i was so disappointed by the book. it sounded so lovely & while i get why some people love it, i found it so BORING and annoying. the author lays on the hints and foreshadowing so thickly that it feels like getting hit over the head with it. repeatedly. but then it takes the MCs FOREVER to realise what we’ve known for pretty much the entire book which is frankly really infuriating

like i’m sorry but it was OBVIOUS lottie was the granddaughter from the first time we meet her how tf did it take M so long to realise?! and she needed help from the caretaker guide too like ??? why are you being so dumb??

also the love / soulmates vibes were so over the top it almost gave fairytale which just felt incredibly cringy. 

there were also these unnecessary / underdeveloped plot lines that felt kind of useless ??

like the whole drama with that george guy either needed to be addressed properly or cut out entirely bc this whole vague “i liked him but he’s a bad person but im not going to say what he did to me” felt so unnecessary. so did all the side plots like why have the modiste see the tattoos and blackmails them just to have that sorted with a spell within 3 seconds?? and the guy at the start ??? what was his purpose?? also august and m’s brother decide to settle in berkshire like it was the only obvious choice but with no other explanation is just so weird and random like just say they haven’t figured it out and they’ll try both and see or something ?? the insta love was just very annoying tbh

all the side plots just felt completely disjointed, random, and unnecessary.

if this had been a library book and not one i bought i would’ve DNFed about halfway through but alas, the  sunk cost fallacy has a tight grip on me and i worry this will lead to a reading slump