First off; I still love RW&RB more than anything McQuiston’s written since. Saying that, as their first foray into YA, this book read way more to the adult end. There isn’t anything in here resembling adult content, but it has the feel of an adult book written about teenagers and there is nothing wrong with that.
I was so excited for this book that I preordered the signed, sprayed edges edition from Waterstones. The book is stunningly gorgeous, I will say that. Last year, House on the Cerulean Sea topped my list of favorite 2020 books. And previously his indie series were some of my favorites. I went into this book expecting to love it, especially because so many people said it made them ugly cry.
First off, I am prefacing this with I got this book in Fairyloot’s August 2021 box – Lovestruck. Mind you, I haven’t enjoyed YA contemporary in some time. It just hasn’t hit me in the right way that it does for others. Not that it isn’t good, a lot of it is, but generally isn’t for me. Saying that, I felt obligated to read this book as it came in my box. I hadn’t heard of this (but now that I've read it, I’m seeing it everywhere!) so I went into this with pretty much no knowledge of anything. That is totally on me. Word to the wise: read book summaries before starting books.
Malice is one of those books that was recommended to me and I saw on lots of lists as being such a great read, so I decided that it was time to try it and see if I liked it. I feel like I'm being overgenerous with my three star rating. It was really a 2/2.5 for me. This book just didn’t work for me on so many levels.
A f/f rom-com with a paranormal element -- and a beautiful story that makes you smile. While I think RWRB is still better, this one is no sluggish second book.
This Golden Flame is a romance-less sci fi story. However, it did not work for me for a multitude of reasons.