As many other reviewers, I’m conflicted by this book. It had all the ingredients of a book I would typically love, but I just didn’t enjoy it.

The characters just did not mean much to me. I felt little to no care about what would happen to them. I felt like I barely knew them. Could not point them out in a line up.

I did like the way the Wood was “remedied”… in regard to the message it conveyed. Even though it felt really disconnected from the earlier parts of the book? It was strange… like each chapter was written by a different person who didn’t have knowledge of previous chapters other than the SparkNotes summaries.

The romance was very … shallow? I’m perfectly fine with the romance plot being in the background, I’m okay that it wasn’t more major than it was. But it felt like there was no reason they even liked each other except for the forced proximity in early chapters? I liked their scenes working together to create and build their magic, and I honestly think this book may have been better if they had a friendship relationship instead 😅

I think I’m mainly angry because people told me to read this if I loved Emily Wilde … and uh no. No, don’t do that.