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emilyrainsford's reviews
367 reviews
The North Wind by Alexandria Warwick
3.5
Given I've DNF'd two popular and anticipated new releases recently, I did not have high expectations for this one. I think that worked in its favour tbh. I ended up enjoying it more than I expected to, which doesn't necessarily mean it's "good", but it's definitely readable, and better than "bad".
Feyre- I mean Wren opens the book hunting to support her vapid and too-pure-for-this-world-but-also-quietly-kind-of-a-bitch sister Elain- ah, I mean Elora. Then the big bad North Wind god-dude comes to take precious Elora away and Katniss-Feyre-Wren sneakily volunteers as tribute.
Now I know that them being twins facilitates the swap situation, but it makes no sense that they're the same age. Why does Wren act like Elora is a baby when they're literally twins? At one point she even described disguising a spicy book on the bookshelf so that Elora doesn't pick it up - girl, what, she's literally the same age as you?? There is a feeble attempt to explain it away as "our parents created these roles for us as protector and protected" but it's hard to buy that because again, they're twins and that makes no sense. I think Elora should have been a younger sister and they just bore a strong family resemblance and the whole thing would have been less weird.
Most of the book takes place in the Darklands where the North Wind lives and definitely is a meshing of Beauty and the Beast and the Hades and Persephone myth. It was honestly pretty engaging. I think the world had huge potential.
Unfortunately the world building did not stand up to much scrutiny. I would have loved it to have been more carefully fleshed out. There are a lot of points where you're left with questions, or where things make don't really make sense, or are contradictory. Once again I'm left asking myself whether trad pubs make use of editors, like, at all??
One example is the nearby town of spectres who are apparently sentenced to servitude as a kind of pergatory. The North Wind literally says that most children are sent to The Good Place. So why, when Wren was in the town, were there families with children?? Can the spectres in pergatory procreate? Tell me how that makes any fucking sense??
Not to mention at the end where the need to judge the dead seems to be completely forgotten about, even though it seemed like a fairly major plot point. Who is judging the dead now??
Solid worldbuilding seems to have been forgone to focus on the romance aspect, but honestly I found the romance the most *meh* aspect of the book. Tell me why there's an entire scene where she mostly just dry humps his leg?? Is this a thing? Am I doing sex wrong??
It kind of felt like the whole story just petered out. The resolution just felt like the author was like - okay, I'm kind of over this story now, let's wrap it up. Once again, plot resolution was sped through to get to the romance - but the romance was not the part of this book that held the most interest and potential.
Call me crazy but I also thought the North Wind was a bit autism-coded (specific emphasis put on him not liking his food to touch on his plate, repeated mention of him not being good at social interactions, coming across cold despite actually being empathetic) and I just found this an odd choice.
Oh I should also mention, the main character is extremely unlikeable. And don't give me that "maybe you're just a misogynist and expect female characters to act a certain way" BS. No, I just thought she was a dick on a human level.
Overall this honestly had a lot of issues, but it was somehow also just pretty easy and enjoyable to read, so it's a 3.5/5 for me.
Feyre- I mean Wren opens the book hunting to support her vapid and too-pure-for-this-world-but-also-quietly-kind-of-a-bitch sister Elain- ah, I mean Elora. Then the big bad North Wind god-dude comes to take precious Elora away and Katniss-Feyre-Wren sneakily volunteers as tribute.
Now I know that them being twins facilitates the swap situation, but it makes no sense that they're the same age. Why does Wren act like Elora is a baby when they're literally twins? At one point she even described disguising a spicy book on the bookshelf so that Elora doesn't pick it up - girl, what, she's literally the same age as you?? There is a feeble attempt to explain it away as "our parents created these roles for us as protector and protected" but it's hard to buy that because again, they're twins and that makes no sense. I think Elora should have been a younger sister and they just bore a strong family resemblance and the whole thing would have been less weird.
Most of the book takes place in the Darklands where the North Wind lives and definitely is a meshing of Beauty and the Beast and the Hades and Persephone myth. It was honestly pretty engaging. I think the world had huge potential.
Unfortunately the world building did not stand up to much scrutiny. I would have loved it to have been more carefully fleshed out. There are a lot of points where you're left with questions, or where things make don't really make sense, or are contradictory. Once again I'm left asking myself whether trad pubs make use of editors, like, at all??
One example is the nearby town of spectres who are apparently sentenced to servitude as a kind of pergatory. The North Wind literally says that most children are sent to The Good Place. So why, when Wren was in the town, were there families with children?? Can the spectres in pergatory procreate? Tell me how that makes any fucking sense??
