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bree_h_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This is definitely a book with a lot of potential, I just think it needed some more polishing to be really good.
To start, out of the three main characters only two felt compelling and like they were properly attached to the plot. Taylor and Jamie were easily the strongest characters with the best connection to the main plot. Taylor as a witch who’s connecting with her supernatural abilities despite her father’s disapproval and feels a call to the house, and Jamie as the person trapped in the house with a ghost trying to uncover its secrets to escape. Theo…was there. He did stuff relating to the plot, but I didn’t find him compelling or interesting as a character. It very much felt like he was just there to be the love interest. Which is fine! It just didn’t feel like we needed his POV and his discoveries could have been done by Taylor or Jamie. Taylor and Jamie also had the strongest character dynamic. I felt like they played off each other and I bought into their friendship in a way I couldn’t buy into Taylor and Theo’s friendship and Jamie and Theo’s romance.
I think my issues buying into Theo’s relationship with the other characters is the early book having an issue with trying to speed run the development of character relationships and telling the reader things instead of showing them. It skips over all the establishment of friendship and romance and tries to explain it was by being obsessed with each other one at first sight. I felt so lost and just couldn’t buy into the being friends, despite the book TELLING me about how they were close friends now and developed a close bond. I never SAW that happening on page because it was skipped over. This also made the pacing feel really off, there were several instances I thought the pacing felt weird and the most common reason was it felt like the book was rushing itself.
I think those compounded into a book I just didn’t care about and had minimal interest in. I think it has potential, again, it just needed some more work. If you check it out I hope you enjoy!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Confinement, Death, Abandonment, and Cursing
Moderate: Blood, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Grief, Medical content, and Physical abuse
Minor: Child abuse
aurora4847's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-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
3.75
I wasn't quite sure if I was going to like this book at first. It was slow to grab me, but once it did I was hooked. Lovely story about witchcraft, hauntings, and the ways in which we hold ourselves back from things we really want.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Abandonment, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Grief
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Car accident, Racism, and Hate crime
A main character is in the foster system. There is blood and non-descriptive animal death for ritual purposes. A main character is grieving the loss of their parent, which has strained their relationship with their other parent. A main character is confined to a house with an individual trying (sometimes violently) to keep them there.
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