Natália

“As fast as I can tell there are only two emotions that keep the world spinning year after year...One is fear. The other is desire.”

Actual rating: 2.5 stars - DNF at 60%
I don't know how I feel about this book. Yes, I enjoyed it to some degree. I found the paranormal aspects interesting, the whole politics and games between the races, the mystery of the Book of Life, why the paranormal creatures were ‘losing' heir powers over the time and I enjoyed the romance up to some point. But then it became too melodramatic, too clingy and syrupy-sweet and honestly not much was happening at all to further the plot. There were 50 or more pages with slice-of-life and romance ‘building' scenes and I just lost interest. The whole book was slow and ‘sleepy' and I had a problem with how overly descriptive the author is, as well as how redundant. So, although I passed the halfway mark and had, idk, less than 200 pages to finish, I couldn't muster the will to pick the book up for almost three months. I did read a chapter today, but that was it, and what I read didn't excite me to keep going. I loved the tv show and I think it was more dynamic and interesting, without losing the romance aspect, so I will keep with it, but unfortunately, I'm DNF the book and the rest of the series. 4 more books out of my TBR, at least.

DNF at 57%
I really wanted to love this book, because I follow Paola's YT channel and I really like her. Period romance is not my favorite genre, but I started giving it a chance because of her. But it's clear that this is her debut novel from the start - the writing is overly flourished, with lots of unnecessary adjectives, info dumps to show all the research she did for it and annoying expressions that are repetititve. The motives that generate tension in the novel are weak at best, though I have to give it to the author that I absolutely loved the family dynamic and how they start to heal and forgive her.

But this is not the central focus of the story - the romance is, and though there is chemistry between the main characters, the lack of communication that keeps separating them and could've been solved with a one-scene conversation annoyed me to no end, because it seemed like there was no real reason to keep the couple separated and the author was stalling till the very end for the sake of drama alone. I enjoyed the MC's siblings relationship (and the characters themselves, they are hilarious) more than I did theirs, per se. And though I liked Desmond, the male protagonist, Brianna got on my last nerve. She keeps saying she's broken and scarred and how she's marked by her past and her sufferings, but the truth is she didn't suffer...like, at all? She grew up loved, with an amazing, stable, wealthy family, and even when she ran, she ended up in the loving arms of her grandfather, doing what she wanted, in the land of her dreams. HOW is that suffering? At one point, I really couldn't bring myself to pick up the book again.

It's not a bad book, and you can feel the love and thought Paola put into this work, this story, and if you love period romance with lots of flourishes, a familiar drama and you don't mind a romance stretching out through the novel because of lack of communication, then you'll love this book. But it's not for me and it's the kind of clichés that kept me away from this genre for a long while. I've heard good things about her second novel, and how she grew as an author, so I'll give it a chance.

My favorite book by Sidney Sheldon, the story involves you in a way it's almost impossible to stop reading until the last page. You find yourself rooting for Tracy from the beginning and cheering her on with every heist and laughing at the police attempts to catch her and Jeff(and also rooting for their romance).
Also, Danial Cooper will give you chills with his psycho-stalking-like behavior towards Tracy. If you like Sidney Sheldon, this is a MUST READ.