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A review by nose_in_a_book
Halfling by S.E. Wendel
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
🌶️🌶️🌶️
This book is delicious, cozy fluff in a hulking green package. Though perhaps longer than it needed to be, I found myself dragging out the last two chapters because I wasn’t quite ready to put it down. The love and devotion between these two is almost a physically tangible thing in the room. It’s highly romantic without being overly flowery and it’s built on a strong foundation of trust and commitment. It takes a while for them to get together but it’s as inevitable as the sun rising tomorrow.
I will say that if you need plot to enjoy a book, this one may not be your cup of tea. There were multiple moments where I thought the book was wrapping up only to find there was 40, 30 percent left. While there are some more serious themes like SA, CA, or stalking, these conflicts take up at most 20% of the book, leaving the rest to be about the relationship between the two main characters.
The conflict between the two of them played out nicely, in my opinion. I am firmly on the record as anti-miscommunication but this may be the exception to the rule. I think the repeated use of it actually worked to show the character growth in both of our leads. They learned from their mistakes without suddenly healing bad habits. Enough progress was evident in each new instance to make it less frustrating and more understandable. We weren’t necessarily seeing the same mistakes so much as the same internal dialogs that weren’t necessarily serving anyone as useful.
I just had fun reading this. It made me want to pick up the other books in the series.
This book is delicious, cozy fluff in a hulking green package. Though perhaps longer than it needed to be, I found myself dragging out the last two chapters because I wasn’t quite ready to put it down. The love and devotion between these two is almost a physically tangible thing in the room. It’s highly romantic without being overly flowery and it’s built on a strong foundation of trust and commitment. It takes a while for them to get together but it’s as inevitable as the sun rising tomorrow.
I will say that if you need plot to enjoy a book, this one may not be your cup of tea. There were multiple moments where I thought the book was wrapping up only to find there was 40, 30 percent left. While there are some more serious themes like SA, CA, or stalking, these conflicts take up at most 20% of the book, leaving the rest to be about the relationship between the two main characters.
The conflict between the two of them played out nicely, in my opinion. I am firmly on the record as anti-miscommunication but this may be the exception to the rule. I think the repeated use of it actually worked to show the character growth in both of our leads. They learned from their mistakes without suddenly healing bad habits. Enough progress was evident in each new instance to make it less frustrating and more understandable. We weren’t necessarily seeing the same mistakes so much as the same internal dialogs that weren’t necessarily serving anyone as useful.
I just had fun reading this. It made me want to pick up the other books in the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, and Abandonment
Minor: Sexual assault
The racial slurs were against a half orc. While not necessarily filled with direct real world comparisons, the themes could be similar in portrayal if put in a fantasy setting.