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A review by always_reading_romance
Into the Heartless Wood by Joanna Ruth Meyer
4.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(3.9/5 stars, rounded up)
Ugh.
I am of two minds when it comes to this book.
On the one hand, I sobbed my eyes out at the end. I thought the story was entertaining and even though it lagged a bit in a few different parts, and I wish other parts had been expanded on, I stayed relatively entertained the entire time. I clearly dealt with a ton of feels, and I wasn’t expecting to wind up crying at the end.
On the other hand, Seren’s chapters were so weird (i mean honestly, the formatting was so fucking weird. There was no reason for them to be formatted the way they were. It added nothing to the story. It was just weird and made it so that I couldn’t pay attention the way I wanted to.) I also felt like a few things were a bit “surface,” and i was kind of hoping that the love story would have happened over a longer period of time. Instead of a few months- a few years. I think the entire ending would have made more sense and packed a bigger punch had their relationship been longer and based in more history.
Seren, I get. She wasn’t just sacrificing for Owen- she wanted to prove to herself that she wasn’t her mother’s monster. She wanted to prove to herself that she was capable of making her own choices.
Owen had a freaking toddler sister at home that he was supposedly super in love with, had raised as a baby and was recently orphaned and he was so ready to sacrifice himself and leave her completely alone for someone he hadn’t known for a very long time at all. That was a bit... unbelievable.
So yeah.. I thought it was well written and beautiful and emotional and I read it in less than a day. There were more good things than bad but it just didn’t tick all those boxes for me.
Ugh.
I am of two minds when it comes to this book.
On the one hand, I sobbed my eyes out at the end. I thought the story was entertaining and even though it lagged a bit in a few different parts, and I wish other parts had been expanded on, I stayed relatively entertained the entire time. I clearly dealt with a ton of feels, and I wasn’t expecting to wind up crying at the end.
On the other hand, Seren’s chapters were so weird (i mean honestly, the formatting was so fucking weird. There was no reason for them to be formatted the way they were. It added nothing to the story. It was just weird and made it so that I couldn’t pay attention the way I wanted to.) I also felt like a few things were a bit “surface,” and i was kind of hoping that the love story would have happened over a longer period of time. Instead of a few months- a few years. I think the entire ending would have made more sense and packed a bigger punch had their relationship been longer and based in more history.
Seren, I get. She wasn’t just sacrificing for Owen- she wanted to prove to herself that she wasn’t her mother’s monster. She wanted to prove to herself that she was capable of making her own choices.
Owen had a freaking toddler sister at home that he was supposedly super in love with, had raised as a baby and was recently orphaned and he was so ready to sacrifice himself and leave her completely alone for someone he hadn’t known for a very long time at all. That was a bit... unbelievable.
So yeah.. I thought it was well written and beautiful and emotional and I read it in less than a day. There were more good things than bad but it just didn’t tick all those boxes for me.