Not to mention at the end where the need to judge the dead seems to be completely forgotten about, even though it seemed like a fairly major plot point. Who is judging the dead now??
Solid worldbuilding seems to have been forgone to focus on the romance aspect, but honestly I found the romance the most *meh* aspect of the book. Tell me why there's an entire scene where she mostly just dry humps his leg?? Is this a thing? Am I doing sex wrong??
It kind of felt like the whole story just petered out. The resolution just felt like the author was like - okay, I'm kind of over this story now, let's wrap it up. Once again, plot resolution was sped through to get to the romance - but the romance was not the part of this book that held the most interest and potential.
Call me crazy but I also thought the North Wind was a bit autism-coded (specific emphasis put on him not liking his food to touch on his plate, repeated mention of him not being good at social interactions, coming across cold despite actually being empathetic) and I just found this an odd choice.
Oh I should also mention, the main character is extremely unlikeable. And don't give me that "maybe you're just a misogynist and expect female characters to act a certain way" BS. No, I just thought she was a dick on a human level.
Overall this honestly had a lot of issues, but it was somehow also just pretty easy and enjoyable to read, so it's a 3.5/5 for me.
What's Murder Between Friends by Meg Gatland-Veness
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.75
This is a very solid little YA mystery/thriller about a bunch of Aussie drama kids who find their drama teacher dead and are set on figuring out what happened to her.
I enjoyed the friendship vibes in this story and those teen feels of awkward crushes and friendships changing that I think a YA audience will relate to.
Some of the aspects regarding the information they get from the police and the idea that they could eavesdrop on police interviews doesn't hold up to much scrutiny but it's easy to let it go for the sake of a very readable story.
I did read an uncorrected advance copy so hopefully the fairly major continuity error towards the end has been fixed, I'll check my finished copy when I get home from holiday and update this.
I was definitely kept guessing the whole way through the story, with a lot of different players involved, which kept things interesting and kept me turning pages. It wrapped up pretty well... or so I thought, until it drops a major ".... wait, what?!" moment on you right at the end. Now, I love me a bonus twist after the twist, but it has to be done well. I loved the idea of this particular twist, but when you start backtracking to see how it fits into the story, you're left with quite a few questions and "hang on, how does that make sense?" moments. I feel like I need a debrief where someone explains how some events make sense in light of this new twist.
For me, this makes it probably a 3.75 overall, as I'm left a little more confused than satisfied. But otherwise I did honestly enjoy the read a lot.
Note that there are some fairly heavy themes mentioned, including suicide, drug use and eating disorder.
I enjoyed the friendship vibes in this story and those teen feels of awkward crushes and friendships changing that I think a YA audience will relate to.
Some of the aspects regarding the information they get from the police and the idea that they could eavesdrop on police interviews doesn't hold up to much scrutiny but it's easy to let it go for the sake of a very readable story.
I did read an uncorrected advance copy so hopefully the fairly major continuity error towards the end has been fixed, I'll check my finished copy when I get home from holiday and update this.
I was definitely kept guessing the whole way through the story, with a lot of different players involved, which kept things interesting and kept me turning pages. It wrapped up pretty well... or so I thought, until it drops a major ".... wait, what?!" moment on you right at the end. Now, I love me a bonus twist after the twist, but it has to be done well. I loved the idea of this particular twist, but when you start backtracking to see how it fits into the story, you're left with quite a few questions and "hang on, how does that make sense?" moments. I feel like I need a debrief where someone explains how some events make sense in light of this new twist.
For me, this makes it probably a 3.75 overall, as I'm left a little more confused than satisfied. But otherwise I did honestly enjoy the read a lot.
Note that there are some fairly heavy themes mentioned, including suicide, drug use and eating disorder.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Grief, Pregnancy
When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker
Did not finish book. Stopped at 6%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 6%.
If you read Fourth Wing and thought "wow this is so well written, but it'd be even better if every second sentence was an overwritten simile!" - then boy do I have the book for you.
DNF page 61
Each to their own bla bla bla but I just could notttttt with the writing in this book. Even getting through the prologue felt like a struggle but I thought maybe I would get into it. After 9 chapters, a quick Goodreads check assured me that the issues I was already having weren't going to magically change, so YOLO, off for greener pastures.
This was all within a few paragraphs:
"My lungs pull full of his scent, deep and drugging, like smelted stone topped with a ladle of cream."
(I'm sorry, like WHAT?)
"His dense voice skims my heart like flint scoured across stone, leaving a residue of sparks that crackle through my icy bloodstream"
"My words are sultry smooth, passed to him like a ballad I'm certain he's going to appreciate less than the songs I sang all slumber"
Make it stop ππ
When it's not a simile so elaborate and weird that I've forgotten what the hell is happening by the end of the sentence - it's sentence fragments. So many fragments. Annoying me.
Annoying me a lot π©
You know it's a fantasy though, cos they say "dae" instead of "day".
Beautiful cover though, like chocolate that's been put in the fridge for just the right amount of time and then devoured by my eyes like ravenous cerulean twin mouths.
THANK YOU NEXT
DNF page 61
Each to their own bla bla bla but I just could notttttt with the writing in this book. Even getting through the prologue felt like a struggle but I thought maybe I would get into it. After 9 chapters, a quick Goodreads check assured me that the issues I was already having weren't going to magically change, so YOLO, off for greener pastures.
This was all within a few paragraphs:
"My lungs pull full of his scent, deep and drugging, like smelted stone topped with a ladle of cream."
(I'm sorry, like WHAT?)
"His dense voice skims my heart like flint scoured across stone, leaving a residue of sparks that crackle through my icy bloodstream"
"My words are sultry smooth, passed to him like a ballad I'm certain he's going to appreciate less than the songs I sang all slumber"
Make it stop ππ
When it's not a simile so elaborate and weird that I've forgotten what the hell is happening by the end of the sentence - it's sentence fragments. So many fragments. Annoying me.
Annoying me a lot π©
You know it's a fantasy though, cos they say "dae" instead of "day".
Beautiful cover though, like chocolate that's been put in the fridge for just the right amount of time and then devoured by my eyes like ravenous cerulean twin mouths.
THANK YOU NEXT
The Hunter's Gambit by Ciel Pierlot
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
4.75
This was brutal and I honestly loved it.
The dedication was right, these vampires definitely aren't Mormon.
The human main character ends up trapped as a play thing for vampires in a big fancy citadel, knowing that at the end of three days of parties, she'll be eaten by them.
But she's pretty badass herself and is determined to find a way out.
There's definitely a "locked room" kind of vibe to the story and you feel the desperation of being trapped in this situation surrounded by these violent beings who are smugly careless of human life.
There's lots of political intrigue, it kind of reminds me a bit of Cruel Prince, if it was written by Jay Kristoff. Everyone's morally grey at best, including the main character. If you need at least someone in your read to be a nice person, you won't find that here. But if you don't mind something a bit angry and wicked, you might find this a guilty pleasure.
The climax is pretty graphic but disturbingly satisfying. Oh and speaking of - there's a vampire threesome, if that's your jam.
The very finish of the story is quite open ended, which does feel a little unsatisfying as reader, but at the same time, I think it suits the story. I don't think anything else would have fit very well, and it's not really "tied in a neat bow" kind of tale.
I smashed through this in a couple of days, after taking weeks to drag myself through my last read. It was dark, propulsive and addictive, and I genuinely enjoyed it very much.
The dedication was right, these vampires definitely aren't Mormon.
The human main character ends up trapped as a play thing for vampires in a big fancy citadel, knowing that at the end of three days of parties, she'll be eaten by them.
But she's pretty badass herself and is determined to find a way out.
There's definitely a "locked room" kind of vibe to the story and you feel the desperation of being trapped in this situation surrounded by these violent beings who are smugly careless of human life.
There's lots of political intrigue, it kind of reminds me a bit of Cruel Prince, if it was written by Jay Kristoff. Everyone's morally grey at best, including the main character. If you need at least someone in your read to be a nice person, you won't find that here. But if you don't mind something a bit angry and wicked, you might find this a guilty pleasure.
The climax is pretty graphic but disturbingly satisfying. Oh and speaking of - there's a vampire threesome, if that's your jam.
The very finish of the story is quite open ended, which does feel a little unsatisfying as reader, but at the same time, I think it suits the story. I don't think anything else would have fit very well, and it's not really "tied in a neat bow" kind of tale.
I smashed through this in a couple of days, after taking weeks to drag myself through my last read. It was dark, propulsive and addictive, and I genuinely enjoyed it very much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit
Covet by Tracy Wolff
3.75
I still think this is a super fun, guilty pleasure trash series, but I admit this one was less propulsive than the first two.
I found the first one super addictive. The second I also enjoyed although I felt some things were a bit dragged out.
This one really started to put the brakes on pace-wise. The whole middle 50% felt like a bit of a drag if I'm honest. I definitely think this didn't need to be 680 pages.
I definitely got the sense at some points that, similarly to SJM, there were scenes that existed purely because the author wanted to have fun with her world, rather than being tightly plotted. It feels a bit like fan fiction of their own work.
And then there's the fact lines like this exist entirely without irony:
"His lips are moving but his words sound like I'm underwater. And that's when I realise I must have drowned in the endless depths of his oceanic eyes."
Yes seriously.
Look, with this whole series, you just have to be in the right mood and not take the whole thing too seriously. I do still find it overall really fun and I am going to read the rest of the series. But I'm just gonna take a wee break first I think!
I found the first one super addictive. The second I also enjoyed although I felt some things were a bit dragged out.
This one really started to put the brakes on pace-wise. The whole middle 50% felt like a bit of a drag if I'm honest. I definitely think this didn't need to be 680 pages.
I definitely got the sense at some points that, similarly to SJM, there were scenes that existed purely because the author wanted to have fun with her world, rather than being tightly plotted. It feels a bit like fan fiction of their own work.
And then there's the fact lines like this exist entirely without irony:
"His lips are moving but his words sound like I'm underwater. And that's when I realise I must have drowned in the endless depths of his oceanic eyes."
Yes seriously.
Look, with this whole series, you just have to be in the right mood and not take the whole thing too seriously. I do still find it overall really fun and I am going to read the rest of the series. But I'm just gonna take a wee break first I think!
Crush by Tracy Wolff
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
4.75
Once again I loved this in the same "guilty pleasure" kind of way, as I did the first.
I'm totally hooked on these books, I just find them so fun and so easy to blast through.
I enjoy how badass Grace, the main character is, and not in a "not like other girls way". Just in the sense that she stands up to the dudes in her life, and won't tolerate being cast as the simpering damsel in their narrative. She's feisty without being a dick, and I like that a lot.
I also loved the twist in this, even though it was straight out of the SJM playbook. I can see how some readers might have been upset over events if they were attached to a certain circumstance established in the first book. But I personally loved the switch and I can't wait to read how it pans out in the next book.
Overall, it's just once again extremely fun trash and I'm loving it.
I'm totally hooked on these books, I just find them so fun and so easy to blast through.
I enjoy how badass Grace, the main character is, and not in a "not like other girls way". Just in the sense that she stands up to the dudes in her life, and won't tolerate being cast as the simpering damsel in their narrative. She's feisty without being a dick, and I like that a lot.
I also loved the twist in this, even though it was straight out of the SJM playbook. I can see how some readers might have been upset over events if they were attached to a certain circumstance established in the first book. But I personally loved the switch and I can't wait to read how it pans out in the next book.
Overall, it's just once again extremely fun trash and I'm loving it.
Crave by Tracy Wolff
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
4.75
If you've ever felt like you had a Twilight-meets-Vampire-Academy sized hole in your life, then Crave by Tracy Wolff is definitely the book you need.
This book was just so. freaking. fun. It's a YA book about a human girl at a paranormal boarding school (which she doesn't actually realise until very far into the novel, but the reader does because it's on the back cover lol). The cover is a clear riff on Twilight, not to mention the chess set in an early chapter, the vampire vs shifter romantic interests - oh yeah, and the specific mention of Twilight in the text π This is a book that knows exactly what it is and I honestly had a blast with it.
I think this book's keen self awareness is something that aided me to just let go and have fun with it. The heroine will complain to herself how ridiculous it is that she's pining after the bad boy, or mention how she's acting like a character from a silly YA romance novel - and somehow this feels like a little nod to the reader that says "yeah babe, we both know exactly what we're doing here. just roll with it and you'll have a good time."
It's totally addictive to read, I devoured all 570 pages in a handful of days which is super quick for me. It's pacy with short chapters that always seem to end on a "maybe just one more chapter" moment. The plot has plenty of twists and turns, good mix of characters, and a fast paced and dramatic climax that fair begs for screen adaptation.
This is one of those books I find hard to rate because I'm like: is it *good*? Well, depends how we're defining good. Was it the most fun I've had reading in a really long fricking time and have I immediately picked up the second book? Heck yeah.
Reading this reminded me of how I felt when I picked up Throne of Glass or Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. I love the feeling of being hooked into a chonky series that is pure escapism.
