just_one_more_paige's reviews
1515 reviews

Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 
Ok look. Rowland is becoming an auto-read queer (and mainstream-tangential) romantasy on par with Marske. And I can't get enough of either of them! I literally *just* read Yield Under Great Persuasion, which I loved. That was the cozy low stakes m/m romantasy of my dreams. So I was quite ready to jump into my next Rowland when my hold on this at the library came through.

The blurb for this book compares it to "Our Flag means Death" and I literally cannot think of a more accurate or better-used marketing comparison. Running Close to the Wind is so incredibly silly and ridiculous. It's  absolutely perfect fun. It's almost entirely fluff, in the best possible way. (Though with a surprise hit of weightiness, though still with a humorous bent on the delivery, at the end, as we are treated to a few monologues about faith/belief, systemic and structural power imbalances, and the corrupting power of wealth.) But yea, this was just entertaining AF. 

Let me tell you a few specific things I loved. Avra's excessive need for attention and monologue style of talking and the ridiculous turns it all took. I can see how it could be "too much of a good thing" as per some reviewers. But it worked fine for me. As always, the take on tarot (loveeeee tarot) and its involvement in the story and the card highlight to begin each chapter. The idea of luck as a blessing, yet you can't ever prove its existence. So creative! And great for the plot. And Avra being the exact right kind of person/personality to not take advantage of it. The exasperation Tev writes with, in their captain's log. Rowland writes an impossible-to-ignore reluctant attraction like no one else. SPEAKING OF. While the novel overall was a bit more closed door than her previous novels (and my personal preference), the pining and the slow burn build to the (fade to black) threesome is soooooo delicious. I was smitten. The general pansexual/inclusive sex fixations of all these pirates - beautifully queer and hilariously (and heathfully?...respectfully!) sex obsessed. The monologuing. From the ridiculous to the savage to the anti-establishment, the monologues are all fire. The cake competition! What an unhinged culminating event for a pirate tale. Spectacularly rife with guarding against seagulls and managed attempts at judge bribery/coercion and fantastically creative insults of other cakes and the excessive attention to detail and tradition. Unhinged perfection. The ending. The exact right vibe: sort of incomplete, but fully promising, with room for hope and happy choices.  

I wrote, "legit so much fun" at least four times in my review notes while I was reading. From the mystery of the glowing sea serpents to the alchemy to the "fetch me a blue dog" side quest to the cake competition to the absolutely off-center poly romance to the unexpected political/religious philosophy to the tarot readings and lucky fallouts, every page of this novel held something that made me smile or chuckle. I just generally had a fantastic time reading this. A delightful low stakes fantasy escape.   



“If one holds oneself apart from others, or lives within a community without participating in the mundane troubles of ordinary life, resentment can easily take root in the hearts of those who do.”

“…I am troublesome. And troublesome people, as we all know, are not something that institutional power wants to have to deal with. Institutional power wants to crush troublesome people and break their spirits…”


“Sharing knowledge freely and openly is a great act of piety, perhaps the greatest of them all.”

“Having no money brings a whole host of problems. [...] But having too much money does too. It sucks your soul dry, eventually. Even a sweet-natured and well-intentioned person starts making decisions based on protecting the money rather than helping other people.” 

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Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

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adventurous funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

 
So I was working on a puzzle the other night and decided to listen to this second Murderbot book as background - that seemed like a nice, take-your-mind-off-things, kind of evening. And oh my goodness was it ever. I got so into the zone that all of a sudden it had been 3 hours, I was almost done with the puzzle, and I had finished this book in one sitting. Haha. Though that probably shouldn;t have been a surprise, since I read the first book, All Systems Red, in one sitting during a flight a few months ago. 

