Dnf @ 26%

Thank you NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for providing me with this arc in return for an honest review.

This book has such a beautiful cover and sounds so cool in theory but oh boy even at 10% I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do it. So far the book is barely following the plot depicted in the summary and the plot in general is all over the place. Too many things are trying to happen at once and none of them are working.

I really wish they would’ve actually chosen a genre and a time period for this book! Alas! No one did. We’re on a magical island with “angels” who are basically the fae but why aren’t they called that? Who knows. There’s a fallen angel whose name is Lucifer and he’s known as the Devil but does this book have any relation to Christianity? Nope. We’re supposedly in modern day but there is this remote island that people can’t get to because there tickets go missing and they miss the boat and blah blah blah. Also couldn’t even figure out if this island was like a basic little village or a whole city and nothing helped to determine that. Overall, not a single decision was made regarding the plot or world of this book.

Speaking of choices, many were made for the main character, all of them horrible. Lila was a ballerina and starring in her first show when she fell on stage for the first time and that caused her to apparently get into a violent outburst with her parents which result in her being sent away to live with an aunt she’s never met before on this fantasy island, because of course. She’s also, insufferable. My biggest pet peeve in books if FMC’s who hate themselves. There’s absolutely nothing that turns me off more than having to read how much a character hates themselves and feels like they’re a disappointment in FIRST PERSON MIND YOU. I had enough of those thoughts in middle school I don’t need to read them again. Also every other character in this book is trying to help her (despite how shallow every relationship is, but that’s a different paragraph) and she just won’t take any of it.

Every relationship is so shallow. You’ve known this girl for TWO DAYS and you’re listening to her tell you that you can basically become a god? Come on now. Not to mention the weird beginnings of this relationship with her and this angel fae man who she’s seen twice like what in the world.

Also the writing style itself is so juvenile it’s honestly kind of painful. Like I know this is a book written for teens and maybe I would’ve enjoyed it in middle school but reading it at 18, it reads like a poorly written Y/N fanfiction. Also the plot itself is juvenile in the sense that there’s literally your basic high school mean girls as antagonists but there hasn’t been any mention of school except to say that Lila graduated early so who knows.

Overall, the fact that I have that much to say about this book without even reading it to 50% says a lot about it. Also if you look at the 5 star reviews on Goodreads for this book, half of them are fake accounts used to boost the book so!

Thanks NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book, the premise had all the troupes I love and in what seemed to be an interesting and different way. Unfortunately it fell short at almost every turn. I think this could be a good book though, it just needs to maybe do a few more rounds of editing to fix the randomness of some parts and the non cohesiveness of the story. It reads like it was written by creating scenes then just cutting and pasting them together and not taking the time to make things flow.

When it comes to the characters I neither like nor dislike them because I honestly couldn’t tell you anything about any of them that make them a separate character.

I was really intrigued by the concept of dance based magic but it was very haphazard and would make no sense if you didn’t know the dance terms. There needed to be a glossary or perhaps just an explanation worked in the first time the terms were used.

My favorite thing about this book are the gorgeous descriptions! Kiana’s writing is stunning and very aesthetic which might not be for everyone. Overall, I enjoyed the book!

I definitely read this book! Did I enjoy it? Probably! Was it good? No! I didn't really like Lila herself, she was very one dimensional and inconsistent but there were some very relatable moments from her. I too get angry to the point of violence, we've all been there, girl. The plot was very interesting, I love a competition and the island was so beautiful, I want to live there. I honestly felt more chemistry between Roisin and Lila than Damien and Lila, Damien felt very flat and also inconsistent. I wish there was more context regarding the magic and geography of the world we were in. The writing was also very odd and a little cringey. It felt like there were supposed to be girl power moments but they didn't really land. All in all, I enjoyed this but it left a lot to be desired.

I was thoroughly impressed with this book. This book reminded me of reading fairytales as a child and being impressed by the magic. This book was full of magic and I liked it. The story was easy to follow and it was very whimsical and at some parts dark. The ending was satisfactory and I really enjoyed reading this book. I would recommend this to those that loved reading fairytales as a child.

