Unravel the Dusk

Still not Project Runway, but now it reminds me of Love / Shining Nikki instead. Literally battling in and with fancy dresses.

"If not for Lady Sarnai, I wouldn’t have had to make these damned dresses, the root of everything that had gone wrong."

Still true. The story has taken such a departure from the initial premise though, evolving into something else entirely. There isn't much tailoring or dressing up involved anymore, and the romance is also put on the back burner since Edan is away for the first half of the book. Instead, there's now a lot of politics, war, and demonic business going on. It's not bad. Not at all. It's just not what I expected.

Without Edan's presence to balance her out, Maia's tendency to make stupid decisions really comes out in full force. She's basically doomed and she knows that she badly needs help, but instead of seeking it, she constantly runs off to solve every single problem on her own, lies to everyone who cares about her, and leaves them to panic in isolation since she doesn't actually have any clue on how to fix all these issues. If anyone does catch up to her, she would go back immediately in the hope of finding a solution she doesn't have anyway… so what is even the point of leaving to begin with? This keeps happening repeatedly, and it gets old real fast.

Also, the ending. Not gonna spoil anything, but don't we all love some good ol' deus ex machina. Yay. I do like the conclusion to this story though. It's very wholesome, even if some things are resolved very conveniently.

Complaints aside, this was a quick and easy read. It's been four years since I read the first book, yet I was able to get back into the story immediately. Personally this book makes me less attached to Maia and Edan as a couple since I don't think they have much growth, individually or as a couple, but that's probably just me.