This book is... fine. Cute, even. But it didn't blow my pants off. I got mad with Teo several times during the story for being a huge pushover, and honestly, he never really gets over that, which is something that vexes me most extremely. 

I also didn't like that we basically got no content with the main couple being an actual couple... they say "I love you" and get together "for real" literally two pages from the end and then the epilogue is a very short

proposal

scene set one year in the future. I don't tend to jive with stories where the main couple's problems could be solved with one simple conversation, which is definitely the case here. Worse, we never really get to see them have this conversation... it's skipped over in favor of the "I love you." 
 
However, I don't think the book is irredeemable. The main couple, Teo and Jack, are cute as fuck. I liked most of the side characters well, especially Grandpa Banks and Millie. If you like fake dating, I bet you'll like this book and I encourage you give it a chance. 

This is a quick read, but not an enjoyable one. I feel bad giving it 1 star, but at the same time, I didn't enjoy anything about it. It's not criminally offense or unreadable, but still, it didn't inspire anything in me.

Now, this could be a me problem—I do not enjoy fast burns and this is the quintessential definition of a fast burn. I feel like this book would have benefitted heavily from being double the length. The characters are hard to get attached to because the author tells us basically nothing about them or their feelings. Elam is (famous?) a nature photographer, something that he supposedly loves to do, but it is never brought up again after he enters the cabin with Nic. Nic supposedly makes beautiful wood sculptures and one-of-a-kind furniture pieces, but we never see him do it or think about it besides whittling a small toy in the very beginning. I feel like if the burn was just a bit slower, and we saw these characters doing their hobbies apart from each other, it would give the story the depth it's lacking.

I also feel like Elam and Nic's backgrounds/traumas are not explored enough.

Why not have Elam start having dreams about being a wolf after breaking up with his ex and deciding to go to Alaska because of them? He apparently has diluted wolf blood/a dormant wolf, so do something with that! Why not have Nic start dreaming about having a mate with children, which could freak him out (since he prefers to be alone)? Why not have him unconsciously carve a sculpture of his dream mates face (Elam)? Why not have Elam run across Nic in wolf form when he's out photographing nature and feel a yearning he "can't place"?

Am I crazy to think there is so much more the author could have done? Instead of using these little character nuggets, we get a half-assed rushed relationship and pregnancy with no real depth or feeling.

As an aside, the e-book is atrociously formatted, at least on Kindle Unlimited, which I used to read this book. Overall, I feel like there are much better omegaverse books out there to get your fix. 

I knew I would enjoy this book the moment I read the epigraph. This is one of my favorite quotes of all time, and I don't even have the nostalgia of The Chronicles of Narnia to fall back on. Something about it has always touched me, and this book managed to follow in its footsteps and touch me as well. I legitimately teared up several times while reading this,

especially when I read the poem Rafe's dad wrote him right before he died

.

The prose was absolutely beautiful in this book. I wrote down several quotes as I was reading, which is rare for me. Additionally, the worldbuilding was amazing. Shanandoah really does feel like a 13 year old came up with it, which I appreciated as a detail. And while I was unsure of the "Storyteller Corner" sections in the beginning, I really liked how they were used throughout the book. The romance is also very sweet. I tend to really like the

second chance romance

trope when it's done well, and I think the book nails it. Don't go in expecting any spice, though. On the scale, this book is barely seasoned with black pepper! 

A little list of all the quotes I loved:

If I had to give one critique—which is also the reason I'm giving this book four stars instead of five—it's that the dialogue is incredibly inconsistent. Sometimes it works, but other times it feels so stilted and unnatural. For example, I found Jeremy calling Emilie

Princess

out of nowhere was very strange, even if we find the reason out later on. It's not bad he did it, but I feel like it could have been introduced more organically. Or another time, when Jeremy asks "Anything?" twice in the same conversation, on the same page

(p. 154)

. This was absolutely the weakest part of the book for me. 

If you're looking for a fun, lighthearted read, I'd highly recommend this book. It's not a mind blowing experience, but I don't think it's trying to be either. It's a story about friendship, love, and what the power of the pen. It's a fairy tale through and through. Or is it?

P.S. One day, I'm going to bake that cake. Mark my words.

I originally thought I would rate this book 3 stars, but after some consideration, I decided to knock it down to 2 stars. I think I gave too much weight to the premise of the book, which is one that really interests me. I love that this book explores the human need to create and share art even in the apocalypse. I find it a fresh take on post-apocalyptic media, as I certainly have never seen a story like it before. Survival is insufficient. But that initial idea is not enough to make the overall product enjoyable. However, the thing that's keeping the rating from going even lower is the prose. The prose is spectacular—the author truly has a way with words. I particularly liked the "No more" sequences early on in the book and I wish they had stuck around.

