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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book was like a love letter to fairytales and for that I loved it. I appreciated how the tales were the original versions and not the Disney versions and that there were some that I wasn’t as familiar with as others. I had high hopes that this would be five stars, but I was disappointed with the plot and the romance.
The two main characters were pretty bland. I could sum up their personalities and relationship to each other with tropes; in other words they lack depth. They fall in love pretty much instantly, they have a few love confessions (without this use of the word love) before even half way through, and I much prefer a slow burn. We are told that they have this deep connection and would sacrifice themselves for each other and can’t live without each other but it doesn’t make any sense why. The mmc tells the fmc that life would not be worth living without her pretty much at the half way mark before he even tells her that he loves her and then she doubts his feelings for her later. It was a lot of unnecessary conflict that would have been more believable if they didn’t have such deep feelings for each other so early on. She literally calls him her best friend at the end of the first story. The mmc is also so overprotective and jealous, which I usually love (in moderation), but this was to the point of almost infantilization, it was very dramatic.
The plot had a major pacing issue with some of the stories being very good and in depth, while others were way too quick and I wasn’t even sure why they were included in the first place. I also wish that the stories were in a different order to help lead the main characters into a believable relationship.
Another thing that bothered me was the way the curse played out. Basically they are given seven nights to complete seven fairytales. They get sucked into the book to live out the stories, but they leave the book in between the stories. So they are staying in her cottage for the day and at night they get sucked back in to complete another story and that was just a little disorienting for me. I thought that they would remain in the book the whole time and go from story to story.
Overall I really enjoyed the magical atmosphere and getting to revisit some of my favorite stories, but I was a little disappointed with the execution of this concept, I think it could have been better. There is supposed to be a second book but I just can’t imagine that there would be more to this story (at least not a coherent one). I was just really hoping that this would be better.
The two main characters were pretty bland. I could sum up their personalities and relationship to each other with tropes; in other words they lack depth. They fall in love pretty much instantly, they have a few love confessions (without this use of the word love) before even half way through, and I much prefer a slow burn. We are told that they have this deep connection and would sacrifice themselves for each other and can’t live without each other but it doesn’t make any sense why. The mmc tells the fmc that life would not be worth living without her pretty much at the half way mark before he even tells her that he loves her and then she doubts his feelings for her later. It was a lot of unnecessary conflict that would have been more believable if they didn’t have such deep feelings for each other so early on. She literally calls him her best friend at the end of the first story. The mmc is also so overprotective and jealous, which I usually love (in moderation), but this was to the point of almost infantilization, it was very dramatic.
The plot had a major pacing issue with some of the stories being very good and in depth, while others were way too quick and I wasn’t even sure why they were included in the first place. I also wish that the stories were in a different order to help lead the main characters into a believable relationship.
Another thing that bothered me was the way the curse played out. Basically they are given seven nights to complete seven fairytales. They get sucked into the book to live out the stories, but they leave the book in between the stories. So they are staying in her cottage for the day and at night they get sucked back in to complete another story and that was just a little disorienting for me. I thought that they would remain in the book the whole time and go from story to story.
Overall I really enjoyed the magical atmosphere and getting to revisit some of my favorite stories, but I was a little disappointed with the execution of this concept, I think it could have been better. There is supposed to be a second book but I just can’t imagine that there would be more to this story (at least not a coherent one). I was just really hoping that this would be better.
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Read this in a day because I could not for the life of me put it down!!!
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Lovely concept, poor execution.
The idea of the story is very charming, so it was such a letdown that the writing couldn't deliver and failed to bring the story to life. The voice of the writing initially came off as a bit whimsical and fairytale-like, which lent itself well to the plot. However, there was a LOT of telling and not showing, and I actually mean this in the most literal sense as well. So many things were told to us in large blocks of dialogue.
The author also kept switching between using the FMC's name (Serena) and nickname (Rina). It was fine in the beginning, given the context of Serena being with her family as a child, but it happened a couple more times throughout the book during narration. There was also one instance of this happening with the author referring to Serena's mom as "mother" and then suddenly using the mom's name outside of any dialogue.
The romance was underdeveloped as well; there was barely any build-up and tension between the FMC and her love interest. It almost felt like the couple went from strangers to friends to lovers just to be able to say it had that trope.
On that note, the world itself lacked development too. There was so much potential in visiting well-known fairytales, but the exploration of such fell flat and felt rushed. Initially, I could sympathize a bit because it's a LOT to fit into one book, but at the very end there was text indicating that there would be a book 2, which caught me off guard because I honestly went into this thinking it was going to be a standalone. I feel like it would have been better had the author taken their time in fleshing out the world and characters instead of trying to cram everything into a single novel.
The book also had some punctuation issues, which I could forgive at first because as far as I know this is an indie book (and thus doesn't have a whole dedicated team behind it), but in some cases, the punctuation issues ended up making the flow and pace of sentences come off as awkward and clunky. Arcana Fortune definitely could have benefitted from a couple more rounds of edits and revisions.
I really wish I liked this, but it was such a disappointment given how darling the premise was. It absolutely put me in a reading slump (that I'm STILL trying to get out of, sobs) and I probably should have DNF'd it instead of slogging through to the end.
The idea of the story is very charming, so it was such a letdown that the writing couldn't deliver and failed to bring the story to life. The voice of the writing initially came off as a bit whimsical and fairytale-like, which lent itself well to the plot. However, there was a LOT of telling and not showing, and I actually mean this in the most literal sense as well. So many things were told to us in large blocks of dialogue.
The author also kept switching between using the FMC's name (Serena) and nickname (Rina). It was fine in the beginning, given the context of Serena being with her family as a child, but it happened a couple more times throughout the book during narration. There was also one instance of this happening with the author referring to Serena's mom as "mother" and then suddenly using the mom's name outside of any dialogue.
The romance was underdeveloped as well; there was barely any build-up and tension between the FMC and her love interest. It almost felt like the couple went from strangers to friends to lovers just to be able to say it had that trope.
On that note, the world itself lacked development too. There was so much potential in visiting well-known fairytales, but the exploration of such fell flat and felt rushed. Initially, I could sympathize a bit because it's a LOT to fit into one book, but at the very end there was text indicating that there would be a book 2, which caught me off guard because I honestly went into this thinking it was going to be a standalone. I feel like it would have been better had the author taken their time in fleshing out the world and characters instead of trying to cram everything into a single novel.
The book also had some punctuation issues, which I could forgive at first because as far as I know this is an indie book (and thus doesn't have a whole dedicated team behind it), but in some cases, the punctuation issues ended up making the flow and pace of sentences come off as awkward and clunky. Arcana Fortune definitely could have benefitted from a couple more rounds of edits and revisions.
I really wish I liked this, but it was such a disappointment given how darling the premise was. It absolutely put me in a reading slump (that I'm STILL trying to get out of, sobs) and I probably should have DNF'd it instead of slogging through to the end.