Undertow

If this book had not come out today (1/20/17), it would've been an unrelentingly depressing day for me. Instead, I spent most of the day reading it and smiling dreamily.

I still can't really believe that these two are a couple and that there is actually a book about them. It's amazing. There is so much to love; I'm seriously giddy. This book is not only a sweet and epic love story, but also, there are a lot of wonderful details about life in Widdershins, as well as an exciting plot. Mr. Quinn plays a big role, and Maggie's perception of the town, as another outsider (like Griffin) whom the maelstrom has collected, is very interesting to see.

There are a lot of laugh-out-loud moments between Maggie and Persephone. This is a friends-to-lovers kind of plot; Persephone makes a few funny mistakes, but also, they banter with each other a lot. I also laughed at a lot of Maggie's thoughts about Whyborne & Griffin. I was expecting Persephone to casually refer to "brother's husband," but that doesn't happen. In fact, Maggie doesn't find out about their relationship in this book, and is still worrying about what Dr. Whyborne is going to think at the end. I guess both she & Whyborne will learn some surprising things in the near future!

This book is also really hot, with sexual tension throughout, and a full sex scene at the end. I wasn't expecting that and was pleasantly surprised.

I absolutely loved this - definitely a new favorite. I'm so grateful it exists!

So this is a f/f novella in a longass m/m series, which I haven't read. That said I thought it was pretty easy to get to gist of it, and I wasn't particularly confused as to what was happening. The novella could have used to be a little longer, I felt the plot was rushed (I would say the relationship also, but I don't know how it might have developed prior to the novella so I can't really judge). The characters and setting were interesting, though understandably not terribly well developed. I really liked Persephone and the ketoi people. I would consider reading the rest of the series were it not so long and still ongoing, or if the novella wasn't set so late in the series it might have encouraged me to read in hopes to see more of them as a pair.

I love getting to spend time in Widdershins, again. In fact, that was the only thing I loved about this book. Widdershins is just an amazing city and I adore all the talk about it ‘knowing its own'. (And, to be fair, Mr. Quinn is in fine form in this story.)

This was, however, my least favorite Widdershins story because I simply cannot stand Maggie Parkhurst as a narrator. I find her to be a very weak character - both as a character in a story and she is constantly mentally berating herself for not doing more and being ‘only a secretary' and I find this insufferable. And her constant mooning turns very frustrating very quickly.

(I'd also like to mention that despite how different Persephone and Percival are, I am a little weirded out that apparently the only people Maggie has even been attracted to are these twins. And how quickly she looses interest in one in favor of the other. It's just...all very strange.)