naankattai's reviews
497 reviews

The male lead in this got on my nerves with his Mannishness, enough that I was like, I need to check how long ago this was written (it was 2003, btw). But by about halfway through, I could ignore the things I didn't like, as it's packed with things I do! magic, family, a sharp Nora-Roberts-stereotype female lead. I'm looking forward to the other ships too!

Really short & almost too slight to fully land, which is my main issue - it feels like Park kind of powers through & glances over both story and character. And that's a shame because I thought both story and character were charming & interesting & unique! I'd spend more time in this universe! 

This was so very charming, and I loved so much that they get together/married like halfway in and we get to spend time with them in that. I also liked that any drama surrounding their relationship was extremely limited! Selina and Peter are both extremely darling and so very clearly adore each other's personalities and drive and values, and it's so fun to see them both supporting and needling each other the whole time. 

But unfortunately the book did not really hit the beats I usually like in historical romances. It felt at times, especially in the beginning, like the second part of a series, where Peter & Selina had loved and met each other before? And on that - I was also very conscious of how much all the other women involved will be future heroines in upcoming series, WHICH IS NICE, but always a little distracting! 

Anyway I'm excited about the others in this series, including what looks to be a gay one, hooray

This wasn't bad (hence the rating) but I felt I kept waiting for The Terrible Thing to happen and it just kept edging closer and closer. And most of the time you spend waiting for The Terrible Thing is spent knee-deep in the grimiest of Hollywood, period-accurate racism, and some loathsome characters, all of which kind of made it a slog for me. I liked that there wasn't anything likable about this book's Tinseltown, and I liked Vera and sped through her & Salome's stuff. Everything else just made me impatient, and everyone else is flat, and I was waiting to get back to them both. 

I did love the way the author tied both stories together, and I found her writing style good & snappy. 

Parts of this did feel like a thought exercise, an essay explored as a conversation, but I enjoyed it deeply all the same. It's nice and important to remember there's more to you than function. 

Love ya, Becky Chambers!

Thank you to my friend Lara for talking recently about how much she loves & revisits this book, as it prompted me to finally check this out and remember the sheer power of a) a good historical romance and b) a Mary Balogh book. It is MAGIC. 

Kit & Lauren are both such lovely characters who work so hard to give the other the tools/chances to prove themselves or to have aches fixed or to simply be happy. I loved every second with them and loved the way they so clearly adored each other's company. Lauren is my favourite kind of take of an 'icy' female character, and Kit is my favourite kind of 'rake' - neither are either extreme, and neither are dramatically hurt or angsty, and everything else they talk out and sort out together!!! And they are so surrounded with people who love them and want what's best for them too. Crying while smiling emoji!

I gotta read more Baloghs now thank you.

Ended up just weeping at this. For the first few chapters of the book, a lot of my interest & love came from recognition — the adventures of seeking edible Indian food when going to a 'vellaikaaran' country, the karung guni man. Then the stories unfurled into stories about women; specifically, Tamil Brahmin women, and the stories they live with, the men & culture that shape their lives, and the women who build them. Even in not being in the same situations as them, I found so much of it deeply recognisable. And in a way I found that gutting? Not the good parts or the parts about love, but the parts that felt culling or restrictive or abrasive — because that means there are other women like me who have thought and seen these things about the women who came before them, like my grandmother's too-traditional response to periods, or the distant aunt in my family who was married off and never returned. Idk man. The granddaughter of the family managing to work out an arranged marriage with someone she loves felt healing, as did the other granddaughter canoodling with her girlfriend in front of the family during the wedding, lmao. <3 

Anyway. Feelings aside, I thought this worked on a technical level too. The "short story cycle" style works perfectly, with little connecting threads of people you know and want to know more about. I loved that Ram wrote about traditions and cultures and snuck in Tamil words (& even sidenotes about accents) without spelling shit out every step of the way for people who wouldn't understand. And I loved that her approach to even big, "dramatic" moments that made my heart ache never tipped into feeling melodramatic or weepy, just matter-of-fact. It's lovely, efficient writing. I found it deeply moving.

Wow, it's super rare to me that a heavily-recommended and uber-loved book manages to over-deliver. And it's even rarer for a book to so beautifully balance real, awful, hard things with THE most giddiness-inducing stuff. Two moments in this stood out to me as peak romance, which also felt so joyous to me - one of which was Shane's absolute THRILL at meeting Eva's daughter. It is so fuckin sweet?? and I never see books capture that wonder of meeting a version of a person you love. 

Anyway. The tough parts were tough, yes, but didn't ever feel heavy-handed or deliberately dark to me, which I think was a feat. And the bright parts were so, so bright.  

Deeply likable and a pleasure to read. I was impressed by just how much it avoided having airs around it, even while being dreamy and drifting into thoughts about life & writing & life-as-stories. 

Pretty heavy outside of the love story, and in a way that I found really moving – but I also felt the book fell just short of giving you a satisfying resolution on some things. It worked for me, but may not work for everyone.