“The point is, you wanted freedom and time and you got it. You were obsessed with having the power to change things until it was handed to you. Now all you want is to give it back.”
A beautiful story about internal growth and the complexity of love within an adventurous and humor-filled fairytale.
✦ Love Triangle
✦ Second Chance Love
✦ Found Family
✦ Banter & Comedic Relief
✦ Grief & Trauma
✦ Connection to Feminism
✦ Gods/Goddesses
✦ Witches & Magic
Ratings & Reactions
✧ Overall: 4/5 ✧
I adored the continuation of Cece’s internal journey, love story, and magic filled adventure. Sheila writes so beautifully, and there were so many memorable and resonant quotes throughout.
✧ Pacing: 4/5 ✧
Sheila knew what she was doing when she split this book into parts; each had its own focus that flowed naturally and kept me engaged, with the end cleaning everything up beautifully!
I have a personal preference towards external battles versus inwards battles, so I did find the first part of the book a little slower. It focuses a lot on the emotional recovery Cece goes through, and the last two parts also have several scenes dedicated to Cece’s emotions. I favored the last two parts because it wasn’t the primary focus, and especially loved how perfect the last part flowed and ended.
On the flip side, I feel that Sheila’s story was incredibly impactful on reminding you that part feminism means accepting all individuals are worthy of their emotions. In addition, this is probably one of the few stories where the FMC reacts as any of us humans would in main character fantasy world positions. Lastly, the focus on her internal journey allows us to see Cece’s journey as a whole, and it’s a beautiful story of growth. So, while I initially didn’t love the repeated focus of Cece expressing her more sorrowful emotions throughout the book, I think it was brilliant how Sheila broke the rules and taught us an impactful lesson.
“It was easy to be brave with a sword in your hands - much harder to be brave with your heart in them.”
✧ Romance: 4/5 ✧
Sheila is clearly the queen of love triangles, because it had me in a choke hold the entire book. I am a Team Rainer girly, but I could NOT determine who I thought the best partner was for Cece, especially in the first half of the book. Sheila did a wonderful job at keeping you guessing and showing us that neither love interest is perfect.
“Cecilia wanted to be loved for all that she was, not in spite of her darkness.”
I also really really appreciated how Sheila illustrated that love is complex and that you can have love for two people, but in different ways; neither are (necessarily) more or less, just different.
Finally, I really loved who Cece chose in the end. I’m keeping this review spoiler free, so I’ll say that it’s not as simple as choosing between the two love interests, and I applaud Sheila and Cece for her choice.
✧ Characters: 4/5 ✧
I loved SO many characters in this story and was obsessed with all of the gods/goddesses we met. They were hilarious and crude. Really, all of the comedic relief was on POINT.
Even with all of the sides Sheila’s characters have, the way she ended the book truly made you love each and every character, whether you were on their team previously or not. I am rooting for EVERYONE (except the obvious villain lol), and honestly cannot wait to see where they go next.