DB

This was way longer than it should've been. It should have been either just over 300 pages at the most 350 pages. There was a clear plot and subplot, I could see that. But I think the way Bird went around it – had the characters go around it – took too long. Drawn-out plots are rarely done well because (as with most things) they rely on the writer's writing ability. As seen by my rating – this wasn't really the case here.

I liked Ethan and Simon as characters, but I won't really remember much about them past this review. Simon I liked much less than Ethan – I found it difficult to get through his (Simon's) povs. Their personalities were a bit average for me. It's a long book and mostly focuses on them two (with Bill as a big supporting character) so I was hoping their personaltiies to change and grow. They did – a bit – but not to the extent that I wanted them to (or expected them to). Which was a big disappointing. Their relationship/romance was cute most of the time but that was about it.

I'm a big vampire fan and I liked the vampire aspect in this book. I wanted more of it, though? I don't think this is much of a spoiler but Simon is basically the only vampire we see all throughout the book. I wanted to see other vampires – older ones to maybe act as a mentor for Simon. To step in and help when the hunters didn't want to anything. More of a community, you know?

I didn't like the layout of the povs. I thought it was a dual pov and was totally fine with that. And then we got Bill (Ethan's foster mom) and I didn't understand why we needed it. To top it all off... the povs switched IN THE MIDDLE of the chapter. Like, that's something I used to see the little bit I was on Wattpad.

The Disappearance
Gillian Chan
Stars: 4
Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from Netgalley and Annick Press in exchange for a free and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I started The Disappearance thinking it was just a contemporary about a male teen who found it difficult to communicate with anyone finds a home and friends in a group home. And then I read it, and suddenly there was this aspect of the paranormal and I was hooked more than what I was before (I also didn't read the synopsis so that's why the paranormal aspect was a surprise to me).

Mike, the main character, was my favourite and I loved him for having a hard exterior but being soft inside. I also liked how Mike didn't see himself as much of a hero, but rather saw himself as a neutral party, someone who's just trying to get by. And it's not just Mike who becomes a better character, it's also the others – Jacob, Adam, and even Paddy, to an extent.

The book opened at the end, which is something I definitely liked – being able to read what happens at the end, then reading the entire story in order to see how and why the end matches up/links back to the beginning.

This was an absolute fantastic read and I loved it. It was a stunning debut for Andrew Joseph White and I can't wait to see everything else he comes out with. His second book looks extremely creepy and stunning as well. Within the first, maybe 10? 5 even? percent of reading this book I knew it would be a 5 star read and the author a top author. He had such a way with words that I kept wanting to read.

I love the post-apocalyptic genre. Give me it in any format and with any origin story. Virus, alien apocalypse, ton of natural disasters – I don't care. Two of my favourite things in this genre is a) people creating communities. Getting together, living in a school or small neighbourhood. These people creating a school for the children. Anyone who has medical experience setting up a “hospital”. Give me all of it. B) the environment taking over man-made structures. Give me grass all over parking lots. Vines and ivy growing all over buildings. I love it.

This book had both of that in spades and I was here for all of it. The community building here was done by an LGBTQ+ centre – which I thought was excellent. I felt so much for these characters and I was happy to do that. The author did a great job at that and I hope his next book will also feature characters that I love almost immediately.

Benji and Nick were two fantastic characters and were a big reason I didn't want to stop reading. I loved that we got both of their povs and were able to know them more (than just dialogue). Even if we just had Benji's pov I would've been happy because we got to know Nick through the dialogue and his interactions with Benji.

The plot was fantastic. The author definitely has a way with words that make you keep reading and keep you invested in the plot. Almost every chapter had me on the edge of my seat and I wanted to know more about the beginning of everything. So if he ever wanted to write a novella... I'd be right there.

