I found this book sadly disappointing. It started off so well – I LOVED the main character Karou; she is so spunky and cool and just all round fun to read. The world was super interesting too, set in Prague but with mysterious doors to other locations… I was totally hooked. And then about a third of the way through the ‘insta-love’ happened and from then on the book veered away from the interesting story that had been building and instead almost entirely shifted focus to (what I felt) was a totally unearned romance. This is a completely subjective thing of course and I know this book is very well-loved, it just did not work for me on any level once that change happened. I’m also not a fan of characters who feel ’empty’ and that ’empty’ space can only be filled by their romantic partner… not sure this is a great example to set for anyone. But again, that’s just me as a reader. 2 stars on this read from me 🙁
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Question: You can probably tell from this review that ‘insta-love’ is not my thing (it even ranks below love triangles for me). But I’d love to hear your thoughts on it in the comments below – do you enjoy or not, and why? Can you recommend any examples where it worked for you?