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Nusquam aliud est vertere
Draco Malfoy is living as a virtual recluse in Muggle London. Finding a drugged and helpless Hermione Granger on the doorstep of his townhouse in the middle of the night fundamentally changes his existence… and hers.
- GenresFan Fiction
1626 pages, ebook
Published January 1, 2020
15 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 22, 2022
Started out pretty strong, despite the overly verbose writing style (seriously, "swallowed a thesaurus" doesn't even come close, but once I got used to it it wasn't too bad.)
Once the "will they/won't they" angst was dispensed with though, it was hard for me to stay interested, and I ended up giving up within ten chapters of the end. The constant, beyond-sacharine, over-the-top mush and fluff just became too much for me, and by far my biggest gripe with this story was the way couples just kept breaking into French (or Italian) terms of endearment. Within moderation (which might be a foreign concept to the author) this might have been tolerable - charming even, but it seems every other sentence between Hermione and Draco is half in French.
There may well be more Mon Coeur's and Ma Petite's between these two than in the sappiest of actually-French romance novels. And all that is to say nothing of Blaise and his OC love interest "Gussie" (anything which calls to mind a word like "gusset" is a terrible pet name in my opinion). Now, Blaise is *actually* Italian, and so it's actually plausible for him to speak it somewhat regularly, but the way Gus immediately begins to use the language herself once they start dating is absolutely cringe-inducing, likewise with Hermione adopting French.
All in all, I enjoyed the start but by the time I gave up, the previous dozen or so chapters had been read out of a belligerent feeling of obligation to finish something which I had already invested so many hours into reading, and pretty soon even that wasn't enough.
Not something I can recommend.
Once the "will they/won't they" angst was dispensed with though, it was hard for me to stay interested, and I ended up giving up within ten chapters of the end. The constant, beyond-sacharine, over-the-top mush and fluff just became too much for me, and by far my biggest gripe with this story was the way couples just kept breaking into French (or Italian) terms of endearment. Within moderation (which might be a foreign concept to the author) this might have been tolerable - charming even, but it seems every other sentence between Hermione and Draco is half in French.
There may well be more Mon Coeur's and Ma Petite's between these two than in the sappiest of actually-French romance novels. And all that is to say nothing of Blaise and his OC love interest "Gussie" (anything which calls to mind a word like "gusset" is a terrible pet name in my opinion). Now, Blaise is *actually* Italian, and so it's actually plausible for him to speak it somewhat regularly, but the way Gus immediately begins to use the language herself once they start dating is absolutely cringe-inducing, likewise with Hermione adopting French.
All in all, I enjoyed the start but by the time I gave up, the previous dozen or so chapters had been read out of a belligerent feeling of obligation to finish something which I had already invested so many hours into reading, and pretty soon even that wasn't enough.
Not something I can recommend.
May 9, 2022
Similar to some of the other reviews, the story started off strongly and I enjoyed it but I couldn’t quite believe that the main plot point was solved so early on in the story when there was still about 3/4 of the book left.
I started to skip a lot of passages just to finish the book and I really didn’t enjoy the last half. I think this should have been broken up perhaps into two different stories or finished a lot sooner. I also felt like none of the characters felt like their real characters, they lost all kind of characterisation and it just felt a bit naff by the end.
I started to skip a lot of passages just to finish the book and I really didn’t enjoy the last half. I think this should have been broken up perhaps into two different stories or finished a lot sooner. I also felt like none of the characters felt like their real characters, they lost all kind of characterisation and it just felt a bit naff by the end.
July 13, 2023
If your are looking for a Dramione with Cinnamon roll males, very low angst and lovey-doveyness to the max, this fic is for you!
