I am unfortunately breaking hearts, but this read just wasn't for me (ó﹏ò｡)

I can tolerate with insta-love, and maybe because of the whole concept I was expecting a bit more of exploration between Ada & Seth (especially Seth with some insight of his world and more as a dreamer). With this read, it unfortunately fell flat and I kept reading for the sake of it. I also wasn't a big fan of the writing— I don't mind contemporary — but it just felt so hard reaching for the TikTok lingo. And this is coming from a Gen Z myself, I love my brain rot lingo, this didn't hit for me.

Ada was a charming character! I liked seeing her growth over struggles with her trauma, reflections of her childhood beliefs that were brought into her adulthood, and she's just an overall sweet girl. Again, I just don't think the writing did her justice and she had a LOT of chapter length dedicated to her. Much was said, but not much was done. I would have loved to see a bit more of herself in building that reconnection individually and with Seth.

I also find Seth endearing and would have loved more focus on him as a character. I will say the way his angst, inner turmoil, and coming to terms with his shifting identity was 🤌✨️ chef's kiss. It tugged beautifully at the heart strings. I know the sprinkle of his interpersonal connections were written in incase the authors ever wanted to explore more of it. Was it absolutely necessary? I didn't think so. I would have loved that time to have been use to explore into his creation, maybe how he and other relative dreamers interact with the world.

Character design wise, I know Seth's design was "heavily inspired" by a certain Vessel, and it was my driving factor purchasing this because "it's literally just Vessel's design". But, I ended up imagining man's entirely different for my sake of enjoyment. Absolutely love Sleep Token, but Seth could stand out in his own way with his own unique design, ya know?

I know the smut factor drove this along which that was written well. I enjoyed those scenes and could find myself revisiting this book primarily for that. It's a very cute read overall for those who like a simple insta-love Christmas story.