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Liv-n-Stories

Liv, 30 | Holding on to my sanity through a neverending TBR (fantasy, historical fiction -also a big fan of kdrama and manga) | she/her

2061 points

0% overlap
Iconic Series
Cozy Fantasy
Level 5
My Taste
Little Thieves (Little Thieves, #1)
The Rage of Dragons (The Burning, #1)
The Throne of the Five Winds (Hostage of Empire, #1)
The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy, #1)
His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, #1)
Reading...
House of the Beast: A Novel

Liv-n-Stories started reading...

19h
House of the Beast: A Novel

House of the Beast: A Novel

Michelle Wong

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Liv-n-Stories wrote a review...

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  • Hemlock & Silver
    Liv-n-Stories
    Aug 24, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 3.5Quality: 4.5Characters: 4.5Plot: 3.5

    I'll go with a 3.75⭐, solely because I'm not a mystery/murder mystery girl, so the plot isn't what I go for and enjoy usually, but T. Kingfisher's writing would make me read and enjoy anything. "Surely a murderer would look different? Not so tired? At thirty-five, I was more than old enough to know that evil could present a fair face, but I have never heard that it got tired. Quite the opposite, really. Evil is relentlessly energetic." I'm actually in awe of her prose. Every line is either funny, or smart, or emotional; the woman can't write a single mid line. You know that feeling when you're reading and either losing interest a bit, or starting to skim without meaning to, and you see a really good line,that grab your attention and makes you stand a bit straighter and sink into the book because your brain went "oh?" ? That's every line t.kingfisher writes. That alone can get me through any type of plot, favourite genre or not. This is written with a 1st person/past tense, but some sentences are suddenly in present tense; and instead of annoying me (because 1st person/present tense is my nemesis), it feels as if the MC stops in the middle of the story they were telling you to give you more info, and it feels so cozy and personal, I love it. As a retelling, it's also incredibly original and the horror element is very elegantly done. For anyone who actually loves horror and mysteries, this would be an easy 4.5/5⭐ And as usual with t.kingfisher's work, her character's voices are superbly singular. Adult Anya? Perfect thought process of an anxious socially awkward person. Child Anya? Self-centered in that oblivious way, stubborn, throws a tantrum at the mere concept of injustice. Very obviously a child thinking. Her character are so charmingly human (and as always, so varied in shapes and colours, ages and interests, we love to see it) and her romances wonderfully sweet and mature. "I had succeeded in pushing off my fears until later. Now later had arrived, and I wasn't somehow magically equipped to deal with it. Poor planning on my part, clearly."

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  • Liv-n-Stories commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

    1d
  • Bookish questions because I'm a nosy person

    Hello again!🤗 Today I was thinking about how excited I am to do a year wrap up when the year ends (obviously 🤣) and I want to ask you the same questions I asked my self, so here they go: 1- What's your favorite book of the year so far? 2- Which book/books you were so hyped for but ended up being a disappointment? 3- Which new author/authors you found out this year and feel in love with? 4- Which book/books you thought you would give 1 star but ended up giving 4/5 stars? 5- How close are you to complete your reading challenge (if you have one)? I hope everyone has a nice weekend and thank you for letting be your very curious book friend 🤣🫶

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  • Post from the Where No Shadow Stays forum

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  • !

    I don't read horror but it's Sara Hashem, so I'll probably read it anyway 🤷‍♀️

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  • Liv-n-Stories wants to read...

    2d

    Where No Shadow Stays

    Sara Hashem

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    Post from the Hemlock & Silver forum

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  • Hemlock & Silver
    Thoughts from 39% (page 137)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

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  • Post from the Hemlock & Silver forum

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  • Hemlock & Silver
    Thoughts from 35% (page 125)

    I'd love to meet t kingfisher. She tends to write anxious, socially awkward characters who underestimate themselves and are terrified to bother others or embarrass themselves (relatable); I wonder if that shows on her

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  • Liv-n-Stories commented on a post

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  • The Jasad Crown (The Scorched Throne, #2)
    Thoughts from 71% (page 467) / end of chapter 50

    My heart is in my throat, it feels like we're reaching the climax of the story and it's all about to end but there's still 200pages left, I'm so tense I'm nauseous

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  • Liv-n-Stories wants to read...

    5d
    The House of Quiet

    The House of Quiet

    Kiersten White

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    Liv-n-Stories finished reading and wrote a review...

    5d
  • Birth of a Dynasty
    Liv-n-Stories
    Aug 19, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 3.0Characters: 3.5Plot: 4.5

    3.75 ⭐ If the prose was as good as the plot, it'd be a 4.5⭐. "I know what you want, because everyone wants it." Khalil glanced up at the old man as he continued speaking. "The power to protect what we love." At that, Khalil smiled, but it was a bitter smile. "No, I want the power to avenge those I've lost, nothing else." "Bitterness should not come from children." The old man snickered to himself. "What job will be left for those who are old?" I felt like the author had a really good grasp of the momentum of the story, I never felt bored; the 2 main pov were interesting, had their own unique voice and I found them both lovable; and the overall plot, if not incredibly original, flowed really well and is typically what I like: a prophecy, revenge, infiltrating the enemy, rebellion, politics, and in the second half, what I love even more: court intrigue. This book, especially the second half, is highly political. It sets up the world and so beside the very beginning, doesn't have much action; but as a massive political intrigue fan, I didn't mind it one bit. Truly, the only thing I minded is the writing style. It is sadly one-dimentional and dry. Particularly in action scenes, the lack of detail and dryness of the descriptions killed all momentum for me and kept pulling me out of the story. It clearly didn't bother me enough to not finish or appreciate the book; maybe because it's indeed not action heavy yet? Or it might have gotten better as it went, or I might have gotten more used to it. It is also a very dialogue heavy book, although I did not mind that either, maybe because the dialogue was better than the prose. The fantasy aspect is quite discreet so far. Mainly in the presence of Seers and prophecies, and the mention of "doeers" who can use the magic that seers can only see. Anyhow, I love both M'kuru and Zikora and I'm invested in their story so I'm actually really looking forward to book 2. And I hope Chinaza Bado will have time to develop her style and reach her very obvious potential. "He felt like a snake shedding his skin, but instead of looking better he looked worse. Morphing into something uglier. But he would do whatever he could to survive. He would tell himseld this over and over again... Because nothing meant more than his revenge, even if it turned him into a beast."

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  • Liv-n-Stories commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

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  • frogbitty
    Edited
    How do you read ebooks?

    I didn't know how common it was for people to have ereader devices until I started paying more attention to what was going on in "bookish" spaces. As long as I've been reading ebooks, I've just read them on my phone. Getting a separate device just for reading seems a bit excessive to me, but I can sympathize with the desire to be free of distractions like random notifications or the temptation of social media. Does anyone else just read on their phone? Am I getting a skewed impression of how most people read ebooks, or are ereaders really that common? What features (other than minimizing distractions) make ereaders better than phones for reading?

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  • Liv-n-Stories commented on Liv-n-Stories's update

    Liv-n-Stories started reading...

    6d
    Birth of a Dynasty

    Birth of a Dynasty

    Chinaza Bado

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