I thought I'd predicted all the twists and THEN THE LAST ONE SHOWED UP

If you see me marking this as read at 3 in the morning...no you didn't

Y'all this book. It was literally everything I love in a romance, and I couldn't stop stupidly smiling while reading this! I knew I'd love this going in, because one of my close friends did and I usually love ever book they do, but I still couldn't have expected loving it this much!

If you know me, you know that when I read books for book club, I try my very best to stick to the schedule we set. This is so the questions I ask don't possibly reveal anything from later in the book, and so that I still remember all those middle scenes that are good sources for questions before it's all resolved. However, I could not stop reading this book! It was 1 am and I had finished the weeks' section, and yet! There were so many good reasons to pause and get back to it later, but I seriously could not put this book down!

I really loved the academic setting of this book, as I feel like we don't see this setting a lot in adult romances since they're often post-university, and focus more on a job or whatever else. It was an interesting perspective to get, and it felt authentic (at least I feel like it did), and that probably is thanks to the author's background in academia. I loved the role this setting played in the romance as well, and how it shaped all the characters. I also liked the academia perspective on some of the events that happened, and how it muddied some decisions that might have otherwise been easy.

I also just loved Olive and Adam so much! They were exactly the kind of characters I love in romances (or any books, really), and I would've loved this book even if it had just been the two bantering endlessly. I liked Adam's development, as well as the explanations for his, sometimes harsh, personality, and how the book wasn't entirely about changing either of the characters to fit the other. There was growth, but it was more about bettering themselves as individuals rather than for someone else. The romance overall was just insanely cute as well, and I loved how well the writing style complimented the tropey (in a good way!) plot.

If you just want a soft, feel-good romance, then you definitely need to try this one out!

I was super hyped for this book thanks to some of my friends reading it recently and loving it, but I went in without knowing a lot about it. I heard the twists were fantastic, so I purposely avoided rereading the synopsis right before starting. In the end, I think this was a good choice!

The build up of this book is absolutely fantastic. Right from the beginning you see the threads that will come together later, though you're not sure yet how. There's enough of these hints at more coming to keep you fully invested, and I found it really difficult to slow my reading down to match my book club schedule (in the end, I still finished a week early). This is the perfect book to read in one sitting. Hopefully soon I can reread it all in one shot, though I still loved it a lot, reading it spread out.

In general, I haven't read that much environmental sci-fi because it reminds me so much of the disaster we're currently living out (and it breaks my hurt just as much as it fills me with anger to think about). However, I have read a few that either just touched on the subject or dealt with it in more depth, and this has got to be one of the better ones. I love how well environmental issues are weaved into the plot and characters, and how it still feels like contemporary issues are being discussed even though the book seems to take place a bit farther in the future. I also loved the discussions of humanity in combination with the environment, and how it analyzed human greed and sacrifice, and the imbalance that exists within society regarding those two terms. It is never the ones who pay that get rewarded, and the ones that forcefully take never pay.

I can't discuss the plot too much without giving the twist away (and trust me, it's best to go in knowing as little as possible!), but I love how it was delivered to us in alternating point of views, and how all the themes of this book came perfectly together in the actual plot of the story. It's a story that involves sisterhood, family, loss and grief and how this shapes the living, humanity as a whole, ethics, the environment, and so much more. In some books, it might almost feel like too much, but Joan He was able to masterfully weave all these elements together into a cohesive story. It didn't feel like certain side-plots/discussions detracted from others, but rather they all built together to a strong story.

I seriously loved this so much, and I'll definitely be picking up Joan He's other book soon too!

2.5 stars, rounded donw. RTC

+Arranged marriage trope
+Wholesome relationship
+Genuinely kind/good main characters
+Intriguing mystery-based plot

I had high hopes going into this because some trusted friends loved it, but I still didn't expect to love it this much.

While I usually like a bit more world-building in my sci-fi, the rest of this book more than made up for it. The setting was more background to the plot and character arcs, and we were only given information as we needed it, and only just enough to understand the plot. It ended up fitting the story well, since both Kiem themselves didn't know much of the world either, by choice or not. It meant we were on the same page as the characters for the story, and it ensured we saw things in a similar way they did. I am still very intrigued by the world though, as the small bits and pieces we got in this book were definitely interesting.

