Jodie
My experience with this book was more like 2 stars, but I saw the Netflix series first so I assume if I didn't already know the plot I would have enjoyed it more.
My main problem with this book is Alina is boring and useless. All she cares about is pining over boys and judging other girls, she's painfully naive and has no curiosity about her situation.
She reads more like a spoiled 14 year old than a young adult in the army.
Predictable, dull and massively over hyped.
I read this because apparently people on tik tok were raving about it. I can't see why. It's YA so if you're in it for the romance you can forget it. There are a handful of characters in the story but none of them do anything. It's not badly written but it's so blah I had to push myself to finish it just to get the answers at the end. And I didn't get any of the gothic vibes this is supposed to have. It felt more like a regency murder mystery to me.
Suffers from being set in England and written by a non-British author.
The main character is weirdly judgmental about working in a shop despite working in a shop herself.
I thought this book was spicy but it really isn't. There are 2 spicy scenes in the whole book. It's advertised as a reverse harem but it's not because she only sleeps with one of them.
I could have enjoyed a cozy mystery set in a gothic bookshop if there hadn't been all the fashion world stuff mixed in. Is this Wuthering Heights or The Devil Wears Prada?
And the “murder mystery” was so blatantly obvious I was just frustrated waiting for Mina to figure it out.
I didn't enjoy this one. When Mara and Findlay aren't crying or having panic attacks they're having boring sex with zero foreplay. I don't know if this series is meant to be fantasy or smut but it's not delivering on either. And there is no “academia” in this one. They walk through a library a couple of times but I don't think that counts.
I liked the ending but my god it was a struggle to get there. I was so bored with the love triangle and frustrated knowing that everyone was keeping secrets from her. I was pushing through to the end of the book just to see what happened. I knew everyone was lying to her so I didn't care at all about her relationships with anyone because I knew it was all going to end badly. I also hated the fact that she was thinking about which prince she wanted to be with while her sister was being held against her will. That should have been all she cared about.
I enjoyed this but parts of it were really slow. A big chunk of the early part of the book was explaining the mythologies and throughout the book there was a lot of world building that wasn't necessary since it's a stand alone book. I enjoyed the actual plot and the romance so I would have rated it higher if there had been more of that and less of everything else.
I enjoyed the action but I did not enjoy Aren being a whiny little baby for most of the book. There are more important things going on than his feelings. And no one likes women calling women bitches and whores.
Obviously they're mad at her but she was their enemy, like what did they expect?
The romance really falls apart in this book and they honestly should have broken up at the end.
However, I did binge this book and I did enjoy the jail break and the battles.
If this book was 200 pages shorter and focused on the main plot rather than the pointless melodrama I would have given it 4 stars.
I struggled with the start of the book because everyone was lying and keeping secrets but I knew the truth and I knew that when the truth came out in the end none of it would matter so it was just frustrating.
And I'm so bored of love triangles!
I don't recommend this one. Hades and Persephone act like insecure teenagers and constantly misunderstand each other. And there's really no plot. It's a fantasy book but there's no fantasy plot so it just feels like an office romance, especially since a lot of the dialogue is them texting each other. Then it ends on a cliff hanger. I've read better spice too, some of the dialogue in those scenes is a big turn off.
I like the concept but the execution needed work. All the exposition was at the start so a third of the book passes before anything happens because it's all back story. As a result the rest of the book feels rushed and we don't really learn anything about the characters personalities. It wasn't bad but it wasn't particularly good either.
I don't usually write reviews but I think some of the reviews are too harsh so I wanted to add my thoughts. I enjoyed this book. I'm looking forward to the next one because I want to know what happens next. People are bashing the writing but it really wasn't bad or maybe I've just read much worse. There's plenty of action, there are mysteries to wonder about and there's good tension between the main characters. Nothing is too over the top and I didn't find that it dragged either. I'd say this is average in a good way. I hope book two comes out soon.