This was a strong concept for a story, with very prominent female characters and LGBTQIA+ representation. These aspects are actually quite relevant to the story. The way that was addressed was a little heavy-handed within the prose at times, but the majority of the time the feminism and general diversity were clearly just aspects of the characters and relevant for good reason. The writing itself was a little repetitive, and could have stood a little pruning, and the characters often seemed to be directionless, just kind of...doing things. But the biggest offender was the brand names. Good gracious, the brand names. She out on her TK Maxx sports bra, they ate specifically Kettle chips, the very regular unnecessary name dropping of TV shows and musical artists that will end up dating the book in a bad way, FaceTime and McFlurry and on....it's just a lot. I understand some is relevant for timeline positioning, but still. It was quite jarring. The story itself was interesting, and I liked the magic system and the way it the realities of it wove in with the modern time. I will probably read the next book, but I will probably take a break before it, as this one was oddly exhausting to read.

A good book to read especially during this Pride Month, bringing up points of view that people who aren't LGBTQIA+ might not consider, as well as considering the censorship and protests that libraries are facing at the moment.

The style of writing took a while to get used to. It was heavy on therapy vocab and self-introspection (given that both of those things are main elements of the novel), which takes some getting used to if you aren't expecting it. Which I wasn't; it's not that the way it is marketed is false, it just isn't technically accurate to the reader experience. The blurb makes it sound as if the library's issues are the main plot points, and while they technically are, a much higher percentage of the book is spent on the therapy and introspection, and all of it is viewed with a heavy dose of that internal monologue. Again, not a bad thing. Just an adjustment of expectations.

Overall, I would recommend this to people who are interested in novels focused on mental health and slow, zoomed-in parts of life. It was a decent read, and definitely made me emotional in parts.