Shaelinsan

"For anybody who doesn't know where they're going."

I think its such a perfect timing—personally for me—to be reading this book.

"They still loved performing tea service—or at least, they loved what it had been. But as they tried to connect to what had once been so captivating, they felt nothing but yawning absence."

How relatable, to be burnt out by something you once loved and lived to do, and feeling guilty about it. But they taught me that its okay to crave for comfort and rest even when you think you haven't "earned" it. Not everything is give and take. And being kind to yourself is just as important as being kind to others.

Such lovely and comforting book.

that was totally beautiful

i always preferred lots of chapters with shorter lengths rather than less chapters with long-assed lengths. and this one is the perfect example.

other than that, the story is beautifully written, i love love love the characters.

definitely will recommend this to everyone.

having love M.L Wang's previous work and writing, i had a lot more expectation for this one. i was so excited on that first chapter, but after that? not so much. especially all the info-dumping in the first chapters for the magic system. i saw a lot of people appreciating it and i know its not for everyone, but for me i do prefer building up the knowledge as we go deeper into the book, so this one bores me in the first chapters that i had to pause reading for 3-4 days.

i love complex, flawed, very-much human characters but its very, very hard to like Sciona. she's selfish, egotistical and i very much think that even in the end, she did everything for herself. to leave a mark in the world with her own name.

yes, she felt horrible knowing they siphoned living being. yes, she tried making things better. but she wasn't a "good person" per se.

the romance is...questionable to say the least. why it happened? i have no idea. even i don't like Thomil that much. he feels like a "luke-warm" character. but Carra? badass. i love her. and she might be the only character i liked.

the ending was inevitable, i think. and it was alright.

i think i would've enjoyed this more if it was a multiple povs. seeing everything for Sciona's eyes felt very one-sided (obviously) when the problem didn't just happen because A leads to B.

so yep, this is a mild rating for me.

it's definitely a "feel good" book. everything is cozy, dreamy, and magical. but that is it.

i can sense the whole thing has been taught well by the author. they don't talk about just selling "good dreams", but they also talked about the uses of "nightmares" and dreams that came from passing loved ones. i think it's all very touching.

i think the book is more about the dream and the customers itself rather than penny's journey as a new staff. i had hoped to see more of penny interaction with the customers and how she grows with what she learned. i feel we only see glimpses of her journey.

it was nice to see a little snippet in the epilogue of penny's stolen Flutter, but i had hoped the book solved another problem that was brought up during the dinner about the no-show customer. but then again, i knew now its more about the dreams and the customers.

so overall, its a nice, cozy book with vivid atmosphere. i do love easy writing style. not a five star but a pretty enjoyable one so I'll be looking for the second book

took me a while because of real life stuff, but this one is absolutely enjoyable

its definitely on the "darker" side of a children's story (with all the killing and stuff)

i love how real Mona is and how she's not this short of girl suddenly playing hero. she started off wanting to clear things up for herself, trying to protect herself from a psychotic killer and ended up (unwillingly) became a hero because she was the only wizard available.

i also love how the duchess isn't depicted as this all-perfect leader, and how Mona's disappointment and understanding of her were both very justified.

the only downside of it was probably how i hoped for more of the Spring-green man. for a somewhat mysterious villain, he had this air of elusiveness and sinister that i had hoped for more of him and at the end of the day, he wasn't exactly the main villain. the Carex also didn't have much depth because they're basically just faceless mercenaries that attacked the city.

all and all, this one is very enjoyable to read.