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A review by kaequinn
The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Just no. This is cringe 90’s romance and not in the fun way.
The main character is constantly being told that’s she’s catty or bitter when she starts out as literally the nicest person ever. But because she likes to do things for others because it makes her feel good, she’s actually super selfish and fake, I guess? She’s also continuously invalidated when she’s not instantly forgiving those who deeply wounded her. Her boundaries are constantly pushed by the MMC out of “romance”. She asks him to give her time, he shows up at the cafe the next day. He then sits next to her at church as openly admits to using her as a “buffer” so he doesn’t have to talk to people one on one after the service. He goes to dinner over at their house. at one point he literally forces her into a lake after her begging him to stop and then while she’s close to having a panic attack throws her in because not listening is hot? Only to have her afterwards conceded that despite the panic attack it was actually fun because he knows what she needs more than she does so it’s ok for him to ignore her direct refusals.
Oh and the real kicker? He’s engaged! Yep he spends half the book openly pining after her - would have kissed her had she let him- but he also has a pregnant fiancée back in the city. Oh but don’t worry, she’s not pregnant. She lied out of a desperate attempt to save their relationship because we can’t have her just be a decent person otherwise we might feel bad when Jake dumps her for Sadie.
It then gets even better when Sadie comes to the conclusion that to save her brother, Seth, she has to sacrifice her magic, playing into that tired trope that if a woman just loves hard enough she can fix a man’s depression. And I’m using this critique because the author compared Seth’s magic to depression and mental illness. And it’s a trope I’m tired of.
But the even better trope is how a woman should be ok giving up everything for her family. It’s not surprising as entire book was setting up for it. There isn’t a single person in Sadie’s life that knows about her magic that actually praises her for all she accomplishes with it. Like she is one crazy powerful witch and instead of being like “Holy shit you’re incredible! Look at all this cool stuff you can do” And just letting her live her life, they are constantly being like “Yeah but is you’re magic really <I>that</I> cool? I know you’re living your best cottage core life but have you considered giving all of that up to get married?
Moral of the book, a woman’s skill and talent are separate from who she is and if she leans into them she won’t know who she really is and be miserable. Oh and also, if she gives up everything she thought she was (but really wasn’t because it made her independent) than no one will ever leave and she’ll be able to be happy…not that fake happy of a successful business owner and badass witch, but the <i>real happy</i> that a woman can only find when she’s a wife.
The main character is constantly being told that’s she’s catty or bitter when she starts out as literally the nicest person ever. But because she likes to do things for others because it makes her feel good, she’s actually super selfish and fake, I guess? She’s also continuously invalidated when she’s not instantly forgiving those who deeply wounded her. Her boundaries are constantly pushed by the MMC out of “romance”. She asks him to give her time, he shows up at the cafe the next day. He then sits next to her at church as openly admits to using her as a “buffer” so he doesn’t have to talk to people one on one after the service. He goes to dinner over at their house.
Oh and the real kicker?
It then gets even better when Sadie comes to the conclusion that to save her brother, Seth, she has to sacrifice her magic, playing into that tired trope that if a woman just loves hard enough she can fix a man’s depression. And I’m using this critique because the author compared Seth’s magic to depression and mental illness. And it’s a trope I’m tired of.
But the even better trope is how a woman should be ok giving up everything for her family. It’s not surprising as entire book was setting up for it. There isn’t a single person in Sadie’s life that knows about her magic that actually praises her for all she accomplishes with it. Like she is one crazy powerful witch and instead of being like “Holy shit you’re incredible! Look at all this cool stuff you can do” And just letting her live her life, they are constantly being like “Yeah but is you’re magic really <I>that</I> cool? I know you’re living your best cottage core life but have you considered giving all of that up to get married?
Moral of the book, a woman’s skill and talent are separate from who she is and if she leans into them she won’t know who she really is and be miserable. Oh and also, if she gives up everything she thought she was (but really wasn’t because it made her independent) than no one will ever leave and she’ll be able to be happy…not that fake happy of a successful business owner and badass witch, but the <i>real happy</i> that a woman can only find when she’s a wife.