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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
This is an anthology of three unrelated stories that all take place in Moonbright, Maine during Halloween. The first story takes place before the Halloween party at Rose Cottage. The second is set during the party, and the third takes place the day after the Halloween party.
2 Stars -- Charmed By You by Kate Angell
Both characters didn't make a first great impression. Grace came across kind of uptight and bitchy, but there is a scene with her and some kids at the costume store that made me fall in love with her. Cade, well he came across as a lazy judgmental narcissist asshole. He was hired to help Grace and all he did was whine and act like a jerk every time he was asked to do ANYTHING.
Unfortunately because of the way his character acts from the get go I wanted him to go find a hole to fall into. Not to mention the reason he hated Halloween was so lame. He got caught toilet papering Rose Cottage when he was 17 and had to do community service. So now he HATES Halloween??
The ending was very abrupt also. I wouldn't even call it a HFN scenario
4 Stars -- Mesmerized by You by Jennifer Dawson.
This one was a super sweet and magical friends to lovers story. Jack and Chloe were both likable characters and it was sweet watching them figure out their love for each other. This one also had a better "happy for now" ending.
"Here.” She was already unbuttoning his jeans. He pulled her questing fingers away. “Are you kidding? There are probably ticks all over the place. I can’t have you ending up with Lyme disease.” See, this was why they were so perfect for each other. She huffed, planting her hands on her hips. “Lyme disease? Really? I offer you my body, and you’re thinking about ticks? He shrugged. “I’m a doctor. Best-case scenario you’re out of commission for months. I don’t like those odds. I’ve managed to last thirty years, I can make it back to the room.!
5 Stars -- Enchanted by You by Sharla Lovelace
This was my favorite story of the the three we get. A second chance romance with a nice bit of angst and a sweet little happy for now ending.
Sydney and Sawyer fell in love as teenagers, but insecurities and outside influences place doubt in Sawyer's mind and he leaves Sydney behind with a broken heart. Can these two find magic again in Moonbright?
"Sawyer pulled her to him with a smile he didn’t feel, everything inside him screaming not to let this end this way. Not to let her go."
TL;DR: very cishet, misogynistic, trashy, poorly written romances with lots of dubious scenarios. Wouldn’t recommend.
Charmed by you: 2 ⭐️
Charmed by you: 2 ⭐️
“Cade walked closely behind her. His heat and maleness closed in.” What the fuck
“Her breasts grew heavy.” I’m sorry that’s not a thing that happens
The hero was incredibly misogynistic. Him and his cousins are movers and were contracted to help decorate this cottage, and they were being extremely over dramatic and immature about the job. Like how do you even have a job if you just leave when the person paying you (extra, mind you) is a tiny bit pushy??? Then later she has to apologize for being pushy? Really? The writing wasn’t great, lots of short similar length sentences back to back, awkward wording and pov switches in the middle of a page with no line break or anything. If you can look past the borderline sexual harassment of it the steamy stuff was ridiculous but kinda hot? In a very trashy brain-off kinda way. Except the payoff at the end was very short and meh.
CW: misogyny, sexual content, romani slur, racial fetishization (sexual roleplay of a ‘tribesman’), non-consensual ass grab from the hero, general borderline sexual harassment, fatphobia
Mesmerized by you: 2 ⭐️
Mesmerized by you: 2 ⭐️
This one annoyed me. In theory I could’ve liked it, I like friends to lovers and the only one bed trope, but it was ruined by Amelia Rose drugging them to make them wanna fuck. She claimed she used ‘intention’ (magic) because ‘drugging would be unethical’ except the magic did the same thing drugs would do… they claimed to never have felt sexual attraction towards each other until after eating the cookies… in which case the cookies actually changed their feelings for each other and that’s incredibly dubious on Amelia’s part. Yes they were abnormally touchy friends (there is such thing as relationships that are between platonic and romantic. Granted, probably not very common between cishet allosexual people), but based on their thoughts it didn’t seem like repressed feelings, it was described as though they really were strictly platonic until they ate the cookies. I find it hard to believe they could’ve been in love with each other that whole time and not realize it. I get knowing you love the other but not wanting to tell them for fear of ruining your friendship, but this wasn’t that. It wasn’t written well imo. The lack of/miscommunication trope is never not annoying to me, it was also repetitive and painfully cishet, including outdated cishet ideas of sex such as piv = sex and nothing else counts (an example: “some distant part of her mind grasping the fact that she was about to have sex with Jack.” After he already ate her out and made her cum? Like girlie you’ve been having sex with him already that is sex). God and the stupid “btw it’s a girl” pregnancy reveal at the end??? Really? No. . Oh and the hero has a tribal tattoo and is a bit physically aggressive with the heroine a few times 🚩🚩🚩. It still gets two stars instead of one because the steam was steaming.
CW: Sexual content, child death, car accident, medical trauma, minor lesbiphobia, pregnancy, minor fatphobia, toxic relationship
Enchanted By You DNF
It wasn’t any worse than the others (about the same) I just really don’t care about the plot. I’m so bored and it’s not worth it. Immediately from Sawyer’s first chapter he’s misogynistic. And it’s just so painfully cishet yet again. There was a comment about a woman’s husband leaving her because he was gay that was supposed to be funny but felt like they just treated him being gay as a joke. Also there was a ‘gross sweaty hand’ comment 🙃 (I have palmer hyperhidrosis, a disability that I have no control over, so those comments, while abundant, are always very irritating).
CW: misogyny, sexual content, minor: car crash & death of parents, ableism (likely more but being as I dnfed, that’s all I noticed)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content
Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Sexual harassment
Minor: Fatphobia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia
Racial fetishization: the white hero talking about roleplaying as ‘a naked tribesmen, heavily tattooed with edible body paint’ with one of his exes…
And a minor surprise pregnancy at the end of the second story
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
DNFED AFTER THE FIRST CHAPTER!! omg this book mannnn. It is so misogynistic and I can’t handle reading anymore of it… I really tried but but like 5 lines from this book really just pushed me over the edge. I really try not to stop reading books halfway through but this just hit a record… the male love interest in this book is super icky and just makes me feel really uncomfortable. The only redeeming quality that I find is the autumnal vibes within the book whenever it takes about Halloween and the pumpkins and skeletons I like it but otherwise just truly awful.
slow-paced