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A review by silence
Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
- Interesting premise, but that's literally all it has going for it.
- Emanuela is just awful. I know she's markted as an "unlikeable" protagonist, but the thing about those is that there's usually something endearing about them. Not the case here. She's awful. She spends the entire book belittling and abusing her best friend, Alessandro. Not to mention all the shit she does to her supposed love interest.
- Which. This book is marketed as a sapphic romance. It's not really and I'm a little upset that I wasted my pride month on it. It's an implication at the end. It's used to entice you into reading the next book. (Which I won't be doing.) There's absolutely nothing that makes me want the two of them together except the very base concept and idea of two unhinged lesbians holding hands.
- I literally only cared about Ale and he deserves so much better than this book and this cast.
-The fact that this book made me read about someone eating an eye TWICE is unforgivable. Even if everything else was fine, it would have gotten one star based on that alone.
-Does the author really expect me to want anything to do with Verene and Emanuela when Verene gouged out Ale's eye and then was forced to eat it??? And when Emanuela literally gaslit Ale into thinking he couldn't be anyone or do anything without her??? And killed Verene's mother figure for no reason?
- Emanuela is just awful. I know she's markted as an "unlikeable" protagonist, but the thing about those is that there's usually something endearing about them. Not the case here. She's awful. She spends the entire book belittling and abusing her best friend, Alessandro. Not to mention all the shit she does to her supposed love interest.
- Which. This book is marketed as a sapphic romance. It's not really and I'm a little upset that I wasted my pride month on it. It's an implication at the end. It's used to entice you into reading the next book. (Which I won't be doing.) There's absolutely nothing that makes me want the two of them together except the very base concept and idea of two unhinged lesbians holding hands.
- I literally only cared about Ale and he deserves so much better than this book and this cast.
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Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
cw for eye trauma