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spicycronereads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I really liked this book. It centers on Briseis, a 16-year-old Black woman, living in Brooklyn with her mom and Mo (her two adoptive moms). She has a special affinity for growing and caring for plants. And it borders on the unnatural. The narrative centers on what happens when she finds out that her birth mother’s sister has died, and left her an estate in upstate New York.
The narrative focuses on what it is like for these three Black women to locate relocate to the small town where weird things start happening. There are all sorts of mysteries and a family legacy involving ancient characters like Medea and the goddess Hecate.
Briseis is lonely and misunderstood in Brooklyn and it seems like plants are her best friends. She begins to thrive once they relocate, making friends and meeting new love interests. I recall reading a review of this book that thought she wasn’t very smart. I do admit that it took her a really long time to catch onto some things that really seemed quite obvious, or to begin to question things that just didn’t seem to add up. She did seem a little naïve. Though, admittedly, they tell us in the narrative that she didn’t get the best grades in school. 😂
The world building is pretty effortless here. The magic system and Briseis’ powers are really cool. I look forward in subsequent books to seeing how this continues to be fleshed out. And yes, this is book one in a series. It ends on a pretty big cliffhanger.
The secondary characters are richly detailed, and seem to have interesting motivations of their own. They make a great supporting cast. And the book does a lovely job of demonstrating that found family ties can be just as rich and meaningful as biological.
There were a few elements of romance here and there though I would not call this book a romance or romantasy. I give it 💖.
In terms of diverse representation, we have Briseis and her two moms. Briseis is either bi or pan (I listened to the audiobook, and I don’t recall them ever saying, explicitly how she identifies). Their entire family is Black. There are additional people of color in the narrative. So there is quite a bit of racial and sexual diversity. Briseis’ family is struggling financially when they are living in Brooklyn and trying to run a small business. And when they move to this town in upstate New York, they definitely seem to move into a more financially stable status.
The audiobook performance was great. Jordan Cobb does a fantastic job with her performance and giving unique voice to a wide cast of characters.
Overall, I really liked this. The sense of humor of the characters and the magic system were a lot of fun. The vocal performance was great and made my commute fly by on some days. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/💖
The narrative focuses on what it is like for these three Black women to locate relocate to the small town where weird things start happening. There are all sorts of mysteries and a family legacy involving ancient characters like Medea and the goddess Hecate.
Briseis is lonely and misunderstood in Brooklyn and it seems like plants are her best friends. She begins to thrive once they relocate, making friends and meeting new love interests. I recall reading a review of this book that thought she wasn’t very smart. I do admit that it took her a really long time to catch onto some things that really seemed quite obvious, or to begin to question things that just didn’t seem to add up. She did seem a little naïve. Though, admittedly, they tell us in the narrative that she didn’t get the best grades in school. 😂
The world building is pretty effortless here. The magic system and Briseis’ powers are really cool. I look forward in subsequent books to seeing how this continues to be fleshed out. And yes, this is book one in a series. It ends on a pretty big cliffhanger.
The secondary characters are richly detailed, and seem to have interesting motivations of their own. They make a great supporting cast. And the book does a lovely job of demonstrating that found family ties can be just as rich and meaningful as biological.
There were a few elements of romance here and there though I would not call this book a romance or romantasy. I give it 💖.
In terms of diverse representation, we have Briseis and her two moms. Briseis is either bi or pan (I listened to the audiobook, and I don’t recall them ever saying, explicitly how she identifies). Their entire family is Black. There are additional people of color in the narrative. So there is quite a bit of racial and sexual diversity. Briseis’ family is struggling financially when they are living in Brooklyn and trying to run a small business. And when they move to this town in upstate New York, they definitely seem to move into a more financially stable status.
The audiobook performance was great. Jordan Cobb does a fantastic job with her performance and giving unique voice to a wide cast of characters.
