Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

A Duet with the Siren Duke by Elise Kova

2 reviews

status_meh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I love Elise Kova's books, and especially the Married to Magic series. But this is probably my least favorite in this series. I was actually really excited for this book, despite it taking me a year to get around to reading it. I've always loved mermaids/sirens since I was young (what young girl isn't?). Not to mention, I've been playing Love and Deepspace where my favorite is a merman. 

But I just wasn't super into this book. It wasn't bad, and it's kind of hard to describe what exactly I didn't enjoy. I think that
the main character having to loose all her memories, especially of her ex was pretty cheap
and I'm not sure, I guess a lot of it felt kinda pointless. Plus I felt this book had a lot more abstract ideas which was hard for me to picture.

I think the book had it's good sides. I think the characters are pretty likable, and the plot is pretty interesting. I just can't get over the
her loosing her memories, especially since they continued a sexual relationship while she forgot everything
. Not to mention
the ending where they both became Gods, just wasn't very satisfying to me
.

On a more lighthearted note, I think my biggest complaint, and what bummed me out the most, was that there was no mermaid sex. Like, I don't read books for the smut, it's not what I enjoy the most, but how are you going to have a monster/supernatural romance with a literal merman, and they only have sex when both in human form. That was kind of a huge disapointment. Mainly because one of my biggest questions going in was "how is this going to work physically? how do merfolk even reproduce?". So the whole
merfolk actually only have sex in human form, on a magical love island
felt both silly and like a let down lol.

Overall, it definitely wasn't bad, I think it was good, just not my preference. I'm super excited for the last book in this series, I've already ordered a copy and will probably read it in October. 
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laylareadsthings's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I don’t think I’ve ever left a review for a book that made me feel as torn as this one. There’s beautiful prose here and an incredible healing journey, but I do not think I can say anything about this book left me feeling happy or fulfilled. This is a book comfortable existing in traumatic moments and sadness without ever really moving past it. For the entirety of the book, I think you need to be in a clear enough mental headspace to be able to sit with those feelings as a constant.
Yes, things are resolved… but this is not a book where that’s done through amends, or the proper people paying the price for their evil.
This is a book about understanding how your personal sacrifices oftentimes mean nothing to anyone but you, and being ok with that. This book is largely character driven (the plot does not pick up until almost 70% of the way in). I adore the Married to Magic series and I think I’ll reflect on this book for years, but now I need a good cry and to stare at the ceiling for a few hours. 
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