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A review by sapphicaffair
This Spell Can't Last by Isabel Sterling
4.0
Rating: 4 stars
I finished this pretty fast because it's a novella. I really enjoyed this one, it gave me a lot of insight to Hannah and Veronica's past. In "These Witches Don't Burn", Veronica and Hannah are already in the middle of their breakup. Hannah already has resentment for Veronica and we're left to slowly figure out why for ourselves. It's eventually revealed that they broke up because of "what happened with the Blood Witch on their trip to New York". We know WHAT happens but we don't really grasp the full reason why it hurt Hannah so much until now.
Within the first 25% of TWDB, Hannah lets us know why she broke up with Veronica and what went down. We're left with a clue as to why it happened but that's about it. I admit that when I was reading the book, I was very subtly still shipping Veronica and Hannah together. It's not until the series progresses and we get a better insight as to how Veronica treats Hannah that we start to realize that it's not just that they "weren't right for each other", it's that Veronica and Hannah were in a straight up toxic relationship. Veronica never apologizes to Hannah, she's very selfish and extremely manipulative. We see bits and pieces of that in TWDB, but in this novella we amplify that.
This novella takes place during their fieldtrip to NYC and it takes us through the steps of what essentially led to their breakup as well as some missing pieces of the puzzle with Hannah's experience with a Blood Witch. We see Veronica push Hannah into doing what she wants, treating Hannah like she's a child Veronica feels that she has to babysit, like she's an annoyance. She ignores everything that Hannah tries to tell her and gets irritated at Hannah's caution. Which is really funny because Veronica using simple magic to put out the fire in TWDB is exactly what led to the giant mess they all had to deal with. We also see Veronica's relationship with Gemma. Hannah and her best friend Gemma are really close, yet instead of trying to fit in or inviting Gemma to feel included, Veronica pulls Hannah away from Gemma. I think that's also really telling of their relationship.
There are so many times I've wanted to scream at Veronica and Tori. Veronica pulling Hannah's phone from her had me rioting. Along with her dismissing Hannah's fear and refusing to apologize or to see that she did anything wrong. Also, I absolutely can't stand Tori. She's so annoying and I really hope she doesn't get a redemption arch anywhere near this series.
I did really like Lexi so maybe I wouldn't mind seeing more from her. She's smart and she minds her own business; love that for her.
Overall this was a pretty good novella. No chapter felt like a "filler chapter" and it had me feeling a lot of things. Mostly anger and sadness. Which is good I guess, it's good that it has an effect on my emotions. Either way, I did really enjoy reading this and I'd like to read it again if I decide to reread the series. The cover, however, is really ugly and I know it's not a physical book but if it does get printed in the near future I'd recommend a cover change.
Reading thread: https://twitter.com/sapphicaffair/status/1418402321894154241?s=20
I finished this pretty fast because it's a novella. I really enjoyed this one, it gave me a lot of insight to Hannah and Veronica's past. In "These Witches Don't Burn", Veronica and Hannah are already in the middle of their breakup. Hannah already has resentment for Veronica and we're left to slowly figure out why for ourselves. It's eventually revealed that they broke up because of "what happened with the Blood Witch on their trip to New York". We know WHAT happens but we don't really grasp the full reason why it hurt Hannah so much until now.
Within the first 25% of TWDB, Hannah lets us know why she broke up with Veronica and what went down. We're left with a clue as to why it happened but that's about it. I admit that when I was reading the book, I was very subtly still shipping Veronica and Hannah together. It's not until the series progresses and we get a better insight as to how Veronica treats Hannah that we start to realize that it's not just that they "weren't right for each other", it's that Veronica and Hannah were in a straight up toxic relationship. Veronica never apologizes to Hannah, she's very selfish and extremely manipulative. We see bits and pieces of that in TWDB, but in this novella we amplify that.
This novella takes place during their fieldtrip to NYC and it takes us through the steps of what essentially led to their breakup as well as some missing pieces of the puzzle with Hannah's experience with a Blood Witch. We see Veronica push Hannah into doing what she wants, treating Hannah like she's a child Veronica feels that she has to babysit, like she's an annoyance. She ignores everything that Hannah tries to tell her and gets irritated at Hannah's caution. Which is really funny because Veronica using simple magic to put out the fire in TWDB is exactly what led to the giant mess they all had to deal with. We also see Veronica's relationship with Gemma. Hannah and her best friend Gemma are really close, yet instead of trying to fit in or inviting Gemma to feel included, Veronica pulls Hannah away from Gemma. I think that's also really telling of their relationship.
There are so many times I've wanted to scream at Veronica and Tori. Veronica pulling Hannah's phone from her had me rioting. Along with her dismissing Hannah's fear and refusing to apologize or to see that she did anything wrong. Also, I absolutely can't stand Tori. She's so annoying and I really hope she doesn't get a redemption arch anywhere near this series.
I did really like Lexi so maybe I wouldn't mind seeing more from her. She's smart and she minds her own business; love that for her.
Overall this was a pretty good novella. No chapter felt like a "filler chapter" and it had me feeling a lot of things. Mostly anger and sadness. Which is good I guess, it's good that it has an effect on my emotions. Either way, I did really enjoy reading this and I'd like to read it again if I decide to reread the series. The cover, however, is really ugly and I know it's not a physical book but if it does get printed in the near future I'd recommend a cover change.
Reading thread: https://twitter.com/sapphicaffair/status/1418402321894154241?s=20