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A review by leolikesbooks
The Drowning Summer by C.L. Herman
TW: biphobia
This was okay, but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be.
Based on the blurb I expected a darker story, and this wasn't nearly as dark as I'd hoped it would be.
For a book about witches, there's also not a lot of witching. I feel like there should've been so much more focus on magical rituals etc.
The characters and their romance were lackluster. I didn't really get any chemistry between the mcs.
Something that stood out to me was the way characters were introduced. The author would usually write something like "Character A entered the room. She was Mexican American." or "Character B's boyfriend is a Japanese American guy". It’s great that there was diversity, but I felt like it was written a little clumsily.
Now another thing that threw me off was the comparison to The Great Gatsby. I did not get any Gatsby vibes. At all. The one similarity I could find was a character being named "Nick", and I was really grasping at straws there.
Now to what I liked: the pet snake.
So overall I'd say this was an okay read, but my expectations going into the book were rather high and it couldn't live up to them.
[I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]
This was okay, but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be.
Based on the blurb I expected a darker story, and this wasn't nearly as dark as I'd hoped it would be.
For a book about witches, there's also not a lot of witching. I feel like there should've been so much more focus on magical rituals etc.
The characters and their romance were lackluster. I didn't really get any chemistry between the mcs.
Something that stood out to me was the way characters were introduced. The author would usually write something like "Character A entered the room. She was Mexican American." or "Character B's boyfriend is a Japanese American guy". It’s great that there was diversity, but I felt like it was written a little clumsily.
Now another thing that threw me off was the comparison to The Great Gatsby. I did not get any Gatsby vibes. At all. The one similarity I could find was a character being named "Nick", and I was really grasping at straws there.
Now to what I liked: the pet snake.
So overall I'd say this was an okay read, but my expectations going into the book were rather high and it couldn't live up to them.
[I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]