TBR & Tangents by Rachel

Tarot and forbidden love, what could go wrong?

The expectation and description of the plot sounded fantastic, and I was extremely excited to read this. The delivery of the plot unfortunately fell flat for me and left me feeling mediocre about the book. The writing was the major blockage for me. It felt immature in that it lacked maturity in terms of themes and vocabulary, and no overarching cohesiveness. Everything felt sloppy and almost copy paste, which I can’t explain enough how much of a shame it was. It made it nearly impossible to enjoy reading which truly frustrated me.

The plot itself was okay, not including delivery. Though the world building was somewhat of a mystery to me. It’s a weird mix of the modern world with a twist of tarot magic that never really gets fully explained and only briefly discussed when the time presented itself. I understand why the plot needed both to function, but I wish it would have been one or the other, or at least better combined.

The large cast of characters lacked depth and true emotion. There is a lot of secondary characters to keep track of which was to be expected given they’re modeled after a tarot deck, but it was just a hassle. It mostly boils down to 4 or 5 cookie cutter characters interacting with our FMC and MMC, which brings absolutely nothing good to the reader. Speaking of which, even our two lovebirds felt 2D. I was expecting so much in terms of their personalities and tension but all I got was lukewarm spice and pitiful characters.