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banrions's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
this is the third e.j. noyes book that i've read, and like the others (turbulence and gold), i enjoyed this! but i didn't love it as much as a lot of others seem to. i can't toootally put my finger on why, for this one, because a lot of this book has elements that i should love (and did like! to be clear). this is probably a solid 3.75 book for me. it's possible it would bump up to a 4 on a re-read.
i loved that we got both jane and morgan's povs. personally, i far prefer both or all povs in romances to see how all parties are feeling/falling in love. and i like third person better than first in most occasions. this seems to be an anomoly for this author, so i was plesently surprised and happy about it. i really liked jane as a character, but i felt a little iffy about morgan. there wasn't much i could put my finger on why really, i just didn't connect with her as much. it miiiiiight have had something to do with abby craden's narration and voice and accent for her which was.... um, not great. i really like abby craden as a narrator, but her deep/husky character voice is never my favorite (though i like her 'neutral' deep just narrator voice, i don't know what it is, but when she gives it to a character i never connect with them as much) and this combined with a pretty bad british accent might have had a little to do with putting me off. once i just accepted it wasn't gonna be good, i was fine, but in the beginning i was kinda laughing a little. (suprisingly, i loved the weird accent she gave cici, but that's a lot easier because it's ~~random doesn't exist conglomeration of dead languages accent~~ and it was hot and lovely and i'd LOVE to get a sequel focused on cici and delve into her more).
overall, for me, i really enjoyed the beginning of this, and the start of the bucket list shenanagains, and flirty morgan. but once they started actually sleeping together, and morgan started getting all hot and cold (though understandable!) it left me more frusturated with her character and i think is where i started to disconnect a little bit. i did a little of a flip flop; in the beginning, i liked morgan a bit more than jane, near the end, i liked jane a bit more than morgan. the ending itself was pretty predictable, but also done well. like... it's a romance book, we all go in knowing it's going to end with characters together and happy, they're not actually about that; they're about being invited in on the journey. i enjoyed this journey. i'd recomened it. i love this kind of paranormal romance and i have always really loved and craved stories that anthropomorphize death. like many, i have a healthy fear of death and stories like this one actually always chip away at that fear just a smidge, for me. this was overall a decent bit of fun, well written and i'd rec it.
i loved that we got both jane and morgan's povs. personally, i far prefer both or all povs in romances to see how all parties are feeling/falling in love. and i like third person better than first in most occasions. this seems to be an anomoly for this author, so i was plesently surprised and happy about it. i really liked jane as a character, but i felt a little iffy about morgan. there wasn't much i could put my finger on why really, i just didn't connect with her as much. it miiiiiight have had something to do with abby craden's narration and voice and accent for her which was.... um, not great. i really like abby craden as a narrator, but her deep/husky character voice is never my favorite (though i like her 'neutral' deep just narrator voice, i don't know what it is, but when she gives it to a character i never connect with them as much) and this combined with a pretty bad british accent might have had a little to do with putting me off. once i just accepted it wasn't gonna be good, i was fine, but in the beginning i was kinda laughing a little. (suprisingly, i loved the weird accent she gave cici, but that's a lot easier because it's ~~random doesn't exist conglomeration of dead languages accent~~ and it was hot and lovely and i'd LOVE to get a sequel focused on cici and delve into her more).
overall, for me, i really enjoyed the beginning of this, and the start of the bucket list shenanagains, and flirty morgan. but once they started actually sleeping together, and morgan started getting all hot and cold (though understandable!) it left me more frusturated with her character and i think is where i started to disconnect a little bit. i did a little of a flip flop; in the beginning, i liked morgan a bit more than jane, near the end, i liked jane a bit more than morgan. the ending itself was pretty predictable, but also done well. like... it's a romance book, we all go in knowing it's going to end with characters together and happy, they're not actually about that; they're about being invited in on the journey. i enjoyed this journey. i'd recomened it. i love this kind of paranormal romance and i have always really loved and craved stories that anthropomorphize death. like many, i have a healthy fear of death and stories like this one actually always chip away at that fear just a smidge, for me. this was overall a decent bit of fun, well written and i'd rec it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Grief
Minor: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Violence, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
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