I have so many thoughts and maybe someday I'll sit down and write something comprehensive, but, in a word: incredible.

One thing I will say is that everyone's experience is different and I was not as emotionally devastated as I expected to be when I began reading. That's not to say, however, that the story isn't incredibly emotional and feels-inducing. There were quite a few moments where I fought back tears, but overall I just found everything to be quietly tragic.

Well done, SenLinYu. I do not believe this has been over-hyped at all. All hype is well-deserved.

One of the best standalone fantasy novels I have read in quite a while. The writing is gorgeous and full-bodied, and I found the story itself incredibly unique and engaging.

I was originally afraid that I’d be able to guess all of the twists and turns because all of my initial theories from early on were proven correct, but I was thrilled to be proven wrong.

Could not recommend this novel more if I tried. I 100% understand why some have said it was their favorite read of the year, because it also might be mine.

Having this be audio-only was difficult for me because I am generally uncomfortable listening to romance audiobooks, but I did enjoy the premise of this story. Much like Hazelwood’s other novels, she tends to write a lot of her characters the same and the storylines feel like Hallmark movie misunderstandings and lack of communication, but that’s probably why I love them so much and keep coming back.

I would have loved to have seen more about the actual development of the video game after the conclusion of the events of the retreat, and for the Limerance saga to be a real book series, but I’m happy with what was given. 😁