As hoped, and expected (based on how many others I know have loved this series), this was a great second novella. Murderbot is now out on his own, trying to keep his secret of having turned off his governor module and doing some sleuthing to find out more about his past. In order to get to the destination he has in mind, he takes a job as security for a work group that had some of their data stolen by a previous -employer. And of course, adorable adventure ensues. This novella had the same great narrative tone as the first - snarky and sincere - which was awesomely communicated by the audiobook narrator. It was a bit fluffier, plot-wise, than the first. But I felt like that matched Murderbot’s need to reset and find himself, so it worked. Plus, this story now clearly sets up his ability to slowly journey back to the OG gang/found fam (I assume), which I am excited for. I also loved meeting the research transport, ART, and the dry sarcastic AI tone of his voice and the clearly developing relationship between them and Murderbot. Can't wait for (hopefully) more of that! 

This is like the low stakes cozy sci-fi version of cozy fantasy (like Baldree's Legends & Lattes) and I am here for it in this period of life/world events. 

 

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The Favorites by Layne Fargo

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emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 
Ohhhhh y'all. I saw this first on @booksnblazers page - she was hyping it up pretty hard *and* the cover was oddly eye-catching. So, I looked more into it and was immediately sold after reading the blurb. I grew up watching the Olympics - winter and summer - as a massive family event. The best two weeks of sports. And in the winter, ice skating was alwayyyyyyyys a highlight for me and my mom. To be totally transparent, ice dancing was never our favorite, and we always laugh when the announcers talk about "twizzles" (I get that what they are doing is so impressive, but seriously, naming it twizzles is not doing the sport any favors). But watching the skaters and getting emotionally invested in their stories and performances and complaining about the judging and commenting on their outfits and music choices....it's a core memory for me, for sure. So, needless to say, I was absolutely going to read this. 

I have to shout out first, before anything else, the full cast narration of the audiobook. It was on point. Perfectly cast, a great choice stylistically for the format of the book and OMG JOHNNY WEIR! What an absolutely wonderful surprise! His position (along with Tara Lipinski) as the best skating commentators ever (like so fav that they now do some general Olympics commentary too, I believe), has been a highlight of recent Winter Olympics for my fam and as soon as I heard his voice on this audiobook I was beyond hype! Also, let me just say, talk about the perfect voice for the role. 

And now, on to the book itself. Ok y'all. This was so good. I was SAT for the tea from the very first page. Like, at every moment there was another drama and I was so hooked. I mean, the text really played up skating stereotypes, like romantic entanglements with partners, stuffy and condescending judges, underhanded attempts to take down competitors, a mixing of flamboyance and traditional gender roles that really opens the stage to lots of commentary on sexuality, and more. But I think, with the formatting of it being a documentary (a "tell all" from people who knew them about the career of a famous ice dancing pair, Katerina Shaw and Heath Rocha, along with their main American competition, Bella and Garrett Lin), that makes sense. You get a couple sound bites from each contributing voice and that becomes their whole persona in the piece, which is limiting, to be sure. And it was also fun to read, as a reader who has watched and commented on many of the same things as a fan. All in all, perhaps the drama was a bit blown out of proportion to real life, but I was living for it as entertainment.

Past that though, the actual character development, in the parts of the story that Kat told herself, provided some fantastic character development. Her voice, telling her own story in her own words, intertwined with the commentary gathered by those who knew her for the documentary, was paced and written so well. It melded truth with juicy gossip in a perfectly fascinating literary way. All four MCs, Kat and Heath and Bella and Garrett, were really nuanced. There was so much great commentary on how expectations (social and internal) can take a good thing and twist it...and how that happened for all four. Also, the myriad complicated ways their relationships with each other unfolded were a mix of toxic interdependence and vulnerable reliance and while it was almost operatic in its melodrama, it was also so realistic considering the circumstances. I really liked watching it develop both intellectually and in a "can't look away from the wreck" way. Honestly, the absolute flawed perfection of each of these characters is stunning.

