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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
mysterious
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:
No
slow-paced
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
this book is boorrring. they do magic one (1) time in the entire book. i also did not find lily’s plotline believable because there was no foreshadowing that she was fucking psychotic. you’re telling me her best friend she spent all her time with had no idea she actually hated her and wanted her boyfriend??? just felt cartoon villain-y.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 stars. (Hidden spoilers show on mobile, FYI)
I liked this; I just wished there was more to the magic system & a little more development for the people and setting. It was such a cool premise, an island in the Puget Sound where magic is real and passed through the female natives + a murder mystery. All the ingredients were there, but the development was just a little lacking. I listened to the audiobook which has a full cast and I think that helped flesh out the characters a bit more--I'm not sure how I would have felt reading it with my eyes.
I don't think this story needed to be told from multiple POVs, though I think it's well done & the island's POV in the end was cool. It was also a fun change to hear from older characters, but I think we sacrificed some deep POV from the main characters as a result. What was most surprising was the lack of actual magic taking place. We had such a marvelous witchy set up for a magical tea leaves & readings shop that almost completely disappears from the narrative, an ancestral spell book that is teased but only matters at the very end, a blind grandmother with the ability to bind the use of evil magic with some twine, but who can't puzzle out what happened to the dead girl despite the police force consisting of a relative in a small town who doesn't follow protocol and would have surely discussed the details with her (and the details make it very obvious what happened).
And even if the police officer (sheriff? IDK) wouldn't have discussed the details with grandma, on a very small island where magic is absolutely real and known, and with the very strange details surrounding the girl's death,?! Pinning it on the male protagonist made ZERO sense given the evidence. Like, seriously. Less than zero.
The magic consists of some rattling teacups, a mysterious binding between the two main characters that is never fully explained (teenage declarations of love under a full moon are legally binding, apparently?), and the big 'whodunnit' reveal. The rest is a very YA-feeling love... square, I guess. Even though the protagonists are supposed to be in their early 30s, they 1000% feel like teenagers.
Obligatory widow's note: There are two dead mothers (at relatively young ages, probably early 50s) and a massive lack of grief or fall-out, though it (surprisingly) didn't fill me with abject rage. There is some impact of loss shown, but plot-wise only one mother “needed” to be dead in order to give our male protagonist a reason to come back to the island to bury her ashes.
The climax is an absolutely bonkers scene where the secret/surprise antagonist is behaving so ridiculously (and otherwise sane people are going along with it) it's difficult to suspend disbelief. The last minute 'save' is equally hard to believe. You're that far in, you're that willing to adhere to your *cartoon evil cackle* murderous plan, you'd just... let them go???!!!! There's zero point in. The idea to have a complicated mystery surrounding a girl's death + the small town intrigue + a banished island native was interesting, but the culmination of *all the things* was kind of bananas.
Anyway. I know this sounds like a 1-star review, but I really did enjoy it. I'm scratching my head more about the plot points now that it's over and I've sat with it a few days. I listened to it all in one day while working & at the time, I was mostly disappointed there wasn't more magic going on. I liked how dark and moody it was and how much potential was there.
I liked this; I just wished there was more to the magic system & a little more development for the people and setting. It was such a cool premise, an island in the Puget Sound where magic is real and passed through the female natives + a murder mystery. All the ingredients were there, but the development was just a little lacking. I listened to the audiobook which has a full cast and I think that helped flesh out the characters a bit more--I'm not sure how I would have felt reading it with my eyes.
I don't think this story needed to be told from multiple POVs, though I think it's well done & the island's POV in the end was cool. It was also a fun change to hear from older characters, but I think we sacrificed some deep POV from the main characters as a result. What was most surprising was the lack of actual magic taking place. We had such a marvelous witchy set up for a magical tea leaves & readings shop that almost completely disappears from the narrative, an ancestral spell book that is teased but only matters at the very end, a blind grandmother with the ability to bind the use of evil magic with some twine, but who can't puzzle out what happened to the dead girl despite the police force consisting of a relative in a small town who doesn't follow protocol and would have surely discussed the details with her (and the details make it very obvious what happened).
And even if the police officer (sheriff? IDK) wouldn't have discussed the details with grandma, on a very small island where magic is absolutely real and known, and with the very strange details surrounding the girl's death,
Spoiler
wouldn't magic have been the first suspectThe magic consists of some rattling teacups, a mysterious binding between the two main characters that is never fully explained (teenage declarations of love under a full moon are legally binding, apparently?), and the big 'whodunnit' reveal. The rest is a very YA-feeling love... square, I guess. Even though the protagonists are supposed to be in their early 30s, they 1000% feel like teenagers.
Obligatory widow's note: There are two dead mothers (at relatively young ages, probably early 50s) and a massive lack of grief or fall-out, though it (surprisingly) didn't fill me with abject rage. There is some impact of loss shown, but plot-wise only one mother “needed” to be dead in order to give our male protagonist a reason to come back to the island to bury her ashes.
The climax is an absolutely bonkers scene where the secret/surprise antagonist is behaving so ridiculously (and otherwise sane people are going along with it) it's difficult to suspend disbelief. The last minute 'save' is equally hard to believe. You're that far in, you're that willing to adhere to your *cartoon evil cackle* murderous plan, you'd just... let them go???!!!! There's zero point in
Spoiler
killing off who they're trying to kill off. He already doesn't want anything to do with what they want. It sounds like they could have purchased the orchard from him without the insane risks of a) fraud, b) framing him for murder, or c) shooting him in a forest with half the town as witnessesAnyway. I know this sounds like a 1-star review, but I really did enjoy it. I'm scratching my head more about the plot points now that it's over and I've sat with it a few days. I listened to it all in one day while working & at the time, I was mostly disappointed there wasn't more magic going on. I liked how dark and moody it was and how much potential was there.
dark
mysterious
medium-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:
No
I honestly wish there was a spell so I could forget hearing this book. My first mistake was listening to it on audiobook. Breathy desperate American accents striving to put life into a text that has zero magic whatsoever.