life is hard and i needed a little pick-me-up to read. so i just chose a random romance in the library. it definitely helped me read because it was quick and the fantasy aspects were very well done, especially as they were incorporated in wales. but it also reminded me how much i don't read straight romance. yes, the geography magic was very fun. yes, marriage of convenience with some sort of rivals to lovers sounds like a really good setting. but i can't bear a character saying "you are mine". in any context it makes cringe but it bothers me especially when the book is set in a context where the male character literally "owns" the female character by marriage. i had fun but i liked the fantasy much more than the romance.

this book has everything i need, which is a main character who is a lesbian, could kill me and has a terrible sense of humor. i had some difficulties with the plot. i did get me some time to really get into the universe, but by the end, i was completely invested. i am really interested to read more. i think the strong part of the book is the relationships between the characters. they feel like fully fleshed characters. obviously, the most interesting one is between gideon and harrow. it is complicated and it evolves in a realistic manner throughout the book. the end devastated me and i still haven't recovered.

i absolutely loved this book and i also have a certain number of problems with it. i really liked shane and ilya's relationship. yes, it is complicated and they definitely need to communicate more but it feels real. they love each other and it is what shines throughout this book. i also really liked getting to know other characters (i am very attached to the centaurs now) and seeing new relationships develop (like ilya and shane's parents). but, as other people have pointed out, shane doesn't feel as important as ilya in this book. i feel like shane's trauma as an asian gay man growing up in a sport so racist, homophobic and sexist wasn't addressed enough. some scenes were really well written while others left me wanting for more - more anger, more sadness, more emotions on shane's part. on top of that, i feel like his desire for control and his relationship with food wasn't developed enough. otherwise, i really liked the more romantic and cheesy aspects of the story and rachel reid was able to write about difficult topics and relationships while keeping her book in the romance genre.

i am very excited to see it adapted!

every time i rate a book, i remember how much the rating is based on my personal enjoyment and not the quality of writing. i had a really good time reading it. the show is really close with the book but i really liked getting insight into shane's and ilya's minds. shane is definitely my favourite character. even if i knew the story, their romance kept me on my toes. even if their relationship is only sexual at the beginning, the book really helps us feel the romantic aspects early on. my annotation are as useless as they were for game changers but i was completely emotionally invested. i had fun!

i enjoyed the atmosphere and i didn't find the narrator as insufferable as other people are saying however, the book didn't leave me a big impression and while i will always love books that take place in bookshops (and with codes! a secret society!), i am definitely not convinced by the role google played in it. still, a nice read with a intriguing setting.

i am not the biggest reader of literary fiction because i still feel like a kid who can’t understand what it feels like being an adult. this is what this book is for me: being a real established adult and still having to go through devastating changes and having to grow up. this book felt real. i could smell the rum coming from the black cake in the kitchen. i could feel the water moving. i could feel the pain. the separation. the misunderstandings. i really liked how the author approached the topics of family, queerness and loyalty.