the-coven-of-bookish-hoes

[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Ancient Geek Review: The House of Spirits/La Casa de Los Espiritus

8/10 Personal Favorite

This is the first novel by Isabel Allende I have read, and it's also the first novel she released. The last book I read was also in the genre of magical realism, but this one is in another level.

I have grown to love, throughout this book, Allende's writing. Her beautiful imagery, her harsh language, her accurate depictions of violence- they are wonderfully clear, and amazingly paced. All these aspects come together into a monster of a book, that at its core, deals with cycles.

The book follows a family throughout their generations, beginning with the Del Valle, that soon turn into the Trueba after their youngest daughter marries Esteban Trueba. The daughter, Clara Del Valle, has mysterious psychic and spiritual abilities, being able to connect to spirits and predict the future. These abilities constantly haunt the women of her family that come after her. Without spoiling too much, this novel is about how actions bring consequences, especially in the lives of those around us. It brings into question politics, love, trauma, natural disasters, beliefs, religion, opinions, and actually everything under the sun. I cannot say much without it ruining the experience of those who choose to read it.

The cyclical nature of this novel was not lost on me as I kept reading, but once I got to the end, I really understood what I was taking in from Allende. The pov's definitely confused me, and I was angry at whose voices were allowed to speak directly to the reader. But it built intrigue, and I knew there was a point to them. This is the type of book that grabs you and doesn't let go. To fit four generations of people into a novel of 500 pages is an amazing feat, but it was paced really well. The characters had reasonable interactions, and the gripes and grudges they hold with each other, the relationships the build and the stories they create, those things stick with the reader (me) and make you think about your own personal life.

I will say, this is another book I must advice to listen to the triggers it has. There are a lot of depictions of violence, many of which Allende herself lived through, as the latter half of the book is based on the political turmoil of her country. If you are sensitive to: assault, s*xual harrassment, r*pe, child m*lestation, torture, graphic death, amongst other things, I suggest you go into the book with caution.

However, in contrast to the last book I read, I will say that Isabel Allende's voice as a woman has a more interesting take in the description of these things. It feels necessary to the plot, not senseless, and not glorified. Still, for certain sensitive readers it might be too much. I had to put the book down and take a few minutes to digest what I read in order to go back to it, multiple times. Some nights I would have nightmares based on this book. So proceed with caution. But overall! I do think it's a necessary book to read at some point in your lifetime!

[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Rainbow road: review The Jasmine throne

Please note all thoughts are just mine, and if you liked this book more or less than I did, that's great! But please keep comments respectful. Thank you!

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

9/10

I loved this book!

This is a HEAVY fantasy novel. It is very building-based, and the characters are all super interesting and multi-faceted. It is a slow book I would say that it is what you would think of as a high fantasy book this is only the first in the series as well. This is not a book that you would read and not think about. The world is fascinating and the magic system is one of the more interesting ones I have read. If you are looking for a fantasy read that grabs you and drags you by the ankles into a lush and magical world, I would highly recommend it. the magic system instead of dragons or a school-like magic system chooses to focus on nature.

The characters are phenomenal they all know what they want, but they are multifaceted, and they all change over the narrative for better or for worse. this book explores politics, and nothing is simple. Everything is harder and more complicated than just good and bad. there are two powers in this book: the emperor who has terrorized the entire continent and who thrives in violence from even a young age and the rebels who are angry at what their country has been subjected to but who also crave violence. this book explores the idea of how to take over a traumatized country and start the healing process. What does it take to become a monster? How much of a monster do you have to be to be free? What will you give up for power?

Romance! Romance is not the main plot of this book. it is an integral part that may come back later in the series, but in no way is the focus of this first book. This series seems to focus on the world and the active war that is brewing. The romance is wonderful it is a slow-burn, and the two characters work well together, in my opinion. All in all, this is a GREAT book, and I highly recommend it and will pick up the second!

[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Ancient Geek Review: Love in the Time of Cholera

7/10 Literary Masterpiece

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I absolutely adore the genre of Magical Realism, especially when it is explored by Latin American authors. I had really only read one book by Garcia Marquez before, and that was One Hundred Years of Solitude. This book really reinforced my opinion about the beautiful style that Marquez writes in.