Overall, oh my god YES to this novel. With shades of The Lightning Bottles and The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (and of course, the more popular, Daisy Jones and the Six), this documentary-ish format is turning into one of my favorite "fun" reading book styles. Especially when the topic, writing, and narration are as good as they were here. I am for real for real recommending this one!  


“The thing is, when pushing your limits is all you know, when it seems normal to you…it’s hard to remember you even have limits. Until you run right into them.”


“His love for me hadn’t been motivation enough to reach his full potential. His hatred, though? That made him capable of anything.”

“I didn’t want to be forgotten. I wanted to be remembered for the right reasons…”

“…but what was the point, if you had everything and enjoyed nothing?” 

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The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

What a solid finale to bring this trilogy home. First, and possibly most importantly, considering the story and "this is the final installment" vibes, the drama is real. It's nonstop. And I was entertained and very much invested in how it was going to turn out through the entire thing. That's really all I'm looking for in escapist lit reading choices like this. 

I mean, I did sometimes wonder how Jude, "just" a human, could almost die so many times, and then recover quickly enough to fight more/so soon. It's astounding. Her adrenaline levels must be unhealthily high all the time. Lol But, again, I was in this for the escapism and entertainment, so I suspended disbelief. My bigger, and really only real, complaint of the series is the chemistry and connection between Jude and Cardan. They read more as platonic allies to me. I just never *felt* that spark of sexual attraction/tension. I get that hate and love are two sides of the same coin, and I see how their hate did turn to camaraderie and banter, but the desire piece never really developed enough to believe in, for me. So, I kinda just chose to read them as comrades and that worked for me. Sort of related, by the end of this novel, I definitely "over it" with the lack of communication in this YA relationship...but I knew what I was getting into when I started reading, so that’s on me. 

Back to the good stuff though... There were lots of complex relationships with love and hate and admiration and jealousy and frustration and protection and desire and disgust - friend, romantic, family, and otherwise - and I was impressed with that level of relationship and character development nuance in a clearly YA series, tbh. Also, I was so happy with the classic fae and fairy tale tropes that were used throughout this series. They were well used and cozily familiar (to be clear, this is not cozy fantasy - lotssss of violence and backstabbing - but the recognizability of the tropes was comforting). And at the same time, the plot took some twists I didn’t expect, which kept me on my toes quite enough. A great balance was struck there. 

I had fun racing through this series with little to no need for time/brain investment - that was exactly what I wanted/needed and it delivered.


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Tell It To Me Singing by Tita Ramírez

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 
This was in a "free ARCs for staff" pile at the library sometime last year. I loved the title, and it sounded pretty intriguing, so I grabbed it. Just now got to it. And let me just say, having not seen a single other review for it anywhere on bookstagram, that it is definitely not getting the hype it deserves. 

Y'all. I was into this story. Like, I am not here to comment on its historical accuracy or anything. As you know, this like 1970s/80s (ish) time that is too late for history classes to cover but too early for me to have lived/remember personally, is a time period I don't know a lot about. And I am working on learning, of course. But I do want to preface this review with a caveat/cyoa announcement that if the history (of Cuba and Castro and revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries and Nicaragua/sandinistas and US policies around "drug cartels" and general interference in those movements) is not all presented correctly, I don't know enough (yet) to comment. Regardless of accuracy though, this is definitely a period with a lot of built up "mythology" around it, on all sides. And I really appreciated this perspective, of a “real person/people” living those events and that time period, someone(s) just “caught up in the flow of history,” as opposed to running/deciding it. 

Other than the historical aspects, Tell It to Me Singing had a very telenovela-like drama and storyline, page-turningly so, and was also super compelling in a very real life sense. There was a look at Cuban-American culture and family and sense of history and place and unsettlement that might appeal to readers of Chanel Cleeton (see my review of Next Year in Havana) or books like Of Women and Salt. Side note here: shoutout to Ramírez for making a clear and open nod to the oft under-acknowledged conservative lean of this Cuban-American community. All in all, the cultural placement just felt very present. The intergenerational secrets and cycles, full of drama enough to keep me interested, but *just* likely enough to be believable, had me all the way invested. 

