The Leftover Woman

2.2/5ੈ ✩‧₊˚

DNF @ 55%

I must just be choosing all the wrong reads for me.

This really disappointed me. I wanted to love this so much - I loved the premise. I used to read the Chinese Cinderella series when I was younger and I loved how rich the culture was, and discovering everything that came along with that.

The main issue for me was the pacing. Without spoiling - the blurb tells you that Rebecca and Jasmine's stories intertwine, but they don't show you how, at least not yet. I felt no urgency on how Jasmine was going to get Fifi back, or if Wren was going to find Jasmine.

I felt like they spent way too long on the world building and I'm really sorry but I just got bored and didn't want to finish it, and was not looking forward to what was happening next. It's 2024 - if I don't want to read a book, I'm going to DNF it ):

Things I loved surrounded the underlying themes, with Rebecca's struggle of being a mother of a mixed baby. That reminds me of my own mother, and that was the most interesting part of the book to me.

I just think for over halfway through, I should feel a bit more urgency and a bit more direction in the plot. It feels like there has been no development since the start.

Would I recommend this? I'm not sure. The plot has so much promise. The writing style was so vivid and built a world I could picture perfectly in my mind. Maybe if I had finished this book I'd have a different opinion, but for now this is where I'm at.

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score card:

plot: 4/5
characters: 2/5
world/setting: 2/5
pacing: 1/5
enjoyment: 2/5

total: 2.2/5ੈ✩‧₊˚

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reading log

07/04 2:32am
goodness me its picked up the pace now, and i'm intrigued. i think initially the pacing was hard to get behind and I do love the underlying feminist themes

06/04 8:08pm
i love jasmine's chapters, rebecca's not so much - they feel like fever dreams

06/04 12:48pm
i'm finding it a tad difficult to get into this, maybe because of my sort of drowsy state from being in hospital?

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pre-reading ⋆˙⟡♡

i can't continue on with magnolia parks at the minute whilst my own heartbreak is going on, so i thought i'd switch it up a little bit.

i haven't heard too much on this book so i'm excited to go into this blind :)