cakecouture is interested in reading...

The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy
Brigitte Knightley
Post from the Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, #1) forum
SOMETHING FINALLY HAPPENED omg
after rambling on for 230 pages, the plot/conflict is finally happening. i'm about to lose my mind.
cakecouture made progress on...
Post from the Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, #1) forum
cakecouture commented on a post
before i do anything, i have to preface this by saying that i am not north american, i do not live in north america, and i did not learn north american history in school. i know enough to have certain opinions about the continent as a whole, especially in light of recent events, but i'm not nearly as informed as someone who studied the subject or, say, an actual north american. i understand that a lot of discourse surrounding this book was about the erasure of native americans in order to drive the plot forward and that the author had said once in an interview that she had done it because she didn't believe herself qualified to write them without over-glorification or stereotyping—this is not something i feel i'm educated enough to speak on, but i do plan on doing the necessary research after i finish this book.
i picked this up based solely on a recommendation from someone who read the book ten years ago and liked its magic system. most of my posts going forward will be made on that basis.
that said...the writing style is atrocious. we're a third of the way through, and it's the first time something of note has happened, EVER. most of it is she-woke-up-then-got-off-the-bed-then-showered type of writing, and i really, really wanna smash my face into a wall whenever i see a block of text. i'm sad i'm the only one on this forum, because i need to know how some people finished this. still not dnf'ing though cause mama raised a whiner, not a quitter.
Post from the Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, #1) forum
before i do anything, i have to preface this by saying that i am not north american, i do not live in north america, and i did not learn north american history in school. i know enough to have certain opinions about the continent as a whole, especially in light of recent events, but i'm not nearly as informed as someone who studied the subject or, say, an actual north american. i understand that a lot of discourse surrounding this book was about the erasure of native americans in order to drive the plot forward and that the author had said once in an interview that she had done it because she didn't believe herself qualified to write them without over-glorification or stereotyping—this is not something i feel i'm educated enough to speak on, but i do plan on doing the necessary research after i finish this book.
i picked this up based solely on a recommendation from someone who read the book ten years ago and liked its magic system. most of my posts going forward will be made on that basis.
that said...the writing style is atrocious. we're a third of the way through, and it's the first time something of note has happened, EVER. most of it is she-woke-up-then-got-off-the-bed-then-showered type of writing, and i really, really wanna smash my face into a wall whenever i see a block of text. i'm sad i'm the only one on this forum, because i need to know how some people finished this. still not dnf'ing though cause mama raised a whiner, not a quitter.
cakecouture commented on a post
i am unfortunately making very slow work of this book and i'm a little embarrassed 😭 I SWEAR I CAN READ it's just been a rather busy week
cakecouture commented on cakecouture's update
cakecouture commented on a post
cakecouture commented on cakecouture's review of Immortal
after aiding the immortals in their pursuit to secure the golden desert for queen caihong, the kingdom of tianxia falls under the protection of said eternal beings, more servants than allies. tired of their inherent inability to share and scared for his dying heir, the king steals a divine cure to gift to his granddaughter, ensuring her survival and ending his own. liyen, filled now with hatred for the gods who took the last of her family away from her, has to conceal the powers awakening inside and fake subservience, for it is only through queen caihong that she can obtain the mandate to rule. deep down, she has only one wish: to free tianxia from the vice-like grip of the gods. war is on the horizon though, and her movements are being watched by all, none more attentive than zhanwei, the god of war. their attraction is immediate, the sparks between them so hot it threatens to burn her from the inside out, and she decides that to protect herself and her people, she must focus only the task at hand—win his favor to help her kingdom. matters of the heart would only serve to ruin her.
but zhangwei has secrets too, ones that if revealed to her, would throw everything she's ever known into disarray.
i'm so sad to be rating this book so low. the premise was great, the hook was even better, the tension/romance was god-tier (pun intended). but (and i don't say this lightly) i simply cannot get past how absolutely infuriating both liyen and zhangwei were in the beginning. yes, they had good reason for that, but the reveal was buried too deep into the book that by the time it came to light, it just felt forced. i didn't hate it though—the ending pulled itself together very nicely. i deeply enjoyed the themes SLT explored in this one and look forward to her next works.
cakecouture started reading...

Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, #1)
Patricia C. Wrede
cakecouture wrote a review...
after aiding the immortals in their pursuit to secure the golden desert for queen caihong, the kingdom of tianxia falls under the protection of said eternal beings, more servants than allies. tired of their inherent inability to share and scared for his dying heir, the king steals a divine cure to gift to his granddaughter, ensuring her survival and ending his own. liyen, filled now with hatred for the gods who took the last of her family away from her, has to conceal the powers awakening inside and fake subservience, for it is only through queen caihong that she can obtain the mandate to rule. deep down, she has only one wish: to free tianxia from the vice-like grip of the gods. war is on the horizon though, and her movements are being watched by all, none more attentive than zhanwei, the god of war. their attraction is immediate, the sparks between them so hot it threatens to burn her from the inside out, and she decides that to protect herself and her people, she must focus only the task at hand—win his favor to help her kingdom. matters of the heart would only serve to ruin her.
but zhangwei has secrets too, ones that if revealed to her, would throw everything she's ever known into disarray.
i'm so sad to be rating this book so low. the premise was great, the hook was even better, the tension/romance was god-tier (pun intended). but (and i don't say this lightly) i simply cannot get past how absolutely infuriating both liyen and zhangwei were in the beginning. yes, they had good reason for that, but the reveal was buried too deep into the book that by the time it came to light, it just felt forced. i didn't hate it though—the ending pulled itself together very nicely. i deeply enjoyed the themes SLT explored in this one and look forward to her next works.
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Immortal
Sue Lynn Tan
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A Drop of Venom
Sajni Patel
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The Floating World
Axie Oh
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The Night Ends with Fire (The Night Ends with Fire, #1)
K.X. Song