“Which came first, being treated as unworthy or being unworthy? In the end, it didn't matter. If others believed she was evil, or beautiful, or guilty, they made that true.”

ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I have a lot to say, but I'm going to attempt to only hit on the most important aspects that formed my rating.

I had initial misgivings about this book, but a reviewer I trusted really loved it and made me excited for it. While I can see what would draw people to this, my reading experience did not have the same outcome. The humor in this book reads like a 2014 tumblr post collection used to shame past generations, something that only exists now for people to be confused on how they ever found that funny. Only, this is the actual humor of the book.

Many things about this novel actually seemed to be better suited to 2014 - which a lot of readers might be really happy with. But even the way feminism was discussed or the meta fandom/fantasy conversations were all so incredibly recycled that it was eye-roll inducing.

(There's also a lot of internet references, such as "You sweet cinnamon roll. Too good, too precious for this world." which is something to note if that kind of thing irritates you.)


Next, this is pitched as a book lover gets sent into her favorite world. That's not entirely the case. The fmc's sister loves the books and introduced the fmc/Rae to them. Rae skimmed the first book and didn't complete the series, but her sister was reading them to her. The books are her favorite stories and she loves the musical (more on that later), but I wouldn't pitch this as a reader gets the chance to live out her favorite book when she never even finished it.

I think the point of this was meant to communicate that there's no right way to consume a story/be a reader, which is completely true. However, in this instance, it feels a bit insincere to say that the book lover gets sent into her favorite book.


This is not beginning on the amount of references to Lady Rahela's monstrously gigantic bosom (and there were a lot) or the scene where they attend a fantasy ball and distract everyone by performing the book's musical equivalent from the real world, complete with the most... interesting lyrics I have ever seen lol.


As for the characters themselves... I didn't connect with any of them. This disappointed me, because I was hoping for the kind of story that humanized the 'evil' characters and made you connect with them - even if they remained evil. There was an attempt for that, but it never felt fully realized.

Rae was a pain to read from. Before the story starts she had been through some terrible things that both jaded her and stunted her maturity, so it makes sense that she reads like a whiny, childish ass for the majority of the book. The problem here is that knowing why she's that way didn't make it any easier to be in her brain.

The romances were very stilted and (to me) felt like nothing more than the fulfillment of tropes, with a romantic scene having one of the worst lines of dialogue I've ever read. Ever.


Here's where my thoughts get conflicted. Everything about this book was clearly purposeful. Even the "anatomically impossible" breasts were supposed to prove a point (namely, curvaceous women are not evil seductresses). However, that point feels undermined when your own story falls into the same patterns as what you're attempting to critique.
There was the discussion of agency and purity/virginity and how a woman's sexual actions shouldn't have any hold on her worth (all good discussions) but it still felt empty.

There's also the fact it really is obvious how much this story means to the author. How much fantasy as a genre means to the author. That's perhaps the thing that is keeping this from being a one star read, is that I felt the amount of heart put into this and how important it was to Brennan.

I'll even say that there was a lot of work put into the world-building of the fantasy novel. It wasn't always coherent and oftentimes meant to be satirical, but I know this must have been a pain to write and even with the confusing moments, I was impressed on how the story was formed.


Overall, this may not have worked out for me but I don't think it's a terrible book. It has a lot of flaws and cringeworthy moments, but it also had a meaning that I'm sure will touch a lot of readers.

I'm grateful for the chance to read it and I hope it finds its perfect audience.