The gore was so well-written. Extremely visual in the writing and pulled no punches at all. Extremely descriptive but done amazingly well, which made it all the better to read it. Tying the gore and the post-apocalypse so closely to religion was a great choice. White certainly didn't hold back but I didn't mind it at all because I know religion often isn't kind to those who don't tick their boxes. This is a dark book and it dealt with very dark themes, specifically church-related but it was done really well.

I've seen a lot of mixed reviews and I read them and thought “I'd probably feel the same” and Bob's your uncle, so I did. I decided to DNF around 9% as I didn't like the main character. Plus it's in first person pov and I didn't like the narration. I don't have anything to say about the plot because I stopped reading before basically anything happened.

Def better experience than the counselors. Jail to nearly all men in the book. And oh they stop at the end so guess... Everything's forgiven?

Reread to get ready for the sequel. absolutely excellent audiobook

Just to clarify – what I mean by the ‘rep' portion in the description is that one characters has OCD, another depression, another chronic pain but no one believes him. But just forget about all of that, because they get powers! And then their “issues” vanish when they get their powers! Clearly my first big reason to dnf.

Either you have bad representation or you don‘t have any rep and this book... managed to have both in a really bad way. Plus in the bit that I read they had all the stereotypes of The Breakfast Club. I also really didn't like the dialogue.

It's a quick read and it felt like that – which I do always like. Sometimes you have those short books that feel like they take forever. Unfortunately it also felt like Colgin was trying to squeeze too much plot into a small book. Which made it harder to read and made me take longer to finish the book. I could tell Colgin focused more on the characters than the plot. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing and at least the characters were good. I liked the action and the magic system was good. The short plot/very quick pacing worked for the book and Colgin's writing – even if I didn't like that the plot to pages ratio.

The focus of the book was Remy and Laurence and their relationship. As they're in close proximity to each other (Laurence protecting Remy because he (Remy) becomes a target) and sharing thoughts/details to one another – they become closer. That felt very natural and I liked how Colgin wrote it. They were an easy couple – they fit together well and it was a natural relationship. I didn't have a favourite – I liked Remy and Laurence about the same amount. Which I liked – a lot of the times I prefer the one character (in a relationship) over the other, but I do like it when I like everyone!

This had enemies to lovers and I grinned at that because I love the trope! Even though it's much different in contemporary romances since there isn't the possibility of them actually killing each other (like in fantasies). Well done to Sullivan for the banter as it was well-written and funny to read. Grace and Noah threw around quips like they were made for it. I'm liking the sunshine/grumpy trope more and more! It's one that works well and works well with other tropes easily.

Grace brought with her Morty and he was a funny side character. He's like Carl from Up! I liked Grace because she was funny and I like to laugh with the characters. Most of the trilogy I was laughing with and sometimes at the characters.

Noah was a bit annoying most of the times. He's arrogant and thinks that with enough money he can get his way. I think the only brother who doesn't act like that is Chris. Grace deserves a medal for not slapping him (because I would have).

Their romance was cute – just had to focus on that and not his (annoying) personality. I liked the rivalry they had at the beginning and how it slowly turned to romance – as it does so often. I hope that they manage to keep the competitiveness going in their relationship – obviously in healthy ways because it was cute and I think it works well with them.

It was one of those reads where I just couldn't get into it. Those books where you start and you know that you're either going to stop reading it or have a really bad time finishing it. I also didn't like either point of view so I chose to stop reading early on.

This will definitely be a book that I think of far down the line. It's not an easy book even thought it might seem that from the synopsis. I think I thought it would be and then it very certainly wasn't. I think I knew that it would be a book that has more than what meets the eye – but I don't think I was expecting all of this.

The book certainly went above and beyond my expectations. I enjoyed the ride and was solidly in the book a ton. I really like friendship groups and I think all girls are always interesting (I have an older sister, we both went to the same all-girls school so for the most part most of our friends are girls) – there's so many ways that it can go. I liked this friendship group, I think they worked well together and even though they had their issues (as with any friendship group), they ultimately were there for each other. I really liked that – they chose to stick with each other and be there for each other.

