she's everything, he's just ken.

A nice cozy story that I desperately needed in my monthly TBR. However, in comparison to the first book, I was disappointed. Aislinn was truly everything. She had motivations, ambition, a backstory, a personality, and everyone adores her. Hakon...liked being a blacksmith (maybe) and Aislinn. That's it. There's a halfhearted attempt at giving him a back story with his grandparents and why he wants to find a mate. But his whole goal for the book being he wants to find a mate and settle down is so boring (?). It felt disappointing and also cheapened the love story for me (sorry!! don't jump me). Not only that, but he grapples with the idea of just stealing her and running away to protect herself from the responsibilities for a portion of the book. I don't know. Orek's possessiveness and care for Sorcha worked for me. Hakon felt like a half-baked attempt to meet that. I was excited everytime Orek and Sorcha showed up because that's my family right there. In the last battle scene, I was even expecting Orek and Sorcha to save Aislinn because they're such a power couple.

Storywise, this one also felt more like a traditional romcom/romance book where he teaches the eldest daughter to calm down and put herself first. It was fine but not new.

I am, however, going to continue with this series. Interested to see what we get up to with the Fae, Allarion, and the backstory that was built up in this one.

loved reading it. hated how it made me feel.

one of my (guy ugh) best friends warned me the book wasn't all that before reading it. oh, to be a boy and not get it.

taking me back to ap psych fr. would have LOVED if we got even a small hint or answer about anything. ending it so bleakly was just so truly devastating and took it down a notch for me. sorry!

but the writing was so beautiful to me. hats off to this translator as well! Everything flowed so beautifully.

humanity and femininity and nature and love and purpose. what an exploration. i fr need to live more. that's what the book makes me feel.

this book is not what it is marketed as, but perhaps more interesting than what I had originally imagined

this is not a happy ending, rom com with poc main characters as I originally thought it was! (i originally was happy to get a brown male lead with a chicana pop star!!)

It is, however, a study in anxiety, self-sabotage, and multiculturalism in its relation to self-worth. Pablo is Pakistani and Korean, yet feels so distanced from both cultures as his parents purposely keep him away. He is supported by parents, but in ways that is damaging to his self-confidence and muddies his sense of self. His little brother, on the other hand, receives creative attributes that are supported by his parents (i.e. allowing him to attend LaGuardia to focus on singing) while also benefitting from the shielding from his older brother.

So when Pablo meets Leanna Smart, aka Carolina Suarez, aka Lee, his relationship with her is something uniquely his. We see from the very start that this is a doomed relationship. I enjoyed their banter most of the time. The author let these interactions go on for long periods, letting us live in these moments of getting to know each other. But beneath it all, we see that both Pab and Lee are truly hiding their truest selves from each other. Lee even asks Pab to never google her, which ultimately leaves a lot of space for him to question her, make up scenarios, create his own theories when she isn't transparent with him. However, unlike Pab, Lee doesn't have the privilege to inevitably break a promise and google him anyway. ~ Their banter did get cheesy sometimes, but I had to remind myself that they are technically very young and flirting so I had to let it slide.

Ultimately, this is not Lee's story. This is Pablo's. And Pablo needs help! I originally started this book soon after I graduated college but then never finished it. Oh, how I wish I had back then. These scenes of Pab ignoring the messages from the student loan companies, the credit card companies, etc. were all too real. I had the same sort of anxiety about my own student loans that left me incredibly avoidant. I would not allow my mind to calculate how much I owed, I would not look at statements, I would not just sit down and figure out repayment strategies. Something I learned only relatively recently is doing when Pablo does, sitting down with his mom and letting others in on the burden. It's funny how much more easy it is to breathe once there is a plan set in place, once someone else is able to help you get organized, once you face the issues at hand.

And that's this book's biggest strength. It ventures deep into Pablo's inability to confront issues. It shows how he is afraid to start anything because he's already built up the conflict avoidance. He looks down on his father, his best friend, his little brother, even Lee as they dare to "embarrass" themselves and open themselves up to failure just so they can live their dreams. This plays heavily into the nonchalant syndrome alive and well today, where people are too scared of looking foolish to ever put themselves out there to do anything. I, unfortunately, felt Pablo's journey was too relatable.

While this book was not a happy go lucky rom com, I was happy to end up where it was. I was not rooting for Lee and Pablo to end up together (in fact, Lee's life seemed so sad and boring? to me). I was happy that Pablo's "happy ending" was reconciling with his found family, facing his financial obstacles, and working toward building stronger connections with his parents and brother.

This book left major impacts on me. However, I have to mark it down because, for Lee and Pablo to be marketed as the main characters, I did not really enjoy them together. Their scenes felt disconnected and lacked chemistry. In fact, Lee felt like a plot device more than a main character. Not to mention, they went from flirting in a bodega to all of a sudden canoodling in LA almost instantaneously. I almost had whiplash! I am so not a fan of those insta-love type scenarios. Even if it served its purpose for the story, it cheapened their connection for me.