They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. So what happens when you actually die and come back?
Hazel Blackwood's "till death do us part" came early when her werewolf fiancé strangled her and tossed her in a grave—but saving herself for six feet of dirt wasn’t the afterlife she signed up for.
Surprise resurrection? Check. Unexplainable magic no witch should possess crackling through her veins? Double check. Finding herself working at a matchmaking company for none other than Lust himself? Just another Tuesday.
The problem? Well, besides her ex believing she's rotting underground? The Sins—supernatural embodiments of temptation who've spent their existence causing trouble and denying any deeper purpose—can't seem to stay away from her. And not just Lust–all of them.
In a world where "fated mates" are mocked as a desperate fantasy, these powerful beings find themselves floundering for purpose, until they met her. Dying once was unfortunate. Getting resurrected to find yourself at the center of sinful desire and power? That's the plot twist worth living for.
This cozy adjacent, paranormal story has every sin imaginable–literally.
Till Death and Daisies Bloom is book one in The Enchanted Woods Cottagecore Series
This book is set in the same world as The Forty-Year-Old Virgin Witch, but you do not have to read that series to dive into this book. They can be read in either order. Till Death and Daisies Bloom has the darker cottagecore vibes of Practical Magic, the reincarnated revenge romance of The Double, and the personified sins with a witchy twist of Witches of East End.
3.75 stars, rounded up. Til Death and Daisies Bloom is a Why Choose, dark cottagecore Romantasy involving the 7 Deadly Sins. I received this as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I loved the descriptions of everything. It was all so vivid! And the descriptions of the food - GODS I was salivating over that fig pizza! (and thankfully there's a recipe in the book for it!)
The worldbuilding was interesting with the different deities, species, and factions. I would like to see more in this world. I loved the matchmaking service! I honestly wanted more of that plotline. It fun seeing Hazel connect on the pieces to find the right match for folks and I would read a book about just that.
I really appreciate that Hazel is 35, and not a teenager or young adult. It was refreshing to have an actual adult be the protag in a romantasy. Hazel's exploration of a life she could choose was highly relatable. I loved seeing her growth throughout the book. Her story was the most fleshed out, and I loved reading it!
The emotional alchemy was a fascinating use of magic. I enjoyed Hazel's discovery of and use of it, especially the thought of using it in food. I would have liked to see that utilized more, and again could have had a book just about that aspect.
Unfortunately, I felt like there are way too many plotlines all tangled together in one book. I think it would have been better as a series in its own right, to give everything more room to breathe. You have 6-7 plots going on, and while some of them work well together, some of the plots are not given enough time to bloom, feeling more like afterthoughts. This could have easily been split into 2 or 3 books which would allow more time to explore the world and the sins.
Examples:
There was inconsistent information between chapters. Hazel went from not knowing Lust's name, to immediately knowing who he was when he walked in the room. At one point during a Lust chapter, it switched to Pride's perspective for a couple of paragraphs, almost like the authors forgot which sin they were piloting. They also seemed to forget how many sins were involved on occasion.
Not a fan of the "Sex unlocking a witch's full magic" part of the story. Felt gross. That's probably a me thing.
Despite the issues I did have a good time reading the story and even teared up some at the end. I think it's worth a read if you like paranormal why choose romantasies with interesting magic and grown protagonists.
I was fortunate to receive an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
This an absolutely delightful, dual written novel, with a very original premise. Hazel Blackwood is a virgin witch promised to a werewolf, a contract signed when she was a child. But when they go to consummate their bond, he calls her by another woman's name. A fight ensues, and Xavier murders her. As she arrives in the underworld, the clerk in charge makes the snap decision to reanimate her, based on an unexpected connection. When she digs herself out of her grave, her new life begins, surrounded by six of the seven deadly sins. Lust, Pride, Greed, Gluttony, Envy and Sloth are all drawn to her as she discovers her new self, but who is she to them?
I loved the FMC's (avoiding names and therefore spoilers!) magick in this tale - Emotional Alchemy. It is a unique idea and fits so well with the development of her character after her reanimation. The novel is paced really well- every chapter is fleshed out without needless filler, and doesn't feel rushed. The romance between the characters - this is a why choose/reverse harem - is balanced and reflects the personality traits of the characters, although I would have liked to have seen a little more development with Greed, Envy and Sloth.
