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A review by jce
Glitterland by Alexis Hall
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was my second time reading this book (minus the extras that are new to this updated version) and my first time reading it in audio. I'd loved the book back when I read it a few years ago, and I ended up loving the audio version even more.
Nicholas Boulton is my all time favorite narrator, so no surprise that he knocked it out of the park with this one, but the audio is truly fantastic. One of the MCs in this book is impossible not to love (and I managed to love him even more in audio), but the other MC as well as some other characters definitely have their sharp edges. I think the audiobook narration brought some extra depth to those characters in particular. These characters are flawed and they are hurting and hurtFUL and as a reader I was angry and frustrated with them and at a few points just speechless with fury over their words and choices, but I think I felt for them more during this read than during my previous one.
I find it pretty hard to describe this book actually. It's definitely a romance. It has wonderful, funny, silly and happy moments. It absolutely made me laugh out loud. But "angst" isn't even close to how I'd describe the emotional turmoil of some parts of the book. There are points when this book hurts. Not in a bad way, but it isn't a light read or a low stress read or an easy read. Much of the romance that I read and love does a lot of emotional heavy lifting but this book is HEAVY at times. It was interesting to me how differently some aspects of the book hit this time around for me. I'm in a very different place emotionally and mental health wise than I was the first time I read it. And that made it both harder to read some parts and also made them more meaningful and relatable.
It's also hard to put into words how much I love this book. It's potently powerful and lovely, all the more so because some points of the story are so unflinchingly hard to witness. The low point in the book is probably the most painful "third act breakup" portion of a romance I've ever read. But it's also so fitting, there's not even a molecule of the story that in any way feels forced. These are characters we are meant to struggle with.
I don't think it's a spoiler to say the story ends hopefully, because it's a romance so umm it has to. But again, there's nothing faked or forced about the ending. Nothing meant to give the impression that life is all roses and rainbows for these characters from now on. Nor is it for any of us. I'm guessing there are readers who feel that one of these MCs does not deserve the other, and that's kind of what I love about this book? Because yeah, we're all flawed and we're all trying and we don't always get what we "deserve". But trying matters. Having the courage to be vulnerable with someone matters. Otherwise, what are we here for?
Oh god now I've blabbed so long about the book and haven't even gotten to the bonus stuff. The recipe, like all of the Spires recipes, is an absolute joy. I love nothing more than recipes written in characters' voices. Aftermath, an epilogue to the story, was included with the original and is beautiful and funny and, ya know, HOT. I did find the new included story about another of the characters very moving but also a hard way to end the book? Because ending a romance read on a rough note is generally not how I want things to go. But I guess I'm thinking of it more as sort of a peek at that character's upcoming book, which I think releases later this year. So getting some further insight into a character that I know is eventually getting his own book and presumably a happy ending makes it less bleak. But still, maybe I would have put the recipe last to end on a happy note.
Anyway, read the CWs and then if it sounds like this book might be for you, I highly recommend giving it a go. It's unlike any other romance I've read. And I absolutely recommend the audio, which is sheer perfection.
*Audio ARC provided by NetGalley
Nicholas Boulton is my all time favorite narrator, so no surprise that he knocked it out of the park with this one, but the audio is truly fantastic. One of the MCs in this book is impossible not to love (and I managed to love him even more in audio), but the other MC as well as some other characters definitely have their sharp edges. I think the audiobook narration brought some extra depth to those characters in particular. These characters are flawed and they are hurting and hurtFUL and as a reader I was angry and frustrated with them and at a few points just speechless with fury over their words and choices, but I think I felt for them more during this read than during my previous one.
I find it pretty hard to describe this book actually. It's definitely a romance. It has wonderful, funny, silly and happy moments. It absolutely made me laugh out loud. But "angst" isn't even close to how I'd describe the emotional turmoil of some parts of the book. There are points when this book hurts. Not in a bad way, but it isn't a light read or a low stress read or an easy read. Much of the romance that I read and love does a lot of emotional heavy lifting but this book is HEAVY at times. It was interesting to me how differently some aspects of the book hit this time around for me. I'm in a very different place emotionally and mental health wise than I was the first time I read it. And that made it both harder to read some parts and also made them more meaningful and relatable.
It's also hard to put into words how much I love this book. It's potently powerful and lovely, all the more so because some points of the story are so unflinchingly hard to witness. The low point in the book is probably the most painful "third act breakup" portion of a romance I've ever read. But it's also so fitting, there's not even a molecule of the story that in any way feels forced. These are characters we are meant to struggle with.
I don't think it's a spoiler to say the story ends hopefully, because it's a romance so umm it has to. But again, there's nothing faked or forced about the ending. Nothing meant to give the impression that life is all roses and rainbows for these characters from now on. Nor is it for any of us. I'm guessing there are readers who feel that one of these MCs does not deserve the other, and that's kind of what I love about this book? Because yeah, we're all flawed and we're all trying and we don't always get what we "deserve". But trying matters. Having the courage to be vulnerable with someone matters. Otherwise, what are we here for?
Oh god now I've blabbed so long about the book and haven't even gotten to the bonus stuff. The recipe, like all of the Spires recipes, is an absolute joy. I love nothing more than recipes written in characters' voices. Aftermath, an epilogue to the story, was included with the original and is beautiful and funny and, ya know, HOT. I did find the new included story about another of the characters very moving but also a hard way to end the book? Because ending a romance read on a rough note is generally not how I want things to go. But I guess I'm thinking of it more as sort of a peek at that character's upcoming book, which I think releases later this year. So getting some further insight into a character that I know is eventually getting his own book and presumably a happy ending makes it less bleak. But still, maybe I would have put the recipe last to end on a happy note.
Anyway, read the CWs and then if it sounds like this book might be for you, I highly recommend giving it a go. It's unlike any other romance I've read. And I absolutely recommend the audio, which is sheer perfection.
*Audio ARC provided by NetGalley