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A review by guiltlesspleasures
Her Every Wish by Courtney Milan
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
While Daisy’s friend Judith married a marquess and moved to the right side of town, Daisy stayed where she is, working at a florist and dreaming of opening her own emporium. She enters a competition to win £50 for a startup fund and enlists her old flame, Crash, to help hone her presentation.
Two big things to note: One, I often have said that novellas are hard. You have to strike the right balance between not enough story and too much. And Milan nailed it. This was a complex story of patriarchy, lost love, a woman’s worth that feels like a novel but was a third the length.
Second, there is a miscommunication at the heart of Daisy and Crash’s breakup, which is a trope I usually loathe, but Milan pulls it off nicely. It is LITERAL miscommunication, rather than some shoehorned faux conflict or stumbling block the author inserts.
I just think Milan is so good at overlaying what could feel like modern concepts onto the 19th century and making them seem like absolutely reasonable character motivations.Like when Daisy loses the contest to (of course) a man. She did five times the work of any of the others and still got blackballed. The forking patriarchy, man.
Two big things to note: One, I often have said that novellas are hard. You have to strike the right balance between not enough story and too much. And Milan nailed it. This was a complex story of patriarchy, lost love, a woman’s worth that feels like a novel but was a third the length.
Second, there is a miscommunication at the heart of Daisy and Crash’s breakup, which is a trope I usually loathe, but Milan pulls it off nicely. It is LITERAL miscommunication, rather than some shoehorned faux conflict or stumbling block the author inserts.
I just think Milan is so good at overlaying what could feel like modern concepts onto the 19th century and making them seem like absolutely reasonable character motivations.