-1
The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O'Niell

The Tea Dragon Society is a cozy story following Greta, a blacksmith in training, who takes up learning how to care for a Tea Dragon: cute little dragons who grow tea leaves on themselves. Along with another apprentice, Minette, she learns how to properly care for tea dragons with mentors Hesekiel and Erik, two husbands who own a tea shop together.

This actually was a very cozy read. I only got 2 out of 3 of the comics. But it was rather sweet. A little fast paced, and I did find myself confused at some time-skips. But the story itself was cute.
And as someone who loves tea, fantasy, and dragons, this is literally the perfect world I'd want to live in.

There's also some cute rep in it, too. On top of the husbands (Who never even outright say they are together, but it's something you easily catch on), there's also a character in the second book/prequel who's def and uses sign language, and Erik is wheelchair bound permanently after a larger dragon injured him. And the second book also has some resources for learning sign language or for things for deaf people.

I rate this book 9 out of 10 stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Definitely recommend if you want something more cozy, cute, mostly low-risk, and is visually cute (Has cottagecore vibes).

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-2
Lore by Alexandra Bracken

Every seven years for seven days, 9 of the Greek gods are made mortal and are forced to battle each other to the death.
Each have their own houses and symbols. But people from each houses want to kill rival gods to gain their powers.

The story follows Lore, descendent of Perseus, who wants to leave it all behind after her family was brutally murdered.
But when Athena comes bleeding at her door, and she comes across an old friend. she's pulled back into this world against her will.

So-
First off: This book should include a TW for pedophilia, sexual harassment, murder, torture, child and baby murder. Like, I'll say it right here (Bit of a spoiler): It doesn't exactly happen on-page, but Lore finds her little sisters, one being a baby, dead with their eyeballs torn out. They aren't the ones who get sexually harmed, thankfully. But just keep in mind that on top of those triggers, there's also that.

Spoiler free part:

The book was somewhat enjoyable. But also felt like your usual girl-boss-carrying-trauma-while-being-the-main-character story.

It's predictable. The main romance is predictable. The side romance is predictable. Some of the actions are predictable.
But it's like a travel. You know you're gonna see trees, you know you're gonna see clouds, you know you're gonna see birds. But that doesn't make the trip less enjoyable.
There may be an oddly shaped tree you pass by. There may be a cool looking cloud. There may be a special bird flying by.

It's predictable. But it's the journey that matters.

And I do like the "It's like Hunger Games but with Greek Gods" type of thing it has going.

Spoilers section (Though I'll try not to spoil TOO much):

I feel like this book could've done a bit better if it were third-person omniscient instead of third-person limited.
Like, third-person and saw the thoughts of everyone instead of just one person.

Honestly loved Miles the most. Despite being the only normal mortal in the group, the guy was a BIG help. He was one of their tech guys, he was determined to help them when they were having trouble, he put himself in danger to be of help. He's kind of like Lore's adoptive brother, but he sees her more as his sister than vice versa. We don't see much of her care for him but it feels like it should be there.
And no, he's not meant to be a love interest. On top of the sibling-like bond, he's gay (Add that to my list of Literary Gays With Black Hair, which keeps expanding more and more-). So he def wouldn't be her Love Interest. 
But his relationship with Van was predictable from the start, was still somewhat cute. And Van doesn't seem as-

Castor...
He felt like your usual YA love interest dude.
Though I find it interesting he's this guy who fought though cancer twice and did get stuck with some of the affects of it until he gained Apollo's life force. That, I liked.
Though throughout it, he keeps insisting Lore doesn't kill people, even those trying to bring harm to her or people literally marrying off children. But as soon as she nearly was killed but lets them get away, he's immediately like "I want to kill them, they hurt you."

*inhale*
MY GUY-

IT'S A LIFE-OR-DEATH SITUATION
LET HER KILL IN SELF-DEFENSE, OR TO SAVE INNOCENT KIDS
HER LISTENING TO YOU ALMOST GOT HER KILLED AT TIMES
YOU DON'T GET TO CONTROL WHO DOES OR DOESN'T DIE JUST BECAUSE YOU IN PARTICULAR WANT TO FIGHT

But other than that, he's not much different from your usual love interest guys.

And I dislike how the Big Bad Guy also has to be a ped0philic r*pist. 
I get Ares is meant to be a bloodthirsty brutal embodiment of the horrors of war and battle.
But like...before the guy absorbed Ares, he wanted Lore, saying he'd "wait to bed her" until her first period comes. Then he killed Ares and that became even more violent. And that seems like the only really scary thing about it. Not him wanting an eternal blood bath on normal mortals, or to want to take over the mortal world and kill anyone who apposes him. It's him wanting to take Lore ever since she was a child.
Which I understand can be scary and quite harmful mentally. It just didn't feel right though.

Like, the other villain, the somewhat twist villain, seemed like they'd be the bigger bad. But then nah, somewhat got a redemption arc right at the end even though (MAJOR spoiler) they're the one who brutally killed Lore's family, including the children and ripping their eyes out of their sockets because they wouldn't/couldn't give info on where Lore was.
THEY RIPPED A BABY'S EYEBALLS OUT AND KILLED HER FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO GIVE INFORMATION, BUT STILL GETS EVEN A SLIGHT REDEMPTION!?!

