Sasha

Got me out of a reading slump! Phenomenal read, although perhaps I found the ending a tad too rushed and the middle sequence too dragged out. It was an easy read, and I hated nearly every character save for the poor children, which was intended. I'm a bit biased, since I love me an evil protagonist. There were times where I was almost rooting for Natalie, whenever she was SO close to getting some sort of redemption, only to sigh my loudest sighs as she didn't.

This read as a fever dream in the most positive way. I liked the prose; easy to digest but flowery enough to keep it poetic. Tutu and the women are amazing characters, and their conversation as they talked about their respective cities nearly drove me to tears.

I can see why this is amongst so many people's favorites. ♡

Man, what a read. The prose was fantastic, though it honestly carried most of the book. It was evocative to the point of making you feel some of the description rather than imagine them. 
The characters were realistic, which is exactly why I can't bring myself to hate or love any of them. They all had their flaws and motivations and when you look at things from their perspective, their actions make sense. The only time I felt like truly blaming a character for their actions and what they said was with the way Alim's children kept shutting him down, making it all about them instead of listening to him. I really felt for him in that moment. All he wanted was to make a choice for himself after decades of doing everything for them. Still, Naris and Lorraine's pain was perfectly understandable, as well.

Insta-love and insta-lust were kinda icky, but I read a comment from someone who went through the same kind of grief and she explained how sometimes you do end up falling in love with a friend, that someone seeing and understanding a part of yourself you otherwise keep hidden is all it takes, and that put it under a different perspective for me. Especially since I deeply felt for Feyi constantly doubting why someone would love her through everything, and correspondently feeling guilty about asking for reassurance, fearing Alim would get frustrated with it. 

This was a lovely messy mess overall, but it's missing something I can't put my finger on. 

"Does it... feel like agony for you too?"

4.5 ⭐️
Oh, the things I'd do to see them happy. I loved that the explicit scenes were so integral to the characters' development as well as their relationship. Close to none of the spicy scenes felt like they were there just for the sake of it. 
Can't wait to read the sequel and see how their story end. Kinda hoping for either of them to just kiss the other after a game like Scott did.

Me and murder mysteries don't go so well together 3 
The Italian translation is also quite peculiar to get through for me. Might pick this back up in the future.