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A review by heresthepencil
Curses, Foiled Again by Sera Trevor
3.0
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 ☆
Okay, first things first: I could really do without the “raging homophobe is actually a closet case” trope. It’s the year 2000 and 17, this is doing absolutely nothing for us as a community but perpetuates bad stereotypes. When will people chill…
Apart from that? This is a truly fun book! The synopsis promises a vampire infatuated with a witch who seems totally uninterested in him & that is exactly what we’re getting. I mean, talk about a great choice of supernatural and rom-com tropes! But the fun doesn’t actually end there. We not only get more than one vampire and one witch, but also a great siblings relationship within those categories and some ridiculous yet totally endearing wooing. Throw in a curse or two and some mystery and we’re having a party!
All those cool parts wouldn’t build a fun book though if it wasn’t for the writing. It’s fairly simple but reads fast & grips the reader’s attention. And even if sometimes we are bombarded with way too detailed descriptions, it doesn’t spoil anything. Another thing I really liked about the writing, is that it’s very clear different people are speaking based on their dialogues. Granted, in some cases it was kinda over the top, but mostly? Good, solid work. I especially enjoyed Felix’s parts. He’s truly a five-year-old at heart (that he doesn’t have) & every single word out of his mouth confirms that. He’s just really open and doesn’t hide behind social conventions or worry about what people will say - he simply does what feels right at the moment.
But this also brings me to my second most important negative point. While I do love the relationship between Felix & John, because of how naive Felix can be at times, it doesn’t always feel equal. There were moments when I felt like John is just humoring him instead of treating him as his equal. (I’m not even touching on the whole age difference issue as a concept but also in this particular case, because of Felix’s character, you honestly feel like John is the older one…) And speaking of their relationship, it really is a central part of the book, which I adore. Even with all the question marks of morality, it's showed as something strong and beautiful. At the same time though, the shift between nothing & something was ridiculously abrupt. It was explained and that explanation makes sense to be honest, but it was still very hastily done.
It’s not the only thing that could have used a little bit more time and a few more words. There are a lot of magical elements in this story. We get supernatural creatures, we get magic, we get curses… And while a lot of them were explained and showed from some (at least a bit) fresh perspective, we were left with just as many that kind of don’t make sense. It was a weird experience because in one scene the author would describe how something works in this world but also totally dismiss another magical thing. Why pick and choose? The worldbuilding would really benefit if we knew more about ghosts and communication with them, and curses. And basically anything that Richard was doing. His whole witchery lowkey remains a mystery to me and the climax itself didn’t help in that particular case either. Again, it was not bad per se but kind of rushed.
All in all though, this was a fun read. It’s not perfect (and the sex scenes were awkward & numerous enough to make me skip them) but I got so invested in the plot, I didn’t do anything at work until I finished. I will definitely check out more of Sera’s works.
3.5 ☆
Okay, first things first: I could really do without the “raging homophobe is actually a closet case” trope. It’s the year 2000 and 17, this is doing absolutely nothing for us as a community but perpetuates bad stereotypes. When will people chill…
Apart from that? This is a truly fun book! The synopsis promises a vampire infatuated with a witch who seems totally uninterested in him & that is exactly what we’re getting. I mean, talk about a great choice of supernatural and rom-com tropes! But the fun doesn’t actually end there. We not only get more than one vampire and one witch, but also a great siblings relationship within those categories and some ridiculous yet totally endearing wooing. Throw in a curse or two and some mystery and we’re having a party!
All those cool parts wouldn’t build a fun book though if it wasn’t for the writing. It’s fairly simple but reads fast & grips the reader’s attention. And even if sometimes we are bombarded with way too detailed descriptions, it doesn’t spoil anything. Another thing I really liked about the writing, is that it’s very clear different people are speaking based on their dialogues. Granted, in some cases it was kinda over the top, but mostly? Good, solid work. I especially enjoyed Felix’s parts. He’s truly a five-year-old at heart (that he doesn’t have) & every single word out of his mouth confirms that. He’s just really open and doesn’t hide behind social conventions or worry about what people will say - he simply does what feels right at the moment.
But this also brings me to my second most important negative point. While I do love the relationship between Felix & John, because of how naive Felix can be at times, it doesn’t always feel equal. There were moments when I felt like John is just humoring him instead of treating him as his equal. (I’m not even touching on the whole age difference issue as a concept but also in this particular case, because of Felix’s character, you honestly feel like John is the older one…) And speaking of their relationship, it really is a central part of the book, which I adore. Even with all the question marks of morality, it's showed as something strong and beautiful. At the same time though, the shift between nothing & something was ridiculously abrupt. It was explained and that explanation makes sense to be honest, but it was still very hastily done.
It’s not the only thing that could have used a little bit more time and a few more words. There are a lot of magical elements in this story. We get supernatural creatures, we get magic, we get curses… And while a lot of them were explained and showed from some (at least a bit) fresh perspective, we were left with just as many that kind of don’t make sense. It was a weird experience because in one scene the author would describe how something works in this world but also totally dismiss another magical thing. Why pick and choose? The worldbuilding would really benefit if we knew more about ghosts and communication with them, and curses. And basically anything that Richard was doing. His whole witchery lowkey remains a mystery to me and the climax itself didn’t help in that particular case either. Again, it was not bad per se but kind of rushed.
All in all though, this was a fun read. It’s not perfect (and the sex scenes were awkward & numerous enough to make me skip them) but I got so invested in the plot, I didn’t do anything at work until I finished. I will definitely check out more of Sera’s works.