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nedenz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
4.5 rounded down.
Towards the middle, I was of the opinion that it should be one long chonky book, bcs you know I'm biased towards chonky books. At the end, I felt inclined to take back what I said about it being longer. Like, yes I love CHONKY books and I feel like it might do well as one book in 3 parts, but I enjoyed the pacing, the arcs, the slow burn, the tropes.
Very interested to see how the Fates are portrayed and what role they play. Irl they're pretty true neutral beings, spinning and weaving and snipping as it goes, so I'm wondering if they'll be villainized.
But WOW there was a lot of (attempted) SA. Like more that GOT, Jesus Christ. Not a detraction for stars, just like the descriptions of it were horrific. The abuse Hazel suffered was just excessive, the cruelty was almost unbelievable. Again not a criticism bcs the author did warn us it was a dark book, I was just expecting more dark romance.
Towards the middle, I was of the opinion that it should be one long chonky book, bcs you know I'm biased towards chonky books. At the end, I felt inclined to take back what I said about it being longer. Like, yes I love CHONKY books and I feel like it might do well as one book in 3 parts, but I enjoyed the pacing, the arcs, the slow burn, the tropes.
Very interested to see how the Fates are portrayed and what role they play. Irl they're pretty true neutral beings, spinning and weaving and snipping as it goes, so I'm wondering if they'll be villainized.
But WOW there was a lot of (attempted) SA. Like more that GOT, Jesus Christ. Not a detraction for stars, just like the descriptions of it were horrific. The abuse Hazel suffered was just excessive, the cruelty was almost unbelievable. Again not a criticism bcs the author did warn us it was a dark book, I was just expecting more dark romance.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault
azertyuiops's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Good things first:
I thought this book was a good distraction overall. I enjoyed reading it, hence why I’m giving the rating of 3⭐️/5. However I don’t think that’s the type of book that changes your entire life, know what I mean? Which isn’t a bad thing, we also need those books in which every sentence is not an absolute masterpiece. Like someone on tiktok said about 2000s romcoms « it’s okay that movies are a little bit bad sometimes » and I agree! The characters were still loveable. I also like a good original concept and a masked love interest is not something we see in every book!
Sweet relationship too, not very dark(?). I’ll admit that LI needs a few therapy sessions but if he found a ladybug on the floor, he would defo put it on his finger, go outside and wait for it to fly away.
Although, if we want to get into the less enjoyable things about this book: even if the characters were actually not that appreciable, we wouldn’t really have time to notice. I feel like we only plunge into the actual plot far far into the book (given it’s not that long), making the first part relatively okay with a nice pace, and then suddenly I felt like we were rushing the second main part.
(This part contains spoilers) <Death falls in love in RECORD time and although I love him, like take a little pride in yourself my man? Are you not supposed to be a very cold, intense, dark, deadly man? I feel like we went from who is she to I’m in love in the span of 5 pages.> (end of spoilers)
It was so rushed I didn’t have the time to actually fall in love with the love interest myself, if I even felt any tension at all between them. In the end, I feel like I’m left wanting, even though I think that’s a deliberate move by the author, I feel like the book is not that long that it needs such a cliffhanger at the end, if that makes sense?
Finally, sorry to say so but: this is not a dark fiction. LI is the sweetest being of this series, although a bit protective, but still not « dark » per se. I’d even go to the length of saying that the only dark think about him is his favorite colour (it’s not a toxic mafia love story type of thing, which is perfectly fine with me but I’m still putting it in the cons just in case people wanted to read it for this reason). The promise of the book is a dark romance and the LI is a total softie… which I enjoy most of the time, but that just wasn’t what I was expecting to read this time.
In a nutshell: not a bad book, probably won’t read it again though but enjoyed it while it lasted! I’ll still continue the series when it comes out :)
Tropes:
- insta love
- miscommunication (minor)
- impossible love
- Cinderella / Beauty and the Beast retelling
- he falls first
- touch her and die
TW are also listed before the story starts, which is a very nice thought.
I thought this book was a good distraction overall. I enjoyed reading it, hence why I’m giving the rating of 3⭐️/5. However I don’t think that’s the type of book that changes your entire life, know what I mean? Which isn’t a bad thing, we also need those books in which every sentence is not an absolute masterpiece. Like someone on tiktok said about 2000s romcoms « it’s okay that movies are a little bit bad sometimes » and I agree! The characters were still loveable. I also like a good original concept and a masked love interest is not something we see in every book!
Sweet relationship too, not very dark(?). I’ll admit that LI needs a few therapy sessions but if he found a ladybug on the floor, he would defo put it on his finger, go outside and wait for it to fly away.
Although, if we want to get into the less enjoyable things about this book: even if the characters were actually not that appreciable, we wouldn’t really have time to notice. I feel like we only plunge into the actual plot far far into the book (given it’s not that long), making the first part relatively okay with a nice pace, and then suddenly I felt like we were rushing the second main part.
(This part contains spoilers) <Death falls in love in RECORD time and although I love him, like take a little pride in yourself my man? Are you not supposed to be a very cold, intense, dark, deadly man? I feel like we went from who is she to I’m in love in the span of 5 pages.> (end of spoilers)
It was so rushed I didn’t have the time to actually fall in love with the love interest myself, if I even felt any tension at all between them. In the end, I feel like I’m left wanting, even though I think that’s a deliberate move by the author, I feel like the book is not that long that it needs such a cliffhanger at the end, if that makes sense?
Finally, sorry to say so but: this is not a dark fiction. LI is the sweetest being of this series, although a bit protective, but still not « dark » per se. I’d even go to the length of saying that the only dark think about him is his favorite colour (it’s not a toxic mafia love story type of thing, which is perfectly fine with me but I’m still putting it in the cons just in case people wanted to read it for this reason). The promise of the book is a dark romance and the LI is a total softie… which I enjoy most of the time, but that just wasn’t what I was expecting to read this time.
In a nutshell: not a bad book, probably won’t read it again though but enjoyed it while it lasted! I’ll still continue the series when it comes out :)
Tropes:
- insta love
- miscommunication (minor)
- impossible love
- Cinderella / Beauty and the Beast retelling
- he falls first
- touch her and die
TW are also listed before the story starts, which is a very nice thought.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent and Murder
dezzella's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
A beauty and the beast mixed with Cinderella retelling featuring Death. The pacing starting out was good, byt I wish there had been more time/details/less time skips in the last 40% of the book, I think it would have made the ending better. Still over all a pretty good read and you get to explore some of Death's realm and his home
Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death
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