2.5 stars

RTC.

Honestly all I knew going into this book was "sapphic witches," but that was enough to get my hopes up. (I should've known better.)

The main strength of this book is LGBTQIA+ rep; I thought the worldbuilding was fine but not particularly memorable, and I really didn't like the main characters much. It felt like there was too much drama just for the sake of drama — a lot of it romance-adjacent, though there were also some nObOdY uNdErStAnDs My AnGsT mini-monologues (believable teenager thoughts but exasperating to read over and over). And I felt like we never got enough information to make our own judgment about Hannah and Veronica's breakup:

Spoiler

bits and pieces are gradually rehashed in arguments, but never in a cohesive enough picture that I felt Hannah was totally justified in blaming Veronica for everything that happened

.

I guessed one of the two major plot twists because it was incredibly predictable and

Spoiler

of course the main suspect never turns out to be the culprit; it's like they've never seen a TV show

; I think it would've been less frustrating if

Spoiler

Hannah had ever seriously considered anyone besides Nolan could be the Witch Hunter, or that Nolan could've done some but not all of it, or any of a million other possibilities

. The other reveal

Spoiler

ie, Morgan and her parents being Blood Witches but not evil

had more potential, but considering all the buildup I felt like the other characters accepted it too easily.

So all in all, for me this was another case of intriguing premise, mediocre execution. I noticed all the sequel hooks, but frankly I have no real interest in continuing the series.

content warnings:

Spoiler

blood, animal sacrifice, arson, major character death, on-page car accident, bi erasure (immediately challenged in-text)

rep:

Spoiler

lesbian MC, bisexual love interest, major & minor & past F/F relationships, WLW major character, MLM trans (FTM) major character, WLW minor character

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CONVERSION: 7.73 / 15 = 3 stars

Prose: 5 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 4 / 10
Emotional Impact: 4 / 10
Development / Flow: 6 / 10
Setting: 8 / 10

Diversity & Social Themes: 3 / 5
Intellectual Engagement: N/A
Originality / Trope Execution: 2 / 5
Rereadability: N/A
Memorability: 2 / 5

★ 3.5 stars ★

content warnings:

Spoiler

major character deaths, indentured servitude, threats of violence, violence, blood magic, precanon parent deaths, grief & guilt, past suicide (hanging), "kill yourself" comments, depression, blood cancer, facetious threat of suicide, cannibalism, corporal punishment of a child, child neglect, human sacrifice, description of past suicidal ideation, ableist language

rep:

Spoiler

WLW major characters

I'd heard mostly great things about this series but was hesitant because of some potentially upsetting/ disturbing content. Overall: the narrative was full of action and intrigue, I liked the worldbuilding though I sometimes found more complex than I could keep up with (the appendices helped but, in my opinion, they shouldn't have been necessary), the prose and humor didn't quite work for me, I can't say I agree with all the author's choices — such as

Spoiler

killing off the titular character of the first book in a series

, like holy wow — but I respect them.

This book contains some really interesting juxtapositions that may or may not have been deliberate:

Spoiler

lots of irreversible major character death despite the literal premise being necromancy, the pair of "shitty teens" treated patronizingly despite the running themes of death and dirty jokes and darkness being somewhat stereotypical Teen Aesthetic, the very deliberate linguistics of the naming system and the more scientific presentation of the magic system (theorems)

. But for me it was honestly more engaging on a big-picture, abstract level rather than in terms of plot and characters.

Still, I'm interested enough to pick up the second book and see where it's all going.

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CONVERSION: 9.2 / 15 = 3.5 stars

Prose: 4 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 7 / 10
Emotional Impact: 5 / 10
Development / Flow: 8 / 10
Setting: 7 / 10

Diversity & Social Themes: 2 / 5
Originality / Trope Execution: 4 / 5

Buddy read with Kat, Aurelia & Spira! ❤

3.5 stars

Wine, after all, was a living, breathing thing. Each wine its own entity, each vintage as unique as the heart and mind of the witch who crafted it.

I love the premise, and altogether I'm not disappointed in the worldbuilding as far as vine witches and vineyards and winemaking. (Though at the same time, we're introduced to so many different magic systems,

Spoiler

from bierhexen to jinni to a magical bakery

, which leave the reader with curiosity and create so much room for the series to expand.)