It has a joyful ending and the recipe at the end is a lovely touch. I finished it with a smile on my face - what more can you ask?
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this book!
I’m very grateful to have received an advance reader copy of Till Death and Daisies Bloom! I was immediately drawn into the story Hazel’s death and resurrection, working for Lust at a supernatural matchmaking agency, the cozy cottagecore vibes with a dark twist it all pulled me in right away. The premise felt fresh and creative, and I was excited to see where it would go.
But around the halfway point, I started to feel a little lost. The voices of the Seven Deadly Sins started to blur together for me, and I had trouble keeping track of who was who. And while the “why choose” setup was intriguing, I found myself missing the matchmaking storyline that initially hooked me. I was really looking forward to seeing Hazel actually help match others and use her powers in that context, but that part of the plot sort of disappeared. The subplot with the captured children felt like an odd detour, and it shifted the tone in a way that didn’t fully land for me.
That said, I still think this book had a lot of charm and potential especially for fans of paranormal romance, found family dynamics, and reverse harem tropes. I enjoyed the cozy, magical atmosphere and would definitely be open to seeing where the series goes next.
This concept of this book is very interesting and was intriguing at first. I liked Hazel's character at the start and her background story was really powerful as she takes back control over her life from an abusive ex. I love the different sin characters and the match making company. However, I felt like her character line starts to derail a bit and too many plot lines started to form which made things messy. I think this book has a lot of potential with a more focused plot line.
This book was delightfully entertaining! Lots of magical elements that kept me on my toes. I was glad for the happily ever after ending and how everything had closure. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars was because it was slightly difficult to keep track of which Sin was saying what during some of the back and forth banter. This was an ARC digital copy so I wasn't able to flip around the way I'd do with a physical book to go back and look for something as reference. The plot was engaging as were the characters. I felt like the closure at the end with mom came out of nowhere which had me a little puzzled but I'm glad all the pieces through the story were resolved. I don't think I could have handled a cliffhanger lol.
This was so dang good!! Cozy witch vibes, the 7 deadly sins, wolf shifters, witches obviously and did I mention a 35 yr old virgin witch who will come into her power once she “bonds” this was the perfect amount of story and smut !! I will definitely be reading the next two books.
I received an ARC of this book and was pleasantly surprised! I read this one so quickly. The pacing and writing is really engaging. The plot is refreshing and new. It is a gripping why choose fantasy romance, with cozy cottagecore vibes and elements of a dark fantasy romance. I loved the blend of Greek mythology with classic supernatural characters such as witches and werewolves. There is humour, good banter, fated mates, tension, and spice!
The first half is delightful and engaging. Arranged marriage amongst supernatural beings, a hesitant MC witch bride, meddling mother = OK, good start.
Then the MC enters the underworld and a different angle begins with (possible) fated mates. Still feeling it! The story of the MC recognizing and using her witch powers is great. There's witty banter, a fun job, magic, love connections, living her life as a new person. Cozy cottagecore fantasy, sign me up.
Then an odd side story of abducted fae children gets tossed in. The multiple POVs were so similar that I found myself flipping back to the beginning of the chapter to see who was narrating. Really annoying on an eBook! This would have been much better with one or two POVs, yet we get seven. The book then turns into a "why choose" and the solving of a fae kidnapping scheme.
The premise is good. It just felt like two separate books, instead of one cohesive story.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Why Choose isn't usually my thing, but this was done well. It's a good twist to the seven sins, plus opens up a really cool and varied supernatural contemporary fantasy world. My only real complaint is that trying to get to know all of the sins in one book was impossible, and the focus really is on only a select couple, so it feels like the FMC has favorites when she isn't supposed to.
I liked it, but I thought it was too much of everything.
It has supernatural beings, Greek mythology and the 7 sins.
This is the first Why Choose that I didn't feel was well developed. Whenever the protagonist has more than 4 romantic interests I feel it's harder to develop them, and here she has six. I didn't feel like her relationship with the six were developed equally.
Her being Wrath could have been more developed. How did their brother die? How does a witch gain the powers of this seventh sin? Dow did they choose the person who will have this power? It lacked a lot of development.
Her work was just for her to make easy money at the beginning of the story, from 50% to the end they completely abandoned her work and Lust’s.
I wanted to like it, but I thought this book had too much information for very little development.
