I'm obsessed.

Home renovations, a deeply caring relationship, sexy times, and low angst. When it hits, it hits!

I know that this is an incredibly unpopular opinion but I really did love this. Jane is unhinged, but also logical in a way that I adore. 

Caitlin Starling's writing is fast becoming a favorite of mine. It's intimate but also labyrinthian. I can understand why people don't like this. Towards the end especially it gets a little off the rails, but also I don't care I had fun!!

Twee doesn't always get on my nerves but when it does...

An annotation from when I read this: "IDK, I just don't really care?"

In theory, I should have really liked this book. My apathy for the main character, Tesla, did make this a slightly unenjoyable read at times. Here's the thing, Tesla is supposed to be this uber-rich, uber-famous, and slightly conscientious genius who is thrust into solving a murder mystery aboard a space ship. Unfortunately, Tesla's character inconsistencies (or maybe they were on purpose? Not sure.) just pissed me off most of the time. We are made to believe that Tesla is aware of her power and privilege, but the fact that she wields them like trump cards to get herself out of every sticky situation kind of undergirds her "awareness." She may be aware but she has not really internalized that critique yet and it was frustrating to read.

There were other things that got on my nerves about this book, but unfortunately I cannot talk about them without getting into spoilers. All I will say is that the working class people in this book deserved to have better character development.

I absolutely adored the romance in this book when we got it. Interestingly, this felt more like general fiction, as much of the novel focuses on Nora's relationship with her sister who seems to be keeping something from her. I think if you go into this thinking this will be a traditional genre romance, you might be disappointed even though Emily Henry does give us our HEA. Nora and Charlie's chemistry is apparent in every scene, I just wish we got more of it.

This was also a very interesting take on the small town/city girl romance trope. I appreciate Henry's slight subversion of this classic trope.

Side note: I listened to portions of this book in audio and I totally recommend it! Julia Whelan who narrates really adds personality to all the characters. It's so good!

Update Jan 21, 2023

Because I can never let sleeping dogs lie, I went back and finished the book. Pretty much everything I said when I decided to DNF holds true to the end of the book. The reveals and the ending felt rushed too. Ah, I really need to learn how to DNF properly.

Jan 20, 2023
DNF @ 67%

The characters never clicked for me, unfortunately. Everyones motivations and actions felt like they were in service to the plot instead of a result of their personality. 

I’m positive this is something other people can overlook, choosing instead to focus on the good things like the magic system, but it was quite jarring to read :/

The pacing for 70 percent of the book is quite slow, and the plot feels very repetitious. Most of my rating is influenced by the faster paced ending that sees some of our plot pay off, as well as dive into the really interesting and haunting lore. At some points, it felt pretty tedious to read because of the slow pacing, repetition, as well as the fact that there’s just a lot going on in the story.

I can’t say that I loved all of the relationships in this. At times they felt really disconnected from Kari’s journey/her mother’s mystery. It felt a little jarring to read. I can say that they resolved in a way that I felt was pretty satisfactory to me—or at least felt aligned with their characterization.

I can’t lie, most of the music and horror references went straight over my head, but I can see how this could be really appealing to people who are into grunge and metal music or Stephen King. Kari, our main character, loves those things and is constantly relating to the world through them.

The setting is also really rich in this novel as well—I (selfishly) wish that we had gotten more of it. I liked that Kari gave context to the area she lived and her own identity as Native. The setting felt very real, even when supernatural things happened and I loved that.

This had all the makings of being a Top Book for me but fell flat in SO many ways.  Xavier is the son of a chef and after a series of set backs in his life, he is back in his hometown of Harper's Cove, Maine. He's not exactly happy about it, but when a chance to get his life back on track means working at handsome single dad, Logan O'Hare's restaurant, Xavier will have to guard his heart if he plans to ever leave this town.

I love food romances! I love reading the different descriptions of all the dishes, I love reading about the process of making the food. I love reading a couple falling in lover over food. There's a sprinkle of that in here and I really enjoyed it when we got it. 

Xavier and Logan also had good chemistry when the author let them do what they do best -- banter. They have very different personalities but I feel like they did mesh together well. However, Xavier's internal monologue is exhausting to read. I see in a lot of reviews that other people think this book would be better if it was dual POV. I agree to a certain extent. I don't think it would solve my main issue with Xavier's POV. There's something about it that feels like it's constantly trying to prove something: prove that he has a weird family dynamic (that we see for 1 or 2 scenes), prove that he prefers the big city, prove that he doesn't fit in here, prove that no, actually, he prefers his small town, instead of just letting the narrative speak for itself. It was not an enjoyable experience to read. 

Which really leads to my last point that I think this book has a plotting issue. Time moves so weirdly in this book, especially in the last third where the author decides a time jump is a great idea for a relationship we have only just begun to see bloom! How am I supposed to believe the characters I was introduced to 200 pages ago would make the decisions they're making on page 300 when we haven't seen the growth? It felt like a very harsh pivot, instead of a re-centering and I am still a little baffled by what Xavier choses in the end. Ah well, you win some you lose some. I am not sure if I will continue with Kosoko Jackson's work in the future -- I think the premise would have to really entice me.