nere's reviews
82 reviews

31 may 2024
delightful and devastating 

GOSH IDK ILL FINISH IT ONE DAY

not feeling it

I feel like I’ve been trying to crack the code of romance books so long since I ever started reading. I went a period thinking maybe the genre wasn’t for me until I became an experienced enough reader to realize I just hadn’t found the right book yet. in this case, I hadn’t found Cat Sebastian yet. this is the closest thing I’ve ever come to feeling GIDDY while reading romance. kicking my feet and twirling my hair. Sebastian has a deep understanding of the machinations of lust, desire, and build-up few romance authors could only dream of. any romance I usually manage to sit through, keeps me engaged in SPITE of the writing—but this kept me engaged, in large part, because of it. I was interested in the two leads as characters, I was invested in their individual developments outside of the romance. the romance just happened to be a delightful, giggling, and kicking-your-feet worthy cherry on top.

“Maybe the trick is to put fear in its place so it doesn’t take over. […] He can believe that the future they have is worth more than his fear.”

8 july 2024
working my way through shakespeare’s bibliography and this is among the first I’ve encountered I genuinely dislike. othello’s just.. bad huh! this deserves to fade into obscurity given there are MUCH better plays in his oeuvre. I’m shocked this is held in such high regard as it is

i simply do not care 

the plot contrivances felt unearned. and I couldn’t quite get myself to quite suspend disbelief. a lot of it hinges on the

miscommunication

trope, which I’m coming to realize I dislike. and although I did understand the affection between the two leads, the declaration of love occurs after knowing each other for

seven days and I’ve never really been a fan of instalove :(

in short, it had tropes I don’t like and I didn’t know that going in. not necessarily the book’s fault. for what its worth. I kept reading until the end. which is more than could be said about most other romance books I start and promptly don’t finish.

will revisit 

28 april 2024
andrew joseph white. bravo. the writing is so tight and consistently compelling. the romance between

silas and daphne

is one of the most delightful things ive read in recent memory. theres something about reading about characters deeply entrenched for a passion for medicine that will always be a little bit of my kryptonite. especially in a historical setting AND a queer character. 
i’m so

happy they got their happy ending i was really worried

near the end there with

lord luckenbill, daphne’s father, there was gonna be a horrible twist

ending. 
there were moments in the middle I felt it lagged. it maybe could’ve used some editing. regardless it was delightful 

something about Wilde requires so much of my brain power that I cannot spare rn