I am in love with this book! The world building is fantastic and the characters are engaging! Plus I'm really enjoying this plot. SJM has done it again!

--- I HAVE ONLY READ & REVIEWED THE EXCERPT ---

***I was provided an Excerpt of House of Earth and Blood in exchange for an honest review***
I haven’t read much Sarah J. Maas. Her newest publication sounded really good so I decided to read the excerpt when it was available from NetGalley.com via Bloomsbury Publishing!

Just the little bit I’ve read of House of Earth and Blood and I can see why so many people love Sarah J. Maas. Immediately her writing pulled me into this intricate world that she was building through the approachable characters she introduced us to, but I don’t have to convince anyone Sarah J. Maas knows what she’s doing. She is a bestselling author for quite a few books. So I’ll get straight to the point. If I hadn’t liked the main character immediately I would’ve stopped reading about three pages into chapter 3. I immediately disliked the massive focus on the romantic and sexual tension between Bryce and Connor, among others, especially since it felt very... belittling? To all the other attributes Bryce might have to offer as a character. Just the traditional “hot male gaze” mixed with so much focus on dating and hooking up I couldn’t even tell where the supposed plot was anymore. And that was after suffering through a tremendous amount of R rated language, which I usually don’t overly condemn or call out, but there was so much of it in so little of a excerpt. If all her books are like this I wonder how they’ve been enjoyed so widely in the YA community.

I gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars because I do like the character Bryce and I want to see where all of this is taking her but if I’d borrowed this book from the library or picked it up at a book store, I would not have read much past the 3rd or 4th page in chapter 3.

4.5 stars

did I get myself trapped into obsessing over another SJM book? I sure did.

I genuinely did not expect to love this. There have been some other books recently that I expected to love and ended up falling flat and I was pretty sure this would be the same. But I was very wrong.
Also, can we talk about the fact the even though I knew I’d end up crying at some point during reading this book, I did not expect it to be that early on…

This book is a detective story, which is also something that kind of put me off towards the beginning. I’m definitely not keen on cop/detective/police stories. But this focused more so on our main characters and their relationship with each other as well as the side characters. Was the story great? Yes, absolutely. Was I completely shocked ever? No, but I am a firm believer that you don’t need some crazy unexpected twist to have a good book.

Sarah J Maas is a master at creating deep, fleshed out characters. She makes you think one thing and then bam you find out the truth and that character becomes so much more.
Throughout the book, my love for Bryce deepened. At the beginning, I definitely didn’t know what to expect with her but as we grew to know her deeply, I found myself relating and wanting to know her even more.
I loved Hunt from the start, but I am impartial to brooding men so no one is surprised. He was a very strong character from the beginning and he never underestimated Bryce which made me happy.
A few other amazing side characters were Rhune, Danika, Connor, and LEHABA. Good hell, I adore Lehaba. She was amazing. Rhune surprised me, he was a very strong part of the novel in my opinion.

Something else I also unexpectedly loved about this book was the world. I was hesitant, knowing that it is something like urban fantasy, but Maas really did a superb job of building the world and making it feel like an insanely perfect mixture of fantasy and “real world”.

Am I obsessed? Guilty.
And you know what? I’m very excited to have found another series that I can get hyped for.

As crazy long as this book was, I never once felt bored.

Also... I’m dying to know more about Aidas.

I was given a sample of this book by netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is going to be dense, the first chapter is filled with a lot of info dumping. Since this is only a sample, my opinion could change once reading it all.

It’s also clear Sarah J Maas likes her worlds with clearly divided regions because this series like ACOTAR has them except they are called Heads instead of Courts:

“Heads in Crescent City, the metropolis formally known as Lunathion. Each Head controlled a specific part of the city: the Prime of the wolves in Moonwood, the Fae Autumn King in Five Roses, the Under-King in the Bone Quarter, the Viper Queen in the Meat Market, the Oracle in the Old Square, and the River Queen—who very rarely made an appearance—representing the House of Many Waters and her Blue Court far beneath the Istros River’s turquoise surface. She seldom deigned to leave it. The humans in Asphodel Meadows had no Head.”

I already like Bryce and Danika’s friendship as well as their individual personalities.

I’m intrigued by the world as well and I think it’s a great teaser of a sample. I’m excited to finish the book.

I’ve never read another Sarah j Maas book, but I know they are very well loved by the book community, and they always sell well at work. I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style, the super descriptive nature felt a bit unnecessary and confused the plot for me, but seemed to be an interesting concept. Probably won’t purchase the title to finish though, but may try her other books in the future to see if they liv euro to the hype!

*** I received this ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review***
That's it, I'm pissed. I've been mad at her before for things she has done in books, but now I am MAD. As stated, I received this as an ARC. I was reading happily along, loving the dialogue and repartee between friends (clever). The plot was moving merrily along and then....THEN. Catastrophe, tragedy and the END OF MY ARC. I got five chapters. Now I have to go find a Kindle copy...or an open library or something. UGH.

I'm already a huge fan of Sarah J. Maas, so when I saw I would be able to read an few chapters from her upcoming book, I was onboard!

Even though this is just a snippet of the book, I'm already hooked. The beginning chapters have great world building and your introduced to the characters. If the rest of the book is as good as the first few chapters, then this may be my next new favorite series!!!

I finished the excerpt but I will not be reading the full novel. I was hopeful that Maas' writing had advanced, or become more immersive but I found it lackluster and predictable. I do not recommend this novel for those looking for an adult novel, this is more of SJM hot mess express.

Never been a fan of YA. However, there was something about this one that made me want to read. So glad I did. Went and purchased the book and read in a weekend. Loved the characters, writing style was on point. Would I recommend ? Yes. Am I tempted to go back and read some of her earlier stuff? Absolutely!

