Oof, it pains me to say I had a tough time with this one. There was so much I liked—mainly CLARA—but it’s so unnecessarily long. Like at least a hundred pages too long because there’s so much repetition and angst and constant unresolved horniness. I love a road trip, I don’t mind a slow burn done right, but here the slow burn veers perilously close to miscommunication.
On the one hand, I love having two main characters in their forties (or nearly so, in Clara’s case). But on the other hand—soooo much horniness at the teenage angst level. A very straight gaze (even though it is a queer-friendly world, kudos for that) that leaves me cold as fish.
Which is definitely a me thing, not a problem with the book thing, others love it. But it did mean that I was really over it by page 20 of the ogling, much less page 400. If it was standalone I might have even DNF’d, but I love T. Kingfisher and am committed to the series. I’m glad Clara and Istavan got their HEA, now I’m ready to move on.
(I want a Bishop Beartongue book!)