Meaghan

I loved this book. I read it cover to cover in one (sick) day. It was exactly the pick-me-up/good cry I needed. I went in basically blind, except that I had corrected my understanding it was a romance novel — while there is a romance in it that much of the plot spins on, it's much more of a story of “found family” and women supporting other women.

Elizabeth is an extraordinary woman who is able to see clearly the social/cultural structures that those around her merely abide by. She calls it like she sees it calmly and rationally, and allows those around her to have temper tantrums without mothering them.

The book isn't perfect — issues of intersectionality/race are touched on only superficially, ambition and work take center stage as what women truly want, and the rational/empirical perspective that Elizabeth takes — while inspiring in the context of the book — is not critically examined. Rationality and empiricism are seen as antidotes to oppressive cultural views, while in reality they are themselves just as much a part of the culture and worldview that Elizabeth so strongly critiques.

Having said that, for me/at the time that I read it, I was able to fully enjoy Elizabeth's certainty that if you treat everyone around you like an independent adult with opinions, ideas, and aspirations of their own (including women, children, and older people) they will surprise and delight you. It is a 5-star book for me because it was exactly the heartfelt read I needed, and I can personally look past some of the critiques I raised above given the quality of the story, characters, and plot.

As a rule, I don't really like contemporary romance. I tend to find them one-dimensional — I prefer my romance with a side of adventure, magic, and/or history.

This is the best contemporary romance novel I have ever read.

Both main characters feel like real people with real wounds. And their love story is taking place within a multigenerational mystery on the plains. There is so much important history and present-day truth incorporated. It is an urban planning and academic romance! There's archival research and a local historical society, discussions of displacement and predatory real estate development, and the importance of community. It's about family and home and everyone pitching in with their skills to save a beloved institution, and to heal some fractured hearts along the way.

Even when I expected some of the twists, this book is so heartfelt and the execution was so strong that I was only delighted to have guessed right in some places.

If it weren't so spicy, I'd recommend it to my planning students :)

(2.5 stars rounded up to 3) I really wanted to love this one. The writing is really atmospheric, the witchiness is wonderful (though I could have used more) and the use of multiple perspectives and time jumps kept me engaged with the story. However, as other readers have mentioned, the characters felt flat and it was often difficult to tell their perspectives apart, and the “reveal” at the end was what I had suspected all along. I also hated the epilogue scene - it felt pointless. Additionally, I found the lack of consistency in the world-building, plot, and characterization too distracting really enjoy it. Let me explain what I mean.

In the opening, Emery mentions how cell service ends as soon as you get off the ferry boat, and how it bothers the tourists. But then, for the whole middle of the book, she and Dutch are calling/texting without issue. There's no mention of wifi. Then, at the end, when it is convenient for the plot, August suddenly has service issues again. She could have addressed this by mentioning that people had wifi, but she went out of her way to talk about how disconnected the island is. I find this to be lazy writing.

Similarly, Lily dies under mysterious circumstances, and even though we are told repeatedly throughout the book how everyone on the island does magic, no one ever seems to mention or investigate this. Given Leoda's perspective at the end, this is probably supposed to be intentional. But Jake has grown up on the island; surely he would at least recognize that the combination of weird details likely means magic was involved? That none of the characters seem to consider this once again feels too convenient, and frankly, lazy again.

There are other examples of this throughout the book. I had so hoped that this would be a favorite read of 2022, so perhaps I am being too harsh; but I was really disappointed with the reading experience.