Without spoiling much, the book follows two main characters that were in love in their youth, with the male lead, Florentino Ariza, waiting around 50 years to be able to try again in courting the love of his life, Fermina Daza. Set sometime in the 1800's in a vague country that is most likely Colombia. I went into this book with the expectation of a wholesome romance between two older people, and instead I found multiple explorations of the grotesque and disgusting nature of love. Garcia Marquez compares the idea of love with many afflictions, including (as the title suggests) the putrid symptoms of cholera.

I love when an author does not shy away from disgusting depictions of life, but I will say that this book contains a lot of gross imagery including: death, violence, blood, disease, s*xual assault, r*pe, grooming, and racist ideals. I will say it is not for everyone, especially people who equate the voice of a character with the voice of an author. As the story progresses, we realize that the main characters are not as wholesome as they seem at first, and I personally stopped rooting for the male lead and instead was entirely focused on the gruesome depictions of life, which is what I believe Garcia Marquez intended. He talks about life in the 1800's as they were, without sugarcoating, and very explicitly addressing about the problems of a time many now romanticize (a time of cholera, a time of backwards thinking and civil war and violence.)

I will say, and it is something I will probably address in the future, when I make my analysis of the next book I'm reading, but Marquez has a very distinct masculine voice in his writing. This happened in One Hundred Years also, but Love in the Time of Cholera is just way more male-centered, and sometimes there are plots that involve violence against women that are described as love, sometimes even from the women themselves. I am still hesitant to interpret this, I think I would need a re-read of the work with annotations to be able to give a clear opinion about the voice of the male characters in the book, and the way that misogyny is prevalent throughout it. This can be due to the setting of the work, but I believe it's deeper than that, and that inherently, violence against women would change in connotation depending on the context of the novel and the author that is writing it.

Overall? The novel explores the meaning of love, whether it is an affliction that gets to us all, just like an impending epidemic, or if is a beautiful condition that improves our lives and makes a poet of us all. It explores themes of the self, identity, society, womanhood, sexuality, and the history that haunts that corner of Latin America. I very much enjoyed this book, and I recommend it to anyone who is willing to challenge themselves and see a different perspective.

[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Empress Review: Parable of the Sower

**TRIGGER WARNING** this book is REALLY HEAVY and there are things in it like rape, slavery, and murder. Read at your own discretion. Your opinions are your own, comments open for discourse and discussion but please be respectful!

Rating: 8/10

This is my first review on the blog, and it is a big one. People online have recently been talking about this book a lot, saying how important it is to read in our current times, etc etc. However i did buy this book probably two or three years ago after reading a different Octavia Butler book (Dawn) and just haven't picked it up.

To start, this book is WILD. We follow a 15-year old Lauren Olamina as she navigates her life in a walled community in an anarchist version of the suburbs of LA. It's set in 2024 (yikes!) and imagines a future where basic things like food and water are extremely expensive and everyone owns a gun inside the walls.

Lauren initially deals with disagreements with her father and eventually an eroding of her family structure. The rest of the book follows her as she starts a new life, and writes verses to a new religion called Earthseed.

Overall, this novel is a great read. It's well paced, written bluntly but with Butler's signature style, and there was never a moment where I wasn't on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens on the next page. HOWEVER. If you are a sensitive reader or someone who gets triggered easily, I don't think this book is for you. Butler makes things like rape and murder commonplace and describes them in such a casual, passing way as to immerse you in the way the characters feel. What i mean by that is, the characters have been exposed to these things for so long that they don't feel anything from them anymore, and they're just normal everyday occurrences.

The worldbuilding of this book, actually the worldbuilding of most any Octavia Butler book, is exquisite, and also very apt for the times we live in, if a little exaggerated. Working-age adults with college degrees struggle to find jobs that pay, older retirees are the only people who own homes (that they live in with their sons, daughters, and grandchildren), and climate change is ravaging a deteriorating America. Butler predicted, with remarkable accuracy, a future which we are rapidly approaching.

I think this book is a great read, though not exactly lighthearted or fun. It's a serious book, which gave Butler serious burnout after she finished it, and it is incredibly dark. The book is also getting banned in schools, even though its pertinence to our lives is only getting more and more clear as time goes on. I'd say read the book if you're prepared to, and maybe start with a different one of Butler's novels even if this is her bestselling work, so you get a feel for her writing. The one thing I will say is that Lauren has a lot of similarities in the way she acts and talks to the main character from Dawn, Lillith. In my opinion it doesn't take away from either one of these books, especially not with the quick-paced, in your face writing of Parable of the Sower.

