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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A novella, rather than a full blown novel. I liked it overall but I'm not that into the time period as reflected in the dialogue. The main characters' romance was sweet but Edith fell short of being a fully rounded character. Also, I didn't love the Christianoid God, angels, and demons theme -- that's kind of a tired world to situate magic within, isn't it? At any rate, it's a well-written story and I wouldn't not recommend it.
Spoiler
Perhaps the reveal with Edith was a bit too convenient, and too sudden, to work - if it had been a full novel length and allowed to develop, would I have been more invested?
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
AINDA BEM que não terminou como eu esperava pq olha...
Chicago noir warlock private eye??? hell yeah, I loved this. will be checking out more by this author
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was too short. Hard-boiled noir detective tropes were leaned on to establish the main character and others were thinly developed. The plot felt rushed and too clever an ending and I wanted more world-building.
2025 Buzzword Reading Challenge #6: Title contains memory related word(s).
Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2025 #3: Read a queer mystery.
Taylor Swift Reading Challenge #110: Now That We Don’t Talk/A short novel.
Ultimate Book Riot Reading Challenge #114: A novel by a trans or nonbinary author.
i enjoyed this quick read! it was heart-warming and had a lot of love. i enjoyed the simple lore and that it wasn’t too fussy as a low fantasy read. i do think it would have benefitted from being longer with more fleshed out characters. i also found myself feeling like “i knew the end” in a predictable way. 3.5.
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love this book so much. It took me some time to be in the mood to read it so I popped along a chapter or two at a time (which is silly for such a short book), but then I devoured the second half this afternoon. The author portrays queerness with such lovely gentleness, and I felt like my chest was full of warmth with every interaction between Edith and Helen. The prose is also breathtaking - there were some lines so beautiful I just had to sit with them for a moment. This book is a love letter to anyone fighting to find those moments of joy and love and hope when faced with the looming dark.
One of my favorite lines:
"Hope felt a little painful, on account of it not being a sure thing. In fact, there was almost no hope for him, which made that tiny flashing light all the more precious. I'd read this book a dozen times, two dozen. I always held my breath, waiting for Daisy to come to him. Jay hoped every single time, and I hoped right along with him, even though I knew the end."
One of my favorite lines:
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Una novelita muy agradable. A pesar de lo corta que es, tiene tiempo para irte soltando perlas de esa Chicago noir con magia, ir avanzando el misterio (donde la resolución no importa tanto como lector, no vamos a engañarnos, cuando llega el momento de la verdad) y a la vez, la relación y la historia de la protagonista. Si acaso, peca de ser corta. Y como punto fuerte, que entiende muy bien que si vas a meter una sociedad similar a la real en el libro, puedes al menos señalarla para que quede claro dónde vivimos sin necesidad de volverlo una subtrama central de la historia.
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No