I know this all seems like nothing but complaints. But it is something fun to read if you currently blocked on what you actually want to read but want some Greek myth, and want a book that feels like ye old' Girlboss Ya Story (Admit it, it somewhat becomes nostalgic), if you can get past the triggering stuff.

I rate this book...maybe a 5 and a half out of 10
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/

Do I recommend it?
Sure. It is somewhat enjoyable despite its flaws. And I know it's getting a movie adaptation soon.

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-3
LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff

Eve spends her time fighting in robot battle rings with the very machines she builds, winning every one and using the winnings to afford her grandfather's medications.

But when she accidentally controls one of these machines with her mind in a last attempt to save herself from certain death, she gets in trouble with the Brotherhood, a religious group against anyone who has unnatural robotic enhancements.

On her way home with her best friend Lemon, they find a ruined human-looking pretty android boy and bring him back home.

But on top of the Brotherhood, salvagers who want the boy as scrap surround their house, threatening everyone inside, including her grandpa, her robot dog with a normal dog's brain Kaiser, and their little robot Cricket.
And things only get worse when another android hellbent on taking Eve arrives, and she falls into finding out more of her past.

No spoilers here. I won't to be as spoiler free as possible, because this book-
*MWAH*

It gives the vibes of things like Fallout and Alita Battle Angel. And as someone's who's played Fallout 4 for years, I can say there are a lot similar with that game in particular. Though I know that there's also a dog in New Vegas who has a brain implant, right?

The characters are flawed, but that makes them feel more real.
And by far, my favorite characters are Cricket and Lemon. This robot...he's so dam sassy!

I must warn though:
During a flashback to when Eve was 15, she does "get down" with the love interest. More of a fade-to-black though, and it's a memory instead of an active moment. Still a little iffy, but it's definitely nothing new for teens to do that stuff.
Still kind of weird when and adult writes it.

Does have somewhat of that usual YA cling, but it's actually pretty awesome.

Not much I can say without spoiling it. I say go fukin read it for yourselves!

I rate this book 5 out of 10
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/

Do I recommend it? If you can get past the flashback, ya.

Update though, a warning:
Back to the moment where Eve's flashback of "that" moment?
Well, I found out the author's done something kinda worse before. Where as that was a more fade-to-black, his Nevernight series involves a 14 getting a boob-job, and has a lesbian smex scene between two underage girls. Which, though not 100% sure if this part is true, the author watched lesbian p0rn to make the scene. Basically watched lesbian adult films and imagining two young teens...

So if you want to read this but not support the author, second-hand is the answer.
(I'll be moving my 8 and a half star rating to a 5 because of that iffy schist-)

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-4
The Hunter's Moon by O. R. Melling

Gwen moves from Canada to meet with her Irish cousin, Findabhair, for a vacation. But her cousin is acting a little strange, insisting they cut their trip to a specific location.
When they sleep at that location, Findabhair gets kidnapped by the Faerie king, and Gwen must do her best to find out how to journey to the faerie world and save her, making friends along the way.

Honestly, I wish I could've enjoyed this book. I wanted to. It gave me "Labyrinth, but with Irish folklore" vibes.

But it was really eh.
It's supposed to be YA, but it felt more for younger kids.

Things happen so fast. And sometimes it does work, making things feel dreamlike, which especially works when Gwen starts falling more and more into the fae insanity.
But sometimes it's just confusing or rushed.

Now spoiler territory:

Like, the main romance? They meet just a little after the halfway-point, and within a few days they're already calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend.
But I don't know exactly how many days pass because at one point it says "A week passed" or something, and there was no other indication that there was a gap in time, like that was just tossed in.
But even if just a week, they JUST met, and they're already calling each other BF and GF and kissing, flirting, one point they're getting in a car and even with other seats, he flirts that she can sit in his lap and she accepts. But again, they literally just met a few days ago.

And I usually don't have THAT big a deal with typos. There are some in this book. But there's literally one at one of the end page, about what font was used, saying "It is set it-"
Not "It is set in-" It's "It is set it."
This is like the LAST page with anything on it, and it has a typo. So how thoroughly WAS it proofread?

Now, the fact the 17 year old cousin marrying this immortal faerie king who seems slightly older in human years may seem weird to some people. But the author was born in Ireland (where AOC is 17) and moved to Canada (where AOC is 16). So there's somewhat of a pass there.

And then I have to think of one thing:
In the beginning, Findabhair says that she promised her parents that they were taking a bus tour around Ireland, so that even if her and Gwen were really planning to sneak off for an adventure, her parents thought "she's on a safe trip on a bus with her cousin".
And no point afterwards are the parents mentioned again. Like, their teenage daughter was last seen before she was supposed to hang out with her cousin, then nothing. Like, I would be so goddam concerned.

And the boss fight near the end just...eh. It happened so fast. It's supposed to be this big-bad that will literally wipe out the entire faerie race if a sacrifice isn't made. 

I know there 2 or 3 books, 2 involving new characters and the 3rd involving to characters + Gwen. But honestly, I don't really think I want to continue this.

No offense to the author, especially since she seems to have put herself in the story as a love of the culture (One of the MCs is also apparently from Canada). But I don't really want to continue this series. It was meh, at best. Not HORRIBLE, I've read far worse books. But meh.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 10
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Do I recommend this book?
Eh. Again, not the worst book. But it's far from the best. Read if you wish, though.