A review by spicycronereads
Fables & Other Lies by Claire Contreras
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Oof. This one just did not hang together for me. It started out really promising but as things were revealed the plot quickly became convoluted. I am still not really sure what happened. And not in that eerie supernatural kind of way, but in a “I have no idea what is happening” kind of way. It is like the author had multiple
Ideas for how the story could go and she decided to use all of them.
Penelope and her backstory are interesting as a main character and River is a dashing figure. Given things that are revealed, I can see how he has maybe been pining for her. However, it didn’t really make sense how quickly she moved past revealed events and fell in love with him (faster than you can say “enemies to lovers.”)
The secondary characters didn’t do much to add depth to the MCs or plot.
There is diverse representation in that the novel’s characters are mostly from the Dominican Republic. One of the tertiary characters is queer.
The spicy scenes were okay. They were a bit more euphemistic than I prefer. So I’d give it really only 🌶️ or 🌶️🌶️. There isn’t even really much romance either.
Overall, I don’t think I would recommend this one.
There as enough potential here though that I am willing to try another book by this author. I think this is one of her earlier ones and subsequent ones may be better.
Ideas for how the story could go and she decided to use all of them.
Penelope and her backstory are interesting as a main character and River is a dashing figure. Given things that are revealed, I can see how he has maybe been pining for her. However, it didn’t really make sense how quickly she moved past revealed events and fell in love with him (faster than you can say “enemies to lovers.”)
The secondary characters didn’t do much to add depth to the MCs or plot.
There is diverse representation in that the novel’s characters are mostly from the Dominican Republic. One of the tertiary characters is queer.
The spicy scenes were okay. They were a bit more euphemistic than I prefer. So I’d give it really only 🌶️ or 🌶️🌶️. There isn’t even really much romance either.
Overall, I don’t think I would recommend this one.
There as enough potential here though that I am willing to try another book by this author. I think this is one of her earlier ones and subsequent ones may be better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault