i guessed the reveal in ch 4

beautifully dreamlike. not a book for readers who prefer plot or tension, but if you enjoy whimsy and magic and vibes delivered through gorgeous meandering prose you'll love this. such an atmospheric read. i loved it.

wish we'd gotten more of margaret and less of hayden and alice, tbh. their romance just wasn't as compelling as margaret's stories. i did like the way the stories intertwined. and while the ending felt rushed (the second time i've had that complaint for an emily henry book) the final scene and tie-in to the title were beautifully written.

also, having now read two emily henry books, am i allowed to say her fmcs all feel like manic pixie dream girls if you actually gave them rich inner and outer worlds? cause like. my instinct is always to go

wow they're so manic pixie dream girl but they do deserve credit for being more complex than that.

i expected to like this a lot more than i did :( the writing just didn't quite grip me the way i expected it to? the romances fell completely flat for me - i was so much more absorbed in all the platonic relationships.

i wish the magic system was more fleshed out, but i suppose much will be explained in the rest of the trilogy - which i admit i will be reading, if only because i'm deeply curious about amari's magic.

inan was

pissing me off, i will say. i have sympathy for how difficult it must be to break out of harmful patterns of thought you've been trained into your whole life, but his fickleness at the end of the book was absurd.

i do think adeyemi does an incredible job of forcing her characters to reckon with how much violence they'll sit back and watch before taking a stand. it was a very bloody book, but i wouldn't say it was gratuitous. every death felt like it was asking, "when is it enough?" it's sad that 8 years later, we still don't have an answer to that question.

overall, a powerful message and a fascinating concept, the execution just didn't hit for me

NEHEMIA MY LOVE :(

i used to love this book in middle school, but after a reread... it's just not well written. it's very cliche, leans heavily on tropes, has very stilted writing and bland characters and relationships, and it doesn't seem to really be saying anything. any good dystopia should be saying something.

i spent the whole book certain it was going to be a five star read. i love both their characters, but august especially, and how hard she tries not to be like her mother and yet. the way the pieces of the puzzle fit together at the end was really satisfying too! and the found family was perfect. it lost a star at the very end, though - i dont know why, but it just didn't quite hit for me.

i really do love middle grade fiction. the characters and world were so vibrant and i'm def excited to see where the series goes. if i'd read this like 7 years ago best believe it would've been my entire personality - it's so up middle school me's alley lol

so nostalgic

ryan price would probably be my favorite of rachel reid's children if not for two things:

1. i have already formed an unbreakable attachment to shane hollander. that's my little wasian boy

2. he spent two pages talking to his dick. like. oof. no.