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Lia Carstairs's Reviews > Bespelled
Bespelled (Bewitched, #2)
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Lia Carstairs's review
bookshelves: witches, romance, adult, e-arcs, buddy-reads, fantasy, lost-brain-cells-reading-this
Dec 10, 2023
bookshelves: witches, romance, adult, e-arcs, buddy-reads, fantasy, lost-brain-cells-reading-this
Buddy read with El <3
im genuinely convinced that we cursed ourselves el because man the way we were so sure we'd love this😭
but seriously what in the hell was this mess of a book?? i genuinely cant believe what i just read after how much i ADORED bewitched. it was literally in my top 5 favourites last year??? im baffled at how bad this went
one of my main issues with this book was just how uncomfortable it made me in SO many things. the #1 being *that* bond between memnon and selene.... (not a spoiler it's in the synopsis)
no you cannot convince in any way shape or form that it was "okay". from the moment it was formed and then right away selene tests it out by telling memnon to stab her in the heart especially knowing how he feels like what??? and thats only the beginning because the thoughts she has and what she tells him about how she has control over what she can make him do genuinely made me disgusted. it literally turned me off from every romantic scene in this book because i couldnt root for it at all. also selene kept saying she felt guilty every time she commanded something of memnon but then she kept doing it?? lol clearly you dont then. and the author constantly tries making it seem its okay by having memnon constantly repeat that he's the one who asked for this, and he wants it as a way to prove himself and earn selene's trust and yeah thats good and all but i dont know, personally even if someone told me they were good with that, id still never make a single command that would take away their free will like you really cant convince me otherwise that it's morally okay since the other agreed to it! nope!
otherwise selene's character turned a complete 180 for me in terms of likableness... if you ignore the previous paragraph, there was still the fact that she constantly made the most idiotic decisions in history that couldve SO easily been avoided. im all for characters making mistakes since i mean we're all human, but im sorry there's only so much patience i can have for a character until im genuinely wondering??? just why???? its the same mistake constantly and im wondering did you really not learn anything from the previous 92357826 times?? what happened to logic??? there's being optimistic and there's being stupid, you can have one without the other.
in terms of memnon, honestly i dont really have much to say. yeah he had some sweet gestures but it felt as though he was too reduced to his character just loving selene and thats it lol.
and what in the joke of an "explanation" was that for the reason why selene said at the end of book 1 that "she's woken up a monster" (view spoiler) but literally im genuinely so confused on that part, i would almost say maybe i was imagining that she did fear his awakening but NO because i literally JUST REREAD BEWITCHED SO NO IM NOT IMAGINING IT LOL
anyways. you could literally skip everything in between 30% to 70% and you wouldnt miss a single thing. (actually what the actual hell was the point of the witch's brew scene??? ive never felt more uncomfortable just why) i was bored to death and had to force myself to push through. also i didn't see the point in kane being there at all lol like why was he still there actually? it seemed to me that he existed solely just to be annoying trying to win selene's heart (even after she's told him repeatedly she has a soul mate????) also i dont get whats the big deal about the ending?😭 am i missing something?? (view spoiler)
edit: nvm i dropped it to 1the only reason why this doesnt get less than 2 stars is because the end wasnt boring at least (although at that point i just wanted to be done, i skimmed so much) but uh yeah to say this was a disappointment is an understatement, i dont even know if i want to read book 3 but oh well time will tell...
Many thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
_____________________
UM THAT SYNOPSIS?????? ALSO WTH WAS THAT TEASER THAT WAS CRUEL😭😭 to end it off RIGHT at the part that everyone wants more of (view spoiler) sdjhgksh dying for this to release. i need to be reunited with memnon and selene🥹
(teaser: https://culturess.com/2023/12/08/see-...)
im genuinely convinced that we cursed ourselves el because man the way we were so sure we'd love this😭
but seriously what in the hell was this mess of a book?? i genuinely cant believe what i just read after how much i ADORED bewitched. it was literally in my top 5 favourites last year??? im baffled at how bad this went
one of my main issues with this book was just how uncomfortable it made me in SO many things. the #1 being *that* bond between memnon and selene.... (not a spoiler it's in the synopsis)
no you cannot convince in any way shape or form that it was "okay". from the moment it was formed and then right away selene tests it out by telling memnon to stab her in the heart especially knowing how he feels like what??? and thats only the beginning because the thoughts she has and what she tells him about how she has control over what she can make him do genuinely made me disgusted. it literally turned me off from every romantic scene in this book because i couldnt root for it at all. also selene kept saying she felt guilty every time she commanded something of memnon but then she kept doing it?? lol clearly you dont then. and the author constantly tries making it seem its okay by having memnon constantly repeat that he's the one who asked for this, and he wants it as a way to prove himself and earn selene's trust and yeah thats good and all but i dont know, personally even if someone told me they were good with that, id still never make a single command that would take away their free will like you really cant convince me otherwise that it's morally okay since the other agreed to it! nope!
