lisaliest 's review for:

The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean

DID NOT FINISH: 20%

---

I was promised a cozy romance with magical creatures. What did I get?

The most unlikeable female lead ever—behaving like a 13-year-old mean girl with anxiety and narcissistic tendencies. Cozy? Absolutely not.

I think the author tried to create an Emily Wilde type of character, but it didn’t work. Emily may be prickly, but she has charm, self-awareness, and growth. Ailey, on the other hand, just mopes. She treats her friends and colleagues terribly, and the book expects us to root for her anyway. Painful.

This ties into a broader frustration I have with books written for female readers: the same two archetypes keep popping up. Either we get the angry, snarky heroine who burns the world down, or the bumbling, socially inept duckling who stumbles her way through interactions. I’m very tired of both. Where are the socially adept, empathetic, and cunning women—the ones who actually reflect reality?

The writing wasn’t strong enough to redeem Ailey’s behavior, and eventually I had to stop reading. Very disappointing, especially since I went in with such high hopes.