I enjoyed this book a lot and hope that everyone gives it a chance!

[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Rainbow Roads Review: Emily Wildes Encyclopedia

Please note all thoughts are just mine, and if you liked this book more or less than I did, that's great! But please keep comments respectful. Thank you!

Emily Wild's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

6.8/10

Really nice read

I read this book in one day it was such a nice and cozy read. I actually wasn't sure if there was a second book, but there is, and I will be reading it! this book centers around an awkward researcher who has gone to a distant land to study a rare species of fairy or fae I keep forgetting what exactly they name them in this book. I really like her as a character she is super smart but super dumb in a real way at the same time, so it was super fun to see her adventures chronicled throughout this book as we see what she wants and how she is going to get it.

This book is very fast-paced and a little low-stakes. I don't know how to explain it, but you know that nothing bad will really happen to the main characters and I liked that a lot actually! I really like all the side characters and really enjoyed the world-building! I thought that writing it like it was her journal was so FUN and refreshing. I am super excited to see where they will take the next book!

There is an element of romance, and I really liked the couple and thought they were both really interesting. This is not a slow burn on the male lead part, but it sort of is on her part. One of the main plots is the main character realizing that she actually really likes him and likes being with him. And their romance is really cute! They kiss twice, but it is super cute.

[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Rainbow Roads review: Phantasma

Please note all thoughts are just mine, and if you liked this book more or less than I did, that's great! But please keep comments respectful. Thank you!

Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

5/10

it was a fun ride

This was another book that took me very little time to read. the characters are fun, and the romance is cute. I really thought the trials were cool, but there was a little struggle, and it felt a little rushed, even though I felt like that was one of the more interesting parts of the book. I personally would have loved more desperation like in The Hunger Games to complete these horrid tasks.

Our main character is interesting, yet her arc over the story took a back seat to the romance of it all. So it is very important to know that this is a ROMANCE; nothing is wrong with that it is just something to keep in mind.

On another note, this is set in New Orleans, and I was born there, so the aesthetic is fun, but I feel like the magic didn't sprinkle that much onto me because I was born there, LOL. All in all it was still super enjoyable, and the gothic aesthetic will always be a super fun world to explore for me.

Ok, the ROMANCE. It was cute I was super put off at first because I was like girl, how are you going to fuck a ghost but he has a corporeal form, so it was a fun ride. the main Love interest was interesting, and I fell for her fast which I personally vibe with. the final reveal I called after the first few chapters so it was fun to see I was right on that front. All in all, I would recommend it to a romance lover!

[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Rainbow Road Recommendation: A Dark and Drowning tide

Please note all thoughts are just mine, and if you liked this book more or less than I did, that's great! But please keep comments respectful. Thank you!

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft

For right now, my rating is 6/10 (I'm realizing how hard a critic I actually am)

very enjoyable

this is another book I consumed quickly. I read this mostly on a plane. this is a shorter novel than the ones I have read. It's 367 pages. Definitely a book you could just sit down and read. My biggest critique is that I wanted more honesty. we get crumbs of this really interesting political turmoil happening in this world that really hit close to home. But that is all we get crumbs. it is mostly a mystery book, but for me, that wasn't the most interesting plot of this book. it was the political ramifications of the murder.

I loved the romance. This is a sapphic romance. The main couple is so endearing our main character can be a little annoying, but I felt like it was super realistic. This is dark academia done right. We don't get a tone of explanation about the research, but the explanations we do get are so great. Each character is really interesting, and in the end, you aren't sure who you want to be the villain.

The reveal didn't hit me very hard I don't know if I knew in the end who it was, but I mostly catch these things in most media. There is a starting of a more political conversation in these books it talks about kingdoms and taking over kingdoms and how bringing all these groups of people together when they don't want to be conquered is not a great idea. And yet the ending in this respect is unfulfilling. it teases the unrest in this universe but we don't get to see the full extent or our characters really doing anything about it. if they do, do something it is off screen for lack of a better term.

All in all, I really did enjoy this book!!

[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Rainbow Road review: When the moon hatched

Please note all thoughts are just mine, and if you liked this book more or less than I did, that's great! But please keep comments respectful. Thank you!

