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A review by banrions
A Whisper of Solace by Milena McKay
3.0
I… have very mixed feelings on this book.
I might change my mind and round it up to a four (particular possible if it’s an audiobook that’s stellar) but I think where I’m at is somewhere in the 3.5/3.75 range. Which is a bummer, because everyone else is raving about this!
I think I might have mixed feelings about this author so far. The Headmistress was my first introduction to her works and ADORED it, and that adoration only was further solidified after recently listening to the audiobook. I read The Delicate Things We Make after reading that one, and… had pretty mixed/average feelings that unfortunately did not improve after listening to the audiobook. I thought the fantasy/valentines novella was super cute and fun! So… I’m kind of 50/50 on loving her works or being kinda average/enjoying, but not loving them.
I’m particularly bummed about not adoring this one, because SO MANY ELEMENTS are almost written just for me. I love me an ice queen, I love me some angst, I love the old Hollywood/cinema artsy vibe, I love complicated moms, etc etc.
I think the crux or where this one didn’t quite work for me was the romance. I loved Neve and all the character study stuff with her--it almost would have been a solid four stars just for all of that. Her arc of coming into her own, dealing with her childhood trauma, and all of the therapy and work on herself was really, really good. (Though I will say, the some of the meta references to ice queens and literary tropes only slightly worked for me, and occasionally made me do a [very slight] eye roll).
But when it came to the romance, I never quite got on board. I really liked the idea of this book! Starting off with breaking off the affair, and then a slow burn arc come together is a really refreshing and wonderful take on the (sometimes very formulaic, despite loving it anyway) romance tropes. But I think where it didn’t work (for me, I’m clearly in the minority here) was the Audrey elephant in the room. I never felt like I knew her very well, or their relationship beyond them being totally in lust and wanting to rip each other’s clothes off. Neve and Audrey both state more than once that they never talked during their four month long affair, yet Audrey was apparently In Love and thought that Neve would leave her husband, cause a scandal, possibly lose her job, her child, etc? It DID strike me as very naive, but, I will admit, that despite reading a shit ton of romance, I’m deeply cynical and only barely believe in love at all. So, there’s that, lol.
I think because they spent so little time actually together on page, and every time we did see them together, it was really just about their sexual chemistry, that I never quite felt that they were in love? . Lust, they certainly had in spades, and their dynamic was enjoyable in that respect, but I, personally, was left a little wanting.
I might change my mind and round it up to a four (particular possible if it’s an audiobook that’s stellar) but I think where I’m at is somewhere in the 3.5/3.75 range. Which is a bummer, because everyone else is raving about this!
I think I might have mixed feelings about this author so far. The Headmistress was my first introduction to her works and ADORED it, and that adoration only was further solidified after recently listening to the audiobook. I read The Delicate Things We Make after reading that one, and… had pretty mixed/average feelings that unfortunately did not improve after listening to the audiobook. I thought the fantasy/valentines novella was super cute and fun! So… I’m kind of 50/50 on loving her works or being kinda average/enjoying, but not loving them.
I’m particularly bummed about not adoring this one, because SO MANY ELEMENTS are almost written just for me. I love me an ice queen, I love me some angst, I love the old Hollywood/cinema artsy vibe, I love complicated moms, etc etc.
I think the crux or where this one didn’t quite work for me was the romance. I loved Neve and all the character study stuff with her--it almost would have been a solid four stars just for all of that. Her arc of coming into her own, dealing with her childhood trauma, and all of the therapy and work on herself was really, really good. (Though I will say, the some of the meta references to ice queens and literary tropes only slightly worked for me, and occasionally made me do a [very slight] eye roll).
But when it came to the romance, I never quite got on board. I really liked the idea of this book! Starting off with breaking off the affair, and then a slow burn arc come together is a really refreshing and wonderful take on the (sometimes very formulaic, despite loving it anyway) romance tropes. But I think where it didn’t work (for me, I’m clearly in the minority here) was the Audrey elephant in the room. I never felt like I knew her very well, or their relationship beyond them being totally in lust and wanting to rip each other’s clothes off. Neve and Audrey both state more than once that they never talked during their four month long affair, yet Audrey was apparently In Love and thought that Neve would leave her husband, cause a scandal, possibly lose her job, her child, etc? It DID strike me as very naive, but, I will admit, that despite reading a shit ton of romance, I’m deeply cynical and only barely believe in love at all. So, there’s that, lol.
I think because they spent so little time actually together on page, and every time we did see them together, it was really just about their sexual chemistry, that I never quite felt that they were in love? . Lust, they certainly had in spades, and their dynamic was enjoyable in that respect, but I, personally, was left a little wanting.