So... This book happened.

When I heard this book was supposed to incorporate ballet and Phantom of the Opera I was delighted, unfortunately this book was - simply put - bad.

I’ve read some reviews and can't help but agree with them - this book is just about the vibes and aesthetic, there is no substance - not to the story nor the characters.

About the characters - Almost everybody in this book exists to boost up the main character, to tell her she’s enough - which wouldn’t be bad if they had any other personality outside of that or they are there to make her feel insecure (classic and tiring mean girl trope).
Our main character - Lila is -like other characters - bland - her only personality revolves around the fact she wanted to be a ballerina and she’s done something terrible so she's evil. (And later we find out what she's done but it was extremely hard for me to sympathize with her).
And the love interest…he exists I guess
The characters didn’t feel like people.

The mythology aspect of this book was (bad) confusing: how do you have Lucifer serve a Roman goddess? It just seems so strange and the rest of the angels…I'm tired. And: “Hades and Persephone” meets Phantom of the Opera where? Where was it? There was nothing of Hades and Persephone except name drop. Phantom of the Opera? Superficial, could be done so much better.
If we speak purely on aesthetics the book is beautiful, maybe too sugary but pretty, but books are not about aesthetics, you actually need a story, a story that has some substance and makes sense, a story where the characters are more than hollow shells.
It was said the book was to be about girlhood and female friendship…girlhood is more than pretty pink dress, desserts and tea from porcelain cups and there wasn’t much of the friendship.

This book had a lot of potential. I feel bad, I really wanted to like this, I can't think of anybody I would recommend this book to, maybe to a non reader? If you’re there just for the vibes or aesthetic. Maybe you'll like it.

I can be your angle or your devil.

This book is like reading a text description of someone's aesthetic Pinterest board.

This text is gilded with overly decadent descriptions, hiding an old story behind walls of excessive sensory writing. It's reminiscent of Stephanie Garber's Caraval in that way. There is too much time spent on fleshing out and describing the foods and decorations on every table and not enough working with the characters. In a way it is fitting that everything is gilded- pretty, shallow surfaces.

This book really highlights how certain aesthetics that work in one medium (ballet) can be detrimental when converted into another. Visual media like Ballets are so decadent and meant to be experienced but when converted into text it becomes an overload of unnecessary information to further the plot.

Since the text wants to be ballet related I'll use that to explain my thoughts.

It wants to be ethereal. It wants to be Black Swan. It wants and wants but I don't think it ever *gets*. It tries to fuse the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades with Christian beings. Angels and the Devil are bizarrely present in this.

This is like if a beachy Disney Channel Original movie tripped and fell onto Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, with a heaping of cultish language.

It's a bit of an overcrowded shelf. You have to look through the abundance of way too descriptive trinkets to see the story.

| ❝ Like the sea, I have a tendency to destroy things. ❞

ʚɞ ✧˖° thoughts

BOY OH BOY DO I HAVE A LOT OF THEM. I don't even know where to start or what to rate this book.. 2? 3 stars? Maybe 2.5? LET'S GO WITH 2.5 rounded to 3.

Things I liked

1. The prose
The writing is very descriptive and visual, in a colorful and vivid way that made me feel immersed in the world of Luna Island. It gave off HUNGER GAME, Barbie, and Winx club vibes with all the "feminine" aesthetics.


2. Character development
As flighty and immature as Lila was at the beginning of the book by the end of the book, she finally becomes aware of her worth and finally accepts her flaws along with her good qualities. She comes to realize that competition isn't all it's cracked up to be, and girlhood/friendship is more important in the end.

3. Best friend
Sadly, Roisin has more MC energy than Lila. She actually has a purpose other than pleasing Lila, although she had her fair share of helping her out. She had personality, and her main purpose was that she lost her girlfriend to the pageant where she was a (view spoiler) and decided to participate once more to find out what actually happened to Nadine
.

