Reviews and Comments

This book manages to cram an incredible amount of story into a very short space--and it does it well! It's taking liberties with some emotional shorthand, but that's absolutely fine given the end result. This is a story that either had to fit into the space it was given or be allowed to sprawl over 600+ pages. The world building is intriguing, the characters are interesting, and the story gets told.

My only regret is that I want more. I wasn't left wondering about loose ends with regards to the story that we were given, but there's definitely room to keep going should the author desire that. Though some may feel the story ended exactly where it should have--and that's valid too.

Nothing is wasted here. Little details that enrich the environment of the characters are used, called back, or relevant. Each interaction has meaning. Most of the characters have value. It manages to squeeze in biting commentary on how America has historically treated women and the LGBT+ community. "Chicago had loved us once ... But the cops cracked down on the pansy clubs in 1935, and these days, Chicago didn't love our kind at all." Dang!

All this while not losing the thread of the story nor failing to get us invested in its characters? It was as impressive to read as it was enjoyable.

I'll preface that my rating and my review stem primarily from the fact that I didn't feel like I really 'clicked' with this book until almost the end.

There isn't anything particularly wrong or glaring with the writing style, and concept is a delightful one. I do feel that there was a lot of characters. While they all had their role to play, the length of the story and the events transpiring didn't give enough room for all the characters to breathe and grow and become well known to me. I think that's one of the reasons I didn't precisely care about any of them until the book was almost over. However, the writer does keep the pacing at a decent clip and scatters just enough curiosity about events to have kept me hooked until the end.

The plot also didn't feel like it had a great deal of space to breathe. The most important beats are addressed, but there's aspects that felt like they could have been explored deeper--lore wise and emotionally.

It's not a bad book by any means or measure; it just could have been better. And being able to see that always leaves me a bit disappointed.

I liked it!

First and foremost, though, it's a romance. Technically a romantasy but mostly a romance. The world building is... meh. Like it's there, they're clearly not on Earth, but it felt circumstantial rather than deliberate. So much set dressing for the romance. It's fine.

The plot is decent. It's a mystery. But again. This is a romance. The plot was there to provide conflict. Overall I'd say the plot is nothing to write home about. It was decently entertaining. It definitely got more interesting towards the end, which was appreciated.

The passage of time was sometimes difficult to keep track of. A lot happens in a very short period of time.

This sounds like damning with faint praise but what's important is that the romance was very very good--good romantic development, paced well. Despite some anguish on characters' parts, I never felt like I wanted to shake someone for being overly oblivious. And if you want a queer romance book, I highly recommend it.