Ugh omg the slow burn romance and the ending of this book is just killer!

Rep: main male character's parents are gay

3.5/5

This wasn't quite what I was expecting from this. It first seems like a murder mystery set in a contemporary magical boarding school but then it pulls in a magic-less functioning alcoholic detective and then a weird abortion plot. The characters were fine and the mystery did keep me guessing for the whole book BUT I don't know about the ending. The ending for the detective seems abruptly ended and the ending for the detective's sister seemed very idealistic and to not really fit the rest of the book. It was just quite weird but also refreshing for that reason. I honestly don't know if I necessarily liked it or disliked it or would recommend it.

Rep: one of the high school students is in a F/F romance as well as two female teachers are in a F/F romance

Agh this book needed to be cut down. There's just so much dense information and the two plot lines move along so dang slowly. There was no surprise as to who was The Huntress either. Like none what so ever so I don't know why they delayed the reveal so long.

I liked this more than The Alice Network buy I think I've just come to the conclusion that Quinn's stuff isn't terrible but it's overhyped and not my taste.

Rep: one of the main female characters is in a F/F romance

First of all, the sequel being titled Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air gives me life. You don't even understand how much I appreciate these titles.

So I've never watched Alias so I cannot say much about that comparison but this definitely reminded me of a mash up of several shows but Scorpion and X-Men definitely stand out. This was quite a fast paced and a bit chaotic/mind boggling book. There wasn't much time to process what happened because something else would happen immediately after. I definitely want the next book to delve more into exactly WHAT created Teagan and the others with Gifts since we know there are others who have different abilities.

The ending alliance reveal surprised the hell out of me. It was pure chaos but I love how Teagan took that experience and made her be more up front with the people around her instead of hiding herself and her inner monologues. I was also shocked how the "romance" ended but I sort of appreciated it for not going the way most books do.

This was cute! It's definitely a book for people who spend most of their nights reading or thinking about reading.

I definitely related to Nina but she is (somehow) more socially active and has more of a romance life. The idea of working at an indie bookstore is amazing and being super organized/planner is very me. I'm just missing a long lost family and inheritance (fingers crossed come onnnnnnnn inheritance).

I think the romance was cute but it needed more time and development. I loved their banter and I definitely sensed an attraction but it seemed a bit rushed through. I loved all the meet cute moments but there just should've been a bit more of them.

TRIGGER WARNING: A grandfather drugs, rapes and impregnates his teenage granddaughter. It is not graphically described but it does occur

I tend to come out of every Moira Fowley-Doyle book angry but they're always just so damn good. This is a pro-choice and pro-access book. Let's just get that out there. If you're someone who goes full "even in rape, abortion shouldn't be given because it's a gift from God" person, this is not a damn book for you.

I remember a few years ago when all of the protests and anger about abortion access in Ireland happened. I cannot fucking believe there are countries LITERALLY USING THE ARGUMENTS OF THE 1800S TO TRY AND BRING BACK ABORTION BANS. It makes me want to pull my hair out. I cannot imagine thinking you have the right to tell a total stranger--under any circumatances--what they should do with their body and having to be a parent. Mind your own damn business!

Anyways, duel timelines were so good. I freaking loved how they slowly started tying together. It so perfectly showed how completely messed up governments with laws directly put there by religious institutions have these multi-generational effects that constantly oppress women, feminism, and access to healthcare. All of the issues brought up were actually big driving forces as to why I won't touch religious institutions with a ten foot poll. It's all hard to read but it's important.

I really enjoyed the contemporary timeline with the 3 sisters. Our main character is ownvoices lesbian (I mean it'd be weird not getting any queer rep from a book by Moira Fowley-Doyle). It really brought up this continued fight of separation of Church and religion from publicly funded entities such as schools as well as homophobia. I lived in this pretty wonderful bubble growing up where I had parents and grandparents who never cared what mine or my siblings orientation was. I always saw lots of support groups like GSA's and I just honestly lived in a very diverse geographic area (and a country that legalized same sex/equal marriage and abortion access before it was something I ever thought about) and wonderful time period before Donald Trump. Now I don't doubt that there was homophobia but it was most definitely not a publicly acceptable thing to be. It was quite eye opening to see in 2012 that people were still homophobic. This would've really surprised me maybe 5 years ago but I now live in a very white religious geographic area where I hear homophobic things said all the time. It's quite depressing so even though I am cis and straight, I could see all the homophobia in this novel happening in the real world.

The witchy paranormal elements were eery but also just seemed...normal somehow? Maybe I just think Ireland is some magical fairyland with lepricons or something.

On a positive note, the ending is a hopeful one. I think that was so important for the topic. That we be positive. That we fight for change. That we keep being loud and pushing and advocating for victims of sexual assaults, for feminism, for safe access to abortions, and to support for single and low income parents.

Rep: the main character is lesbian and her best (male) friend is bisexual

So this is basically Beauty & The Beast but Beast is a wolf. Now I have very strong feelings about the ABSOLUTE ABUSE of using the B&tB story. It's overused to a mindboggling degree in YA. I've had enough. I even eye rolled with Marissa Meyer said she was debating it. Do you comprehend how overused this has to be for MARISSA MEYER not even being able to sell me on it?! THINK ABOUT THAT! I'm done with them! Stop! There are endless other stories and folklores to retell. Stop with the freaking Beauty and the Beast!

Ok mini rant over.

Joanna Ruth Meyer's writing really does lend itself well to dark fantasies/folklore. I want more folklore and darker toned fantasies from her going forward but I will burn things down if it's another heavily abused fairytale.

For the book itself, it was fine. I enjoyed the characters and the setting but the plot doesn't really offer anything new to every other fantasy retelling.

Okay I'm just gonna make a shortcut on my keyboard to say this: "I've read this book before and you likely have to." BUT--and it's a big BUT--it's not a cast of all white people in a fantasy world which is basically England! I have zero issue with offering these tried and true YA stories coming out but with representation. We need that. Another person deserves the chance to read a book where they can point and be like "oh my God! That's me!" I got that my whole life and it's about freaking time people who aren't cis straight and white in North America are getting this.

Now the writing was easily the most impressive part to me. For a debut work, I am really impressed. I was concerned at the size of the book but it just flew by. All the story was used to develop the world and characters and relationships. There wasn't 200 pages where I was pulling out my hair for something to happen. This book also includes two of my favourite things in books: family lineage reveals & animals as more than pets.

This had a lot of things I loved and the writing was flawless.

Jo had potential to be a huge issue for me. I can't stand timid girls who just accept abuse and being put down. While Jo is definitely not a loud modern feminist, she was a likeable character that I just couldn't not be empathetic towards. Her personality is logical based on the time period and being Chinese in the US. She picks and chooses how she expresses her frustrations in smart ways. She's clearly a very passionate and caring person which I can't imagine that being easy when you're consistently the target of abuse.

I loved that this book acknowledged what the suffragette movement was at the time (spoiler, it was racist as hell). We don't really acknowledge that as much as we should.

And GLORY GLORY GLORY there was a lineage reveal which *finger gun* hi, I'm Samm and you auto earn a 0.5 star rating increase when you include a lineage reveal.

DNF @ chapter 8