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The story itself is just a playful romp with plenty of intrigue and small disasters. It is very low spice but also very low cringe, which seems like an unusual combination. I can see this as a kids movie kind of like The Princess Bride. Or I could, right up until a well deserved f bomb hit the scene. It was a reminder that grown ups deserve fun books too. Not everything has to be so serious.
Honestly, big points for style and execution. It's a popcorn action romance movie in a book.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
For the most part, it felt very fanfic-y, which is not always a bad thing, because the book indeed kept me untertained, and although a good bunch of what happened felt sort of predictable, the plot was moving fast while staying relevant and interesting, always adding onto the story.
i did struggle with the repeated comments about the mister super evil's muscles peaking through his shirt/his shirt too tight/his black leather pants but thats probably just my very lesbian and misandrist aversion for men speaking. but can't he wear appropriately sized clothed? and why on earth would any active person be wearing leather pants all the time. however i really enjoyed the presence of queer characters that were not defined by their queerness.
honestly, until i was about 70% in, i was pretty fixed on rating this book a 3.25 rather than a 3.75 . but slowly i started to realise that although the writing wasn't groundbreaking or making me rolling on the ground from laughtet, it was still pretty well constructed, characters were given a solid background (kind of trauma heavy but that's also ok). but the final plot twists and cliff hangers really raised my rating. also. some sentences made no sense . what happened .
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child death, Torture, Violence, Abandonment
Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment
Graphic: Sexual violence
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Antisemitism
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
That said, it was a really funny and fun book. It was a great way to play on the classic fairytale tropes and question morality and good and evil. The love story is a great slow burn, and I need to see it through. I'm just frustrated by the ending.
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Grief, Sexual harassment