The first two sections of the book were incredibly strong—if the story continued to be that strong, this book could have easily gotten 5 stars from me. But very quickly after that, we dive into the past and stay there. I am sorry, but there is no reason we needed

to know every detail of Arthur and Miranda's lives, marriage, and eventual divorce. It was completely irrelevant to the story

. Ninety percent of the sections we read about the past could (should) have been cut out and the story would have improved because of it.

I also felt like everything was simultaneously too close to the end of the world and too far. For example, in the book, dogs are described as wolfish or muttish and the younger members of society don't recognize dog breeds like Pomeranians, but it's only been twenty years since the fall of civilization so it's not like dog breeds would have disappeared in that short amount of time. But then you still have things like people living in the shell of a Wendy's twenty years on, which seems so unrealistic. If one "town" was described this way, I might be able to accept it, but that's not the case—no, in fact, this is described as normal by the members of The Symphony. Why wouldn't people move into houses, or even try to construct their own? Especially after twenty years?

Why did it take the people in the Severn City Airport two years to make, at the very least, tents to sleep in?

Not to mention, the collapse of civilization itself is written weirdly in this book. I don't know how to describe it, but it feels like the author retcons it several times as she keeps going back to the past.

One thing that springs to mind is Miranda being unable to get a flight out of Malaysia when she finds out that Arthur has died. She finds out he died the next morning, basically, and the narrative says that the airports are already closed by the time she gets back to the hotel. But then when we learn about how Clark got stranded where he did, he was taking a flight to Arthur's funeral, which is a day or two after he informed Miranda of Arthur's death... so airports were still open. Then you have parts of the narrative that say people stayed on the internet until it blinked out, but then in Clark's later sections, you see that people couldn't access the internet even the first day or two after they were grounded.

I feel like these issues were exacerbated by the nonlinear narrative.

I am not a person who hates disjointed narratives—in fact, I quite like them when they are done well—but in this case, I think this style of narrative really hindered the story. If I had to pinpoint why, it would be because everything is too cleanly linked.

The twist was way too easy to guess. I called that Tyler was The Prophet in part three when we were getting Miranda's backstory, that's how easy it was.

It doesn't help that Station Eleven (the comic) literally has no bearing on the story whatsoever.

The only impacts are the dog which is named Luli and Kirsten quoting one line from the comic to Tyler at the end. Worse still, Tyler barely even reacts to Kirsten quoting it and then we don't even get an explanation to how this shaped Tyler's worldview as he dies two paragraphs later. I posit that you could literally delete every reference to Station Eleven (the comic) and the narrative stays the same. It is why the past sections didn't hit hard at all—there is no reason to spend that much time on Miranda creating Station Eleven just for the pay off to be practically nothing.

This is also one of my greatest "sins" in writing—having a comic book be part of the narrative and not showing it. Why can't we get black and white prints of the comic interspersed in the book, especially if it's supposed to be a such a big part of the story?

I also found every other character besides The Symphony to be more interesting, and I know why—they have names. It is insane to me that most of the members of The Symphony are referred to as their instrument. It kept me from getting attached to the characters. And for the ones that were named, I feel like we didn't get any resolution with them at the end.

Why didn't Kirsten and Sayid have a conversation after everything that happened? Why didn't we get to see Clark and Kirsten have that conversation about Arthur, especially because we had to spend so much time learning about him in the first place?

The story took too long to get back to Jeevan, Clark, and Miranda in my opinion. I wanted to know more about them, not Arthur's newest scandal. I especially wish we got more from Miranda post-apocalypse. It seems like she survived

(if her waking up to see ships on the horizon is any indication)

and I would have loved to know what life was like

on the other side of the globe

. Instead we got nothing but a lackluster ending. It should have ended when

Clark showed Kirsten the town with electricity

. I was shocked we got a whole section after that, for no reason that I could discern. 

Despite all my complaints, I still think the book is worth reading simply because of the premise. I know that seems crazy, but as I said before—I don't know of any other story that centers humanity's need for art in a post-apocalyptic setting. I have heard from some that it is better, so that is an option for experiencing the premise too. Since I liked the author's writing style so much, I would be open to reading another book by her in the future. 

P.S. There is a quote from the book that is not very remarkable, but has stuck with me nonetheless. Probably because it hits close to home, having experienced the Covid 19 pandemic. 