I received an ARC of this book, which does not affect my review. Thank you to the author and Booksirens for the chance to read this book.
Imagine being killed by your fiancé, who is also a werewolf, then finding yourself resurrected and fallen for by the literal deadly sins - or at least, six of them. For Hazel, that’s exactly what happens. There’s a lot going on in this book! I thought it was so interesting to personify the actual deadly sins, each with their own personalities in line with the sins themselves but they seem more complex than that. I rarely read reverse harem, but with this unique take on it, I enjoyed it. My personal favorite was Pride but they were all quite interesting. Although, I wish there was a little more on Sloth and even Envy.
The realization of who Hazel is/becomes is so great. It makes sense with her personality and character arc. Speaking of which, I love her character. She is fiercely herself and unapologetic, but her relationship with the others is fun too. This book does get spicy in a few places, and sometimes I had to get out of the weird zone I was in where I felt like “wait this is really the deadly sins…?” But once I accepted it for what it was, and all the craziness around it, it became quite fun to read. As Hazel figures out who she is, as well as powers she harnesses, the story unfolds. It is definitely a why choose romance which I don’t read much of but I found it fun, and I also liked the fated mates component.
I did find the magical (magickcal?) component of the plot interesting, especially with Hazel. However things got a little scattered as the book went on, with the introduction of supernatural children. And since there was also some werewolf/shifter undercurrents (with betas and alphas and things from that genre), plus some Greek gods/demigods, it did feel like a lot was going on. I was interested in the entire way through, but I also had a few times where I remember thinking that it felt like mixing too many genres/components. Now I am all for genre mixing but to an extent, or when the genre mixing is subtle enough to still have a clear theme or story going on. Here, there were many different stories going on in addition to different POVs that things could get a little unclear. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have fun. If this book was anything, it was fun. There’s action, great character dialogue, very spicy scenes, a great villain, and a terrific FMC. So while I didn’t think it was the most organized in plot and magic, it was undeniably fun, and I would still recommend it.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Hazel was a really interesting FMC and I loved her character development unfold. She starts out as quite meek and eager to please her fiancé, Xavier. Their marriage is contractual, but she's committed to making it work. Things quickly take a dark turn, however, when Xavier murders Hazel and buries her in the woods.
On her journey to the Underworld, one of the deadly sins feels a connection to Hazel and decides to resurrect her, giving her a second chance at life. When Hazel reawakens, she makes the decision to completely reinvent herself and take control of her life in a way she never could before.
We get several different POVs throughout the book and I loved how clearly we could tell apart the personalities of the Sins and their different vibes! The subtle hints towards their sins were really fun to try and pick out in the things they did and their thought processes.
I absolutely LOVED Diana's character in particular and really wish we got to see more of her. There's lots of hints to her being incredibly powerful, and I'd be so interested to learn more about her story in a spin off!
From around the halfway mark the spice really ramps up, and boy does it get steamy! It plays quite a significant role in the plot and relationship developments for a number of reasons, and I'd say it is pretty important to experience these scenes to fully understand what's happening between the characters and where their relationships stand. Just a heads up that they're very explicit!
There are quite a few plotlines running throughout the story and most get wrapped up quite nicely in the last quarter. I do wish there was a little more focus on the trafficking storyline in particular though, as that really stood out at me initially!
If you love a high-spice, paranormal romance, with nods to Greek Mythology, I highly recommend giving this a read!
I want to thank both authors for choosing me to read ARC of their book for an honest review.
I haven´t read a paranormal book with witches and werewolves since... I don´t even know. And I think this was the best book to get me back into it. Especially when you mix in Greek mythology and seven deadly sins in the form of charming men.
I loved all the colorful and vivid descriptions. It felt like I was inside the book and thanks to the great style of writing of both authors. The book was flowing really fast, not a scene that would be unimportant to the story.
I really enjoyed her character arc. I can´t imagine going through something that she did, and I´m so proud of her for finding her way out of all of that, and becoming a person who knows what she wants and not being afraid of it. And I loved the aspect of Juniper´s magic, the alchemy and I wish it would be more relevant to the overall story, for example she would take ... (not want to spoil it, but iykyk) of someone who stands against her and winning that way.
Regarding the sins, I really enjoyed the chapters from their POVs, each one being different, but all having one or two things in common and being able to let their disagreements to the side, when it came to it. But I can´t help myself but feel that the dynamic between the sins changed after a certain prank, but right before IT happened (not spoiling it, but iykyk).
