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carleneslibrary 's review for:
Cities of Smoke and Starlight
by Alli Earnest
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My feelings about this book are complicated.
The plot and world building were well done. Actually the intrigue of what would happen on this mission was the only thing that kept me reading through the whole book.
My biggest problem with the book was actually a small problem. I think the author desperately wanted this to be an enemies to lovers, so she made the two leads dislike each other/argue constantly for no good reason. That put me off, and made me really dislike Hallie. She exploded at Kase for no reason and held a grudge for so long, I just disliked her. I didn't mind Kase but as time went on, I disliked him too. I wanted to know what would happen but I did not want to read about Hallie and Kase and I did not want them to end up together.
I don't think their arcs or characters were poorly written, but I think because I felt the author was trying to force an enemies to lovers in a plot that wasn't built for it, I got pushed out of the story and saw issues that I probably wouldn't have if she'd just let them form a normal relationship with each other. I don't think 90% of it was bad writing, just that I'd been put off at the start.
The plot and world building were well done. Actually the intrigue of what would happen on this mission was the only thing that kept me reading through the whole book.
My biggest problem with the book was actually a small problem. I think the author desperately wanted this to be an enemies to lovers, so she made the two leads dislike each other/argue constantly for no good reason. That put me off, and made me really dislike Hallie. She exploded at Kase for no reason and held a grudge for so long, I just disliked her. I didn't mind Kase but as time went on, I disliked him too. I wanted to know what would happen but I did not want to read about Hallie and Kase and I did not want them to end up together.
I don't think their arcs or characters were poorly written, but I think because I felt the author was trying to force an enemies to lovers in a plot that wasn't built for it, I got pushed out of the story and saw issues that I probably wouldn't have if she'd just let them form a normal relationship with each other. I don't think 90% of it was bad writing, just that I'd been put off at the start.