I think this would have worked better as a novella. By the time we got to the second half it started to drag and the character development felt rushed.

Overall this was a fine read but I do feel like the second half was a little rushed. 

This probably won't be super memorable in the long run, but it did remind me that I need to check out more of this author's work. 

Glad to have finally finished the series, even if this was not necessarily a mandatory entry to read. I was impressed by how the author managed to evoke strong such strong emotion in the writing with the smaller amount of pages, and I found it to be a really nice return to the world of these books.

Reread 2025: even though I wasn’t able to get to this reread quite in time for the Christmas season, I’m still glad I decided to reread this in the winter season, and I was able to further appreciate the details of the story and the writing, as well as how self-aware and cheeky it is while still remaining earnest and indulgent 

This might sound cheesy, but Sarah Hogle just gets me when it comes to writing romances that I will enjoy. This was silly and goofy, even borderline chaotic, but at the same time it was heartwarming and heart-wrenching. Never thought I'd find my perfect holiday romance book in April, but I'm not complaining.

 From the synopsis and the start of this book I thought this would fall in line with the more typical young adult fantasy books out there, but as the story progressed it reminded me more of dark fairy tales. Definitely subverted some of my expectations and overall was a enjoyable reading experience, if not super memorable. 

As I was reading I was enjoying the story, but after finishing I realized I was waiting for the plot to build into something without fully getting the payoff. It felt like I never really got to know the characters and their different relationships with each other as much as I would have liked to, across a longer period of time.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. It took a setup that could have easily become very cliche and subverted expectations, instead telling a beautiful  story about fate, love, and sacrifice. All the characters had their compelling motivations, even the antagonistic ones, and the setting felt really vivid.