"'Don't you realize you can't romance the murderer out of me? Love won't change me, Devin. This isn't a f***ing fairytale.'"

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from The Cave and the Houseboat at first. Typically, urban fantasy isn't my favorite subgenre but honestly, I didn't mind it here. I also usually love dual POVs, but I found myself wishing it was a single POV at parts of the story.
The beginning of the book really interested me and I was on the edge of my seat until about 20%...and then everything started to slow down. That's my main issue with the book: I thought it dragged. I find it hard to enjoy books when I don't know the direction the plot is heading or what the characters' specific goals are, but the plot didn't have a clear direction and I felt like I was just along for the ride. The last 10% was pretty good too, but I struggled to get through the middle.
My opinions on the characters changed a lot throughout the book. At first, Devin was my favorite and while I liked his sort-of corruption arc, I didn't like his romance with Mina for a lot of reasons. Therefore, he quickly fell to the bottom. On the other hand, I disliked Mayli and her POVs at first but once she started spending more time with Seth, I liked her POVs more. By the end, I think Seth was my favorite character.
As much as I liked the premises behind The Cave and the Houseboat, there were times when the pacing felt a bit too slow for me. Readers who typically enjoy urban fantasy stories would probably like this book more than I did.
3.25/5