by Ashley Poston

A Romance, 2023 by Berkley, 352 Pages 

What I Didn’t Like:

• Content Warning: Off-page before story but eluded to suicide, grief
• Right away, I didn’t LOVE our main character. I felt like I didn’t relate to her much and I was a bit annoyed with how whiney she was. It didn’t really improve, either. Iwan or the eccentric Aunt POV chapters likely would’ve improved this.
• Instalove is my least favorite trope. Love is more complicated, which is something this tried to fake to hide the fact that it was basically an instalove that they denied. 
• Bringing in elements of fantasy requires a sort of attention to detail and “rules” of that genre. This didn’t really follow that. It was more used as a tool to make the story more complicated. Really the magic apartment could’ve been the best part of this story but it wasn’t used well at all. 

What I Did Like:

• Love the quick drop into the unexplained. It was quick and jolting for the reader even when you sort of knew it was coming, which was exactly what it should have felt like for our MC. Perfectly set up and well executed. 
• The romance is cute (although instalove so be warned if that’s not your favorite trope). Anytime you bring in two characters who bring out the best in each other I think the romance works. They come across as better together, in a good way. 
• The ending was cute. Predictable, but cute. 

Who Should Read This One:

• Fans of cute instalove romance stories who want to play around with some fantasy elements will like this one. 

My Rating: 2 Stars

• For me, the inclusion of the fantasy elements in a way that felt like a cheap parlor trick is problematic. Other readers will likely feel differently.