Audiobook Review: Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

Goodreads Synopsis:

Chronic overachiever Prudence Barnett is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her.

Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to mean gossips, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner. Quint is annoyingly cute and impressively noble, especially when it comes to his work with the rescue center for local sea animals.

When Pru resigns herself to working at the rescue center for extra credit, she begins to uncover truths about baby otters, environmental upheaval, and romantic crossed signals—not necessarily in that order. Her newfound karmic insights reveal how thin the line is between virtue and vanity, generosity and greed, love and hate . . . and fate.

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My Thoughts:

Enemies to lovers, high school style.
I wasn’t sure I was going to like this, I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews. However, I am pleased to say I really enjoyed it.

This is Marissa Meyer’s first contemporary romance, this genre suits her perfectly! I loved the enemies/rivals to lovers trope, it was well done. There was a bit of angst and reluctance going one. Pru really doesn’t want to fall for Quint, she doesn’t even want to like him. I love that kind of tension!

I think the main character, Prudence, will be hit or miss. She isn’t overly ‘likeable’ – but I think that’s part of the charm. She’s flawed, deeply so. She’s a teenager, she growing and developing, character wise. Teenagers are kind of annoying. To me she feels realistic. Pru has decent character development, she becomes way more likeable towards the end.

Additionally to romantic relationships, there are family and friendships explored. The family dynamic difference between Pru and Quint is a nicely done contrast. It’s nice to see friends and family have a bigger role in the story also, it wasn’t strictly a romance.

The Sea life/wildlife aspect was so cute!
I like Quint’s passion for sea life and the rescue center. It was a cute setting for romance.

Magic realism aspect – very small and minimal. Kind of underdeveloped. I didn’t really think it was needed? It was fun. Was it magic or coincidence? We never know.

Narrator:
As with Marissa Meyer’s other audiobooks, the narrator is Rebecca Soler, who I really enjoy. I liked her narration for The Lunar Chronicles, so already knew I would be fine with her narration. She really suits Marissa Meyer’s writing style. Rebecca Soler will forever remain one of my favourites for audiobooks!

Overall, a fun cute romance that is super easy to read/listen to and a fast one!

Uni Reading + Spring Break TBR |Reading update

It’s been a hot minute since I posted on here. I thought I’d jump back in with a reading update, basically a WWW Wednesday but it’s Thursday… Oops.

Uni has been chaotic, I haven’t had the motivation to sit and write any posts, hopefully, with spring break coming up I can write more!

This tag/meme is hosted on Taking on a World of Words. It’s a super simple meme, you just answered the three W questions.

The Three Ws are:

What have you recently finished?

What are you currently reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Recently Finished:

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (audiobook)

This was for uni.
I previously read Sing, Unburied, Sing (also for uni) by the same author. Even though I liked this one better, I don’t think this author is for me.

Currently Reading:

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

I’m reading this for my Postcolonial module in uni. This is a reread for me, I actually read it for uni in first year too. I’ve come full circle, it was one of the first things I read for uni and now it’s one of the last!

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Okay, I haven’t started this yet. But I will be starting it today! So I’m putting it in the currently reading.

Reading Next:

Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender (audiobook)

I have put this off too many times. This has probably appeared a million times on my reading next or tbrs. I’m going to read it!! I’m not touching another audiobook, this is my next one for sure!

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab

This is a maybe. I want to continue this series but I’m not sure if I’ll be in the mood. So we’ll see!

What are you currently reading/reading next?

Book Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Goodreads Synopsis:
Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.

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My Thoughts:

The writing – As usual, V.E. Schwab’s writing is beautiful. She writes very prettily, which is nice, but it does make for a slower read. Usually I prefer a faster pace for fantasy, unless it’s based on political intrigue/world building, we don’t really either here. However, it was writing amazingly, I expect nothing less from Schwab. Her writing is always gorgeous and lovely to read.

I can’t say I loved nor hated this book. It was an okay read. In my opinion it was nothing special, nothing bad either. I read this last month and honestly hasn’t left much of an impression on me. This is unusual for Schwab, she usually leaves some kind of impression, I still think about Vicious even years after reading it, I also read Addie Larue back in Jan and I’m still thinking about it. This book, however, the moment it was done, so was interest…

I like the worlds, the concept is pretty cool. V.E. Schwab comes up with such good ideas and concepts, but they always lack something for me. I just wanted a bit more from this book, as a first book in a series. It reads like a standalone, which is fine, but considering most of the book is a bit unmemorable there wasn’t anything particularly enticing me to continue the series. That being said, I own the whole trilogy and will continue it. I am interested to see where the story leads purely on the basis that the first one wrapped up pretty nicely, it didn’t seem to set up for anything else. I also am interested in learning more about the world and magic, hoping it gets developed more in the coming books.

Characters:
Kell: Definitely my favourite character and the most interesting. He seems like such a nice guy and his magical abilities are cool. I so wanted to know more about the antari and the different Londons.

Lila: I’m not a huge fan of Lila. I don’t hate her, but I don’t love her. She can be a tad annoying and tedious sometimes. I did like her interactions/relationship with Kell. Hopefully, I’ll like her more in the next one.

Overall, I wasn’t overly impressed. I didn’t hate it, didn’t love it. It was an okay read.

Rating: 2.5/3 Stars

WWW Wednesday 03/03/2021

Happy Wednesday!

This tag/meme is hosted on Taking on a World of Words. It’s a super simple meme, you just answered the three W questions.

The Three Ws are:

What have you recently finished?

What are you currently reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Recently Finished:
Nothing.
I read a lot in Feb, so I kinda had a break? I had done a lot of reading for uni, I didn’t really feel like reading and didn’t want to force myself and end up in a slump.

Currently Reading:

The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor

This has been sat on my shelf for a long while, I’ve been wanting to read it for ages. Now, I’m reading it for uni. I’m excited to finally pick this up and now I get to study it too!

*Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

I sent a physical arc by the publisher and given an audio arc by Libro.fm… so I should probably get a move on with this. I hope to read and review it before release day, which is March 16th (US and kindle UK) and April 1st (UK hardback).

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Reading Next:

*Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert (audiobook)

One of my most anticipated releases for the year! I absolutely adored the previous two books in this series. I cannot wait to dive into this!

What are you currently reading or reading next?

February Wrap Up | 2021

Hey bookworms!
Is it just me or did Feb fly by?! I can’t believe it’s March already.
Let’s hope this March is a good one…

Anyway, I had a really good month in Feb! Despite starting back at uni, I still managed to read a lot!
I read a total of 8 books!

*The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe – Rating: 4 Stars
Ice by Anna Kavan – Read for uni/ No rating
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (reread) – Read for uni but have previously read. Rating: 5 Stars
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood – Read for uni/ No rating

Dat’s Love by Leonora Brito – Read for research/ Rating: 2.5 Stars
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E Schwab – Rating: 3 Stars (review coming soon)
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler – Read for uni, but this was on my tbr already/ Rating: 3 Stars
Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer (audiobook) – Rating: 4 Stars (review coming soon)

How was your reading in February? Any new favourites?