katiesbookmarks's reviews
466 reviews

Oh, friends. This one was a little disappointing for me. To be clear, I added a star to my rating by the time I finished this book, and I didn't hate it, but there was so much about it that I just didn't enjoy.

First, the good: The twist about who the spy was really did surprise me, as did some of the motivation behind it. This was the section of the book that most drew me in (the last third or so). I did enjoy the cast of characters, though I was always left wanting to know more about them and they felt really one dimensional to me.

So, the bad. Why I didn't like it nearly as much as I expected: I think based on the premise I was expecting enemies to lovers, but it was very much not that in my opinion. Instant attraction, maybe, which I don’t mind. But “The Villain” was such a caricature, I didn’t even really buy him as Evie’s “enemy”. He’s evil, but why? We don't learn this until the end of the book, which ended up being satisfying, but for the majority of the book I kept asking "why should I care about any of this?" 

I just kept waiting for this to get better. At first it was just some little annoyances - Evie tries *so* hard to be witty, it just drove me insane. Very much giving “I’m not like every other girl” vibes. Some of the jokes she made or the way she always had a comeback for everything made me want to rip my hair out - I liked her better at the end of the book when she sort of embraces the fact that she has a little bit of dark in her as well.

I also kept waiting for more magic to show up. It’s mentioned briefly a few times and then in chapters 9 and 10, The Villain uses his magic, but how it works and what it does is just… never explained? They talk about people's magic developing, but not really what type of magic they have, how it manifests, what it *looks* like... anything to make it a little more real.

At the risk of sounding picky, I also just have to say that I knew this one wasn’t for me when

Evie is trying to run away from a bomb that is about to go off, but her heel gets stuck in a cobblestone. She yanks at the stone!!! Until she’s bleeding!!!! GIRL, TAKE OFF YOUR SHOE!

Sorry to say I won’t be continuing this series, I don’t think. If anyone wants to change my mind or if the series gets better, I’d love to hear about it.

I liked this second installment of the Dream Harbor series! This one follows the owner of the town bookstore who I really related to. I so related to her internal struggle about turning thirty and feeling like she hadn’t accomplished anything or was sort of acting like an old lady. 

The spice was good in this book but it did get a bit repetitive for me and I found myself wanting more substance and wanting to know more about Noah - he felt a little one dimensional to me. 

Overall I enjoyed this one but was left wanting a little more. 

I enjoyed this festive story about what it means to come home again, and realizing the good things that you have in life, and most importantly, not taking family and family traditions for granted. It was especially fun reading this story as a Michigan native, although I’ve never been to Frankenmuth - reading about Detroit and all of the pieces of small town Michigan that I love too really helped set the scene in my mind for the story.

I found the characters lovable, although at times I couldn’t believe that the main character put up with her boss for so long, even if her career was great and she was making a lot of money. I also kept thinking that there must’ve been more to the story about the “tragedy“ that happened when she was in college that made her not come home for years. I was a little bit disappointed to find out that it was over a relationship, and their reconciliation and rekindling of their romance felt a little sudden for me - although it did wrap the story up in a nice bow (no pun intended).

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who’s looking for a festive Christmas read with a small town setting.