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Disclaimer: This is a YA book, so I did not judge it harshly in an attempt to compare it to adult book expectations.

This book was like taking The Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, and Mexican culture and throwing it all into the blender. I really enjoyed a mythology book that was not centered around Greek mythology. Thomas is also amazing at incorporating diversity into his books, and this one had it in spades. A semidiós is deaf and even the bad guys have enough knowledge of sign language to be able to tell what's being said. LGBTQ+ representation is shown through the entirety of the book. Teo, the MC, is trans and still struggles with accepting himself because his feathers are still the feminine brown colors. The overall acceptance of the characters choosing to be themselves and receiving full support of everyone -even the mortals- was amazing.

I really loved Cemetery Boys with Yadriel struggling with his family not accepting his gender and refusing to allow him to partake in the brujo traditions, but this book overtakes it. Both are amazing, but the amount of culture and love and respect that was shown through this was such a nice change. With Teo, you get to experience a Trans boy who is still struggling with his identity even with unwavering support from everyone. That's not a perspective that I've really seen at this point.

I would definitely recommend this one. I laughed a lot. Niya and Teo's banter was top notch and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it in the next book.

Still not great by any means, but it held my attention more than Neon Gods did. The plot was more active in this one, but it took a back burner too many times for the convenience of stretching the book out so you got more interaction from the MCs. It went with the political intrigue a little too heavy when it didn't really help move the story along. I also didn't care much for the influencer stuff.

The connection to the first is barely there, the biggest connection being Zeus becoming a likeable character (due to the events in the 1st book) and Persephone living in the Underworld with Hades. Because Roberts gives a quick rundown of what happened, this can fully be treated as a stand-alone.

I found it enjoyable enough that I'm going to give the 3rd book a shot. But that one is going to make or break my continuing with the series. We'll see how it goes.

This book shall be my go-to reference for enjoyable stories that leave you with no answers for what is going on. We don't even know if they're on earth or not. Everything written in the book is learned through the main character who has never known life outside of the bunker. It adds an extra flair of surrealism as she gets to see and witness all these new things that the other women with her took for granted.

This copy contains an afterward referencing Jacqueline's family having to flee their home during the Nazi invasion and the likelihood that the other bunkers full of dead bodies was influenced by the concentration camps. This added an entirely new level to the book for me.

Another audiobook that was well-done. The narrator did a really great job at conveying the innocence that the MC would have had due to not knowing the world and that information being held from her because what's the point in teaching it since they will all die in the bunker and she will never experience a semblance of what life once was.

This is one that I will be buying a copy of. Highly recommend.

I listened to the audio book for this one, and I highly recommend it. Ellis Evans did a really great job bouncing between goofy fun conversations and serious moments. I gave it an extra star because of it. I laughed out loud in my car many times.

This has been toted as being a enemies-to-lovers romance, and that's absolutely not it at all. They are "entered" into a competition to prove that they should be the one that will marry Iris (all 3 involved characters have no interest in this marriage), but they're going along while trying to figure out what the driving factor is between this push for an arraigned marriage. There's a lot more political drama through this book, so just be prepared for that. This is another moment where I'm glad that I don't read the blurbs before I read.

This is my first holiday-themed book, so I'm not sure if it's quite my jam yet. But the characters were adorable, and there was a lot of communication between all, not just the MCs. It also didn't feel like there was a lot of random fluff thrown in, and the steamy scenes weren't just thrown into random spaces for entertainment purposes. The steam was a little diluted with a lot of talking (consent, consent, consent) and Coal's insecurities were a constant point of discussion between the two.

I feel like I would have enjoyed it more if we got to see a little from Hex's POV. This was straight from Coal's perspective only. Even just an epilogue with a peek through Hex's eyes would have been fine. It just emphasized the feeling that he's more of a background character. I wanted to see more of him.

I'll be picking up the next in this series to follow with Kris' story.

SPOILERY Interesting take by having Santa be the holiday mafia boss with capitalistic greed.