The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne RandallRating: ✩✩✩✩✩
I wanted to love this book since it seemed like the perfect blend of all the favorite witchy tropes...unfortunately it was just all the witchy tropes put in a blender. Feeling more YA/new adult than adult fiction based on the behavior's of the characters, my issues might just be a mismatch of expectations, but none the less, this didn't completely hit the mark for me.
The premise was good and I very much enjoyed the world building. The witchy mythos here offered so many chances for great narrative. The text was overall very referential to many genre classics and had the promised feel of Alice Hoffman et al. Randall's research is evident in the mythology of the plants and recipes, and that aspect of the characters and their magic was really well done.
However, there is a lot going on to the point that many subplots are left hanging, while others feel crammed in to finish the story. The conflicts (and its solutions) are very obvious so sometimes watching the characters figure it out felt a bit like moving heavy furniture. The timeline can also be confusing, though that may have been a formatting issue since I was reading a digital ARC that (I hope) has not yet been fully edited.
Overall, this is a book with so much promise, and an author from whom I would love to read more. There is a seed of something great in here and I look forward to seeing if Randall's story telling blooms.
Published on 19 September 2023 by Alcove Press
I wanted to love this book since it seemed like the perfect blend of all the favorite witchy tropes...unfortunately it was just all the witchy tropes put in a blender. Feeling more YA/new adult than adult fiction based on the behavior's of the characters, my issues might just be a mismatch of expectations, but none the less, this didn't completely hit the mark for me.
The premise was good and I very much enjoyed the world building. The witchy mythos here offered so many chances for great narrative. The text was overall very referential to many genre classics and had the promised feel of Alice Hoffman et al. Randall's research is evident in the mythology of the plants and recipes, and that aspect of the characters and their magic was really well done.
However, there is a lot going on to the point that many subplots are left hanging, while others feel crammed in to finish the story. The conflicts (and its solutions) are very obvious so sometimes watching the characters figure it out felt a bit like moving heavy furniture. The timeline can also be confusing, though that may have been a formatting issue since I was reading a digital ARC that (I hope) has not yet been fully edited.
Overall, this is a book with so much promise, and an author from whom I would love to read more. There is a seed of something great in here and I look forward to seeing if Randall's story telling blooms.
Published on 19 September 2023 by Alcove Press
Book #23 of 2023
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