A soft DNF for now. I fear simply being hot and horny is not enough to keep my interest right now. 

 DNF @ 58% (according to the KU book)

I slept on it and I actually can't get past the unnecessary use of the r slur.

It's not "characterization". It's actually just proof to me that out of all the words in the human language, that's the one you chose to describe something that your character thought was stupid/distasteful. (Believe me, readers can infer that guy is an asshole without it.) 

Was vibing with the sample I got from KU and then came to reviews to see the author uses AI in their writing, cover design, AND audiobook narration. So unfortunately, that is a hard pass for me.

The hunt for an interesting queer romantasy continues.

 

DNF @ 9% 

This is probably more of a me problem and not a reflection of the book itself, but I am simply not in the mood for the dark academia melodrama at the moment. 

(Also, I won't lie. I had somehow convinced myself that this was queer and that there was a romantic subplot involving the characters on the cover and I read a review that said otherwise... but I wanted that.)

The narrator does a great job though. 

Okay so I really tried to enjoy this but there are just too many minor issues that keep adding up and now it just feels like a slog to get through.

The insta-lust just never works for me and while the horny thoughts from our FMC are meant to be funny, it just isn't my thing. 

There is also a really weird ratio of romance to sci fi plot line and, for me, in order for it to work we needed to pick one to put more focus on. I actually think the plot is really interesting and could have made for a great Sci Fi with romantic subplot. But for this to be marketed as Romance, the actual relationship development really took a back seat. 

Anyways. It's too bad. I really thought this would work for me. 

I may come back to this at another time. The writing and storytelling are quite beautiful. It's a slow build and has elements that remind me of Addie LaRue. 

I just find myself a little bored at the moment.  Idk. I feel like at almost halfway through the book I should not be asking myself, "what is this even moving towards?"

I told myself  I was done with Ali Hazelwood's novellas and I should have kept that energy.  This felt like the other three she wrote and the audiobook didn't even have dual/duet narration to make it interesting. 🤷🏻

Lol no.

Could I have technically sat through the last 20 pages and finished this? Sure. But I will not. 

DNF @10%

I achieved what I set out to accomplish and that was to find out if there is in fact a cat in the story. (There is.)

I did not enjoy the writing so I'm going to keep it moving. 

Okay so there's this thing that really irks me with the way the character's interactions are being written and it's that thing when everyone just somehow instinctually knows what the other characters are thinking without any real communication or character development to back it up. It's the ol' "I looked at him and could instantly tell exactly what he's feeling despite only ever having spoken three sentences to each other" And it's just happening too much here.