I really, really wanted to like this, and I just couldn't manage.

 

The primary problem, for me, was the characters. Not that they were bad people or that they were too good, but because they were none of that. They didn't feel real. I couldn't connect with them, I couldn't empathize or sympathize or even really care. They felt hollow, and when the story line relies on evoking my sympathy for love and loss and the changes (quite literal changes, in this case) that these emotions evoke in the characters and I can't feel them feeling these emotions, we have a problem. 

 

Sarah was the worst in this regard. She was our main character, she is obviously supposed to grow, part of the plot even requires her to fall in love (no spoilers--this is literally mentioned in the synopsis), and yet she feels like a child throughout. A young child. A Roal Dahl-like child, almost. That wouldn't be a bad thing, that isn't a problem in a character, but it's like she doesn't fit the plot of this book, like perhaps she wandered in from a more traditional children's book and wouldn't leave. Even the love interest that sparks the curse seems confused by her.

 

The plot was a little meandering as well. It wasn't that there were twists and sudden reveals (I love that sort of thing), but that it didn't really seem to know where it was going and didn't seem to fully make sense. Maybe I just missed something? But it didn't feel like I missed something, unfortunately; it felt like certain details that would perhaps make the plot more awkward to construct were skimmed over and ignored when that suited. The ending was a huge disappointment; it didn't really solve anything. It felt like the author ran out of pages and had to wrap things up super quickly. I don't really mind that it isn't "traditional," (though I am a sucker for traditional endings, let me be honest here), but that it sort of came out of nowhere. There is all this long (sometimes boring...) build-up and then BAM the story is over, apparently. 

 

The writing was serviceable verging on genuinely beautiful at some points, and I'd certainly pick up something else by her, but this just didn't work for me at all.