jasperdotpdf's reviews
140 reviews

This... didn't really feel like a romance novel? Don't get me wrong, there was romance in it, but it really felt like it wasn't the focus of the book.

Forget Me Not is told in two timelines; the past, where Ama and Elliot are beginning to date, and the past, where Ama and Elliot are broken up, but forced to work together. The majority of the development of their actual relationship happens in the past, where we get to see how their relationship first developed. Which was all fine and dandy, and obviously not a bad choice to make in a second chance romance, but the present felt woefully underdeveloped in comparison to that. The focus was much more on the wedding they were planning, and a lot of the moments that bring them closer aren't giving the space needed for them to really have the impact they should be having, both on the characters and the reader.

I wish we'd gotten more insights into all the internal struggle both characters must be going through, especially Elliot, since the present is told entirely from Ama's perspective. It just feels like the potential of a second chance romance is wasted a little bit, because it doesn't fully utilise all of the interesting dynamics and tension that could have been there. You could definitely tell that they were reluctant to work together, but I wish there had been more of that past relationship weighing down on them and making itself known, because as-is it could've seemed like old estranged friends begrudgingly having to work together again, with a bit of added attraction. It all caused their ultimate reunion to feel a lot less earned.

I appreciate that there was a plot alongside the romance, but truthfully I didn't care one bit about the couple that was getting married, and I feel it could've had the exact same impact had it taken up less space in the story and let Ama and Elliot be the main focal point.

Also, the thing with the tattoos was corny as shit. Both Ama's weird fixation on them, as well as the way he got the flower she was named after tattooed because he can't have her. Womp Womp, get over it, basically getting your ex's name tattooed is not as cute as you think it is. 

Parts of this I loved and other parts not so much.

The atmosphere in the book was lovely, both through the writing and the setting.  I really enjoyed the fact that Niamh was from this book's version of Ireland and having some Irish customs and history be integrated into the novel. 
Niamh's own magic was also really innovative and one of my favourite ideas I've read about in a while, but the rest of the magic in the book felt very underdeveloped and more like decorative set-pieces than anything else. 

I really liked the majority of the romance, but one of the biggest things that made me struggle to fully enjoy it was the fact that the characters seemed to speak like personified therapy sessions. A lof of the conversations had the main characters frustratedly stating the problems they'd identified in the other. While I'm definitely not against love interests urging the other to cut out their shit and not let past trauma or insecurities cloud their actions, it was a little too on the nose for my tastes. It wasn't done in a way where I felt like it was realistic for them to not only have identified what was going on, but also capable of expressing it in such a clear way. The dialogue could have used one or two more rounds of filtering when going from the list of the characters' personalities and issues to what is actually coming out of their mouths. It would have made it feel a lot more like two people who have their respective issues talking to each other, rather than damn near diagnosing each other. 
In a similar vein I do also wish that Niamh's inner dialogue about her fears and tendencies to overwork herself had been more subtle, but that bothered me less than when it manifested in their conversations. 

I don't really care much about this fact, but it's also worth mentioning that this had so. many. similarities with Bridgerton, season 2 specifically. I guess it's to be expected of a romance novel set in regency England written post-2020, but it was a bit jarring.

Either way, this was overall an enjoyable book, but parts of it were underdeveloped and others threw me out of the reading experience a bit. Nevertheless, it doesn't change the fact that the book has a magical atmosphere and will be perfect for readers who want to get swept away by a love story.

I don‘t know man, this was just excruciatingly mediocre to me, and a horrid disappointment after reading Six of Crows. 

I felt like every single part of this book was underestablished, and I do think that it could‘ve immensely benefitted from an extra 100 pages or so, especially in the first half. 
So many moments lacked the impact they deserved and were clearly supposed to have because they missed exposition. I wish we‘d had more time with Alina in the beginning to develop her as a character and her relationship with Mal, for the world impacted by the Fold, for the myths about a fabled Sun Summoner. I wish we‘d had more time at the Little Palace, to get to know the side characters better, more time spent with the Darkling to give them an actual dynamic, more time for foreshadowing and build-up. 

While reading it felt like we were barrelling through the plot, and Shadow and Bone could‘ve been magnitudes better had the pace been slower and had there been more care in the characterisation of our protagonists. 

I devoured this book in one sitting. It was funny, heartwarming, and I absolutely loved my time with it. The representation of chronic pain and trauma from past relationships is so wonderfully done, which is definitely something I want to see more of in literature. 

I had some minute issues with some of the wordings used, specifically during otherwise well-written smut scenes, but that‘s such a minor detail and it pales in comparison to the joy reading this book brought me. 

100% worth staying up till 3am for. 

I'm honestly very disappointed with this book. I recently finished Nettle & Bone, my first book by Kingfisher, which I absolutely loved. My first kindle came in yesterday and when I saw that The Hollow Places was on Kindle Unlimited I immediately picked it up and was super excited to read it. 

I did like the first 70 pages or so, but once I actually got to the plot I found myself incredibly bored. I fell in love with the eccentric museum Carrot lives in, it had a certain charm that the rest of the book (at least the rest of what I read) lacked . The "willow world" they get stuck in felt not only completely disconnected from the museum, but also weirdly sterile and like a liminal space. I'm sure this was intended to be part of what made it so horrifying but it took the soul out of the book for me. While I don't know if it's the nature of the setting, or the fact that I struggled to imagine it that made it seem so empty while reading, I do know that it did not work for me.

Furthermore, the humour that I felt was so seamlessly integrated into Nettle & Bone felt very out of place here. Carrot's constant jokes and pop-culture references—like her mentions of (smutty) fanfic—consistently threw me off and nullified any kind of fear and atmosphere some of the admittedly scary scenes could have evoked. Her characterisation in general felt a little odd for a 34 year old woman going through a divorce, the explanation of which was also very brief, in part causing Carrot as a protagonist to feel very shallow. 

The entire book wasn't very thematically consistent, the worldbuilding and characters were hollow (ha, ironically) and the plot bored me. While it did have some endearing qualities, those quickly got lost in a storyline that failed to hook me.

I'm holding out hope that her more recent works will be more up my alley, since I adored Nettle & Bone, but this one was unfortunately a miss.

Man, this was such a delight to read. I started off a little sceptical; it felt like we were dropped in at a bit of an odd moment and the worldbuilding seemed very arbitrary to me.

However, as we went on I absolutely fell in love with the book. I accepted that it simply had very soft worldbuilding, which ended up contributing to the book reading like a fairy tale in the best way possible. It captured that magic of the books and movies I interacted with as a kid without feeling formulaic, and also incorporating the darker themes of classic fairy talels like the original Gebrüder Grimm stories.

It was funny, gorgeously written and the cast of characters were so thoroughly loveable; from the demonic chicken to the bubbly godmother to the endearingly stubborn main character, each and every one of them sneaked their way into my heart. 
 
Nettle and Bone works perfectly well as a standalone, but I wish there was more to read because I adore everything about this book. I absolutely cannot wait to read more from T. Kingfisher.