4. Basic mean girl
Insert Amelia the basic "mean girl" bitchy type. She was an asshole to Roisin and (view spoiler) Eventually Amelia realizes her mistakes and apologies to both girls. They accept her apology and hangout with her. The other girls agree with Amelia that what she did for Roisin was badass and really nice. They finally accept her as one of their own and it's a sweet moment.

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

Things I didn't like

1. The prose
Don't get me wrong I loved it at the beginning but then it started to get repetitive and distracting as hell (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?) IYKYK. words like: Lilac. Viridescent. Iridescent. Pearlescent. Opalescent. Stiletto nails. Were over used. If I took a shot every time I heard LILAC I'd be comatose. Purple is my favorite color but I'm currently tramatized by it.

2. Stiletto nails
Okay we get it Lila has stiletto nails. We don't need to be reminded every 5 seconds. We also understand that those are the same nails she (view spoiler)

3. Misleading
How are you going to have a fantasy book that takes place in the US on a "magical" island? I was pretty thrown off that this wasn't in some cool alternate world. Persephone is barely mentioned if at all?? I don't think I read a single phantom of the opera reference or anything. There is lore but it's mentioned once and never talked about again. It wasn't really explained 100%.

4. "The romance"
Damien Lila's love interest was very one dimensional. He has daddy issues and runs away from his problems just like she does.

Basically, he drugs her, saves her from drowning , then they dance together and suddenly fall in love. They fight, and their whole relationship is due to miscommunications. He saves her in the end, and they get together?? Kinda??? (view spoiler) Honestly, she had more chemistry and conversation with her best friend. I thought at one point they were going to get together.

5. MC Pleasers
Basically all the side characters were there to cater to Lila. Like literslly if she wasn't near them they kinda disappeared into oblivion. It's like they didn't exist unless she was near by??

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚ side note
This book has so much potential but sorta fell flat. I'm keeping in mind that this is a debut book. There's room for improvement!

1.5 stars

I first want to thank Net Galley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I had a hard time connecting with these characters.
I thought this had a lot of potential, but it just fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this arc.

Everyone knows I’m a sucker for a pretty cover and interesting description and those are what drew me into this book. Normally I avoid reviews before I read a book myself, but this is one case where I think I should’ve checked out the other reviews before reading because they are spot on.

I’ll start with the story itself, because that is where I was intrigued. This book is meant to provide a sort of dark dancing fantasy on a remote island. We follow our main character Lila as she competes in a pageant to become an angel queen of sorts (not even joking). We quickly realize that this competition is more devious than it is initially teased, which is actually an ongoing thing throughout the book. The island and characters are initially portrayed as sweet and innocent with all laughter, dresses and joy. As you read on you will see where the dark comes from. I really do think this plot had the potential for greatness. If you make it to the end of the book (if this wasn’t an arc I would have likely DNF’d early on) you may find yourself nodding your head and going “ah, I see now why this is being published.” But it takes until the last two chapters to get to that point because THE ENTIRE NOVEL has Lila hiding her past and everyone else hiding things from her.

This book genuinely reads like a first draft. Lila has this habit of running away every other chapter. Whenever her friend or aunt try to talk to her she becomes overwhelmed with whatever it was she did and runs from them. The author keeps this event a secret for nearly the whole book, but it feels like there was no point in keeping this from the reader as it was just annoying. A part of these frustrations stems from the fact that Lila is all over the place. One moment she thinks she deserves to die and go to hell and the next she thinks she should be the star of the girls. At 17/18 years old of course we all struggle with our sense of self and identity, but this just read as a mess.

Even more frightening is the way all of the characters are written. I didn’t connect with ANY. I wanted to love the male love interest (Damien) but even he was so flat. I don’t want to harp on this, but I sincerely hope there are character edits made by publication.

Finally, the writing was so over the top. Every sentence had some sort of dramatic description that halted the flow and stopped any reader from being engaged in the story. I can’t tell you how many times stiletto nails were brought up.

