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I did not care for this book when I read it (many moons ago). First off the fish out of water white girl in ~The East~ is both overdone and badly handled, so admittedly this is a book I wouldn't have picked up on my own. Got it as a gift, and it *did* prove hilariously bad in a "written specifically for young weebs to romanticize about before they learn better ways of interacting with the world", so that's something!
The "mixed signals" love interest trope was worn out about two interactions in, and the author never sold me on his "mystery" or their couple's chemistry.
Like, maybe its my natural lack of desire-to-physically-pursue-a-dude, but if I am going to follow a guy, a schoolmate/stranger, around a city to “see what he’s up to” I’m going to need more motivation than "he looked and me funny and grinned", but that's what our MC rolls with. Also hated having to read/suffer through the MC being like “flirting? Whaaa. Surely not. No, no! He is so teasing/sweet/grinning/banter-y! Stars above I wonder why! It’s really getting under my skin yet making me blush and taunt back!!!!” He's flirting. Y'all are flirting. Please get a clue, I beg.
Even if I had ever enjoyed the MC or the setup, tone and the pacing made this book really hard to get into-- even as a big fan of magic/mystery/urban fantasy.
The actions, the motivations, the dialogue-- there was no true flow, and it gave the impression that the author knew she wanted an emotional breakdown RIGHT HERE, and ok sure we hadn’t built up to that just yet and the guy’s mood is flimsy at best but that's too darn bad he he’s going to freak out right here right now because MOMENT.
The entire book is like that: flirt-blush-mad-DARK WOOBIE BACKSTORY-flirt-blush-emotional breakdown-BUT ITS OK I JOKED AND WE’RE FLIRTING AGAIN.
1.5/5 -- keep the sequels far away from me.
The "mixed signals" love interest trope was worn out about two interactions in, and the author never sold me on his "mystery" or their couple's chemistry.
Like, maybe its my natural lack of desire-to-physically-pursue-a-dude, but if I am going to follow a guy, a schoolmate/stranger, around a city to “see what he’s up to” I’m going to need more motivation than "he looked and me funny and grinned", but that's what our MC rolls with. Also hated having to read/suffer through the MC being like “flirting? Whaaa. Surely not. No, no! He is so teasing/sweet/grinning/banter-y! Stars above I wonder why! It’s really getting under my skin yet making me blush and taunt back!!!!” He's flirting. Y'all are flirting. Please get a clue, I beg.
Even if I had ever enjoyed the MC or the setup, tone and the pacing made this book really hard to get into-- even as a big fan of magic/mystery/urban fantasy.
The actions, the motivations, the dialogue-- there was no true flow, and it gave the impression that the author knew she wanted an emotional breakdown RIGHT HERE, and ok sure we hadn’t built up to that just yet and the guy’s mood is flimsy at best but that's too darn bad he he’s going to freak out right here right now because MOMENT.
The entire book is like that: flirt-blush-mad-DARK WOOBIE BACKSTORY-flirt-blush-emotional breakdown-BUT ITS OK I JOKED AND WE’RE FLIRTING AGAIN.
1.5/5 -- keep the sequels far away from me.