dnfed at 30%

i couldn't care less if I tried

unfortunately, this book doesn't have interesting enough politics or narration for me to care. it's meant to be new adult i think? the only time it feels like new adult instead of YA is for the yuri chapters. the demon and aurelie chapters are very reminiscent of a really boring prototype of bantery enemies to lovers we're seeing these days. a lot of themes we begin with also feel very ya and the chemistry between the demon and aurelie is very middling. aurelia feels not much different from a staple fantasy fmc and her decisions are very impulsive and not interesting enough to hold my attention. she doesn't really have a unique characteristic so I didn't care much about her.

the one who I did care about, was yuri. the angel character is ironically the most interesting character in the book. he's got a set up and arc that feels very unique and mature. a sort of character that doesn't feel box-ed or boring. his pov kept me up from dnfing a lot sooner. he brings a fresh and interesting pov into the book and the world as an angel navigating humans and I'm sure his interactions with demons at the later part (if we ever get them) will be just as nice.

ultimately, I need my fantasy books perfect in setting their vibe from page 1 and building on it, so this wasn't for me as I don't think it blew my mind with unique ideas. i wish everything was as interesting as yuri but well, I'll never find out even if it is.

edit: okay I skimmed the middle part and then got to the ending and LOLLLL this might be one of those fantasy books that is insanely good in the last 50-100 pages. what a ride. I wish the beginning wasn't that slow but yeah whatever. I don't regret dnfing but OOOF that was some intense last 50 pages. and the ending???????? i wish i cared cause it's actually peak 😭😭😭😭😭 WHY COULDN'T I ENJOY THIS BOOK UGHHHHH

(and why was the yaoi serving so much)

thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for the arc