad things, and this one held a lot of promise for those kinds of shenanigans. I was picturing some of my favorite old-school nostalgia-making books like Gossip Girl or Private. This didn’t exactly happen, but I think it’s okay. Piper was a hard main character to get close to. I could understand her motivations in a general sense but it didn’t make her any less difficult to vibe with. Her family was having money issues so she was determined to get a scholarship to cover the cost of college. She would really stop at nothing to get a good story for that reason. I definitely predicted how that plotline would go 100% so it was a little frustrating. It seriously made me cringe though because in terms of the “issue” or climax of the story, the stakes were really high for this one (compared to other contemporaries). Otherwise, Piper was kind of just weird? She blurted out whatever she was thinking most of the time and was incredibly awkward. She definitely grew on me a little bit throughout the story, but not one of my favorite main characters by any means. I was expecting a bit more of a Gossip Girl feel with parties and drugs and all sorts of things, but that was definitely understated. There was more development with her relationship(s) […]

Blog Tour | ARC Review: My Lady Jane

Posted June 8, 2016 / Book Reviews / 13 Comments

I was so thrilled when Alexa invited me along for the MY LADY JANE blog tour! I absolutely adored this book and truthfully haven’t stopped thinking about it since I read it so many months ago. (Get a taste of this novel by reading the prologue!) More places to find it: HarperCollins / Book Depository / iBooks / Indiebound / Chapters Indigo This book was absolutely unlike anything I’ve ever read, and it’s placed firmly on my favorites shelf. There were seriously SO many fantastic elements to this story – I’m going to have a hard time sharing just how fun and special this book is. Let me break it down as best as I can: Those narrators! I just have to mention the three amazing women who wrote this book together. They often had little asides where they would address the reader directly, and it was always so funny. It never took you fully out of the story – it really just added to its charm in ways I can’t explain. It was also super cohesive; it never felt like three different people wrote the book. Their voices and writing styles blended together perfectly and seamlessly. Pop culture references in historical fiction?? Yep. It was awesome. They made little remarks here and there alluding to things happening today (like a Red Wedding, referring to main characters as the Royal We, and quotes from Monty Python and The Princess Bride). Those examples don’t even scratch the surface; I would have to reread this book multiple times to pick up on everything, […]