The strongest aspect of this story was by far the characters. I have so much love and appreciate for Kiem and Jainan, and I just loved how soft they both felt. There was miscommunication and frustration in their storyline, but these two characters are just such genuinely good people that I could never hold it against them. I loved seeing them grow as individuals and as a couple, and it was great to see such a wholesome relationship grow out of jagged remains of their backgrounds. I can definitely see myself rereading this book just to see their relationship grow again.

The plot was in perfect harmony with the character arcs. It was strong on its own yet didn't take too much away from the emotional journey the characters were both going through. It also brought in some sci-fi elements I always love, from the political intrigue across planets to weird experimental tech. The mystery itself also gripped me, yet I was a bit clueless to actually solving it (I didn't even have any theories! But honestly, I think I was distracted by Kiem and Jainan). I also really enjoyed that while this part of the book had a solid ending, it didn't take away from the romance ending well as well. There was space for both, and the balance of these two elements made the book a five-star read for me.

Overall, I highly recommend this book, and I can't wait to see what the author writes next! I heard she's writing another story in the same universe, and to say I'm excited is definitely an understatement.

+Interesting premise
+Witchcraft
-Frustrating POV character
-Shallow side characters
-Messy plot

I had high hopes for this book going in, both due to my friends enjoying this and my experiences with Maniscalco's other series. While the Stalking Jack the Ripper series overall went downhill over time for me, I genuinely enjoyed the first two books a lot, and knew Maniscalco could at least start a series well, if not necessarily finish it well. Unfortunately, some things in this book started bugging me quickly overall, and led to my enjoyment of this book decreasing with each page.

My biggest issue with this book is Emilia. I feel like as a main character, Emilia had very little drive to push the story forward herself, and often relied on other characters to push her to action. While this isn't necessarily an issue, as it can lead to growth in later books, Emilia herself seemed to think she was in charge of everything? She constantly was fighting with everyone and pushing her assumptions on to everything, even though she overall had very little knowledge of what was going on. She was just entirely ignorant yet had the attitude of someone who knew what was going on, and it was so extremely frustrating to read. On top of that, the way she ignores or processes information at times was nonsensical. She straight up does not follow up on suspicious leads during interrogations (and there's no explanation for this either, she just ignores it), and it feels like this is only so a later plot twist doesn't get spoiled too early. She also has some extremely odd rationalizations for some of her decisions, to the point it felt like she was trying to twist the words of other characters just so that it would actually be supporting whatever ridiculous decision she was about to make. Overall, it just frustrated me so much, and I found myself constantly pausing to text the friends I was reading with to see what they thought of this particular scene or decision. And unfortunately, we spend most of this book in Emilia's head, as she's rather isolated overall, so you never really get a break from all of this. It honestly would have really helped to have some solid, consistent supporting characters that would have forced Emilia to discuss and think about her decisions and assumptions.

I didn't find the rest of the characters all that special either. Wrath felt like a cookie-cutter edgy love interest, and I feel like we didn't actually spend enough time with him for me to think him and Emilia should be endgame. This was such a disappointment for me, because I loved the dynamic in Maniscalco's other series, and I know she can write a good couple/love interest. I just don't know what happened here. On top of that, the other side characters also felt not fully fleshed out, or were underused (as of the first book at least). The villain felt super obvious from the beginning, the family was inconsistent in terms of involvement in Emilia's life (they kinda let her do whatever? even though their other daughter was just murdered?? but then sometimes they all of a sudden became super strict and suspicious of what Emilia was doing), and Emilia's only friend, if you can even call them friends, was such a small part of the story that I can't even remember her name.

Honestly, the plot was where I was most drawn in, but it too faltered more and more the closer the book got to the end. My biggest annoyance here is how Maniscalco kept inserting random, new characters/lore/backstory that seemed to come out of nowhere as explanations to some parts of the mystery. We only ever got the pieces to the puzzle right as the book was about to solve it for us. This meant that we never actually got to think about the bigger picture, and theorize, as we either had none of the info, or all of it. I also really disliked that Emilia had this sort of 'intuition' that would magically lead her to where the plot needed her to go. It felt like Emilia didn't actually have to put any work towards solving what was going on, as she was just led from place to place by either feeling or other characters.

This book just really did not work for me at all, and I'm not sure if I'll read the sequel. I'm just too frustrated with Emilia as a character, and the inconsistencies that haunt this story. The premise seemed fantastic, but it was a poor execution in my opinion.