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A review by erinkellyreads
The Other Side of the Mirror by Dana Evyn
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
"The Other Side of the Mirror" is an adventure fantasy about a girl who loses her family and the truth about who she is in a fire only to regain that and much more in this romantasy. Thank you to BookSirens and the publisher for allowing me to read this advanced copy. Here is my honest review:
Tropes:
- Insta-love
- Fated mates
- Secret powers
- Found family
- Twins
CW: Kidnapping, family death, fire, sexual assault, open door sex scenes
Things I really enjoyed:
- This was truly an adventure fantasy, and it often felt like I was reading along with a DnD campaign. There were places along the map, different magic users, creatures to fight, and castles and princes galore.
- The idea of the mirror portal system is very cool, especially with the idea that they can also connect into both the modern world and this medieval meets high tech fantasy world.
- I love a red-headed, freckled, kind but flirty MMC. Shadow daddies have been what's hot lately, and I love them, too, but it is nice to have some varieties in love interests.
- The flirty bickering between the FMC and MMC are fun.
Things that I think could've raised my rating:
- I'm not a fan of insta-love - insta-flirting, yes, but we were already completely enamored with each other by page 50 according to the thoughts the characters kept telling us about. Maybe if we were shown more instead of told through inner monologues I would have been more excited.
- The plot had some twists and turns, but they were relatively easy to call. I think if some of the internal monologues were cut, it might have led to more surprise. It felt like the characters knew things very easily (except for the fact that they were in love, surprisingly).
- Our FMC was a tough and knowledgeable girl with few flaws. The chip on her shoulder and high walls were very earned based on what happened to her family, but she learns magic almost too quickly, already is trained and strong in all sorts of combat and weapons (and horseback riding and lockpicking), and adapts to all of these changes really quickly. I just wanted something that made her human-like at some bit - some vulnerability - some chink in her armor to help us connect with her.
- I struggled with the juxtaposition of the YA writing style with the multiple open door spice scenes. I like both, mind you, but I wasn't sure that I liked both in the same story. I know the characters were in their 20's (or 50's? For the fae?), and the spice is not written in a YA style, but something about the non-spice writing style didn't quite match up for me.
Overall, if you like an easy-read adventure romantasy with spice, a tough FMC, and insta-love/fated mates, this could be a good book for you!
Tropes:
- Insta-love
- Fated mates
- Secret powers
- Found family
- Twins
CW: Kidnapping, family death, fire, sexual assault, open door sex scenes
Things I really enjoyed:
- This was truly an adventure fantasy, and it often felt like I was reading along with a DnD campaign. There were places along the map, different magic users, creatures to fight, and castles and princes galore.
- The idea of the mirror portal system is very cool, especially with the idea that they can also connect into both the modern world and this medieval meets high tech fantasy world.
- I love a red-headed, freckled, kind but flirty MMC. Shadow daddies have been what's hot lately, and I love them, too, but it is nice to have some varieties in love interests.
- The flirty bickering between the FMC and MMC are fun.
Things that I think could've raised my rating:
- I'm not a fan of insta-love - insta-flirting, yes, but we were already completely enamored with each other by page 50 according to the thoughts the characters kept telling us about. Maybe if we were shown more instead of told through inner monologues I would have been more excited.
- The plot had some twists and turns, but they were relatively easy to call. I think if some of the internal monologues were cut, it might have led to more surprise. It felt like the characters knew things very easily (except for the fact that they were in love, surprisingly).
- Our FMC was a tough and knowledgeable girl with few flaws. The chip on her shoulder and high walls were very earned based on what happened to her family, but she learns magic almost too quickly, already is trained and strong in all sorts of combat and weapons (and horseback riding and lockpicking), and adapts to all of these changes really quickly. I just wanted something that made her human-like at some bit - some vulnerability - some chink in her armor to help us connect with her.
- I struggled with the juxtaposition of the YA writing style with the multiple open door spice scenes. I like both, mind you, but I wasn't sure that I liked both in the same story. I know the characters were in their 20's (or 50's? For the fae?), and the spice is not written in a YA style, but something about the non-spice writing style didn't quite match up for me.
Overall, if you like an easy-read adventure romantasy with spice, a tough FMC, and insta-love/fated mates, this could be a good book for you!