Read this to set your inner trash gremlin free
This book was just so. freaking. fun. It's a YA book about a human girl at a paranormal boarding school (which she doesn't actually realise until very far into the novel, but the reader does because it's on the back cover lol). The cover is a clear riff on Twilight, not to mention the chess set in an early chapter, the vampire vs shifter romantic interests - oh yeah, and the specific mention of Twilight in the text π This is a book that knows exactly what it is and I honestly had a blast with it.
I think this book's keen self awareness is something that aided me to just let go and have fun with it. The heroine will complain to herself how ridiculous it is that she's pining after the bad boy, or mention how she's acting like a character from a silly YA romance novel - and somehow this feels like a little nod to the reader that says "yeah babe, we both know exactly what we're doing here. just roll with it and you'll have a good time."
It's totally addictive to read, I devoured all 570 pages in a handful of days which is super quick for me. It's pacy with short chapters that always seem to end on a "maybe just one more chapter" moment. The plot has plenty of twists and turns, good mix of characters, and a fast paced and dramatic climax that fair begs for screen adaptation.
This is one of those books I find hard to rate because I'm like: is it *good*? Well, depends how we're defining good. Was it the most fun I've had reading in a really long fricking time and have I immediately picked up the second book? Heck yeah.
Reading this reminded me of how I felt when I picked up Throne of Glass or Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. I love the feeling of being hooked into a chonky series that is pure escapism.
Read this to set your inner trash gremlin free
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
4.5
This is no action packed thriller. It is a cosy mystery, full of red herrings and misdirection, but so deftly done you can't help but give an impressed little chuckle every time you're turned about again. But even more than that, it's a keenly and lovingly observed examination of human nature, especially in the later years. A gentle portrait of life and death, that begs the question of what justice really means, of whether right and wrong are as clear cut as we think they are. The characters are so well drawn they feel real, and you'll find yourself becoming quite fond of a number of them. The peaceful pace takes plenty of time for the details - it's only towards the end that you realise the subtle mastery of this, as some of the smaller details turn out to be relevant. It has the gentle humour of a BBC show you'd watch at grandma's house. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and I will definitely be reading the rest of the books in this series.
Pride and Preston Lin by Christina Hwang Dudley
lighthearted
3.5
Overall I did really enjoy my time with this Asian American modern day take on Pride and Prejudice.
A few quibbles leave this one a cut short of a full 4 stars for me.
The book feels more like a story about Lissie and the various things happening in her life. There is very little romance in it at all. I personally really enjoyed reading about Lissie and all the various things happening in her life, but this isn't a book to pick up if you want to feel swoony. I thought there was a lot more in here about friend and family relationships than the romantic one.
I would like to have seen a little more of the development of the relationship between Lissie and Preston. It seems to change tone rather abruptly and they have zero chemistry. The ending feels very sudden and I didn't feel any romantic tension between them. The abruptness of the ending also left a lot of other plot threads unaddressed.
Lissie is more of a Lydia than an Elizabeth Bennet. The latter is intelligent, mature and quick witted. Lissie is self-centred and ditsy, and I found her very hard to like. I found myself on Preston's side throughout their whole debacle, and Lissie never seems to truly understand the seriousness of her initial error. Her and her friends poke fun at the character with food allergies, giving her a mean nickname, and act like Preston was a big meany for being upset about what happened, which is frankly ridiculous.
In the climax, Preston calls Lissie a "wonderful girl" which felt really weird because she's not wonderful at all and has done nothing to earn such a comment.
There are a few meta P&P elements which I personally didn't mind at all, although I see that other reviewers have found it a little self-conscious. I did think the whole "play" aspect felt unnecessary and without real purpose.
The only commentary on class here mostly consisted of Preston being obliviously rich, and Lissie being like "you're obliviously rich but also hot, so oh well". Girlfriend was getting an English degree while her aunt and uncle who had raised her seemed to be barely scraping by, which seems another of her myopic choices.
Despite all this, I did genuinely enjoy reading this book. I felt invested in the characters (just not particularly in the romance) and I enjoyed the time I spent with it overall. I would recommend it more as a contemporary tale of family and friendship.
A few quibbles leave this one a cut short of a full 4 stars for me.
The book feels more like a story about Lissie and the various things happening in her life. There is very little romance in it at all. I personally really enjoyed reading about Lissie and all the various things happening in her life, but this isn't a book to pick up if you want to feel swoony. I thought there was a lot more in here about friend and family relationships than the romantic one.
