jillie's reviews
462 reviews

I’m going to write about the negatives first & then gush about the rest.
The last few chapters were unsatisfying for me & the epilogue flipped things in a way I did not like. I won’t be continuing the series (I had decided that before even reading this, based on what others have said about the next 2), and I wish I hadn’t read the epilogue. I really dislike where it appears the story goes next.

Now that that’s out of the way, the good!

Character Work:
I could gush about these characters for so long! Harper and Rhen were very good leads. Kemmerer did so much with their storylines and their growth throughout this story. The side characters were rich & added depth to the world. I genuinely don’t think I will forget these two mains anytime soon. We got to know them very well & I just loved them.

World Building:
I really felt like I was in this kingdom. While the world isn’t large, I did feel it was detailed well enough to have a great grasp of it without being too bogged down with super intricate world building. We also got a good feel for how the kingdom was before our story starts.

Romance:
Ugh, the yearning! I loved reading these two open up to each other & learn to trust. I wanted a little bit more from their relationship in the end, but their growth to friends and more was really sweet to read.

Writing:
Not much to say here except that I greatly enjoyed it. It was emotional & I was impressed with how Kemmerer was able to convey things without pages of explanation. She puts you into the world and minds of the characters so well! I felt like I was experiencing it.

The Villain:
What I was most impressed with here was that the villain was truly terrifying. That can be hard to accomplish when you know the main character isn’t going to die. But this “big bad” was scary enough even without that threat & had plenty of torture to go around.

Overall- It’s the best Beauty & the Beast retelling I’ve read so far. loved the first 95% of it or so way more than I expected. I do wish it had stuck the landing for me (& I also wish I didn’t know certain things about where the story goes). However, I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves fantasy.

January 2024

I fell into the world & charm of this book quickly. It had major Practical Magic (movie) vibes, & also Gilmore Girls. I liked the way the witches & town were described & most of the characters. 

Towards the middle of the book I started to lose interest. There were a lot of repetitive scenes & sentences, & I honestly started skimming a lot of it. 

The culmination of the mystery & our character’s emotional journey were both very well done though. 

January 2024

I love Virginia Woolf’s writing. This was thought provoking and, well, great. Nothing too much to add about it. 

January 2024

DNF @ 71%

I never want to rate DNFs, but this time I absolutely would have if I had the option. 2 stars. 

Hard science is not my thing & had that been the only flaw, I would’ve been fine. Honestly if you stick through it, everything does start to make sense. However, the characterizations were atrocious. My final straw was when my favorite character did something so heinous I was done. Not being able to root for them anymore ruined any motivation I had to continue.  

I made it over 70% & could barely even tell you where it’s going from here or who the characters in the next books will be. 

And yeah, all the religious parallels/hatred wasn’t for me either. 

November 2023 - January 2024

I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting but this was a great fantasy stand-alone novel! The world building & character arcs were fleshed out & very well done. I was definitely pulled in to the story almost immediately & I really liked how it all turned out.

The only negative I really have is that the ending happened a bit too quickly & some of it felt almost too easy. There was also an element of insta-love & while I didn't hate it, I would have liked a bit more time before any love declarations.

All in all, great book & I definitely want to read more by this author.

January 2024

This was sweet. I really loved Anne & the family she becomes part of. I know I would have loved this even more had I read it as a child. I'm not sure I will continue the series, but I'm glad I read this one.

January 2024

This is a great book on discernment. I loved a lot of the points Anderson made, & it wasn't repetitive. I liked that she gave you more of a framework & not a list of hard & fast rules. Will definitely be recommending this to others & rereading at some point.

January 2024

3.5 isn’t necessarily a bad rating, but considering Divine Rivals was nearly 5 for me, this was a disappointment. A lot of it felt disjointed & didn’t make me feel anything like the first one did. I didn’t like the focus of it, either. To borrow from opalmars’ review further down:

I agree with everything they wrote in theirs & would encourage others to read it as well. They said it better than I could (there are spoilers though fyi). Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/e57dc547-529a-452e-ba45-ee9a7a67adc2

Overall, this sequel definitely lacked in the magic & feelings of the first. But still 3.5 because there were some beautiful sentences & I love Iris & Roman.

December 2023