But the prose tripped me up almost from the very beginning — there are some lovely and/or profound-sounding quotes, but just as many overly descriptive passages — and it felt like there was just too much going on at once. The plot hits all the expected notes, hook-rising action-climax-resolution-climax-resolution-etc, but the pacing was cramped and it felt like the different storylines were just coexisting on the page rather than coming together. The characters make poor decisions, judge each other mercilessly, and fail to connect what I thought were pretty obvious (and well-established / trope-based) dots; I didn't find their relationships or personal development particularly compelling, either. There's also quite a bit of (internalized and societal) misogyny and heteronormativity, as well as elitism, that aren't really challenged and left me uncomfortable.

All in all, some simplification would have benefited both plot and prose, leaving room for the characters and world to really shine. The execution wasn't bad but I think it could've been better.

content warnings:

Spoiler

animal abuse + ritual sacrifice, slut-shaming, on-page and mentions of torture, internalized misogyny, homophobia (brief), on-page major character death(s), suicide (poison)

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CONVERSION: 9.05 → 9.1 / 15 = 3.5 stars

Prose: 7 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 5 / 10
Emotional Impact: 7 / 10
Development / Flow: 8 / 10
Setting: 7 / 10

Diversity & Social Themes: 2 / 5
Intellectual Engagement: 3 / 5
Originality / Trope Execution: 2 / 5
Rereadability: N/A
Memorability: 2 / 5

★ 3.5 stars ★

content warnings:

Spoiler

precanon parent death(s), cancer, grief, infidelity, past physical & emotional child abuse, abandonment, trauma, emetophobia, hangover, discussion of a cult, mention of alcoholism, non-graphic sexual content

rep:

Spoiler

WLW secondary characters & F/F established relationship

I have to confess that I may have gotten my hopes up a little bit too high, considering I know how I generally feel about Adult Contemporary/Romance as a genre and about hyped books. So this ended up being "just okay" despite a premise I really wanted to buy into, with several of my favorite tropes:

Spoiler

writer MC (two of them, even!), enemies (to friends) to lovers, belligerent sexual tension, professional rivals (sort of), unrequited pining, reunited years later, renewed unrequited pining, boy-/girl-next-door

.

Honestly, I was slightly underwhelmed in multiple categories. Something about the dialogue felt a little bit off and some of the banter a little too quirky, and I was not super into the metaphors Henry uses to illustrate January's emotions and attraction. Sometimes I found the family relationships more compelling than the romance, in part because some of the romantic angst felt contrived for drama or to drag out the narrative arc rather than a natural progression. I really liked January and Gus's book bet and research dates, but at some point that started to feel like an afterthought and I wanted more. And there were some nice setting descriptions, a vague sense of the community, but it was definitely a backdrop rather than (almost) a character itself.

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CONVERSION: 9.2 / 15 = 3.5 stars

Prose: 5 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 7 / 10
Emotional Impact: 6 / 10
Development / Flow: 6 / 10
Setting: 7 / 10

Originality / Trope Execution: 3 / 5
Rereadability: 3 / 5

Love the queer Latinx rep, with lots of community focus and cultural details, as well as the setup of the brujx magic system; the main characters were sympathetic and likable. But the prose felt a bit stilted, the plot meandering and disjointed, the ending tropey to the point of undermining the narrative buildup.

FRTC.

content warnings:

Spoiler

animal deaths (pet dog, deer), precanon & expository loss of loved ones (heart attack; car crash/ murder), grief, systemic racism & classism, mention of hunting, mention of past genocide, blood magic

rep:

Spoiler

asexual Lipan Apache MC [Elatsoe], Apache main cast [Elatsoe's family], multiracial Spanish major character [Lenore], interracial marriage, multiracial Spanish & Lipan secondary character [Baby Gregory]

[review to come]

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CONVERSION: 7.8 / 15 = 3 stars

Prose: 5 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 5 / 10
Emotional Impact: 3 / 10
Development / Flow: 5 / 10
Setting: 6 / 10

Diversity & Social Themes: 4 / 5
Originality / Trope Execution: 2 / 5

RTC

3.5 stars