I'll start by saying sorry, but I had to DNF this book, I tried so much to continue but it just didn't work for me.

I loved the cover so much and I love retellings but, in this book, something didn't click with me, and the writing style just didn't hit the mark.

Thanks to NetGalley and Peachtree for the ARC.

A bit too to close to reality…
They went shopping for dresses a lot. They’re all beautiful. The girls reminded me a bit of the girls from winx club. It was a bit hard for me to continue to read it at some point.

Between the gorgeous cover and the blurb ‘“Hades and Persephone” meets Phantom of the Opera by way of Laini Taylor, in a sensually rendered world that seethes with intrigue and indulges the senses. Welcome to Luna Island.” I was dying to read this book.

Unfortunately, I struggled to get through this read. For me, the story relies too heavily on a lack of context and an overabundance of “hey look over here,” moments that were very distracting and because of that, I felt like I hardly ever followed what was going on.

However, this story has great elements (an unreliable narrator with a mysterious past, a rural island, cult-like townspeople, and mythology) that show a lot of promise but to reach its potential the writing and overall flow could use some major work.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Holiday House / Peachtree / Pixel+Ink | Peachtree Teen for allowing me to write an honest review of the ARC for Dance of the Starlit Sea!

Rating: ⭐️/ 5

My review was posted to Goodreads and Instagram on 6/2/24.

Thank you Netgalley for this electronic ARC

The synopsis posted was quite interesting, as I'm quite fond of mythological and classical retellings. You can truly appreciate the thought and the intent of having this novel represent a sort of "soft horror." It's filled with descriptions of Lila's environment that draws you wanting to feel the comfort of the aesthetic.

We begin with Lila connecting with the ocean, yearning for a moment of peace after she has just been sent away for a performance failure. Krystle has a great potential to write with lyrical and magical prose. Constant figures of speech that compared to sea creatures are quite endearing, and the generous hospitality of her Aunt Laina potentially drew me in. The horror however, of being an outsider in an Island that believes in strange rituals was exciting to think about, especially that a cult setting is not as popular in a paranormal YA romance setting

Unfortunately, it doesn't feel executed completely. The prose lacks depth, it serves as a distraction for the reader, instead of having the ability to immerse the reader, the focus only went on the setting and the minor details. Towards the end, it felt like I focused more on the writing than Lila herself. The transition between themes and horror felt disconnected. The plot lacked substance, and I hoped there would be more regarding the retelling aspect, it's more of a light reference to the Angel of Music, but instead it's ballet. I understand this is a YA novel, but in some parts it doesn't quite communicate as such. Instances of flashbacks are not clearly indicated or separated. Lila's intimate bond with the sea felt unclear, it made less sense that a ballerina can have such a complex relationship with the sea.

In regards with her relationship with Damien, our MMC, it's the classic "lying by omission", and "miscommunication" tropes and it made him feel bland as a character. Their romance is centered around how they are both unique and unlike anybody else? It definitely is safe to have someone that connects and relates to you, but that's not enough to solidify their relationship

Lila often focuses on herself as the source of all issues, and it felt suffocating hearing about it. Later as it advances, Its revealed that she strangled her mother. At which I stopped to wonder, does this girl have no remorse that does not center around her own guilt? I understand the pressures of being a daughter with Asian ancestry, and I am no stranger to the cultures and the beliefs, but Lila seriously needs an internal conversation. Maybe therapy instead of focusing on her nails. It was quite excessive.

Her mental instability (an understatement), however, stays consistent throughout. I pity her aunt, her ignorance towards what Lila did may be the only barrier between loving her own niece or banishing her somewhere else. There was an attempt to touch into magical realism. An additional point, the world building made the book jarring, besides the principles and the "grind until you reach the top", there was no additional attempt to expand on Lila being Chinese. It felt like an add-on and a shallow representation, along with the attempted aesthetic writing. Lila could have been fleshed out into a better character with a more complex internal struggle than matricide. Her feminine rage originated from something more sinister

Not a great example for young impressionable readers.