After IT happened, it was hinted that something big was coming for them, maybe a war, if I remember correctly, but as I was reading it, nothing like that occurred (but if another book is in plan, I´m all hands for it). But it was mentioned more than once that something was wrong with the world, but we actually never get to see someone looking for what is wrong. Just the ,,something is wrong with the world, can you sense that?"
I was also a little bit confused by the new powers and what exactly they were, and What I also feel deserved a more explanation was the whole Hades´ family thing. More than once was his family mentioned like they were something really important to the plot. In the end, Hades himself showed two times, basically did nothing than scare the sins and one of his daughters appeared at the end. She was there for maybe three pages? We were lead to think she was really important, but she never appeared again.
Now, to the relationship between Juniper and the sins
And also I feel it´s a shame that we did not get to know more about her work at the matchmaking company during her stay there, and after IT happened, which felt like she did not work there anymore.
But overall, I really enjoyed reading this book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
“You’re whoever you choose to be. Death just gave you the freedom to decide”
This SPICY, cottage core romantasy tells the story of Hazel Blackwood, a 35 year old witch who was murdered by her werewolf fiancé. Upon entering the Underworld, she was resurrection by one of the deadly sins and ends up working for another sin, whilst all the seven deadly sins realise that she is their new obsession. We read about Hazel discovering her magick, who she really is and who she will now become in this new life.
In the beginning I got all of the cozy cottage vibes with the cottage in the woods and the home cooked meal for her fiancé. Then, we got right into the death and the resurrection. I enjoyed how this all unfolded and how the plot took shape. I almost had to skip the part where she was buried alive because that is a fear of mine! I enjoyed how she started her new life as Juniper, was taken in and tried to move on from the trauma of her past however, what happened next, I did not see coming. Enter, the Seven Deadly Sins. This book is told from all eight POV, yes eight! I was getting so confused at times as to which of the sins was narrating as I wish there was more about each of them. I also did not realise (my fault) that this book is a ‘Why Choose’ romance. I was not prepared nor is that trope up my alley, especially with brothers, but the steam was there! Overall, this was a page turning read with a powerful FMC, that left my jaw dropping and me constantly wanting to know what happened next.
I received this as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Jamie and Raven for this opportunity.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
So I started this book and instantly fell in love. The FMC is a selfrespecting, brave and bad-bitching witch. I really enjoyed that she is not a teen but a young women in her thirties (don‘t fight me on the young part, I‘m thirty myself and will die on this hill) who was dealt a shit hand of cards in which her life was decided for her. But she decided for herself that the little bit she has control of she will keep and cherish and not crumble under her „responsibilities“. I really enjoyed the writing style because it allowed me to race through this book (the selfhate afterwards because I didn‘t enjoy it enough is my own fault). In my book this had almost everything the banter was great, the chemistry between the mc‘s was hilarious, heartwarming, funny and of course steamy. Now why didn‘t I give it five start, there were some name-mixups which I usually don‘t mind but it really through me off and I‘m pretty sure there was a page in there that should have been deleted because the info was conflictive with the part of the book I was in and it really confused me.
So even though there were some mistakes I still really enjoyed reading this book, if you like a good fantasy-romance with why-choose and a greek-mythology backstory do yourself a favour and read this book.
Till Death and Daisies Bloom By Jamie Dalton/Raven Storm
This story has far, witches, the seven deadly sins, werewolves, vampires and so much more wrapped into this story!
This is a bit on the darker side but has so many cozy elements in parts it is just such a unique book that I found myself wanting to know what happens next.
This is also a why choose and for me my first why choose book and I can’t honestly say I loved that aspect but I get how it fits into this book and it does!
If you want all of these fantasy/paranormal elements wrapped into one book with magic, action, and a bit of list and romance mixed in — read this! Perfect for this upcoming spooky season or how about now to get you into the mood!
Greek mythology, the seven deadly sins and a why choose paranormal romance with a bit of cozy? I'm in. I really loved Hazel. She was doing her best to embrace a life she did not choose and fulfill the expectations placed upon her. And what did it get her? Betrayal and a shallow grave. Once she dug her way out to freedom, she was offered a fresh start and the ability to make what she wanted of her life. And I loved how quick she was to embrace that and every change and revelation thrown at her after. And her power. I love me a vengeful queen. I definitely want more of these characters and to see what happens next.
