Catherine Bakewell

I bought this book because I met the author last year at Ya'll Fest, and she told me about her book coming out; I thought it sounded absolutely charming. Now, this book took me a while to read because I haven't been in a reading mood, but I finally binged the rest of it today. It started out extremely slow for me. I felt like the writing was a bit juvenile which is understandable since the author's first book is a middle grade. I feel like this one could still be classified as a middle grade or just really young YA. Overall, I ended up liking it. It wasn't a new favorite book, but I also don't dislike it. My favorite part was how flowers and what they mean was incorporated into the story. It was fun to imagine what this world was like in my mind. I'm excited to check out the other book by the author.… (mere)

watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@starkissedstories

I was so disappointed in this.
Cover: gorgeous: Premise: cool. Execution: so bad.

This felt like a middle grade book. The "romance and chemistry" was almost non-existent, they are definitely not "couple goals".
The magic system/world was not properly explained at all.
The "connection" Clara has to her magic was awful to read (think hateful inner voice).
The mother was villified but in a shallow way.
The ending was meh.
I was not rooting for Clara at all - she had plenty of time to learn how to harness her magic but she waited until threat of binding and after she seriosuly harmed her dad to make a proper effort.
Writing wasn't great.… (mere)