The book definitely wasn’t bad. I actually thought the world-building was incredibly detailed, and it was so easy to picture everything in my head: the balls, the hat shop, the Pinkertons’ mansion. It really captured that classic Alice in Wonderland atmosphere. It felt like a more mature version while still keeping that whimsical, fairytale-like charm, which I really enjoyed. The story was very slow-paced, although you could feel the chemistry between the Fool and Cath right from the beginning. The overall plot was good, but it was also fairly predictable. That being said, I did enjoy the book overall. My biggest issue was the pacing. There were a lot of side scenes that didn’t really contribute much to the main story and often felt like they were just there to fill pages. At times, it became so slow and dragged out that I actually put the book down for a few months because I had absolutely no motivation to keep reading. Now that I’ve finally finished it, I’d say it’s a solid book. I liked it, but it wasn’t nearly as amazing as I expected it to be.

Jest😔✋

J&C♡

Oof… I really wanted to love this one, but nope. Total disappointment. Where do I even start? The characters were just not it. Catherine was insanely annoying and, honestly, kinda dumb. Her only personality trait was wanting to open a bakery (which, btw, she barely even worked on), and every time her parents said no, she’d just stomp off like a toddler. Jest was cute, I’ll give him that, but his character had the depth of a puddle. There was so much wasted potential. Hatta was probably the best part of the entire book, which says a lot. The pacing was also completely off. Cath and Jest met like… what? Five times? And suddenly we’re supposed to believe in their epic love story? Girl, please. Meanwhile, we get endless monologues from Cath, who keeps making the dumbest excuses for everything. And yeah, we all know how it ends, but still… I cry at everything, and this time? Just a few weak tears (and I’m blaming hormones, not the book). The last 50 pages were decent, but it was too little, too late. Flat characters, zero tension, and overall just… boring. I had such high hopes, but this one didn’t rise (which is ironic, considering all that baking talk)

...help that was SO sad but SO good