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A review by walkerff
Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall
4.0
"mortal follies" is a sapphic romance that takes place in 1814 and that is... narrated by a hobgoblin. our main character, miss mitchelmore, is dealing with a curse at the beginning of the novel, and ends up needing to turn to "the duke of annadale" -- another young woman and potential witchy murderess -- for help. also featured is miss mitchelmore's friend, miss bickle, and cousin, mr caeser.
this book has a great start! it is fun, funny, bright, and has SUCH sexual TENSION like the WAY these WOMEN are FLIRTING!!!! ughhhhh it's delicious! i also loved the narrative voice for the majority of the book. i found it fun and ~quirky~ and nice for setting this book apart from the occasional monotony that occurs when reading similar plotlines over and over.
i ADORED miss bickle. as a neurodivergent,,,,,, i resonate so much with this woman. she is goofy and kind and makes no sense to anyone but herself. ADORE.
by about the 80% mark i slowed down a lot in my reading, partially because of my own ~personal life~ but also due to the unusual pacing of the novel. there were so many problems to overcome and the fact that things just... took longer... in 1814 did feel like it played in a bit. i don't know if this is a major issue or just from my reading experience though!
my largest problem was that i felt the ending fell a bit flat. the final problem and solution were just slightly contrived? for my taste? and felt clunky and rushed sadly. didn't ruin the book for me at all, but was a disappointment for sure.
overall, i had such a fun time reading this and i definitely recommend giving it a shot if you're open to lots of jokes about mortals and their behavior (i very much am. yippee!).
one final note: i wish i had looked up some trigger warnings before reading! off the top of my head, here are a few: stalking, transphobia from minor characters, threat of physical/sexual violence, death, animal sacrifice. i would certainly double check other reviews/sites for ones i may have missed as these were a bit off putting to read in a rom-com-esque setting :)
(as always, much thanks to the publisher and netgalley for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for my honest review.)
this book has a great start! it is fun, funny, bright, and has SUCH sexual TENSION like the WAY these WOMEN are FLIRTING!!!! ughhhhh it's delicious! i also loved the narrative voice for the majority of the book. i found it fun and ~quirky~ and nice for setting this book apart from the occasional monotony that occurs when reading similar plotlines over and over.
i ADORED miss bickle. as a neurodivergent,,,,,, i resonate so much with this woman. she is goofy and kind and makes no sense to anyone but herself. ADORE.
by about the 80% mark i slowed down a lot in my reading, partially because of my own ~personal life~ but also due to the unusual pacing of the novel. there were so many problems to overcome and the fact that things just... took longer... in 1814 did feel like it played in a bit. i don't know if this is a major issue or just from my reading experience though!
my largest problem was that i felt the ending fell a bit flat. the final problem and solution were just slightly contrived? for my taste? and felt clunky and rushed sadly. didn't ruin the book for me at all, but was a disappointment for sure.
overall, i had such a fun time reading this and i definitely recommend giving it a shot if you're open to lots of jokes about mortals and their behavior (i very much am. yippee!).
one final note: i wish i had looked up some trigger warnings before reading! off the top of my head, here are a few: stalking, transphobia from minor characters, threat of physical/sexual violence, death, animal sacrifice. i would certainly double check other reviews/sites for ones i may have missed as these were a bit off putting to read in a rom-com-esque setting :)
(as always, much thanks to the publisher and netgalley for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for my honest review.)