I am a *notorious* buy-the-book-for-the-cover type of gal. I live for the aesthetics and vibes of a book. If I see it and it sparks joy just by looking at it, you'd best believe I'd buy it.

And what did it get me? a copy of From Blood and Ash 1-3 that has sat on my bookshelf for 4 years untouched beyond the 1st book, and an ARC copy of Dance of the Starlight Sea.

When I saw this, I swooned. Holy balls, that cover is *everything*. The inverted colors of the dancer and the (dark) angel? The way they looked at each other?? The transparent lace motif??? I was already half-convinced.

When Krystle promised me POTO x Hades and Persephone, I never requested for a book so fast.

But like how your (not mine, I disown her) protagonist falls flat on her butt during a show, this book fell flat on its face.

There are stellar moments in this book when I hoped against hope this would get better. I loved how the author built each scene and how truly "aesthetic" it all was. It felt like she took a moodboard in Pinterest and translated it to words.

That's about all the things I liked about it.

One thing I hated was the violet prose. This is YA, and it's a risky move to use uncommon words that would confuse your audience easily. Yet, at the same time, it re-used so many words (like iridescent- God I hate it now) which only made it sound Wattpad-y. Again, not a bad look for a YA-focused book, but the prose, author. Pick your poison, it's poison all the same.

Second, I'm not sure why it's needlessly violent? Why did we have to be reminded that the (SPOILER ALERT)! her mom's blood caked under her nails after she strangled her to death? And be reminded time and time again, mind you. There's also a part where the Hero ripped his wings to end a curse... For a woman that had needlessly been toxic to him. We're talking narcissistic tendencies. Lila needs fucking therapy if she thinks re-enacting an abuse that traumatized someone (aka, the Hero!) is acceptable a la Lana del Rey's Ultraviolence. Only she holds the whip this time.

There are so many things she did that just made me shake my head, like creating a tornado to devastate the island she was banished to, housing a lot of innocent people, or just simply never ever thinking of her mother, who she strangled because ehe 😋

In conclusion, this book is the embodiment of Regina George. Pink. Innocent-looking. Will plan your whole social demise via the burnbook she owns.

Thank you Netgalley and Peachtree for this ARC.

Magical, powerful and encouraging

After a tragic incident, Lila’s parents decide to send Lila to Luna Island with her aunt, a heavenly and magical place where there are rarely any visitors. Lila, with her broken dreams and even more destroyed confidence in herself, tries to fit in with the island and its inhabitants, competing in a pageant: the Angel of the Sea Pageant. Full of beautiful dresses and even more beautiful girls that compete to become the High Priestess of Luna Island, the pageant turns out to have a dark secret, one that Lila is set on discovering. Turns out, the last winner lasted only one year instead of the normal seven years and there looks to be an imbalance in the island. As she hears a haunting voice from the sea that calls out to her and she discovers angels are real, Lila becomes more transfixed with discovering what’s underneath all by trying to win the competition. During this investigation, she meets Damien, an angel who she connects with on a deep level and shows her she’s enough.

“Why would anyone want to save a monster?”
“Because I know you now, and that’s what matters. You aren’t your worst moments, Lila. None of us are”.

Full of complex characters and relationships, a strong feeling of sisterhood and love that understands the good and the bad in people, this story was powerful. From the main character’s relationship with her parents to how she views sorority, I was enchanted. It mixed realistic elements with magical ones, making a new world where everything is possible. If you want a magical read, choose this one.

Overall, I give this book a 4 / 5 . It was great even though I did miss more moments between Lila and Damien. Still, I was enjoying this book and its fairly-like vibes.

From the very start of this book, I was entranced. Krystle writes with such beautiful prose. It was very easy for me to get lost in the book. The prose was very flowery and I loved the aesthetic. I loved the fact that Luna island is meant to appear like a dreamy locations. Many are calling it balletcore or fairy core. As stated in the blurb, this book does indulge in your senses. Made me crave food and oddly enough a nostalgic scroll through tumblr.