Nell was definitely my favourite character. I liked that we were in her head, she was a good narrator and took us along the journey, allowing us to discover things through her. Which I like! Sometimes I prefer to figure out the mystery before the characters and other times I like when the characters and I are in the dark together. I didn't like Dia and Harper at the start – there were things that they did or things that happened and I wasn't exactly there for it. Luckily they improved and I ended up liking them.

I did want more of Harry but also I understood why they didn't focus on him more. But I like how they tied him in at the end. I was annoyed that Harper (his sister) got annoyed at him often and I kept saying “Harper, he's being a good brother!” I think I'm getting old but also like... trust your siblings, I feel? Especially if they're good like Harry.

I liked Tris from when we met her. I think it was a good idea to add her – both as a character and a love interest. I had hoped she would be a good addition and not just simply there (to add another character, I mean), so I was glad to see that wasn't the case. Gavin and Christopher however, I could and would throw both into the lake and not think twice of them. I instantly knew I'd dislike them and then it became even clearer (basically by their first scene). What boys/men think they can get away with just because they want to... will never cease to make me angry.

The plot and pacing go hand-in-hand together. It's a slow pace and it very much could've not been handled well but it did. That's credit to the author because sometimes a medium or even fast paced book can feel slow. I know with another book I'd easily be less interested or even dnf because the pacing is so slow and the plot is taking forever to show (and it's not even that long) but here it works. That's all due to the characters. They're well-written, fleshed out. Their differences work well both against each other and together when they need to. Could the author have introduced the witches earlier? Yes, but I'm actually glad that she didn't! It allowed me to get to know their personalities, how they interacted with each other.

This was a long and slow-paced book but I did it! The book is good but unfortunately on the “just okay” side of good.. This book is like... vaguely set in a slightly European country/inspired by all that. But then uhh we had the words “venus fly trap” – used as a metaphor so sort of okay but not the best metaphor that could've been used? I could see that the author didn't want to do all of the research – which, like, I get as a writer because I desperately do not want to put horses into my drafts. Because then I have to think about everything that goes into it. It's difficult. So I understand why we didn't get a lot of mentions of their clothing or what they're using to eat with – both which would show where it's vaguely set in or inspired by. But I would've liked it anyway and maybe it would've changed my thinking of the book.

Most of the book was a lot of politics. And like – I don't mind politics in books. I find it interesting most of the time, especially when tied with magic and all. But also you have to be good at writing said politics and explaining them in a way most readers can understand. Because, you know, sometimes I want to read a fantasy book but not have to deal with a lot of world-building and politics.

Quill kept putting (confusing) politics and world-building and didn't explain it all that well. And because it was all so slow-paced, it made me less wanting to understand everything. I don't mind slow-paced books at all. But naturally they have to be written-well in order to keep the reader interested. Which this wasn't unfortunately.

That's why I can't really say a lot about the plot or politics – because it wasn't exactly memorable. I definitely felt like Quill focused more on the characters than the plot and maybe that's why I didn't remember much of the plot (and more of the characters).

But, all in all, the book wasn't too bad – I liked the main character, Ruztuv the most. I liked the fact that his 4 siblings all have Z's in their names. And there's a Razul and a Reoul in the book so I got confused most of the time

This was... boring but I kept reading to see if it would get better (it didn't) and I wanted to see who did the deed. Then I managed to figure out who the perp was a couple of chapters before the main character did and it was still... very boring.

Kay, the main character, was as boring as a dry piece of barely-toasted toast (I like my toast very dark). I think the only thing I knew about her was that she played soccer (but then didn't at all throughout the book because they'd stopped practice due to the death). To be honest, I don't even know if she liked soccer or was just doing it because she was mostly good at it and could get a scholarship.