I'm not surprised I liked this, but I am surprised to be giving it 5 stars. The book has sat with me for a while now and I can't find any glaring faults with it, so why shouldn't be 5 stars? I loved the characters and the world. It was so interesting. I liked that we didn't get all the answers right away and how the author was able to tie everything together at the end.

The world really captivated me. From the moment we're in the bone pit with Marra, to learning about dust-wives and godmothers, to the goblin market, I was truly invested. The author gives us an actual adult protagonist and love interest, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Marra, although she was sheltered, never felt young to me, which I appreciated. I ended up really loving all the characters, especially Agnes. I wish we had gotten to learn more about her past

and mother

, but since she's not the main character by any means, I'll let it slide.

If I have one criticism of the book, it would be that, after Marra escaped the blistered land, the stakes never felt high again. Despite the macabre set dressing, this is more in line with a cozy fantasy than anything else. This wasn't a deal-breaker for me, but if you're looking for a lot of tension, this book won't provide it. I actually liked this aspect of it. This could be me reading this book at the right time, since I've been in the mood for this type of book.

I would love a sequel to this so I hope T. Kingfisher is cooking it up. I need to see Marra and Fenris

rescue the other indentured humans from the goblin market. I also want to see Agnes and the dust-wife living together and getting into all sorts of shenanigans

.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it if you're looking for a quick, easy fantasy read in an exceptionally fleshed out world (for how short the book is). 

It's long overdue for me to write this, but I had to DNF this book because I'm not in the right headspace. It's so incredibly long, and the worst part is that it doesn't need to be. There's literally no reason for this to be over 400 pages. I would be open to giving this book another chance in the future, though. 

I have a lot to say, having read so little. I decided to DNF after reading the third chapter because I can't get over how completely terrible the worldbuilding is. I went into this knowing it was a fantasy romance and it wouldn't be the most epic or thoughtful setting imaginable, but even then, I can't look past the utter stupidity of the world.

There is a nation at war and they have set up a military school to train their recruits. Fine, I can accept this. What I cannot accept is that a nation at war would let hundreds of recruits die each year trying to go over a glorified balance beam to get a chance at becoming a dragon rider. I'm sorry, it's just too stupid. Why wouldn't they line up all the recruits, let the dragons pick who they want, and then put the rest of them in the infantry? YOU NEED THE BODIES.

Not the mention that apparently this nation allows traitors and their children to become high-ranking officers in their ranks? And allows the recruits to literally kill one another? This is supposed to be a military academy! The one job of a military academy above all else to is foster a bond between recruits so that they want to fight with each other and, subsequently, are willing to die for their country. Letting recruits kill each other does not do that. Letting traitors into your ranks does not do that.

If you had a great time reading this, I'm happy for your. But if you are like me and at least need your worlds to make sense, skip this one. 

A DNF at 7% may seem harsh tosome, but this book knew just how to piss me off in that short amount of time. The book is set in Conneticut, which is a one-party consent state. What does that mean, and why does that matter? Well, it means that you only need the consent of one person in a conversation to record it, and this person can be you. It matters because, in the trial, some evidence is excluded because Pip didn't have permission from others to record conversations. She shouldn't need that!!

I know it seems petty, but there are so many other books in the world that if one of them pisses me off for whatever reason, I just need to move onto the next one. I enjoyed the first book for what it was, but I don't think I'll be continuing the series.

Edit on 6/14/2024: I have recently learned that this book was originally written to be set in England and this was mysteriously changed for the American editions of the book. I honestly thought we had moved passed this. Why do publishers do this? It's so stupid.

It does, however, make a lot of little choices in the story make sense, though. In England, you have to have two-party consent to record a conversation, while this is not necessarily true in the US. The author or "translation" team could have done a better job and picked a state with laws that match England's, but I'm more willing to give this a pass now. 

I feel like a 3.5 is very apt for this novella. I can't quite give it a 4 because I feel like the story progression was choppy and the ending was extremely abrupt. It also didn't have a lot of sex in it, which was one of my favorite parts of Unrivaled. However, there was a lot of stuff I truly enjoyed. Grady and Max were entertaining as always. I also loved the whole plotline of both of them wanting to propose. Very cute. I would definitely recommend reading this if you've already read Unrivaled. You shouldn't read this as a standalone though. 

If you like instant attraction and aliens, don't let my DNF discourage you from trying this out. It's not horribly written. However, things were moving too fast for me, especially considering the human male lead starts out the book saying he's not gay. I just feel like the book should be triple the length considering the story the author wants to tell.