Scan barcode
A review by kovost
Waking Up the Sun by Laura Bailo
2.0
This honestly bored me a lot. Where the premise is interesting and I’m all for indulging in LGBT+ literature, everything about this was like trying to swallow a pack of saltines to me. I don’t know if it was because of the pacing or the fact that I couldn’t connect to the characters in any way, it just didn’t work for me.
TL;DR — eighteen-year-old Lander goes into a magical forest on a dare and can’t find his way out. Eventually, he meets Yban, who has also been stuck in the forest for twenty years without aging (which is a little strange regarding the weird? age gap thing? I don’t know, maybe that’s just me). With time, they start to fall in love with each other and learn to overcome their circumstances. The shebang.
In theory, it’s an intriguing book because it’s written like a fairy tale so it’s whimsical and the imagery is actually great. In practice, something just. Fell flat for me. It’s delivered in massive paragraphs and the pacing is turtle speed and it really just didn’t keep my interest in any way. I found myself constantly putting it down and not coming back to it unless I forced myself because I hate DNF’ing ARCS.
I’m definitely not saying that it’s not for someone because I’m more than aware that there’s a lot of great reviews. It has good anxiety rep and although not flat out said, I’m pretty sure one of the characters was at least demisexual. I’m not saying it’s a bad book at all. I’m just saying it wasn’t for me. Which could be my overall impatience because that is just who I am as a person now, in all fairness, so take everything I say with a grain of salt because I give my reviews so value.
So anyway yes! I would recommend it to anyone that’s looking for something magical and reads like a fairy tale with a slow burn relationship and low angst and GAY.
I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
TL;DR — eighteen-year-old Lander goes into a magical forest on a dare and can’t find his way out. Eventually, he meets Yban, who has also been stuck in the forest for twenty years without aging (which is a little strange regarding the weird? age gap thing? I don’t know, maybe that’s just me). With time, they start to fall in love with each other and learn to overcome their circumstances. The shebang.
In theory, it’s an intriguing book because it’s written like a fairy tale so it’s whimsical and the imagery is actually great. In practice, something just. Fell flat for me. It’s delivered in massive paragraphs and the pacing is turtle speed and it really just didn’t keep my interest in any way. I found myself constantly putting it down and not coming back to it unless I forced myself because I hate DNF’ing ARCS.
I’m definitely not saying that it’s not for someone because I’m more than aware that there’s a lot of great reviews. It has good anxiety rep and although not flat out said, I’m pretty sure one of the characters was at least demisexual. I’m not saying it’s a bad book at all. I’m just saying it wasn’t for me. Which could be my overall impatience because that is just who I am as a person now, in all fairness, so take everything I say with a grain of salt because I give my reviews so value.
So anyway yes! I would recommend it to anyone that’s looking for something magical and reads like a fairy tale with a slow burn relationship and low angst and GAY.
I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.