I was intrigued by the premise of this book. Unfortunately the actually story failed to live up to the initial promise

Trama/Plot 1
Personaggi/Characters 1
Stile/Style 0.5

I chose this book for the cover, which has its own charm, and for the plot, which seemed promising... instead it was a flop... almost 250 pages of nothing, the plot is far too fragmented, the style is not at all fluent (it was a struggle to get to the end), I did not like the characters at all and, in many cases, you can notice a basic misogyny and fatphobia that border on rudeness. One star is even given away.
***
Ho scelto questo libro per la copertina, che ha un suo fascino, e per la trama, che sembrava promettente...invece è stato un buco nell'acqua...quasi 250 pagine di nulla, la trama è fin troppo frammentata, lo stile non è affatto scorrevole (è stata una fatica arrivare in fondo), i personaggi non mi sono piaciuti per niente e, in molti casi, si nota una misoginia e una grassofobia di fondo che arrivano a sfiorare la maleducazione. Una stella è addirittura regalata.

I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately, it didn't meet my expectations. The pacing was a mess, and I found myself drifting off multiple times. The plot felt unfocused, with too many irrelevant side stories that didn’t add anything meaningful to the narrative. The character development was weak, and I never felt fully connected to anyone, least of all the protagonist.

Clara's obsession with Erik was uncomfortable to read. Her fixation on him felt unhealthy and toxic, bordering on stalking. The way she endlessly pined for someone who clearly wasn’t interested made her seem immature and frustrating. There was little growth, and by the time I gave up, I couldn’t bring myself to care about her journey.

The constant fat-shaming was also a huge turn-off. The book overemphasized characters' physical appearances, using cruel language and making it feel like their worth was defined by their looks. It was repetitive and unneeded, leaving me with an overall sense of discomfort. That's why I'm giving it 1 aka 0 ⭐.

This was a great start to the Chosen and the Cursed series, it had that feel that I was looking for from the description. The world was wonderfully done and worked well with the characters in this world. I was invested in what was happening with this story and enjoyed the overall feel of this. Jad Phillip has a strong writing style and can't wait for more.

I am grateful for this copy I was given for an honest review, but I´m afraid I put it down as soon as I realized that it was a lot different than what I expected. Primarily because the book soon turned out to be 'erotic' in nature, with descriptions of characters and body parts in a way where I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be serious or comedic. I think it would be more helpful to find the right audience for these kinds of books if the back-description were more honest.

Anyway, I decided I still wanted to give it a shot, so I skipped ahead a few chapters, but I still found the language odd and choppy, as if it was aimed at an audience with a lacking vocabulary and reading comprehension. I am currently reading a middle-grade fantasy novel that has a much more nuanced language and respect for its reader's understanding of what is going on. I am not a native English speaker so I sometimes have to look up words while I'm reading in English, but if someone recommended this book to me because of it, I would be offended. How a book is written is just, if not more, important than the actual story, as several times there is a promising concept butchered by bad writing. I want to immerse myself in the story, not flinch back to reality every time something or someone is described/written in an off-putting way.

Thank you for reading this review, and anyone is welcome to agree or disagree. Reading is a personal experience, and this particular experience just wasn't for me.

I loved the plot line of this story it was well written and hard to put down. I would defied reccomend others read it.

This was almost a DNF multiple times, but I kept hoping that it would get better. The description of the book sounded amazing and it had huge potential, but sadly, it didn't deliver on that potential for me. There were a lot of tangents in this book that completely took me out of the story and made the whole thing feel very disjointed. Many of the descriptions of the characters were also oddly written and unnecessarily lengthy for how minor of a character they were. While all of the relationships in this book were extremely unhealthy, Clara's obsession over Erik felt toxic and how a woman "should" feel about a man in her life. She's a grown adult going to university, yet it's shocking that he and his girlfriend are having sex? Her constant whining about him not loving her and her stalking tendencies made me feel very uncomfortable. Yes, he might have hinted that he wanted more, but that doesn't automatically mean that you need to obsess over a man for years and think that he'll just come to the realization that he loves you out of the blue. Clara felt extremely immature, and she only potentially changed the last few pages of the book.

The obsession with perceived beauty and fat shaming was off the charts and made me feel EXTREMELY uncomfortable. "fat was an understatement," "her features weren't so friendly on the eyes," "she's too hot to die," etc. I might not have been so uncomfortable if it had only been once or twice, but it was THROUGHOUT the book. It very much made me feel like a female's sexual worth was being "mansplained," and it ensured that I won't be continuing with this series.

Thank you, NetGalley, the publisher and author, for providing a free copy of <i>The Jade Necklace</i> in exchange for an honest review.