This book took so many wild, strange turns that I don’t even know where to begin. One thing is clear, it’s definitely “why choose” trope with 6 fated mates. 6. S I X.
There was so much potential in the storyline up until the fated mates of SIX, then it became non-stop orgy’s, sexual tension & just smut. Listen, I love a good smut scene but this? This was too much for me 😂 it honestly ruined the whole book. The story line of Juniper & Lust should have been the only romance interest & the authors should have followed that story instead of taking a wild turn to SIX.
Give it a go if you want, I won’t be reading the rest lol
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I recieved and ARC in exchange for an honest review
Till Death and Daisies Bloom is a moody, magical tale of revenge, grief, and second chances. After being murdered by her wolf-in-disguise fiancé, Hazel—now Juniper—claws her way out of the grave, determined to uncover the truth… and maybe fall for a few supernatural “men” along the way.
With dark cottagecore vibes, eerie graveyards, cozy witchcraft, and a raw, vengeful FMC, this story stands out—especially with the Seven Deadly Sins as actual characters. The pacing wavers at times, but the atmosphere and originality shine.
Perfect for fans of dark paranormal romance and heroines who won’t stay dead—or quiet.
I seriously love abg story that references the 7 deadly sins and I think this book has such a fun, interesting take on it. There's also mythology and supernatural beings and it all is put together so well. Such an amazing story of feminine rage and empowerment, the FMC overcomes so much and is so strong! Definitely a why choose situation and I would love to find out more about this world. Book 2..?!!
What a unique storyline!! I enjoyed every aspect of this book. I'd never read a why-choose romance before and was delightfully surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I adored the cozy vibes and the cottagecore feels! I vividly remember the Fig Bacon Naan scene while reading and thinking, "Yummmm, that sounds delicious" So, a huge thank you to Jamie Dalton & Raven Storm for including a recipe, it truly made my day!!!
The beginning of the story had me hooked! Hazel has been promised to a werewolf alpha. But she wants it to be more than just a contract, Hazel is trying her best to form a relationship with the werewolf. After a struggle she finds herself awakening in a shallow grave... The description of the locations and the food are so vivid it feels like being transported there.
I dove into Till Death and Daisies Bloom and was completely hooked—Hazel’s resurrection, cottage‑core vibes, and the Seven Sins swirling around her felt fresh and delightfully chaotic. The blend of small‑town charm, witchy magic, and steamy paranormal romance made it impossible to put down. Highly recommend it if you're craving a cozy, sexy, supernatural escape!
I really loved the world building and character building in this book...I'm so glad someone recommended it to me...I can't wait to see where this story goes
Thank you to the authors for the ARC! “Till Death and Daisies Bloom” is available now.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite so conflicted about a rating in my life.
Hazel Blackwood comes from a powerful witch clan, and her arranged marriage to pack leader Xavier is supposed to strengthen both the clan and the pack and unlocking Hazel’s magic. But when Xavier snaps, killing Hazel in a fit of rage, everything changes course. Reanimated by Pride and working for Lust at a matchmaking agency, Hazel sets out to rediscover who she truly is.
I wanted to love it. I was, in fact, loving the story. Until it fell completely apart. I’ve been ARC reading for a couple of years now, and there’s always a certain level of expected refining between ARCs and final release. Some grammar, some typos, some formatting; something that just needs that last polish. For the most part, though, the books are in their final form. The content is set, it just needs that last little spit shine to be complete. This book was…not that.
What I don’t understand is why everything fell apart so egregiously. Up until the 15-ish percent mark, things were going smoothly. A few typos here and there, but again, nothing unexpected. And then it just started unraveling. The timelines got hazy. The necessary exposition for our FMC simply wasn’t there. A few minor inconsistencies and weird discrepancies. Then it got worse. We started seeing entire passages that looked almost as though there were two possibilities for the section and the secondary selection hadn’t been taken back out, creating redundancies in back to back paragraphs.
And it kept getting worse. By the 50% mark it was aggravating; by the 75% mark the entirety of the book had gone completely off the rails. By the time the ‘big reveal’ happens, all explanations for the whats and the whys have completely stopped. It became even harder to keep track of the plot (which was already not overly present), and there was really nothing to push the story forward. Every time something close to a natural stopping point approached, something else felt like it forced the story to continue.
