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zombecrustacean 's review for:
My Dearest Darkest
by Kayla Cottingham
⭐⭐🐊🐊🐊🐊
I will be honest, I didn't really like this book. It was kind of a slog to get through. This was most definitely a young adult read in terms of the writing and content/themes.
I thought this book had a good concept: sapphic dark academia vibes with demonic/fae/eldritch terror. BUT this book focused heavily on what I believe is really unrealistic teen drama.
A general complaint, I feel like this author had a really tough time describing the skin color of the individuals in the book without literally saying they were #white. Also, the cast seems to include token diversity but not actual diversity. I would have loved real diversity with less personality traits that I could relate to common stereotypes.
A major sticking point that I had was how Finch was "chosen" by Nerosi because of the great desire she had inside her, specifically to attend Ululume. Which I thought was bullshit, I felt that Finch had a very casual want. Maybe that was a fault in the pacing and background at the beginning of the book. Either way, our "chosen one" felt average as hell.
Back to my earlier comment about unrealistic teen drama. For seniors in an all-girl high school, there was BARELY any focus on schoolwork or going to classes. How on Earth are they getting the money to do things, who is selling them alcohol, where are they getting the energy to party in the tunnels, etc... I think this setting would have done better as maybe a private college, where it's a little more relatable to have kids partying and not focusing on classes. And I will be honest, I didn't give two shits about the homecoming project, it was a thinly veiled attempt to give the two characters a reason to spend time together.
Overall, I thought the bisexuality and lesbian identity work was done decent enough. No queer complaints on my end. I really enjoyed that concept of having a girl best friend who you love and maybe could have <i> loved</i> be a toxic force in her life. Because a lot of girl groups especially those with bisexuals or lesbians end up in those toxic relationships.
I will be honest, I didn't really like this book. It was kind of a slog to get through. This was most definitely a young adult read in terms of the writing and content/themes.
I thought this book had a good concept: sapphic dark academia vibes with demonic/fae/eldritch terror. BUT this book focused heavily on what I believe is really unrealistic teen drama.
A general complaint, I feel like this author had a really tough time describing the skin color of the individuals in the book without literally saying they were #white. Also, the cast seems to include token diversity but not actual diversity. I would have loved real diversity with less personality traits that I could relate to common stereotypes.
A major sticking point that I had was how Finch was "chosen" by Nerosi because of the great desire she had inside her, specifically to attend Ululume. Which I thought was bullshit, I felt that Finch had a very casual want. Maybe that was a fault in the pacing and background at the beginning of the book. Either way, our "chosen one" felt average as hell.
Back to my earlier comment about unrealistic teen drama. For seniors in an all-girl high school, there was BARELY any focus on schoolwork or going to classes. How on Earth are they getting the money to do things, who is selling them alcohol, where are they getting the energy to party in the tunnels, etc... I think this setting would have done better as maybe a private college, where it's a little more relatable to have kids partying and not focusing on classes. And I will be honest, I didn't give two shits about the homecoming project, it was a thinly veiled attempt to give the two characters a reason to spend time together.
Overall, I thought the bisexuality and lesbian identity work was done decent enough. No queer complaints on my end. I really enjoyed that concept of having a girl best friend who you love and maybe could have <i> loved</i> be a toxic force in her life. Because a lot of girl groups especially those with bisexuals or lesbians end up in those toxic relationships.