A review by cameronreads
Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley

adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn't. In fact I was very close to dnf-ing it at one point after the first hundred pages put me in a month long reading slump, but I expected it to get better so I kept going. It didn't. I think it had a lot of potential, but the majority of the book was excessive (and somewhat repetitive) inner monologuing rather than plot, and that is my absolute pet peeve. It meant the the plot seemed to move so slowly, whilst the climax was completely rushed. Also, it may have just been because I was rushing to finish and missed something, but the climax seemed very anti-climatic. I wasn't the biggest fan of the characters, either; the main two girls were defined by one or two personality traits, and all of the background characters were literally just there to serve a purpose of the story and seemed completely one-dimensional. I did think the romance was sweet and was probably my favourite part, but I am really not a fan of the whole 'love saves the day and breaks the curses' trope. I was also expecting that to happen (whilst hoping it wouldn't) so that made me roll my eyes a little. The world-building and magic system was fairly lack-lustre, but the writing style was fine and concept was pretty good. It had potential, but just didn't quite hit the mark for me. 
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