I knew when Shay, the protagonist, explicitly stated that she was a lesbian very early on in this novel that this book would be a great one. There are too many books (even sapphic ones) that go out of their way to avoid using the word lesbian. For review purposes, since the main romance is between a lesbian woman and a bisexual woman, I'm going to call it a sapphic romance; however, the author does not shy away from using the words "lesbian" and "bisexual" many times and it made me SO happy to read.
If you're looking for an academic enemies-to-lovers sapphic fantasy book, then this is the one for you. However, this book is a lot more than that –– to call it just a romance would be selling it short. The main plot revolves around a white male teacher who is a serial groomer of teenage girls. He basically manipulates them into doing whatever he wants because he's the head of a prestigious scholarship committee. As cute and wonderful as it is, the romance is more of a subplot to this main plot.
I rated this book four stars instead of five because I felt that the magic system was a bit lacking. If you took away the magic, nothing about the plot would really change. I wanted to know more about the world that the author had built here. Could everyone use magic or just a select few? How did the United States and the world change because of this? Did history happen differently? Overall, I would have liked to see more world-building. I think this book sets up a great fantasy premise but falls flat in its execution of the magical aspects of it.
If you're looking for an academic enemies-to-lovers sapphic fantasy book, then this is the one for you. However, this book is a lot more than that –– to call it just a romance would be selling it short. The main plot revolves around a white male teacher who is a serial groomer of teenage girls. He basically manipulates them into doing whatever he wants because he's the head of a prestigious scholarship committee. As cute and wonderful as it is, the romance is more of a subplot to this main plot.
I rated this book four stars instead of five because I felt that the magic system was a bit lacking. If you took away the magic, nothing about the plot would really change. I wanted to know more about the world that the author had built here. Could everyone use magic or just a select few? How did the United States and the world change because of this? Did history happen differently? Overall, I would have liked to see more world-building. I think this book sets up a great fantasy premise but falls flat in its execution of the magical aspects of it.