The Jade Necklace has a very interesting premise and a beautiful cover. I have never encountered Gargoyles in YA fantasy and was excited to read it. However, the book was extremely disappointing and I can't honestly recommend it to anyone.

The writing style is very immature, in line with what I expect from young teenagers on wattpad. The plot is hard to follow and doesn't seem to have much structure. In one chapter characters are sleeping together after a 5 minute conversation with no history or build up or any rational reasoning, the next a fatphobic and misogynistic med student is at a party and they play spin the bottle, asking each other if they think someone's cute and daring each other to kiss, and then she's outside being attacked, and THEN we're back with Robin the gargoyle and he gives us a 3 page, exposition heavy monologue detailing how the magic system works. There's also unnecessary scenes such as Robin taking a shower and getting undressed etc, which served no purpose and lent to the juvenile feel of the writing. It was break-neck speed and the events did not flow together at all.

The characters were also incredibly flat. Robin, one of the three (?) protagonists, spends an excessive amount of time telling us that he does not care for humans and enjoys hunting them. But then he also makes clear he won't kill "innocents". These two concepts don't work together - if he doesn't care about humans or human life, why make this distinction? And why does he spend so much goddamn time telling us these two facts repeatedly? We don't get much more about his character other than through this telling not showing style. Carla, one of the other protagonists, has little character outside of hating women and not being like other girls. Unfortunately I didn't get far enough in to learn much about Darla so I can't give an opinion on her.

Plot and character aside, the book is just problematic. It oozes misogyny, fatphobia, and others have mentioned homophobia (I didn't get far in so not sure if this becomes worse). The author mentions different cultures, flawed characters, and asks us to go in with an open mind. I am all for flawed characters and find it admirable to tackle difficult issues. However, I believe when writing about difficult issues, it's the authors duty to show these traits in a negative light and try to combat the hateful views, even if the characters don't understand that yet. The author does not show these in a particularly negative light. They are all used excessively and it honestly felt like the author was relishing in being so hateful. I didn't read any interaction between Clare and another woman where she wasn't calling them a b**** or fat, or otherwise being horrible. The girlfriend of her crush gets especially poor treatment, being portrayed as nothing more than a slut - and of course the implication that being a party girl/slutty is inherently immoral (which it's not). We can't have a scene with Widad, Clare's frinds, without someone calling her fat and implying she's ugly and undesirable because of this. Even Carla, who is meant to be her friend, thinks about Widad's fatness constantly.

Overall, I have to give this a 0/5 stars. There's a potentially interesting and cool magic system hidden in here, but I think the plot, characters and writing style needs completely redoing.

I read the prolouge and parts of the first chapter before DNF-ing this book.
I did it because a) it was a tad too scary for my taste b) it had too much info dumping for me as well.

I enjoyed the idea behind the book, but sadly I could not get past my grivances with the book.
In addition the writing in generall felt too detailed for my taste.

Gargoyles, mages, vampires, and anomaly; Oh my!! 😉
There was so much going on, I enjoyed the story and seeing so many different supernatural beings all in one book however I felt the jump around in the chapters where the perspective kept changing to be a tad confusing. At some points it was in third person other points in first person and would switch at the drop of a dime which is the main fault I feel. However I enjoyed the characters and seeing the growth that Badr was undergoing whether he wanted to or not.


*I received a free ARC from NetGalley*

I'm not entirely sure where to begin with my review.
I was firstly confused about when this book was being released, as it appears to have been originally published in 2022 under a different name and part of a different series. This is not made clear when advertising this for review on Netgalley. The reviews on Goodreads and those on Netgalley are also quite different, with those on Goodreads notably being more positive.

The writing is quite juvenile in nature and I felt at times that I might have been trapped in the mind of a 13 year old boy, particularly in the way that many of the characters are described. Much of the time line is very confusing to follow, starting with the Gargoyle MMC and then following some adolescents (are they school children?). The characters themselves are flat and uninspiring individuals who I didn't care to actual read about, not even the supposed super sexy Gargoyle. The FMC's friends are also awful people, who just appear to bully each other.

The author has written a little ditty on Netgalley about readers the less accepting nature of the cultures in which this story is set, with homophobia and criticism of appearance being more tolerated. However, despite this cheery message, the amount of comments in this tone are frequent and unnecessary, often ruining the flow of an otherwise fine scene.

This book is being advertised as a romance marketed at teens and YA, despite the mature themes of this story.

If I could give this book a negative star rating, I would.