This is the first time I’ve ever considered giving less than 3 stars to a book that I was otherwise enjoying. And I was, truly, enjoying the initial story. The base idea was great, the starting chapters were intriguing, and there was an entire host of physical embodiments of the Deadly Sins waiting to turn this into a solidly delicious why-choose. It didn’t really give ‘cozy cottagecore’ vibes outside of the cooking scenes, but that wasn’t a dealbreaker. Those structural issues just kept compounding and becoming more and more blatantly messy until it became a chore to finish what should have been a fantastic low-effort book. Maybe this was just an issue because it was an advance copy, maybe the final version doesn’t have any of these problems, but I can't rate what I didn’t read, and this read just ended up feeling desperately unfinished.
This book has a lot of potential. The concept is fantastic, the world-building is original, and I genuinely appreciated the age demographic — finally, a heroine in her 30s who has lived a little, instead of a teenager or early-20s character.
However, like many other reviewers have said, the story is overloaded with plotlines. It feels like everything is happening at once, and the book would benefit from being simplified and more focused.
1. The Premise vs. the Advertising
When this book was advertised to me on Facebook, it was presented as a revenge story: a boyfriend kills his girlfriend, she returns with the seven deadly sins at her side, and together they avenge her death. But the book actually starts very differently. Hazel (Juniper) had a contracted relationship with the man who kills her, only one of the deadly sins resurrects her (though it’s called “reanimation,” which reads more like zombie territory), and the story becomes more of a self-discovery journey without that promised revenge framework.
2. The Killer / Ex Subplot
Her killer trying to pressure her into revealing she’s Hazel and forcing their old life back onto her does make sense as a main plot point. This part of the story is strong and could easily carry Book One on its own.
3. The Sins as Love Interests
At 51%, she’s only properly interacted with four of the sins. She’s closely entangled with Lust due to the matchmaking business, met with Pride a couple of times at random and has only spoken to Envy twice due to protection he is provided due to her Ex, has met Gluttony once briefly, and hasn’t met the rest at all. Yet the book seems to expect a “why-choose” romance with all of them without giving her enough time to build rapport or chemistry.
Based on other people’s reviews, the romance jumps quickly without build-up. A reverse harem doesn’t need to be fast — it can be slow-burn, and honestly, it works better that way. But there’s no real communication between her and the sins, or between the sins themselves, so the romance feels rushed and confusing. At times I even questioned whether she was cheating because the transitions were so abrupt.
4. The Missing Supernatural Children
This subplot could have been gripping, but it feels like an afterthought. The killer is investigating it, then suddenly the underworld is investigating it, yet halfway through the book there’s been no movement. It becomes a “kids are missing… anyway moving on” situation.
5. Matchmaking
This was actually one of the strongest elements and could have been the backbone of Book One. Think Anita Blake-style progression: it starts as the main job and gradually shifts into the background as the series evolves.
Hazel (Juniper’s) matchmaking work could have naturally tied into: • her personal growth • her healing post-death / revival • her rediscovering her identity • her slow-burn connection with the sins
Then Book One could have ended with the big reveal about the missing children, setting up Book Two. That structure would have allowed all the plotlines room to breathe.
Final Thoughts
There are so many plot points competing for attention that several end up feeling unfinished or abandoned. The book doesn’t fully deliver what the advertising suggested, and because of the overcrowded narrative, it can feel disjointed.
That said — deep down, this is a good book with a genuinely strong premise. I do recommend it, especially for readers who enjoy paranormal romance and why-choose potential. I just wish the story had been given more focus and room to develop.
No hate to the authors at all — I can see the effort and the passion. I just think this one landed as a bit of a hit-and-miss.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I want to start this review by thanking BookSirens, because I was able to get a free copy of this novel through them.
Now, I did enjoy the reading, especially the second half of it, since it was more action-packed and by then I was less lost about which direction the plot was going to go. However, the first half did go very slowly, in my opinion, which is why it took me so long to actually finish the book. I believe the main reason for this is that it is very hard to know in which direction the plot is going and what we are supposed to expect from the story, other than the romance storyline, of course. Furthermore, the difference in pace between the first and second halves is probably due to how much action the second half has as opposed to the first half, since in the first half, I believe we are still setting the rules of this new supernatural world and of what just happened to the female main character and how she is setting in on her new life. Nonetheless, the second half has all the strong plot points and the important development stages of the story, which makes it stand out way more than the first half.
