New Adult Mini Reviews

So today I have two mini reviews for you guys! These are both two books that I read a while ago, and I really enjoyed reading both of them. Now, as I said, it’s been a while since I read these books, so I’m reviewing from memory. So the books I’ve decided to review are Rule by Jay Crownover and Iniquity by Melody Winter. So without further ado, here are my reviews!

Title: Rule

Series: Marked Men #1

Author: Jay Crownover

My rating: 4 hearts

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Pub. date: December 30th 2012

Synopsis: Opposites in every way . . . except the one that matters 

Shaw Landon loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule is everything a straight-A pre-med student like Shaw shouldn’t want—and the only person she’s never tried to please. She isn’t afraid of his scary piercings and tattoos or his wild attitude. Though she knows that Rule is wrong for her, her heart just won’t listen.

To a rebel like Rule Archer, Shaw Landon is a stuck-up, perfect princess-and his dead twin brother’s girl. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. He doesn’t have time for a good girl like Shaw-even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is.

But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule have to figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love . . . or each other. (synopsis from Goodreads)

I really enjoyed reading Rule. There were some issues, but overall, it was a great story and I really liked the characters. My favourite thing about the story was the characters, and there was a lot of character development in the book.

The characters were a really great part about the book. I really liked and related to Shaw. Rule, on the other hand, was a bit of an ass in the beginning, but what I really liked about him was that he really grew throughout the book. He learned from his mistakes and by the end of the book, I was totally swooning over him. And I really liked them as a couple. The chemistry between them was great, and I just couldn’t help but ship them from the start.

The writing wasn’t great, though. It just didn’t really feel authentic to me, and it didn’t quite manage to catch me. Several times I found myself frowning at something that was written, and it really bothered me a lot. It just didn’t feel all that believable to me.

Overall, though, it was a good book. I enjoyed it, apart from the writing, and I loved the characters. It was a really sweet story, and I really liked the book.

Title: Iniquity

Series: Ascent #1

Author: Melody Winter

My rating: 4 hearts

Genre: New Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Pub. date: October 20th 2016

Synopsis: Athena Harrow is about to turn twenty-one, but there will be no celebration. What is there to celebrate when the world is ruled by demons?

She hates the darkness the demons brought with them and longs for the light to return to the world—a world she only vaguely remembers. The people in her forest village blindly accept the life the demons forced upon them, even tolerating the yearly ascension ceremony where all the girls who have turned twenty-one are either sent away to serve the Master Demon or left in the village and forced to procreate.

But Paymon, the assigned village demon, selects a different role for Athena, a role that pits her against the village. While she adapts to her new life, Erebus, a younger, more powerful demon, arrives, and Athena must play a dangerous game with his emotions in return for information about the demon’s reign of darkness.

As Athena’s dreams of restoring the light begin to fade, her life with Erebus takes an unexpected turn, and this time it’s her life being put to the test.

Set in the forest around Buttercrambe in North Yorkshire, England, INIQUITY explores the frightening, darker side of romance and the uncontrolled emotions it can unleash. (synopsis from Goodreads)

Iniquity was actually a lot better than what I’d expected. When I first saw it, I thought it sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a shot, but I didn’t have a lot of expectations. I was very pleasantly surprised when I started reading it! It was very original and felt really new, and I liked the characters and the romance. Overall a really good read.

So I really liked Athena. While most people had lost all hope (and the world had gone really dark and depressing, so I don’t judge them), she didn’t. She kept on hoping for a better world, and I really liked that about her. And Erebus… honestly, I didn’t much like him at first, but as the romance started developing, I started liking him more and more. And the same goes for the romance. At first, I wasn’t convinced, but as it grew, and as Athena and Erebus grew closer, I warmed up to it.

The only problem was that there was a lot of focus on the romance, so the plot was really slow. For fantasy books, I prefer to have more focus on the plot, and a more fast-paced plot, because this did get a bit boring at times. I would’ve loved a better balance between plot and romance.

But I still really enjoyed the book. It was really different, and I liked that it was a bit darker than what I usually read. It was very original, and I liked the characters. There may’ve been a bit too much romance, but I did like the romance.