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A review by writingjules
Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg
4.0
The only reason this book took me two days to read is because I was exhausted the first night and fell asleep with my face plastered onto my kindle because I refused to actually choose to put the book down...
Let me say that I am a big Charlie Holmberg fan. I loved all four of her other books and went into this with high expectations. And while I met a story I was totally NOT expecting, it did live up to my desires for another great Holmberg read.
The thing about this book is that Holmberg has such unique story ideas that she always keeps me guessing. This book appeared to be about a baker with magical abilities and some fairytale interweaving but ended up being so much more. The mystery of who she was and how she got to this place was subtle and layered enough that it kept me intrigued through the entire book. I had read that there was a plot twist/reveal and what my brain went on to imagine it would be is NOT what I ended up with, which I loved.
I expected the romance to develop in a particular way and it didn't. It was fresh and new and delightful. The ending was completely satisfying and (gosh- I don't want to say bittersweet because that's just too 'on the nose'...) let's just say it was everything I wanted it to be: tender, satisfying, complex, and giving a sense of 'more' to the story.
I loved the metaphors and descriptions in the writing. I do want to go back and reread this sometime, though, because I feel like there were a few characters that I just didn't connect to as strongly as I wanted or didn't slow down enough to get into their motivations. I don't know if that was the writing or my fast pace reading this. Either way, I won't mind spending more time with such a delightful book.
I am pretty sparse with my 5-star ratings these days so let me just say that a 4-star rating in my books is a pretty high recommendation. ;)
Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet is a book that met all my expectations in unexpected ways.
*I was given a NetGalley copy in exchange for an honest review.
Let me say that I am a big Charlie Holmberg fan. I loved all four of her other books and went into this with high expectations. And while I met a story I was totally NOT expecting, it did live up to my desires for another great Holmberg read.
The thing about this book is that Holmberg has such unique story ideas that she always keeps me guessing. This book appeared to be about a baker with magical abilities and some fairytale interweaving but ended up being so much more. The mystery of who she was and how she got to this place was subtle and layered enough that it kept me intrigued through the entire book. I had read that there was a plot twist/reveal and what my brain went on to imagine it would be is NOT what I ended up with, which I loved.
I expected the romance to develop in a particular way and it didn't. It was fresh and new and delightful. The ending was completely satisfying and (gosh- I don't want to say bittersweet because that's just too 'on the nose'...) let's just say it was everything I wanted it to be: tender, satisfying, complex, and giving a sense of 'more' to the story.
I loved the metaphors and descriptions in the writing. I do want to go back and reread this sometime, though, because I feel like there were a few characters that I just didn't connect to as strongly as I wanted or didn't slow down enough to get into their motivations. I don't know if that was the writing or my fast pace reading this. Either way, I won't mind spending more time with such a delightful book.
I am pretty sparse with my 5-star ratings these days so let me just say that a 4-star rating in my books is a pretty high recommendation. ;)
Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet is a book that met all my expectations in unexpected ways.
*I was given a NetGalley copy in exchange for an honest review.