Overall, I really liked this. The sense of humor of the characters and the magic system were a lot of fun. The vocal performance was great and made my commute fly by on some days. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/💖
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Violence
Moderate: Racism
bookrecsplease's review
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The plot is really slow moving, and a lot of it had that common YA trope of people being pointlessly mysterious to the protagonist instead of explaining all the things that they know. The last 20% was really great, but I wish the rest of the book had been paced similarly.
I loved the setup of Briseis’ relationship with her moms, but it never changed throughout the book. Neither did Briseis, unfortunately. She made one character trait decision at after the inciting incident that was a positive change for her, and then never evolved at all again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Violence, Blood, and Murder
abitbetterbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, and Death
natraf_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
I loved this greek mythology inspired tale of a teenage girl discovering more about herself and her lineage !
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Grief and Toxic friendship
lj_mx18's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I really enjoyed many aspects of this book, but the age difference between marie and Bri really ruins a lot of this series for me, because even if she is in the body and mind of a 17 year old/teen, she still has 300 years of life experience. So their relationship feels predatory. I think the fact this is YA makes it a bigger issue, because young teens will be reading it. My 13 year old sibling read this. I think all of the parts I really enjoyed about this book are overshadowed by the complicated implications. Because if Marie is in the body of the 17 year old and Bri ages, then the issue arises of Bri being physically older and being into a 17 year olds physicality.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Abandonment and Toxic relationship
frawst_disasta_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I couldn’t put down this book. I kept needing to know what happened next and it didn’t disappoint! I also loved the LGBTQ+ representation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Emotional abuse
mayachuchu13's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Everything was great. Love the story, romance, plot twists. All of it was well thought-out and the MC is so likable, I was rooting for her since chapter one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gaslighting, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Gun violence
Only two confusing things (#2 is a spoiler): 1. If Bri literally has magic powers it’s kinda stupid how she has this “there’s no such thing as magic!” attitude every time she learns something new. You literally grew up with magic powers, why are you so doubtful of witches and spells??sebspages's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I honestly wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into when I started this book. This read was definetly a case of I saw the cover and knew I needed to read it you know?
But I’ve loved every single page of it. Even the times when I’ve felt like the descriptions dragged and took to long I still loved it. Getting to know the main character and watch her grow into her powers were amazing. The bickering within the family… It’s just hard to put int words WHY I loved this book (and I’m honestly not the best at writing reviews anyway) but I just know that I did.
When I had finished it and put it down I had literal goosebumps and I can’t wait to continue on with the series and see what will happen with everyone. How will they handle the challenges? How will Briseis and Mo handle the information they got in the end of this book? The betrayal Bri must be feeling… And what about the potential thing between Bri and Marie? Lets just say that I have so many questionmarks that I can’t wait to turn into exclemationmarks.
But I’ve loved every single page of it. Even the times when I’ve felt like the descriptions dragged and took to long I still loved it. Getting to know the main character and watch her grow into her powers were amazing. The bickering within the family… It’s just hard to put int words WHY I loved this book (and I’m honestly not the best at writing reviews anyway) but I just know that I did.
When I had finished it and put it down I had literal goosebumps and I can’t wait to continue on with the series and see what will happen with everyone. How will they handle the challenges? How will Briseis and Mo handle the information they got in the end of this book? The betrayal Bri must be feeling… And what about the potential thing between Bri and Marie? Lets just say that I have so many questionmarks that I can’t wait to turn into exclemationmarks.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
matmatmatty's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Loved this book! It has a real air of mystery about it and I found myself constantly reading because I wanted to put all the pieces together. Towards the end, I could not put it down! Cannot wait for the next book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Murder, Death, and Death of parent
gen_nh's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
First couple of chapters were a bit slow for my preference but it picked up quickly after that and the relaxed and matter of fact way sexuality/race/gender is approached is great to read. Non of those factors were defining parts of the characters and were just naturally part of them.
I loved the mix of tense action and emotional moments, and the mythology mixed with real life was really well executed.
I loved the mix of tense action and emotional moments, and the mythology mixed with real life was really well executed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Death, and Gun violence