Sarah J. Maas does it AGAIN!

As this was only an excerpt, I breezed through it in one sitting, thought that's not usual for me with her books, long as they are. Maas's worldbuilding is unparalleled, and this one is just as good as what we've come to expect from her.

I will say that Bryce is the most I've liked a MC in a Maas book, probably ever. I didn't care about the beautiful assassin, whatever her name is, from Throne of Glass. Clearly, I read most of those book and I genuinely can't remember her name. Feyre is the worst part about ACOTAR/ACOMAS/ACOetc. But Bryce... I'm okay with Bryce. She's a badass.

I'm still on the library waiting list for the full book, unless I pull the trigger and buy it for myself during quarantine 2020.

Thanks to the publishers for this free excerpt!

Amazing. Amazing. Amazing.

Literally the best book I've read this year so far and one of my favorite books EVER.

Sarah J. Maas has done it again with fantastic characters and an absolutely WILD plot. I've never read another book like it and I'm already waiting on the edge of my seat for the next book and it doesn't even have a release date yet.

First of all, this was a wild ride. I mean a WILD ride. I am probably going to launch into a reread almost immediately because SO much transpired and it was a lot to take in in all at once. There are so many types of characters. Imagine every fantasy character ever all in one big city. That’s exactly how this books setting is. Could just anyone pull this off? Absolutely not. Can Sarah J. Maas? Yes. She absolutely can. BECAUSE SHE IS THE QUEEN!

It took me time to start this excerpt because I kind of wanted to be able to read the book right after the except if i needed to and boy did I need it! It was amazinf in a way only sarah J mass can make happen.

Sarah J. Maas is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the Court of Thorns and Roses and the Crescent City series, as well as the Throne of Glass series. She is one of the world's favorite fantasy writers and one of my favorite authors. I appreciate the ARC . Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinion is my own. What a great read this is !

This is the debut book in the new "Crescent City" series by author Sarah Maas. She has once again created a fascinating world that this reader loved diving into . This is a richly designed page turning adventure that will have you reading into the night ! The author has penned a world that is so richly designed for the reader, such a imaginative world of fantasy that you will just not stop turning pages !

We are introduced to our main charcter of Bryce of great courage who joins into a adventure of our world 20.000 thousand years in the past with angels, shifters, fae, mermaids, vampires and mythical creatures amid the world of various mythologies . Each mythology and each creature takes her on a new journey.. I will not spoil the plot for you as a new reader as each reader should experience this book on their own. What a fabulous adventure this is and such a fun read ! Very well done to the author.

Thanks for the chance to get a sneak peek at House of Earth! It isn't every day that you see these freebie first looks available. I've got to say, I love what I'm seeing so far, and am very much looking forward to reading the complete novel.

**I was provided an Excerpt by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

I truly feel Sarah J. Maas can do no wrong. I've been desperately looking forward to her new series, Crescent City, after devouring Throne of Glass and ACOTAR. This little piece left me wanting so much more. Totally bought the book and will continue to purchase the titles in this series as they come out. Thank you, #NetGalley and #SarahJMaas for this sneak peek!

House of Blood and Earth was a complete disappointment for Sarah J. Maas’ first foray into the adult fantasy genre. I should not have had high expectations after her last 3 books have been duds for me, but I was still holding out for this one. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disaster.

The beginning of the novel was a complete info dump for her new world, and it was too much to take it. It was very lazy writing, in my opinion. The world building was not there, and it read very contemporary with the added supernaturals despite being very far in the future, supposedly. Also, this books is long — far too long. There is so much filler and very little plot that a lot could have been cut out. The mystery was badly done and not engaging in the least. And the ending was bad. Just really bad.

The characters read so much like characters in her past series that it was a bit sad. No one really stood out. Bryce, our lead, was not particularly likable and read a lot like every other Sarah J. Maas lead. It’s a bit overdone at this point. And Hunt, her romantic interest, was so boring. If I decide to continue with this series, I hope Maas repeats herself and casts him off for a new better love interest in the sequel. Lehabah was the best character by far—a total scene stealer.

Overall, as a SJM fan, I had to read it. It wasn’t completely bad, it just felt way too familiar to her past works but somehow worse... But who am I kidding? I’ll pick up the sequel.

Sarah J Maas does not disappoint. The reader learns about the world and is totally sucked in. I preordered my copy. Thanks Bloomsbury USA and NetGalley for the Excerpt of this title.

Since this is an excerpt, it feels a bit difficult to leave a review, but in this case, it is what I have to work with. I have read all of the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas, and genuinely connected with the characters, even if I did not enjoy the writing style evenly throughout. It has been my observation that Maas can be inconsistent in her storytelling, and that some of the characterization and world-building can be frustrating. I say all of this to give an idea of where I am coming from as a reader in picking up this book.

I was interested to see what this book was about, and I must say that my impression after reading the first five chapters is that I would not buy this or continue reading it. First, and the biggest detractor for me, is that I felt like the characters almost felt like caricatures of “outsiders”, and I found the way that they were described and talked to be disjointed and not flow particularly well. I found the writing in general to not really hit a stride, and I was frequently pulled out of immersion.

I am sad to say that with those types of issues, I am disinclined to pick up the book and explore the plot or these characters more fully. I wish the author the best, and I am so glad to see that so many others loved this book! As this is an excerpt, I will decline posting this review on goodreads as I only post reviews and ratings publicly to books I have read to completion.

Absolutely loved this teaser/excerpt for House of Earth and Blood. I love anything by Sarah J. Maas so was super excited to see this pop up in my recommendations. Definitely helped prep me to dive into this new world!