Grim and Bear It

2.75 stars

*Sigh* Where to start? I fully expected to love this book - not like, love. I wanted to love this book; I've been waiting for Clara and Henry's (or Clarenry... sorry, I might have just thrown up a little bit) story since the grim was introduced. It was so obvious this pair was destined for each other. However, the reality... left a little to be desired, to put it lightly. I didn't hate the book, but it certainly didn't live up to my (perhaps too high) expectations. I'm not sure if the author saved this pairing for last because she had this story planned ("best for last"; "best" here having the meaning of "worst") or because she simply didn't know what to do with them. Now, I'll be the first to admit that a lot of what I didn't like is a me-problem; in fact, it kinda felt like this book was specifically written for not-me because a lot of the tropes used are ones I personally don't like (that doesn't make it a bad book - it just wasn't for me).

What I enjoyed:

Not much.

Mostly checking up on the other sisters/characters, the setting, and returning to the world the author has created. I do love this world, and the larger cast of characters.

What I didn't: Spoilers, spoilers everywhere. Honestly, don't continue if you haven't read the book or don't want the entire plot spoiled. You've been warned. Also, it gets a little ranty.

- The surprise baby trope is one of my least favorite tropes that exist. Seriously, I like to be warned about that ahead of time because it can influence whether or not I pick up a book. And the way that it was handled really bothered me. In large part because

- The relationship between Clara and Henry was... not great. It was kind of a jumbled mess. Somehow it managed to feel insta-lovey, even though they'd both been pining from afar for an unclear amount of time (once it said a year and another time it said years); maybe a better way of putting it, is since they've both been pining for so long, now they're speed-running through their relationship, pole vaulting over relationship milestones. This isn't helped by the lack of time indicators - it's unclear how much time passes between the first kiss to "I love you because you're my soul mate, so of course we'll be together forever" to bam! Clara's pregnant. And because neither felt secure in the relationship, despite what they said (because they hadn't spent enough time together to build genuine love and trust), they were both fearful the other wanted to break up with them. And Clara's first instinct when finding out she was pregnant was fear that Henry would be angry and/or leave her. The whole thing just felt rushed and frankly a little toxic. Not to mention, Clara is a witch - is there not some effective magical birth control??? A tea? A charmed necklace? A spell?! That feels like a plot hole you could drive a pick-up truck into.

- Also, the way Clara pursued the relationship made me a little uncomfortable. I love a woman who is confident enough to go after what she wants, but at times it felt pretty manipulative, like I'm not sure she would have taken "No" for an answer. Luckily, Henry was just as obsessed with her.

- Clara's blind faith in the Spirit/Goddess made me a little uncomfortable, too. It struck me as almost a religious fervor (but that could just be my personal religious trauma talking).

- The climax was... confusing? I never got the intended emotional punch because I kept saying, "Wait, what?" and couldn't get fully immersed in the scene. In part because the villain's motivations left me baffled. He, apparently, hated Henry's father, Silas, even though he was close to the family for years, so he wanted everyone connected with Silas to suffer? He was even gloating that his plan to kill Henry didn't work because it meant Henry would suffer forever. My guy, are you okay? I know jealousy can be toxic but that just seemed unhinged, and then it's explained that he's "just evil." Okay, then. Glad the mystery had such a satisfying conclusion: villain did villainous things because he's the villain. Thanks for that. I know the mysteries aren't the point of these books and frequently have lighthearted/easily wrapped-up conclusions; this one just felt especially meh, which is surprising, considering the outcome (Clara getting shot and essentially dying). Except, just kidding, there wasn't really an outcome from it. Clara's fine, doesn't even have a scar; baby's fine; everything's fine. I mean, Silas is presumably sad because his fiancée died, but we don't really care because we never get to know him. I guess the actual outcome is Henry treating Clara like a 90-year-old woman; she even thanks him for letting her get out of bed after a week of recuperating. That's not smothering at all! Autonomy, who needs it, right? I just wanted her to sit him down and have a conversation about boundaries, but instead she was just tickled pink by everything he did.

- The writing overall wasn't great. There were several lines or even whole conversations that just took me out of the story. Now, with everything else that's bugging me about this one, I'm wondering if the others were actually written on par with this one, and I didn't notice because I wasn't peeved at the characters.

- The epilogue, including a confusing time jump. It was really jarring to read about Clara's third kid when, in the previous chapter, she was just going into labor with her first. (Also, sorry, I know Clara is all sunshine daisies, but does she not experience pain? She was so joyful about going into labor... like, what?)

- Speaking of babies, did there have to be so many?! Could there not have been one childless couple?! And the way three of the sisters got pregnant at once... Why? What is with all the baby mania? I almost feel like there should be a trigger warning for that. (Warning: includes an excess, even an explosion of babies) Maybe I should have picked up on it when Evie got (surprise!) pregnant with triplets. I'm not, despite what you may be thinking, anti-baby; I even love some books that have babies and kids. This was just excessive. It just felt like, again, the author was simply speed-running all the sisters' lives, so we would know what happened to them. (Don't worry, they're all going to have perfectly "normal" lives with marriage and babies, nothing out of the ordinary here, despite this being a fantasy world.) Maybe it was to set up for the next generation stories? But, honestly, after the way this one was handled, I would be leery to pick it up.

All that being said, this was not a terrible book - it was far from good, and it was extremely disappointing, but that's mostly a me problem because my expectations were too high. But I've read worse books that didn't bother me nearly as much. I just expected better from this author.