This book was half gripping love story, easily a 4 star read, and half absolutely confusing drudgery that I wanted to stop reading every page. Mashed together, the only thing that united two halves was prose so overwritten I sometimes couldn’t tell who was talking or why 8 different emotions flickered through one paragraph. I don’t know how I can really like a main character, very much want a couple to end up together, yet hate a book, but here we are. 

may pick back up again later when I have more time 

This was an absolute delight. The prose was moody and atmospheric, with a constant thread of unease snaking through the story. The professor/student power dynamics were somehow more unnerving than the actual vampiric elements, all with a surprisingly sweet love story happening. The ending was perfect.

This is marked as “young adult” but I would say it’s lower YA, maybe even middle grade. I think it’d be appropriate for 7th/8th graders thinking about moving on to high school soon & worrying about fitting it. The story is sweet, the characters are well fleshed out and engaging, and the MC is lovable. I did find the fixation on Levi to be a little bit much—I do get why, but I wish that balance had been shifted slightly and we got more of Jessie’s family instead. 

I have a jumble of thoughts and emotions but generally I loved this. It was weird—like if the Edge of Tomorrow was less about being better at war and more about questioning whether the war was worth fighting. It has a cult/terrorist cell, multiple time lines, lesbians…. what else could you ask for in a book?? 

Only downside is it straddled YA/NA and therefore the moralistic side of things came on a bit strong. 

This was a sweet, slow burn romance that starts off as a bit of rivals to lovers vibes but morphs into something much deeper as Addie deals with her grief over the death of her mother & Logan works through repairing some of his family relationships. 

Scotland is like a third character in this story, with history, traditions, food, and locations lovingly described throughout. To me, the setting and its lush descriptions were the best part of the book. 

Negatives: this could have been a bit shorter. The parts where Logan is obstructing Addie’s progress just go on and on beyond what really makes sense for the story. For at least the first 40% of the book I was so irritated with Logan I considered DNFing and I still am side-eyeing him a bit. 

Also, Addie’s relationship with her boss/the tour company is very confusing. They are consultants; why is there so much conflict with their clients?? Surely the clients have the final say? That aspect was very odd. 

Spice: open door and multiple scenes but not a particularly spice heavy book. I thought it struck a good balance of mostly plot & building tension.  

First, the good: the prose is easy to read and clear,, and the relationships between the characters are enjoyable. The two tiered magic system is a very interesting one and I particularly liked the introduction of the repulsion as an element. I particularly liked Elizabeth’s dragon companion. 

The not so good: it was just trying to do too much in too few pages. There’s the whole Pride & Prejudice plot which honestly? I could have done without. It feels sillly to say that given the whole reason I picked this up was because of the P&P aspect but truly, it diverges from the plot so much that I would have rather just renamed everything and had it be its own original world. The book starts off throwing you in the deep end and continues to randomly drop totally new elements with big info dumps throughout, which breaks up the flow and enjoyment of the story. So many elements, characters, and conflicts are introduced for a story where plot wise, very little happens. I feel like the pacing was quite inconsistent and a near death experience is treated about the same as a rumor that Lizzy is cheating on her husband. 

Very fun concept, lots of great elements, but not quite there for me on the execution.

I loved the nuanced take on empire, identity, & colonialism this book takes. Mehr makes difficult choices and yet they are understandable. Even in the darkest moments of the book there was hope. 

I found this more enjoyable than I thought I would. The prose was a little clunky, and every once in a while you’d be plunked down into a new POV in a confusing way. A few times I lost track of whose POV the chapter was in. Plus, the world building is largely “the russian revolution with magic,” and the magic is a little hand-wavy. 

But, it was enjoyable. I really liked the two sisters who formed the main POV, I appreciated the general relationship arcs (though we really don’t need sex scenes right around torture and danger, have some decorum people). I liked the concept of the caged gods and how the magic system was implemented. Ultimately I was excited at the exciting parts and interested in finding out what happened.