Reviews

This story follows Moira Jean whose fiancée died during the war and now seems unsure about her future. One evening, along with her friends in their village, they go out to drink and dance around the fire, when suddenly more people, or beings, appear that Moira Jean realizes are the Fae. And then she suddenly wakes up and wonders what happened and whether it was a dream, when she finds out her friends have been spirited away by the Fae and now it's up to Moira Jean to get them back.

This is a lush and dark fantasy. Darker than I was expecting, especially with Moira Jean and the loss she is clearly still grieving. The Fae are also darker than you would read for example in ACoTaR. And so I would definitely term this as a lush gothic fantasy.

I overall enjoyed this book aside from it having a rather slow start and me being a bit confused about everyone's past and just little details like that. If you love dark gothic fantasies with Fae, then this one is for you!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the free digital copy to read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

hananyax's review

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dark slow-paced

3.0

mirandaria's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

eireen's review against another edition

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3.0

Storyline ⭐⭐⭐
‌Characters ⭐⭐
‌Writing style ⭐⭐⭐
‌Book cover ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The tropes:
- Myth/folklore
- Chosen one
- High fantasy
- Cottagecore
- Small town setting

Gemes sama karakternya Moira Jean, si pemeran utama dalam buku ini. Agak menyebalkan karena dia terkesan hypocryte dan self-righteous. Kesannya dia berani melawan kaum fae demi menolong teman-temannya, tapi giliran di depan tetangga-tetangganya yang ngejahatin dia (yang notabene sesama manusia juga), dia malah jadi lemah banget dan tidak berani melawan. Alasannya karena tetangga-tetangganya tidak tahu apa yang sudah di lalui si Moira Jean jadi dia rela diinjak-injak dan malah masih bersikukuh membantu mereka-mereka yang tidak tahu diri itu. Sampai akhirnya harus ditolong ibunya sendiri loh. Damsel in distress, but without a prince ya si Moira Jean ini. Karakter Male MC nya, The Dreamer, juga menurutku tidak terlalu menarik.

Endingnya juga agak mengecewakan karena terlalu terburu-buru. Seolah cerita yang sudah pelan-pelan dibangun di awal akhirnya tidak terlalu memberi pengaruh besar di akhir. Klimaksnya kurang nendang dan tahu-tahu sudah masuk epilogue. Satu sisi lega akhirnya bisa menyelesaikan buku ini dan untungnya dia standalone karena kalau ternyata berseri sih nampaknya tidak tergiur untuk melanjutkan. Tergiur baca awalnya juga karena covernya yang cantik sih. Sayang, ceritanya ternyata tidak sebagus covernya.

mimi_gee's review against another edition

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mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

sparklefarm's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

I'm not going to give this one a star rating simply because as we all know, YA just ~isn't my thing~ and it's no fault of this book for simply being the thing it's intended to be. That being said! I found this a pleasant read, and appreciated that there was absolutely no question about whether forced love is actually love. (It's not.) If you like YA, I recommend!

Content Warnings

theloveshot_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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