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hidingincorners's review against another edition
4.0
Simply lovely. Rhys and Moira are an excellently crafted couple. Their insecurities mingled with deep love and respect for each other is not only beautiful, but true to life. The imagery is vivid. Every scene is vibrant. And it is so nice to see representations of different magical practices. This is an exquisite little book. Well done.
makedde's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
saurahsaurus's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Biphobia
Minor: Alcohol, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry
slowpokebooks's review against another edition
3.0
First 80% was really good then it went south and irritated me unfortunately
unwise_samwise's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I feel like the biphobia is kinda brushed aside without being dealt with but it was a short book
Content Warnings
Moderate: Biphobia
lareinadehades's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-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? Yes
3.0
upturnedroots's review
4.0
Cats like magical people.
In my experience, places are never the way you remember them. Even if you find it the way you left it. You’re the thing that changes.
First, this cover is gorgeous. I love the way magic is treated here, with the reverence of spirituality, the precision of science, and the innovation of technology. It's a path, a gateway, liberation, a tool and a lifelong study. I had actually been thinking about picking up a tarot deck for a year now, but finally did after reading this. Actually, I bought 2 Tarot decks and a Goddess Oracle deck because I have no chill. Looking forward to using them to help me navigate my writing and character/plot development.
You can tell the author knows her stuff and discusses magic in a way that is very organic to the characters, story, and world. I like the co-mingling of real-life aspects with the metaphysical and mystical.
I love that Rhys is an academic and saw a lot of similarities between traits I have and his character. Again, the attention to details in this world, slightly like ours, is brilliant, and I think Gibson's writing shines the most in writing Moira and Rhys's earlier dynamics in the first half of the story, and the glimpses into their past, and origin for their relationship, especially.
In a lot of ways, Rhys and Moira reminded me of Nico and Maya in One Last Stop so if you liked those characters, then I'd recommend trying this one!
I deducted a star because I think the conflict is where this story went wrong. The greatest disservice is that I think if the book was longer there could have been a more realistic, or at least, less jarring conflict point. It creates some inconsistencies with our characters that actually made me dislike them by the end of the book which is a shame, especially Moira for the way she handles her treatment of Rhys.
There are direct references to Christianity and I get why but that wasn't something I was expecting so the religious presence in what I thought was a light magic/paranormal rom-com autumnal story was off-putting, and because of this foreshadowing I knew the conflict was also something I wouldn't like. There's very heavy-handed biphobia which was difficult to read and made me angry. It honestly felt outdated for a book of this nature and didn't match the tone or vibe of the story up to that point and the way the characters were so open-minded. So tread carefully. I can sort of understand why Gibson wrote it this way and I liked her characters but I didn't think the character that apologized was the one that needed to.
Moreover, the "antagonist/villain" character is someone who isn't present for most of the story anyway, and the conflict originates because of something in the past off-page which also makes it harder to connect. It's easier to understand the characters' perspective if we had actually seen the antagonist, well antagonize, and we don't, so really it's just our main characters who it reflects badly on because we don't have the space in such a short story to get a feel for this other character. Additionally, I think if the story was longer it could have just been a quieter, more organic, falling apart and coming back together kind of story that I think fits Gibson's exploration of a married couple, and I think representation of married couples in romance novels is underrepresented so I do appreciate this. I think the same ultimate arc could have been achieved in a less jarring and choppy way.
In my experience, places are never the way you remember them. Even if you find it the way you left it. You’re the thing that changes.
First, this cover is gorgeous. I love the way magic is treated here, with the reverence of spirituality, the precision of science, and the innovation of technology. It's a path, a gateway, liberation, a tool and a lifelong study. I had actually been thinking about picking up a tarot deck for a year now, but finally did after reading this. Actually, I bought 2 Tarot decks and a Goddess Oracle deck because I have no chill. Looking forward to using them to help me navigate my writing and character/plot development.
You can tell the author knows her stuff and discusses magic in a way that is very organic to the characters, story, and world. I like the co-mingling of real-life aspects with the metaphysical and mystical.
I love that Rhys is an academic and saw a lot of similarities between traits I have and his character. Again, the attention to details in this world, slightly like ours, is brilliant, and I think Gibson's writing shines the most in writing Moira and Rhys's earlier dynamics in the first half of the story, and the glimpses into their past, and origin for their relationship, especially.
In a lot of ways, Rhys and Moira reminded me of Nico and Maya in One Last Stop so if you liked those characters, then I'd recommend trying this one!
I deducted a star because I think the conflict is where this story went wrong. The greatest disservice is that I think if the book was longer there could have been a more realistic, or at least, less jarring conflict point. It creates some inconsistencies with our characters that actually made me dislike them by the end of the book which is a shame, especially Moira for the way she handles her treatment of Rhys.
There are direct references to Christianity and I get why but that wasn't something I was expecting so the religious presence in what I thought was a light magic/paranormal rom-com autumnal story was off-putting, and because of this foreshadowing I knew the conflict was also something I wouldn't like. There's very heavy-handed biphobia which was difficult to read and made me angry. It honestly felt outdated for a book of this nature and didn't match the tone or vibe of the story up to that point and the way the characters were so open-minded. So tread carefully. I can sort of understand why Gibson wrote it this way and I liked her characters but I didn't think the character that apologized was the one that needed to.
Moreover, the "antagonist/villain" character is someone who isn't present for most of the story anyway, and the conflict originates because of something in the past off-page which also makes it harder to connect. It's easier to understand the characters' perspective if we had actually seen the antagonist, well antagonize, and we don't, so really it's just our main characters who it reflects badly on because we don't have the space in such a short story to get a feel for this other character. Additionally, I think if the story was longer it could have just been a quieter, more organic, falling apart and coming back together kind of story that I think fits Gibson's exploration of a married couple, and I think representation of married couples in romance novels is underrepresented so I do appreciate this. I think the same ultimate arc could have been achieved in a less jarring and choppy way.
sophiaeve's review against another edition
unfortunately this was not what i thought it would be
arinreads's review against another edition
5.0
squeezed in a reread bc i realised this is sort of a prequel to evocation which i'm currently reading so here we are, im fucking obsessed