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A review by anitak88
Dark Night Golden Dawn by Allison Carr Waechter
2.0
Something is just rubbing me the wrong way about Harlow's personality but I can't pinpoint exactly what it is. I get that her past boyfriend really did a number on her and he was just a completely abusive manipulative person to her but about 35 to 40% of the way in it just started to get so repetitive the way that it would be brought up and the reasons that she would give for certain things, at some point there needs to be some slow growth or something to kind of break up that repetitiveness cuz it just started to get quite annoying. And I feel like that's a habit of the main female character like talk about definition of sitting in one's trauma and not dealing with it. Because if it's not all the stuff she went through with Mark then it's all the unresolved stuff that she went through with Finn in high school. And at one point I would just had enough.
One thing I do love about this book so far is the representation that it has and not just that it has it but the way that it's written as if it's just a natural part of life as well as how it's completely common for people to be attracted to and have relationships with both sexes as well as to be gender fluid.
One thing that strikes me as odd is the fact that her sisters keeps calling each other pal, for some reason that's just really odd to me. The world building was done quite well in this book but I do feel like it should have come with a little glossary in the beginning because there were certain parts of the book where something happened more in accordance with the rules of the season where I was so confused. It also took me longer than it should have to realize that the term sillies is used I think for her sisters in a group sense and mater used to refer to their mothers as a pair. But again it would have been helpful if this was all laid out beforehand so I wouldn't have had to take so much time to guess and figure it out. And because of that it kind of took me out of the story.
Now for the romance between Finn and Harlow. I thought this was going to be enemies to lovers cuz that's how it was kind of described but it's more a second chance romance which I'm not always fond of. So Finn and Harlow had a romance when they were in high school and loved each other and then Finn did her dirty after they had sex and just completely turned on her. I love the fake dating trope and I like how it was done in this book however I do think it moved super fast and I would have really liked a more slow burn for them to properly sort out their issues before hooking up. And I know that doesn't make a lot of sense since it took about 50% of the book for them to actually hook up but I don't feel like anything was really a slow burn from the time they decided to start fake dating to the time of them hooking up it just didn't flow very well which kind of ruined it for me. Also it seems like just a matter of days it went from her having all these unresolved issues and feelings towards him and hating him and obviously he will still deeply in love with her despite what he did but right before they hook up when he's trying to explain why he did what he did it's also this huge confession that he had this house built for her and how you like always loved her, it was just far too much all at once.
Another issue that I had with the book is that at the very beginning they bring up that something is off with magic in their realm and the author uses that to start the dialogue between Harlow and Finn and then it's like it's completely forgotten because the whole Harlow / finn relationship dynamic takes over and that just becomes the main focus of the whole book but I could think about is what is going on with magic in their world.
I also feel like there should have been some trigger warnings at the start of this book because there's brief mentions of suicidal ideations from the main female character and attempted suicide and I'm fairly certain she has severe depression throughout most of the book and it's just not dealt with very well whatsoever. Like when Harlow finds out that her sister Thea knew the real reason why Finn after the way he did in high school and how depressed she was after for years and her attempted suicide she kind of blames her sister for her own actions and feelings because her sister wouldn't tell her finns secret. It just really disappointed me it had the potential to be so much more and it wasn't. And my anger surrounding how this was so mishandled took it from three stars to two. Because yes she has a great support system but in no way was she encouraged to get therapy and get further help despite only one of her sisters knowing the full extent of her destructive habits at the lowest point.
I do feel like some work could have been put into the character building and not just the main female and male characters but I think all of the characters I just feel like there was something lacking, something to really keep me invested in their individual story and root for their growth throughout the story. Not to say that I didn't like any of the characters it's just that I didn't really feel connected to any of them. Overall I thought the plot was very interesting and the world that the author created was amazing I just think that there were some flaws in the execution and by about 60 to 65% into the book I was really struggling to continue going. So I will not be continuing on with the series because of that.
One thing I do love about this book so far is the representation that it has and not just that it has it but the way that it's written as if it's just a natural part of life as well as how it's completely common for people to be attracted to and have relationships with both sexes as well as to be gender fluid.
One thing that strikes me as odd is the fact that her sisters keeps calling each other pal, for some reason that's just really odd to me. The world building was done quite well in this book but I do feel like it should have come with a little glossary in the beginning because there were certain parts of the book where something happened more in accordance with the rules of the season where I was so confused. It also took me longer than it should have to realize that the term sillies is used I think for her sisters in a group sense and mater used to refer to their mothers as a pair. But again it would have been helpful if this was all laid out beforehand so I wouldn't have had to take so much time to guess and figure it out. And because of that it kind of took me out of the story.
Now for the romance between Finn and Harlow. I thought this was going to be enemies to lovers cuz that's how it was kind of described but it's more a second chance romance which I'm not always fond of. So Finn and Harlow had a romance when they were in high school and loved each other and then Finn did her dirty after they had sex and just completely turned on her. I love the fake dating trope and I like how it was done in this book however I do think it moved super fast and I would have really liked a more slow burn for them to properly sort out their issues before hooking up. And I know that doesn't make a lot of sense since it took about 50% of the book for them to actually hook up but I don't feel like anything was really a slow burn from the time they decided to start fake dating to the time of them hooking up it just didn't flow very well which kind of ruined it for me. Also it seems like just a matter of days it went from her having all these unresolved issues and feelings towards him and hating him and obviously he will still deeply in love with her despite what he did but right before they hook up when he's trying to explain why he did what he did it's also this huge confession that he had this house built for her and how you like always loved her, it was just far too much all at once.
Another issue that I had with the book is that at the very beginning they bring up that something is off with magic in their realm and the author uses that to start the dialogue between Harlow and Finn and then it's like it's completely forgotten because the whole Harlow / finn relationship dynamic takes over and that just becomes the main focus of the whole book but I could think about is what is going on with magic in their world.
I also feel like there should have been some trigger warnings at the start of this book because there's brief mentions of suicidal ideations from the main female character and attempted suicide and I'm fairly certain she has severe depression throughout most of the book and it's just not dealt with very well whatsoever. Like when Harlow finds out that her sister Thea knew the real reason why Finn after the way he did in high school and how depressed she was after for years and her attempted suicide she kind of blames her sister for her own actions and feelings because her sister wouldn't tell her finns secret. It just really disappointed me it had the potential to be so much more and it wasn't. And my anger surrounding how this was so mishandled took it from three stars to two. Because yes she has a great support system but in no way was she encouraged to get therapy and get further help despite only one of her sisters knowing the full extent of her destructive habits at the lowest point.
I do feel like some work could have been put into the character building and not just the main female and male characters but I think all of the characters I just feel like there was something lacking, something to really keep me invested in their individual story and root for their growth throughout the story. Not to say that I didn't like any of the characters it's just that I didn't really feel connected to any of them. Overall I thought the plot was very interesting and the world that the author created was amazing I just think that there were some flaws in the execution and by about 60 to 65% into the book I was really struggling to continue going. So I will not be continuing on with the series because of that.