Ash

I'm so...confused?

The more I think about this book, the less I like it. Maybe it's one of those “great idea, not-great execution” sort of things, because I love (a) retellings and (b) strong heroines and (c) lgbtq+ representation and (d) ya, but I did not love (e) this book. The romance is extremely minimal and 2-dimensional, which simply cannot be the case in a retelling of a fairy tale focused on a romance (or in this case, TWO romances). Kaisa is barely even a character—she doesn't even get any personality traits beyond “gentle”, let alone any actual development, which, combined with the absolutely glacial pace of the alleged romance, culminates in the reader feeling like they spent all that time reading about Ash falling in love with a cardboard cutout. Similarly, the other romance/love triangle is resolved extremely quickly and almost carelessly, even though Sidhean actually feels (slightly) more fleshed out as a character than Kaisa. To me, the book as a whole feels much more like a coming-of-age story than a fairy tale/romance/anything else, except there's also...not really that much notable MC development either.

P.S. The “slow burn” here is so slow you'll die of natural causes before you feel anything.

P.P.S. I'm so frustrated about this book I can't even look at it. It's going straight into the used bookstore trade-in box. Dear Malinda Lo, I am so so sorry.