Alejandra
So I did like this book in the end, especially the last show down. I liked the main character was a empathetic pacifist but still had sass and a spine.
However I did have some problems with the world building. It's established there are only two empaths in the entirety of Seattle, which has a population of 815,000. If its the same percentage across the world, that means there are less than 750 empaths in the US and less than 20,000 world wide. Yet there are main stream products, services, and other things are tailored for empaths. If a pharmaceutical company saw a disease that rare they'd rather laugh in someones face before putting a dollar of research into it. Sure I understand the government agencies especially with the whole corrupted empaths thing but having games and streaming services especially for empaths? I wish the author upped the number of empaths just a tiny bit like to .1% of the population (rather than the current .00000245%) just to make those aspects a little more believable. This seems like a nitpick but it's emphasized throughout the book empaths seem to be a major aspect of pop culture and a constant political topic and this is even without the general population knowing about corrupted empaths..
My only complaint about this book is I didn't like how much time the MC and his ex-but-not-really husband spent apart. There's literally a decent part of the book they're not even in the same country. I just wish they came back together a little sooner in the story and talked a bit more before the HEA
While I liked some things in this book (like Archer and Noah's relationship), it felt like I was dropped in the middle of a book. It kept referencing an off screen introduction between the two main characters that I assume was in a book in her previous series. As someone who hadn't read that series, I felt sort of lost and confused and felt I was missing a chunk of these characters. I'm a firm believer that a recommended reading order, especially with multiple series, should be just that. A recommendation. It shouldn't be mandatory to understand key parts of a story or relationship or else you should just make it one series!
I liked Archer in his previous appearances in this series, so I was really disappointed by his book.
Considering how much I loved The Society of Irregular Witches I wanted to love this book more than I did. I just didn't connect to the characters as well and also I was really thrown off because these witches seem to be completely different from Mandanna's first book (like in the first book witches are automatically orphans within a few years of being born, and witches are generally discouraged from congregating as it causes issues with magic, but in this book witches come from long family lines and have no issues in groups) but seem to have similar soft magic systems. I know this book is technically not a sequel but it just feels strange to have a book with big, plot relevant rules about witches then shifting gears in your next book also about witches that ignore those rules. Maybe they should have called them a different kind of magic user like sorcerers and that would have smoothed it over.
Look I like the plot and some of the characters of this book but if it weren't for the fact my best friend loves these books I probably would have dropped it. You can tell this series was written by a white woman.
The whole romance subplot of Ash and Tanith made me want to barf. Like EXCUSE ME she called him a mongrel and is the equivalent of what seems like the Nazis of this world, and she hasn't been fully deprogrammed by the time they start to have feelings for each other. It's like the equivalent of making a mixed raced person fall in love with a white supermacist. I would have accepted friendship, or maybe MAYBE if Tanith had been introduced during book one and she was gradually shown changing and had fully broken off from her racist upbringing by the time she and Ash starting going goo-goo eyes, I would have accepted it.
This book was almost a 4 star for me. I loved the chemistry between the two leads, all the characters were enjoyable, and it was cozy without being boring. But the miscommunication genuinely pissed me off, it made me want to wring their necks. I literally almost DNFed 30% of the way through because the miscommunication was so bad. But I pushed through and at the very least it was an adorable HEA.
sigh I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I really like the idea of “trans person rooming with their ex, but their ex not realizing because they dated pre-transition” but the plot surrounding it sort of floundered. It feels like these characters should have been aged up to college years, because it would make a lot more sense for someone to be broken up and have problems with love due to a highschool sweetheart rather than a crush from a middle school summer camp, and also for someone to fully transition including top surgery at 18 rather than 14. But then the rest of the plot of the gender segregated schools and elaborate schemes for the love letters wouldn't have worked.
It just sort of felt like the author had a good base premise and then struggled to build the rest of the plot around it.
