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A review by littlebookterror
In-Between by MJ James
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.75
I love this cover but sadly I am not as in love with the content inside it.
The book offers an interesting premise (local mom realizing her son is magic and heir to a throne) yet it quickly dissolves into a predictable mess and odd choices.
I was immediately caught off guard by how some of the side characters talked, it read uncreatively evil and untrue as to how people usually express disdain? I don't mean the judgment on single motherhood or autistic parenting but how there wasn't even an attempt to fudge over their disinterest or veneers of a polite conversation.
And then Alicia made a lot of bizarre choices. From suddenly trying/not trying to find the bio father, to trusting/not trusting the strange elf in her house, to running/not running away. There wasn't rhyme or reason to her changes and I did not feel there was an attempt to make this interesting. She has such a lovely relationship with her child Kenny yet it's not used to explore tension (since he would like to learn magic) or sadness (since he doesn't know about how he was conceived) or just any other interesting dynamic. It doesn't get better once we enter the fae realm. Kenny's abilites are just too much! And all their problems just all kind of falls into line in a way that made me wonder why we are meant to care about the story when the book itself feels like it want's to be done with it to get to the next part. (There is no next part.)
The m/m romance was underdeveloped and could have been utilized so much better based on the ongoing plot. But I appreciated throughout all of this that Alicia is not questioning her aroace identity - she is not interesting in compromising and sure of her feelings on that matter.
Overall, the story is told in such a straightforward manner that the 3-act-structure is more like a little bumb than a proper rise and fall.
The book offers an interesting premise (local mom realizing her son is magic and heir to a throne) yet it quickly dissolves into a predictable mess and odd choices.
I was immediately caught off guard by how some of the side characters talked, it read uncreatively evil and untrue as to how people usually express disdain? I don't mean the judgment on single motherhood or autistic parenting but how there wasn't even an attempt to fudge over their disinterest or veneers of a polite conversation.
And then Alicia made a lot of bizarre choices. From suddenly trying/not trying to find the bio father, to trusting/not trusting the strange elf in her house, to running/not running away. There wasn't rhyme or reason to her changes and I did not feel there was an attempt to make this interesting. She has such a lovely relationship with her child Kenny yet it's not used to explore tension (since he would like to learn magic) or sadness (since he doesn't know about how he was conceived) or just any other interesting dynamic. It doesn't get better once we enter the fae realm. Kenny's abilites are just too much! And all their problems just all kind of falls into line in a way that made me wonder why we are meant to care about the story when the book itself feels like it want's to be done with it to get to the next part. (There is no next part.)
The m/m romance was underdeveloped and could have been utilized so much better based on the ongoing plot. But I appreciated throughout all of this that Alicia is not questioning her aroace identity - she is not interesting in compromising and sure of her feelings on that matter.
Overall, the story is told in such a straightforward manner that the 3-act-structure is more like a little bumb than a proper rise and fall.