A review by yourbookishbff
Unraveled by Courtney Milan

emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

This goes down as the one and only perfect mistress proposal (that I have personally read). I typically loathe mistress proposals in a class difference story, for the implied "I want to sleep with you but you aren't high-born enough to be my wife," and Milan so deftly turns this on its head that I was left feeling... Moved? Smite doesn't so much believe himself unworthy of love as incapable of love, and lives with such an overwhelming fear of loss that he prevents attachment and sentimentality and lives as independently as possible. He also (tragically) believes his trauma makes him a better person, and he struggles to embrace healing from his childhood. Miranda is such a perfectly built counterpoint, someone who will push him to step over carefully drawn lines when necessary and who knows how to love a person without undermining their independence and agency. We get some great Dalrymple backstory as well, and I was rooting for these characters all the way through. The secondary plot/mystery wraps up a little too nearly perhaps, but this ultimately didn't bother me. A great conclusion to The Turners!
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