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alexfromistemor's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thank you to Berkley & Netgalley for this eARC
This book should have been a no brainer. A sapphic, fake-dating rom-com in a magical world between two witches? I should love this! Instead, this book was very frustrating to me. Clearly based on the reviews, others didn't find this to be the case. And good, my mileage is not, nor should it, going to be the same as others.
But let's not start off on that foot. Let's start off positive. I love the author's note regarding consent at the start, it was fantastic.
Like many others, I seem to have a crush on Rory fucking Sandler. She was awesome! Funny and affectionate and sweet and badass and imperfectly perfect. I 100% get the Rory stans!
The world Tori's created is also phenomenal! Lush, and rich, and different. A world where magic co-exists with the mundane in a way that feel fairly original yet also plausible, that they play up the fantastical and playful nature of magic for the mundane crowd while hiding the more dangerous side. It makes complete sense that powerful witches can be celebrities in the same way as actors or professional athletes can be! And as much as I don't want it to be the case, it also seems plausible other aspects, like the praise male witches seemingly get for just existing. If this book was more about this magical world itself rather than being a rom-com set within it I think the author could write many books set in this world!
But because this is a rom-com, let's focus on that. The fake dating side of things is well done, and Morgan and Rory's chemistry together is awesome. Super sweet and wonderful and everything I would want it to be. Even after Morgan's realization at the mid point, there was wonderful, sweet stuff. The concert, the scavenger hunt, the private chat on the field. It was all sooo good...but it was marred by Morgan herself!
Morgan was an infuriating protagonist to be spending all our time with, in the thoughts of! She manages to be both simultaneously the most self absorbed and self deprecating person I think I've ever encountered, in fiction or real life! Like, I thought I was good at dismissing my own worth, but I've got NOTHING on Morgan Greenwood! She manages to constantly dismiss her power, as a witch, as a potion maker, yet she has no problem thinking she managed to accidentally create the most powerful love potion of all time. We're constantly told how loud she supposedly is, how often Morgan speaks without thinking, and yet all she seems to do it think, and then overthink and then doesn't talk, and doesn't talk some more. Yes, miscommunication happens, yes, nerves and anxiety make things tough. Maybe Morgan is meant to be neurodiverse as well, I don't know. All I do know is after a certain point, it becomes less about a natural characterization and more about 'well, I decided this is the plot twist I'm going with in this book, and I'm gonna stick with it against all sense and reason'. As much as Morgan thinks she cares for Rory, is falling for her, she displays an immense disrespect for her, and kind of infantilizes her by making these decisions for her. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely appreciate her concerns about potentially violating Rory's consent when they kissed, in fact I applaud her for it. But Morgan realizes she mixed up the potion she gave Rory at the midway point of the book, almost exactly, and we have to deal with that for nearly the entire 2nd half of the book, and the frustration nearly overshadows everything else, like Rory's exhibition. Our communal love, Rory fucking Sandler, deserved better.
By comparison, my only other major complaint is with Hazel. Not with her characterization, even, she was a fantastic best friend trying to get Morgan to see reason. No, it was this weird decision to at multiple points talk about how she was introduced to a friend of Rory's, and how they seem to hit it off...but that's all we know about them. "Rory's friend". No name, no gender, no description, just Rory's friend, and as such, this person feels more like a forced reason why Hazel wasn't in Morgan's face trying to get her to come to her senses and be honest rather than anything else. It was weird, and I wonder what thought went into that in the editing process.
I wanted to rate this book so much higher. There's so much good here, but a frustrating protagonist, and no other POV's to balance her out, drags down the score. 3 stars because what's there to love is SO worthy of that love.
This book should have been a no brainer. A sapphic, fake-dating rom-com in a magical world between two witches? I should love this! Instead, this book was very frustrating to me. Clearly based on the reviews, others didn't find this to be the case. And good, my mileage is not, nor should it, going to be the same as others.
But let's not start off on that foot. Let's start off positive. I love the author's note regarding consent at the start, it was fantastic.
Like many others, I seem to have a crush on Rory fucking Sandler. She was awesome! Funny and affectionate and sweet and badass and imperfectly perfect. I 100% get the Rory stans!
The world Tori's created is also phenomenal! Lush, and rich, and different. A world where magic co-exists with the mundane in a way that feel fairly original yet also plausible, that they play up the fantastical and playful nature of magic for the mundane crowd while hiding the more dangerous side. It makes complete sense that powerful witches can be celebrities in the same way as actors or professional athletes can be! And as much as I don't want it to be the case, it also seems plausible other aspects, like the praise male witches seemingly get for just existing. If this book was more about this magical world itself rather than being a rom-com set within it I think the author could write many books set in this world!
But because this is a rom-com, let's focus on that. The fake dating side of things is well done, and Morgan and Rory's chemistry together is awesome. Super sweet and wonderful and everything I would want it to be. Even after Morgan's realization at the mid point, there was wonderful, sweet stuff. The concert, the scavenger hunt, the private chat on the field. It was all sooo good...but it was marred by Morgan herself!
Morgan was an infuriating protagonist to be spending all our time with, in the thoughts of! She manages to be both simultaneously the most self absorbed and self deprecating person I think I've ever encountered, in fiction or real life! Like, I thought I was good at dismissing my own worth, but I've got NOTHING on Morgan Greenwood! She manages to constantly dismiss her power, as a witch, as a potion maker, yet she has no problem thinking she managed to accidentally create the most powerful love potion of all time. We're constantly told how loud she supposedly is, how often Morgan speaks without thinking, and yet all she seems to do it think, and then overthink and then doesn't talk, and doesn't talk some more. Yes, miscommunication happens, yes, nerves and anxiety make things tough. Maybe Morgan is meant to be neurodiverse as well, I don't know. All I do know is after a certain point, it becomes less about a natural characterization and more about 'well, I decided this is the plot twist I'm going with in this book, and I'm gonna stick with it against all sense and reason'. As much as Morgan thinks she cares for Rory, is falling for her, she displays an immense disrespect for her, and kind of infantilizes her by making these decisions for her. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely appreciate her concerns about potentially violating Rory's consent when they kissed, in fact I applaud her for it. But Morgan realizes she mixed up the potion she gave Rory at the midway point of the book, almost exactly, and we have to deal with that for nearly the entire 2nd half of the book, and the frustration nearly overshadows everything else, like Rory's exhibition. Our communal love, Rory fucking Sandler, deserved better.
By comparison, my only other major complaint is with Hazel. Not with her characterization, even, she was a fantastic best friend trying to get Morgan to see reason. No, it was this weird decision to at multiple points talk about how she was introduced to a friend of Rory's, and how they seem to hit it off...but that's all we know about them. "Rory's friend". No name, no gender, no description, just Rory's friend, and as such, this person feels more like a forced reason why Hazel wasn't in Morgan's face trying to get her to come to her senses and be honest rather than anything else. It was weird, and I wonder what thought went into that in the editing process.
I wanted to rate this book so much higher. There's so much good here, but a frustrating protagonist, and no other POV's to balance her out, drags down the score. 3 stars because what's there to love is SO worthy of that love.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism
Heavy anxiety.