A review by kemikemi
Queen Bee by Amalie Howard

emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I LOVED THIS!!!! I LOVED IT SO MUCH, PERHAPS LOVE DOES EXIST!!!!! the whole thing was so fucking swoony oh my godd even with the revenge plot at center stage, i was blushing literally at any point that ela/lyra and keston were in the same scene together. i thoroughly enjoyed the flashing back and forth between past and present so that ela’s tragedy and consequent spiraling into present was slowly revealed to us; getting bits and pieces as we got further in made me more invested and made her as a character as well as her relationships with the other characters so much more interesting! “i have a secret”/deception trope stories usually play the same plot beats, so there was not much new there, but i didnt mind it in this story because i just had so much fun in this world with the characters and the ending resolution was so satisfactory to me. i loved ela and her character growth journey and her relationship with church, i loved rosalin and zia and sally and j and q, i loved keston, and i loved how hateable poppy was.  

i especially loved how the story also took the like ‘bridgerton show approach’ to artistic casting freedom, where majority of the cast was people of color (mostly mixed, bc titling inheritance) and there were a few lgbt characters too and no one rly batted an eye because none of it had anything to do with the actual plot of the story; it was so wonderful and the south asian cultural references made me so happy to see it was all beautiful and i wish there were more regency romances like this!

only reason this book doesnt have 5 stars is because ive never rated anything 5 stars before, but if it stands the test of time in my heart then i will definitely eventually bump it up that final 0.25. cheers!
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