I was able to make it through the full 500K+ words to the end. And yah, the mystery portion at the beginning of the fic does pretty much rap up within the first 55% but I was completely committed to finishing because valancyjane had several other relationships going on that I had to see through. Honestly at one point, I didn’t even care what was happening with Draco and Hermione because I was invested in Harry and Blaise’s love life. (Not too each other, you’ll see if you haven’t read it yet)
The house elves addition was a nice touch but I didn’t care for the OOC of Lucius or the colourful Bernard Granger. It was way too over the top.
Nicknames were a bit annoying. Duckie reminded me of Pretty in Pink and not in a good way. Lucy was ridiculous but I didn’t mind all the French or German or Italian sprinkled in. It was cute.
I also wish there had more with Theo and his love life. He’s always a favourite from fic to fic
I was able to make it through the full 500K+ words to the end. And yah, the mystery portion at the beginning of the fic does pretty much rap up within the first 55% but I was completely committed to finishing because valancyjane had several other relationships going on that I had to see through. Honestly at one point, I didn’t even care what was happening with Draco and Hermione because I was invested in Harry and Blaise’s love life. (Not too each other, you’ll see if you haven’t read it yet)
The house elves addition was a nice touch but I didn’t care for the OOC of Lucius or the colourful Bernard Granger. It was way too over the top.
Nicknames were a bit annoying. Duckie reminded me of Pretty in Pink and not in a good way. Lucy was ridiculous but I didn’t mind all the French or German or Italian sprinkled in. It was cute.
I also wish there had more with Theo and his love life. He’s always a favourite from fic to fic
July 10, 2021
4⭐️ then down to a 2⭐️ around 1/2 - 2/3 the way through! This had a GREAT beginning, with an original thrilling plot and a relationship that wasn’t terribly predictable. I had really high hopes for this fic bc it started out so good and strong, and then it got suuuuuuper sappy and reallllllly drawn out. I love romance, but dang it was way over the top!! I skimmed/skipped much of the last third just to see what happens in some plots. The build of the relationships and characters was pretty good and I really enjoyed the Dramoine relationship. The major plot was pretty much solved about half way through the story so there wasn’t a real end in sight for where we were heading in the story that was super exciting, besides small events unfortunately.
Worth the read?: ONLY the first half
Reread?: NO
Worth the read?: ONLY the first half
Reread?: NO
September 14, 2022
DNF
This started off so strong, 4 stars - but by the time I was up to chapter 30ish (around 1/3rd of the entire 100 chapter book) it deteriorated rapidly, id struggle to give it 1-2 stars.
Draco and Hermione both fell completely out of character and turned into blubbering, mushy, sobs. The main crime plot which was holding my interest was solved way too early - there just wasn't anything else to keep me engaged.
After skimming through 3-4 more chapters I called it quits.
This started off so strong, 4 stars - but by the time I was up to chapter 30ish (around 1/3rd of the entire 100 chapter book) it deteriorated rapidly, id struggle to give it 1-2 stars.
Draco and Hermione both fell completely out of character and turned into blubbering, mushy, sobs. The main crime plot which was holding my interest was solved way too early - there just wasn't anything else to keep me engaged.
After skimming through 3-4 more chapters I called it quits.
October 20, 2021
Come for the angsty, crime solving, who-done-it drama, stay for the relationships galore, hilarious house elf shenanigans, sweet little sister, and posturing patriarchs! This one will leave you in stitches!
January 14, 2024
DNF at 47%; the author should spit that thesaurus back out because at some points the story was literally intelligible from all the synonyms used; basically the definition of form over function; also, the constant french made me want to dig my eyeballs out with a dull spoon
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February 23, 2023Was slightly annoyed at the excessive use of thesaurus, saw the phrase "gloaming veils", and that was the nail in the coffin.
March 30, 2025
DNF - I wanted it to be good but the writing style was not for me. Draco in this story was so lovable but I had such a hard time with the lack of plot and writing that I ultimately gave up.
June 19, 2023
DNF at 15%. I’m not sure how I can only be at 15% but it seems like the story is resolved and the ship has sailed already. It’s starting to drag. Not finishing.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews