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I think I read this at the wrong time.

There were really good moments, but too few and far between for me to actually enjoy it. The narration was the best part; Robin’s quips were witty and he had some very good lines that were striking both in character and analysis.

The characters, for all of their charm and quirks (Lysistrata especially - I adore her), had little growth with arcs that really fell flat. I did not like the love interest, she reminded me a bit too much of the tortured male protag that just needs an innocent (younger) woman who knows nothing of sex that they can use for pleasure and who will help them “feel love again.”

2/5 Almost a 1/5. The book truly became a slog until things picked up again around the 90% mark - much too late for my tastes. Suggested for lovers of sapphic romance, magic, and a lovely, quippy narrator. Maybe I’ll enjoy it more if I come back to it.

(This is my original review from Goodreads, I read it in January and reread it this December. Easily a book I'm going to continue returning to yearly.)

I went into this book highly skeptical of it being able to pull off the combination of academics and fantasy, but it is now easily one of my favorite books in its genre.

The characters each have their own voices and distinct characterizations; from gruff but kindhearted townsfolk, to the "mousy" but dedicated main character, to, of course, the flamboyant but loving love interest, who I found was delightful to read.

The world is as fun to read about as the characters. Fawcett has a beautiful way of narrating that makes everything feel fresh and interesting, which only makes it more powerful when the characters come upon anything magical in their environment.

The book isn't perfect. In some spots the story felt a little thin, like there wasn't really anything connecting a couple of the events to the main storyline. But that just meant that we got to meet more characters and find greater depth in characters we already knew, so I don't really have any complaints about that. The events were still engaging, but didn't always fit in perfectly with the main plot is all I'm saying.

5/5 for making me want to immediately devour the next book, for having the cutest love story I've ever read, and having me laying in bed giggling and kicking my feet while reading the bickering between the main characters. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a scientific approach to the fae, a fun frenemies to lovers story, and a plot that will have you loving every character for each of their quirks.

I preferred the first one.

Everything I liked about the Wisteria Society transferred into this one, however, with a slightly less enjoyable heroine. Charlotte is lovely, sure, but I found her wit to be more annoying than Cecilia's. Everything about Charlotte and Alex's relationship seemed to center around sex and fulfilling physical needs rather than emotional ones. (Not that that isn't a little bit relatable too, ha). Yes, I know they stopped having sex once to talk about emotional things, but that felt like too little too late for me. I did like Charlotte's budding friendship with Cecilia. Where the writing involving men sometimes falls short, the writing in regards to female friendships hasn't failed yet.

3/5 While it's not as good as the previous book, this was still an enjoyable read. If not for the romance, then for the world building and newly introduced society, the mystery posed by the maid, and the style of prose that Holton is so good at.

While the previous book in The Murderbot Diaries focused a lot on dialogue, here there is a good mix of action and emotion, with another new bot/human relationship dynamic that added more to the world building.

The Murderbot story is interesting, the plot with GrayCris seems like it's going somewhere, but these past two books feel like a setup for the fourth book in a way that left both feeling incomplete. Murderbot still hasn't grown to like humans or see anything in a different light, but readers did get more insight of it's relationship with humans from it's reactions to Miki's relationship with it's leader.

Repetitive plots aside, I'm hoping that the fourth book will bring out new aspects of Murderbot as a character, shed some light on it's past, and take those final steps into the emotional impact of Murderbot's story.

3/5 for the humor, the fun action, the surface-level side characters, and the fast pace adventure I've come to really enjoy in Wells writing.

This book is very, very close to perfect. Novik's prose is stunning. Reading Uprooted felt like watching the Howl's Moving Castle movie again. In fact, this book felt very similar to Howl's Moving Castle, with a bit more of the plot happening outside of the tower.

The characters in this book were stunning. I thought Sarkan was goofy in the best way possible (he's the most serious character ever, lol), and adored Kasia. Even the villain was written so beautifully I felt her connections to the valley in the way I feel connected to my own home. There are so many themes of love and connection in this book that reading it filled me with so much joy. It was genuinely difficult to put down, that hasn't happened to me in ages.

I've read some other reviews for this book (the one-stars seem popular) and I definitely see where they're coming from with Agnieszka being a mary-sue and annoying. She definitely wasn't the best character in the story, but I consider this book like a sweet guilty-pleasure read. If you let yourself get lost in it then those nit-picky details aren't so glaring that they ruin the story. I know they didn't ruin it for me. :) My one complaint is that sometimes the pacing of the book would rush forwards. This was most notable right when Agnieszka is taken by the Dragon. I had to flip back and forth between pages for a moment wondering what happened. I did enjoy all of the twists and turns the book took. Novik kept me on my toes the whole time.

4.5/5 rounded down simply because I need to chew on this book a little bit more before giving it five stars. I recommend this book for people who enjoyed Howls Moving Castle and other fairy tale romances, those who enjoy magic and nature, and books that tie up nicely with the theme of love and community.