In this book we are following Lila, a ballerina who has been shunned to Luna Island as punishment for a horrific incident that she committed. Lila was originally born on this island but her parents left with her to give her a better life. When she returns to this island she turns 18 and is whisked into the pageant that is held every 7 years in order to become the high priestess and assist the angels in protecting the island. As this pageant ensues, the balance of magic within the island is thrown off as it appears something or someone is haunting the Lila and the island.

I enjoyed this book and the plot and the characters. I loved the balance of the softness and beauty with the dark themes. Lila seems like she is a soft girl but clearly has a darker side due to years of pressure to be perfect. The perfect ballerina and the perfect daughter.

It’s giving Lilith x Lucifer or Hades x Persephone vibes

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.

I immediately requested “Dance of the Starlit Sea” after seeing the cover. I was sold. It had everything I could ever want in a book cover,

I also think this book has truly great vibes. We’re on a little island that has a pageant and spooky vibes? Magnificent. We’re a ballerina? Lovely. The author also just wrote this book in a way that drew me in and created a great atmosphere.

Unfortunately, I pretty immediately disliked the characterization of the protagonist. She was giving “I’m not like other girls vibes.” I just found myself rooting against the main character. Your parents hate you? You probably deserve it!

However, I wanted to push through. I went to go look at the reviews of my fellow NetGalley reviewers and saw things mentioned that I definitely would not enjoy in this book. I was hoping for some sort of dark backstory, considering she seemed so disgusted by her past behavior. Especially considering she kept incessantly mentioning it. However apparently she just fell off the stage… The drama of the main character was just too much for me.

Because of all of this, I have decided to not finish this book. There are so many things this book did right, but too many aspects that personally did not mesh well with me as a reader. I will not be posting this review, as I did not finish.

Thank you so much for the ARC, Netgalley and Peach Tree.

First, the cover is stunning. This was a "cover request" for me, and I wish I'd done more to thoroughly understand the synopsis before I went into this, because this was a confusing, badly-structured book that needed more context. I also put way too much weight behind the "Phantom of the Opera" comp, so don't be like me if that was the thing that made you want to read this.

There are moments—like in the world building—where the prose is expansive, lyrical, and smooth to read. And then there are moments—like the ending—where the prose falls apart trying to do too many things and pull the reader's eye too many times.

I think this book appropriately touched on certain themes and topics, and you can tell there is a level of research and care that went into these characters and this story by Krystle. However, the many good things about this book are overshadowed by the many, many bad things.

Thank you to Holiday House, Peachtree, Pixel+Ink, Peachtree Teen, and NetGalley for providing an ARC!

CW: blood, gaslighting, emotional abuse, physical abuse, violence, bullying, kidnapping
Actual rating: 1.5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for the eARC. I received a copy for free in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way impacted my rating.

Lila (pronounced Lee-la) has been sent away to live with her aunt after falling on stage during a ballet performance and committing an act that she believes was truly evil. Luna Island, where Aunt Laina lives, is a world of pastel Pinterest boards, French pastries, and.... A cult?

I'm going to be honest here. I love to read reviews. I love to read <i>spoilers</i> too, if you can believe it. RUIN the experience for me, I don't care! I will still read it and try to form my own opinions. In this case, I do have to say I'm feeling kinship with the consensus here. This book is... an experience.
Let's build up to it, shall we?

