I have to admit I enjoyed this second installment much less than the first book in the series. I came for the 1920s with magic, and the magic part was rather lacking; it may as well not have existed at all, and the plot would hardly suffer for it. True, there's the entire dream-sharing plot that was a big part of the characters' relationship, but honestly, if those were just regular non-magical dreams, very few things would change. 

So I came for a slice of light magic and what I got was simply a 1920s historical where a guy who'd rather stay a confirmed bachelor is forced to marry—but luckily, his bride just wants to be friends and provide each other with cover for their respective queer relationships. And that's not a bad thing at all! In fact, that's the sort of story I really like, and I did like many things about this book in particular. It's just... expectations, you know?

Another thing that annoyed me was how everybody treated Alphonse as air-headed and, well, the opposite of clever. He kept thinking that way of himself, too, and I kept wanting him to stop bringing himself down that way. But then of course there were all those well-meaning friends who told him things like "at least you're handsome," and ugh. That's just grating. Honestly, the main evidence of his "low intelligence" in the book was taking a long time to sort out his feelings and put names to them, and that's okay. People feel differently. People think differently. Some people may need more time and space, or perhaps very different conditions, to achieve things an average person achieves in less time. That doesn't make anyone stupid. 

That part aside, the book had plenty of cotton-candy sweetness and some super lovely moments. It's all fluff, and could be a great pick-me-up, and in the long run, I'm okay with having to calibrate my genre expectations mid-book. But the intelligence part really bugged me.