nerdinthelibrary's Reviews (926)

um. hmm. nof entirely sure how to rate this. as a book directly engaging with wuthering heights I found it lacking, particularly with regards to characterisation; as a gothic young adult about two indian protagonists in 1800s england, I quite liked it. unfortunately the wuthering heights stuff is so ingrained in the text that if you have no familiarity with it I assume it's kind of unreadable. 

also, an issue I've now had with both of the books in this series I've read is that the authors are taking adult texts with morally grey or outright shitty characters who have, at the very least, complicated endings, and because they're now writing a YA book those characters' flaws are smoothed over and the tragic endings are altered. this one frustrated me more than self-made boys because cathy and heathcliff, two very... complex characters to say the least are rendered pale imitations of their original selves in this. we're constantly being told how cruel and wicked and bad they are but are shown none of it and, frankly, while they are obsessed with each other it never seems toxic in any way. this is a major reason why I wish this were its own thing instead of being a wuthering heights retelling, because these characters already aren't cathy and heathcliff so they may as well be OCs. 

this probably sounds very negative which is funny considering the fact I only like wuthering heights, but I did two assignments on it only a year ago so I've spent a lot of time thinking critically about that text so I can't help it. this wasn't bad but I also don't know who I could recommend it to, or even if I would. I just wish so bad it was an original work because i would like it so much more then.