Characters:
Lila - I remember being a sad, sad teenager. I put a lot of pressure on myself, and sometimes I imagined pressure from places that it wasn't. But Lila's just.... so dramatic about it. All the time. Constantly. It was not... fun to read. Your prefrontal cortex isn't fully developed yet, babe. Take a breath. Give it five to seven years. Then we can circle back.
I think my biggest issue with Lila is how often we were told she was convinced she was bad, she was worthless, etc. But her actions... did not show us that? I feel like so much of her personality was held up in her thoughts and her actions were just kind of..... Look at pretty dress, eat some cake, do a ballet dance.
Also, she was so INSANELY chill with NOT ONLY learning about a new religion, joining in said religious practices, learning that their religion IS NOT allegorical/theoretical, but genuinely literal and active in their day-to-day lives, and THEN finding out <spoiler>she has special moon magic</spoiler>?! I would not be that calm. But she doesn't even take five pages to process, she just mows through with it.

Laina - Idk man, I got nothing. She was like.... nothing on the page. I'm not even positive why she had a falling out with her siblings at this point, and I just read 200 pages of this book today.

Roisin - Someone said Roisin should have been the love interest and frankly I agree. She really didn't get to do anything besides be The Side Character™ but at least she had, like, a reasonable character arc.

Damien - This boy gave us NOTHING ✨🥰 He said, "I have no personality, but I sure love YOU, Lila!"

The Setting:
I'm about to make a bold statement.
I think this book would have been better if it was high fantasy, rather than urban.

Because, like, why DOES it have to be modern? So you could show off ballet terms? This island exists out of time, completely removed from an American setting. Everyone and everything is insular on this island. They have their own separatist religion (getting to that soon). They rarely have outsiders.
This would also allow for the lightning fast character acceptance of her changing circumstances, but still leaving space for her to be special or gifted.
Making this a contemporary fantasy pulled the story down.

The ~~✨Aesthetic✨~~:
I'm not making this my final point only because I feel like others have had some truly stellar commentary about it. There's a lot of genuinely amazing commentary on the rise of "personal brand" aesthetics and the influence it has over how people, especially women, curate themselves and their personality on the Internet.

This story was very obviously created aesthetics up. It comes from mood boards and pretty pictures; the plot was not always the driving force. There was so much focus on the descriptions of dresses and food and drinks and smells that the town, the characters, the religion became secondary points.
It's a cozy, tasty, pastel piece of cardboard. I did not feel transported, I did not feel engrossed, because the bulk of the story was hazy and insubstantial. Every aspect of this felt like a performance for the benefit of the audience, not as a means to tell a story or to set a scene any broader than the inside of a dress shop.

I come from both a writing and a film background. I can appreciate engaging with media for the aesthetics, to a point. But when writing a novel, it's plot, then set dressing. Otherwise, it's like hiring your cinematographer before you write the script. It just doesn't work that way.

The Religion/Mythology:
You can take a look at my reading updates or ask my friend Sam how I felt about this. Because boy. Boy, was I mad.

DON'T GIVE US A RELIGION AND THEN NOT ACTUALLY MAKE IT A RELIGION.
Basically, Luna is a "cult" in the original Greek sense of the word. This is a closed-off religion, endemic to this one island. But the divine antagonist is.... The Devil? Like, that original guy? The one is all those Christian books? THAT GUY?
Let's lay out the facts: 1. Christianity exists in this universe. Lila name drops God and talks about church.
2. Luna is a moon goddess.
3. Luna had angels?
4. Luna had angels that fell because of Lucifer.
5. These angels are not only definitely real, but they interact on a regular basis with the humans on this island.
WHY are they not being overrun by Christians getting excited about their religious tenants being proven? Doesn't this prove the existence of God? Where is the Pope?
What are the practices of this cult? What is their worship like? And clearly people who live here leave and move (Lilah's background story), so you mean to tell me NONE of them ever let it slip to someone who was religious?

This was the most afterthought of afterthoughts and it drove me up a wall the entire time I was reading. I love creating fantastical religions, I like reading about religion, I dabble in comparative religion. This is my thing. And it was the most lack-luster aspect of the story.

Final Thoughts:
I said it before and I'll say it again - reading this book was certainly an experience. I just think the process behind this one went a little wonky. The story this book and its synopsis are selling and the story they're telling are kind of two different animals. Unfortunately, the story I was told didn't really work for me.