jurnee_reads's reviews
311 reviews

I cried so much. Perfect ending. Pace of this series is perfect, it didn’t drag on and it ended right where it needed to.

I feel like the bones are here, it had a good structure of a good story, but it just needed a little more… soul? It’s hard to explain.

Bland is the best way I can describe this story. Nothing felt emotional or real, it was just… blah… Very telling instead of showing. Characters’ emotions were rarely mentioned. There was one part of just endless back and forth dialogue without anything else, not even a “she said” or anything. And that’s fine if it’s just a few lines, but not like pages worth of that.

2 stars instead of 1 because it does have the bones! The ideas were there! It just needed some flesh and some soul.

I don’t have the energy to articulate how much I loved this book at the moment, but know it’s one I find to be absolutely perfect.

Morally grey hero? ✅
Kind, naïve, possibly neurodivergent heroine who grows a spine throughout the book? ✅
Deep discussions about death as a concept and the purpose of gods? ✅
Mystery with suspenseful adventure? ✅
Expansion on the world building? ✅
Real, tangible growth for both hero and heroine? ✅
Call backs from previous book? ✅
Set ups for future books? ✅
Lots of buildup to the most satisfying spicy scenes? ✅

Just a very good short story. An easy read that evokes emotion and empathy for the characters.

I’ve seen some other reviews that call the writing juvenile, fanfiction-esk, and a pointless retelling. Oddly enough, while I don’t agree wholeheartedly, those observations are part of why I enjoy the story.

I don’t consider this really “juvenile”, but youthful. It feels fresh, making the FL feel young and inexperienced with the world. But that’s literally what she was. She’s in her 20s, just because she’s an adult doesn’t mean she can’t be youthful. She’s never left her hometown, has 0 confidence in herself, is very lonely, and that suits the writing style well. Do I wish she was a little more bold in places? Yeah. This Rose needs to “blossom” in a sense, but I believe we’ll get more of that in later books. It’s the first book for a reason, all of her growing isn’t done yet.

I LOVE fanfiction. Fanfiction is a fabulous medium that allows people to explore stories and characters they are comfortable with in new ways. This book does feel a bit like fanfiction but I don’t think that’s a bad thing, it’s something I know plenty of people enjoy and shouldn’t be considered immediate criticism. Disregarding the work fanfiction writers do is reductionist, and slapping that label on this book as a form of criticism is reductionist as well. It draws from familiar stories and elements in a good way, in a way that makes it a comforting read.

Criticizing this for being a pointless retelling is so lazy… ITS A RETELLING! It literally says it’s a retelling in the synopsis, so if you’re bothered by it then that’s your own fault. It’s telling the story in a new and exciting way and uses the original stories as simply guides, not an absolute blueprint. It has mature elements, lots of secrets, new characters, and new magic systems and worlds that expand upon the original tale very well. Don’t like retellings? Maybe don’t read them.

Alright, rant over. I’m glad to have found this, I truly enjoyed it.

This was really good! I enjoyed the lore of this world and all of the descriptions of it, just enchanting. I truly felt like I was there. Written beautifully as well. The only thing I found at all lacking were the sex scenes, like they started out hot but I feel like they didn’t fully… go there. It felt like being toyed with and never getting release.

I will read more from this author and the other two books in the series.