otherwise selene's character turned a complete 180 for me in terms of likableness... if you ignore the previous paragraph, there was still the fact that she constantly made the most idiotic decisions in history that couldve SO easily been avoided. im all for characters making mistakes since i mean we're all human, but im sorry there's only so much patience i can have for a character until im genuinely wondering??? just why???? its the same mistake constantly and im wondering did you really not learn anything from the previous 92357826 times?? what happened to logic??? there's being optimistic and there's being stupid, you can have one without the other.
in terms of memnon, honestly i dont really have much to say. yeah he had some sweet gestures but it felt as though he was too reduced to his character just loving selene and thats it lol.
and what in the joke of an "explanation" was that for the reason why selene said at the end of book 1 that "she's woken up a monster" (view spoiler) but literally im genuinely so confused on that part, i would almost say maybe i was imagining that she did fear his awakening but NO because i literally JUST REREAD BEWITCHED SO NO IM NOT IMAGINING IT LOL
anyways. you could literally skip everything in between 30% to 70% and you wouldnt miss a single thing. (actually what the actual hell was the point of the witch's brew scene??? ive never felt more uncomfortable just why) i was bored to death and had to force myself to push through. also i didn't see the point in kane being there at all lol like why was he still there actually? it seemed to me that he existed solely just to be annoying trying to win selene's heart (even after she's told him repeatedly she has a soul mate????) also i dont get whats the big deal about the ending?😭 am i missing something?? (view spoiler)
edit: nvm i dropped it to 1
Many thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
_____________________
UM THAT SYNOPSIS?????? ALSO WTH WAS THAT TEASER THAT WAS CRUEL😭😭 to end it off RIGHT at the part that everyone wants more of (view spoiler) sdjhgksh dying for this to release. i need to be reunited with memnon and selene🥹
(teaser: https://culturess.com/2023/12/08/see-...)
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Reading Progress
May 14, 2023
– Shelved
May 14, 2023
– Shelved as:
to-read
May 14, 2023
– Shelved as:
witches
December 10, 2023
– Shelved as:
romance
December 10, 2023
– Shelved as:
adult
April 27, 2024
–
Started Reading
April 28, 2024
– Shelved as:
e-arcs
April 29, 2024
–
61.0%
"never imagined one of my most anticipated reads this year would have me bored like this... and also why is everyone in this book annoying me so much??? (except memnon, he's still the same as always)"
April 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
buddy-reads
April 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
fantasy
April 29, 2024
–
Finished Reading
May 29, 2024
– Shelved as:
lost-brain-cells-reading-this
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☀︎El In Oz☀︎
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rated it 1 star
Apr 29, 2024 09:34PM
You explained the issues we had with this SO WELL. The bond was icky a million times over because she always used it for personal reasons!! I thought about Jude’s sort of control over Cardan in TFOTA but she only used that for political reasons so she wouldn’t die and could rule, here Selene would make him so the oddest stuff for what,??? He loves you is his word not enough for you???????? I agree so so much like even if I had full control over someone I wouldn’t actually use that power because it’s so violating to me. And Selene was SO dumb omg. I know Laura thalassa can write so much better and I am shocked this is what we read after bewitched
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Oh no sorry you didn’t like this one! I really liked it but I had a different reaction to the points you mentioned.
☀︎El In Oz☀︎ wrote: "You explained the issues we had with this SO WELL. The bond was icky a million times over because she always used it for personal reasons!! I thought about Jude’s sort of control over Cardan in TFO..."oh wait you know i actually did not even remember at all that happened in TFOTA😂
Bianca wrote: "Oh no sorry you didn’t like this one! I really liked it but I had a different reaction to the points you mentioned."i really wish i did love it😭😭 but im glad you enjoyed bespelled at least!!
Oh damn! I am sorry this one didn't work out for you! 😖
Lucie wrote: "Oh damn! I am sorry this one didn't work out for you! 😖"ahhh ikk im so sad i didnt like it😭😭
Since you decided to post your opinions, I will give you mine..... Perhaps it would have been more courteous to wait until after the release to share your negative opinion, especially considering the unwritten code of conduct among those of us fortunate enough to receive ARC versions from our favorite authors.
I agree with Manuela, It would have been more polite to just say that it wasn't for you, vs long debated opinions in such depth of your dislike of the novel.
Great review! Going to give this a hard pass.
I just started book one but after looking at your review, idk if I want to continue 🤣
From my perspective, she thinks she “woken up a monster” is because Memnon is an unpologetic warload who will kill anyone in his path. He’s a morally grey MMC villian that loves her but he’s ambitious, born to conquer, and not apologetic in his way. The best type of MMC!
You said this so well, I've been wondering why after the first book I'm struggling to finish this and honestly your review just had all that I was feeling.
The witch’s brew scene ruined the book for me. It was so bad.