And the humanity. My goodness. *chef's kiss* Ramírez has written an entire cast of characters that is flawed but good. There's not really a single unlikable one on the list, despite them not always making the best choices or struggling to be the best version of themselves/to live their own truths. We can all relate and empathize with that level of complex and messy choices and relationships. But you can also see how they're all trying their best/giving best intent, so you can' help but fall for them. It's just a great depiction of truthful humanity. 

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Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad

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challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 
Continuing my life goal of reading all the Aspen Words Literary Prize winners, I have finally made it to last year's: Enter Ghost. A bit late to it, but I had to wait for my library to order and process it, so here we finally are! (If interested, please check out my reviews of previous winners, from 2018 to 2024, too: Exit West, An American Marriage, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, The Night Watchman, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev - my favorite of the winners so far, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak.)   


Oh, y'all. The power in the novel was absolutely in the everyday-ness, the “it is what it is” narrative tone, with which this story is told. There is something incredibly telling in the normalization of state and colonial violence and terror that suffuses every scene and interaction, but is just taken in stride, that is incredibly affecting/heartbreaking. This just shouldn't be anyone's norm, and yet... The way generations have experienced such vastly different reactions (devastation, hope, fight, distance, despair, resignation, etc.) to this occupation, but in a bigger picture, it’s only been 75 (ish) years and a single person could have lived through it all. It’s almost unfathomable, deeply upsetting, and Hammad just paints that reality so clearly. Related, she shows with great nuance the way that people can experience the same exact thing and interpret it and grow out of it so differently....and the internal/familial clashes that can result from those differences, even with a shared hope/belief in the same future. And she uses this story to try and subvert that "normal" life under occupation narrative, taking the script of how that story "should" look (or how the broader society thinks it looks) and creating something unique with it. 

The writing style itself, telling the story as a drama (a play script) as things get serious/emotional, is a fascinating choice. It's like the dissociation necessary to survive this type of daily trauma is shown on page with the distance that style creates. In fact, as that stylistic choice develops over the course of the novel, the interplay of reality and the script/stage drama (the real and unreal) is pretty wild. And since the play in question is Hamlet, the presence of ghosts is an unsurprising inclusion. Hammad addresses what ghosts do we carry with us (real and fabricated), which ghosts do we choose to acknowledge/address versus which we choose to ignore, which ones do we choose to let go, and which ones continue to haunt us. None of it is new, conceptually, but it is deeply and emotionally unpacked. 

The internal secrets and silences and protection (of self and others) that cause a family under pressure/in trauma to crack and separate in conjunction with the greater societal environment/witnessing is a lot in this novel. Hammad's message on the cyclicality in that hits throughout, but especially in those final moments, is heavvvvvyyyyyy. It's subtle, literarily, but very affecting. Perfectly on point. 


“My dear, if we let disaster stand in our way, we will never do anything. Every day here is a disaster.”

“Resilience was not the same as detachment.”

“Even if I cannot live in it, my soul will reawaken if there is a Palestinian state.”

“…when you read a novel about the occupation and feel understood, or watch a film and feel seen, your anger, which is like a wound, is dressed for a brief time and you can go on enduring, a bit more easily, and so time goes on running like an open faucet [...] and while there are moments in these concerts and poetry readings and lectures and plays when you might feel connected to the other people in this room, to the people behind the screen, you might feel a kind of flowering in the chest at this sight of your community's resistance embalmed in art, some beauty created out of despair, all of this means that in the end you, or at least the middle classes, are less likely to fight the fight because despair has been relieved, momentarily…”


“We haunt them. They want to kill us but we will not die. Even now we’ve lost nearly everything.”

“They get away with so much. We at least have to try. We might fail. Lots of people have failed before us. Basically everybody failed, actually.”

