soft dnf. May pick it back up, but I just hit a reading slump and got bored tbh

I really REALLY tried with this one because I wanted to like it but… Addie as a main character was so bland. She had little to no true conflict because it’s near impossible to have conflict when no one remembers you. The hook of this book takes forever to happen and it was unbearably slow.

I think this book, while the lines are beautiful, suffers from poor pacing, ill thought out characters, and a lack of clear conflict. Overall it wasn’t engaging and that scene where

Addie sells her virginity felt so out of place and didn’t add anything to the story while upholding a weird value of virginity itself.

I loved the premise of the story, I just wish the ball started rolling sooner and we had some clear action going on.

If I have to read about a woman saying how much she hated rich white men while being SO privileged one more time… I’ll lose it.

Also… there’s no tension in this book. I’m sorry but if her problems are contingent on her parents separating while she’s a grown woman? Grow up. Everyone (except William) acted 5 years younger than they were. There was no difference in character voice from when Leigh was in high school to her MFA program. Just. Yikes. Strong premise, can’t stand the writing or voice of the story though.

tbh this put me in a reading slump. I’m DNFing for now. I might pick it up again later in a different format — either audio or physical if my library gets it

I cannot stand how this man writes about women especially his own DAUGHTER.
I firmly believe no woman was on the panel for this Man Booker award. What the hell did I read?

I want to try reading this again in a print format. The audio book just confused me too much 😔😔

I honestly just couldn’t get into this book. Probably because I didn’t read the first trilogy… Honestly i’m so sad about it bc Ren is a character type I adore (with the added bonus of my love for changelings). I might try reading the original trilogy and then trying again.

The characters were two dimensional and the SA was simply too much for me. I wasn’t getting hooked into the storyline and the characters and their relationships weren’t compelling enough for me to continue reading.

Also the incest between Jynn and Ceci was atrocious. I’m sorry but if characters are raised as siblings they are siblings.

I’ll come back to this. I simply wasn’t in the mood.

BROTHER DOES THIS GUY STINK

The amount of misogyny and toxic masculinity sucks. Like you can write an unlikeable guy to talk about toxic masculinity, but this wasn’t a well execution at all.

Bro really hated two underaged girls (not even teenagers) and was commenting on how one was trash “just like her mother” after he described her developing boobs at the age of twelve. Rubbed me the wrong way, I couldn’t stand how he referred to every single woman as either meek and stupid or trash, a whore, or a bitch.

I was hoping for some reflection or critical thinking but none of that was in this book — or at least the 60 pages I managed to get through.

OMG ALSO the fat phobia and body shaming!! Yuck.