There were too many chapters for my liking. So many times a new chapter would start and I stare at my phone like “what do you mean ANOTHER chapter?” It's not that I don't mind a lot of chapters in a murder mystery book; just that they should make sense and are mostly, if not all, interesting. This had neither of that.

The whole murder and the mystery, let's be honest here, was also boring and made no sense to me. Most of me reading this book was just “but why?” and none of it compelled me. Plus I didn't like the narrator. The motives for the murder felt flat and not really believable to me, plus I didn't care for the reasons.

Kay said she had friends but I... didn't see it. Even Brie – their whole friendship had me rolling my eyes whenever they were on the same page. Honestly, maybe if Brie were the main character I would enjoy it more? Still things would have to change then. I don't mind catty teens (well I can sort of handle them) but them in here just annoyed me so much because that was just their entire personality. Plus their cattiness was involved with a lot of the mystery and I didn't like how that was handled either.

I tried... really hard with this one. I finally just let myself tap out before 60%. I could tell I wasn't enjoying it so much as I was reading but I hoped it would get better (it didn't). I didn't like the audiobook narrator or the main character but I did appreciate that Wong's voice fit the main character. I just didn't like either so it was difficult for me to try to enjoy. Sid (the main character's name) was very much “I'm not like other girls. I'm plain, my hair doesn't do this or that. No one looks at me” – please it's halfway through 2024 ENOUGH. Since the book was in first person pov and solely hers, we got this line of thinking constantly from the start of the book

I also didn't really care for much of the other characters. They weren't really interesting to me, they were written okay, but other than that, nothing. Plus their dialogue, especially with Sid, was lacking. Dialogue is a big part of enjoying a book for me, especially with an audiobook and I could very much tell I wasn't listened properly. I might've been interested if the book was multi-pov instead of just Sid's. Or maybe just her pov but not first person (as I think that was one of the reasons for not finishing).

There was so much packed into the book (of what I read) and it wasn't done well in my opinion, which was also an issue for me. There were Guardians and Guardians had the keys. Everyone outside the town didn't believe or maybe they did and came to see if they could see anything. Only the Guardians had powers and then suddenly everyone had powers. Just too confusing. I very much don't mind a lot of world-building in my books but I mind if they're not done well. The book is over 400 pages, which would account for more world-building (which is fine) but at least explain it all properly? The bit I was reading (before I chose to stop reading) introduced alternative worlds? Don't get me wrong, I love that concept, but introduce it SOONER??

The fact that I basically had.. No clue where or what Elias and Laia were doing half the time should show you (and me) something. I do want to carry on because I want to see what's next but not right away. And hoping that changing formats will help. I think Helene might be my favourite out of the three main characters. Though that's like I can mostly tolerate her/she's my least liked out of the three. I do want to see where she goes with her magic and I want to see her get better as a character (meaning, actually see servants as people).

Honestly, there's not much I can say nicely about Elias. He is... a simp, in the sense that he met Laia and then fell in love her with like a week or so later. He's all “I love you so so much. You're my everything” and I'm sitting there like “why though? I don't believe it!” Give me BELIEVABLE ROMANCE FROM BOTH OF YOU. Laia, I think, is improving a but. That's all. I wanted her to delve deeper into herself and learn more about what she could do and that wasn't really done in this book. But, honestly, as she was with Elias I half paid attention to her because he kept annoying me.

Something that annoyed me is that I wasn't sure how much of a timeline we're working with in this book? Ember had the whole month timeline with Laia's brother and all but this with moving between the school and Laia and Elias – no clue. I'm not good with time in real life, much less in books, and certainly not when the book annoys me.

I think the big thing annoyed me is that I went into this series thinking there would be a lot of magic involved. Maybe all three main characters would have magic. Or just one. A character deals with a magic-heavy sub-plot – something along those lines. I don't think that a lot of people who've read this series have really spoken about how much magic is in this series, so maybe I just misread a lot somewhere. I just know that when I sat down to read the first book, I was expecting a lot of magic involved. And I didn't get that. So I think that made me dislike it more. I'm a big magic in fantasy fan so I do get sad if it's not there and I was thinking it would be.

