MARISSA MEYER PLEAAAAAASE slow down i'm going to break something w the way i fall for your romances

this was so incredibly cute oh my god. i actually really enjoyed how unlikable prudence is at first, it made me excited to see how she would grow and marissa meyer does not disappoint. this entire world is so wonderfully fleshed out and realistic, i love all the characters in this little beach town, it just feels like a community bubble. the seaside atmosphere and the wildlife preservation workers are such a great setting to read about, the animals are so sweet and the characters all get to unite around a common passion and cause. i thought prudence and quint's characters were so well developed, they had all this space to just be normal teenagers and i ended up getting a lot more from this YA book than i expected. i love the lunar chronicles but the quiet beach town setting is so insular and really worked to the book's advantage. this is such a good use of first pov limited, prudence's surly behaviour and impossible standards are understandable but not entirely sympathetic, and her romance with quint is developed over time with excellent pacing. we fucking love a rivals to lovers arc, yes we do.

i initially thought the karma power was going to be underutilised, and only pulled out to show prudence's hypocrisy, but i actually really liked the way it tied everything together thematically in the end. i thought it did a lovely job with helping prudence let go of her need to control everything and trust the people around her, and it ended up being a well-used device.

there were moments where prudence was almost eye-rollingly oblivious to the way she treats people, and the fact that quint always had a real excuse for his "slacker" behaviour made him occasionally come off as a manic pixie dream boy, but i still love him. i think prudence at the beginning definitely did not deserve him, but i'm glad she evolved into someone who did. i think quint was a little too perfect at times, besides the occasional "mean streak" (which ends up being dismissed in the end anyway bc prudence admits what he said was true) but he is such an incredible love interest!! i love their chemistry and their tension and i think they're so well matched for each other, and this is just such a perfect feel good book that pulled me out of a bad mood.