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kneecaptain 's review for:
A River Enchanted
by Rebecca Ross
there was a moment in this where a character's inner dialogue said 'she needed to be as composed as one of Jack's songs' or something and boy if that isn't one of the most awkward shoe-horned turns of phrases i have ever read.
this one is a tough case of 'you were so close, and yet so far' for me.
it started with a lot of promise. the setting was solid - it felt rooted in myth and suspension of disbelief in a deeply charming way, and the cast of characters felt vibrant and i took to them quickly.
where it quickly fell apart for me was in the extreme use of a quite tired group of romantasy clichés that were so egregiously shoved-in that they completely ruined the tone of the central character dynamic.
the two leads are 'childhood rivals' for reasons that are deeply unexplored, and years later maintain this awkward 'enemy' demeanor that feels entirely put-upon, and it leads to the disappointing conclusion that it is really there to sell the book as enemies-to-lovers and doesn't actually fit well with the dynamic at all.
to top it off, they use an annoying and VERY awkward nickname to try and sell this point further: 'my old menace,' and it's the kind of thing that could have been dropped MAYBE once at the start, and once in a sweet call-back towards the end, but was instead overused and shoe-horned into pretty much every scene. it completely ruined any chemistry the leads would have (which wasn't much to start with due to the forced enemy dynamic), and felt self-aware of the romantasy genre trends in a way that really frustrated me.
this was contrasted heavily by the side-pairing, which was an older couple who had largely married for convenience and safety, and were slowly re-discovering each other and falling in love for the first time as they worked through trauma together. this pairing was so compelling and lovely and charming, and it was infuriating to have to go back to the main characters after spending some time with this narrative, which felt like a less-marketable but far stronger dynamic.
the main narrative was fine but sometimes felt a bit flimsy, with the side plot once again outshining whatever the main characters were up to - there was a lot of plot in this that felt a bit like a vehicle for the romantic dynamics or atmosphere, so it didn't quite hold up for me.
it feels like there's a really great book hiding under this one somewhere, but there was too much emphasis on current trends and clichés for it to escape.
this one is a tough case of 'you were so close, and yet so far' for me.
it started with a lot of promise. the setting was solid - it felt rooted in myth and suspension of disbelief in a deeply charming way, and the cast of characters felt vibrant and i took to them quickly.
where it quickly fell apart for me was in the extreme use of a quite tired group of romantasy clichés that were so egregiously shoved-in that they completely ruined the tone of the central character dynamic.
the two leads are 'childhood rivals' for reasons that are deeply unexplored, and years later maintain this awkward 'enemy' demeanor that feels entirely put-upon, and it leads to the disappointing conclusion that it is really there to sell the book as enemies-to-lovers and doesn't actually fit well with the dynamic at all.
to top it off, they use an annoying and VERY awkward nickname to try and sell this point further: 'my old menace,' and it's the kind of thing that could have been dropped MAYBE once at the start, and once in a sweet call-back towards the end, but was instead overused and shoe-horned into pretty much every scene. it completely ruined any chemistry the leads would have (which wasn't much to start with due to the forced enemy dynamic), and felt self-aware of the romantasy genre trends in a way that really frustrated me.
this was contrasted heavily by the side-pairing, which was an older couple who had largely married for convenience and safety, and were slowly re-discovering each other and falling in love for the first time as they worked through trauma together. this pairing was so compelling and lovely and charming, and it was infuriating to have to go back to the main characters after spending some time with this narrative, which felt like a less-marketable but far stronger dynamic.
the main narrative was fine but sometimes felt a bit flimsy, with the side plot once again outshining whatever the main characters were up to - there was a lot of plot in this that felt a bit like a vehicle for the romantic dynamics or atmosphere, so it didn't quite hold up for me.
it feels like there's a really great book hiding under this one somewhere, but there was too much emphasis on current trends and clichés for it to escape.