This was such a cute read and I really need to finish watching all the Fast and Furious movies (so I can then rewatch them). If you're not a fan there are a lot of references and talk of the movies and characters, so, sorry if you're one of those who dislike constant pop culture references. I don't, I really like them and I don't think they spoil or date the book (I love the older references, especially with technology).

I was drawn to the book because a) Jamie Pacton and b) Fast and Furious. And I'm glad to say it delivered! I haven't read anything from Podos and I've only read Pacton's fantasies – but I'm pretty sure I could see Pacton in the characters. JoJo and El were so cute – alone and with each other. I thought it was cute that they would both go on tangents about bikes and cars respectively and you could feel the other girl is like “Yeah, I have no idea what you mean but you're cute!”.

I appreciated JoJo's grief storyline. Her mom had passed away recently and grief is such a difficult thing to work through. I liked that it wasn't so well-managed here but there's hope that it would and sometimes, that's all that's needed. El doesn't have grief per se, but she's working through her sister's disappearance, which is sort of grief because it's about losing a loved one (albeit not actually).

It's a very fast-paced book, which is always nice. You could easily read this in one sitting or throughout a day. The plot is fairly simple and because it's so fast-paced the plot flies through too. I now and then wanted the plot to be more – more twists, characters having to choose a different path – but this is contemporary, not fantasy! Contemporary's allowed to be straight-forward and plain. Just like a sprint in a race (all my knowledge is from Need for Speed games haha). The characters did occasionally make stupid decisions or say things without thinking but they're teenagers!! Let teens do these things!! I think of this often when people complain about teen characters being annoying – like teens... are annoying. And they should be allowed to be annoying!

I basically immediately loved it. It was like it was written for me, honestly. I've said this a lot all over my blog but I really like good sibling relationships and I liked this one in here. Even though it did feel at times like they weren't so close – because their interactions were told to us in flashbacks – but it was still done really well. I didn't feel like they weren't good sisters just because they didn't see each other.

I liked Sophia and Arthur's relationship – I liked seeing that progress and I thought they worked well together. I can see them staying together for a while. But also I felt like the story/plot, even Sophia (as a character – her development), would've stayed the same without the romantic subplot.

The plot worked well. I liked the flashbacks paired with the present. It reminded me of a favourite movie of mine (Oculus). Some books or writers aren't able to successfully shift between the past and the present. But de Becerra did it well. There wasn't too much of the past and they tied in well to the present scenes.

I loved the spookiness. Something I always like in books is the feeling of something's wrong/off and then seeing things happen in your environment. I love haunted houses in media because it gives that to me – weird things start to happen and then piles up until really bad things happen.

I liked the little bit of mixed media that we got – a forum relating to the film – of course I would've liked to see even more but that's because I love mixed media. I thought the angle of Sophia going back to the house to film a follow-up sort of project interesting. It reminded me of another movie called The Veil. I would've liked some more behind the scenes showing of the film – maybe “this is how we would do this” but I understand they wanted to keep Sophia in the dark.

This was fun! I love Stranger Things and I grew up on the TMNT cartoons (Raphael is my favourite with Michelangelo being a close second) so I wanted to read this. It's fun and an easy plot that you can follow. I think it's best if you know (at least) the basics of both fandoms (for Stranger Things it's before Season 3).

The casual personalities of the Turtles pair well with the unique personalities of the Hawkins gang. When I first saw this I knew that I had to read it. It tied up everything quite nicely, no loose ends. The graphics were so good. I really like it when the graphic novel feel so real because it's drawn so well.

Middlewest was an interesting little graphic novel and I understood like 10% of it. I thought it a bit weird that they just jump in with the fox? No explanations as to why he speaks or how he knows the main character. Does he even have a name? I don't even know if I like the fox. He seems mysterious, as if he knows more than he's letting on.

