Anne

This book was slightly different from what I expected. In short: I enjoyed the beginning of the book, but the ending was disappointing. I think I was expecting more of a "Family Madrigal"-vibe (from the movie Encanto) and less of an evil >ex-husband/ringmaster (magic-y bad guy) vibe.

The setup of the house and the village and the theme of Orquidea making a home for herself and her family, but not succeeding entirely <spoiler>since her secrecy and harshness made a lot of the family resent her and move/run away</spoiler>, was very interesting, but the plot did not go where I expected it to go and in this case it was a miss for me. I think was hoping for a less explicit magical threat and more of a story about a family coming together.

Thoughts(/possibly slight rant) about the ending: The spiteful ex-husband trying to kill them with his living star/endless wishing well didn't work for me. I am not sure how to explain why, maybe it was just not what I expected, but it was not a satisfying mystery/resolution for me. I also didn't like that Tatinelly and her husband just randomly had to die for that, Tatinelly just wanted a happy family and her husband did absolutely nothing wrong, that poor man supported and cared for her and their daughter and in exchange lost his own family and wound up dying with insects crawling out of his body, he did not deserve that... Also why did nobody listen to the little girl who clearly had all the answers?? I know little kids just make stuff up sometimes, but she said very specific things and they already believed in magic, why not in her? and lastly, the living star being Marimar's father just seemed stupid. /rant

Still a good time, but liked it a bit less than the first two (which I liked very much), mostly because the pacing felt a bit off. More time was spend on things I cared about less and less time was spend on things I cared about more. Also I kinda missed the school setting, because I love a magic school setting ;)

A very interesting book, a different kind of story than I expected, but definitely not in a bad way. I enjoyed following the characters in a chapter of their lives. The ending was done in a very different way than I am used to, but I liked it a lot, it gives closure. It was interesting to see where each of their paths took them and why they made the decisions they did.

---------Spoiler-----------

I also very much liked Marin and Danica finding each other again at the end, I really like their dynamic. I am curious about the secong meeting of Danica and Neven, too bad we didn't get that, but I suppose I can probably infer what happened and spelling it out might not have added anything.

I liked this book, but I think this duology might have been better staying a standalone. This one went into to many directions at once I think, it seems like the writer had a lot of ideas to explore, but didn't know which to include/exclude, (very light spoilers) like the part in the dragon realm, which was barely relevant to the overall plot and when she was back on the mainland there was a lot of jumping around to/between different plotpoints. Too bad because I really enjoyed the first book and this one had some interesting ideas.

Perfect cute christmas romcom story, exactly what I was looking for. I thought the main characters were very lovable, their friendship/relationship is very cute and the side characters were great. I really like the relationship progression, they were clearly great friends and and we got to see both the growing of (their realisation of) their feelings and some time of them as a couple (I'm always a little disappointed when a story cuts of right as the characters get together), wouldn't have minded more, but I'm just a sucker for these kinds of stories

Loved it, very cozy, but also an interesting plot. Emily is great, her social awkwardness is very relatable (Is she autistic-coded? Doesn't get people/social cues, obsessed with one topic/special interest, very logical. Saying that as an autistic person myself, I got those vibes) and I like that she is very capable in her field. Also loved Wendell, he's just very charming and funny and their banter together is great. Not to mention all the villagers and Poe of course! Just really enjoyed this book, perfect if you want to read something fun and lighthearted, but still exciting.

Also I love Shadow, big dogs that are sweet and loyal but protective are the best.

Loved this book, really liked the cozy, kinda fairy tale vibe. Great characters, loved them all, especially the main character, she was so relatable and fun to read about. I also really enjoyed the narrator I didn't know what I was getting into, so discovering Hoid is telling the story was so much fun!. Really excited to get the hardcover soon and reread it!

I was intrigued by the premise but not sure if this captured me enough to continue the series. I like the idea of story and the characters all seem to have the potential to be interesting, but I don't think feel connected enough to any of them to really want to keep reading.

The premise of a secret society where only a few of the most talented magic people in the world can get in every couple years, but there's a dark twist sounds really good and I was very hopeful, but the worldbuilding feels very surface level, we don't really get to know anything in this book and the magic is more a plot-device than anything else. The ending felt a bit anti-climatic because I didn't feel like anything important happened in the year they had at the society or that I knew enough about the world (or that the characters did) to really know where this series is going, there's some hints, but nothing that really captured me.

The characters also didn't feel like they had any development, maybe switching between 6 different POV's didn't help, but I don't think that was the only problem. Even when it seemed like there was some growth/change in a character or a relationship it soon regressed or appeared to not have happened at all, they're all kinda the same as at the beginning of the book.

Overall I'm a bit disappointed, maybe I'll try the next one, depending on the reviews and if the things I didn't like seem to improve in that one, we'll see...

SPOILERS

I really liked the book, altough I was pretty disappointed that there were no Percy and/or Annabeth chapters, and those two are my favorite characters, especially Percy, he's so funny ^^. But I have really come to like Nico in this book, I already really liked him, but he's grown on me even more. I am also very glad that he finally found happiness. It was one of my favorite parts of the book where he told Percy that he had had a crush on him this whole time and Percy was totally flabbergasted and Annabeth highfived him and then he went back to what I think to be his futere boyfriend. I totally ship them!!(Wico?) ;P
So all with all; I really liked it, but it could have been better.