I liked that it gave us such a variety characters within one family
But the award for cringiest sex scenes goes to this book

I'm giving it a 4 bc it is beautiful writing and very developed characters and setting for such a short novella, and also because I just have to accept this isn't my jam, this style of writing or story, this just isn't for me, but it still is good for somebody else that the style and story suits them

Holy physical abuse, batman!
There's a LOT. I know it's a harsh world she's in but YIKES.
But other than that there's so much to enjoy in here and while it did slump in the middle it picked back up at the end so I've decided I'll read the 2nd one.
I would've really appreciated 1)a cast of characters list at the back and 2)a world building map
Also there's a reason it's compared to Harry Potter and one is definitely the whole "oh if only I had magical powers!" lamenting that ophelia, much like Harry, does, and it's like "ophelia USE YOUR DAMN POWERS", why does she not read every object when she needs information? Why does she not use mirrors more?
Maybe these issues get resolved in the 2nd book. I shall see.

This took me forever bc I did it on audiobook and turns out I still don't like audiobooks but also this book is really not suited to it--there's several text conversations and they don't translate well to being read by one voice
I'm trying to name something good and struggling bc generally I like Curtis Sittenfeld, but this was a miss. There is a kind of fun, trope-y, element of "regular(ish) person dates celebrity" to it, and also there are some hints of "Pride and Prejudice".
But mostly I found these two main characters exhausting people so, I guess glad they found each other and won't be inflicting themselves on any other ppl haha. And a lot of it was an exercise in cringe (there are two "serenade with a guitar" scenes, which I could not receive with anything but second hand embarrassment).
Also, on the one hand I'm glad a lot of the plot didn't require hearing more of the character's comedy writing, but if you're gonna have a character whose job is writing at an SNL style sketch show, and is considered very good at that job then that character needs to actually be funny. I didn't think Sally was funny at all so I spent a lot of time wondering how in the world she'd get hired at a sketch comedy show?
Anyhow, I finished it and if you're looking for something low-tax for your brain, this would work, but other than that, not a lot here.

I managed to finish but it was a difficult thing. It's disappointing because I think this could have been a really interesting world to explore and cool powers, except that the main character almost never uses her powers and then keeps lamenting that she never knows what's going on, and it's like whip off those gloves, girl, jump through some mirrors!
I was willing to read this 2nd one bc sometimes the 1st in a series is rocky but this'll be the end of this series for me