I did like the story – the main character was cute in that ‘pick him up and squish him type of way.' The other characters were fun to read about – except his dad. He's a bad dad. Unfortunately, nice graphics and fun characters aren't enough. But I still want a fox.

I definitely would've liked more from the book. I liked it, I liked what the author was doing. I think the book would've benefited from being longer. I wanted more – the prior events, the early days, leading up the full-on attacks. What we got wasn't enough. Williford did well for the very short book, but I think his writing style and voice would've showed more if there were more (pages).

I liked Gabby and Nadia for the most part. I found Nadia to be annoying most of the time – she should be happy for Gabby for her career? Luckily we followed Gabby more which I liked. I didn't really care for the side characters – even though one of my favourite things in post-apocalyptic settings are people coming together and creating communities.

I thought the ending was a but odd as well but it did set up hints of that community building which I like. Who knows if cheese will ever be safe again to eat (for them)

I... wanted to like this one so badly but I unfortunately didn't enjoy most of it. I could've even dnfed and not really thought twice about it. A lot was smushed into this one book and it's not getting a sequel. I don't know if the author was told and decided to push everything in because she wasn't getting a sequel or if she pushed everything in thinking that she'd get to clear things up in the sequel.

Either way, it didn't work for me. I had the audio and I disliked the narrator, which definitely added to my ‘reasons'. Some voices were fine but for most of them I wasn't much of a fan. Venus's voice (the main character) was mostly okay but I really didn't like Janus – her voice and her character. Janus's (and maybe Venus? I don't remember) voice was a bit scratchy and it made it difficult to hear when she (the narrator) shouted in dialogue because it was all high-pitched.

I think if Venus were either an only child or just had a different sibling I might have liked her better but because she was so much with her sister, it was difficult. I sort of liked her but not really enough to have me fully invested in the story. I kept waiting for Janus to become more likeable, to do something where I could cheer for her but it never came. In fact I didn't like most of the side characters. I didn't remember much of the uncle or the cousin but I also didn't remember much of them. I liked Presley the best of the side characters (actually of all the characters). They were the best written and I wasn't too bothered by the voice.

The plot was decent enough but because it was so jam-packed it was difficult to keep everything straight. I think only at the end I was starting to put two and two together. And because I wasn't so interested it was hard to actually want to put the pieces together.

It's always a bit difficult to rate a short story anthology as they're different stories with different characters (usually) written by different authors. But essentially, yes, I'll give the anthology an overall 4 stars – because I did like most of the stories a lot. I've only read from two authors here – Tori Bovalino (loved her other book) and Rosiee Thor (dnfed that book so not actually read?). I like anthologies because they introduce you to new authors, which I always like.

I was confused as I thought it would be connected stories. It's said to be in the same house so I guess I thought that meant they'd all be in the same – as in physically – house. That wasn't the case as they were all vastly different – so different that it did feel like 16 different houses instead of supposedly the same house. Apparently there were some links between the stories – like let's say the same mirror from the 2nd story was in the 3rd story? I did not pick up on that at all. I think if it had all been in the actual same house – but just different years, families, alternative universes – I would've really enjoyed this.

As you'll see when reading my separate thoughts – I just wanted more. I know they're short stories, but I would've liked most of the stories to have gone on for longer. I found most of the endings to be abrupt so I would've liked the authors to be able to wrap everything up easily.

Good Morning, Georgia – Courtney Gould. 3⭐ Good start. Reminded me of a good horror movie. Thought it was going another way and then I thought of the movie.

Vanishing Point – Traci Chee. 3.5⭐. Started out really good and then the ending was a bit weird? I did like it for the most part of the story.

Cradle and All – Kay Costales. 4⭐. Sad but written really well.

After Midnight – Liz Hull. 3.5⭐. It was going so well and then the ending just... ended so abruptly.

