Sangu Mandanna
Book Review
Rating: 3 stars
Method of reading: Ereader
Method of acquiring book: Library loan
Full Review:
I’m going to be completely honest in saying this book disappointed me and made me very sad and triggered me in ways I was not expecting. It was not a warm hug.
Before I go into my honest opinion of this book, I want to say I waited like over a month on my library loan for this book and had this book recommended to me over 20 times as a cozy fantasy recommendation. So I had higher hopes than I would like to admit, which usually leads to a bad experience unless the book is literally written for me.
So my main issue with this book is the HEAVY triggers that are in it:
trigger + content warnings: a lot of discussions about trauma in the past / childhood trauma + abuse in past, mentions of loss of loved ones, mention of online harassment, brief mentions of homophobia + racism + colorism, talk of illness, talk of abusive relationships in past, brief mention of cancer in past, spider mentions.
This is a LONG list of REALLY dark triggers for something marketed as cozy. A grandma dies, every child is an orphan, and these children are stuck in this house.
The beginning part, up until about 40%, had me giggling and intrigued. It took a really dark turn.
There was almost no description of the environment around them, which I am realizing I crave in cozy fantasy: tell me what the environment looks like. If it’s just a patch of grass or a single garden, it’s not magical enough 🙁 I want more descriptions of what these make you feel like, and why the garden exists. I want more human experience descriptions of what it’s like to be a witch and harness those powers. I wanted more conflict with the social media career.
There was so much going for this book and I am at 80% in and want to DNF it but I am so close to the end I am going to try to finish it. Please know this book is very sad. I would not describe it as cozy.
I do not plan on leaving this review on Goodreads as I do not have the energy and this is partially more for my reference as well, but if you want to read, the link is below!
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