 “Human relationships are not social services, and love has nothing to do with deserving…” 

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Queen B by Juno Dawson

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adventurous emotional inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 
As I am eagerly awaiting the third book in the HMRC trilogy (Her Majesty's Royal Coven and The Shadow Cabinet were both great), I saw this sort of prequel narrative about Anne Boleyn, the OG witch, and her efforts to start a coven and grab some long-deserved power for women. That, like this whole world that Dawson has built, is so far up my alley that I cannot even handle it. I have been obsessed with Anne Boleyn since...forever ago, since childhood. I’ve always been drawn to the story of this treacherously charismatic woman of ambition, and the rumors of witchcraft that surrounded her. To mix that "history" with actual magic, and queer witches at that?! Yyyyaaasssssss, please.

This novella wasn't super deep on its own - it was too short for that, really - but it definitely added to the world Dawson has begun with HMRC in a way that I super enjoyed. This reframing of Anne Boleyn to actually have been a witch, but to have made the choice to die meekly to continue the greater work to set up witches, women, into a more protected and powerful and influential future, as they have always deserved and always lacked, is lovely. It gives her an agency in her own story in a way that it has never gotten in a "retelling" that I've read. And it provides a positive spin on her typically frowned upon ambition (a frowning that somehow is never applied equally to men with similar actions/wants). It's a harsh, but powerful, reclaiming. 

I also couldn't help but love the extra pieces, like the female friendships and queer storylines (three cheers for this Anne Boleyn who was only ever using Henry VIII to further her own ambitions, despite what his inflated ego had him thinking). Satisfying AF. And heartwarming in other ways. It was a light plot, but it had action and emotion and it did, as I said, add nicely to the origin story that we hear of in the HRMC series, but with it's own narrative voice now.   

Honestly, this is sort of a fluff spin off piece, but it maintains the quality queer and feminine strength of Dawson’s whole HMRC world. I read it in a single day and I recommend it as a solid entry in the cannon. 


“To live unafraid would be a luxury.”

“As it is now, if you name a woman a witch with enough conviction, she is a woman no more, let alone a lady. We should all be afeared.”

“Her hue was cornflower blue, an air witch. On a promising June morning, she was January skies.”



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The Wicked King by Holly Black

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

 
Book two! I jumped into this immediately after finishing the first. I was right, they were a perfect choice for a busy vacation read - definitely entertaining but without the need for full and undivided attention or long stretches of reading at a time. 

I appreciated very much that, for the most part, this book avoided the major second book slump. It did absolutely serve as a connector, plot-wise, between the opening and the finale. But it did so while holding its own with drama and plot movement. Jude and Cardan both grew into the roles they chose (or had chosen for them) at the end of the first book - learning a lot about themselves, separately and together, along the way. There was enough drama and exciting moments to keep me engaged throughout. And I thought the ending offered a twist of trust and betrayal and revenge in mirror of the first that was really good. It weirdly left us in almost the same place that we started the whole saga (though of course with a variety of different alliances and betrayals having changed the interpersonal landscape quite a bit), so that's actually a bit of an odd circular feel. But the way we got there was a well-crafted journey and I'm in it for the full ride. 

I also want to shout out (I mentioned it in my review of the first book, but it is a highlight enough that I want to say it again) that I love the classic fae magic and aspects. In particular, the way that fae can’t lie, but can still deceive, in contrast with how Jude/humans can lie, but still have feelings/trust that leave them stuck in bad bargains and deals. It is so creative in wording and writing/plot development. 

All in all, ready to see how Black pulls everything together in the final installation, after so many machinations and maneuvering.  

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The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

 
This is one of those series that I have had on my TBR for years, waiting for a time when I need something fast and easy... We recently road-tripped to FL (to visit a few National Parks - Everglades and Biscayne - and spend a few days at Disney with our nieces), which was the perfect "busy vacay needs low stakes fantasy escapist story" time for me to finally pick it up.

