synopsis: a book following circe, one of helios' children, and how she navigates her life after being banished to an island.

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this was admittedly a slow start. however, the more i read through it, the more circe grows on me. i confess that it took a while to see where the hype was coming from. in fact, the only reason why i didn't give this a 5-star rating was because i really struggled reading the first half of it, not knowing where the story was going.

i also didn't connect with circe in the beginning. i generally prefer female main characters with more grit, attitude, and personality than being a doormat, but i was really proud of her by the end of it. she had a great character arc, and deservedly so. the ending she got was also so satisfying and justified. i get her, and i'm just so happy for her.

for most of the book, i felt really bad for her. i already dislike men, but this book made me hate them even more because some of the horrible things that happened here is definitely still realistic in the modern and contemporary world.

what really made me push through the first half was the writing. i'm not especially drawn to greek mythology, so it was a surprise that i really liked this. madelline miller is incredibly talented for gripping my attention and making me so intrigued about the messy lives of goddesses and gods.

i'm so excited to read her debut novel soon!

synopsis: paloma and bennett were briefly together 3 years ago when they were freshmen. due to mysterious circumstances, paloma broke up with him. they meet again and take a shot at their second chance at love.

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starting off strong: i fucking hate this book.

i feel duped because everyone and their mothers loved it, but i don't see why? it's stupidly horrible. i honestly don't even know where to start at this point.

let me enumerate the things that made me want to pull my own hair:

1. the pace is all over the place. this book had no reason to be this wordy. we need to cut at least 50k words from the final count.

2. the back-and-forth timeline is not the author's strong suit. it was obviously poorly written. half the time, the timelines just blur. i also think it didn't make sense for the story to use a past vs. present type of timeline, considering this was a snooze fest. whatever's happening in the past is almost the same as what's happening in the present, so you get lost half the time whether the chapter you're reading is the past or present.

3. the plot is one big nothing. paloma broke up with bennett out of nowhere on new year's, and bennett doesn't know why. that's the ENTIRE plot. i wish it was worthwhile getting to the one big reveal, but from the content warnings in the author's note, you already know paloma's big secret anyway, so i have no idea why it draaaaagged for so long. i get that the journey is probably us seeing the growth on both paloma and bennett, especially dealing with their trauma and anxiety, but fucking hell, it was just unbearable.

4. in connection to the previous point, paloma doesn't deserve bennett. i don't remember the last time a book made me so frustrated. BOTH MAIN CHARACTERS ARE NOT LIKEABLE. bennett, at the very least, was okay up until the final parts after paloma revealed her traumatic past. but paloma is just so frustrating. i HATED being in her point of view.

5. the main character's relationship is built on them hiding things from each other, and i already dislike miscommunication. if that word was personified, paloma and bennett would absolutely be the best examples. especially paloma who keeps on LINGERING and CALLING on bennett, pushing and pulling on his emotional strings that it's borderline abusive.

she breaks up with him, doesn't tell him why, loiters around him and parties where she knows he'll be there, and calls him when she needs help.

they were in love for MONTHS. not even 6 months. if they were employed, they're not even regularized yet. and they're in college but still acting like high schoolers.

6. everyone just doens't talk about fucking everything and it's frustrating and i'm not patient enough, nor are the characters interesting enough to warrant that wait.

7. the conversations between characters are unnatural. i'm wondering if the author even has an idea on how to talk to your friends?

8. i feel suffocated throughout the entire book. every chapter is a chore to read. the topics are already heavy, but did the writing and characters had to make it worse? i can't believe i will be saying this, but chloe walsh's binding 13 was basically trauma porn, but even that had more interesting friendship dynamics and chemistry between the TEENAGER main characters.

9. bennett's nickname for paloma is "p" and i'm taking extra offense for that stupid ass endearment. also, apparently, paloma wanted to be a hockey coach, but i think that was just a plot point so she can be around the hockey team. she can't even skate, doesn't talk about hockey much, and suddenly in the epilogue, she's "coach p." give this girl some back story that's not traumatic. she literally has NO personality besides poetry and pining for her ex that she broke up with. what a poorly written female main character.

10. insta-love. whoever told you this book has yearning, they're lying.

i dragged myself until the end, because i actually find it interesting. at least the first half. it went downhill from about 60% in, but by then it was too late to dnf, so i read until the end so my rating is justifiable.

unfortunately, i'm not gonna read anything from this series or this author again. such a shame.