I would like to have seen a little more of the development of the relationship between Lissie and Preston. It seems to change tone rather abruptly and they have zero chemistry. The ending feels very sudden and I didn't feel any romantic tension between them. The abruptness of the ending also left a lot of other plot threads unaddressed.
Lissie is more of a Lydia than an Elizabeth Bennet. The latter is intelligent, mature and quick witted. Lissie is self-centred and ditsy, and I found her very hard to like. I found myself on Preston's side throughout their whole debacle, and Lissie never seems to truly understand the seriousness of her initial error. Her and her friends poke fun at the character with food allergies, giving her a mean nickname, and act like Preston was a big meany for being upset about what happened, which is frankly ridiculous.
In the climax, Preston calls Lissie a "wonderful girl" which felt really weird because she's not wonderful at all and has done nothing to earn such a comment.
There are a few meta P&P elements which I personally didn't mind at all, although I see that other reviewers have found it a little self-conscious. I did think the whole "play" aspect felt unnecessary and without real purpose.
The only commentary on class here mostly consisted of Preston being obliviously rich, and Lissie being like "you're obliviously rich but also hot, so oh well". Girlfriend was getting an English degree while her aunt and uncle who had raised her seemed to be barely scraping by, which seems another of her myopic choices.
Despite all this, I did genuinely enjoy reading this book. I felt invested in the characters (just not particularly in the romance) and I enjoyed the time I spent with it overall. I would recommend it more as a contemporary tale of family and friendship.
How to Fake-Date a Vampire by Linsey Hall
lighthearted
relaxing
4.5
Two fav quotes that sum up the tone of this book:
"π° πππππππ π°'π πππππ πππ πππ πππππ. π°ππππππ , π°'π ππππ πππππππππ πππ ππππ ππ ππππ."
"πΊππππ πππ πππ ππ ππππ ππππππ , π° πππππππ ππππ πππ πππππ πππ - πππ ππππππ π° π πππππππ , 'π°π'π πππ πππ.'
πΊππ ππππππ . 'π½πππ ππ-πππππ πππ πππ.'"
I unexpectedly LOVED this book!
I picked it up on Netgalley, thinking it would be something light, silly, and easy. And it *was*, but in a way that I somehow just adored so much more than I was expecting.
It's about a bit of a hot mess of a witch who has to fake date a vampire-duke in the cute little magical British village they live in. And it is just COSY as heck.
The MC is just enough of a hot mess to be relatable without falling into being irritating. There's adorable themes of found family, both with the dude's family and the witches' coven. The romance is super cute. Even the mean girl storyline took a turn I wasn't expecting, in a good way.
Oh and there's a skunk familiar π¦¨
It's fade to black which suits me perfectly and honestly any more would have felt out of place to the tone of the book.
Also, the fact the MC is a vampire is extremely incidental and kind of barely features in the story, so if you go in wanting gothic blood-sucking vibes, you're barking up the wrong tree. There's lots of cute and cosy witchiness though.
This is actually the second in the Charming Cove series but they are standalone.
I adored this, and if cute, cosy and feel-good with a dash of magic sounds good to you, you might love it too.
"π° πππππππ π°'π πππππ πππ πππ πππππ. π°ππππππ , π°'π ππππ πππππππππ πππ ππππ ππ ππππ."
"πΊππππ πππ πππ ππ ππππ ππππππ , π° πππππππ ππππ πππ πππππ πππ - πππ ππππππ π° π πππππππ , 'π°π'π πππ πππ.'
πΊππ ππππππ . 'π½πππ ππ-πππππ πππ πππ.'"
I unexpectedly LOVED this book!
I picked it up on Netgalley, thinking it would be something light, silly, and easy. And it *was*, but in a way that I somehow just adored so much more than I was expecting.
It's about a bit of a hot mess of a witch who has to fake date a vampire-duke in the cute little magical British village they live in. And it is just COSY as heck.
The MC is just enough of a hot mess to be relatable without falling into being irritating. There's adorable themes of found family, both with the dude's family and the witches' coven. The romance is super cute. Even the mean girl storyline took a turn I wasn't expecting, in a good way.
Oh and there's a skunk familiar π¦¨
It's fade to black which suits me perfectly and honestly any more would have felt out of place to the tone of the book.
Also, the fact the MC is a vampire is extremely incidental and kind of barely features in the story, so if you go in wanting gothic blood-sucking vibes, you're barking up the wrong tree. There's lots of cute and cosy witchiness though.
This is actually the second in the Charming Cove series but they are standalone.
I adored this, and if cute, cosy and feel-good with a dash of magic sounds good to you, you might love it too.