kavuyi 's review for:

Of Blood and Aether by Harper Hawthorne

DID NOT FINISH

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Tropes:

Morally grey, shadore daddy mmc

Dual-pov fantasy romance

Slow-burn with scorching spice

Elemental magick

Addictive banter

Dark prophecy, dangerous secrets

Tension, angst

Yearning.

Charming, clever fmc

Arcane university

The FMC is Smart and finds herself in the city of the gods to attend university and learn more about who she is and what she is. She has her secrets and is afraid to tell anyone about what she thinks she is. The MMC is a captain under the elder guard, a shadow conduit who has his own dark secrets. There are kidnapping going on in Atlas, but the MMC is trying to figure out and at the same time balance his friendship with the FMC. 

In all this, the two MCS feel a pull between them. They are connected in ways that they both don’t understand.

I reached the 46% marker and quit. When I went into this book, the blurb got my attention. I was expecting the FMC and the MMC to be grown-up and not be young adult and maybe that was my mistake. The MCs are quite fairly young. I got lost at some point in terms of how the magic system worked, elders, resonance etc. I had no issue with tension between the two MC’s but there was a lot of repetition. I didn’t mind that the MC‘s were bisexual, but it felt forced on my part. I wanted to love them both, but it just wasn’t for me. 

I won’t lie. The book has put me in a minor reading slump. I’m actually disappointed.