The Grey Library – Nova Ren Suma. 3⭐. It was very confusing – which is fine, but it was difficult for me to like it.

The Phantom's Waltz – Rosiee Thor 2⭐. This had potential and I could see it but we didn't get it and I'm sad.

Mirror, Mirror – Nora Elghazzawi. 4.5⭐. Spooky and good!

Smartmonster – Sandra Proudman 1⭐. This made no sense and I wasn't a fan of the characters.

Let's Play a Game – Shelly Page. 3.5⭐. Another one of “really cool and then fizzled out”

What Lies in Silence – Justine Pucella Winans 3.5⭐. I liked it and then it got too confusing for me.

me i'm not – g. haron davis. 1.5⭐. Could've been better.

Like Mother – Gina Chen. 5⭐. LOVED this one throughout. Knew early on it would be a 5 star read for me. I need to read more of Chen's books.

In Deep – C. L. McCollum. 2⭐. Listen, they said the house would be the main feature and most of this happened in/around a pond. That may have affected my rating but I felt like this could've been better.

Bloom – Tori Bovalino. 5⭐. After reading My Throat an Open Grave I think I'll give anything Bovalino 5 stars.
The Shoe – Alex Brown. 4.5⭐. Very creepy! Really liked this one.

A Helping Hand – Linsey Miller. 5⭐. Always up for this creepy type of story.

dnf at 29%

I originally had the e-arc and I think I must've deleted this off my Kindle whilst going through my arcs. Since it's a 2022 arc (yes, I know, quite late but this is what we do), the e-arc was archived. Only the audiobook was available for me from the library. Unfortunately I think that might've added to my reason to dnf? I didn't like the narrators.

Furthermore I didn't feel like the characters were interesting, at all. I think I maybe was more interested in the past characters but only because I wanted to see what would happen to them, not their personalities. I didn't really care much for the characters in the present. I think the writing wasn't really capturing my attention so all of together just had me click the dnf button

I know this is very short – under 200 pages. But so many short books manage to be around that length and it works. This wasn't the case here. Most of the time it felt like the story was meant to be a full story. Like it was leading up to be a full horror story – 300 or more pages. Nearer to the end it seemed to remember it was actually meant to be a short book and moved the timeline up. That meant the ending's pace didn't match up with the rest of the book's and that made for an unhappy reader. I've begun to realise I don't like mismatched pacing in books.

I don't really have much to say about the main character. She wasn't really memorable? I liked that she was autistic (the author is too) but other than that I don't really remember much of her. None of this book really stood out at all to me. I think I liked a bit of the mystery but obviously, not enough I would remember more.

I thought that the idea of Pride and Prejudice but Lizzie and Mary being witches would be such a fun idea! Unfortunately I soon realised that you could literally take that away from them and... it would be the original story all over again. I did like it but it didn't really add anything past that little change. I don't mind when retellings change a bunch of the original story and I felt like Lackey could've really gone for it and played around. Added more witches, let them meet all those witches, just something different!

Another reason I would've like the witch addition to be more is because it was incredibly of a side plot. They come to their family's house with the intention of learning how to heal their witch mentor and it takes weeks before they even start to learn anything. It frustrated me because it kept showing that the witch addition could've easily been taken out and not changed anything. What's the point of reading a retelling if it's basically just the original?

Other than that, I mean the romance is standard, it's Darcy and Lizzie, and I love to see it. I think they've basically made enemies-to-lovers. Darcy being all “oh I love Lizzie, how do I tell her that and propose to her? Oh I know!” Darcy to Lizzie: “Hey, you suck, your family sucks, please marry me?” That's just classic stuff, if you ask me. Not entirely as good as knife to the throat trope, but still really good. I did like the change from Lydia as the youngest daughter to Claudius and him still having the relationship with Wickman. Mary's not interested in romance and prefers to work more on her magic skills and it was great to see how barely anyone bat an eyelash.