How long is this....

The internet really hyped this book up and I can tell you right now it was not worth £5.99. It was bad, it just wasn't anything particularly special. The plot was predictable, from the very beginning. How was most of this them just being suspicious that the other was cheating on them... like what? That isn't romantic that's a sign of trust issues.

Overall I'm happy for them, go romance.

Book #250 of 2022

Just enough plot to balance the smut.

Perfection.

Book #239 of 2022

Soooo adorable. 
*immediately orders volume 2*

Book #247 of 2022

This was such a drag, I probably would have dnf'd if I wasn't buddy reading. I really didn't care for any part of this, except maybe the shirtless dude. At times the pacing was slow and at other times it was too fast, the ending especially felt rushed. The characters weren't particularly strong, Wrath (aka. shirtless dude) for a main character was meh like I didn't feel much for him, now maybe that's because his whole vibe was secretive dude, but seriously dude was a bore. And Emilia annoyed me, sometimes she smart sometimes she not. Half of this book was just people making bad choices. 

Am I continuing this series? Probably cause we started this and now have to finish it. I really hope book two is better.

Book #246 of 2022

The way I screamed.

Book #245 of 2022

I had a hard time getting into Dowry mainly because I thought it was going to be completely different from what it actually is. Dowry is an epistolary novel, which essentially means that the story is told through letters, in this case from Constanta, 'Dracula's' first wife - although he is not named throughout the novel. I personally didn't find the content in the letters compelling, but I really loved, Gibson's writing the prose was lyrical and provoking, and the symbolism thoughtful.

Some of the chapters (letters) I found more compelling than others, particularly ones that moved the story forward, but it was also odd trying to find a balance between moving the story forward and really being able to sit in a time period as this is a novel that spans centuries. I think Dowry could have been a bit longer so that could have been achieved, especially as the ending is given away at the start; it just felt at times like the letters were bullet points of the plot.

Constanta and Dracula were the best-developed characters out of the four, Magdalena's background developed however, Alexi was just kind of thrown in there. Least developed, not much known, and frankly unlikeable as a character for me. However, I also think that speaks well to Gibson's writing because  Constanta did say that he was too young to be 'turned' and that did play into the maternal role she took on towards him; however, they did sleep together, so that was odd. 

Constanta was the reason I kept reading because at its core this is a novel about her emancipation and her arrival at freedom from Dracula's manipulation and control.

Overall, I gave it three stars because the quality of Gibson's writing is just superior and I will be buying a copy.

Thanks to S.T. Gibson, Net Galley, Little Brown Book Group UK, and Orbit for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Book #244 of 2022

Not for me.

The Picture Bride follows the story of three "Picture Brides": Willow, Hong-ju and Songhwa, showing the treatment they received as brides without revealing too much, how some are as young as seventeen, become isolated, and are illiterate. It's definitely a difficult read emotionally, particularly for me as I tend to become too invested in the characters I read about.

The book was definitely hard to get into for me as it provided an introduction to the world of Picture Brides, a practice I was aware of but did not really know too much about. At its core the practice of selecting brides and grooms to matchmake using only their photos, and was predominant in Hawaii and Korea (My understanding of the practice has been helped by Wikipedia). However, it was easy to read the text - just to make that clear.

I say this with any translated book I read but I'm saying it again, the core essence of any book is lost, I won't feel the same emotions reading this in English as I would if I knew Korean and could read The Picture Bride how it was meant to be read. Translation is hard, it's hard capturing just what made The Picture Bride special and bringing it to a new language, An Seon Jae does a wonderful job translating.

Overall, The Picture Bride is a solid read for lovers of historical fiction; a 3-star read.

Thanks to Lee Geum-yi, An Seon Jae, Net Galley, and Scribe UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book #242 of 2022.