cass_lit's reviews
1354 reviews

While I was reading this, I was rolling my eyes a bit at how dramatic everything felt. By the end though, I was actually a bit emotional at the happy ending. I think it was dramatic because that’s how society treated entertainers at that time, and I think the happy ending got me because as we’ve started to look back more honestly at that time, we’ve realized how many pop stars didn’t and won’t have happy endings because of what they went through. Overall I really enjoyed the characters in this and I’m excited to see what Isabel Banta does next. 

Some points I disagree with, but overall really informative with helpful suggestions for moving forward. 

I only learned that Katharina Kepler was a real person after finishing the book, which is a shame because I think maybe I would’ve enjoyed it more knowing that. But as it stands, I was bored reading most of this and the writing style didn’t help. I found Katharina annoying — not that that’s an excuse for the accusations, but I did make reading her diary entries that much more unbearable. And when we switched to her neighbor’s entries, he was maybe even more annoying. Plus, the audio didn’t do a great job differentiating the two so sometimes I wouldn’t know we’d switched until sometime later when they’d mention someone by name. 

Crazy stuff 

I liked this. It was cheesy and cliche and a little unbelievable (not just the magic), but I had fun with it and I’m so intrigued to hear more about the magic  through the sisters’ books. I’m also probably biased because Sarah Hogle’s a fellow Ohioan and I loved all the local references haha. Biggest complaint was how quickly we moved on from the love interest’s big reveal because even if we’re okay with it, it definitely needed to be talked about at least once. 

This came out of nowhere and swept me away, man. I loved the magic system, the characters, the dark academia, the twists. Totally wasn’t expecting it either, which is such a refreshing surprise! I need more from this world.