Cat
The story and the four main characters in this book are tools for the author to expand on his philosophy about life, in particular the concepts of lightness (the insignificance of our actions, our life has no inherent meaning) and heaviness (life is full of meaningful connections and our actions have weight and lasting impact).
The narrator speaks directly to the reader and at times refers to the characters as such (not treating them as real people as a conventional narrator would). He often “pauses” the story to explain the motivations and perspectives of the characters, and to expand on his questions and ideas on love, existence, freedom and meaning. That's where the charm of the book is for me, and I enjoyed those more than the story itself, although it's hard to separate the two.
I usually don't like Christmas themed stories, but Peter Swanson wrote one of my favorite mysteries so I gave it a shot. It's a fun quick read.Side note: at one point I thought the relationship between the 2 siblings was going to take a rather gothic turn, if you will
Halfway through I didn't care whether they ended up together or not and towards the end I was rooting for them NOT to end up together. I found the love interest unlikeable and the ending came a bit out of nowhere.
I'm still not giving up on Emily Henry cause I loved people we meet on vacation (I can't believe Happy Place is the one with the higher rating), and I enjoyed her dialog and banter even though the story wasn't for me.
* SPOILERS but not really*
I found myself agreeing with Harriet's mother at the end (iykyk)
2.5. It's a fun read but I didn't care much for the characters, and the way everything was resolved ended up being underwhelming for me.
Not for me at all. Too much science info dumping, not enough storytelling or character building. Could have been half as long and probably achieve the same. I didn't mind the ending but getting there was excruciating.
I'm a cat lover, so I'm im biased, but this book made me tear up. It's such a heartwarming and sweet story. Love that it's told from the cat's pov.
2.5 - logging it as a 3 cause Emily Henry is a good writer but this type of romance is just not for me. I think some of her books could use a dual pov or just give the love interest more depth in general.