So far, this book leaves a lot to be desired. The prologue was promising, and then it just goes downhill from there. As soon as we meet ‘Badr’, we are greeted with clunky writing and a male who thinks he is gods gift to women (Direct quote: <i>"I am perfection. No wonder I could take someone every single night. Women want me. They want to surrender to me. They want me to dominate them"</i> Yeah, this is not only a red flag but a major ick. Why are we wanting teens/young adults to read this?!). It is disgusting how sexist this book gets within the first couple of chapters. Not only are we given sexist remarks, we are indulged with fat shaming and homophobic slurs, not exactly something teens and young adults should be exposed to. I feel that this book needs reconsideration by the publishers as if this is the sort of content they publish, what exactly are they telling the world they support. This book has left me with an incredibly foul taste and I will be promptly DNFing this book.

0.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley, Publisher and Author for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and author for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Honestly, I couldn’t even get through this book. The writing was terrible and confusing. I was really excited because the premise sounded promising but it was just not good. There were confusing jumps around the narrator, NONE of the characters were likable, and there was so much hate being spewed it was just not enjoyable.

From the get go of the novel I was addicted. The magical system and lore built into this book have left me wanting more, is it Lebanese or another culture's lore that it is inspired by?
With the thousands of fantasy novels that I have read, both adult and Young Adult, I have yet to read a story which included a Gargoyle- which for me is brilliant. When I was a young kid, I was enamored by the show named Gargoyles and slightly obsessed with the same mythical characters which feature in Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. So to see a last of its kind and unlike any other- Gargoyle I love it.
Also, what I could really connect with was the inner conflict of Clara and Robin. These two, almost mirrored character seem to suffer in their lives. Clara in her silent love for Erick and Robin with his conflict with relationship to humanity- his or other people's.
The antagonist are an interesting choice, an almost strict western religious sect of Christanity who are riding the world of Pheonixs however, it felt like Jonathan's toxic self-hatred could be relatable without some of the extreme comments he make, as a weaponised lesser evil.

However, it felt like the author was unsure of the demographic to which he was writing it for, which happens with passionate writers. However, some of the scenes between Robin and Darla might tick off some librarians in America. Luckily, I would definitely buy it for my library and just stick an advisory sticker for Year 9+.

Yet, the epilogue had me gasping for more. Now, I have to wait for the next novel. Well done Mr Phillip/El Khoury.
.Questions which I am now left wondering:
Was that Clara's long lost sister?
What is Clara?
How does she fit in with the magical system? If she isn't a phoenix, then why is she a seemingly reincarnated version of Aurora?

I received a complimentary copy of this book from #netgalley , thank you. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

FIrst off, love the gargoyle in the picture it really looks. cool. Second, loved the plot it's gothic yet contemporary. The story is fun to read and the characters are definitely their own type of creatures. This gave Half Blood vibes by Jennifer Armentrout

This is a young adult fantasy. The story is told from 3 different POVs, that all intersect as the story goes. It's fast paced, has many magical beings; Gargoyles, Witches, Vampires and different shifters.
It definitely kept my interest throughout. I liked that it wasn't predictable and you were always left wondering what would happen next. I'm typically a fantasy reader, and sometimes in that genre it can start to feel like the same story retold, but this was unlike any of the fantasy I've read. I enjoyed it!

Thank you NetGalley, BooksGoSocial and Author Jad Phillip for the ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, BooksGoSocial and Jad Phillip for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

DNF at 25%

Before starting the book I read the note from the publisher and came in with an open mind, knowing that I was about to read about flawed characters and to be faced with unkind comments regarding gender, race, and sex. But even being aware of that did not fully prepare me for the kinds of phrases I would see within these pages.

I understand that, as the note stated, sexism, racism and homophobia still exist in the world, and I appreciate wanting to portray real characters with these ideals, but I find it absolutely unnecessary to have offensive comments every single page, that do not contribute to neither the plot nor the development of the characters.

Sadly, it was not something I could ignore, and really soured the reading experience.

As a young adult book, I expected this to be accessible and not as complex as what I traditionally read. However, I did not expect it to be quite as flat as it appeared at some points. As others have said, there were some confusing points

I did I think there’s a good story buried in there, but revisions would need to be made. Some more dynamic writing and character development and it could be a really great book.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and author for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately I had to mark this book as DNF because it just wasn’t for me.

The writing was very clunky and at parts hard to read (Robins first chapter is incredibly cringey).

The writer also included many fatphobic, sexist and homophobic statements within the first chapters which were unnecessary to the story and gave me an incredibly bad taste in my mouth.

I was not impressed with this book. It truly wasn't that enjoyable. The writing was all over. I got lost a few times with the jumps in the chapters, and the back and forth without knowing at first. The fat shaming and homophobia in this book also makes me less interested as well. The way you described the fight scenes weren't intriguing either. I read this and kept questioning why I was reading this even halfway through. It wasn't the worst book I have read, but it definitely wasn't one I was completely hooked into rushing through. Thankfully this isn't a super long story either. I wish I could have enjoyed it more, but it was definitely not a very welcoming to everyone kind of book, and it just put me off very early.