Senne

There are some great parts in this book and it touches on a lot of important themes, but it is so overwritten that it gets annoying at some points.

Once in a while I try to read a queer romcom. And every time I'm disappointed. I truly don't know why I do this to myself and I'm amazed that I made it to 50% in this story.

The plot of this book is kinda cute. An awkward guy goes on The Bachelor to date multiple women, but falls in love with his producer. But the execution of this story was just bad. The characters (yes, all of them) are one-dimensional and unrealistic, the dialogues are incredibly cringy and to top it all off the book is full with awful representations of mental health struggles.

I loved this book and I'm certain this will remain one of my favorite stories ever. This isn't a big action packed book, but is more focused on storytelling, characters, myths, mysteries, etc. The south-Asian inspired worldbuilding and its magic is complex, believable and very interesting.

The pacing in this book was perfectly slow and Virdi's prose is lyrical, but also easy to follow. This is a story to be savored and it invites readers to pause at certain scenes to let it all in.

I understand that this book might not be for everybody, but it certainly was for me! It was a place of rest and immersive reading in the midst of a turbulent point in my life. I'm very glad that the sequel is coming soon! I already pré-ordered the beautiful The Broken Binding edition and I can't wait to get back to Ari's story/stories.