Another thing that I wanted to share, because I believe it could be useful from a correction standpoint, is that in Chapter 26 there seems to have been a confusion about who the focaliser of that chapter was, since it says at the beginning that the pov is Lust's but halfway through the chapter it changes to Pride's and, after a couple of pages, goes back to Lust's. I normally don't care to highlight correction errors in review, such as spelling mistakes, because they are so not a problem. I just thought to mentioning this one because it could be useful when revising the text for future copies/editions.
Now, onto the positives! I loved how creative and out-of-pocket this book was. There are lots of creatures that cohabit the same world and we even have the Seven Deadly Sins! I was a huge fan of the book in that aspect. I loved the worldbuilding and how completely unhinged it appeared to be. A matchmaking company for supernatural creatures run by Lust???? Hell, yeah! Moreover, I loved how diverse the cast of characters was and how the authors made each of the sins true to their persona but way more than just what they represent. And even though they all had this extra touch that made them fit as characters in a romance novel, they always stayed true to their essence. I really appreciated it, because sometimes it is really hard to write characters that stay true to who they are all the time and I believe the authors did this here while adding some level of character development. It is true, though, that since there are many main characters (1FMC and 6MLIs) some of them clearly stand out more and received more "screentime" than others, such as Lust, Pride and Gluttony. This is due to how many chapters we got from their povs and also how much they interacted with Juniper individually. We also see this in the smut scenes, which, btw, I believe we deserved a detailed scene per sin, so that each one of them had their time to shine (but maybe that is just my period talking, can't blame a girl for being hormonal). Also, very nice touch including at the end the recipe of the pizza Juniper was cooking. It sounded delicious!
I received an ARC of this book for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I really wanted to love this - especially since it's the first ARC I've ever reviewed! I was excited by the premise and really hoped it would be a new a favourite. Unfortunately, it ended up being just okay for me and, while I wish I could rate it higher, are too many elements that didn't work for me to ignore. I always aim to be honest and constructive in my reviews (and this remains the case for ARCs). Here are my thoughts:
What worked for me:
💜The premise is genuinely unique, and extremely creative.
💜I appreciated seeing a slightly more mature protagonist in a fantasy setting - it’s something we need more of.
💜There were some funny bits and the first few chapters provided a solid hook.
What didn’t work for me:
😑 There was multiple POVs and all of them blended together. Given that the POVs were of the seven deadly sins, I would expect them to be extremely different, but unfortunately I had to keep flicking back to check whose POV I was reading.
😑 The story felt unfocused, with plot threads appearing and disappearing. Conflicts were bought in and then resolved extremely quickly, which made the pacing feel rushed at times.
😑 While it’s marketed as “cozy adjacent” and part of a cottagecore series, the setting didn’t deliver that vibe - aside from the protagonist living in a literal cottage. Some darker elements, such as fae child trafficking, also felt at odds with the advertised tone and were quite jarring.
😑 I personally had some discomfort with elements of the worldbuilding, especially the idea that witches gain power through sex. That trope didn’t sit right with me.
😑 The romances felt very "insta-love." While that could make sense in a fated mates context, I would have liked to see more emotional development. I did think it was an interesting twist to set fated mates in a world where the idea is mocked. However, the reverse harem element didn’t work for me specifically because the love interests (the seven sins personified) are brothers.
😑 As someone who has a deep reverence for mythology (it's a big part of what I do for work!), I really struggled with how the Greek gods were portrayed. They were written in a way that felt flippant and under-researched. For example, hearing Hecate say “toodles!” pulled me out of the story and clashed with her mythological identity. There’s a tendency in fiction to treat ancient gods like comic relief or exaggerated characters, but for many people, these gods are part of a living spiritual practice. I doubt a book would take the same liberties with gods from more widely practiced modern religions.
Overall:
⭐⭐A bold and original premise from a clearly imaginative writer, but sadly, it didn’t live up to its potential for me. While there were elements I enjoyed, the execution didn’t quite come together. That said, if you enjoy quirky, chaotic fantasy with spice and offbeat worldbuilding you may have fun with this one. I hope others enjoy it and I'm grateful for the ARC.