This was a solid start to a series. It jumped in pretty predictably - the "special" (because she's human in a fae world, not because she's the chosen one...at least a little bit) MC, Jude, and the prince, Cardan, who you know is going to be the grey antihero character butting heads as we are introduced to the world and characters and unfolding plot. I will say, this prince is actually quite cruel to Jude and her sister, not just nominal meanness, and I am curious (and hesitant) how Black will pull it around to make me cheer for him/them. Like, I know that teasing your crush is a thing (and they are super young), and also that often “being treated badly myself” is used as an excuse for treating others badly, but this feels like a lot. We'll see if he gets a believable redemption arc. 

Anyways, like I said, a solid start...if markedly on the YA side. And yea, that’s how it’s marketed. But recently the YA line has been blurred with the new adult line and some YA novels lean more mature. This one is very YA, as far as dialogue, character choices/motivations, etc. It's got simple, but clean, writing. With classic fae world folklore. Which, for me, is a plus. I do love the classic stuff when it comes to fair folk, like the fact that they cannot lie, the dangerous reality of making bargains with them, the variety of types of fae, the normalized brutality in their day to day lives, and the gorgeous natural-world magics. In this particular story, the fairy deal/bargain plot device plays a prominent role and I am appreciating the breadth of creativity with it. 

The plot itself was also pretty basic. Not bad, just basic - a struggle for power and the machinations of winning it. Until the end. There was a solid twist that I maybe should have, but didn’t, see coming. To that end, I enjoyed the sort of alternate fairy tale perspective. Like, we usually get the story of the human who is secretly fae royalty hidden away in the human world for safety finding out about their true identity/destiny. THis is, at least in part, the story of how they got there. I found that interesting and unexpected! We'll see where the story takes us from here.  


“What if the way I am is the way I am? What if, when everything else is different, I’m not?”


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Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 
I absolutely adored the first book by Rowland that I read a few years ago, A Taste of Gold and Iron, and I should have looked into more by her sooner, but here we are (as always, more books than time). Anyways, I finally grabbed this one from the library and holy shit I will immediately be reading more and more and more of Rowland’s works. She is up there now, for me, with Freya Marske as an absolute master class in queer romantasy that is as full in world-building as it is in heart-filling. 
 
Y’all, I am telling you, I would live in this book forever. The writing is downright freaking *hilarious.* The dialogue, the internal thoughts (omg like for real, Tam’s internal thoughts are some of the most entertaining I have ever read), the “I refuse to see what’s right in front of my nose” vibes…it’s all exactly on point. 
 
The world-building is simple, but I was fascinated by the pantheon of deities and the way the belief system worked. The folklore and mythology around said deities is explored and detailed throughout the novel, unfolding as the story does, nuanced without being overwhelming. I was especially bought into the relation of the areas of specialization of the gods with the development of the story/characters, exploring the duality of all natures and concepts. This wasn’t necessarily even the main focus of the story, but seriously, it was so great that I find myself really needing to give it real space in this review. 
 
Speaking of the main focus of the story. OMG Tam and Lyford. They jumped in with the spice hard to start and then settled into something with an aching amount of vulnerability and sweetness and tenderness. A smart and touching “grouchy and giving” opposites attract (showcasing the duality of their specific goddess to perfection). And the way they each learn to grow, into themselves and into each other, is beautiful. It’s a story of how we often have a hand in creating our own ruts, but that means we also have all the tools to get ourselves out of them…but it’s done in such a comforting way, not a “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” kind of way, and I loved it so much. 
 
This book was lighthearted and diverting AF, and yet gave so much. The story completely touched my soul. And having finished it, I am SO FULL of joy and love. Oh my goodness, it’s almost too much sweetness, but Rowland tempered it with just the right amount of prickly perfection. GAH. Everything.
 
“Think about the things you want. Go home. Tell people what those things are. Flourish and prosper.” 

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