The only thing holding this book back from 5 stars is the children are a little bland (there probably should have been some more one-on-one interaction with the girls and the MC) and I didn't like the random POV changes. Other than that, I liked all the adult characters and the main romance. Very cozy healing vibes.
I read this book after Bury Your Gays and I do have to say you can definitely tell this was the earlier book. It didn't have that nail biting intensity of Bury Your Gays and there were some parts that were sort of awkward and clunky (like the main character kept referring to her parents by their first names at random times?)
Still a very solid book and metaphor about conversion camps. I do sort of wish there was a bit of an epilogue showing Saul with his boyfriend (it's heavily implied he had someone too) and Willow and Rose's life after.
3.5 stars.
Minor spoilers
I was a little worried because people compared this to Legends and Lattes and I didn't really love that book, just a taste too low stakes and boring for me, but I was pleasantly surprised. This book had slightly higher stakes and it was all the better for it. There were some parts of the narrative that felt awkward and very “and then” rather than a natural flow of the narrative (like I liked the phoenix scene but honestly it wasn't necessary at all), but overall a very solid cozy book with nice characters.
Perhaps it's because I listened to these books almost back to back, but I got tired that all of them, literally all four couples, built romantic tension with “it's totally inappropriate to think of them sexually right at this moment.” I think it's because all of the characters/main love interests are paladins so it's part of their religious guilt or whatever but I'm really, REALLY hoping that changes with the next book, because I adore the world building of this series and I'd hate to drop it because that one aspect kept annoying me.
I really do like each of the couple's individually (although this one is the weakest so far, but I still liked the dynamic) I just really wish there was literally any other way to build the romance.
I really enjoyed this book! It was a LITTLE slow the first half but really picked up in the second half. Ironically even though this is a romance, I actually liked the non-romantic relationship in the poly relationship more than either of the romantic ones, but I think that's because Rhys is the weakest character out of the three mains. I'm not really into astrology, tarot cards, or the occult but you can tell all of that stuff in the book was written by someone who loves that world, without it feeling isolating or confusing to someone who knows nothing about any of those things.
Considering how much I enjoyed the first book, I gotta say the first half of this one was a slog to get through. I consider myself a pretty staunch leftist myself so I'm not condemning the politics themselves but it just felt like I was getting hit over the head with a hammer, pun intended. This book made me realized how much I prefer the politics in books to be more artfully metaphorical rather than rather than feeling like I'm being hit in the face by the Communist Manifesto.
Also it felt so disappointing that the cute polycule that was built up in the first book literally barely interacted, let alone anything romantic!!! There was barely even a sort of forbidden romance/palpable romantic tension because Qin Zheng could literally mind meld with her and would freak out if they did anymore than have 100% professional conversations. No hands brushing, no looking longingly at each other, she literally refused to even let him give her a cloak.
Now I will say I found the second half of the book MUCH more enjoyable, especially the last 20% when they go to the “Heavenly Court.” The action scenes are definitely the highlight of this book. Also I really liked the character of Qin Zheng, I think he's an solid morally complex character and a good critique of the “dark, broody, psycho boyfriend but he treats you differently because he loves you” trope.
But man that first half... nearly DNF this book a few times during that first half and I'm pretty easily entertained
I really wanted to like this but the piece just were fitting together for me. The mc was sort of bland and boring and the chemistry was just not there between him and LI.
DNF like 30% through. I just thought the characters were sort of bland and the romance was bland as a result. Really bummed because out bc I really like the world building and prose
I was just not vibing with the writing style or the main romance of the book. What made me tap out was in the book they randomly changed the tale of Medusa so that Apollo cursed her instead of Athena and idk that was the breaking point for me. I've always loved Ancient Greek mythology and my brain just went “????” at that line. I did look into maybe there was a possible retelling or niche version of the mythos that did that but no the author just did that for some random reason?? Maybe there would have been an explanation later in the book. Idk why I'm harping on this point so much it's just annoyed the hell outta me