Why am I so much trash for this series? It's ACTUALLY concerning
"

DNF 2 hours into audiobook

3.5/5

This was alright. Now I am by no means it's target audience: I'm not married and have never felt pressure from friends or family to do so nor am I someone who liked Pride & Prejudice--the book or movies (at me but I haven't liked any of the adaptations). I found the cultural information more interesting and didn't really connect to any of the characters.

This was a fun Jane Eyre with kind of a ghostbuster society and a bit of a nod to My Lady Jane. I lived that Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte interacted with each other! The ghost possession stuff was a fun creative twist. I did find myself hoping for more of the comedy that was in My Lady Jane but it just didn't show up.

So good from start to finish!

How in the WORLD is this the same author of The Hundredth Queen series?! I loved this and immediately ordered the rest of the trilogy. ALSO...the under dustjacket is so beautiful! The cast and plot and drama and twists and everything was great.

3.5/5

huh...this was a weird but interesting story. The highlight was easily the graphics. The illustrations and colours were absolutely beautiful.

So this was definitely a rough start but I am not mad that I pushed through.

So the book is split up into "Parts" and then chapters. Part 1 was honestly really...it was like a different author and I almost walked away. If people hadn't told me it does get better and that I have enjoyed her work in the past than I don't think I would have kept reading. I was tempted to start counting how many times Maas wanted to remind me that Bryce Quinlan was intoxicated. It had to be close to every other sentence. It was incredibly frustrating and unnecessary. Everything about the writing in Part 1 was off. It felt like someone else wrote that section because the writing returned to Maas's "regular" style after.

I also have to say Bryce Quinlan is the most fictional character name I have heard in a while.

Bryce and the rest of the cast definitely grew on me as the book went on and I was definitely getting a lot of Mortal Instruments vibes.

This was definitely my least favourite book from Maas but I do think I will read the sequel.

Well it took me like four months to read but I finished it! Now to wait another decade for her next book.

Can I regurgitate ANYTHING that happened in this book? Not if my life and my dogs lives depended on it. Did I love it? Yup!

This book frustrated me. It felt like there was no payoff and near the halfway point I just didn't understand why the book was still going.