blewballoon's Reviews (763)

I loved this. Compelling and complex characters, grounded stakes and tension, a gentle romance, and some intriguing ghost stuff. As an extra bonus it was set in Providence, an area I know very well. 

As usual, the more I like a book the shorter my review is. 😅 I highly recommend this to anyone looking for trans representation, Jewish representation, and a compassionate romance that deals with themes of grief and family drama. Also recommend to Providence locals!

Got everything I wanted from this book, five stars for being totally satisfied.

I really enjoyed the "horse curse" aspect of My Lady Jane, and I do recommend that book if you enjoy this one. Behooved is a bit more mature and less focused on politics and side characters, with the entire story presented from Bianca's perspective. Bianca reminded me a bit of Katniss from The Hunger Games in that she is always on high alert and distrusts just about everyone, even if they're just a soft blond boy who enjoys quiet hobbies. Aric was great, definitely more of the kind of male romantic lead I prefer that's kind and humble, but not without conviction.

The romance totally worked for me, and I thought so many of the characters were fun and engaging even if they weren't on page all that much. I thought the fantasy plot was entertaining, with stakes that felt high and the right balance of predictable for me that it felt satisfying to see it come together without being boring. I usually fail to follow through when I start a fantasy series, but I would be perfectly happy to read a sequel to this or other books set in this universe.

Audiobook narrator did a great job.

I almost DNF'd this at around 57% because this book was putting me in a bad headspace. I do think the ending was good, but I probably need a break from books like this for a bit.

Erica's chapters were hard for me to read. I don't have gender dysphoria, but I also don't have the healthiest relationship with my body image, and the negative way she talked about her body was uncomfortably relatable to me. She's also paranoid about everyone perceiving her to an extent that felt similar to the social anxiety I often feel, even if it's for completely different reasons. So, just what she was dealing with was a little too heavy for me, but then she also made so many decisions that I was like "GIRL NOO!!!" Do not give your personal number to your teenage student and then text with them regularly!! Do not

have an affair with your pregnant and engaged ex wife!!

. Do not bro around with awful dudes, and stop treating the women around you like they're going to fix all your problems without you having to be honest.

It's kind of amazing how much the author was able to twist the narrative around so that Erica wasn't much worse off when her mistakes came back to bite her. I did really like how the text transitioned from 3rd person to 1st person when she finally accepted that she had to come out, though.

I actually liked Abigail. She's definitely tempestuous and aggressive, but when she lashes out it makes sense and you can see that despite all her efforts to distract from it, she's quite softhearted and compassionate. The problem is all of these ADULTS putting pressure and expectations on a TEENAGE GIRL. I can more easily forgive her fellow teenagers for being a bit insensitive or presumptive, but most of the drama in her narrative comes from adults basically playing tug-of-war with her body because they all want something from her.

Most of the characters are flawed, but there's not a single man in the book I think who isn't portrayed as either absentmindedly cruel, physically abusive, stupid, or some combination of all three. It makes the setting feel quite bleak, like men are in control of everything and they can't be reasoned with. There are a lot of female characters who are portrayed much better, like Abigail's sister, the underdog politician, the woman leading the support group, Abigail's friend, and more. Erica and her ex-wife Constance were a lot harder to like, for me. I was never really able to sympathize with Constance or agree that she and Erica should be together.

I listened on audio and the narrators both did a great job, especially Abigail's. The jarring static sound when a character was deadnamed was impactful, I wonder how that was illustrated on the page. 

I had no doubt that this would be great. I loved We Could Be So Good and this is a sort of sequel set in the same universe, following Mark this time who was introduced in that book.

I was already intrigued by Mark, but before Eddie even appeared on page I knew I was invested in his story as well. I don't care about baseball at all, but I really cared about watching these two find common ground and let their guard down with each other. I loved seeing them both come back to themselves after the upheavals that shook their lives. I enjoyed the little glimpses at the happy future of the main characters from the previous book. 

Cat Sebastian has knocked it out of the park (ha! a baseball idiom!) every time I've picked up one of their books, this is no exception.

I really enjoyed this, especially the sort of mystery/investigation elements at the start of the book. I also appreciated how right from the beginning in both character perspectives you have a sense of the history between them and the loss they both felt at not being able to explore their budding feelings in the past. 

I think the author did a great job of showing, even amidst their conflict and bickering, that Phoebe and William would actually make a good couple and despite everything their natural tendencies bring out the best in each other. It was also sort of refreshing the way they both approached being intimate with each other (outside of wedlock!) without the heavy shame and stress that I've seen in past historical romances.

This book does feel like the start of a series in that decent chunks are spent setting up the side characters to have their own stories later. I'll have to keep an eye out for more from this author.

The audiobook narrator was excellent.

Sorry, not going to spend more time on this. To the donate pile it goes.

The casual animal and human cruelty is not my bag, but the played up sexist religious town culture (it's basically puritan Salem but swap out Jesus for Demeter and witch hunts for human sacrifices) combined with the intense "not like other girls" energy of the main character is also a huge turnoff. I've read too many books with this backstory, and I don't get the sense that I'm going to find anything else I particularly like in this story and these characters. 

Not for me, but maybe for a different reader. The adiobook narrator is doing a good job.

I can usually tell how I feel about a book when I try explaining the plot to someone else. In this case, I was doing a lot of "right!?" when they'd react with "that's not normal." I think you have to just accept a lot of things for this plot to work. Yes these two adult women love their old teacher so much that they would do this. There are contrivances. There is melodrama. There is repetition of the same character struggles. If you're more of a cynical person, you're probably not going to like this as much as someone who is more willing to go with the melodramatic flow. 

I did like the book overall, but I think I enjoyed it a bit less because I'm a little tapped out for contemporary grief romances and I had just finished a book that was pretty much perfectly to my taste. The audiobook narrators were both great.

Can't do it. Rolling my eyes too much to read more. The audiobook narrator is doing her best, though. 

My goodness, Mimi Matthews, you've outdone yourself! What a fantastic blend of romance, history, and adventure. I'm struggling to write a coherent review, tbh, this was just so much fun to read. This is the kind of book that makes me feel sorry for whatever book I'm going to read next, it has everything I want and crushed it in every aspect. I think the only thing that could make it better would be a cameo of my favorite MMU (Mimi Matthews Universe) character, Tom Finchley. I'm eager and excited for more from this series. 

I read in a combination of text and audiobook, both were great experiences, but I think I did prefer reading the text myself because then I could really sink into it and savor every word.

This is probably the most suspenseful entry in the series so far, since the stakes are very high for Vivian  and she's on a short timeline. She also did a bit more of her own sleuthing here, which was nice. It felt less like all she did was ask for favors from people, and in this case she also has to deal with the fact that when you ask for favors that means you owe favors, too. 

I appreciated the 1920s queer representation from a variety of new and old characters. People have always been diverse, I think it's more historically accurate to include that than not. I also just think it's more fun to read. 

I don't think it's quite fair for me to say Leo went through a character assassination in this book, since I don't think Katharine Schellman's intentions were malicious and he doesn't really do anything awful, but I was a bit disappointed with how his story line went even if I expected it. I said it before and I seem to be right that the overall story is pushing Vivian towards Honor as the endgame.