Reviews

I’ve enjoyed some of the author’s later books, so I was excited about this one. I liked the concept overall, and the entwining of multiple lives was interesting.

For me, the parts about

the curse didn’t feel like they fit. I felt that Lucian’s role needed less explanation - every time they called him the administrator, it made it feel more like comic fantasy, á la Michael Moore. It seemed sort of shoehorned in as a way to have a third point in the love triangle.

I expected that Helen would be the most powerful of the four, but we never see that. I assumed she would bring Lucian back, but just before he reappears, she says she doesn’t use her powers because the cost is too great. It made the ending fall flat for me.

You can definitely see that Sayers has grown as a writer since this novel.

Content Warnings

tracyksmith_reads's review against another edition

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5.0

I did not expect to be so blown away by this story or so attached to the characters! What an awesome debut novel!
---More to come...

hannah_reads_2020's review against another edition

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1.0

This book had such promise. A girl cursed by her mother. Demons and blood curses. But what I got was a slightly pedophilloic love story that was doomed throughout the ages and some weak magic about the power of suggestion.

The story focuses the first 40% on Juliette, a 16 year old in provincial France. She is not a likeable character. She is whiney, even for a 16 year old. Her lover Marchant is a creepy middle aged man who preys on her naivety. When her mother find out she tries to curse the relationship but instead dooms them to be reincarnated forever and have their relationship.

Her other lives are almost as equally insufferable. I didn't really like any of her reincarnations and found they didn't have many redeeming qualities. Nora was the exception but she was also incredibly naive. Granted as we go through the reincarnations the "magic" gets stronger, but it felt like a sleepy romance novel rather than one of magic and the macabre.

kelseymgorrell's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

callmeren's review against another edition

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1.0

DNF. For something that had the premise of my dreams (reincarnation, star-crossed lovers, witches, magic) I couldn't figure out why, by chapter 5, reading it felt like a chore. Nothing about it was attracting me. Then I skimmed through reviews and found them expressing what I couldn't put my finger on. Tl;dr the prose didn't allure me, what should have been the star-crossed lovers meeting moment just didn't have that *spark* that would've kept me reading, and the book includes some topics I'm not comfortable reading. And reviews told me this would apply for the rest of the book. So I quit.

If you're into Hollywood history, it seems to be the favorite part of several people who enjoyed this book, so you might enjoy this more than I did.

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