Reviews

I want to preface by saying I did read the book in full and so that is why I gave it the added .25 to my main total because the author kept me interested enough to finish the whole thing. I also wanted to mention that maybe I didn’t love this book as much as I would have had I gone into it without reading the summary.

The plot for this book I feels like doesn’t match to what the description/summary mentioned. I was expecting an epic romance with hints of trauma and a little danger, but in reality, there was little-to-no romance and way more trauma than I was prepared for. Cody and Owl’s “relationship” (if you want to even call it that) lasts all about 70ish pages. There was no slow burn, no enemies-to-lovers, and no actual chemistry between them. The summary I would give this book without spoilers would be: the main character, Owl has a traumatic past with her father, who recently gets out of prison after being there for 10 years. For the past decade she has lived in the mountains with her aunt and uncle on a maple farm that they run. Her uncle needs help with the coming maple season and hires Cody, who is a young guy from the city. Cody also has a very traumatic past with his mother, and so Owl and Cody bond with this in common. Once she and Cody acknowledge they like one another, Owl loses her longest lasting friendship over it, and her aunt and uncle don’t know who she has turned into. And this is not to mention that Cody has a shady past with people coming after him, and now Owl. There is a lot that “happens”, but it felt like there was no progress with the plot until the last 100 pages.

The main character Owl had so much potential because she has lasting effects of the trauma she experienced as a child, and I felt like she was a little two-dimensional due to the plot. When Owl was little, she had an “accident” that caused her to become partially deaf. There was some depth to her character, and Cody for that matter, but I didn’t feel like there was any character growth. And to be frank I felt like Owl’s ending could have been so much positive, but it was so depressing.

This book just really wasn't for me. I loved the concept/summary, but I feel like it didn't really fit what the book was actually about. My expectations based around the summary were not met, and maybe that was my fault for believing it was going to be something else entirely. I felt like there was a lot of jumping around with the time skips, which happens like almost every chapter. And I just didn't love this book. I really, really, really wanted to like this book, but I ended up not, which is totally fine. I just don't think I was the intended audience for this one.

mollycecilia33'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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jennguare's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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