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A review by multicoloredbookreviews
Secret Witch by Letty Frame
3.0
In a word, this book was CHAOTIC.
I think the thing I liked the most about Secret Witch was the cute chapter art. It was also a fun change reading a book with British spellings—even if seeing lawyer instead of solicitor or barrister threw me for a bit of a loop.
The harem got introduced fairly early on (at least most of it), and from the very moment Eirik and Meal kicked down Elzora's door, things never stopped being wildly chaotic and, at times, confusing. I mean, even the names were weird and impossible to know how to pronounce: Eirik, Zohar, Ciar, Mael, and Ryes (plus three others, whose names I didn't write down and don't remember).
The guys were all weirdly volatile and mercurial, and even after finishing the book I'm unsure whether that was done on purpose or not (I'm leaning towards 'not'). And since they all behaved the same and had virtually the same personality, it was very much a struggle to keep them apart. They were all so INTENSE all the time.
I also found it strange how completely unaware and unbothered Zoe was not only of their unusual behavior but also of how touchy-feely they all acted with her—particularly considering how, even if she'd spent a few childhood summers with these guys, she hadn't seen them in nearly a decade. Seven years had gone by since their last summer together and now, at 20, they were all hugging her and kissing her head and forehead like it was no big deal. It was weird as hell. At times I couldn't help but frame it as: "the ultimate people pleaser meets a bunch of guys with zero understanding of boundaries".
Even more than halfway through, things remained confusing and drastic. I quickly grew tired of everyone constantly dealing with emotions on the "extreme" side of the spectrum. The guys were always growling, snarling, barking, roaring, hissing, and I was left wondering why they couldn't just be chill for a minute. The sheer chaoticness turned this novel into a less-than-pleasing reading experience for me—even if the plot had some interesting elements. Constantly reading about characters experiencing the superlative equivalents of human emotions left me feeling drained and exhausted.
And I had very little solid ground to hang on to. There were so few physical descriptions, I still have practically no idea what any of the characters looked like. No mention of eye color, hair color, build, height, ethnicity, nothing. Plus, there was a noticeable amount of sentences where words were missing, and the editing/proofreading got decidedly sloppier towards the end of the book.
Secret Witch was too much of a frenzied jumble of baffling events. I don't think I'll be picking up future books in the series.
I think the thing I liked the most about Secret Witch was the cute chapter art. It was also a fun change reading a book with British spellings—even if seeing lawyer instead of solicitor or barrister threw me for a bit of a loop.
The harem got introduced fairly early on (at least most of it), and from the very moment Eirik and Meal kicked down Elzora's door, things never stopped being wildly chaotic and, at times, confusing. I mean, even the names were weird and impossible to know how to pronounce: Eirik, Zohar, Ciar, Mael, and Ryes (plus three others, whose names I didn't write down and don't remember).
The guys were all weirdly volatile and mercurial, and even after finishing the book I'm unsure whether that was done on purpose or not (I'm leaning towards 'not'). And since they all behaved the same and had virtually the same personality, it was very much a struggle to keep them apart. They were all so INTENSE all the time.
I also found it strange how completely unaware and unbothered Zoe was not only of their unusual behavior but also of how touchy-feely they all acted with her—particularly considering how, even if she'd spent a few childhood summers with these guys, she hadn't seen them in nearly a decade. Seven years had gone by since their last summer together and now, at 20, they were all hugging her and kissing her head and forehead like it was no big deal. It was weird as hell. At times I couldn't help but frame it as: "the ultimate people pleaser meets a bunch of guys with zero understanding of boundaries".
Even more than halfway through, things remained confusing and drastic. I quickly grew tired of everyone constantly dealing with emotions on the "extreme" side of the spectrum. The guys were always growling, snarling, barking, roaring, hissing, and I was left wondering why they couldn't just be chill for a minute. The sheer chaoticness turned this novel into a less-than-pleasing reading experience for me—even if the plot had some interesting elements. Constantly reading about characters experiencing the superlative equivalents of human emotions left me feeling drained and exhausted.
And I had very little solid ground to hang on to. There were so few physical descriptions, I still have practically no idea what any of the characters looked like. No mention of eye color, hair color, build, height, ethnicity, nothing. Plus, there was a noticeable amount of sentences where words were missing, and the editing/proofreading got decidedly sloppier towards the end of the book.
Secret Witch was too much of a frenzied jumble of baffling events. I don't think I'll be picking up future books in the series.