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boilingintrigue's reviews
61 reviews
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Raewyn and Prince Stellon are both sweet, genuine, and attractive, so of course they develop feelings for each other.
Stellon is adorable but naive for a crown prince. He quickly reaches a point where he would give up everything to be with Raewyn, with no thought for how that would work long-term.
Raewyn has a hard life with nothing but bad options, and she understands too well that her decisions have consequences for everyone she loves.
The author puts her into a difficult situation that gets more and more complicated, and I was curious to see how she would get herself out of it. She really...doesn't? Through no doing of her own, things just happen in such a way that she and her entire family aren't dead by the end of the book.
The book ends in a cliffhanger, and I can't tell where the author will go with the next book except that it feels like Raewyn's mother will be significant and Stellon's younger brother will get to know Raewyn better. Who knows where that will go?
Moderate: Xenophobia, Classism
Minor: Slavery, Death of parent, War
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a very Hallmark movie kind of book. You have hot-button issues like: autism, teen sexual exploitation, and ubiquitous cellphones and internet usage framing a modern family drama complete with the usual marriage struggles and intergenerational trauma. It all turns out okay in the end, with everyone having learned valuable lessons. Not a bad book, but it doesn't have anything new to say.
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment
Minor: Animal death
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The book is sometimes funny, sometimes creepy, and always insightful. All three characters are believable and well-defined, but I felt like Calla was especially real and had a lot to say for herself. It can be a hard story to read, but the ending was satisfying, with the sense that an infected wound has been cleaned and can now begin to heal.
I look forward to seeing more from this author.
Graphic: Child death, Car accident
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The writing is full of details that paint a lively picture of the world. There are so many descriptions of beautiful clothing, ornate architecture, and delicious food, I could feel the author's love for the world she's writing about.
That said, I wasn't clear on where and when the story was happening. The main character, Suraya, works as a blacksmith and helps her family run their inn in a small town that seems right out of historical fiction. But, the way characters speak and act is modern, especially when Suraya is with her best friend, Laleh. A conversation that references real-world literature hints that these events might take place in our world, in the future, but this possibility isn't expanded upon or mentioned again.
Suraya is summoned to the capital to participate in a cruel and deadly bride competion for the corrupt Prince Javed. The prince is looking for a specific person who bears the lost magic spoken of in prophecy, and guess who that is? His half-brother helps her escape an unwanted marriage, and the two develop feelings for each other while trying to avoid capture. I won't go into too much detail, but if you've read any YA novels, you'll see every major plot point coming from a mile away. The beauty the novel shows in its characterizations and detailed settings is let down by the lack of originality in plotting.
Suraya initially comes across as an intelligent, spirited woman, but as the plot rolls on, she misses so many obvious things, despite being beaten over the head with them (like the connection between the rebels and Roshan) that she starts to seem stupidly oblivious.
In the final chapters, she makes every bad decision known to YA protagonists, agreeing to marry the bad guy to save her loved ones while knowing he'll probably kill them anyway, believing the people trying to kill her are dead, but not bothering to check, and running away from the man who was by her side, fighting for her the entire book because she's angry over something unimportant. I was groaning.
I did enjoy the book overall, and I look forward to the sequel, but I hope the author is more thoughtful about developing the plot. If the events of the next book are developed with the same care and inventiveness as the worldbuilding, it could really be amazing.
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Blood, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Torture, Vomit, Death of parent
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Two of the guests are found dead under suspicious circumstances, and the main character and friends, plus people who knew the victims, start trying to figure out how they died. Their theorizing and investigation doesn't turn up much that's useful, but at the end of the book, the mc realizes that she knows who the killer is. She doesn't piece clues together or make logical deductions, rather she makes assumptions and jumps to conclusions, and turns out to be right. It's not a book that you can read and figure out on your own what happened. You don't know anything for much of the book, then you're told what happened at the end. If you like murder mysteries, it may not be what you're looking for. If you're more drawn to the story of a middle aged woman coping with the end of her marriage with the help of new and old friends, you're more likely to enjoy this.
Graphic: Child death, Car accident
Moderate: Death, Violence, Murder
Minor: Pregnancy
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexism, Abandonment, Classism
Minor: Sexual violence, Violence
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Torture, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit, Death of parent, Sexual harassment