dishiereads's Book Journey

Rating 2.25⭐ Spice 🌶️🌶️

ALC Review

I am fairly conflicted about the book as a whole. I like the aspect of the story, though I had an extremely hard time trying to figure out the world building and story. I honestly did not know where it was going. This has very little plot and more about trauma and healing from said trauma for the FMC. The world didn't really feel post apocolytic modern world until I read the blurb, and to me it definietly feels the genre is more Sci-Fi than Fantasy. The only "fantasy" aspect was Bones having healing abiities, to which then goes into the magic system... Annnd I have no clue how the magic system works because there is none. Her magic somehow grows eventually but it's not really talking about in detail...so it really just feels like word vomit to me. And in a way I get it only because there isn't someone out there in around her that has magic.... yet I hope we get more answers clues about the said abiilties.

Speaking of hard times, Bones was one I also had a hard time liking. I know she is a kind person by heart and truly cares, but my biggest gripe was her having a martyr syndrome. Always trying to protect other by hurting herself because she deserves it, when it's obvious she clearly doesn't. And I know how trauma works and I empathize with her. I was tired of being in her head...All. The. Time. The entire premise of the book is this. It stayed stagnant, to me personally I saw no real personal growth. Maybe more of having character depth of her struggles and internal battles of feeling worthless and disposalble and not worth to be loved.

The romance felt weird to me, and maybe it was intentional as it was suppose to be Bones' first love she ever had in her life. But I won't know until book 2...maybe. The whole process of Bones relationship with Trey was very wishy washy, which again I get it but it felt it wasn't going anywhere until the very end. And of course when it finally does happened, it went pretty quickly. There was no connection between the relationship, it was fairly surface level of feelings.

The remainder of the book was aboslutely boring to me. At that point I was done, Bones went back to how she was from the start, just a shell of a body, which I personally felt that whole part didn't have to be so long OR should have started in the begining of Book 2. I felt the book should have just ended when Trey died for a more impact but that's just me.

The narrator did a decent job with the narration, but mainly for the female dialogues. Most of the male parts, I had a hard time who was speaking.

I received the ALC from Netgalley by Tantor Media. This review is my true and honest thoughts