When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

6.5/10

Very enjoyable

As someone who enjoys romance and fantasy, I blew through this book. I read it in about a day. My addition has 690 pages. This is definitely a big read. I enjoyed it, but I will say that there were some points in the plot that I thought were clunky and not very put together, while I am a romance reader, I don't usually stay for romance and so I think the world-building the plot is fascinating and I believe that a second book has the potential to be really really good.

There are multiple sex scenes if that is not your jam, then I would wait to read it as the first book feels like The First Court of Thorns and Roses or the First Fourth Wing book heavily, focusing on the romance. It is a straight romance as well.

I thought that the magic system was really interesting. The world-building was phenomenal. I think that the main character is likable, and even though we know a lot about the love interest, I just couldn't bring myself to care about him. I hope that'll change. This can turn into a really good series. I am waiting impatiently for the next one!

[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

I started a book tumbler with my friends if anyone's interested!!

Rainbow road- main creator of this account hair is currently pink who knows what it will be next week likes

Fantasy

Romance (any)

Romantasy

mystery's

Unhinged lesbian who can't who can't get her shit together so she reads

Ancient Greek geek- curly haired hottie who some how gains all the bitches and all the enemies (why who knows) is basically married to the empress likes

Fantasy

High fantasy

Mystery

Gay fiction

Why they attract people who are super jealous of them we will never know but we do know there life would make a good book

The empress

The self proclaimed non reader this gay disaster is basically married to Greek geek the most brutal reviews out of all of us likes

Gay fiction

Mystery

Sci fi

Very few fantasy

Says they're not a reader, but enjoys the books we read something fishy might be happening here 

Too hot to handle

Someone we all assure is one of the prettiest people we've ever seen and yet has one of the saddest love lives. We've also ever seen. Likes

Fantasy

High fantasy

Not big on romance this dyslexic warrior loves listening to audiobooks while playing Minecraft

Short stack

Wanna get your heart ripped out? Then read any of the books at this person likes. rainbow Road has been tricked many times by this conniving human. Likes

Pain

Suffering

Fantasy

Romance (any)

Mystery

Sci-fi

If rainbow Road didn't exist, they would be next in line for a person with the most damaged hair. ONLY GIVES recommendation will not rate or critique books.



[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Short stacks recomdations

Good mystery

the maidens,

the silent patient,

and the fury

All by Alex Michaelides

Fantasy

Babel by RF Kuang

(None of these have been read by the other members)

[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Rainbow road- main creator of this account hair is currently pink who knows what it will be next week likes

Fantasy

Romance (any)

Romantasy

mystery's

Unhinged lesbian who can't who can't get her shit together so she reads

Ancient Greek geek- curly haired hottie who some how gains all the bitches and all the enemies (why who knows) is basically married to the empress likes

Fantasy

High fantasy

Mystery

Gay fiction

Why they attract people who are super jealous of them we will never know but we do know there life would make a good book

The empress

The self proclaimed non reader this gay disaster is basically married to Greek geek the most brutal reviews out of all of us likes

Gay fiction

Mystery

Sci fi

Very few fantasy

Says they're not a reader, but enjoys the books we read something fishy might be happening here 

Too hot to handle

Someone we all assure is one of the prettiest people we've ever seen and yet has one of the saddest love lives. We've also ever seen. Likes

Fantasy

High fantasy

Not big on romance this dyslexic warrior loves listening to audiobooks while playing Minecraft

Short stack

Wanna get your heart ripped out? Then read any of the books at this person likes. rainbow Road has been tricked many times by this conniving human. Likes

Pain

Suffering

Fantasy

Romance (any)

Mystery

Sci-fi

If rainbow Road didn't exist, they would be next in line for a person with the most damaged hair. ONLY GIVES recommendation will not rate or critique books.



[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Sooooooooo

I forgot about this account sorry fam 🤪😬😔

But I the all reader who created our group account is going to re-read fourth wing so look out for that!

We are all busy with education so I don't know how active this account will be but i hope you will enjoy

[the-coven-of-bookish-hoes]

Welcome to the very refined and definitely serious book coven dedicated to what we want to read when we want to read it.

We are a group of individuals who love books and have strong opinions on them

Our current bible is The Proiry Of the Orange tree which we will be meeting and disscussing soon

This is a 17+ channels as we all have sailor mouths and might cover heavy topic in our books