Dacia

Alternate title: How I Spent My Midlife Crisis

I read a review that promised this book would change my life. That's a lot to live up to. In the end it did not, but I wasn't looking for my life to be changed. After all, I've always been a driver, not a parker.

I expected twee but got saccharin. Felt like YA but with this R-rated sex scene awkwardly shoehorned in the middle. The entire conflict ends up being just one big misunderstanding. Desserts are described in detail, but the setting, which is supposed to be so magical, gets no attention. House in the Cerulean Sea did it better.

Read this in preparation for reading James by Percival Everett. My only previous brush with Twain was when I was assigned to read Tom Sawyer in middle school. I was so bored by it, I opted to watch the movie instead and never touched another Twain, though I was told Huck Finn is the better book. Reading it as an adult, I have more of an appreciation for Twain's wit and humor. I also think 11-year-old me was valid in her complaints that all the books we were assigned to read were “boy” books.

Went in blind without having seen the movie. Enjoyed every page. But that ending. chefskiss

So unfortunate when an author tries to make a strong, self-secure female character and winds up creating a self-absorbed, shallow asshole. This story would've been better if it had been more about the girl this hateful heroine was trying to protect. But it's not. And then it gets even worse when our super-tough femme fatale gets herself in trouble and has to be saved...twice. By a dude. Groan.