i’m so bored. 

i'd rather do laundry 

i was holding my breath when i sent mom the text: “i cannot continue with this buddy read” but soon fell into laughter when she responded: “haha i was crossing fingers you wouldn’t want to finish❤️” and when my MOM dnfs a book… it’s bad. this was boring and the writing was not good and while the intrigue was high from the premise and the cat death in the first chapter, the next and first hundred pages made me DREAD the following 2/3 of the story. 

dnf @ 31%: i stopped listening on my drive home and switched to another book, which says a lot. i enjoy the writing style but i don't like this vague haunting that reads unnecessarily dramatic and i don't care about the characters this far in. i was just bored and i'm looking for a book to genuinely excite me because nothing's been hitting.

i can’t believe how this year is going. first Our Share of Night, and now this one? this story is lyrical like a fairytale but lacks substance. there is plenty of intrigue, but not enough depth in the characters or the story to keep me engaged and excited to read. the prose is heavy with metaphor, and some may call it purple, and while it worked at first and makes every description layered and beautiful, it also takes me out of the story. i’m not sure what is real and i know it is due to the prose and not what is meant to be questioned. i feel detached from the characters and wish that the House truly played more of a character role rather than being mentioned like it was one.there are so many hints to what Azure and Indigo are but i feel like i’m being toyed with because the plot is so slow moving and is obviously tended to read more atmospheric and “vibey” than anything else. i couldn’t root for the friendship being explored because it was so toxic and i know that’s the point and we are going to reveal what happened to Azure and what Indigo did but i quite honestly went into this story expecting a gothic and rich romance and this is FAR from that. the synopsis says “a darkly romantic page-turner” and… where? there is A LOT of fairy tale lore and theory in this book and some is explained and some are mentions to figures and relationships without context that only makes me more confused and out of the loop. i am genuinely so so upset about dnfing but i know if i continue i will only enjoy my time less. just sell it as an exploration of a toxic female friendship with magical realism and i probably would not have picked it up and (wasted my time).

my most anticipated read of 2023 was boring me to death and the fact that i couldn't get to 100 pages is devastating and i don't want to talk about it. 

basically just a compilation of neverending lists. lists that can be googled. and name drops. “how many movie titles and actors can be mentioned in quick succession with little to no reason and still have a reason?” no substance!!!! i want conversations and statistics backed with arguments and instead just got lists upon lists upon…and while the humor was present, i couldn’t continue because this did not deliver on what i wanted: an analysis on black performances in horror movies. would be good study material but not for the average reader wanting to expand their knowledge for FUN.

i gave it a solid chance but life’s too short to read bad books. this started off promising but i think i only liked it for the gay best friend. after that, the plot was weird and every interaction between the lovers felt disjointed. there was no connection. sexual attraction, yes (and they did not fail to mention this every other paragraph) but that doesn’t do anything for me. their conversations were weird and the writing is kind of bad. this series is…bad. 

got a little further into this one but it was a strain. i shouldn't critique this too much because there must be a reason it is out of print but i've read a few of Hibbert's other romances from 2018 and enjoyed the writing so much and yet in this one...i very strongly dislike it. it is unedited and bland and so uninteresting. the characters are weird and their first encounter literally made me mad. they haven't spoken at all and yet they are judging each other and making their own conclusions and the male even believes that she is privileged (with no reason to assume so) and decides to hate her for it. i can't continue. 

i got to seventeen pages. instantly a no. writing is terrible and the pacing is like a slap to the face. just slap me in the face, Hibbert, because i won't let you let me down.