This was insane. I loved the world-building, I loved the blend of cultures with each being recognizable. I loved the path  that Tarisai chose for herself rather than the one she was required to follow. It was heavily foreshadowed that she was

also a raybearer like dayo

but I don’t think that retracted from the story at all. This was incredibly well done, and felt mature even while being YA.

I felt like this dragged a bit more than the first but it was cute

I think perhaps that classics are not for me. I felt bored the whole time and while the family drama was bearable, I had no interest in the story or the characters in it.

Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for this so I may come back later and change my rating but this felt so slow and like the plot relied more on atmosphere than actual plot. I found it difficult to make myself care about what was happening and I kept pausing, doing something else and coming back to it

I feel like this could have been so much more fleshed out. The premise is fantastic, a tearoom where witches read your leaves to find your cutie and the teas (and house) are magical too. However, the chapters felt too short and didn’t encompass everything that I hoped it would. The motivations for all three sisters fell flat and the sisters themselves didn’t have much character in my opinion

This felt very YA despite it being an adult romance. I wasn’t particularly interested in any of the characters or the romance between the fmc and the mmc. I can’t really believe that she retained a crush at 28 on the mmc that started when she was 15 especially when she was heart broken over him at 17. The moral was find and I found the prose regarding nature to be impactful, but the rest felt like a teenager, not a grown woman was dealing with her feelings 

For a YA novel, this was incredibly well done. I wasn’t expecting the twist that happened about half way through, and everything after the twist was revealed pulled at my heart strings until I couldn’t bear to finish this book. The first half did seem to drag a little, and while I don’t usually enjoy disaster romance, it felt incredibly well done and true to the development of the characters even if it was a little bit of insta love. I almost cried at the end if I’m being completely honest 

This was so interesting. A sapphic asexual monster, social commentary and deciding whether being born a monster truly makes you one was not anything like I was expecting from this (I went in blind). I enjoyed the body horror and the shapeshifting and Shesheshens perspective. My only gripe is it felt a little slow in some places

I really liked the presence of depression in the form of a black hole that follows the mc around. I found it really relatable how she feels like she doesn’t quite fit in with corporate culture, or that she doesn’t belong or isn’t good enough to be there. That being said, it felt like there were a lot of words but no progression at all. I am tired of the working woman gets pregnant, freaks out and then gets an abortion trope. Like I get it as a story telling device but it feels overused at this point. I just couldn’t bring myself to care and a lot of the book just felt like yapping

This reminds me of Alice in Wonderland with how absurd the book felt. A book that changes, a toxic friendship and a city that plays tricks felt like a fantastic idea but I feel like the execution wasnt as good as it could’ve been. I don’t want to have to read a book more than once to catch everything happening because there were a lot of tricks and turns. It was really interesting tho.