Review by sampleddreads - Even Though I Knew the End

sampleddreads 's review for:

3.5

Once upon a time, I had walked into a secret queer bar, and the woman who would be the love of my life asked me to dance. She hadn’t known whether to lead or to follow, but she put her hand on my waist and did her best as she stepped all over my toes. Later that night, as we walked under a diamond-studded sky up the shore of Lake Michigan, she made up for not knowing how to dance by kissing me so sweet, the earth stood still to watch it.

a love letter to chicago, and ~~maybe~~ absolutely, a love letter to sapphic women who feel connected to their heavenly court and want to feel safety in that sacredness. "the revulsion for homosexual love is human prejudice. how you perform intercourse is irrelevant. [she] keeps love in her heart." this novella is about a woman living on borrowed time due to selling her soul a decade ago, and all she wants now is to grow old with the woman she loves. i adore any media that retells biblical stories in interesting ways, but especially media that reimagines angels on earth. good and bad, evil and good—there’s always a balance. while it’s important not to romanticize biblical narratives, this story strikes that balance beautifully. i absolutely adored the grounded romance between elena and edith (who i imagined as roxie hart every time she spoke). this was such a fun reading experience and i am on my knees pleading for the author to continue writing in this world and with these characters.

+ witty writing, elena & edith <3, swoon worthy quotes, chicago setting, first third of the book, angels & demons, romance (!!!)
- "smiling black man" (jarring and out of place), inconsistent pacing, underwhelming mystery elements, middle of the book

Content Warnings