For some reason I thought this book was a YA book, but please know there is at least one scene that is very not-YA in nature. Specifics (spoiler):

there is sexual content with one of the love interests, specifically with a character going down on Lore.

I think this especially surprised me as the book had a lot of things that lean towards YA, like a (trope)

love triangle

and some of the behaviors of the characters. 

For some reason I've had a hard time staying interested in this book. Theoretically, I thought I'd like this. Fae, books, special secret magic, romance, it all sounded like things I'd be into.

Maybe I'm not into dark academia. Maybe the action was too slow. Maybe the characters weren't lovable enough. I'm unsure where the exact problem lies, but I know I didn't enjoy my time as much as I was hoping.

I first tried reading this physically but stopped for a few different reasons. On my second go around, I decided to try it via audiobook. The narrator's voice is beautiful, and I love both the main character's voice and the masculine voice she does. My problem lies in the fact that there isn't much variable beyond that, and in a book with a wide enough cast of characters it was hard to distinguish who Lore was talking to in any given moment. 

For some reason I also had a hard time staying engaged with the romance in the story. Usually in romantasy I really love the romance part of things, but for this book I kept wanting the plot to pick up and for more action to directly happen. Maybe if we had gotten more sweet moments instead of the lustier moments I would have been more sold. 

Spoilers ahead for the end of the book

I might give book two a chance (I didn't realize it was going to be a series, and especially end on a cliffhanger!) but I'll probably loan it from the library instead of buying it based on the beautiful cover & narrator's voice.

representation:

tropes: