I finished this book earlier in the week than I usually do, on Wednesday, instead of Thursday. Partially due to its length (336 pages) and also because it had a mystery in it that I wanted the answers too.
Nominally, this is a fantasy novel but since it is in the magical realism sub-genre, the fantasy trappings are pretty light. There is a centuries-old curse, magical doors and magical time travel. All of these would be fine if the rest of the book had enough meat on the bones to be satisfying but unfortunately it doesn’t.
Unlike Adrienne Young’s previous book, I did not enjoy the mystery or the love story in this one. Neither June Farrow or the love interest in this book were particularly compelling characters and so I wasn’t invested in their love story. The mystery on the other hand is a bit more compelling but ultimately I did not find the twists particularly mind blowing.
I am a very character focused person when it comes to fiction and this book just didn’t have any characters I cared about enough to enjoy the story. To put it another way, this book had all the right narrative elements for me but it was missing the character glue to bring all of those elements together.
I really wanted to like this one more than I did. Ultimately, the word that keeps coming to mind while describing this book was dissatisfying. Ah well, it do be that way sometimes.
P.S – if you use Storygraph, add me there.